Thanks for being here. For me, it all comes down to this question: How can I help you become a better pianist?
If there’s something specific you don’t understand about a piece of music you’re playing, feel free to send me an email about it. (If you wish, you can simply reply to this email with your question.) I’ll be happy to explain it if I can!
Or maybe you’ve been playing piano at the same level for years and want to finally play better. I can help you with this as well, either through my video course or with lessons on Skype.
Is there a specific style you’ve always wanted to learn?
When I became serious about playing piano, as a teenager, my musical heroes were Chick Corea, Frank Zappa, and Rick Wakeman. What these musicians had in common was that they played all styles, from jazz to classical to rock, and they incorporated it all in their music. Often in the same song!
I naturally assumed that this is just “what musicians do” and it wasn’t until I later went to college that I realized that not every musician could improvise, let along play in all the various genres. Wow – that was a big surprise!
This well-rounded interest in learning musical styles served me well in my professional life, and enabled me to fit right in everywhere from Broadway and Carnegie Hall to the Blue Note jazz club. It’s all the same to me in that I love music and I get invigorated by meeting mew musicians and being in new musical situations.
About 15 years ago I decided to begin turning down some of my professional performing jobs in order to be home during the evening with my kids, and I began teaching piano more. At first, I taught privately in my neighborhood and at a local school. Then, in April 2012, I was parked in my car on East 64th Street in Manhattan, waiting for 6:00pm when the daily parking meters expired for the night, and I suddenly had a vision of teaching online. Three months later, KeyboardImprov.com was born!
That’s why I asked “How can I help you become a better pianist? I’m devoting this part of my life to helping everyone who’s interested in becoming better at playing the music they love. That’s what I enjoy doing.
A few weeks ago, a mother emailed me to ask where she could get some jazz sheet music for her teenage daughter, who was beginning to play in a school jazz group. It only took me about 5 minutes to so some quick research for her, and I probably saved her about an hour trying to figure it out for herself. The problem with the internet is that there’s so much information out there, that it’s difficult to sort through it all and see what’s relevant (and correct!) and what’s not.
If I can help you with your music in any way, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
Good luck, enjoy the journey, and “let the music flow!”
Ron
PS – If you’ve ever struggled with a sticky key on your piano, here’s how to deal with it in a musically creative way:
Equinox: Journey Through The Real Book #110
Learn the 5 Essential Left Hand Techniques with my free ebook: Left Hand Techniques for Jazz Piano
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