About myself, the studio, and what drives my teaching philosopy.
JON SCHOLL
Owner/Teacher at Piano Player's Workshop
Born and raised in upstate NY, I've called Baton Rouge my home for almost 2 decades now. Before moving here in 2008, I spent my college years split between the music and communications buildings at Ithaca College, ultimately earning a degree in audio production. For the next 13 years I would work in the audio, performing and teaching fields, touring the country with my band, recording other artists and teaching piano at student's homes.
In 2017 I then decided to concentrate the majority of my time and efforts into the one thing that I loved more than anything, teaching piano. I went back to school, working through classes in the piano pedagogy program at LSU, and took on a full schedule of students. In 2022, I decided to open up my own teaching studio, Piano Player's Workshop, which I run from my home. Utilizing my long backgrounds in audio, performing and teaching by making both a music technology lab and consistent, creative and fun performance opportunities a part of the learning experience here.
I began taking lessons myself at the age of 11, and was fully obsessed and committed from the get-go because of a caring and amazing piano teacher. She encouraged me to learn and play music that caught my interest, no matter what genre that music resided in, and I learned early on the power that having true caring for something can hold when one decides how much time and energy they want to put into something.
Fast forward over 30 years since that first lesson, and that mantra my original piano teacher lived by is the one I myself now work with every day. Inspiring students, both young and old, to want to learn everything they can about playing the piano and making music is why I do this, and when a student is captivated and truly enjoys the process, there's no better motivation to learn.
When you take piano lessons here, it's not all about becoming a skilled performer. I strive to not just teach you how to be a skilled performer, I craft our lessons in a way that helps to start you on a journey towards becoming a well-rounded musician, and a life-long music lover. I want you to love music, love learning about it, love performing it, love creating it, and love sharing it with others, and everything I do here is in the pursuit of that. I hope to help start that journey with you!
What makes this different
Four concerts a year
I know the only way to become a great performer is to do it, a lot. And by always having a goal with a set deadline in sight, motivation is much easier to find.
Both solo and ensemble performance opportunities
From playing in keyboard ensembles to playing with a full rock band to group summer camps, classes and workshops, playing all by yourself is not the only option here. Getting to play and learn with your peers in the community is not only fun, it also helps you learn from others, understand how to play in sync with others, and develop listening skills that aren't often focused on during solo performance.
Custom arrangements
Sometimes a student really wants to learn a piece, but they're just not at the right level yet. When good sounding arrangements at the student's level don't exist, I can create a new arrangement to give them just the right amount of challenge while still sounding great
Practice videos at home
Every week's assignment can come with video breakdowns of repertoire or concepts learning, letting the student review once the lesson's done as much as they'd like.
Music technology lab
Keyboards, learning games, DAW workstations and notation software that students can use before or after lessons. Individual tech lab curriculums that reinforce what is being learned in method books can be created for an extra fee as well.
Four themed concerts a year
While method books are almost always part of every student's curriculum, every student is almost always also working toward something concrete that they chose and are interested in. Whether it's a song for the next concert, learning how to write their own music, or something else they just happen to want to know more about, student's tend to stay motivated when they enjoy what they're learning.