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.  

Hello, I'm from Tyrone, Ga., about 30 min. south of Atlanta.  My favorite food is Moussaka, which I cook myself, after synthesizing my recipe from FIVE Greek cookbooks. It's hard to find Greek food in restaurants around here.  I'm a senior citizen, mostly retired from teaching, but still aspiring to review and refine some of my repertoire.  Currently I'm polishing Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23, #4, and Schubert Impromptu Op. 142, #1.  I m already enjoying delving into the videos that Tonebase offers and I like the friendly, welcoming feel of camaraderie I find here.

Hi All,

I am from Kentucky originally but after moving around (6 countries, 11 states), I am settled (for now) in Sacramento, CA.  My favorite food in this area is either Sushi or Pizza, but you can never go wrong with a good street taco.

I am currently working on building up my ability to play classical music.  I've been playing for a while, but my repertoire has been new age contemporary.  I've always loved Chopin, but have never imagined playing it, as I didn't know how to read music.  Through some perseverance, leaning on my knowledge as a cellist, and paying for a few apps like Simply Piano, I am able to slowly read, and have since learned his Preludes in A Major and E minor.  Hoping to eventually work my way up to his Nocturne Op 27 No 2 (my heart melts to this piece).

I'm hoping someone could point me in the best direction to build up my reading and foundation to get to the point where seeing such pieces in writing doesn't overwhelm me.

Pleased to meet you all :)

Hi! I'm from San Diego, originally, and my favourite thing to eat from there is an order of beef flautas with guacamole and  a creamy, cold cup of horchata.  Now I live in Cairns, Australia and, although I miss my Mexican food, I enjoy a good flat white.

I am currently working on, well, nothing. Like all of us here, I have unfinished business with piano; I graduated uni two classes short of a piano minor and I did a bit of piano teaching, but had to give it up a year ago as things became too busy with my three young children and my part time job teaching English as a Second Language to migrants.  My long-term goal is to take the Australian Music Education Board exams (perhaps in education, then maybe even performance).  I might teach again when the children are older; something I wish for is to play with other musicians and have music as a part of my life.

In the meantime, I hope Tonebase can help me improve my theory and technique with whatever time I have now.

Hi All!  This is Andrew.  I joined Tonebase yesterday, Nov 27, 2025 and I'm looking forward to being a part of this community.

• A little about myself...I was born in Spokane, Washington, grew up in Caldwell, Idaho, and I now reside in Wilsonville, Oregon, a small suburb south of Portland.  My favorite food is prime rib from Oswego Grill, a local favorite restaurant.  

• I am the organist and choir accompanist for my church, so the only thing I'm working on now are a handful of choir anthems for Advent and Christmas, and preparing for Christmas Eve services.  From the classical piano repertoire, I'm not working on anything which is the reason I joined Tonebase.  I started piano lessons when I was 8 and took lessons on and off through college.  I was not a music major, I simply enjoyed playing.  I'd like to relearn the Schubert Impromptu Opus 20 #3 in G-flat major, Rachmaninoff Preludes Opus 23 #3 in D major and #4 in G minor, Rachmaninoff Prelude Opus 32 #12 in G# minor, and Grieg's Opus 65 #6 "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen".  I learned these in college (40+ years ago) and right now, they are somewhat of my reach.

• I'm looking forward to working through this program, receiving the coaching I need and the support the community can give each other as we go through this journey.  Over the years, I've developed some very bad technique that I need to eliminate.  I'd like to connect with older members of the community who have returned to directed and intentional study after a long absence and learn from their experience with the program.

Cheers!

I am from Scotland, and I live in a wee town by the Firth of Forth called Dalgety Bay. Being Scottish I would obviously say Haggis, but I also love good old fish and chips.  I am a simple common Scotsman.

I played around pubs and clubs for 30+ years as a mediocre guitarist but had a reasonable singing voice.  I retired from that life about 10 years ago.  I turned 60 last year and with all the birthday money given to me by many friends, I decided to put it towards a piano and start my next musical journey.

I have been working steadily for 10 months with regular practice and making progress with both playing and reading.  I have enjoyed the snippets of beautiful classical pieces I have managed to learn. 

I am working on going from being a beginner to hopefully be a competent intermediate player.  I still like to sing and play but I am in love with classical music.  I am out of my depth joining Tonebase, it does feel like a resource aimed at professionally trained pianists looking to hone their own well-earned skills.

I hope to achieve being a good intermediate piano player, learn some beautiful classical pieces properly and sight read better.  There seems to be some amazing teachers and players and an endless library of resources with a boundless lifetime of knowledge and experience.  If 1% of it rubs off on me, I will be happy that it is money well spent.

I have loved music all my life, as a player, a performer and now back to being a student in an endless musical universe that touches us all.

Thank you for letting me introduce myself.  

Hello!  I'm Raj,  born in India but grew up in West Virginia.   It was a nice place to grow up but the local cuisine was not memorable, unfortunately, though their renditions of standard Americana fare was certainly worthy of note.  

I'm currently working on Chopin Etudes Op 25 no 1, no 11 and no 12,  Chopin Nocturnes Op 27 nos 1 and 2, and recently completed Op 48 no 1.  Also working on Chopin Ballade in Gm no 1, which is what sold me on starting here.

I'm a first generation musician and piano player and my musical and piano development really only started in my late teens and early twenties after leaving home for college and grad school, and I'm trying to make up for a weak foundation.  Even though I can 'play' some nice repertoire, I've done so without mastering fundamentals and this severely limits my potential.  I hope that tonebase reference materials and interactions with other developing pianists win this forum can help on this piano journey.

Hello, Tonebase Community.

My name is Norm Zogaib and I live in Oviedo, Florida, right outside of Orlando/Winter Park.  I moved here in July of 2023 after a long career as a high school music teacher/choral director in Hamburg, NY a suburb of Buffalo. I am currently retired from teaching music and now work as a Dean in a middle school…so I am hardly retired. I joined Tonebase to connect with a music community since I have been out of the music loop for a couple years.

I received my undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from the SUNY Buffalo and my graduate degree in piano and music education from SUNY Fredonia. I also pursued a graduate degree in piano performance (but never finished) at the Manhattan School of Music, and spent my freshman year of undergrad at MSM. I also studied for several years as a teenager with Ana Maria Bottazzi, who was very influential.

As a piano performance major, I studied and performed many advanced piano works, including; Bach: C minor Partita, Beethoven: Sonatas Op.57,Op.78 and Op. 109, Brahms: Concerto No.1, Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody, Schumann: Carnival, among others.

While I studied the above and other challenging piano works, I never felt totally comfortable enough with my technique to become a confident solo pianist…thus my decision to change my focus on conducting, teaching and accompanying. Looking back, I realize that these works, although impressive, were way beyond my technical ability at that time and I would have been better served working on shorter, less challenging pieces, developing a larger, more diverse repertoire.

I hope to use the Tonebase platform to refine my technique and increase my repertoire by learning the many works I should have learned in my developmental years of study!