Meet Sonja Guthrie
Sonja is a North Carolina native, growing up in Asheville and attending Mars Hill College (now University) and later UNCG. During her master's studies, she completed a repair apprenticeship that led directly to full time employment in a retail repair shop.
In addition to repairs, Sonja also teaches horn and piano students in Guilford and Forsyth counties, plays pit orchestra gigs, and is learning electric bass. When she's not busy work (what's that like), Sonja makes the best snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies in the world, watches horror movies, and takes thousands of pictures of her dogs.
Sonja's Favorite Things:
Favorite music to listen to:
Wagner operas. Turned up to 11. But also Tool, Murder By Death, Sam Cooke, Henry Cowell, The Music Man soundtrack... And to really keep me on my toes, I like to shuffle all of it!
Favorite music to play:
Opera! But seriously, everything. Orchestral, jazz, woodwind quintet, pit orchestra, etc. I do especially like playing duets with my horn students and sea shanties in my pirate band (don't ask).
Favorite instrument to repair:
Horns are always fun to work on, and I particularly like working on noisy rotors. I can always make them quieter! Otherwise gratifying are bell torques or completely smashed bell flares. My all time favorite is seeing a child freely and easily play an instrument they've been struggling with. It shouldn't be an instrument's fault that the student can't play.
Favorite part of being a technician:
I like being a tech because of how many opportunities there are to help people. Whether it's helping somebody find an upgraded instrument, making their current instrument work better, or helping out schools and organizations that depend on functional instrument donations.
Favorite weird repair story:
A friend of mine sold her horn because it "sounds stuffy." A year or two later, the new owner came in to have it cleaned. After a thoroughly normal cleaning, I reassembled the horn and found that it wouldn't play at all. After a couple of hours of frustration fueled cursing, an old foam earplug shot out of the bell.
Update (July 2024): a beginner band student at the UNCG Summer Music Camp said to me "my sister put a car in my tuba right before I left and I still cant get it out." And while the tuba played fine it was bothering me. So on one of their breaks I took the tuba to my shop, pulled the bow off, and got the car out. I told the kid it was my prize, and not it sits on
Favorite quote:
"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner
Sonja's Gallery
