Solo piano workshops:

1. Free Improvisation. suggested time: 1 hour and a half

I treat free Improvisation as composition in the moment.
This workshop is designed to help students create musical
ideas, themes, melodies, moods and colours, and develope them on
the spot in a way that they would stand together as a coherent
piece. One of the tools I use for inspiration and stimulation is pictures.
Students experience playing while looking at a picture, having
to respond to the images, if it's lines, shapes or colours, and
translate them to a musical story.

2. Rhythm and Independance. suggested time: 1 hour and a half

I use a series of exercises to develope a strong rhythmic sense,
and independence between the two hands. Materials used:

51 exercises by Johannes Brahms.
For independence between the hands.

Music of Bulgarian accordionist Stue Hacohen.
This music is mostly in odd meters, and the scales and
harmonic progressions are unique.

Syncopation for the modern drummer.

I use the exercises from the book instead with left and right hand,
with different fingures of one hand. it developes the ability to play
more than one rhythm or melody with the same hand, and when
played with both hands this way, it not only developes
independance between the hands and fingures, it also creates
rich textures and open up many possibilities for motif and
idea development.

3. Harmony. suggested time: 1 hour and a half

My harmonic language is influenced strongly from certain
Israeli composers such as Matti Caspi and Shlomo Gronich,
Brazilian music and composers such as Scriabin, Brahms and J.S.
Bach. I use pieces written by these composeres, and analyze
the different harmonic choises of each composer and talk about
the differences and parallels between genres. Getting acquainted
with these composers' music, in my eyes, enriches one's
harmonic language. In the case of J.S.Bach, I work with the
book "The Art of the Fugue". I show the way Bach builds
very complexed harmonic progressions over very simple
melodic themes. Inspired by these concepts, students come to the
piano to experiment and create their own short free improvisations
on the piano.

4. Latin American music for solo piano. Suggested time: 2 hours

This workshop is designed to develop students’ awareness of
Latin American music. I feel that being exposed to this music,
students will enrich their repertoire, develope a much stronger sense
of rhythm when improvising and improve their piano skills.
The piano literature of Latin American music is challenging
and elaborated, as it is influenced by both African and European
music that go back at least five hundred years. The melodic
phrasing and harmonic changes derive strongly from different
the rhythms present in Latin America. Therefore, it is crucial to have
a deep understanding of the Rhythmic cell of each and one of
these music genres.

The main goals of this workshop

1. Understanding the essential rhythmic components and
characteristics of each genre.
2. Expanding the piano repertoire.
3. Performing this music without bass or percussion, yet providing a
solid groove.
4. Improvising in the different genres.

Music I use for this workshop

From Argentina: Tango. The music of Horacio Salgan (1917)

From Brazil: Bossa Nova and Choro. The music of Antonio Carlos
Jobim (1927-1994) and Pixinguinha (1897-1973)

From Cuba: Danza and Danzon. The music of Ignacio
Cervantes (1847-1905) and Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963)

From Venezuela: Waltz. The music of Antonio Lauro (1917-1986)

From Peru: Festejo and Lando. The music of the coast of Peru


The workshop is divided into three parts
1st part (30-40 minuts)

I will play one tune from each country mentioned above. Students
will have copies of the score in hand, so they can follow, reading
the music while I am playing it.

2nd Part (15-20 minuts)

This part is dedicated to questions and concerns presented by
the students. It is a preparation for the third part of this workshop.

3rd Part (1 hour)

I invite students to come to the piano, and play some grooves that
are used in the music mentioned above, which I prepared ahead of
time. Then I play four hands with the students (or in two pianos,
if available), where I play the groove and they improvise, considering
the rhythms and musical idioms that we discussed earlier. Students
who prepared a short tune can play it, and we will demonstrate how
they can apply some of the ideas that where presented in the workshop.

• Often I use a drum set (if available) to demonstrate some grooves
and play with the students.
• Although this is a workshop mainly designed for pianists, I invite
students who play other instruments to attend and bring
their instruments, so they can play as well and benefit from this music.

It can only enrich everybody’s experience to have instrumentalists
other than pianists. That way we can all play something together at
the end of the third part of this workshop. Sharing this music on stage
is the best way to learn it, just like any other music.


Ensemble workshops - piano, bass & drums

Two seperate workshops are offered:
Suggested time: 2 hours each

1. piano jazz trio.

After playing with my trio we will elaborate on the interaction
between the three instruments, the function of each one of them in
the trio, the dynamics between the instruments when improvising and
the trust between the musicians which is essencial for a
succesful ensemble playing. I encourage students to prepare a piece
so they can play for us and we can coach them. I also like to invite
a student who plays a different instrument, for example a horn player,
to sit in with us. Then we talk about the different dynamics that a
fourth member creats in the rhythm section, Specially the
interaction between piano and drums.

2. Any small ensemble-Various musical genres.

I coach Students while they learn to play music from different parts
of the world. The goal is to enhance students' repertoire and enrich
their musical vocabulary. Students will learn music from Israel,
Bulgaria, Brazil, Peru and Cuba.

* I provide music sheets of the pieces that we are going to
play ahead of time, so students can prepare for the workshop,
specially bass and drums, which are the rhythmic and
harmonic foundation.