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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Latest Homework from Gergely
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Saturday, May 17
Jack
We are making major steps in terms of making a drum beat and keeping it in time! Developing on our beat last week, we added extra hits on the eighth notes off beats. We also explored the three different sounds! Open/close hi hat through pedal, ride cymbal and the bell of a ride cymbal.
We will look to move on from Thriller next week and try a simple rock song to practise playing a regular drum beat!
Aleksander
Living On a Prayer is going so so well! From start to Chorus is now completely solid with excellent time and sense of groove. Please work through Guitar solo section by yourself and identify spots that you find challenging! We will be finishing this one real soon.
Jonah
We worked on double stroke rolls and I wish to bring emphasis on the bounce stroke. Right now there is a tendency to play the second one lighter. Practise playing the initial hit softer and pulling the bounce stroke fast with fingers to create a louder hit. I have assigned Etude number 9 to Jonah and please try to practise this at a comfortable speed WITH metronome. The aim is to play rolls at controlled lengths and not to move time with a longer roll.
Tracie
We started new song Last Nite by The Strokes. Think of the fill as a boomerang! We will work our way up to the speed. The speed we are aiming for is 216bpm. There also seems to be some other material in other sections, so we will identify those next class!
Jared
Great fun continuing with the Hip Hop beats stuff that you worked with Keshav on Tuesday! One big take away is to in general play more sparse until a certain climax in the tune, which is something we can keep in mind for any style of improv going forward. Think of funky syncopation fill and perhaps limit yourself to choice of drums until the climax. We will try to play through Silhouettes from Naruto next week.
Mario
My Friends by RHCP is slowly getting into shape! For that one tricky lick, remember to always start lower than you think as it starts with eighth notes and the second bar is twice as fast in 16th notes subdivision! We read through till Guitar Solo and we see that same rhythmic motif returning again and again. Whenever in doubt, listen to our recording. Give Guitar solo a read, we will work on that next week!
Assignments from May 17th
Hello Everyone!
Vida:
It was great to see you at Lawrence Park today! Now that you are confident with both the right and left hands of “Under the Sea” work towards playing the whole song hands together. Play slowly to allow your hands the time to line up in the music. Pay close attention to the macro beat of the song. Write this in like we did with the first bar if the visual helps you to see which hand moves first. Remember that the left hand is twice as slow as it is mostly half notes – your right hand will move faster than your left. Once you can confidently play the whole song with both hands, we can learn Ed Sheeran’s “Under the Tree” or another song from your list. Focus on playing the first phrase hands together, reviewing the song hands separate in between if necessary. Once you feel confident playing the first phrase hands together, you can work on the second phrase hands together. Repeat this process for the whole song. For Mr. McGill’s Boop Sha Bop, focus on the highlighted bars (sticky notes). Isolate these bars, follow the instructions on the sticky note (faster eighth notes, slower quarter notes, play through the bar to the next bar), then go back and play the song again with these corrections in mind. Practicing with the metronome will help highlight some of these challenges. Aim for a tempo of 100BPM. Finally, sight read Loch Ness! We will review this together in class next week.
Berke:
Sorry we missed you this week! For practice this week, review Clair de Lune. Focus specifically on the fingering in the first 4 bars. Practice these eighth note figures slowly and focus on using the proper fingers. This will ensure your fingers don’t get tangled on their way down the keyboard and that we can reach the lower keys. Using the proper fingering will also help you play the phrase smoothly when we play at a faster tempo. When you feel confident and comfortable in the fingering of the first phrase, you can slowly increase the tempo. Challenge yourself this week to sight read 4 more bars of the song. The suggested fingering is written above each note. Give this a try when practicing and we can review this next week in class. When practicing Moonlight Sonata, try playing the first 6 bars hands together. Focus on reading bars 7-9 hands separately. You will have to play the upper notes of the right hands with your 5th finger! The upper note is played on each macro beat (the first beat of each chord). Pay close attention to when the notes in the chords change as they all look similar by change slightly every two beats. Finally your left hand for bars 7-9 is still playing in octaves so remember to use your 5th and 1st finger to play these notes. We will review both songs next week.
Have a great long weekend everyone!
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
