Guitarist Gergely Szabo has an Advanced Diploma in Music Performance from Cambrian College where he majored in the classical guitar. Over his time there, he completed 2 years of comprehensive pedagogy courses. He also gained well grounded vocal skills, as well as basic knowledge on the piano. Outside of classical music, he exhibits a repertoire of skills and knowledge in playing the genres of rock, blues, and heavy metal music. He has experience in teaching the guitar and the ukulele to a range of people aged 6 to 54.
Gergely’s teaching methods include both the use of books and digital methods. The three main books he uses to teach guitar are as follows: “Guitar Method Book 1 by Will Schmid and Greg Koch,” “Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests RCM Level 1,” and “Classical Guitar Repertoire and Etudes RCM Level 1.” For teaching ukulele, he uses the book “Ukulele Songs for 1, 2, or 3 players by Elizabeth Ragsdale.” Aside from these, he frequently uses the Muse Score application as a play-along practicing tool.
Gergely’s passion for music and his dedication to growing the love of music in others are the biggest reasons why he teaches guitar and ukulele. His approach to teaching involves learning through play. The material he covers with his students is always delivered in a way that is highly interactive. Most of the assigned exercises he gives involve the elements of play that students can enjoy both in class and as homework.
Get to know Gergely…Beyond the Bio!
Coming soon!
Hobbies:
Musical influences:
Favourite food:
Least favourite food:
Favourite music:
Favourite album:
Favourite movie:
Favourite musical theatre/opera:
Best quote from your teacher:
Favourite quote:
Favourite book:
Latest Homework from Gergely
Is Gergely Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
[IMPORTANT] Feb. 1 We are moving to a new system!
Hello Everybody,
Over the next week we are moving to our new booking system, Opus1.io. If you are already enrolled in Opus, please disregard this.
There is a list of important things we need to ask you to do to complete this transition.
1. Accept the proposal in your email
You’ll soon get an email ‘proposal’ from Opus1.io that is for your existing time. You will need to accept this and confirm your booking, and make your payment.
Your payment will be stopped in the old system as soon as that is sent to you.
Your proposal will be valid and your spot held until February 1st.
2. Set your payment method – Help Keep Costs Low
When setting your payment, we ask you to please consider using the ‘bank’ option rather than the credit card option. This is much cheaper for us, and with inflation and cost of living being what they are, this will help us minimize the chance of a tuition increase in the near future, by saving us thousands of dollars a year.
3. Verify your family’s account details.
We have moved over your details, but there is a chance the details are not completely accurate, or that you are not connected to your child’s account. Please review these details and make sure they are up to date and accurate.
Music Together Oopsie
When we sent out the first batch of ‘proposals’ there was an error in the monthly billing, which should be $97.64. We have sent out a second round of proposals with this corrected, so please be sure to use that one. If you already processed it at the incorrect amount, please just call or text the office at 416-651-7529 and we’ll correct that on our end for you. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Other Opus Updates and General ABC News
WHY ARE WE MOVING SYSTEMS?
Moving systems is a pain, and involves a lot of work and time. It isn’t ideal to do it. Still, we’ve had increasing problems with our current systems, and while we have managed to deal with them for quite a long time, a few factors have made this necessary. Among them: Expense, billing problems affecting families, poor response to our needs as their customers.
LESSONS WILL BE EXACT BILLING PER-MONTH
At the moment, we bill our lessons based on the monthly average for total lessons in the school year. This has been meant to bring predictability to your budget process, especially in months like January, where you might sometimes end up with 5 lessons in a month. Opus1 is not capable of that.
What this means is that lessons will now be billed for the exact amount in each month. If there are holidays you might have 3 lessons billed. If you are on a day in a month that has 31 days, you may have 5 lessons billed. We hope this does not cause too great an inconvenience.
TEXT MESSAGING MOVING TO 416-651-7529
Yes – that is correct! Starting February now you will be able to send your text messages directly to our land line phone number, which simplifies our points of connection.
MAKE-UPS WILL NOW BE SELF-ADMINISTERED*
When you have to cancel, you will be able to set your own make-up lesson within a 60 day window as long as you cancel the minimum 24h in advance. You will be able to choose an additional time with your teacher, or another teacher who can teach you the same lessons.
Your make-up credits have been transferred from our clunky spreadsheet into Opus. Note that they are set to a 90-day expiry (April 30th). Please see if you can use them sooner rather than later. With this more flexible system you should be able to have access to more make-ups, but it will be in testing for the rest of this year, and we do not guarantee that will continue next year.
*Music Together classes will still be administered on an as-needed basis if a full class is cancelled, and we’ll inform you of that when it happens.
SCHOOL YEAR RE-REGISTRATION WILL BE SIMPLIFIED
Like the onboarding process above, we’ll be able to and will send you ‘proposals’ for the school year when we enter the re-registration period, which will prebook your school year and allow you to – very quickly – confirm your lessons times. This will greatly reduce the time spent on the phone and checking off lists manually.
More information will be sent out as it becomes available. Stay tuned, and thanks for your quick action on moving to the new system!
-the ABC Team
Saturday, January 25th
Nova–xylo day
Warmups:
–C Major Scale and Arpeggio (C-E-G-c-G-E-C)
–Now, add in G and F major scales (on handout). Note that they each have one accidental (black key)
Cirone Book: “Step 7” ex. 1-2 ***
–Great work on Step 6!
–Learn these exercises in the same way: singing the note names aloud as you play them
Ear training: pitch matching
Aleksander
Warmups (30 sec each) goal tempo 80bpm playing four notes per beat****:
–Single strokes (R L R L…)
–Double Strokes (R R L L….)
–Paradiddles (RLRR LRLL…)
–RLLR LRRL
–FLAMS*** pay close attention to the stroke setup: one hand high, one low. After the stroke, set up the opposite way
Drumset Musician p39, introducing sixteenth-notes
–Learn the different rhythms on this page (especially the three examples at the top of the page). Once you have the first three, can you think of how to play the others?
Drumset Musician p14 ex. 7-8 (2min ea.)
Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way
–everything up until the chorus
–drill speaking that syncopated fill from before the chorus with only your voice and clicking the beat with your sticks, then apply that to the drums
Tracie
Warm-ups:
–Triplet ex. (85bpm)
–Rhythmic Alphabet
Groove Essentials: Groove 1 (find chart and backing track in the Freq. Used folder)
–Basic beat with “Chad Kroeger” drum fill in measure 8
Montell Fish: Don’t you Love Me
–see the handout, drill the main groove
Jonah — xylo day
Warmups:
–Paradiddle combo exercise with bass drum playing quarters. Accent the beginning of each paradiddle
NEW SONG Paul Simon: Late in the Evening
–You can find the chart for this song in your google drive personal folder
–This week we learned the main beat. Continue getting it clean and up to speed
Xylophone Warmup exercise in C, G, F and Eb Major
Reading exercises: please make sure to READ when we’re working on reading
Ear training:
–Identifying 3rds, 5ths and 2nds
–Playing simple melodies back by ear
Jonah
Warmups (1min each):
–Triplet Ex. 125bpm
–Ride pattern exercise with sixteenth exercise on the cymbal (goal tempo 90)
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials: Groove 11 SLOW (track twenty-one)
–This week, get comfortable playing the main groove along with the song
–Goal tempo is roughly 85bpm
–Begin learning the other variations
Duke of Edinburgh
–Koel logs the hours
–Smart goal: measurable, achievable, and in a timely manner (end of school year)
–SMART GOALS: 1) triplet exercise up to 140bpm 2)sixteenth-note exercise up to 110bpm 3) Master six new grooves from the Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials book (2x rock, one funk, one r&b/hiphop, one jazz, one world) 4) Learn one new song
Mario
Warmups (1min/ea)
–8 on a hand
–Single Stroke Roll (R L R L…)
–Double Stroke Roll (R R L L…)
–Imagine the playing surface is a hot burner on the stove…get the stick down and up fast or you might get burned! Really quick contact–jump off the drum (piston/full strokes)
MGMT: Kid
–Building consistency will be key for this song. Play with your metronome (goal tempo ca. 126) to help develop this
We also played along with I Love Rock ‘n Roll (Joan Jett) and We Will Rock You (Queen)
–Developing the audiation (inner voice) and adjusting (listening and matching) these songs
Drumset Musician p27 (in google drive) – 8th-note Fills, ex. 7-9
–This week, focus on keeping the 8th-note steady through your fills
Mateo
Warmups (30 sec each):
–8 on a Hand
–Single Stroke Roll (RLRL…)
–Double Stroke Roll (RRLL…)
**Think more skin on the stick (but not squeezing)
**Let the stick bounce off the drum
**Remember to dribble the basketball
Drumset Musician p27, ex. 1-3 (in Freq. Used Res. google drive folder)
–Three times through the beat, play the fill, then end with a crash
–Aim to keep the flow of the eighth-note pulse STEADY
–try looping these exercises, so that the crash after the fill becomes beat 1 of the beat again
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials, Groove 1 SLOW
–Find the chart and backing track for this in the Freq. Used Resources folder
–Practice playing the basic beat along with the song. Make sure to listen carefully to stay on pace
Queen: Another One Bites the Dust
–Find the chart for this song in your personal gdrive folder
–This week, we’re just working on the material from p. 1
Preferred Books for Gergely’s Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
Hal Leonard Guitar Method
The second edition of this world-famous method by Will Schmid and Greg Koch is preferred by teachers because it makes them more effective while making their job easier. Students enjoy its easy-to-follow format that gives them a solid music education while letting them play songs right away. Book 1 provides beginning instruction including tuning, 1st position melody playing, C, G, G7, D7, and Em chords, rhythms through eighth notes, solos and ensembles and strumming.
Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests
