Blueprintsforpiano.com

Introduction: I teach music how any language is best acquired: interact with native speakers, learn figures of speech, cliches, idioms, how to think for yourself, you basically figure it out on the fly and shortly thereafter graduate to reading and writing. Make sense? Music is almost universally taught backwards: get a book, try to interpret symbols on a piece of paper concisely to sound like a native speaker, sound out a language you don't speak nor understand, your input disregarded, often impolitely. You basically cede your autonomy to follow orders, obey without question and do what you're told via the printed page. With me, you will learn to read and acquire many other skills to bring forth your own ideas and have a lot of fun, even laughing at the errors, the clumsiness. Mistakes? So what? Who cares? Big deal! They're gone in an instant. We adapt, adjust, learn, move on. I'm also a composer, my style being what you hear in my videos and audio samples. I'm not a slave to the printed page and that's your future as well if you follow my lead. It's my belief that a teacher should do more than just morph students into playback machines, their sole purpose being to perform someone else's music, impressive as it may be. But what if a student has creative tendencies? Do you quash them and tell the kid, "No, just play what's on the page?" It's disrespectful, insulting and it won't ever happen with me. Just because the teacher is limited and won't admit it doesn't mean that the student should be locked down. I foster creativity, free thinking and going with any musical idea that may arise. That's how I do things and being musically literate, I experiment, develop my ideas, orchestrate, write my own charts and I'll show you how to be as independent as I am. It's good to be free, to have options. Two of my compositions are on YouTube: Danimal's Waltz and At First Light. My style is a combination of everything I've heard and analyzed. As a promotion, I'm making available Blueprints #1 through #4 at no cost to you. After getting through BP#4, you'll be so far out of kindergarten that you won't be able to see it through your rearview mirror. I've done the math and the duration of all 4 video lessons is 33:33. These are my gifts to you. Take your time, assimilate the material and contact me when you're ready to go. I tried to put Blueprint #1 on the video section here but because the internet is weird at times, you have to go to my homepage to find it. Go figure. Piano, being the gateway instrument, will be part of your education if you decide to study flute, bass guitar, saxophone and/or trumpet with me. Without knowledge of piano, theory, how things work, the nuts and bolts of music, you'll be operating at a severe disadvantage. I liken it to horses at the race track wearing blinders, convinced that their worldview is the only one. I was a flute major at Duquesne University, piano minor and played alto sax in one of the jazz ensembles. I've worked in the classical world, the jazz world and the numerous offshoots. Picked up bass guitar after college, played in a couple of dance/funk bands and taught myself trumpet to play Sundae Punch, a tune I specifically composed for that instrument. Go the the audio page on my website to get a good idea of my capabilities. My fees: $130 per month for one 30-minute per week -- $250 for one 60-minute lesson per week, payment due the first of each month. My guarantee is that you won't stay in kindergarten forever. Freedom is within your grasp. RSVP at your earliest convenience.