all-levels

It's been a few since I've had a lesson with Tony. Between work travel and some home construction projects my life got a bit crazy. However, I've been able to maintain consistent practice and chip away at the last lesson work.  

First up I told Tony I'd like to work on All of Me, and he suggested figuring it out as a chord melody, so here is my effort with that. I love the chord changes in this tune. They really transport you to a sound in history. I know a lot of folks probably get tired of this tune getting called at jams but I can't help but always dig it haha.

In our continuing effort to put forth a body of music that has elements of every culture found in our society, here  is Marianne’s arrangement of an Irish folk tune played on Native American, South Asian, and Appalachian instruments... plus vibes.

We hope you enjoy it.

I find a lot of people don't use the pedal at all when playing staccato things, but I think it's important to know how to use the pedal to get whatever note length you want. This lesson is on what I call "staccato pedaling."

Hello everyone,

This lesson is on how to pedal smoothly, which may seem simple, but I find a lot of people don't know how to actually do it.

Hey everyone,

In this first lesson on pedaling, I explain how I view the pedal, how it's different from the piano, and how to set it up properly. Next we will talk about legato-pedaling, staccato-pedaling, pedaling rhythm, and half-pedaling.

I got this idea from Ed Saindon, but I use the term a little differently now. "Dampening effects," to me, are different sounds you can produce while dampening. This includes deadstrokes, half-dampening, and dampening speed.

Hey everyone,

This is part 2 of my lesson on the four basic dampening techniques.

Hello all!

In this lesson, I discuss the four basic dampening techniques, which can be thought of as different stickings to dampen with. Mastery of these is critical to good dampening application in real musical contexts!

So, here is our latest release.  If you like it, please download a copy from your favorite service.

Marianne and I have mostly done New Age/World Music stuff in the past.  In some ways, this is still that, but...  We have been so deeply disturbed over the last few years by all the chaos in society that we felt we needed to address it musically.  The result, for me as the composer, was not something really peaceful.

What say you all?   I'm considering doing more music in this general direction.  It honors my heavy metal roots.  :)