Clarkston, MI Piano Lessons

The student should have his/her own instrument, so they can practice regularly.

*** Specialties ***
Gospel, Classical, Pop, Inspirational, Sacred, Wedding, etcetera

Visit her website at http://melodysons.musicteachershelper.com

usic to help you find your own voice.
When you find your voice, the rest of you is not far behind.

We help people to overcome any fears they may have about playing. We simply help you to find your confidence. Many people are afraid to express themselves because of negative comments from a family member or friend. We help you move far past that and get to your own voice, free of worries.

It has been said that playing only from sheet music is like only being able to talk when you are reading it from a book.

We help people to play and sing by ear.

Yes, learning to read music brings you wonderful music from some great composers. But there is so much more.

First, we find out how you learn and what you are interested in. Life is just different when you get in touch with the music inside you. Sure, it is some work, but it is very satisfying!
I love to help people do this!

All that said, reading musical notes is like your alphabet.
When was the last time you had to ponder the alphabet when you wanted to speak? Once you know the alphabet, you just forget it and move on, to words, stories and communication.
Music is a language as well.

Everybody loves music. How will you find yours? It’s different for everyone.
Maybe you want to sing like that great pop singer you love, or play keyboard. Some people write songs. In all cases, the keyboard helps you to understand all about music.

Bach used to improvise all the time. Why shouldn't you?

SONGWRITERS:
If you write songs, just bring in an idea and we will record it. We set a tempo and a key, and get your basic groove looped, all in about two minutes. Then we lay down the chords and a bass part and you sing a reference vocal. You can easily lay out a song in a one-hour session. Then it is easy to see how to produce it. It is amazing to go home with a recording of your song that did not exist in the world until you gave it a voice!

Along the way, you become a better writer, singer and/or keyboard player. You will learn to play by ear. And have a LOT of fun. You can do this online too.

ONLINE SESSIONS
You create a rough sketch and we track it, with your input.
We can help you to set up your own songwriter studio as well. If you get Logic software at your end, you can put on phones and cut a vocal with me producing you.
Seriously, great fun.
;0)

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
“...an amazing instructor...inspiring mentor...compassionate.”
“...a lot of patience.”
“My son's love for music has come from Randy.”
“...positive attitude and friendly personality.”
“...wildly entertaining.”
“ ...will teach you in a way that will make you want to learn.”
“We look forward to our lesson every week!”

"Randy, I like your "Semper Method of Music” teaching method.
It's applying knowledge with fun, and common sense... the best combination. Good luck. You’re a great musician."
Joe Messina,
Motown recording guitarist & Funk Brother

SONGLab
Your music. Instantly.
We use recording as a powerful tool to help you listen and improve.
Tired of crappy tabs? Struggling to capture your song? No worries.
Learn a process, instead of a lesson. Apply it anywhere.

Go from musical idea to music, fast.
Get to the groove in 2 minutes or less. In any software.

SONGLab Studio. The antidote to rote.

SCHEDULING:
Please note: If the particular time you had in mind is listed as unavailable, don’t worry. Between working online and two locations, I am very flexible and will work hard to make our schedules click.

SPECIAL NEEDS?
Everyone's needs are special. If your child has been diagnosed ADHD or ASD, music can be a joyful and rewarding way to see real growth and make a wonderful experience for parent and child. We help with the Proprioceptive and Vestibular senses in a fun and therapeutic way.

Just Google "BrainVolts" for a tremendous study from Northwestern University on the amazing effects of music study!

Playing by Ear
Pretty much everyone can play by ear. So we help you to find your own voice, reach your musical goals and to create and perform music as a real and beautiful part of your life.

Making music should not be a boring job. Rather, it should be something you can't wait to do. A way to get in touch with the rest of the universe. You will also learn to read and write, but it won't get in the way of your music.

Since a very young age I have loved to improvise and to create music. It is very satisfying to pass this on to others who are full of music inside but may not know how to get it out. If you wish that you or your child could get some help creating your own music as well as playing the great music already written, perhaps we should be talking.

I am from Canada, and I have been a professional musician since 1970. I studied music performance in school, piano with the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and Music Education at Queens University. I have toured with national acts, produced dozens of recordings of all kinds and played, arranged and conducted music on cruise ships all over the world.

Music is my life. Bringing other people's skills to a higher level is what I do best.

Tell me what you want to accomplish, either for yourself or your child. I look forward to speaking with you.
Warm regards,
Randy

PS:
A note about allergens:
I teach online and at my home and my studio. At home we have two very friendly dogs and a cat (Julian) who sleeps all day. If you have allergies, we will study at the Troy studio which is allergen-free. Unless you love animals. In that case, you will get to meet Vinnie & Buddy, the two most kid-friendly, loves-everybody, most gentle little guys you will ever meet. I put Vinnie's picture up so you can see him.

Teaching teachers
Several excellent teachers I know who have been teaching music for many years were frustrated by not being able to play without a sheet of music. They have found satisfying and positive results from this approach.

Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? In fact... It turns out that choices lead to habits.
Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts.
You're not born this way, you get this way.
~ Seth Godin

*** Lesson Details ***

Music should be fun. Period.

My only real job is to make sure you have fun and want to learn more. Then you will do the rest. you will astonish yourself and everyone around you!

In a traditional music education, reading the works of others is the focus, with no encouragement to improvise or to play by ear.

In our community, there is a prestigious, private college prep school that charges just under $80 per hour for traditional private music lessons. If you take away the music, most cannot play a note.

My method is every bit the equal of that school for those who are drawn to express themselves playing by ear. You will still learn all the core skills needed to be a well-rounded musician.

Music study helps people young and old to overcome shyness and build confidence. It empowers them as they refine their special talents.

We will always have a lot of fun, but there is a lot to do, so we need to be efficient. My teaching method is a combination of the best methods I have found. It is backed up with the same solid principles that I received when I was a student myself. If you choose to continue and pursue a classical education at a high level, you will be well-prepared.

Please note:
You are most welcome to start with 30 minute sessions to see if we are a good fit. 30 min lessons are offered for this purpose and also for very young children with short attention spans. For any student, wishing to make progress, lessons will eventually need to be an hour or 45 minutes at minimum in order to reach your goals.

Attendance
While fun is our main goal, we need results and I am an old-school stickler for results.

Weekly sessions are the only way to get measurable results, and the only way I teach. Two absences a month is noted by colleges as a clear path to dropping out. That is what bi-weekly sessions will do.

Though you'll receive serious critiques from me, I always uplift and encourage. Positive energy is the ticket.

My Method:
Listen, Sing, Clap, Play, Read and Write. With these tools you can look deeper into the elements that make up music. Folk, jazz, pop, rock or classical; all Western music is derived from the same principles. We will study ear training from a wonderful ear training book by a famous guitarist. It'™s simple: you learn all the theory so you will be at the top of your game, but always have fun doing it.
For notation, we will use The Semper Note Speller.
For scales, we have the famous Brown Scale Book.

Technology
We use recording as a tool to help you hear how you sound and we always encourage you to express yourself with improvisation. In many cases, you will have tracks to practice with. We also use apps for your phone that really help. A guitar tuner to nail down vocal pitch, as well as a metronome app that is with you wherever you go. If you have a minute anywhere you can get in some good practice time. So we truly have the best of all worlds: playing from music and learning to play by ear! If you stick with it and do the work, the end result will be that you can always just sit down and play, whether or not you have any music in front of you!

On our first lesson we will do a duet jam session together and you will not believe how great you sound!

The Big Picture
In the old days, a tiny percentage of students would become a concert pianist.

Today, there are a multitude of other ways to become involved with music. Whether you are looking at music as a profession or as a hobby, we let parents know of the many choices available so that they can make good decisions, for themselves and for their children.

Having fun as you improve is a big priority. I also teach songwriting, singing, music recording and performance, as well as piano.

Remember:
A piano should be an irresistible invitation, not an obstacle.

*** Studio Equipment ***
Troy studio: A digital keyboard in a professional recording control-room environment at our media production studio. The studio is near Big Beaver and Stephenson Hwy.

Home studio: An acoustic piano and recording studio environment at my home in Franklin/Beverly Hills.

Your Instrument
If you are taking any kind of music lesson, we recommend a tuned piano or digital keyboard, preferably with at least 76 full-sized keys.

We have helped many people to find the right piano.
If you like, I can suggest several different models of keyboard that I have researched and of which I approve. They range from an inexpensive but effective starter keyboard for ear training and just plain fun to an 88 note weighted keyboard for more expressive practice.

*** Specialties ***
Adults who always wanted to.
Homeschoolers who are frustrated.
Kids who just love music.

My youngest student is 4 and my oldest student is 102 now. )At 100 he recorded an album of songs from the 1920s!)

I teach people of all ages first to play by ear and to have fun while they study. Then I back up ear training with solid theory so they can read and write music. In school I studied many traditional methods and I have distilled my own distinct method from them. Though I am classically trained, I specialize in improvisation.
Here's to a most satisfying musical experience!
Best regards,
Randy

bilities through voice and piano and to prepare future performers and teachers as well."

*** Lesson Details ***
I teach all styles of voice including Classical, Italian, Jazz and Folk styles as well as Contemporary, Pop and Broadway. I incorporate the fundamentals into my everyday teaching style and help the student to grow in their technical ability through application in each song they study. I teach the student how to use their voice correctly as well as how to have good stage presence and performance ready ability.

I teach beginner piano students from age 5 through method books as well as more advanced students in either Classical styles or Contemporary styles. Some students have the desire to be concert pianists or to teach piano themselves, others just wish to play with a band or play songs which they can sing to. Both styles are valuable skills to learn. I will discuss with the student which direction they would like to go and decide together what the student would like to learn.

*** Studio Equipment ***
My home studio has a parking space for one student to come and one to go. Parents are welcome to wait and listen to the lesson or drop the student off.

*** Specialties ***
Classically trained Piano, Specialize currently in improvising with chord charts or lead sheets. Worship Music.

Voice lessons rely heavily on Broadway, and Show Tunes, but also include Classical, Italian, Latin, Folk Tunes, Classic Rock, Groups, Performance.

ngs, commercials, albums, and CD's with talented artist. Learning to play from a DVD or the internet can not properly teach a beginner bass player, because there should be a student/teacher interaction, one has to already know how to play in order for a DVD to be effective, and i truly believe one will still need an instructor. i enjoy teaching and playing bass. i teach (4 to 6 string), which includes learning to read bass clef notes, scales, chords, keys signatures and time on the music staff, etc., etc., i can teach tab also. i like to teach beginners to give them the correct and formal fingering techniques, then later if they like, they can go all willy nilly. i get satisfactory results. i also love playing guitar and piano, i know these instruments very well and because i want to teach as many as i can to keep real music alive, i also teach beginner guitar and piano, all the above applies to guitar and piano lessons, and music theory and ear training. i like using small i's

*** Lesson Details ***
Depending on the student's current level of understanding music and playing your instrument, i start with the healthy way to play your instrument, traditional left hand and right hand techniques, learning exercises, scales, chords, keys, ear training for how to find the part in songs, also music theory including how to read music, and improvising, then different styles of playing bass and guitar, including thump and pluck, now known as slap bass, hammer and tap, harmonics, flamenco and more, most of all i make it fun. With practice you will know how to play your instrument very well, or if you just want to learn songs or licks, its all good i work for you. are you ready? i am, lets go

*** Travel Equipment ***
i can provide a bass, a guitar, a keyboard and amp, but i expect student to have their own instrument and amp to practice

*** Specialties ***
i teach all genres, and i teach you to understand the music on your instrument.

der Paul Finkbeiner, the lead trumpet player for the Paul Keller Ensemble.

Then at the age of 11, with the help of his grandfather he discovered the guitar. He learned quickly on his old SR guitar. He quickly discovered that he had a natural taste for blues phrasing, and his soloing abilities quickly blossomed. 2 years later, he had formed his first band, Spherical. It was through this band that he found the bass.

His journey into the realm of bass, began out of necessity and progressed into love of the bottom end. Since then, he has been collecting basses, playing, living and breathing bass. He now realizes the importance of a funky beat, a subtle line and most important of all A Tight Groove!!!

The benefit of studying under someone with a vast array of both talent and experience is clear.

*** Lesson Details ***
During his musical career Nicholas has played almost every style of music; from folk to experimental from jazz to rock. One thread holds true through all music, it has to groove.
During the course of a lesson he will cover a broad range of topics starting from the basics, and moving into ear training, sight-reading, theoretical knowledge and most important for bass players, groove. Just as every player has their own musical personality and voice, so to does every lesson that Nicholas gives.
In a supportive, patient environment, every lesson is custom tailored to the student.

*** Studio Equipment ***
Home: lessons in dedicated music room with piano and stereo, guitars/basses, cables/amps

*** Specialties ***
Jazz Studies major at Wayne State University. Has a firm understanding of music across both the classical and jazz idioms spanning multiple instruments.

eir endeavors in piano!