Teaching Experience

In 1973, I taught piano lessons for the first time. I was a student at The Evergreen State College in
Olympia, Washington. Some of my classmates, who were classically trained pianists, wanted to learn to play blues, jazz, and rock n roll. Later, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, all the pianists who were working in tourism were, as I was, in the CTM union. It was the musician's branch of the
Confederación de Trabajadores Mexicanos. We were all acquainted and saw each other at meetings regularly. In Spanish I taught several Mexican pianists how to field requests from Americans. They were songs like Misty, or
As Time Goes By from the movie Casa Blanca, or
Boogie Woogie piano. I had a few piano students again in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. When working at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, I teamed up with a music store and enjoyed teaching 25 students of all ages. Then In 1996, when I moved to Encinitas, California, I turned my full attention to teaching and developing methods for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of piano, harmonica, and music theory. For sixteen years it's been my pleasure to teach full time at AMX,
American Music Exchange in Encinitas, California. I also continue to perform on piano, harmonica, and voice, with a contrabassist and drummer in the Jerry Michelsen Trio.