The Lake Shore Music Studio

The is the archive video of the first Lake Shore Music Studio virtual recital.

Students recorded their performances then we edited them into a roughly 40 minute progam which is repeated three time on this version.

If you enjoy this then be sure to look for part two originally broadcast live on Make Musc Chicago Day June 21, 2020.

My busy Saturday online teaching line up also included a few extras.

It started by watching former student Drake Faso’s graduation from Berklee College of Music, after which I popped in to his family Zoom celebration party for a quick congratulation, before heading back into my next student’s Facetime lesson.

After finishing my full day of 11 online lessons with my lively and eager students, I grabbed a snack and lemonade and kicked back to enjoy former student Steven Solomon’s happy hour and Piano Therapy concert LIVE on Youtube from his home in LA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm88GzjNDV4

Then Reno and I finished up the day with a LIVE premiere screening of a film in which former student Jordan Balagot’s original composition was featured followed by a LIVE Zoom Q and A post movie get together with the film makers.

Along the way, I checked my texts and found my nephew (who grew up in Cleveland but attended my Camp Allegro summer program for many years) had sent a youtube video he had recorded for a friend demonstrating how to easily play along with a favorite pop song.

What an exhilarating music filled online day!
I thought about these particular students, each of whom had shared similar characteristics and been an inspiration for the next, as they were growing up. What made them stand out as musicians?

The answer was they each played music because it was fun. They not only played the piano but they played around with their music. They played all the time – not necessarily what I assigned. In addition to taking advantage of all of our summer camps and special projects, from elementary school on, they signed up for music theory classes, band, chorus and small musical ensembles. They volunteered to play for school plays, gathered with friends outside school to make music, took advantage of every musical opportunity in elementary school and beyond including Saturday jazz classes, master classes, choruses, camps, and other events. All four of them began playing in public out in the world at a young age at restaurants and for parties, gathering on-the-job experience as they went. They are each versatile in their musical explorations, including a variety of instruments and vocal techniques, and they enjoyed creating their own music.

I cannot take credit for their success. Their knowledge and accomplishment in their fields goes far beyond my scope of expertise. The lions’ share of credit goes to their specialized teachers and mentors and excellent university education and to their own creativity, talent, hard work and gumption. But I like to think I planted a seed or generally encouraged their love of music.

How I directly influenced their success is by teaching them early to play in all keys, about the structure of chords and how to use them, understanding music theory concepts and terms so that they were quick to pick up what other instructors and clinicians were presenting, welcomed their improvising and gave them knowledge of styles to improvise in including the 12 bar blues, pentatonic music and bass styles such as waltz, alberti bass, etc., encouraged them to “play” with music, then presented the idea that musical concepts can be manipulated in infinite ways. I welcomed their musical expressions in whatever style they chose. Most importantly, I taught them that music is fun!

Drake always asked after playing the pieces he was assigned, “may I play the piece I wrote?” “Of course” was my enthusiastic answer.
Steven begged to learn “Take the A Train” after hearing it on a recording in a store. “Of course,” was my enthusiastic response, as I reached for the registration form to put him in our local MTNA Jazz Festival.

Jordan, after being the first of our students to explore our new midi sound modules and sequencing programs, immediately went out and bought the same equipment, leaving me in the dust forever after.

The way we began when they were 4 and 5 years old became their outlook on music for life.

Not all of my students will, or have become musicians by profession but many have reported that they include music as part of their lives in addition to their profession or vocation.

My nephew didn’t directly study with me but attended my music piano camp yearly in the summer and picked up many of these teaching concepts. He is now a principal at a middle school and just received his doctorate in education. He has used his piano skills to direct and accompany the school musicals and holiday singalongs as well as entertain his own three young girls with their favorite Disney songs.

As a young teen and college student, composing songs and playing with friends in coffee houses provided much needed emotional support and release and, incidentally, allowed him to catch the attention of a beautiful young woman who became his wife, and mother of those three beautiful young girls he plays for.
Another beloved student, recently graduated from Cal Tech, loves tackling Beethoven Sonatas and sight reading classical repertoire for relaxation.

As a piano teacher I do not consider that I am simply training people to play the piano or to become musicians. I like to think that I am training them to think, to express themselves creatively, and to use what they have learned to relax, in what can be an increasingly stressful world as they get older, and just have fun.