Greetings to the two newest members of the "Learn Rock Piano" group: @Dean Watkins and @Olaoluwa John! Welcome to our group, and I'd love for you to do a Soundcheck, introduce yourselves, and what you would like to learn as a performing rock piano player.

It's that time of year again, and it's always fascinating to me the general mood that I have (as a teacher) rolling into the new school year. For many years, I felt like I had the "Sunday Scaries" for an entire 3 weeks as the days ticked away towards the first day of class. Music can be such a powerful vehicle of galvanizing a moment into your memory, and of course major school experiences like the last day of school, prom, sports warm-ups, or the one you may have tried to play in middle school band practice. My "ah-ha' musical moment occurred in my own middle school band practice, as I was a lowly, pimpled young wanderlust playing the alto saxophone. I loved playing the sax, but I had a tough time dealing with the musty reed, all the leaking spittle, and the general "fragrance" of an old, old sax obtained from my parents. Then, everything changed the moment the cool senior walked up to the center piano and started playing the early 90's ballad, "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx. Simple in its melody, but those octave moves in the left hand, along with the drifting melancholy movements of the right provided a perfect cradle for the delicate lyrics of unrequited romance...at least so I thought at 13. I just remember in an instant hearing the screams emanating from all my female classmates as they ran up to the piano with starry eyes, full of obsessive glee as the newly released song was being played in front of their eyes. It was the lightning moment I was looking for, and it paved the road back toward piano education. Interestingly, as a new, young import to LA in the early 2000's, I was cast as an "extra" audience member for a pilot talk show involving "Alf", the stuffed character as the host. No kidding. One of their guests was Richard Marx, who at this point had chopped his hair and legendary mullet off. He mentioned that many, many young men in his life had thanked him for allowing them to get lucky by playing all of his music. I was one of those young, grateful men, and he's one of the main reasons I got back into playing piano. I screamed out "thank you" as loud as I could as a young sitting in the 22nd row, but I don't think he heard me.

In Performance 101, I was always taught that the energy levels given to an audience should look like a roller coaster. It starts out at low levels, gradually moves through a mid-level for awhile, and then climaxes for a short burst of pure adrenaline. After this burst, it's critical to cycle back to the beginning. Similarly, an audience should be viewed as a single entity, or an "avatar" personified with living, emotional reactions. At different moments this entity needs attention, time to process details, quiet moments of bonding, and even bursts of pure sonic chaos. The style in which you, as the entertainer, delivers this sequence to the avatar is the art of performance. The vehicle to deliver this energy to the audience avatar takes the form of a setlist. I've seen entertainers who have no problem riffing with the crowd, setting up a "bit song" delivery with epic success and failure (including my own failures), ones who seem to know the right song at the right moment, and the ones who get lost in the muse. I've included a list of the Top 100 song requests that has been curated by the Piano Entertainers Network (thanks for connecting me Jimmy!), and I have definitely performed many of the classics. There are more recent songs that I need to learn, some songs listed may be a fool's errand to attempt live, and some I just cringe at playing for the 1001th time. Here are my top 5 favorite songs I perform from the list: 1. Piano Man 2. Sweet Caroline 3. Friends in Low Places 4. Take Me Home, Country Roads 5. Hotel California Here are 5 songs that I usually bomb when trying to perform: 1. Pour Some Sugar on Me 2. Bohemian Rhapsody 3. Don't Stop Believin' (I know...this should be a staple!) 4. Paradise By the Dashboard Lights 5. Africa / Take On Me The power to transform starts with striking that first note, pen stroke, or mouse click on a blank canvas. Leave your requests in the comments below. What are songs that you absolutely love to hear played live, and what would be the song(s) that you would like to have in your arsenal of perfect song requests?

"What freezes you at the piano: theory, rhythm, left hand, right hand, singing, or confidence?"

Okay y'all. This is going waaay back. I recently visited my family in Ohio, and I was handed a packet of pictures from my youth. As painful as it is to look through some of the awkward images, one picture stood out as a gem. Below is an image of myself at ~8 years old standing beside my first Suzuki teacher, Dorothy Ling. Before I even knew what real commitment was at 4 years of age, I was awoken and driven by my Mom every Monday morning @ 5am for five years. I would have my lesson before heading to school, and my "bargaining payment" for continuing was a sugared donut and chocolate milk from Kettle Donuts in Canton, OH. Dorothy's love of life and music was larger than life, and her laugh would shake the walls of the house. That is my main memory of her, and it kept me learning. I also love that a picture of Dr. Suzuki hangs in the background, and I looked ready to take on the business world with that suit. Whoa! Be bold, and if you have any pictures of yourself taking music lessons with your first music teacher as a kid (If you took any music or dance lessons), I'd love to see it! Question: What would be the one piece of advice you'd give your younger self regarding music lessons? My current advice to my former self: "One day you'll be cool. Just stop trying so hard to be somebody else, and start writing your own music as early as you can...even if it's awful at first. It'll get better, trust me."