Lessons in Chicago
ecj
rock, blues) and have developed an interest in studying classical
guitar. I recently bought the Mel Bay Shearer books and am starting
to work through them. I understand that they are generally well
regarded as a way to study without developing bad habits.
I'm interested in finding a teacher to study with in Chicago, but
haven't had luck browsing the internet. Is anyone aware of
instructors in the area who they would recommend?
Thanks up front!
Tommy Grand
If you are specifically looking for a Shearer-oriented teacher, I
don't know that there are any in Chicago. If you just want a cg
teacher there is no shortage. The main thing is what part of the city
your in, how far your willing to travel and how much you want to pay.
Slogoin
>
> The main thing is what part of the city your in, how far your
> willing to travel and how much you want to pay.
Your kidding, are you not?
ecj
I don't think he's kidding - Chicago is a big city.
I'm on the North Side, in Lincoln Park. I'd be willing to travel
anywhere on the Brown or Red lines south of Evanston. I'm not sure
what rates are like for these kinds of lessons, so I'd have to hear.
I'm disappointed to hear that there are no "Shearer-approved" teachers
in Chicago. My impression was that this is a fairly common method,
these days. Am I wrong?
Tommy Grand
No. If he asked me for a recommendation I'd need that info before I
could give him one. Chicago traffic is the pits, and I doubt he wants
to spend 3 hours a week commuting to his one hour lesson on the other
side of the city.
Slogoin
Your sure your not kidding and your serious?
Tommy Grand
> I'm on the North Side, in Lincoln Park. I'd be willing to travel
> anywhere on the Brown or Red lines south of Evanston. I'm not sure
> what rates are like for these kinds of lessons, so I'd have to hear.
I would suggest you contact Brian Torosian at http://www.neiu.edu/~bltorosi/.
I don't know him personally or anything, nor have I taken lessons with
him, but he's a well-regarded player and a very nice guy. Assuming he
gives lessons at or near the University, you'd ride the Brown line to
Kimball and then take a short ride on a CTA bus. I don't even know if
he teaches privately, but if not he will probably be able to recommend
someone. It will probably cost $50-$100 per hour. A wide range, yes,
but this city has teachers ranging from recent college grads to world
famous concert guitarists.
> I'm disappointed to hear that there are no "Shearer-approved" teachers
> in Chicago. My impression was that this is a fairly common method,
> these days. Am I wrong?
I e-mailed Berg asking him about that, years ago, and he didn't know
any Shearer-pedigreed people here. But really ecj, I think you'll
have a hard time finding a good teacher who will march through any
method book with you. Anyone good will look at what your doing and
assign you something based on your weaknesses, not based on Shearer's
lesson plans.
Andrew Schulman
> Your sure your not kidding and your serious?
>
>
Andrew
ecj
> On Nov 20, 12:07 pm, ecj <evan...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm on the North Side, in Lincoln Park. I'd be willing to travel
> > anywhere on the Brown or Red lines south of Evanston. I'm not sure
> > what rates are like for these kinds of lessons, so I'd have to hear.
>
> I don't know him personally or anything, nor have I taken lessons with
> him, but he's a well-regarded player and a very nice guy. Assuming he
> gives lessons at or near the University, you'd ride the Brown line to
> Kimball and then take a short ride on a CTA bus. I don't even know if
> he teaches privately, but if not he will probably be able to recommend
> someone. It will probably cost $50-$100 per hour. A wide range, yes,
> but this city has teachers ranging from recent college grads to world
> famous concert guitarists.
>
> > I'm disappointed to hear that there are no "Shearer-approved" teachers
> > in Chicago. My impression was that this is a fairly common method,
> > these days. Am I wrong?
>
> I e-mailed Berg asking him about that, years ago, and he didn't know
> any Shearer-pedigreed people here. But really ecj, I think you'll
> have a hard time finding a good teacher who will march through any
> method book with you. Anyone good will look at what your doing and
> assign you something based on your weaknesses, not based on Shearer's
> lesson plans.
Thanks for the recommendation, Tommy. I will get in touch with Brian
and see what my options are.
I completely understand that I won't be "marching through" a method
book, but if I'm going to be striving to apply Shearer's principles of
motion to my playing, it would be helpful to have someone familiar
with the concepts monitoring my development.
It seems like there is a lot of activity for classical guitar in the
city, so I'm excited to have those resources at my disposal. I
noticed the Chicago Classical Guitar Society has a great series of
concerts, and I'm planning to check out Eliot Fisk when he comes early
next year.
Thanks again.
Tommy Grand
wrote:
> On Nov 20, 12:17 pm, Slogoin <la...@deack.net> wrote:> Your sure your not kidding and your serious?
>
> Your kidding, are you not?
>
> Andrew
Andrew, I refuse to be side-tracked by Larry's pedantry! I'm trying,
to help my new friend ecj.
ecj
You guys have some really odd memes here.
Tommy Grand
Good luck ecj, if you ever want to practice easy duets let me know. I
live right by Union Station.
BTW, whatever happens with Brian, be sure NOT to let us know. I say
this for your own good, because if you so much as mention your lessons
here, a poster named JPD will jump up in your grill about it. And
since JPD runs an influentiall guitar blog, you want to stay on his
good side.
ecj
>
> - Show quoted text -
You mean if I have something negative to say, or even positive
comments? I certainly wouldn't besmirch someone unnecessarily on an
internet forum, but I do like to give praise when it's due.
What's JPD's blog? I'd be interested in checking it out.
Tommy Grand
> You mean if I have something negative to say, or even positive
> comments? I certainly wouldn't besmirch someone unnecessarily on an
> internet forum, but I do like to give praise when it's due.
>
> What's JPD's blog? I'd be interested in checking it out.
There is a certain old fashioned way of thinking that goes like this:
having a lesson, is like meeting with your priest or like going to a
freemason ritual. Anotherwords there is the presumption of
confidentiality. The means you certainly don't identify who your
teacher is (to ANYONE) nor do you talk about what goes on in lessons.
If you want to discuss the latter, it's best to pretend you personally
invented whatever ideas your presenting.
JPD's site:http://www.guitarist.com/ Awhile back he was talking about
giving Shearer lessons online or something, dunno if he still plans to.
ecj
> There is a certain old fashioned way of thinking that goes like this:
> having a lesson, is like meeting with your priest or like going to a
> freemason ritual. Anotherwords there is the presumption of
> confidentiality. The means you certainly don't identify who your
> teacher is (to ANYONE) nor do you talk about what goes on in lessons.
> If you want to discuss the latter, it's best to pretend you personally
> invented whatever ideas your presenting.
>
> JPD's site:http://www.guitarist.com/ Awhile back he was talking about
> giving Shearer lessons online or something, dunno if he still plans to.
Interesting. I've never encountered this mindset in the jazz world.
Thanks for the heads up.
Brad Anders
> There is a certain old fashioned way of thinking that goes like this:
> having a lesson, is like meeting with your priest or like going to a
> freemason ritual. Anotherwords there is the presumption of
> confidentiality. The means you certainly don't identify who your
> teacher is (to ANYONE) nor do you talk about what goes on in lessons.
> If you want to discuss the latter, it's best to pretend you personally
> invented whatever ideas your presenting.
That explains a lot, thanks. Kind of like "Fight Club".
Brad Anders
Curmudgeon
You don't know the half of it...
Tommy Grand
> His teacher is (was?) Denis Azerbabic, who is world class, crème de la crème. (Also in Chicago, BTW)
I have never taken lessons with Denis Azerbabic.
Tommy Grand
John E. Golden
41d4fe...@j19g2000yqk.googlegroups.com:
I don't know about the Shearer method, but I would recommend you
investigate lessons with Julie Goldberg. I live in Detroit, but some
years ago when she was still a student she performed a concert for the
Classical Guitar Society of Michigan. I was absolutely stunned by her
performance, especially considering that she was just performing for a
small guitar society audience. If her teaching is just ten percent as
good as her playing, she can make you into a virtuoso. She has a
website: [juliegoldberg.com]. She seems to be based in Evanston, but
has ties with a number of schools in the Chicago area.
Regards,
John E. Golden
Learnwell
> On Nov 20, 12:07 pm, ecj <evan...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm on the North Side, in Lincoln Park. I'd be willing to travel
> > anywhere on the Brown or Red lines south of Evanston. I'm not sure
> > what rates are like for these kinds of lessons, so I'd have to hear.
>
> I don't know him personally or anything, nor have I taken lessons with
> him, but he's a well-regarded player and a very nice guy. Assuming he
> gives lessons at or near the University, you'd ride the Brown line to
> Kimball and then take a short ride on a CTA bus. I don't even know if
> he teaches privately, but if not he will probably be able to recommend
> someone. It will probably cost $50-$100 per hour. A wide range, yes,
> but this city has teachers ranging from recent college grads to world
> famous concert guitarists.
>
> > I'm disappointed to hear that there are no "Shearer-approved" teachers
> > in Chicago. My impression was that this is a fairly common method,
> > these days. Am I wrong?
>
> I e-mailed Berg asking him about that, years ago, and he didn't know
> any Shearer-pedigreed people here. But really ecj, I think you'll
> have a hard time finding a good teacher who will march through any
> method book with you. Anyone good will look at what your doing and
> assign you something based on your weaknesses, not based on Shearer's
> lesson plans.
I second the Torosian recommendation. I knew him back in the day and
he is a great guy. He played my wedding, very solid player with a good
pedigree.
David Raleigh Arnold
One of the most important assets for many students is confidence
in their teacher. The same may not apply to a "school" or
body of beliefs. Concentrating on strokes is good no matter
how it is done because of the attention to detail, but a futile
and unrealistic goal which involves "relaxing" anything is definitely
a minus.
Always go slower. That optimizes tension, which is your most
important psychophysical asset and an indispensable part of the
learning process. Regards, daveA
--
For beginners: very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Early
intermediate guitar solos. One best scale set for all guitarists.
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html ::: plus new and
better chord and arpeggio exercises. http://www.openguitar.com
Dicerous
> better chord and arpeggio exercises. http://www.openguitar.com
This is another good observation by someone who usually spouts
garbage. Going slow is ok, but remain true to your musical instincts
tommy. THINKING about *going slower* during a performance is a
useless distraction. Concentrate and internalize the music! And
think of most performance as *developmental performances*, even if
you're getting paid. Remember: having arrived is having no place to
go!
David Raleigh Arnold
Duh. There is no way you could torture that meaning out of my
message. You are being deliberately obtuse. When performing, the tempo
is already set.
> Concentrate and internalize the music! And think of most
> performance as *developmental performances*, even if you're getting
> paid. Remember: having arrived is having no place to go!
Good point. daveA