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.
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Assignments from Thursday May 28th
Hello Everybody!
I hope you’re all enjoying the warm weather we’ve been having!
Noreet:
This week please have Noreet listen to different recordings of the Ode to Joy so that she can compare the style of each. Practice more energized playing through the finger tip to enhance the celebratory feel of the song. Use softer articulation in the fingers by pressing lightly on the keys to help the line feel lighter and flow more freely. Lean into the build up towards the end during the ottava section (8va), then pull back to build the anticipation for that final chord! Pay close attention to the dynamics of the piece to help build the excitement of the song – specifically phrases that crescendo/decrescendo!
Review the notes in the first two phrases of Our Detective Agency! The unfamiliar notes are written in for you and I’ve divided the phrase where the left hand takes over for the right in the eighth note group. We will add onto this next week.
Clara:
Warm up with B flat Major hands separately.
For the Andante, practice with lighter articulation when playing at faster tempos to allow for quick, precise eighth notes – specifically in the left hand. Review both the right hand and left hand of the song at a slow tempo while counting out loud to ensure your rhythms are precise.
When practicing Ukrainian Folk Song, use lighter articulation during the first phrase to help you play faster eighth notes. Lighter pressure, not more, will help the notes sound faster. Use the first note of your thumb to help your hand launch into the upper eighth notes. Play the B section under tempo and count out loud while playing the dotted eighth note/sixteenth note groups. These should be counted as one – e- and – a with the sixteenth note sounding on the “a”. Just like the tied triplets in Pink Panther, the sixteenth note comes in at the very last second of the bar.
Andrew:
The recordings for your vocal warm up have been uploaded to the google drive here. You can use the recording with the reference voice as a starting point for specific exercises we tried in class. Feel free to use the solo piano recordings to warm up with other words and vowels. Play with this, choose a vowel you like and apply it to the scale. You can also add voiced consonances (M, N, V) to help you pitch the note on the scale creating sounds like “M-Uh” “V-Aw” or “N-ee”. Apply these to both the 5-tone scale and the Triad scale.
To practice a more speech-like placement for the beginning of the song, sing the melody of the first verse on “May”. Emphasize the “M” to help bring out a more speech-like tone. For the first chorus part, to play with the lighter, breathy placement, try this on a “wee”. Use the “w” to help find that light head voice placement. Finally, when practicing the bigger belter parts of the song, use words like “N’yeah” “No” and “Nee”. The N sound should help provide a more whiny, nasal placement that will allow for a resonant belt sound.
Thank you everyone!
Happy practicing!
Saturday, May 30
Jack
I used Imperial March as a way to introduce triplets to Jack. The first half of the melody is engraved in his brain, but the second half not so much. I wrote it down on one of his handout and we will continue strengthening feel for that rhythm next class. We also revised on how to play the melody on xylophone, remembering the three positions the mallet go to.
Nova
We used the Blue Book to work on triplet and some flam variants. With triplet, I ask Nova to think about always going towards the next beat, and if the triplet is followed by another note, connect towards it. I assigned Solo #15 for them to work on playing triplets musically but also differentiate it from eighth notes. For Sparkles, we revised the first page, and Nova was able to connect the two phrases we worked on so far. Now we are on to the second page. This is a simple but very interesting pattern. Note that the main beats here are 1 and 4, everything else should feel like tip toe. I want Nova to work on the first two lines of the page.
Adam
We worked on the two bar batter no12 from the Drumset Musician book. Then for Under the Bridge, it seems like Adam forgot how the bridge pattern goes (one remembered by blueberry) because Adam has not been able practise on the drums. Once he has access to drums again, solidify that pattern and we will move on to second page next week.
Jonah
We worked on Audition Etude no1 by Joe Kelly this week, in preparation for TSYO audition. The ornament on the first note should be played ahead of the first beat, and should not sound the same as the 16th note triplet. The 16th note triplet should be slower, but both should be phrase similarly towards the final note. Then we revised on American on Paris, recording how things sound, evaluating that the lick should be more left hand leading, to ground to the beat better. We ended the lesson with a brief revision of Super Bad, which Jonah remembered it very well and executed the groove with taste.
Finn
Finn’s practising this week showed great result, that he was quickly able to play the complicated tom groove for bridge after one week. This time around we talked about how to play it more at ease, with a focus of thinking of the RH on floor tom like dribbling a basketball. Everything that is not on the beat should feel light and bouncy. Once more familiar with the pattern, practise playing the lick 7 times in a row, and wrap it up with the last line on the handout. We will try to play with the melody a bit next class.
Efe — Apr 11th
Hi Efe! Wishing you a great week!
Here’s the outlook on this month.
The recital is May 2nd. The priority for you right now is to perform for the recital. Hence we’re putting the music reading and other guitar studies on hold for the time being.
You’re going to be playing the 3 main riffs of Boulevard of Broken Dreams for the recital.
— Practice the first 2 of these in Em (E minor); the way I showed it in class.
- The first one: Em, G, D, A.
- The second one: C5, G5, D5, Em. (The 5’s just mean that they’re powerchords. Remember to use fingers 1 and 4 for these.)
— The 3rd one: Use this Unlisted YouTube video to practice it with. March 18th Video. The key here is F# minor. Slow the video down to 0.75x speed when practicing with it.
- At minute 4:50 is where I start demonstrating this last riff.
- Regarding the vibrato: Just try to do some with your Left Hand fingers going left-right-left-right-left-right. The thumb must be located directly behind where the fingers are doing the vibrato on the guitar neck. Also, whatever number of finger is on the fretboard must have your other Left Hand fingers pressed down on the frets to its left. It is stronger and therefore more comfortable vibrato this way. Examples: Finger 3 vibrato means fingers 1 and 2 must also be on the fretboard. Finger 4 vibrato means fingers 1, 2, and 3 must also be on the fretboard. — These other fingers on the fretboard should each be on a fret, all right next to one another. (Not the most important thing out of this week’s work; I’ll tell you more about this next week. Just give it a try.)
I’m going to make an arrangement of these riffs in one seamless piece of music.
— This arrangement is now here, at this Unlisted YouTube video link: April 15th Link
- Slow the video down to 0.5x speed when practicing with it. For now. I know the video says 0.6x, but that’s a step I’m hoping you’ll be able to achieve in another week.
- Regarding playing speed: We’ll soon choose the final speed as a goal at which you’ll be playing this for the recital.
Enjoy the strumming patterns. Playing strumming patterns is one of the exciting things about playing the guitar.
Remember to do at least a little bit of practice for this everyday.
Good seeing you again today, Efe! I’ll see you in a week!
Efe – Mar 14th
Hi Efe!
Here’s a rundown of the material I’d like you to look at for the next couple weeks.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
— The Google Drive of the previous week
— Here is the latest Unlisted YouTube video covering the bullet points below: Link
- The riff that transitions from the main one into the chorus
- The riff that transitions from the chorus back into the main riff
- Everything in the ending riff of the song
— The solo of this song is played with the octave chords we’ve been talking about. When I see you next, we’ll be working on the solo.
— I added a picture to this Google Drive. It has the new set of chords we agreed you’d be playing for the Octave Chords’ game. The frets are different, because reaching them where the video says is not a comfortable reach for you on your guitar.
F#m scale
— Keep working on this scale. From the last Google Drive. Starting on fret 9.
Final note
I know you’ll be gone for 3 weeks from here, Efe, so I’ve assigned all this in such a way that it’s realistic for you to be able to sound very good on all of it. I’m not giving more because I want you to really work on feeling comfortable playing and knowing the parts I’ve assigned here.
Wishing you a great 3 weeks! Take care!
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
