Learning Jazz Piano
I always enjoy teaching my students. We work on melodic line and chord voicing vocabulary, functional harmony in all keys, play on tunes together with me playing basslines on the electric piano, and generally learn, laugh and have a good time. Even if you haven't practiced much or feel tired and uninspired, we will practice together and I guarantee that you'll go home feeling better and wanting to spend time at your piano. I consider inspiring my students to be part of my job.
I help keep my students very organized so that they know how to use their practice time at home. I am extremely organized as well and prepare for every lesson in addition to keeping notes at the lesson so that I know what subjects we've covered each time. Students who have been studying with me for many years are always amazed that I can go back to a lesson date in my notebook from years ago, and see exactly what we did that day!
I also help the students learn how do do their own transcribing of their favorite jazz musicians so that they develop their abilities to listen and understand what they are hearing. Learning to play jazz is, above all else, an incredible ear training. Certainly we constantly study to improve our theoretical knowledge, and become more and more aware of what we are doing within the language of music. But always, it's about listening and finding out what these sounds are, and connecting more and more deeply to our inner ear. And by listening more closely to these fabulous musicians (such as Bill Evans and Miles Davis), they become your teachers too, and their playing becomes more accessible to you.
I am happy to teach people of all levels. My practice includes complete beginners as well as professional musicians and teachers. I also teach jazz vocabulary to other jazz instrumentalists, for example guitarists, horn players and singers. I taught for much of the 1980s in the jazz departments of two conservatories in The Netherlands, where I had small classes of the non-piano players to learn what was titled "Harmony on the Piano." So I've developed many skills to impart jazz vocabulary applied to instruments other than the piano.
I also teach Jazz Piano and Harmony classes at the Berkeley Jazzschool. See their website and catalog for more information. The address is on my "Links" page.
I am also available for one time workshops or presentations to, for example groups of classical teachers who would like to develop more jazz skills for their own teaching practices. "Introduction to Jazz Piano" is a one to two hour lecture/demonstration on the basics of learning a jazz tune from a jazz chart.
I teach Jazz Piano Lessons in my home near Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Alameda, and Piedmont CA.
I am involved with studying and teaching the "Taubman Approach" to piano technique. Briefly, this is an approach that emphasizes a more coordinated use of the fingers and arms, in order to make piano playing feel more natural and comfortable, and to avoid injury. See The Golandsky Institute website for more information. The address is on my "Links" page.
Please feel free to call on the phone or email me if you are interested in lessons and you'd like to discuss more about my way of teaching. My email and phone are on my "contact" page.
I help keep my students very organized so that they know how to use their practice time at home. I am extremely organized as well and prepare for every lesson in addition to keeping notes at the lesson so that I know what subjects we've covered each time. Students who have been studying with me for many years are always amazed that I can go back to a lesson date in my notebook from years ago, and see exactly what we did that day!
I also help the students learn how do do their own transcribing of their favorite jazz musicians so that they develop their abilities to listen and understand what they are hearing. Learning to play jazz is, above all else, an incredible ear training. Certainly we constantly study to improve our theoretical knowledge, and become more and more aware of what we are doing within the language of music. But always, it's about listening and finding out what these sounds are, and connecting more and more deeply to our inner ear. And by listening more closely to these fabulous musicians (such as Bill Evans and Miles Davis), they become your teachers too, and their playing becomes more accessible to you.
I am happy to teach people of all levels. My practice includes complete beginners as well as professional musicians and teachers. I also teach jazz vocabulary to other jazz instrumentalists, for example guitarists, horn players and singers. I taught for much of the 1980s in the jazz departments of two conservatories in The Netherlands, where I had small classes of the non-piano players to learn what was titled "Harmony on the Piano." So I've developed many skills to impart jazz vocabulary applied to instruments other than the piano.
I also teach Jazz Piano and Harmony classes at the Berkeley Jazzschool. See their website and catalog for more information. The address is on my "Links" page.
I am also available for one time workshops or presentations to, for example groups of classical teachers who would like to develop more jazz skills for their own teaching practices. "Introduction to Jazz Piano" is a one to two hour lecture/demonstration on the basics of learning a jazz tune from a jazz chart.
I teach Jazz Piano Lessons in my home near Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Alameda, and Piedmont CA.
I am involved with studying and teaching the "Taubman Approach" to piano technique. Briefly, this is an approach that emphasizes a more coordinated use of the fingers and arms, in order to make piano playing feel more natural and comfortable, and to avoid injury. See The Golandsky Institute website for more information. The address is on my "Links" page.
Please feel free to call on the phone or email me if you are interested in lessons and you'd like to discuss more about my way of teaching. My email and phone are on my "contact" page.