Peanut butter and jam Camp 2021
... Virtually!
For
Piano Teachers
Our 12th annual and 2nd virtual Piano Boot Camp is on.
Starts August 12 at 10 am - 12:30 pm (PST)
FIVE 2 1/2 hour sessions at your piano, chording lead sheets and jamming with Linda and Sue PLUS a private 1/2 hour lesson!
Time for you to have FUN at the piano and invigorate your teaching skills
Benefits from attending camp...
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increase your chording confidence
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learn lead sheet secrets so you can teach them
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understand memorizing music at a deeper level
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watch your creativity grow
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learn how to bring this creativity out of your students
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increase teen student retention
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expand your studio with daytime RMM adults
Peanut Butter and Jam Camp 2021
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Learn to think like a CHORD player
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Teach improvisation with confidence
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Make lead sheets sound great
Books and lectures give us lots of information but EXPERIENCING and PLAYING on your piano makes you a better teacher and pianist. There is an explosion of online courses on the internet that teach how to play piano with chords. Learning this skill with a private music teacher or at a group piano lesson gives the best results. You already have the tools to master this skill. Let's work together to bring them out.
Come play with us August 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 from 10 am to 12:30 pm (PST). On the days off you can review the online course videos or just relax, it's summer after all!
PB & Jam Camp is VIRTUAL and a great value at only $300. There are no travel hassles and expenses! While you sit at your piano you'll explore pop and jazz chords, further your chord voicings, learn a lead sheet at a deep level, meet fellow teachers, participate in masterclasses and have a virtual musical experience.
The price includes:
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10 hours of instruction
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1/2 hour private lesson
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access to online videos to practice with after class
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daily masterclasses
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music and worksheets for the week
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a BONUS music video game you can use with your students online or in person
We start with the Peanut Butter chords; Major, Minor and Sevenths. Then we'll explore juicy jazz chords; 9th, 11th, 13th and beyond. We'll add the Jam by using the chords with lead sheets adding improvisation. We'll play and practice by jamming together (remember no one can hear you so you can be as creative as you like :-). Learn about 'comping chords and how to teach lead sheet solos. Your classical teaching will get a boost too when you start to think like a chord player!
Play Piano Chords Today method - the camp includes an introduction to the Play Piano Chords Today teacher training course. With the explosion of online courses, piano teachers can up-their-game by adding online videos for students to practice with between lessons. Get daytime adult RMM students (Recreational Music Making), teach small groups for extra $$ and retain more teens with Play Piano Chords Today.
For a successful virtual camp, you need a computer with the Zoom app downloaded. We will send you a link for connecting to Zoom. Put your computer or tablet on your piano and play along with us and all the other teachers. No one can hear you so you can be as experimental as you wish!
Music for the tunes and backing tracks will be provided the day before camp starts so you can be ready to go :-)
This year my teaching partner is the wonderful classical and jazz pianist and educator, Sue Gould. Sue brings us her experience as mentor, performer, arranger, conductor all the way from the beautiful Colombia Valley in British Colombia Canada.
What previous piano boot campers say...
John Pope (Vancouver)
I am so glad I did!
After retirement, I decided that I wanted to try to learn to play the piano again. I had taken piano lessons for a few years as a child, but really struggled with it. I didn’t enjoy the music I was required to play and my progress was slow.
My wife helped me find a series of piano lesson books (Play Piano Chords Today) that simplified the process of playing, by using chords in the left hand and a simple melody in the right hand. I discovered these books were the work of a musician in Victoria named Linda Gould and that she seemed to have the goal of wanting to help adults like me reestablish their interest in playing the piano.
When I found that she had a piano camp for a week in the summer I thought I had nothing to lose except my pride so very nervously I decided I would attend her camp.
I am so glad I did! Linda made every student feel comfortable that week. Even though we were at different skill levels, she was able to make the classes relevant to each of us and she did it in such a fun and positive way. Of course I came back the next year! Then Linda took a break from offering the piano Boot Camp‘s, much to my disappointment. So now that I know there’s one this year, even though it’s a virtual camp this year, of course I’m going to sign up.
I often think now, when I’m playing the piano, how much my enjoyment has increased because of taking the risk of attending my first Piano Boot Camp.
After not having a piano lesson for over 10 years, I found Linda Gould. What a treasure she is!! And her teaching methods are so creative, so magnificent, so holistic and so enjoyable; I have fallen in love with playing the piano again. Linda is the most creative teacher I ever had.... Her teaching methods utilizing "Play Piano Chords Today" books, and her summer "Piano Boot Camp" are so much fun and I can hardly wait to go to my piano lessons.
The Play Piano Chords Today books utilize exercises, songs, improvisational techniques, thoughtful quotes such as "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."(Victor Hugo) as well as pictures, visuals and helpful written exercises. Her original "Tea Kettle 1 and 2" warm-ups are just perfect to practice while waiting for the tea kettle to sing...... What a clever idea, and it works to keep me practicing and motivated.
She is simply the best!!!! For anyone desiring to play the piano at any level with any kind of music, Linda and her teaching methods will guarantee you success. For music teachers who may attend her workshops, I guarantee you that will you discover secrets and techniques to help your students learn that will give you and your students great success as well as much enjoyment.
Galina Coffey Lewis (Author)
I have fallen in love with playing the piano again!
Linda with her husband, Dave Paulson
Boot Camp 2020 - We ROCKED it!
Teachers joined the students at boot camps last year and loved it! They joined both the morning and afternoon classes and came away with new tools to teach!
2020 Morning Boot Camp
Everyone showed up for 2 1/2 hours in the morning for a whole week, playing new songs and learning all about chords and lead sheets. Wow!
You guys rocked!
2020 Afternoon Boot Camp
For 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon, all week long, we played jazz, jammed on the blues, learned new turnarounds and generally stretched to a new level of chording.
Well done everyone! See you next year!
Previous Boot Camps
Piano Boot Camp 2017
We JAM so the IMPROV sticks!
Join me and explore your musical creativity!
Hi, I'm Linda Gould
I am a mom, grandma, pianist, composer and educator who's passion for the last 2 decades has been teaching adults to play piano with piano chords and lead sheets. I love creativity in music and helping teachers grow and become comfortable teaching with chords.
I'm classically trained with 2 university degrees in piano performance plus training in jazz and pop sprinkled throughout.
When we reached a new millennium, I wrote Play Piano Chords TODAY so any adult, young or not-so-young, could play songs in weeks not months. Sometimes even days!
Play Piano Chords TODAY was composed over a period of 10 years with the help of hundreds of adult students and teachers with wonderfully specific wants, needs and desires. Won't you join me today, discover your musical creativity, and enrich your students musical lives?
Teaching R M M
Brian Chung, senior vice president emeritus of Kawai America, talks about how vital it is to begin teaching RMM in our studios. Here is his YouTube video (21 mins).
Still not sure?
Sometimes it's best to talk directly. If you have some questions about taking the camp or the Teacher Training Course, you can book a one-on-one call with Linda Gould here.
