Piano | Judy LaPrade | Beginning | Period 1 | Week 3 (July 21-26, 2024)
Participants should plan to attend both Part 1 and Part 2 of this workshop. This will be a piano program on acoustic traditional blues songs, including those not in the usual 12-bar form. The classes are designed for both true beginners to piano players who read music and want to learn to play blues piano by ear. Participants will learn completely by ear in this program, with the use of simple chord charts and lyric sheets. The class will start with the basic 8- and 12-bar blues forms in the key of C and build left- and right-hand skills note by note. Each participant progresses at their own pace, from single notes with each hand to simple blues chords and patterns. With the right hand, participants will pick out melodies by ear and riff on the blues scale and chords. The left hand is all about playing bass lines, from single notes to simple versions of walking bass, rhumbas, shuffles, and others. Participants will use their voices and bodies to guide their natural sense of tone and rhythm as they sing, clap, and stomp each song. Participants should bring a recorder, so together with the many handouts of songs and useful theory, they will be ready to continue on their own. The class will play many different blues tunes and some gospel, which is similar in form. The aim is to have fun and take the fear out of starting something new.
Keyboards will be provided for this class, but participants are encouraged to bring their own headphones. Participants who wish to bring a keyboard for class, jamming, or practice are welcome to do so.
About the Instructor
Judy LaPrade grew up playing piano at home and in church. She started as a toddler mimicking her older sister and then began classical lessons that left her strong, natural ear in the dust. Augusta’s Blues Week in 1985 began the long road to recovery of that ear with a deep love of traditional Blues. This background makes her a somewhat nervous performer but a wonderful teacher who truly understands the challenge of leaving printed music behind. She has a gift for breaking things down in a systematic yet artistic way that blends the use of the left and right parts of the brain.
Judy has taught Blues piano for ten years in a variety of Blues camps with students who are both raw beginners and trained pianists who yearn for freedom from the printed page. She has a joy for teaching that encourages people to have fun and move past the voice in their heads that says, “”This is too hard. I can’t do it.”” She found this joy as a member of the Elktones, a group of women musicians from Elkins, West Virginia, known for vocal harmonies and an eclectic repertoire that included African music, blues, rock, and folk. She is a life-long teacher in every aspect of her work, since she directed music programs and the choir at a local state mental hospital in junior high school.
Judy fell in love with the blues, studying piano, accordion, and voice with Maureen DelGrosso, Ann Rabson, Erwin Helfer, and others. It is her mission to keep traditional blues alive and growing by passing this joy on to others.