Piano Lessons in Franklin, TN

Instruments: Piano Voice Saxophone Synthesizer Keyboard

What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
Jazz is my favorite because it is so complex and deep. In jazz you have improvisation (composing in the moment), comping (playing chords and interacting with other musicians), playing melodies in a personal style that can be different every time, keeping the form and structure of the song, playing with rhythmic precision to play with other musicians at the same time, the ability to listen to the soloists and make instant changes to go in any direction that the soloists wants to go. I started playing jazz when I was 13, and just hated the "Old People's" music. Then I got fascinated with it and got hooked. Jazz and Classical music are the two hardest genres of music. If you study both of those genres, you can play any type of music and with whomever.

If you play more than one instrument, how did you decide to start playing the second? (Or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)!
I started playing my second instrument the saxophone 2 years after I started piano. After I learned to produce a good sound, and the fingerings for the different notes on the saxophone, it was easy to play all the songs because I had two years of musical basics under my belt learning treble clef and bass clef. The piano in a polyphonic instrument which means you read treble and bass clef at the exact same time. The saxophone was a monophonic instrument able to play just 1 note at a time. The saxophone was an say instrument to learn because of my piano background. I've learned to play other instruments also like the E. Bass, Drums, Trumpet, Flute, and Clarinet. It's just a matter of learning the fingerings and how to produce a note to play the other instruments. The language of music is the same in any instrument, just the technical and sound production is different. I always recommend students to start out on piano and get 2-3 years of continuous study before switching to a different instrument.

Does music run in your family? Tell us a little about your musical family members.
Yes music does run in my family. My great grandfather was a professional touring piano player in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. He died before I was born, and I never got the chance to meet him. My grandfather played the piano very well, and he was my very first influence on the piano. I was amazed and fascinated when he played and loved hearing him play. My mom took lessons for several years and got quite advanced. I remember hearing her play Boogie Woogie, and was in awe how good she was and a little jealous that she could just sit down after not playing for years, and play like that. My father played guitar and sang. He was in a rock band when he was a teenager called "The Gents".

When did you decide to become a professional musician? Was it a gradual decision or was there a defining moment for you?
I always knew I was going to be a professional musician. As a kid, I used to listen to Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, Michael Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Richard Clayderman, Elvis, etc. I used to close my eyes while the music was playing and imagine myself playing the keyboard parts. My parents took me to a lot of concerts and exposed me to a lot of music growing up, and I always knew I wanted to be able to play like the people on stage. There have been many times that I doubted wether I'd ever get to that level, but you just keep working at it for a long long long long long time and you get to that level.

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