Teaching Music

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An Introduction to Fake Books

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You may be intimidated the first time you crack open a fake book. However, if you're familiar with (or at least willing to learn) your chords, then that's half the battle. A fake book contains pieces written out in lead sheet form. That is, you see the melody and chord symbols written above.

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Jazz Music and Improvisation Guide Books

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This is a list of the "How To" books that I use whenever I teach and play contemporary music (e.g. pop, rock, Latin, jazz, ragtime) that I shared with them:

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On Scaring Classically Trained Music Teachers with Contemporary Idioms

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On Scaring Classically Trained Music Teachers with Contemporary Idioms

Earlier this month, I presented improvisation and various elements of Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus to The Piano Pedagogy Group. This was a group of bright yet frightened classically trained piano teachers.

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Another Way to Practice Technique

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This is more for the advanced students, music teachers and anyone who wants to learn jazz chords and scales. The bottom line is that instead of practicing your technical exercises by key, you are practicing them by their shared root: Getting Started on Jazz Technique - Musespeak Studio