My oldest student was 91 and he did great! (I didn't start playing piano seriously until I entered college). The notion that you have to start at a very young age to be good is just nonsense. Exploring the music that YOU want to play right now will make a huge difference in the Motivation Dept. All of your musicalexperience — playing other instruments, singing, dancing, and listening — as well as your varied life experiences, will inevitably enrich your piano playing.

You probably weren't ever told where rhythm is actually experienced in the body,how to keep a "subpulse", or how to train each hand to do different tasks. You might not know how to breakdown ideas into manageable "subgroups" yet, or how to feel truly grounded at the keyboard. Or very likely, there are some fundamental aspects of your playing that never got addressed in all of those years of studying. Well, all of these techniques and concepts are all completely learnable with a seasoned coach.

• ALL LEVELS Taught
  • from beginners to pros
    
    
• ALL STYLES Covered
  • jazz / classical / Latin / blues / gospel / funk / pop / rock / 'new age' / free improvisation
    
    
• ALL SKILLS Enhanced
  • stress-free technique / improvisation / reading (note & chord notation) / theory / ear-training / songwriting

"Smolens is highly knowledgeable not only of jazz, but classical music,
and the music of many cultures, both instrumentally and vocally.
This, combined with his gifts of organization, focus,
and patience, make him an exceptional
teacher and educator..."

-- David Babich (clarinetist, vocalist, composer/arranger, recording artist)

 

"I always felt like I had learned something new with each lesson and was capable of learning even more -
he really nurtured the Spirit of the Student in me!..."

-- Dave Florey (pianist)