Shan's General Teaching Philosophy

• Teach what's real not just what's easy to explain

• Teach a core set of skills on which to build so students will really understand the explanations given to the

• Teach skills, not just pieces without any true undersanding of the musical language
  

• Never stop learning myself and bring my own passion to lessons, expecting nothing of the student that I don't do myself

• Strive to attract students who are ready to put in the work and make a real difference in their playing

Shan's Approach to Teaching Jazz

Jazz isn't played by reading every note you play. Teaching classical piano and owning "jazz" sheet music doesn't constitute jazz lessons any more than owning a colouring book makes you an artist. Music is a language. Improvisation needs a vocabulary which can be learned. Listening to the greats is essential. The recordings contain all the answers.

...and a note for more experienced students

The idea of learning to improvise by assigning a scale to every chord regardless of context is nonsense and I'm convinced that the jazz musicians were not thinking this way. I DO use scales and teach students how to use chromatic notes but am more concerned with where  the tonality is shifting which allows me to think more globally, use less scales, use the "right" scales (plus alternatives) thereby creating shape and logical movement in a solo. The use of modal scales in mainstream jazz education provides us with something that is easy to teach and gets the student moving quickly. However, it is not possible to explain what the greats are doing in their solos this way. The skills I teach allow me to explain every note in a solo and create a vast amount of creative possibilities for students.

 

 

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