I was always drawn to music. When I was young, I started picking out tunes by Deep Purple on the piano. Eventually, my mother decided I should have some piano lessons, because either she thought I had a knack for it or she was tired of listening to Space Truckin’ 43 times per day.

In high school, I fooled around with some bands and played keyboard or guitar (which I had picked up by then). I went to college as a liberal arts student, but realized that instead of avoiding my homework by playing the piano, I could make playing the piano my homework, and I eventually earned my B.A. in Music from Rutgers University in 1994. Along the way, I studied piano with Wanda Maximilien and Dick Turner, composition with Ronald Surak and guitar with Robert Trent.

I’ve done a fair amount of playing, and was in one band in San Francisco that pulled 500 people per show, but as I get older more of my time is spent teaching and less gigging.

I think that learning how to teach came from two main sources. The first is teaching itself and the other is from the teacher who made the biggest impression on me, Sophia Rosoff, with whom I studied until she passed. She taught me in a Mr. Miyagi Karate Kid kind of way. At my first lesson with her, I played a piece from a collection of 24 preludes by Alexander Scriabin. She was quiet for a moment, then said, “Go to the kitchen and get an egg out of the fridge.” I did. As I was closing the refrigerator door, she yelled, “And a plate from the dish drainer!” Okay. When I brought them back to her studio, she said, “Now, balance the egg on its end.”

I thought, “A hundred bucks an hour? And she wants me to balance an egg?” But after a few minutes, I decided that if she wanted me to balance an egg, I was going to darn well balance it. She watched me in silence as I struggled to balance the egg. After a few minutes the world seemed to become balancing the egg. Everything else went away. After some time, her voice startled me. She told me to play the prelude again.

I did, and it sounded like the universe had been ripped open and it contained this music. She smiled and said, “All of your attention is in your fingertips now.” End of lesson. I was a student for life.

I began teaching while I was still at Rutgers. A friends came over and I showed him how to play Purple Rain and he gave me five bucks. I decided this was the coolest way to make a living I’d ever heard of.

I try to teach the way Sophia taught me. If a student is banging too hard I bring out a bowl of dried rice and have them pick up the rice with their fingertips. Then, when they go back to the piano, they feel as though they are embracing the piano, rather than fighting it. 

I wrote an instructional method, Beginning Piano for Adults, published by Alfred Publishing Company, Inc., published in 2003. It has sold approximately 20,000 copies and is available here.

I also took a road trip around the continent with my wife, Beth and our dog, Plato, from June, 2003 to March, 2004. If you are capable, I highly recommend it. America has lots of different places and people. We had a great time and I’ll never forget it.