My love affair with the piano started early -- when I was 5 years old I could pick out
one-fingered songs. These days I can be tired, unable to do anything, then I'll sit
down and poke around with my musical keyboard, and suddenly 3 hours passes just
like that! And I'm even a keyboard teacher myself -- but my lessons are different --
I'll teach you how to play by ear and even get you started on some jazz!
My tinkling career basically started when I was 12 -- I took lessons from a lovely
young lady who was only 16 -- she lived across the street from me, so, she was
certainly "conveniently located"! The lessons were conventional -- I learned the
reading part of music for a year. After that -- it was all purely nerve -- I'd play
anything that had melody and harmony to it, to heck with reading music -- I can take
any tune that I can hum in my mind, and play it the first time with full harmony.
People say "Awesome"! What a "gift"! But then, I teach THEM how to play by ear.
I hear this story over and over and over -- "Well, I took a few years of piano
lessons when I was growing up -- but it was always hard to me to learn how to
read those notes, and I haven't played for years. But I would LOVE to really
be able to sit down and play anything I wanted! And I'd love to play by ear
like you do, but I just don't have that talent."
THAT's when I really lay into them -- "Yes you DO have the talent to play by ear.
Let me ask you some questions. Can you hum or whistle a song from
memory?"
"Well, yes...."
"When you hum a song, you're using your voice as a reed instrument, and
you're not reading any notes, YOU'RE PLAYING YOUR VOICE BY MEMORY!"
"I never thought of that.....but......but......I could never learn how to move my
fingers so fast like you do!"
"Do you type?"
"Oh sure, 100 words a minute, I......uh........oh......"
Yep, they run out of excuses, and that's when I have a new piano student!
Since this website is all about telling interesting stories, let me tell you some. Let me
brag about some of the famous Piano players I've talked to or met in some way or
another --
STEVE ALLEN -- I've talked to him on four different occasions, I explain that in other
parts of this website. Steve was a guy who couldn't read music -- but wow, could he
compose and play some good jazz at a moments notice! He did a stunt frequently
on his shows where he'd have audience members pick four random notes on the
piano, and he'd play a song using those four notes as a melody in the order that they
were picked!
He put out a video called "An Introduction to Jazz Piano", where he gives you lessons
on how to play jazz. I have that tape, GREAT instruction.
LIBERACE -- If you've ever watched one of his live shows, it wasn't just a guy
playing the piano, but it was a whole variety show -- other entertainers sang and did
comedy, and of course Liberace would come out parading his costumes, which the
audience absolutely loved. You got your money's worth! I did get to talk to the
man himself -- after a show at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, he came out in a
more conservative red blazer to sign some autographs, so I had him sign my
program. I told him that I was a radio announcer, and I played his albums on the air
many times. He said, "Really? I hope you enjoy the latest ones!" He
reproduced his famous signature on my program book, and put "1972".
About ten years ago I actually PLAYED one of Liberace's pianos -- a grand piano
that he used in his show was getting refurbished at a music store on South Broadway
in Denver -- the piano was covered in little mirrored sequins that were sewn onto a
black cloth that tightly fitted the piano. They allowed anybody to play it, so, I gave it
a run-through with my best Libby repertoire -- I have one regret -- that I didn't get
this "performance" on video -- obviously, this was a very visual thing. I found out
later that a girlfriend of mine who did a cable TV show did just that-- she had herself
videotaped playing that piano, and she used it as a dream sequence on her show!
JO ANN CASTLE -- She started playing honky-tonk piano for Lawrence Welk at age
19 -- actually, her first appearance was of her playing the accordion -- and the
audience went nuts for this blonde who banged away at the piano with her upper
torso keeping the beat, and her orgasmic grin that kept the men in the audience
riveted -- she didn't just look like she was playing the piano, she looked like she was
BUILDING a piano, what energy! Of course, when I watched her tickling the
ivories, I imagined that it was ME she was tickling --
Back in about 1970, she had a gig at the famous Trocadero Elitches Ballroom in
Denver -- Elitches at that time was only 6 blocks away from where I grew up -- and I
thought I'd come to Elitches in the early afternoon to take pictures of whatever.
When I walked close to the ballroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jo Ann
rehearsing for that evening's performance with the Will Back Band -- wow, what an
opportunity! So, I snuck around the back of the ballroom with my 35 mm slide
camera -- and started taking some distant shots of her. She got up from her bench,
saw me, and for a moment, stared at me with her hands on her hips -- as if to say, "I
caught you!" (I got that moment on camera, I'll post it when I find it) When my
slide film ran out, I put in some black and white snapshot film, and got some
close-ups of her playing, and I thought "Wow! She makes it look so easy! I wanna
do that!!" A few minutes later, after the rehearsal, I asked her for an autograph.
She said, "Why sure!" She sign the back of my draft deferment test results! (hey,
that was the only paper I had on me!!)
ROGER WILLIAMS -- He was very popular in the 60's, he sold more piano albums
than any other artist combined -- his hit song was "Autumn Leaves". His style was
very articulate and smooth -- he'd take a song, play it in a stride style -- then he'd do
a classical rendition, then he'd play a verse in jazz. He'd use a lot of variations in
tempo and the "feeling" that he'd give to each note -- very easy listening and
pleasurable.
In those days, I lived in Englewood Colorado, ten blocks away from the famous
Cinderella City Shopping Center, for a while the largest shopping center in the world.
(It's since lived out it's life span, it was torn down a decade ago) John Hinkley,
President Reagan's attempted assassin, loved to "hang around" the center, hey, it
was a good place to meet people! One day in the 70's, they opened up a "Roger
Williams Piano Training School" in that mall. And, of course, to kick off things, Roger
was there, and played a grand piano in the Blue Mall where there was a large
fountain. 10,000 people showed up for this "free" concert! He played "Autumn
Leaves" and a few other songs, and demonstrated what a person could learn when
taking his courses in this "school".
Afterwards, at his "school" in the basement lower level, he signed autographs. I was
there clicking away with my 35 mm camera. He was one of the most personable
people I've ever met -- he gave me a hearty handshake, said "Yea, I saw ya
standing back there for quite a while!" He asked me some questions about my
camera -- It was an unusual twin lens reflex 35 mm that's not generally made -- so
there was some quick technical talk there! So, I now have ANOTHER piano
autograph in my collection!
GEORGE SHEARING -- He was hot in the 50's and 60's as a Jazz pianist, and he
got famous with a certain "sound" -- playing octaves with the vibes in perfect
synchronization -- he also did fantastic classical and honky tonk. He's a musical
genius. He is a blind man -- I can't play ten percent as good with my own eyes wide
open!! (When one of his shows was delayed in starting: "Sorry I'm late, but it was
my turn to drive...")
When he was doing a show in Denver, he came down to the radio station that I was
working at the time, and I taped a nice interview with him. I thought I'd really impress
him -- let me first explain something. Every radio station has a collection of records
or CDs of "music beds", 30 second and 60 second compositions that are used to put
behind commercials that a radio station produces. I was the audio production guy
there, and I said to George, "Your name is so famous, that it's even used as an
adjective -- for example, we have music beds that say 'Piano Shearing style'
that we use!" George was rather interested in that -- "Who puts that out?" I
gave him the information, thinking that I had really impressed him! A month later I
read in Billboard Magazine that George sued the record company $300,000 for using
his name as a title for their compositions.....Ooops......gosh, I didn't mean to start
trouble there, heheheheheh! (I have a soundtrack of our "discussion", and I have a
copy of the article, so I ain't makin' this up!) So how was this resolved? Heck if I
know.....someday I may look it up and find out! I'm stayin' out of this one!!
ERROLL GARNER -- He was a black Jazz composer and pianist. No, I never met
him, but I interviewed him on the phone for radio. I said, "Is it true that you can't
read music?" He said, "Yes it is! I just make it up!" So, there ya go, who
needs conventional piano lessons??
FAMOUS PIANOS -- I've also played the pianos of LIBERACE, VLADIMAR
HOROWITZ, PETE SMYTHE, BABY DOE TABOR. I told you about Liberace's piano
earlier -- they had the piano of Horowitz on display at Wells music, and a person
could sign up for 15 minutes of furious tinkling, which I did! I played the best
classical I knew -- that's assuming of course that Horowitz played "Tea for Two" a
lot! Pete Smythe (a local Denver personality) had his player piano "African Queen"
in the basement of his house, and I let'er rip with my best honky tonk to Pete's
delight -- he watched my technique! At the Tabor Hotel on South University in Denver
they have/had the piano of Baby Doe Tabor on display in their rumpus room
gathering place. It was a square looking mini-grand, and half the notes didn't play --
so this time I could blame the piano for my mistakes!
I have a lot of pictures and soundtracks of the above stories, and when I sort through
my archives and find them, I will share them with you on this website!
So....ya want some lessons? Your place or mine?
one-fingered songs. These days I can be tired, unable to do anything, then I'll sit
down and poke around with my musical keyboard, and suddenly 3 hours passes just
like that! And I'm even a keyboard teacher myself -- but my lessons are different --
I'll teach you how to play by ear and even get you started on some jazz!
My tinkling career basically started when I was 12 -- I took lessons from a lovely
young lady who was only 16 -- she lived across the street from me, so, she was
certainly "conveniently located"! The lessons were conventional -- I learned the
reading part of music for a year. After that -- it was all purely nerve -- I'd play
anything that had melody and harmony to it, to heck with reading music -- I can take
any tune that I can hum in my mind, and play it the first time with full harmony.
People say "Awesome"! What a "gift"! But then, I teach THEM how to play by ear.
I hear this story over and over and over -- "Well, I took a few years of piano
lessons when I was growing up -- but it was always hard to me to learn how to
read those notes, and I haven't played for years. But I would LOVE to really
be able to sit down and play anything I wanted! And I'd love to play by ear
like you do, but I just don't have that talent."
THAT's when I really lay into them -- "Yes you DO have the talent to play by ear.
Let me ask you some questions. Can you hum or whistle a song from
memory?"
"Well, yes...."
"When you hum a song, you're using your voice as a reed instrument, and
you're not reading any notes, YOU'RE PLAYING YOUR VOICE BY MEMORY!"
"I never thought of that.....but......but......I could never learn how to move my
fingers so fast like you do!"
"Do you type?"
"Oh sure, 100 words a minute, I......uh........oh......"
Yep, they run out of excuses, and that's when I have a new piano student!
Since this website is all about telling interesting stories, let me tell you some. Let me
brag about some of the famous Piano players I've talked to or met in some way or
another --
STEVE ALLEN -- I've talked to him on four different occasions, I explain that in other
parts of this website. Steve was a guy who couldn't read music -- but wow, could he
compose and play some good jazz at a moments notice! He did a stunt frequently
on his shows where he'd have audience members pick four random notes on the
piano, and he'd play a song using those four notes as a melody in the order that they
were picked!
He put out a video called "An Introduction to Jazz Piano", where he gives you lessons
on how to play jazz. I have that tape, GREAT instruction.
LIBERACE -- If you've ever watched one of his live shows, it wasn't just a guy
playing the piano, but it was a whole variety show -- other entertainers sang and did
comedy, and of course Liberace would come out parading his costumes, which the
audience absolutely loved. You got your money's worth! I did get to talk to the
man himself -- after a show at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, he came out in a
more conservative red blazer to sign some autographs, so I had him sign my
program. I told him that I was a radio announcer, and I played his albums on the air
many times. He said, "Really? I hope you enjoy the latest ones!" He
reproduced his famous signature on my program book, and put "1972".
About ten years ago I actually PLAYED one of Liberace's pianos -- a grand piano
that he used in his show was getting refurbished at a music store on South Broadway
in Denver -- the piano was covered in little mirrored sequins that were sewn onto a
black cloth that tightly fitted the piano. They allowed anybody to play it, so, I gave it
a run-through with my best Libby repertoire -- I have one regret -- that I didn't get
this "performance" on video -- obviously, this was a very visual thing. I found out
later that a girlfriend of mine who did a cable TV show did just that-- she had herself
videotaped playing that piano, and she used it as a dream sequence on her show!
JO ANN CASTLE -- She started playing honky-tonk piano for Lawrence Welk at age
19 -- actually, her first appearance was of her playing the accordion -- and the
audience went nuts for this blonde who banged away at the piano with her upper
torso keeping the beat, and her orgasmic grin that kept the men in the audience
riveted -- she didn't just look like she was playing the piano, she looked like she was
BUILDING a piano, what energy! Of course, when I watched her tickling the
ivories, I imagined that it was ME she was tickling --
Back in about 1970, she had a gig at the famous Trocadero Elitches Ballroom in
Denver -- Elitches at that time was only 6 blocks away from where I grew up -- and I
thought I'd come to Elitches in the early afternoon to take pictures of whatever.
When I walked close to the ballroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jo Ann
rehearsing for that evening's performance with the Will Back Band -- wow, what an
opportunity! So, I snuck around the back of the ballroom with my 35 mm slide
camera -- and started taking some distant shots of her. She got up from her bench,
saw me, and for a moment, stared at me with her hands on her hips -- as if to say, "I
caught you!" (I got that moment on camera, I'll post it when I find it) When my
slide film ran out, I put in some black and white snapshot film, and got some
close-ups of her playing, and I thought "Wow! She makes it look so easy! I wanna
do that!!" A few minutes later, after the rehearsal, I asked her for an autograph.
She said, "Why sure!" She sign the back of my draft deferment test results! (hey,
that was the only paper I had on me!!)
ROGER WILLIAMS -- He was very popular in the 60's, he sold more piano albums
than any other artist combined -- his hit song was "Autumn Leaves". His style was
very articulate and smooth -- he'd take a song, play it in a stride style -- then he'd do
a classical rendition, then he'd play a verse in jazz. He'd use a lot of variations in
tempo and the "feeling" that he'd give to each note -- very easy listening and
pleasurable.
In those days, I lived in Englewood Colorado, ten blocks away from the famous
Cinderella City Shopping Center, for a while the largest shopping center in the world.
(It's since lived out it's life span, it was torn down a decade ago) John Hinkley,
President Reagan's attempted assassin, loved to "hang around" the center, hey, it
was a good place to meet people! One day in the 70's, they opened up a "Roger
Williams Piano Training School" in that mall. And, of course, to kick off things, Roger
was there, and played a grand piano in the Blue Mall where there was a large
fountain. 10,000 people showed up for this "free" concert! He played "Autumn
Leaves" and a few other songs, and demonstrated what a person could learn when
taking his courses in this "school".
Afterwards, at his "school" in the basement lower level, he signed autographs. I was
there clicking away with my 35 mm camera. He was one of the most personable
people I've ever met -- he gave me a hearty handshake, said "Yea, I saw ya
standing back there for quite a while!" He asked me some questions about my
camera -- It was an unusual twin lens reflex 35 mm that's not generally made -- so
there was some quick technical talk there! So, I now have ANOTHER piano
autograph in my collection!
GEORGE SHEARING -- He was hot in the 50's and 60's as a Jazz pianist, and he
got famous with a certain "sound" -- playing octaves with the vibes in perfect
synchronization -- he also did fantastic classical and honky tonk. He's a musical
genius. He is a blind man -- I can't play ten percent as good with my own eyes wide
open!! (When one of his shows was delayed in starting: "Sorry I'm late, but it was
my turn to drive...")
When he was doing a show in Denver, he came down to the radio station that I was
working at the time, and I taped a nice interview with him. I thought I'd really impress
him -- let me first explain something. Every radio station has a collection of records
or CDs of "music beds", 30 second and 60 second compositions that are used to put
behind commercials that a radio station produces. I was the audio production guy
there, and I said to George, "Your name is so famous, that it's even used as an
adjective -- for example, we have music beds that say 'Piano Shearing style'
that we use!" George was rather interested in that -- "Who puts that out?" I
gave him the information, thinking that I had really impressed him! A month later I
read in Billboard Magazine that George sued the record company $300,000 for using
his name as a title for their compositions.....Ooops......gosh, I didn't mean to start
trouble there, heheheheheh! (I have a soundtrack of our "discussion", and I have a
copy of the article, so I ain't makin' this up!) So how was this resolved? Heck if I
know.....someday I may look it up and find out! I'm stayin' out of this one!!
ERROLL GARNER -- He was a black Jazz composer and pianist. No, I never met
him, but I interviewed him on the phone for radio. I said, "Is it true that you can't
read music?" He said, "Yes it is! I just make it up!" So, there ya go, who
needs conventional piano lessons??
FAMOUS PIANOS -- I've also played the pianos of LIBERACE, VLADIMAR
HOROWITZ, PETE SMYTHE, BABY DOE TABOR. I told you about Liberace's piano
earlier -- they had the piano of Horowitz on display at Wells music, and a person
could sign up for 15 minutes of furious tinkling, which I did! I played the best
classical I knew -- that's assuming of course that Horowitz played "Tea for Two" a
lot! Pete Smythe (a local Denver personality) had his player piano "African Queen"
in the basement of his house, and I let'er rip with my best honky tonk to Pete's
delight -- he watched my technique! At the Tabor Hotel on South University in Denver
they have/had the piano of Baby Doe Tabor on display in their rumpus room
gathering place. It was a square looking mini-grand, and half the notes didn't play --
so this time I could blame the piano for my mistakes!
I have a lot of pictures and soundtracks of the above stories, and when I sort through
my archives and find them, I will share them with you on this website!
So....ya want some lessons? Your place or mine?
| I LOVE TO TINKLE! |
I'm glad there's no sound to
the picture on the left, that
way I can say I was a child
prodigy....
the picture on the left, that
way I can say I was a child
prodigy....