michael leibson : thinkingMusic

Students

One-on-One, Long-Distance Lessons in

jazz harmony, classical harmony,
musical analysis and composition

• Download as printable PDF file

I teach jazz and classical harmony and composition to a small number of private, long-distance students. Instruction is one-on-one, and person-to-person – only the means of communication is long-distance. My students and I use email and telephone to create intimate, one-on-one teacher-student relationships, that are surprisingly superior — in many ways — to on-site instruction. Because I limit my teaching to a small number of students, each student receives my complete attention and individual care.

Benefits of Long-Distance Instruction

Finding the right teacher

Depending on where you live, it may be difficult to find a teacher who specializes in harmony and composition — or whose teaching approach addresses your needs, goals and philosophy. Long-distance instruction answers those needs, by bringing the right teacher to you.

A written record of every lesson

Each email lesson contains explanations specific to your individual studies, corrections and comments on your work, answers to your questions, and musical illustrations. Because they are written, email lessons are permanent, and you can review them at any time. Your email lessons become your own textbook, chronicling every step of your progress, and are always available for future reference.

• Check out , for samples of student email lessons.

Flexible timetable

Because it’s email, lessons can fit your schedule – study when the time is right for you, whether that’s first thing in the morning or the middle of the night.

Courses and lessons tailored to your unique needs

Successful teaching respects and addresses the differing experiences, training, and abilities that each student brings to his or her studies. I therefore begin each new teaching relationship with an in-depth ‘interview’, that covers the student’s previous training and experience, explores his or her abilities, and identifies goals. We then discuss the specific steps necessary to achieve those goals, and plan a course of study particular to that student. My approach is the antithesis of the kind of one-size-fits-all instruction one can sometimes find on the internet and DVDs: not only is each lesson unique to the student, but so is the entire course of study.

How I Work

Harmony

For all harmony students, I use a combination of exercises in analysis and composition as a means of first developing awareness and then building practical skills – but the details of how we proceed depend a great deal on the skills, experience and requirements of the individual student.

Classical

For students with sufficient preparatory skills and experience, I like to use Harmony & Voice Leading, by Aldwell & Schachter, as a main text, with side-references to other texts as necessary. Widely used in university-level harmony courses, Harmony & Voice Leading is difficult, but I’ve found it to be far more thorough and reliable – and thus much kinder to the student’s long-term progress – than other major harmony texts currently available.

• Google "Harmony & Voice Leading Aldwell Schachter" to learn more about this text. You can find its table of contents online, here, at Amazon.com.

• Check out , for an example of email lessons involving Harmony & Voice Leading.

For students requiring preparatory training, I use many of my own materials (which I give, free of charge, to my students) in combination with any of a number of widely available texts. Should the student’s experience and aptitude require it, I may also create courses to address particular weaknesses (eg, a survey of chord progressions found in the student’s favourite music, followed by their reduction to root movement, and the harmonic patterns made observable by that reduction).

• Check out , for an example of email lessons involving preparatory training.

For more advanced students, and students interested in cross-referencing jazz harmony with classical harmony, I generally proceed from the specific to the general: we might, for instance, analyse a work of interest (be it from classical, romantic, Impressionist, or jazz repertoire), locate areas that require specific, in-depth exploration, and then devise a short- or long-term course of study to address that need.

• Check out , for an example of email lessons that discuss more advanced harmonic techniques.

Jazz

Jazz is both the modern-day heir to the tonal harmony of classical, romantic and Impressionist traditions, and the master of its own intensely sophisticated harmonic language. That this language is relatively new -- and ever-evolving -- naturally means that it is less codified, and open to a wide and diverse number of theoretical perspectives.

While jazz musicians necessarily focus on chord-scale relationships, I believe that a solid grounding in harmony – one that spans both its roots in the classical heritage and its modern evolution -- is also important. This should include a study of longer-term harmonic relationships -- and the often very sophisticated techniques at work behind them.

Using actual leadsheets and recordings as a starting point, I learn how my student conceives of harmony. This helps me trace the student’s previous training and experience, and identify areas that may need strengthening. We then discuss various ways of developing those strengths, and devise appropriate course plans. Those courses may involve texts (e.g., Mark Levine’s The Jazz Theory Book), a possible review or tour of classical harmony (see Classical, above), or consist of chart analysis and discussion. If my student is already in fine shape, our tools will typically be the deep analysis of relevant tunes – via both recordings and leadsheets – followed by compositional exercises that seek to synthesize the new discoveries.

• Check out , for an example of email lessons involving jazz harmony.

• Check out “Giant Steps, Central Park West, and Modulatory Cycles”, at the Analyses page of thinkingMusic.ca.

Necessary Gear

Long-distance students will require the following equipment & software:

Scanner

So that you can scan and email:

• your hand-written musical exercises/compositions (if you prefer to notate them manually)

• charts/leadsheets, for study or comparison

• textbook or article excerpts, for study or comparison

Word Processing Program (eg, Word, or any Word-compatible program)

So that you can:

• create, edit, and respond to email lessons. I normally write email lessons in Word, which easily accommodates text, hidden text, expandable font sizes, and images of all types. Students can easily edit incoming email lessons – to answer questions, correct musical exercises, and ask further questions – if they, too, have Word, or an application that accepts Word files (Open Office Writer can read and create Word files, and is downloadable, for free, here.

Graphics Program

So that you can:

• convert large-sized images to smaller formats. Email lessons can contain quite a few scanned musical illustrations and excerpts – all in the form of images. To keep the final email size light, it helps to convert any large-sized images to smaller file-types (eg, .gif, .png). Graphics programs like Photoshop do this easily.

• edit incoming or outgoing image files: for example, I sometimes use a very simple graphics program – like MS Paint – to correct or add comments to students’ exercises.

Optional Gear

The following is useful, but not essential:

Music Notation Program (optional)

So that you can:

• write your musical exercises and compositions without having to use music manuscript and scanner. (I actually find it faster and more convenient to use a pencil, music manuscript and a scanner, but many of my students do their work via music notation programs or the scoring features of sequencers/DAWs.) Note: You may still have to convert your notated score into an image file, in order to export it within an email lesson.

Screen Capture Program (optional)

• Screen capture programs afford one of the fastest and simplest ways of turning anything on your computer screen into an image – an image that you can then easily insert into an email lesson. Free screen capture programs can easily be found on the net.

Digital Audio Recording/Editing Software (optional)

So that you can:

• record, edit and email excerpts of specific tunes to be used for analysis, etc.

(For Phone Lessons)

• Telephone, with headset, that is within reach of your musical instrument and computer

Lesson Frequency & Duration

While I’m open to the occasional ad hoc lesson, I prefer to work with students who are committed to hard work and a very active inter-relationship. The teacher-student relationship takes time and care, and I’m most interested in working with students who are keen to use the benefits of that relationship fully.

I usually spend one to two hours a week on each student’s lessons, depending on the student’s pace and requirements, and my own workload. However, each student’s situation is unique, so let’s talk. . .

About Me

I’ve been a professional musician for over forty years, as a performer (guitar and keyboards), arranger, composer, music consultant, and music educator.

I’ve been teaching music theory (rudiments, harmony, analysis and counterpoint), musicianship and composition for over twenty-five years -- mostly privately, but also at various institutions, seminars and workshops in Canada. (See about Michael Leibson, for further details.)

Since the 1980’s, I’ve also worked as a music consultant, acting as a forensic musicologist and music analyst/transcriber for many Canadian music publishers. The Clients and References pages, at my forensic musicology website, give details on some of the work I’ve done over the years.

My first loves are composing and thinking about music, and I do as much of both as I can. I get to think about music with my students, too, and I hope they also benefit from the exchange.

“I’ve known Michael Leibson for about twenty years, and can attest, without hesitation, that Michael is one of the finest musicians and is endowed with one of the keenest intellects I have ever known.”

— Dr. Alexander Rapoport, professor of composition,
University of Toronto, Canada