Testimonials from Students

A Passion for Jazz!^™ Piano Lessons

Whether you are passionate about Jazz or just learning about it, D C will take your piano performance to new heights. For me, this is a full-life experience -- it feels good in my body, stimulates my mind and enriches my soul. I've taken lessons off and on since I was a child but always felt like a beginner. My progress over the last few months with D.C. is stunning. I was stuck in a rut and he bumped me right out of it! Moving forward has been fun.

Kathleen Murray
San Diego, CA

"I started Jazz piano study with Professor DowDell a little over a year ago after a 4 year absence from Classical lessons. I was bored with the music I had been playing and wanted to understand how to play Jazz. D C has opened up a new musical world to me by really getting "inside" what's going on with Jazz and Blues. He has shown me how to improvise over chords that used to baffle me, and I am now playing regularly with a club band."

Dennis Lahey
Oceanside, CA

"I have been taking lessons with D C DowDell for over 2 years. It has been both my great luck and profound joy to find a piano teacher as thoroughly knowledgeable about the Jazz idiom as D C. A qualified professor of music, D C competently covers all aspects of music and music history, while focusing on specific interests of the student. In my case this has been the desire to play Jazz piano. Though I have had some classical piano training in my childhood and have read many books on the topic of Jazz theory, I was not able to make significant progress. D C begins students with simplified Jazz tunes and eventually leads them through the classic Jazz standards. D C himself arranges many of the tunes. He often makes corrections to "Fake-Book" standards and re-harmonizes chord progressions to make them more interesting or representative of the original artist's intention. With a mastery of harmony and piano-voicings, D C teaches students to bring the most out of every tune, while facilitating personal expression. His approach to improvisation is based on harmonic understanding rather than the memorization of modes; students learn to formulate musical ideas spontaneously in response to chords played rather than from preconceived ideas. Naturally, one learns the various modes but in a very organic and integrated fashion. His love for music is infectious and his dedication to the development of his students is inspiring. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced musician, your musical experience will be greatly enhanced by taking lessons with D C DowDell."

Jim Georgiev
San Marcos, CA