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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Thursday May 30 Lessons – Erin P
I can’t say enough how proud I am of everyone :’)
Liam
Minuet – final answer, no trills. I think it sounds great. Eliminate any rests between sections. You don’t need to do the repeats.
Sonatina – Great dynamics and flow. Ensure you are doing all your 2 note slurs including the long ones that go for a full bar, don’t connect all the notes. Down-up
Walk the Talk – big forte on the dotted quarter note parts. You sounded so in control today, love the tempo.
Witches and Wizards – really “bring out” the LH D C Bb A descending line. Quieter for the middle section to really highlight the texture change.
Prelude VII – beautiful, watch the LH bottom notes near the end, you tend to play the C before the C#…
Sight-reading is coming along well! Perfection is not the goal, bringing a “sketch” of the piece to life is. We want the general outline and steady pulse more than anything.
You seem to find descending fingering easier for scales, perhaps try descending first, and that way you can just mimic that fingering on the way up. FINGERING CHARTS HERE
Katarina
Sandcastle Scurry pieces in Wunderkeys- on the same page as “Beach Day”. This section is red.
Zum Gali Gali – found here
Warmup with your C and G major scales, both hands seperately. You can do them both contrary motion also.
Then do your C major triads, both hands seperately.
Marita
Sunset in San Pedro – great work! Let’s keep going and continue with the part where the LH goes down to Bb and does its own descending pattern.
Zum Gali Gali – found here . You can read this all super well and steady. It and Kat’s part fit together
Sara
Air in Bb – Beautiful. You fixed memory and other things from preious weeks. Sounds l0vely.
Sonatina in C – I really like this tempo. You sound super in control.
Nighttime – Great fixes. Now make the B section where the LH has the melody legato.
Cloud Dance – Slower, check metronome. perhaps it will sound more like a peaceful cloud dance, instead of prepping for a storm.
Ballade – Great dynamics! Descending chromatic part in last measure of page 1 needs to be staccato.
Technique is great and right on tempo.
Ear and sight are coming along great. Here’s some interval practice.
Marco
Minuet – Hear 8th notes inside your head immediately before playing. Hear the second line in your brain, and then you will know how fast 8th and quarter notes will sound.
The Snake – GREAT DYNAMICS!
Song of the Dark Woods – Beautiful! Watch you play the correct amount of Ds in the final like.
Morning Fanfare – I love how confident and controlled you sound at this tempo in the part with chords. The part where both hands have melodies can be that calm too, trust your hands to play it well and don’t rush.
Technique – you really know what you’re doing now!!! Great confidence. Listen carefully to each detail the exaniner says.
Sightreading has really improved. Count steady and don’t try and get perfection, just to bring the “sketch” of the piece out.
Daniel
Entree – Big improvement! Practice playing the final measure going back to the beginning with no rest in between.
Periwinkle – Awesome! All the details are there and it sounds very controlled.
Breezy – You KILLED the overlapping ending today!!!
The Wind – Nice work! Remember you can look at the page.
Technique – Nice job!! Remember that Bb major and F major (and therefore their relative minors) have flats. But D Major (and therefore B minor) have sharps – Bb will nottttt show up in these.
Way to remember melodic = melodic mutation (different going up vs down)
harmonic Hollywood – stereotypical “middle eastern” sound
Sightreading – All you can do is your best and be so proud of your hard work! Exercise,
Greta
You did great with Mist!
*New* Moon River – first 11 bars. Get confident with both hands seperately first. I have circled the black keys. You can listen to the arrangement here.
Saturday May 25 Lessons – Erin P
Hakim
Bee. – Great job on the intro and chords! Take them slow enough that you can change between them with no hesitation. To start, just get the 1st to 2nd chord smooth, then 2nd to 3rd, then all 3 together etc.
This week work on the RH melody by itself. Watch the Bbs from the key signature. The “mini” notes are called grace notes and they happen just slightly before the main note and smush together in a jazzy way. This is the key of the actual piece, so you can always slow down the real recording and play along.
F Major scale – this has Bb. LH standard fingering (you’ve got this already), but RH goes 1234 1234 which is weird for multiple reasons. Play it until you’re used to it.
Maria
Golden Hour – this is your home project, add on some vocal parts. We are using this arrangement so you can always make the computer play it to you.
Today we focused on ear training, we did minor/major 3rds, perfect 4ths, perfect 5ths, and octaves. You can do this at home too!
We also did improv using the “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish chord progression of D-Bm-Em-A.
Shakira
Theme from Swan Lake – this piece is in A minor. Both hands share the melody, and solid 3rds are used as an accompaniment. You did a great job at this today!!
*New scale* A minor, natural and harmonic. Today we learnt about relative major and minors and how they share notes. C major and A minor are relative and share notes. So a natural A minor scale is just white notes beginning on A. Harmonic minor means to raise the 7th, so A B C D E F G# A. All same fingering as your other scales.
We played our triad patterns in A minor as well.
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
