ABOUT TEACHING
I'm not only a performing musician but also a music teacher.
Born in 1960, my academic education was basically a classical one, since at that time there were no jazz schools in Luxembourg. I had to learn about jazz in the old way, by listening, playing and asking for advice, which is not the worst way. Luckily, my father had a big collection of jazz and classical recordings, so I was already familiar with both kinds of music when I started playing myself. My method was "trial and error" and I had to make a lot of detours before coming to the "rendezvous". Nowadays I think the road was worth to take and time was not wasted: I discovered many things not mentioned an any book.
In order to share my understanding so far of improvised music with young musicians, I created the jazz department of the Conservatory Ettelbrück in 1986. I was convinced this was the best way to increase the number and the quality of jazz musicians in Luxembourg. When I started playing with my first band back in 1980, there were something like 6 or 7 jazz musicians in Luxembourg. With the help of other jazz schools in my country we have now a whole bunch of musicians with a wide range of vision.
In the beginning I noticed that I had to create a specific jazz pedagogy. This was the hard part, since I had to start from nothing. Unfortunately, the students had to endure my "trial and error" method and I apologize for all inconveniences they had to suffer.
Time went by and one day a student came to the lesson with a very thick book about jazz piano. It was obvious that by removing the superfluous information the book should have no more than 50 pages instead of 450. So I told him I would like to write a book of just 12 pages with "everything" included. The idea behind was that music must be easy compared to any common language, since the number of notes equals 12, less than half of the alphabet characters.
It was a good idea, but of course, I did not succeed. It was not that simple. Instead, the result is a complete compendium about jazz theory, jazz piano voicings and a kind of jazz improvisation philosophy, with the goal to provide a tool to develop creativity regardless to historic styles.
Yet, the work is not finished. But by now I'm able to teach in a very concise way how to become a creative jazz musician. If you want to study jazz piano, please get in touch with me. I'll do my best to help you developing your creativity and enlarge your horizon.
For the time being, I can serve you at the music school Rédange (L), or you may take private lessons. Please, get in touch with me for working out a "mode of function".
Meanwhile, I propose a set of piano arrangements that you may download at your convenience.