Case Studies
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Musical U Membership
Case Study: Doug H.
After retiring from a career as a physician, Doug suddenly had a great deal of time to explore his potential musicality. While trained and proficient in classical music, he wanted to be able to play without needing the sheet music. A major factor in this was wanting to be able to play simple folk songs for his grandchildren and learn to improvise.
After trying several apps that promised ear training, Doug joined Musical U and says he was immediately surprised by the comprehensive approach that the site employed to teach. Starting off with very simple exercises gave him the confidence and foundation to continue learning more complex skills. The logical flow from one module to the next, along with his progress journal, gave him a clear plan and direction.
Doug can now sit at the piano and confidently play a simple folk tune or Beatles song without needing to rush off to find the sheet music. Being able to play songs and sing with his family is now a source of joy in his musical life. His improvisational skills have greatly improved and he has a firm structure for how he approaches improvisation. Doug says his experiences at Musical U have opened up his eyes to some new ways of thinking about music and performing.
Case Study: Paris S.
Paris is a budding producer and multi-instrumentalist who had become mystified by the attitude many people seemed to have for music, that “you either had it in you or you didn’t”. He would watch musicians performing and wonder how they were able to just get on stage and play with such confidence and presence in the moment. Wanting to explore his own creative side, he sought an answer, a step-by-step method to unlocking his desire to play music.
Upon his initial sign-in to the site, Paris says he was delighted to be greeted by the team and dove straight into his music learning. He was able to set goals and see the course work laid out in a sequential manner. Having real human interaction within the membership was a big deal for him, and helped to inspire years of learning and developing his musicality.
Paris calls Musical U the “center of the musicality universe, a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge”. He says he’s now able to speak in a musical language and communicate freely with other musicians and his instrument teachers. This holistic approach to his music learning has given him the confidence to play with others, continue to learn new styles of music, and to find true happiness as a musician.
Shirley describes herself as a lifelong caretaker, raising many children and caring for foster children. Her house was always a musical house and she was delighted to see the children grow and develop musicality as part of their upbringing. But she was so busy caring for the family that she never had the opportunity to explore her own musical side. Retirement opened up a new chapter and she was able to join a local choir and began to thirst for more knowledge about her newfound passion for creating music.
She said she was drawn to Musical U because of the passion for music that Christopher had. It matched her own! While she initially found the site overwhelming, the Musical U team was able to guide her in the direction that she wanted to take and give her the support that she needed. The clear breakdown of the modules allowed her to review skills that she had already gained while setting a foundation for more difficult and complex music learning as she continued her journey.
Since joining Musical U, she’s made steady progress toward her goals and still revisits previous training to refresh her skills. She’s become more confident in her singing and reflects on her thoughts about playing music with the community. She says that perhaps the most surprising aspect of Musical U was how kind the community is - she’s never heard a single negative word from anyone on the site.
Case Study: Tony R.
Tony developed a passion for recording and allowed other musicians to record in his home studio for years. Along the way, he decided that he’d like to try his hand at playing music and began studying the guitar through a website online. While his technical skills improved on the guitar, he felt that something was missing and began to explore ear training and developing a better instinct for playing music.
Tony first found Musical U through the show Musicality Now and was immediately attracted to the collaborative nature of the team. He said that he could tell that the team genuinely wanted him to learn these skills, and wasn’t just after a financial transaction. The material complemented his guitar lessons and he was able to began applying his new training to real music quickly.
Tony describes himself as not only a Musical U student, but a Musical U fan. He’s continued to develop as a musician and urges others throughout the community. He calls his membership a patronage to the idea that people have the right to learn these skills and become confident and capable musicians. He says the site has given him a lot, and he’s happy to pass along the skills he’s learned to other musicians.
Case Study: Sharilynn H.
Sharilynn is a classically trained musician that moved away from music for a career and to raise her family. While she wasn’t able to play as much as she would have liked during those years, she kept music in her household and knew that one day she would return. The opportunity finally came and she was able to begin playing in a big band as the children got older.
Finding herself playing completely new style of music, Sharilynn knew that she had to develop her listening skills. She first joined Musical U through the course The Musician’s Ear and says she was amazed at the depth of the material and how much it related to her goals. The wide variety of different songs and styles helped her develop active listening quickly and it’s now a skill that she uses on a frequent basis. Eventually, she moved onto the membership site and continued to learn more skills and encourage other musicians throughout the community.
The biggest breakthrough for Sharilynn has been the discovery that she does have a musical ear. While she had previously struggled through ear training at university, she was now able to develop her skills in a step-by-step manner and experience real progress. This gave her the confidence to continue learning and apply the training to her musical life. Being able to pick and choose her learning in a flexible manner with the support of the Musical U team allows her to have never-ending fun and progress with the training.
Case Study: Min F.
Min grew up and lives in China, where she attended primary school and received a basic music education. But she never had the opportunity to play the piano and had a passion for exploring the instrument in her future. After beginning her professional career in the legal industry, she took a leap of faith and purchased her first piano and began looking for a teacher. To her surprise, most of the teachers in her area scoffed at the idea of someone her age just beginning their music education. She was told she was “too old” to learn music and should stop immediately. But she persisted.
After making a new years resolution that 2019 was the year she was going to learn music, she stumbled upon Musical U. She loved the structure that Musical U provided to her music education. She’s now able to improvise and play songs by ear, which has greatly increased her repertoire and ability to play songs for her friends.
The biggest breakthrough for Min was the idea that solfa can be used throughout her musical life. In China, solfa is primarily reserved only for primary school music, and isn’t practiced much outside of school. Solfa has been instrumental in providing Min with a musical foundation that can be used in nearly any musical situation she finds herself in. Min is also immersed within the Musical U community and loves to converse with like-minded adult musicians. She says that Musical U is the “best thing that has happened to her this year”.
"It's rich pickings out there at Musical U. There's a lot of fruit on the tree."
Case Study: Glenn U.
"Every bit of feedback I've ever gotten from any of the instructors has been nothing but encouragement, and everything from the other students as well. It's a really positive atmosphere to learn."
Case Study: Sandra S.
"I actually feel like a musician. I can say that now."
Case Study: Scott K.
Scott has been a musician for most of his life, but music was always just a hobby as he balanced his professional and personal life. His interests have expanded past just playing music, but into recording and writing his own compositions. He came to Musical U to increase his understanding of music and become more confident in his writing.
When coming into Musical U, Scott says he was impressed with having a team of experts ready to help him. He enjoys being able to develop his own plan for music learning which fits what he’s pursuing musically. The informal, un-graded lessons make the experience a welcome break from his career as a professor and more enjoyable.
In addition to growing as a musician, Scott appreciates the friendships that he’s made throughout the website. While before he felt like he was someone that just “tinkered” with music, he now confidently states that he is a musician. He says it’s been a wonderful experience and he looks forward to continuing to become the musician that he wants to be.
"The difference is not "the app" but the stuff around it. If you're just using an app, you're more or less on your own."
Case Study: Oli F.
"An eye-opening journey so far..."
Case Study: R.J.
R.J. had experimented with music in his youth, playing the clarinet and guitar. His family was very supportive of his interest in music, but his music education was derailed by his father’s overseas assignment. Instead of pursuing music further, R.J. became an engineer and raised his family.
R.J. encouraged his children to learn music, and in turn they urged their father to resume his music studies. After buying a guitar one holiday, he realized that there were things his children understood about music that seemed foreign to him. They were quick to point him in the right direction and he discovered that there was a whole world of music that he hadn’t been exposed to yet.
Since joining Musical U, R.J. says he has found that the "dots are connecting" and he’s gained a greater understanding of the world of music. He’s not content to just play music - his training as an engineer requires that he understands what’s going on with the music. R.J. says this has been an incredibly rewarding experience and he looks forward to studying music for as long as he can. He looks forward to a continued exploration into music and expressing his musicality on the guitar and other instruments.
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Case Studies
Case Study: Charlie A.
Case Study: Christine P.
Christine is a flautist, pianist, and singer. She shares that she had always thought of the way you learn to sing was by hearing the tune played to you, and the way you learned to play music on an instrument was by reading the music.
The thought of just being able to look at the notes, and know how the music was supposed to sound was completely foreign to her.
It wasn’t until she was in her forties that she realized that were all these other musicians that could “audiate” from the page, that this was something that people could just do. She says “The idea of ‘fundamentals’ of music, of being able to understand how music is put together at a very basic level and how to know, either by listening to music or by reading it on the page, to understand what that means really at a deep musical level, really appealed to me.”
For Christine, the course was about learning to hear music. Learning to recognize patterns in the sounds and relations between notes in a way that lets me work things out by ear much easier than just “This note, this note. Nope, that’s wrong. This note, this note. Nope, that’s wrong.” She says that the community aspect – learning that you’re not alone in this, and that other musicians were going through the same thing that you’re struggling with – was “so freeing”.
"Now I have this vastly increased understanding... Big smile!"
Case Study: David W.
David was never “a musician” even though he has always appreciated music as a listener. From a young age, he was told that he couldn’t sing, which has resulted in him forever avoiding singing in front of people. Before the course, he was careful to never sing or express his inner musicality in front of other people.
He was interested in Foundations because he had heard of Kodály before starting the training. He thought it seemed interesting, and a way to finally break through the many barriers that had been placed in front of his musical development in the past.
“I’m self employed and heading toward 60. I’m starting to think about how to wind down slightly. I do think maybe I’ll have a bit more time, maybe I would like to do a bit more than just listen to the music and increase my understanding of things. I’m a lifelong learner.”
He is continuously interested in pursuing this, even though it has eluded him up until now. He appreciates that this method has allowed him to “see the melodic contour of music”. And, best of all, the singing material included has resulted in him starting to sing for the first time ever. Overall he says that he has made tremendous improvements in his musicality and looks forward to continuing.
Case Study: Zac B.
Zac has been playing music his whole life, including multiple different instruments before discovering his love for DJing and production. What he likes the most about his musical journey is that he’s been able to use a variety of instruments and didn’t have to focus on just one. In the same way he likes to explore various genres of music and takes a holistic approach to listening to and learning music.
He says that enrolling in the Foundations course was a gut reaction for him. He had been a member of Musical U prior to enrolling and said he has really came to love this approach to learning music. So when he heard about Foundations he was immediately excited and says didn’t need to give the decision much thought.
Since going through the material, he’s discovered that this has created a new way for him to fully internalize music and the music is able to flow more naturally from him. Music theory became fun, and learning all the various techniques and exercises was “fun, easy, and amazing”.
One of the biggest breakthroughs was that musical ideas began to make more sense and connect. He was able to take musical activities that seemed to be separate before, and incorporate them all into his musicality.
Zac notes that other courses tend to separate composing, improvising, rhythm, singing, etc… but this course combined them in a way that he had never experienced before.
Going forward he’s learning ways that he can be more productive in his music practice. While it may seem counterintuitive to do more steps when learning music, or slow it down, he says these extra steps to learning music get a musician to their end point much faster than the way he had been learning.
Full Disclosure: We were so impressed with Zac’s contributions through the discussions in the course that we’re pleased to say we have since invited him to become a member of the Musical U team and help provide support to future members and course students. Zac purchased the Foundations course as a regular customer and provided this feedback and case study video before any employment was discussed.
Case Study: Steve L.
Steve has a long and varied musical background. He had a negative experience in primary school that made him decide that maybe music wasn’t something for him, even though he enjoyed it. As an adult learner, he’s found learning to be intimidating and disjointed. In his life generally he’s already a very technical person, but he ran into problems when he was trying to connect these various skills he learned about to his actual instrument.
Nothing was able to fill the gap between learning musicality skills and actually creating music.
Steve saidthat the Foundations course seemed to say all the things that he had been searching for. A way to internalize music and just be able to know it. “Forget all the theory and the technical chops, to actually be musical”.
As he started the course, he was at first surprised by the simplicity of the songs. But as the course developed he was amazed at just how musical these very simple songs were. And by stripping away the complexity of the music he was able to discover more about phrases, melodies, and rhythms in a way that had never been possible before.
Moving forward, Steve says he’s learned that you can take this method and techniques to get information from any music, and that this process of learning and experimenting with music is something that’s going to stay with him.
One of the major benefits that he discovered was learning music by actually playing with it, rather than staying within technical definitions. Everything in music had seemed circular for him, as everything was defined in terms of itself or another technical concept. He’s now discovered that music theory is just a way to describe the music, and is still important – but not the starting point for him any more. Learning all of the concepts and songs was more of an experience, and he’s finally been able to experience the music in a way that he never had before.
Full Disclosure: Somewhat hilariously, we've since ended up hiring Steve too! As with Zac, he purchased the Foundations course as a regular customer and provided this feedback and case study video long before any employment was discussed.
Case Study: Ian H.
Ian is a retired music school teacher who had been playing music his entire life. He’s a great believer that everything in music can be taught, and that musicianship is something that is accessible to all learners. He came to Musical U and the Foundations course because he had always wanted to follow up on his musicianship training.
Since joining MU, Ian has been impressed by the systematic way that musical learning is approached. The Foundations course appealed to him because it was built around the methods of Kodály, which he was already familiar with.
He saw the course as a way to refresh his existing knowledge and kick himself back into action. Ideally, to be able to teach aural skills to his students. After years of teaching and having the answers right in front of him at all times, he saw this as an opportunity to challenge himself, improve his skills, and go further.
Ian shares that one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course was that he was encouraged to listen to music in a progressive way, building upon the musical ideas without becomign overwhelmed.
“This is a structured method that is not only useful while learning in the course, but can be applied to everyday music and practice sessions. It makes more music accessible, even if it’s not something that they thought they could handle. It’s a very empowering method that will enable the learner to become better than the teacher at some point.”
As a music teacher, this was always his goal and he finds great joy in his students progressing to the point where they no longer need his instruction.
Ian says “Whatever the skill it is that you want to pick up, you need to develop listening skills, you need to develop musicianship skills. And Musical U and Foundations of a Musical Mind are very good at giving you the foundations and the confidence to go ahead and do that.”
Nancy had spent her entire life caring for her husband and children, but always felt that music was a part of her and something that she wanted to explore. As the children grew up and left the house, she was inspired to begin her music education when she hear the melodic tones of the dulcimer. She is now deeply involved in the dulcimer community and has helped to provide 60 instruments to local schools so that children can also learn and appreciate the instrument and style of music.
She first joined Musical U because she wanted to strengthen her ability to play songs by ear. Prior to this, Nancy relied on tablature to learn and play songs, which was limiting when playing with groups of musicians at the dulcimer rendezvous she loved to attend. She said Foundations of a Musical Mind was appealing to her because it was a set schedule of music learning, which would give her the structure and direction that she needed to gain a deeper understanding of music.
Nancy said she now feels more confident in her playing and is able to learn songs more quickly on her instrument. It’s allowed her to play more naturally, where before she always felt a bit robotic in her playing. Exploring and using her voice has been a wonderful breakthrough, and wasn’t something that she felt she would be able to do prior to the course. And even though she hasn’t met any other dulcimer players on the course, the commonality of music learning and foundations have allowed her to become more musical on the instrument and play with confidence.
Case Study: Marc G.
"This isn't like a test or exam, that I need to translate this sheet music...
It's stress-free... Freedom and joy."
Case Study: Min F.
Case Study: Kerry B.
Kerry has been playing piano most of her life and earns a living a piano and music teacher in Australia. All throughout her professional education, she felt like she was never quite up to par with the other students in the class. Like there was something that they were able to instinctively do that wasn’t quite available to her yet. She continued learning and playing, building her career along the way.
She became interested in the Foundations course to learn new ways that she could present music topics like ear training and theory to her students. She had heard of the Kodály method before, but had never formally practiced or studied with any Kodály instructors. While she joined to learn more for her teaching, Kerry was pleasantly surprised to discover new skills that she could also add to her own repertoire.
What struck Kerry as the most important thing was the structure and pacing of the course. It wasn’t overwhelming and never made a student feel like they didn’t have what it takes. The materials and the Musical U Team where inclusive and supportive of the students, which Kerry says has been hard to find in online music classes. She looks forward to implementing some of the new skills she’s acquired into her own teaching and continuing to study more about this method of teaching in the future.
Case Study: Thuy B.
Thuy had studied music from an early age, singing and playing the piano as a young girl in Vietnam. She studied vocal music while at university in Ho Chi Minh, but eventually left school to pursue a career. While she left music behind formally, she felt like something was missing from her life and wanted to return whenever possible.
After life circumstances resulted in her having some spare time on her hand, she found Musical U through the podcast Musicality Now. She enrolled in Foundations of a Musical Mind after discovering that there was a different way of learning music than anything she had ever done before.
The Foundations course quickly refreshed the music education that Thuy had been first exposed to in primary school. In her mind, it was as those she had never taken a break from learning. She was soon exploring new music and concepts that she had never been exposed to before with confidence and joy. Music is now a daily part of Thuy’s life and she’s found that it makes her happier in everything else that she does. Thuy looks forward to continuing to study with Musical U and expanding her musical repertoire.
Case Study: Stanley A.
Stanley has found a great calling in his retirement, exploring the possibilities on his guitar and playing for worship services. He and his wife perform together on a regular basis and love the impact that music has on their lives nearly every day. While he doesn’t have a teacher, he’s found online learning to be a great way to supplement his self-study and continue moving forward.
Prior to the course, he felt like there was some missing pieces in his musicality that he wanted to explore. Like many, he had the impression that music was something that some just had “within them” and that this root understanding of music wasn’t something that could just be developed.
Stanley really enjoyed the discussions within the course and interacting with the other people in the course. Having expert support from the Musical U team made a big difference in his understanding of the material. He enjoys the philosophy of Musical U and feels empowered to continue his musical journey.
Case Study: Laura D.
Case Study: Iddo O.
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Case Study: Linda G.
Case Study: Yelena S.
Yelena grew up in Ukraine and was exposed to the rigid structures of the former Soviet Union educational institutions at a young age. This led to her feel like she was missing something and was never capable of musical expression, especially with her voice. After immigrating to the United States and pursuing a professional career, she finally returned to music after taking a class on sight-singing while in graduate school.
Eventually she would find a vocal teacher that truly connected with her passion for music and was able to pull the music from her. She never felt so excited about her musical progress! But still she felt like something was missing and found the Foundations course. She was surprised to learn that her vocal teacher taught many of the same things to youth learners, but had assumed she had already been through this type of training.
Yelena has really enjoyed taking a beginner's mind and revisiting many of the concepts that she missed during her initial music education. She feels a new sense of purpose and is no longer shy about singing around others. The connection between the written notes and sound of the songs has never been clearer in her mind. Yelena looks forward to continuing her studies with a new foundation to build upon.
Case Study: Lisa L.
Lisa began playing the piano at an early age and even started studying music at university. Eventually life got in the way and she put aside music for several years to start her career and raise a family. Seeing the children start their own music lessons reignited her passion for music and she eagerly began her studies once again.
She joined Musical U when she realized that many of the musical skills like improvising and playing by ear were learnable. After diving into the material, she felt like something was missing, a foundation of her own musical understanding. After learning about the Foundations course, she eagerly dived into the training and was thrilled to uncover so many hidden aspects of music that she hadn’t realized before.
Lisa really enjoyed the experience inside the Foundations course. Anne’s instruction were a breath of fresh air and the step-by-step process had a familiarity to it that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Breaking down the music through the course has given Lisa a new ownership and appreciation for music learning. She feels like music is now a part of her and she’s able to confidently express herself on multiple instruments. Now that she’s completed the course, she has begun writing and recording her own songs. It’s been a very satisfying experience for Lisa and she looks forward to continuing to learn and improve her musical abilities.
Case Study: Charlotte W.
Charlotte had just began to play music before coming to Musical U. She had always wanted to play a musical instrument, but realized that she really didn’t know anything about music. It seemed like a natural choice to begin studying with Musical U because she wanted to think more like a musician. When practicing, she often felt like she was just piecing things together rather than having a system for learning music.
Since she was starting her music learning, Charlotte felt like she was in the exact right place in the Foundations course. She said the material was easy to grasp and gave her an underpinning for her musical knowledge. The interactive nature of the course was very enjoyable and allowed her to really get involved in the course. She said that it felt like she was more connected to the music and able to experience it in a deeper, more meaningful way.
After just six weeks, Charlotte feels like she’s made so much progress. Her understanding of music has fundamentally changed and she’s delighted to think that learning music can be full of joy and not just “hard work”. She doesn’t feel stuck in her music learning anymore. Charlotte now sees just how much there is out there that she can’t wait to discover, and she that the journey will be filled with fun and joy. For the first time, she can confidently saw that she’s “a musician”. Music learning is a journey, not a destination and she’ll be enjoying every step of the way.
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Case Studies
Case Study: Mark B.
Mark studied oboe and clarinet early in his life, even performing in symphony orchestras while studying at Yale. He had a deep connection to classical music that continued into his adulthood even though he stopped studying and performing on his instrument. As he began a professional career, he felt as though he wouldn’t be satisfied with performing as an amateur.
After retiring from his profession, Mark suddenly had more time on his hand and began slowly picking up music again to pass the time. He quickly became enamored with the progress that he was making and thoroughly enjoyed what he was able to do with his music. But still he felt like there was some formal structure missing from his musicality. He first joined the Ear Training for Beginners course to start learning more about this skill.
What Mark found was that the structure of the course was perfect for his goals and he was inspired to continue learning on a deeper level. The course unearthed a sense of curiosity and exploration that he didn’t have before. The biggest improvement that Mark noticed was that he no longer has to think so intently on what he’s playing, as everything seems to come intuitively and naturally while performing.
Case Study: Thuy B.
Thuy had studied music from an early age, singing and playing the piano as a young girl in Vietnam. She studied vocal music while at university in Ho Chi Minh, but eventually left school to pursue a career. While she left music behind formally, she felt like something was missing from her life and wanted to return whenever possible.
After life circumstances resulted in her having some spare time on her hand, she found Musical U through the podcast Musicality Now. She enrolled in Ear Training for Beginners after her joy and curiosity about music was rejuvenated through other opportunities that Musical U had created.
Thuy had never studied ear training formally before, but quickly found that she was able to make a connection between the intervals and solfa to the music that she was learning. She became more curious about exploring all the aspects of music learning and has now made music a daily part of her life. Thuy looks forward to continuing to study with Musical U and being part of the community of musicians that makes up the platform.
Case Study: Peter B.
Case Study: Johannes S.
Johannes began playing guitar at an early age, picking up popular tunes from the 70’s rock and folk scene. However, in his formal music education he was labeled as a child who “lacked talent” so he never saw himself formally as a musician. As his children grew, he would play music with them and continued to explore new genres of music. Playing almost entirely by ear, he became skilled at transcribing the tunes he would play.
After being put on lockdown due to COVID-19, Johannes began exploring the various masterclasses put on by Musical U and found that he wasn’t alone in how he thought about music. Much of the baggage that he had been carrying since primary school was suddenly lifted as he heard highly skilled musicians talk about overcoming their adversities. He joined Musical U shortly after to continue developing his musicality.
In Ear Training for Beginners, Johannes found that he was able to hear music in a different way. Solfa transformed the way he experienced music, he was able to understand how intervals functioned in the music that he was learning and see the patterns. By the end of the course, he was revisiting music that he learned decades ago and seeing new colors. As he says: “It was like seeing a picture in color for the first time that I had only seen black and white before.”
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Case Studies
Case Study: Andrea N.
Case Study: Sandra S.
Case Study: Sharilynn H.
Sharilynn is a lifelong musician that studied flute performance at university and was on track for a career as a professional flautist. A growing interest in engineering steered her towards a different career and the time that she was able to spend on the instrument became less and less frequent. But she never lost her love for music.
After a successful career and raising a family, Sharilynn found herself called back to playing music in the most unlikely of genres; jazz. Her previous experiences playing and studying classical music had not prepared her for improvisation, listening across the ensemble or playing from a lead sheet. But she was determined to continue to grow as a musician and expand her repertoire.
Since taking The Musician’s Ear, Sharilynn has found her knowledge of this and other forms of music to be more complete. She now loves to play in the jazz band and has even found a greater connection to her son’s music. The doors have been swung open and she’s enjoying being a musician more than she ever was in the past. Sharilynn is now performing on a regular basis, teaching music lessons, and loving every minute of her newfound musicality.
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Case Studies
Case Study: Harry P.
Case Study: Hugh M.
Case Study: RJ S.
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Case Studies
Case Study: Chuck L.
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