FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I require pre-payment for all lessons except the first. Lesson fees are paid for in advance at the conclusion of the last lesson of the month (for example, April’s lessons are paid for at the end of the last lesson in March). I accept payment electronically, via check, or in cash, though I prefer Venmo, Apple Pay or Zelle.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
We hit the ground running at the first lesson! Often we'll chat on the phone for a while beforehand. I'm always available via text or phone call on my cell.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Well, here's my bio: Ryan Patrick Murphy is the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Barnabas the Apostle Catholic Church in O’Fallon, Missouri, where he serves as organist, choirmaster, and cantor and provides music for Lauds and Mass in the Traditional Roman Rite every week. He recently completed a term as Interim Organist of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, during which he played for over fifteen bishops, Carlo Maria Viganò, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou. Mr. Murphy has also served as the Organist, Choirmaster, and Cantor of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and of St. John’s Lutheran Church of Highland, also in Pittsburgh. He was an organist and cantor at the St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh and has performed as an organist in six states and the District of Columbia. In 2011 he came in third in the Rodgers North American Classical Organ Competition and was a winner of the 2005 Duquesne University Concerto Competition, playing Dimitri Shostakovich’s second piano concerto. Mr. Murphy is the founder of the Schola Cantorum of the Pittsburgh Oratory, a Gregorian chant choir that performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck. Ryan has studied chant with Scott Turkington, William Mahrt, Fr. Stephen Concordia, and Dom Daniel Saulnier in Solesmes, France. He served as the Gregorian chant faculty member at the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Choir Camp from 2015 through 2017. Mr. Murphy has a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Cleveland State University, where he studied with Horst Buchholz. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Duquesne University, where he studied with Natasha Snitkovsky. He teaches piano, organ, and voice privately to about forty students throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. A Colleague of the American Guild of Organists, he enjoys cycling, golfing, dancing, and reading in his free time. Ryan lives in St. Charles, Missouri with his wife Kelsey, daughter Cecily, and son coming in November 2022.