Michael Smolens
5.0 (46 reviews)
InexpensiveMusical Instruments & Teachers, Vocal Coach
Closed • 12:00 pm - 10:00 PM
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![Revolutionary ear-training & improvisation CD - This Piano Accompaniment recording [available in CD or digital form https://michaelsmolens.bandcamp.com/album/instructional-series-piano-accompaniment] has two sections.
The first is a series of warm-ups for voice or any instrument that plays the C major scale in different forms: scalar groups, alternating & consecutive intervals, and arpeggios. Every track has a short voice over that describes the type of interval or pattern and the tempo, so there's no guessing about what you're doing or how fast it will be.
The second section has never been created before — a collection of styles played in analogue form on a grand piano that centers only on the major scale (vs. blues form, ii-V, or existing song structure) in two dozen different styles.
The benefits for this are three-fold:
1) vocalists & instrumentalists learn & are able to identify many of the most important non-classical styles
2) a play-along vehicle for getting comfortable with how to improvise
3) introduction & model for pianists, keyboardists, & other chording instruments on how to play these various styles
The styles are grouped into:
* non-classical
* waltz
* rock
* gospel
* reggae
* funk
* swing
* Brazilian
* Afro-Cuban
* African
This recording is integrated into lessons so that students can study improvisation in a non-pressurized setting that is fun & rewarding. Revolutionary ear-training & improvisation CD - This Piano Accompaniment recording [available in CD or digital form https://michaelsmolens.bandcamp.com/album/instructional-series-piano-accompaniment] has two sections.
The first is a series of warm-ups for voice or any instrument that plays the C major scale in different forms: scalar groups, alternating & consecutive intervals, and arpeggios. Every track has a short voice over that describes the type of interval or pattern and the tempo, so there's no guessing about what you're doing or how fast it will be.
The second section has never been created before — a collection of styles played in analogue form on a grand piano that centers only on the major scale (vs. blues form, ii-V, or existing song structure) in two dozen different styles.
The benefits for this are three-fold:
1) vocalists & instrumentalists learn & are able to identify many of the most important non-classical styles
2) a play-along vehicle for getting comfortable with how to improvise
3) introduction & model for pianists, keyboardists, & other chording instruments on how to play these various styles
The styles are grouped into:
* non-classical
* waltz
* rock
* gospel
* reggae
* funk
* swing
* Brazilian
* Afro-Cuban
* African
This recording is integrated into lessons so that students can study improvisation in a non-pressurized setting that is fun & rewarding.](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/projectphoto/30EVmSj3q_sg1q6c5NruFg/l.jpg)



![One of my brilliant Pop & Rock songwriting students . . . - [The track sheet seen here is what we used to organize all of the possible songs for my student's recording project. I expanded the typical way of describing the songs beyond style & tempo into various non-traditional subheadings that helped us make an effective song ordering]
A lot of my students work with me on their composing & songwriting for a quite a while (for a couple of them, it turned out to be 8 years!). And regardless of the style(s) they focus on, I really encourage them to express the full range of their art and influences that have inspired them.
So here are excerpts of two songs [3 min. total] by my longtime student Ethan Hamlin that will be on an upcoming CD (the 6th). [Lyrics quoted are from each song's 1st chorus]. "Tough Broad" is a tender ballad about vulnerability during the birth of the composer's 1st child — "a hidden glance & a silly thought, a little laugh in the light of god, she held my heart in a rough spot, tough broad." The 2nd song, "Evil Habits", is a true rocker that describes the anger all around (and within) the songwriter — "i dream of angry people, i speak of heart attacks, had a dream that i am evil, have a habit I cannot quite crack."
Here's the link ==> http://secondsightmusic.com/Ethan_Sampler.mp3 (Btw, Ethan wrote, arranged, sang, played all the instruments, and recorded & mixed everything).
The composer describes how the work with me impacted the writing of the 2nd song, "Evil Habits" ==>
"My lessons with Michael have been integral in expanding my sense of harmonic and melodic possibility. One particular Eureka! moment came when he introduced me to the jazz ballad 'Night Flower' written by Lennie Lasher and made well known by legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans.
The melodic language of this piece focuses mainly on the upper extensions of each chord and doesn't reveal an immediate tonal center (both features were new for me), yet the piece is totally coherent and emotionally evocative. This expanded sense of possibility directly affected the chorus for 'Evil Habits'. While adjusting the key of my piece, I mistakenly adjusted a synthesizer line by the incorrect number of steps . . . yet it sounded (for lack of a better word) 'cool'. I strongly suspect that if I had been considering this idea
years earlier, I would have immediately written it off as 'wrong' and been unable to clearly listen and evaluate the idea. Yet now my ears are opened, thanks to Michael and 'Night Flower'"! One of my brilliant Pop & Rock songwriting students . . . - [The track sheet seen here is what we used to organize all of the possible songs for my student's recording project. I expanded the typical way of describing the songs beyond style & tempo into various non-traditional subheadings that helped us make an effective song ordering]
A lot of my students work with me on their composing & songwriting for a quite a while (for a couple of them, it turned out to be 8 years!). And regardless of the style(s) they focus on, I really encourage them to express the full range of their art and influences that have inspired them.
So here are excerpts of two songs [3 min. total] by my longtime student Ethan Hamlin that will be on an upcoming CD (the 6th). [Lyrics quoted are from each song's 1st chorus]. "Tough Broad" is a tender ballad about vulnerability during the birth of the composer's 1st child — "a hidden glance & a silly thought, a little laugh in the light of god, she held my heart in a rough spot, tough broad." The 2nd song, "Evil Habits", is a true rocker that describes the anger all around (and within) the songwriter — "i dream of angry people, i speak of heart attacks, had a dream that i am evil, have a habit I cannot quite crack."
Here's the link ==> http://secondsightmusic.com/Ethan_Sampler.mp3 (Btw, Ethan wrote, arranged, sang, played all the instruments, and recorded & mixed everything).
The composer describes how the work with me impacted the writing of the 2nd song, "Evil Habits" ==>
"My lessons with Michael have been integral in expanding my sense of harmonic and melodic possibility. One particular Eureka! moment came when he introduced me to the jazz ballad 'Night Flower' written by Lennie Lasher and made well known by legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans.
The melodic language of this piece focuses mainly on the upper extensions of each chord and doesn't reveal an immediate tonal center (both features were new for me), yet the piece is totally coherent and emotionally evocative. This expanded sense of possibility directly affected the chorus for 'Evil Habits'. While adjusting the key of my piece, I mistakenly adjusted a synthesizer line by the incorrect number of steps . . . yet it sounded (for lack of a better word) 'cool'. I strongly suspect that if I had been considering this idea
years earlier, I would have immediately written it off as 'wrong' and been unable to clearly listen and evaluate the idea. Yet now my ears are opened, thanks to Michael and 'Night Flower'"!](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/projectphoto/QgP0EpOi4ex_WcMDmo4K0g/l.jpg)





















