Tag Archives: Art Matthews

AC #62 March (2017) Spotlight Feature

Cory Henry is the artist in the March 2017 Spotlight Feature. I think he is one of the most gifted musicians that have come to the forefront of the public’s attention in recent years. One of my students introduced me to him, “figuratively”, and I quickly became a fan.

He plays all of the instruments in the keyboard family and he plays them all exceeding well! He is a multi-instrumentalist who is “at home” in any musical genre in which you might find him playing. Here’s a link of him playing drums.

In this Spotlight Feature, he is playing the Hammond B3 Organ on an original composition he dedicated to his parents titled…

“Heart At Midnight“

I did this transcription/video as a way for my students and me to have a little fun while we study this particular snapshot of Cory’s artistry, and to wish him a “Happy Birthday” (2/27/87).

I transcribed the complete song performance but limited the scope and focus of the document to his right-hand only. A PDF of the transcription is available as a free download on my website.

In general, my first purpose in doing transcriptions is to give my students and me some additional material to help us in our study and analysis of improvisation. However, being a valued visitor and guest, you too are welcome to download all of the freebies that I’ll be posting and to purchase any of the other deeply-discounted materials that are displayed in the store. (No membership or password restrictions here! Just come on in and join us!)

If you’re not familiar with Cory, you can check him out further on the Internet. In the meantime, for your convenience, I’ve included the following 7 links of him playing various “boards”:

Yesterday;
Amazing Grace;
He Has Made Me Glad;
Giant Steps;
Donna Lee;
NaaNaaNaa;
Billie Jean (with an orchestra);

If you like what I’m doing here, please “like”, subscribe, and share my site. Also, consider donating and/or signing up for, or gifting some online music lessons.

Lesson appointments are available 24/7 because I love working on a worldwide basis with beginners and intermediates of all ages. Let me hear from ya!

That’s all the time I have for now but, stay tuned, more transcriptions in general and more with Cory will be coming in the future.

Practice well.

AC #61 February (2017) Spotlight Feature

Mulgrew Miller is the artist in the February 2017 Spotlight Feature. My students and I are taking a closer look at him by studying a transcription I did of him playing a tune by Charlie Parker titled, “Relaxin’ at Camarillo”.

First, I must send a special “Thank you!” and shout-out to Dr. Kenneth Beilman for video taping several songs performed by Mulgrew’s trio, in 1999 at his 10th annual jazz event, and making them available to the public on his YouTube channel. The trio was rounded out by Richie Goods on bass and Rodney Green on drums. Thank you Dr. Beilman!

I didn’t know Mulgrew very well but I met him several times through mutual friends and we also shared a music teacher in Boston… (Madame Margaret Stedman Chaloff).

I wish I would have gotten to know Mulgrew better but perhaps through the study of his music and artistry, I, along with my students and you, can get to experience, on some level, some of the love that emanated from his heart during his time here–(1955-2013).

The PDF transcription that appears in the video is available for $5.00 in my website store. The entire performance of Mulgrew’s right hand only is documented and I also included Richie Goods walking bass solo. I paginated the document so that each page has 3 or 2 choruses.

Also, for an enhanced study experience, there is a $7.00 “zip” package that contains the PDF and a TRANSCRIBE! .xsc file that’s been thoroughly sectioned on a chorus-by-chorus basis whereas each chorus of the audio is named, looped, and synced to an edited video of the performance–I spliced-out the contiguous portion of Rodney’s drum solo. (If you’re not familiar with the TRANSCRIBE! program, go to https://www.seventhstring.com/ for more information.)

In either case, the transcription is a 23-pager, so make sure your printer is properly papered and fired-up if you’re going to render a print-out.

That’s all the time I have for now but, stop by frequently because more transcriptions of Mulgrew and many other great artists will be appearing in the “Spotlight Feature“.

Practice well and keep making great music!

AC #60 A Happy Holiday / New Year wish for you! (2016-17)

Just a quick post to say I wish nothing but the best for you in 2017 and thereafter.

I’ve been staying fairly busy lately which means I’m finding I have less time to post in this blog. However, if you’re a beginner or an intermediate student, of any age, I can always make time and room for you. I love teaching and coaching and I’d love an opportunity to work with you.

Please visit my website frequently to check out and share the videos that I post in the “Spotlight Feature” section on the site’s front page: artmatthewsonlinepianolessons.com.

In the meantime, keep practicing and making great music.

Stay safe and be well.

More later!

AC #59 Website Update August 2016

Hey! I gotta get right back to work so this blog post is a really quick-note!

Matthews Music Mall will be receiving significant updates in 2016 August.

It’s time to practice!

August 1st – 5th, virtual accompaniment tracks for select piano exercises and etudes, from Hanon, Czerny Op.261, and Czerny Op.821, have been added to the Gym. BYOB. (Buy here.)

Throughout the month, and frequently henceforth, the Gym will be receiving more items and other stores in the mall will have practice material added to their “shelves” too!.

Stay tuned!

As I said, you’ll have to Bring Your Own Books as I did not include any standard sheet music pages with the accompaniment tracks. However, I did include a video chord sheet so that, after you’ve stated the theme, you’ll have a schematic on which to build your variations… (your solo!)

I made each book’s main page default-scroll down to an optional loop utility–instructions for which are on-board. Otherwise, scroll back up to the area where you can make your selections.

More later!

Practice well and have fun!

AC #58 Website Update March 2016

Hello everybody!

It’s been a while since my previous post and the main reason for that is simply “there aren’t enough hours in a day“. I’m sure the thrust of that familiar expression impacts many of your lives in the same way it impacts mine–and probably more so for some of you.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the busier I get in working with and having fun with my students and my other music service customers, the less time I have to spend blogging and making “ed-vlogs” for my website–which is fine on one hand because I love teaching… but on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoy all of my website extracurricular activities too!… I’m torn!!

By the same token however I must say, “I’d rather wear-out than rust-out”! I’m just glad the key phrase is “less time” in stead of “no time“! Even though my posting pace is slower than I’d like, things are definitely continuing to develop and move forward on the extracurricular activities front.

With all of that being said, here is a synopsis of the website updates as of this post:

Website Update March 2016

In addition to the updated page and post header images, there are three new items to which I’d like to draw your attention.

1 – The Bulletin Board
2 – Matthews Music Mall
3 – Spotlight Feature

1. The Bulletin Board: Bulletin boards are pretty much self explanatory and I’ve placed an auto-scrolling board in the sidebar of my site’s front page. A mouse-over stops the scrolling and a mouse click on any of the board links will take you to that item’s notice page. Although I’m not sure how or whether this will work out, but I’m going to try to make some sort of tie or link between all three new features and the Art’s Corner Blog.

2. Matthews Music Mall: is a virtual 5-store strip mall of stores which offer practice items that often feature a virtual bass and drum rhythm section playing accompaniment tracks against which you can practice various rudiments.

As I write this post, the stores in the mall are under construction but most of them are open with only a few practice items. The store’s item population will be increasing over time. Your visits are welcome and this link takes you to the mall’s parking lot. where you may select a store by clicking its logo title. I ask that you please pardon the construction signs and any other inconveniences you might experience because, at the time of this post, the stores are still unfinished. These stores and the other website expansion projects are all works in progress.

3. Spotlight Feature: The front page now displays an area titled “Spotlight Feature”. The idea for this comes from WGBH radio host Eric Jackson’s “Monday Night Spotlight” where he turns a figurative spotlight on a featured artist or topic.

As I write this post, the spotlight is focused on Joey Alexander. (A fantastic 12-year old musician).

A couple of my students introduced me to his music and expressed an interest in taking a closer look at some of his work. So, following their cue, I transcribed “My Favorite Things” and “I Mean You” for my students and me to analyze and study. You can get both of them free of charge in my store under the “Study Materials” category. Once you’re there, scroll down to the “Transcriptions / Adaptations” area where you’ll find the Download buttons.

I plan to post mostly music-related features in the spotlight but you never know what might be presented because I won’t know either! I’ll be taking ideas from my students, customers, and you, if you’d like to chime in, so, again, stay tuned!

At the end of 2015, I closed my downtown brick-and-mortar office. Now, all of my teaching and music services are conducted online exclusively (100%). Since that happened, a couple of alter egos have developed themselves in my consciousness.

When you see them, those of you who know and/or follow me will immediately recognize the radically different character traits they display. In fact, some parts of their persona are about as far away from mine as one can get! However, like me, they love to work hard, practice well, and have fun while doing it. They’ll make periodic cameo appearances in various pages and posts in the MATRA-sphere starting in the very near future. So watch out for them!

More soon!

Cheers!

AC #57 A Happy Holiday/New Year wish for you! (2015-16)

We extend our warmest wishes to you for 2016

We hope your 2015 holiday season sparkled with love, laughter, and goodwill.

See you next post… stay tuned!

AC #56 Tempus Fugit – This Is The Way We Roll – Old School

Tempus Fugit

In my previous post, (AC #55), I stated that “I’ve been super-busy”. Well, on that point and close to a year later, nothing has changed and that’s something about which I feel very good!

I love being busy because I’d much rather “wear-out” than “rust-out”–if you know what I mean!! Time seems to pass by so much faster when I’m happily engaged in something and having fun with it. Otherwise, time seems to be an endless super-slow drag!

So, even though I’ve been happily engaged in other aspects of my work and the year has flown by, the fact remains that this is my first post of 2015 and it comes out near the halfway point of the year’s 11th month, and that’s a point about which I’m considerably less happy!

Ultimately, I feel that all delays between posts, that are deviations from a regular release schedule–intended or unintended, short or extended–, are really just one type of “blog vérité”–if you will–which inevitably happens from time to time, whether you’re a one-man crew conducting nearly 100% of your business’ operations, like me, or a part of a staff. John Lennon sums it up like this, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“! (“Beautiful Boy” )

As I organize the activities of my days, I give top priorities to my wife, my family, and my students, and most of the time, everything and everyone else, including myself, comes after them.

During my sabbatical from posting, the behind-the-scene logs of my website and social media properties all show that people were, and still are, reading and watching in increasing numbers. I want to thank my new students who’ve recently signed up and also acknowledge the people who decided to subscribe and follow me, despite the fact that I hadn’t posted any new material all year–until now of course! Thanks, guys! I’ve noticed all of you and I appreciate your visits.

I am very fortunate and blessed to be in the circles of some really great people and to be able to stay busy doing only the things I absolutely love to do–namely, learning and making music at home, teaching music in class, teaching music online, tinkering with computerized music technology, posting and blogging on my website, and helping people along the way.

“This Is The Way We Roll” – “Old School”

The video project, about which I spoke in AC #55, is finally posted. I emphasize the word “posted” because in no way do I consider it “finished“… although I’ll bet that overshooting my originally stated release date spread by 6 to 9 months, any possibilities of “project manager” jobs coming my way are probably very much “finished“! I just don’t know how the time disappeared so fast! In any case…

“This Is The Way We Roll” / “Old School“! is now viewable here and via the links on my website’s front page. It’ll go “public” on my YouTube channel on Friday the 13th!

The project was done for fun as part of our studies on improvisation. It is not for sale.

When I approached my students, I promised I would not do or include anything that would make them or their parents ashamed to say they know me. However, when I looked at some of the videos my students posted of their own on their website(s), I realized I had a WHOLE lot of room in which to roam!–like the whole state of Texas, which would only take up a fraction of the safe areas available to me! It was all done in a spirit of fun and I love it all!

Overall, I’m glad our project is finally released but I can’t believe I miscalculated the time it would take me to get it posted by a factor of at least two or three! There are more things I wanted to do and include and you’ll see lots of rough edges that I could have and should have corrected or fixed.

However, I really desired to get the project out before the end of the year, so I decided to “take a page” from the modern business practices handbook of the major software companies and release it now, in spite of its unresolved bugs, imperfections, and problems. You know how they do it! Maybe I’ll do some “point-upgrades” and releases as time goes on. I may include a few pop-ups here and there but I guarantee that I’ll never sink to sneaking in spyware! (Just kidding!)

In closing I want to say, “Thank you“, to the folks who made many behind-the-scenes contributions, and to my students who were brave enough to participate. We had some fun in the process of putting this thing together and I hope that everyone who views the video really enjoys it or can find at least a smile or two somewhere in the flick.

AC #55 A Happy Holiday/New Year wish for you! (2014-15)

I hope you had a very happy holiday season and that 2015 will be a great year for you.

I’ve been super-busy lately, working with with my students on their lessons and on another video project in which a couple of my non camera-shy students have agreed to appear. We’re having lots of fun putting it together and it should be finished and posted here in the blog by mid spring.

Keep studying, practice well, and I’ll see you next post.

AC #54 Even though you’ve never done that! Why not try it‽

During the 1990s (ancient history now!) I had several experiences with making music for a few computer/video games and other less populated outlets such as music for an ice cream truck, live “muzak” in grocery and department stores. When the opportunities were offered to me, I thought, “I’ve never done that! Why not try it‽” So I did, and I had loads of fun. I learned a lot about those particular aspects of the music business and I got to work with some great people.

Many years later, when Jason Peter, one of my local students who does in-office and online lessons, first started asking me basic questions about MIDI, sequencing, and electronic music in general, I was more than happy to share with him my experiences and what I’d learned.

Jason, who’s an awesome drummer, is still studying music with me today and I’m very happy that he has continued his involvement with keyboards and sequencing in addition to his other musical interests. On any given lesson day, he’s apt to bring a project to class on which he’s working and whenever he does, we make his project the focus of that day’s lesson.

Check him out just below in the short video he made about a project for which he composed, played and produced the music.

Jason is testing his light show systems in this clip.

So even if you’ve never taken an on-line or in-office piano or music lesson before, why not try it‽ Like Jason, you may discover that they’re fun and who needs to have less fun in their life‽

See you next post.

AC #52 From My Westin Hotel Copley Place Boston Archive!

During the 14-years I spent as one of the resident pianists at the Westin Hotel, Copley Place, Boston, MA, I accumulated many experiences and stories I’ll be sharing with you from time to time about my experiences with lots of very interesting people I met at the hotel.

One such story about how I first met a very special person came back to my mind instantly while reading a post in another blog in which this person was mentioned. Let me tell you…

One night during my first set, as I was playing a few solo-piano warm-up songs before bringing out the rest of my trio, I noticed some faint flashes of light coming from the rear of the room.

Thinking it was someone with a camera taking tourist photos, I just ignored it. However, when the flashes continued with increasing frequency, I ruled out tourist picture-taking! These flashes seemed to be directed at me specifically to get my attention. Was this person sending me a message in Morse Code or playing a practical joke or some kind of prank on me? I became more and more curious as it continued!

So, near the end of the first song, I turned my head slightly toward the back of the room and I spotted the source of this mysterious happening! It was coming from a very well-dressed gentleman also in a tuxedo who was seated alone at the very last table in the back of the room and he was looking through something he was holding in his hands which was pointed directly at me. I turned my head back towards the piano and got back into the music.

The flashing continued consistently throughout my warm-up. As I signaled for the bassist and drummer to come on up, I took a short break to introduce myself to this gentleman but by the time I arrived at his table, the mysterious contraption he had in his hand was nowhere in sight.

I introduced myself to him and he said his name was Jimmy Lyon. At that time, I had no idea who he was and I asked if he had any requests. He said not right then but he’d be back in a while after he played a set or two across the street at the Copley Plaza Hotel. That told me he was a pianist so I knew I’d go visit him on my first break but before he departed, I asked him about the object which had been reflecting the spotlights back into the corner of my eye!

He apologized for the distraction because he didn’t realize a reflection was occurring! I assured him it was very faint and that I was fine with it and not offended in any way whatsoever… I was just curious as to what it was. So he took the object out of his pocket and handed it to me.

It was a very classy looking flat rectangular box that looked much like a personal cigarette case but when a special button was pressed, it turned into a set of pop-up adjustable-focus-telescopic binoculars!

He said he liked my playing and he wanted to see how I was voicing chords and making runs. Rather than stand right behind me to look over my shoulder, he said he preferred to sit in the back and watch with his pop-up specs. Both of us started laughing so hard!!! Right away I knew he was a wonderful guy with a great sense of humor!

I took a look through those binoculars and though they were small, their telescopic ratio was very good with great clarity! As I recall the account now in 2014, I still laugh about it!

Shortly after introducing ourselves, both of us went back to work but as I got back to my bandstand, I asked my bass player, who was either Teddy Kotic or Rodney Richardson at that time, if he’d heard of a pianist named Jimmy Lyon. He said he certainly had heard of him and he gave me the “411”! That’s how I first met and learned about Jimmy Lyon!

Eventually Jimmy returned that night with his “pop-up spy specs” to check us out again and with every opportunity I’d get, I’d go across the street and listen to him for what turned out to be MY “nightly piano lesson”! From my point of view, I believe I learned more about voicings from him than he learned from me but we continued our frequent visits with each other during the rest of his tenure at the Copley Plaza.

I was working 7-nights a week at the Westin and he was working 6-nights a week. I learned a lot from Jimmy in the short time I knew him and when the time eventually came for him to return to his home in Paramus, NJ and his gigs in NY, I thanked him for his kindness and let him know that I was very much looking forward to his next return to Boston, but it wasn’t meant to be. He passed away all too soon! What a song specialist! A true gentleman through and through! I was very privileged to have been able to count him as my friend for the short time I knew him!

Here are five audio clips I recorded of him (with his permission) that you’ve never heard, unless you were there the nights I recorded him. The audio quality is not the best you’ve ever heard and you’ll hear people talking throughout each song. if you can ignore the distractions and you want to hear Jimmy playing solo-piano in a very relaxed mood, then here you go! Ear training students, beginners, intermediates and advanced, might use these files as source material too! Pick out some melodies, or chord progressions or voicings that interest you. In any case, enjoy!

Looking At You (Click the encircled down-arrow to download.)

Begin The Beguine (Click the encircled down-arrow to download.)

I Concentrate On You (Click the encircled down-arrow to download.)

You Turned The Tables On Me (Click the encircled down-arrow to download.)

Memories Of You (Click the encircled down-arrow to download.)

Jimmy Lyon (R.I.P)
Full Name : James Frederick Lyon.
Profile : American jazz pianist.
Jimmy worked, among others with Mabel Mercer (singer), June
Christy, Polly Bergen.
Born : November 06, 1921 in Morgan Village, Camden, New Jersey.
Died : November 28, 1984 in New York City, New York. (Cancer)

See you next post.