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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Tuesday, February 25th
Lila
Warmups:
–8 on a Hand
–Single strokes
–Double strokes
–Paradiddles
Review of grip: good. Keep skin contact with stick
Basic Beat Level 3.5** same as level 3, but RH plays on the Ride Cymbal
Step 1) Count “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ”
Step 2) Play the Hihat with your Right Hand (RH) on all the counts
Step 3) Add in the Bass Drum with your Right Foot (RF) on “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4”
Step 4) Add in the Snare Drum with your Left Hand (LH) on “2” and “4”
Visual Drumset Method: exercises 10-12***
–Aim for four repetitions of each exercise without hiccups or hesitations
Fruit Salad Game
–Create three of your own fruit salads using the four fruit-rhythms (in your notebook)
–Please write them out in your notebook
–use four fruits (repetition allowed) for each “salad”
–When playing them, use single-strokes/hand-to-hand sticking (R-L-R-L-…) always
NEW SONG White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
–This week, follow along with the roadmap (handout) for the first minute of the song
–As a bonus, can you figure out what happens next?
Josh
Warm-ups:
–Hand and foot coordination (see handout): playing steady beats on the bass drum, play singles, doubles, and paradiddles with your hands on the snare drum. There should be two snare notes (ti-ti; eighth notes) to every bass drum note (ta; quarter notes)
Groove Essentials Rock Groove 5
–This week, add drum fills in every fourth measure
–See handout for fill examples
The Beatles: Ticket To Ride
–The crash happens on “Ri-i-ide”. Also, see the handout for two new beats from this song
Please buy The Visual Drumset Method book from Long & McQuade
–Use the verification code on the title page to log in and practice this week’s assignment (beat #5)
–Adjust the speed percentage, gradually working your way up to 200
Myles
Drumset Musician p83 Twelve Bar Blues playalong
–See handout to help visualize the 12-bar Blues form
–Add in drum fills prior to the different segments
==Xylophone==
Warmups (Three keys):
–Scale, one octave, ascending and descending, saying the note names as you play them
–Arpeggio
–Broken thirds, ascending and descending
Cirone Book: “Step Six” ex. 5-8
Eartraining: identifying thirds and fifths
Tones and I: Dreaming
–See Worksheet in google drive PLEASE PRINT
Finn
Warmups (30sec each, counting aloud):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
Visual Drummer: p17 ex. 15
–This one was a little too tricky
–This week, practice it while counting aloud! Go slowly, and make sure the bass drums line up with the right counts
Nickelback: How You Remind Me
–Good work with the tempo on this one. Keep it up! Counting along to the intro will help with this
–During the chorus, switch to playing on the crash cymbal
–Remember the stops (bass bass sSTOP!) during the chorus
Koel
Warmups (1min each):
–Triplet Ex. 130bpm***
–Sixteenth-note exercise 95bpm***
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials: Groove 11 SLOW (track twenty-one)
–Variation B still needs a bit of work to get up to speed
–Variation A good
–This week, see the 16th-note fill exercises (in gdrive) for fill inspiration
—-Use ex. 18, 21, and pick two more to play at the end of every 8-bar phrase during the backing track
Francisco
Warmups:
–Stick Control first page ex. 14-18 (4x each, 120bpm goal tempo)
–Play eighths ca. 120-160 bpm (gradually building up the speed) using accents on the beats to help with the push-pull strokes
Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials book: Groove 1 FAST
–See the cheat sheet I made for the solo section in your google drive folder
–This week, work on building this solo up. We’ll finish this song off next week
Jared
Warmups:
–Stick Control ex 14-23 (90bpm)
Igoe’s Groove Essentials – Groove 1 slow (track 1)
–Same assignment, but now move the RH to the ride and put LF hihat “chick” on a) “2” and “4” (b) “1 2 3 4” and (c) “1+2+3+4+”
Funk Groove Eleven SLOW
–We learned a new fill today. Keep cycling through these. Next week, let’s try some new grooves
Aviva
Warmups (1min ea) goal tempo = 150bpm, playing two notes per beat (aka eighth notes)
–Single strokes (LRLR…)
–Double Strokes (LLRR…)
–Paradiddles (LRLL RLRR…)
Drumset Musician p12, ex. 11-15***
–polish these off for next week
–feel free to go on to the following page
Igoe Groove Essentials Groove 1 Slow
–Let’s finish this up next week
Groove 1 FAST
–Try playing along to this MUCH faster track using a quarter-note cymbal pattern (use the starred examples from your folder)
Groove 2 Slow (chart and track in your personal folder)
–Learn the main groove and variations for next week
–Ignore the left-food hihat “chicks” for now, we can add those in later
Hole: Celebrity Skin
–Continue building this groove up to speed
–Today, we learned the opening fill. Remember to deploy it on the “and” of beat 3
–See if you can catch any other major deviations from the main groove in the first part of this song
Assignments from February 22nd
Happy Saturday Everyone!
Berke:
Please continue to warm up with both the G Major and D Major scale, playing them both hands together. Today we did some sight reading! I’ve uploaded a few more sight reading sheets to the google drive for Berke to warm up with. These exercises test how well Berke can read the notes on the staff. Please have him read “sight reading sheets 1, 2, and 3” when practicing this week. Remember, the goal of sight reading is to play the phrase from start to finish as accurately as possible. Have Berke play through these no more than 3 times, even if they’re not perfect. We will review them in class together next week. We also reviewed Mozart’s Minuet, playing hands together from measures 3-6. When practicing this piece, Berke can review both the right and and the left hand separately before practicing measures 3-6 hands together. For this week he is to slowly add on measures 2 and 7, playing both hands together. Isolate these measures, play them on their own to practice until confident then play measures 2-7 all together. You can find the sight reading pages here.
Great lesson today! I’m excited to see your progress next week!
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
