Tag: Chicago piano instructor

  • Typical five piece drum kit

    This is a typical 5 piece drum set. I mention it for beginners who might not know that this is a very common, if not the most common configuration for drummers. Meaning, if you think of buying a drum set to start your percussive journey, go for a 5 piece drum set. It is a…

  • Broken drum stick

    I remember when I broke my first drum stick. I was absolutely devastated. I thought I will never be able to play the drums anymore. But that was nothing compared to the despair I experience when I broke a drum head, the high tom drum head, to be precise. It was during a rehearsal and…

  • No one can afford music! No one!

    The tittle caught your eyes? Did it? Is that why you’re reading this blog? You think I can’t back it up? And if I can back it up, it doesn’t make sense that a music teacher would say that. All right, enough with the intro. I’ll explain. Music is a luxury. See! BAM! Big statement!…

  • From the top. Part 3: the big tackle!

    So, to sum it up, the problem is studying a piece by playing it from the top only every time. No good! Little progress, big frustrations, exit door to quitting playing music. Like I said: no good. No good at all. On the previous post, we saw the road map solution. If you haven’t read…

  • From the top! Part 2: What to do about it!

    Ok, so, we’ve diagnosed the problem: learning a piece by starting from the beginning is not necessarily a good idea. The progress is slow, the feeling is not satisfying, the going is tough. But, you might intervene, there are no other ways to go about it! We have to be a slave to the timeline,…

  • From the top! Part 1: The problem.

    I’ll give you a sure way to mess up your practice and get discourage: take it from the top! So, you have this song, this exercise, this page to play. And, as is logical, you put your hands on your instrument and you start to play it. You know, you do that just to get…

  • How deep can you go?

    I am fascinated by humanity. As a musician, I think it’s the first and last building block to make great music. For example it is common knowledge that pain is helps to reveal artists. Stevie Ray Vaughn started to drink heavily before he was 10 years old. Jim Morrison had a complicated childhood. All the…

  • No, that is not a payment!

    When I first started in Chicago as a drummer, I wanted to explore the blues scene. It was a fascinating thing, really. The Chicago Blues was so popular I had heard of it in my little city of France. So, fresh out of Berklee College of Music, I started doing some jam sessions. For those…

  • Children learning

    People are disgusted with learning an instrument. It happens all too often in this form: an adult comes into my studio and tells me that they were forced to play the piano when they were kids. They hated it. The teacher was tough, the parents didn’t negotiate, the practice was a chore, the times were…

  • Messing around: the secret ingredient

    If you are reading this blog, I am assuming it is because you are studying either piano or drums. Or, at least, you are interested in those concepts. And so, most of the time, the study involves some technique, of course, and some more technique, of course, and some songs to play along with, of…