Matt Brockman: SCAM
-
It has come to my attention that an unscrupulous sleaze ball is ripping off unsuspecting individuals who are looking to improve their trumpet skills.
This is a PSA: Matt Brockman is a hustler & scammer. His program is not worth 1/10 of what he offers. Please do not purchase anything he is selling.
Please see the following threads:
https://www.reddit.com/r/trumpet/comments/1812yta/matt_brockman_sales_pitch/
-
Pinned by
administrator
-
@administrator I endured a horrible hour of hard sales with him - when I declined to pay his exhorbitant price because I am supporting our son who has fallen on hard times he told me we should make our son survive on his own. His last words to me were '"I'm not going to help you anymore because you are being ridiculous" LOL
-
I’ve been a music educator for 25 years and have been playing trumpet since the age of 9 (professionally since age 18). I watched Mr. Brockma’s first video and signed up for a feee 45-lesson/chat. After reading the many reviews, information about costs, etc, I elected to opt out of the lesson/chat. I reached out and was very cordial to the person I was to meet with, B Byrne, and rather than replying with an “ok, I’m sorry it won’t work out”, I received the following, “did something come up, can we reschedule, or are you NOT INTERESTED IN IMPROVING ON TRUMPET”. That last line sealed the deal for me. While I know as a trumpet player, we have the reputation of being arrogant and having a big ego, but really? They can continue to run their scam elsewhere. I’d prefer in person lessons anyway.
-
@Brett-Duchon I think I would have said, "It's none of your business!" ... or something less polite
-
Let us not forget that there ARE many "students" that benefit from dominating teachers. Some people actually "beg" for this dominance (not just in the trumpet world). For the rest of us, we generally get lucky and find someone where the "chemistry" lines up or at least where personal motivation is possible.
I basically disagree with most of the online schemes as I need a better picture of what the whole body is doing. I do not want to reduce the efforts of online teachers to a practice monitor, but my experience shows a predominance of exactly that. Integrating body use, breathing, technique and musical expression is a HUGE thing and working with people that have not had structure is an even bigger deal. It takes (too much) time just to find a common vocabulary!
At the end of the day, we match expectations with results and the real scammers are those willing to just take the money and run after blaming the students for the rest...
As far as responding to teachers like this. I am most satisfied with NOT FEEDING THE TROLLS. I do not engage them, I do not seek satisfaction by having the last word. At Trumpetmaster, I gave them a vacation if they turned the heat up online (Kurt Thompson comes to mind).
My answer would be: "after considering all of the options, I have come to the understanding that our goals do not line up. Thank you for your patience." Then I block the e'mail address to prevent further "itch to respond".
-
Great advice from ROWUK again but I want to add this.
Speaking of the population as a whole, we value something by the investment we make in it.
If someone struggles for years and achieves something, they value it more than those other things that come more easily.
If we have to travel to another continent to sit at the feet of a teacher and learn from him we value that immensely
If we have to travel to a school or conservatory and spend years there we value that highly
If we travel to our local town and study under a teacher we value that less highly
If we are given tuition over the internet without even leaving home for it we value that very little.
If the quality of teaching is the same, we nonetheless value it less when it cost us less.
Students throw away the things that cost them little. And this is one reason why internet tuition is worth less than other forms.
If a teacher in person lays down the law, the student obeys
If a teacher on the internet lays down the law the student is likely to go elsewhere to find a "nicer" teacher.
With a hundred teachers on the internet to choose from the nicest teachers end up with the students and the strictest teachers end up in a different profession.
That does not mean a teacher can insult shame or bully that is not teaching that is abuse.
-
@oldpete I’d love to have replied the way I wanted to (as a NY’er I knew what I could have said). I chose the higher ground because I can live with myself being a good player and not have to scam anyone or belittle them. Thanks for the support though.
-
It was my impression that the attitude not of a stern teacher, but rather that of a very pushy salesperson wanting my money more than to help me improve - even telling me to stop supporting my son so I could pay for lessons
-
I use to teach trumpet lessons (Buddy Rodgers Music, North College Hills) when I was a starving college student trying to make extra cash as a musician. That and my band paid my way through college. And I still perform today, 50 years later as a musician (and a card carrying AFM member to boot) but no longer teach trumpet. I now teach however, in my other chosen profession, health care. Wish I had the wisdom way back then, 50 years ago, that I have now as I would have been much more accomplished as a trumpet teacher.
Fast forward to today. I address my patients by putting them into the prospective that you (the patient) are my boss, and I am only your spiritual advisor. I then let them know it is my role in our relationship to provide them with the relevant clinical expertise centering around their needs, and then provide them several options. They choose the option they want (or sometimes even create an option I did not even bring forward to them). I will go with whatever direction they provide (as long as it does not harm them - "first do no harm"), but then follow them up shortly to take inventory as to where they are and if their goals are being achieved. If so, continue in the same direction, if not, try one of the other methods that I provided based on well documented evidence.
Key is, you got to get their trust to move forward and if you hear and work with each other, a successful outcome will be achieved.
-
I signed up for the MattBrockman program after his sales guy cornered me with a pitch of 'you must sign NOW for all this money or else it's not going to be offered again', don't fall for this like I did, his program is a fraud and a waste of money. On top of this, he wanted something like $6,000 for one year of access to his system. His system is nothing but a web site that has videos and a few exercises and access to lessons from one person. Many many other programs are much less expensive and give so much more value.
I found the offering to be very, very very light on content, the only value I got was occasional 30-minute lessons with a nice guy who had limited experience. Matt is a young person, pushing unfounded, exagerated snake oil targeting older people who might have time on their hands and want to see if they can reclaim the glory of earlier days playing trumpet. I am a semi-professional player and got basically zero value. When I emailed Matt to discuss it, he accused me inappropriately and would even talk or email with me about anything.
They caught me in a heavy-pressure sales pitch and then gave me almost no value at all. This was my worst rip-off experience in 40 years. Run from them, don't get anywhere near them.
They are such fraudsters that they require something like 30 days notice or they will renew the billing. I emailed them 3 times notifying them and asking for confirmation. They never responded. I then contacted Affirm to make sure they knew of this. They use the Affirm platform to take the funds from my bank account. They will take your money but won't even respond to an email... you are shit to them once they have your money. -
@ROWUK best to warn people about him. not only is he a mean and rude person, his scam charges a lot more money than many other worthwhile investments in trumpet and musical skills. he scammed me, he insulted me and lied to me and about me. worst business experience I've had in 30 years in the business world. he is really toxic and it pays to help others stay away from this type of person. I have never posted or bashed anyone like this. Brockman is unique.
-
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Hopefully, if there is any silver lining, other people will read this and not fall for the scam.
By all means, please do find a good trumpet teacher. But let me warn you -- they should NOT cost you $6000, and especially not upfront.
I had a lesson with a world-renowned trumpet teacher and this individual charged me $150 for an hour. It was very informative and worth the cost and probably more. That being said, if I had one lesson per week with this individual (world-class, mind you) over the course of, say 50 weeks (1 year approx.), it would cost $7500. So, you see, yes, it can add up. However, this would be in-person, intensive professional preparation with the best instructor out there. So, unless you are finding that individual, please don't pay that kind of money.
-
If anyone loses money to this loser it should be reported to the Better Business Bureau
