Lessons
Giant Steps has a dedicated lesson studio area with 5 rooms and its own entrance on the back of the building.
All the private instructors at Giant Steps set their own schedules and rates. Contact them today!
Meet the Instructors
Guitar / Drums / Piano / Bass Guitar / Ukulele / Banjo / Mandolin
Jerry Haynes, B.A.
Flute / Piccolo
Cindy Solfest-Wallis, M.M.
Cindy Solfest-Wallis has had a varied career in music as a performer, clinician, and coach. Currently, she is on the faculty of Lee University, Covenant College and Chattanooga State where she teaches classes in theory, music and culture, intro to music, and is flute instructor and director/ coach of chamber ensembles, giving several solo and ensemble recitals each semester.
Cindy maintains a large private flute studio; another of her passions is teaching and inspiring musicians. She finds ways to serve her community as an artist, ranging from being part of Imagine 20/20 and an orchestra member on a Ted Talk Live from Chattanooga, as well as organizing and directing Southside Casual Classics from 2011-2015, which was an artist series featuring local soloists/ensembles. While living in Wisconsin, she developed and directed a summer music chamber school for several summers.
She has performed as an orchestral musician and chamber musician in groups such as Skylight Opera (now Music) Theatre, Wisconsin Wind Orchestra (WWO), Milwaukee Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, and Knoxville Opera. As an active artist in Milwaukee, she often performed in orchestras for several touring Broadway shows and popular artists’ tours. Cindy has soloed with many orchestras and universities both in southeastern Wisconsin and Tennessee, and has performed several times for National Flute Association conventions both as soloist and as a member of chamber groups.
One of her passions is chamber music, and she loves to perform in and coach chamber ensembles. As a member of WWO and other chamber orchestras, she has toured the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, and can be heard on several WWO chamber music CDs.
Clarinet / Saxophone
Gordon Inman
Gordon Inman is a Chattanooga-based clarinetist and saxophonist. He plays regularly with local symphony, opera, and theatre companies; serves as artistic director of the Chattanooga Clarinet Choir; and is a member of the Uptown Big Band, Figment Chamber Ensemble, and the Voci Virili men's choir. Gordon also loves to teach and spends much of his time tending to his private studio and at Southern Adventist University, where he serves as adjust professor of clarinet.
Ben Salter
Ben Salter has been playing clarinet for over 20 years and teaching private clarinet lessons on and off for the last 15. He graduated from Red Bank High School in 2009, and from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2013 with a degree in instrumental music education. He taught middle school band in Memphis, then in Chattanooga before leaving classroom teaching in 2018. He's been serving the Chattanooga music community at Giant Steps for the last 2 years, and recently started playing with the Midsouth Symphonic Band.
For Ben's schedule and rates, please text him at 423-314-0316 or email at Bens14@comcast.net
Trumpet / Cornet
Tommy Bulman
A native of Ringgold, GA, Tommy Bulman is a trumpet player and teacher in the Chattanooga area. Tommy has been working with private students and local high school brass sections for 20 plus years. He has studied music performance at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, studying with Chattanooga Symphony & Orchestra principal trumpeter David Hobbs, and Shane Porter, member of the Tuscaloosa Horns.
As a performer, Tommy has played with several local orchestras, brass quintets, and jazz ensembles in Chattanooga. He also serves as the current principal cornet with the Jericho Brass Band, a British-style brass band in Chattanooga, and has performed solo works with the ensemble for several seasons. As an educator, Tommy has a high performing studio with students reaching high chairs in district honor band, Jr./Sr. clinic, as well as the all-state levels in both Tennessee and Georgia. His students have received scholarships to universities such as the University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, University of Georgia, Berry College, and Jacksonville State University. Tommy Bulman is a proud member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the International Trumpet Guild.
French Horn
Gordon James, M.M.
Gordon James, Principal Horn of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, has been playing and teaching Horn for over 30 years. Gordon is also the Principal Horn of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the CSO since 1987. Prior to that, Gordon played 4th Horn in the Fort Worth Symphony for 5 years. He has also performed with the Alabama Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony. Gordon is presently the Adjunct Horn Instructor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Lee University, Southern Adventist University, and Covenant College. He received Music Performance degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and the University of North Texas. Gordon has attended Roundtop (TX) Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. In his spare time, Gordon enjoys driving and maintaining antique cars, and he’s an avid DiscGolfer.