Welcome to the tonebase Piano Community!

Hi everyone!

I'm based in Pune, India but originally hail from a south Indian town called Vellore. My favourite food, hands down, is dosa (pronounced 'though-sa') - a crisp crepe made from a batter of ground rice, pulses and millet, traditionally served with sambar (a spicy gravy with pulses and vegetables) and coconut chutney. (My personal favourite side is plain yogurt, though!). 

I have been playing the piano since I was 10 years old, though my musical beginnings were in Carnatic (south Indian classical) music, playing the violin. 

I studied engineering and went on to work in the Indian Revenue Service in tax administration and enforcement for about 14 and a half years.  However music has always been my first love, and I was able to continue playing throughout - I completed my FTCL, LRSM, LTCL and DipABRSM diplomas in piano performance while working, and have also continued to perform in both solo and collaborative settings - I love both formats and their unique challenges. In the process of improving as a pianist, I also learned the application of Alexander Technique to piano playing - mainly from Thomas Mark's book What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body and Barbara Lister-Sink's videos.

I quit my job three months ago, to do more of what I love. I've started a private teaching studio at Pune and teach both online and offline. I have 15 students at present, and quite interestingly about half of them are adults. Also looking to perform solo repertoire more often - I have continued collaborations all along - within the constraints of juggling work, family and music.

I first got interested in pedagogy while teaching my son - and took a deep dive into different approaches before finding Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory and Marilyn Lowe's "Music Moves for Piano" series - which builds on a strong audiational foundation in learning music. I'm deeply passionate about this because I play a lot by ear and consider deep listening and transcribing a very important part of my own musical journey - including learning the rudiments of jazz and improvisation. I use some of this in my teaching, in addition to the basics of piano technique, repertoire, etc.

I also love analysis - teaching not just how to play the notes, but how to find the composer's sonic intention behind each musical phrase, passage or work. For me this is very important because I feel it's a neglected area, especially in India where the focus is very often on just learning a small handful of pieces a year to pass a graded music exam.  I also have a Youtube channel where (among other things) I have started a series called "Analysis for Performers", which I plan to add on to.

I'm focusing on taking my performance repertoire forward - presently learning Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Beethoven's "Rage over a Lost penny" (I found Claire Huangci's tutorial really useful and informative). I recently learned 3 of Beethoven's concerti - No's 1, 3 and 4, and looking forward to learning more of his sonatas. I am generally most comfortable with music from the Classical and Romantic periods, but want to push myself further to learn more of the 20th century and contemporary repertoire, as well as improve my Baroque chops.

I joined tonebase to grow musically as a performer, to learn pieces more efficiently, and to be a part of a larger global community of musicians and pianists who share the same passion for music. I'm also hoping that the knowledge and skills I gain here will help me teach my students better - in fact this has already begun! The material here is of really high quality and I'm finding that binge-watching this (especially notebook in hand) is far more meaningful and fulfilling than Netflix !

Hi!  I'm Norman, and I'm from Los Angeles, California, and my favorite Angeleno food is a burrito!  My love of music dates from my parents hosting Hootenannies with their civil rights worker friends playing folk music, my father's love of jazz and Gilbert & Sullivan, my learning guitar in Catholic school, working at the UCLA music library, cataloguing the works of John Cage, organizing Meredith Wilson's collection of band music, hearing Henri Lazaroff complain about Zubin Mehta not putting his music on the program, weekly free visits to the Hollywood Bowl to hear Sarah Vaughan singing with the LA Philharmonic, having my heart broken when my girlfriend left to study flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal, working at the Princeton University music library, seeing Stan Jordan play guitar and piano simultaneously, hearing him play on my roommate Tony Branker's first album, being utterly charmed by "Uncle" Milton Babbitt (while finding his music rather unlistenable), playing and singing country punk with friends in college, singing Gospel music behind Jesse Jackson, singing Barbershop quartet, singing and dancing in musical theater at the University of Delaware, weekly Friday night music and recording with friends in Philadelphia, my father starting piano lessons at 84, him having a recital at 85, my starting jazz piano lessons at age 48 with the late great Ian McGuire, then with (SJU Jazz ensemble director) Dan Green, and after a break (playing guitar with and for Quakers), piano lessons at age 67 with the brilliant Dave Frank.  I'm currently working with him (theory, technique, ear training) through his "Joy of Improv" method.  And I'm here to supplement my lessons with the Taubman Approach courses that are offered here.