Bill Susman on the development of his teaching
methods and the founding of Play Like Me
methods and the founding of Play Like Me
As I have developed my own playing and arranging styles, I've developed a number of
observations about how best to learn and teach music. Even though I learned to play
piano using traditional methods, I knew that I learned more from watching and listening
to the masters. As I began to teach, I felt that concept had to be a fundamental part of
how I taught.
Over the years, as I've taughtg a wide variety of students from all levels and
backgrounds, a number of fundamental concepts evolved. Interestingly, a major
evolution in my thinking happened one night playing at a club. A gentleman by the name
of Marty Tenenbaum came up and engaged me in conversation about how I could sit at
the piano and improvise so well. We talked for quite a while and he asked if I could give
him lessons. He was very very focused on wanting to learn a specific set of songs.
In fact, at our first lesson, he brought over a box of song books with yellow sticky notes
marking all the songs he wanted to learn. He said he didn't want to learn sheet music but
instead wanted me to teach him to play those songs the way professionals play them.
Well, I tried to warn him that playing like a professional takes many years of practice.
His response surprised me and really started me thinking.. He said, he knew he would
never play at the level of a professional but he wanted to play how they played -- the
techniques and approaches that professionals use.
He further went on how the sheet music he bought was often too difficult for him to learn
and when he learned the songs the way they were written they didn't sound anything like
the way they did when played by professionals. He wanted the songs to be arranged for
his level of playing and to learn how to voice chords so they would sound more
contemporary. Over the next few months, I worked closely with him to build a program
to fit his needs. I had been using these ideas with my other students and knew they
worked with all levels of students and with varied musical objectives.
Over the following couple of years I continued to refine the basic concepts and methods
that now make up the Play Like Me approach to learning and playing the piano and to
build a model to take my concepts and ideas to a wider audience. Marty, being a very
successful entrepreneur, was instrumental in helping me refine my plans and introduced
to Randy Whiting, a business associate of his and the rest is as they say history.
observations about how best to learn and teach music. Even though I learned to play
piano using traditional methods, I knew that I learned more from watching and listening
to the masters. As I began to teach, I felt that concept had to be a fundamental part of
how I taught.
Over the years, as I've taughtg a wide variety of students from all levels and
backgrounds, a number of fundamental concepts evolved. Interestingly, a major
evolution in my thinking happened one night playing at a club. A gentleman by the name
of Marty Tenenbaum came up and engaged me in conversation about how I could sit at
the piano and improvise so well. We talked for quite a while and he asked if I could give
him lessons. He was very very focused on wanting to learn a specific set of songs.
In fact, at our first lesson, he brought over a box of song books with yellow sticky notes
marking all the songs he wanted to learn. He said he didn't want to learn sheet music but
instead wanted me to teach him to play those songs the way professionals play them.
Well, I tried to warn him that playing like a professional takes many years of practice.
His response surprised me and really started me thinking.. He said, he knew he would
never play at the level of a professional but he wanted to play how they played -- the
techniques and approaches that professionals use.
He further went on how the sheet music he bought was often too difficult for him to learn
and when he learned the songs the way they were written they didn't sound anything like
the way they did when played by professionals. He wanted the songs to be arranged for
his level of playing and to learn how to voice chords so they would sound more
contemporary. Over the next few months, I worked closely with him to build a program
to fit his needs. I had been using these ideas with my other students and knew they
worked with all levels of students and with varied musical objectives.
Over the following couple of years I continued to refine the basic concepts and methods
that now make up the Play Like Me approach to learning and playing the piano and to
build a model to take my concepts and ideas to a wider audience. Marty, being a very
successful entrepreneur, was instrumental in helping me refine my plans and introduced
to Randy Whiting, a business associate of his and the rest is as they say history.
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