M.Mus (U of T)
B.Mus (Oberlin)
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!
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Latest Homework from Gergely
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Assignments from May 2nd
Hello Everybody!
Student progress reports have gone out! Please review these and let me know if you have any questions. Also, just a reminder that the recital has been postponed to June! The official date is TBD, but all students should be reviewing their chosen recital piece in the next coming weeks.
Berke
Today we finished the Andante in g minor! Berke should continue to practice this song if it is the piece he would be willing to play at the recital! When practicing this week, Berke should try different tempos. Start very slow to help connect each bar and each phrase smoothly. When practicing at such a slow tempo the focus should be transitioning the hands from one note to the next, the melody is not the priority. Start at 60BPM, then slowly increase the tempo to see how fast Berke can play the song without falling behind. If he starts to drag, he should review the phrase slowly again before returning to the faster tempo. Berke also has a sheet of all the technical requirements for level 1! This week for warm up Berke should continue to use the contrary motion scale and the chromatic scale before practicing the C Major and G Major triads both solid and broken. Use a metronome when you do this. Broken triads are to be played like triplets at 50BPM and solid triads are to be played at 100BPM with rests between chords.
Thank you!
See you next week!
Assignments from April 30th
Hello Everybody!
This semester’s progress reports have gone out! Please review these and let me know if you have any questions. Also, just a reminder that our recital has been postponed to June! Official date TBD, but all students should be reviewing their chosen piece over the next few weeks so they’re ready to play in June!
Georgia
Georgia has chosen the Minuet and Trio for the recital in June! She should continue to practice playing this song in the next coming weeks. We reviewed the C Major and G Major triads this week as well. Georgia should use these as a warm up, playing the root/first inversion/second inversion/root pattern both broken and solid. Georgia’s dedication to practicing this week was evident! Keep it up!
Noreet
Noreet has chosen Ode to Joy for the recital in June! When practicing this song, please encourage Noreet to watch the notes on the page and not her hands. She can glance to double check her hand positioning, but her eyeline should be on the page, not the keys. For warm up this week Noreet can continue to use the chromatic scale, starting on C. She should also start practicing her scales hands together! Start with C Major and G Major hands together, we will add more next week.
Clara
This week we reviewed Ukrainian Folk song, which is a contender for the recital in June! When practicing this song this week, Clara should review each hand separately. She should focus specifically on the left hand and the contour of the line to make sure Clara can confidently navigate the bass notes while playing hands together. Ask her to identify the interval of any large jumps and to circle the passing or neighboring tones she sees in the bass line to help deepen Clara’s understanding of the components of the phrase. When practicing the whole song hands together, Clara should focus on bringing the song up to tempo. She can start under, at 80BPM, and slowly increase from there. Should she start to drag as the tempo increases, remind her to go back and review individual bars slowly, hands together, before trying the whole phrase again up to tempo.
Thank you everyone!
See you all next week.
Efe Homework Nov 22nd
Hi Efe!
This week’s homework.
Blues — page 10, Guitar Method 1 book
Be mindful of the correct picking directions.
Goals with this piece:
- Reading musical notation.
- Good posture of hands, arms, and body enforced. Remember the slanted body position I was demonstrating today.
- Getting the hands used to the correct picking directions, as well as ingraining the habits of proper string crossing.
Little Drummer Boy
The Google Drive link from last time is here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO
In here, you’ll find my newest videos. One is of the D and G chords’ transitions. The other is of the melody for this song.
What to practice:
- The strumming pattern — both slowly and faster, as shown.
- The transitioning exercise — both slowly and faster, as shown.
- The song at its regular, allegretto pace; play alongside my video of the melody
Goals with this song:
- Good posture of hands, arms, and body enforced. Remember the slanted body position I was demonstrating today.
- Getting used to the hard transitions. Especially between the G and D chords.
- Being able to play accurately in an ensemble setting. Having me play the melody while you play the chords will help you learn the essential skill of playing with others. Musicians must be good at this. I know you’ve been playing the drums in your ensemble at school so that’s a good start for this. — if you stop or make any mistakes, then just resume the piece wherever my video is. Don’t go back and correct it; remember, you can’t do that in a performance :)
When any mistakes are made, work on them individually before attempting to play the whole piece again. Once they’ve been fixed, you can start the piece from its beginning again.
E Major string crossing
This is the melody from that Crossroads solo the kid was playing. The above link will have the following video and picture in it.
- 65BPM fastest. Strictly.
- The picking pattern is ALWAYS down-up down-up. Keep paying close attention to this.
- The left hand fingerings are always going to be 4, 1, 2, 0. In this order. No finger 3 is ever used!
- The picture shows the guitar tab and musical notation of this.
- The video is of me demonstrating this exercise. — practice it just like I’m showing; 8 repetitions at a time. 2 bars of rest. Then do this all again. Do this for at least 5 minutes a day. Do not increase the tempo of the metronome for this exercise.
Goals with this melody:
- String crossing — this is an essential technique that all guitarists come across sooner or later. It’s best if you start working on this as soon as possible. This technique can be and stay difficult for many guitarists. This catchy melody should help you start to get into the habit of executing this technique properly.
- Building the habit of sticking to the rule of alternate picking only. — Many songs have different rules for when to pick which way. But countless songs have the rule of playing exclusively with alternate picking. This melody will help you get into the habit of following this rule.
- Building the habit of sticking to the best strumming pattern at hand. — the acute attention you give to sticking to the rules of your pieces’ picking directions will get you in the habit of following the correct picking patterns at all times.
Remember, even just 5 minutes of practice a day is better than failing to practice on several days of the week. Ideally, I’d like your practice sessions to be a minimum of 40-45 minutes a day. But if that’s not possible, I do understand; it does happen. So in cases like that, find some time in your day to do a smaller amount of practice, covering whatever you can in the detailed list above.
You’re improving in the concepts I’m passing on to you, Efe. Good work on that. Now you must keep at it with the new ones I’m giving you. Have a great week and I’ll see you on November 29th!
Efe November 8th
Hi Efe and family!
Here is Efe’s homework for the next 2 weeks.
Little Drummer Boy
- https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO — check out the video and pictures I have for this piece. They should help you practice it
- The pictures are of the pages I’ve written out for the chords and the strumming pattern of this song
- Remember, check out the Pentatonix version of this song. It’s not in the same key, but the melody sung here is the same
G to D chords exercise
- 50bpm, 4 beats per bar
- 1 bar of G, 1 bar of D. Looped (as in repeated over and over).
- When transitioning between bars, leave out beat 4. That’s the “cheat beat.” This is when you switch to the next chord
- Leave finger 3 on fret 3 of the B string
- Refer to the chord diagrams below for the correct fingerings. Memorize the fingerings of the D and G chords
Blues, page 10
- Keep going with this piece
- 5 minutes a day
- The point of this one is so that you don’t forget to keep honing your alternate picking and outside picking skills
Ode to Joy, page 10
- Just do as much of this as you can. But it’s the least important thing on this today’s homework
In due time, we’ll get to looking at the work of Metallica and Pantera :) In the meantime, keep exploring the genres of music with guitar.
See you in 2 weeks Efe!
Preferred Books for Gergely’s Students
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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
