Welcome To...
  SummerKeys 2009

 ... A Vacation With A Difference


 Piano...
       

2009 Piano Programs at SummerKeys

 Private lesson and daily practice in a private studio; weekly  performance class; a new hour long class, "Piano Problems,  Resources and Materials" meets three times each week.

$550 per week
Ensemble Option: $100 per week.

Instructors:

The Piano programs at SummerKeys, Piano, are taught by Director Bruce Potterton and his colleagues, Greg Biss and Charles Jones 

Piano A ($525) - Three 60-min pvt. lessons weekly; 3 hours practice daily
                            Piano Programs A, B and C are ALL

Piano B ($525) - 45-min pvt lesson daily; 2 hours practice.
                           available during ALL weeks listed.

Piano C ($500) - Two 60-min pvt. lessons weekly; 3 hours practice daily.

Piano Program Dates

June 22-26
June 29-July 3
July 6-10
July 13-17
July 20-24
July 27-31
August 3-7
August 10-14
August 17-21
August 24-28
August 31-September 4
"Our piano 4-hand": July 27-31




The object of these instructors will be to help you work at the piano in way that are rewarding for you, weather you're an absolute beginner or an accomplished player.  While the work level will be intensive, it will be tailored to your musical interests, and you'll find the atmosphere relaxed and non-competitive.
 
    Pianist attending in August (only) may check the "ensemble option box", in which case we will call you to discuss appropriate music for you to work on in advance.


Regular Attendee Polly Woodward
At practice in the performance hall.



Potterton and Student Steve McConnell, at the piano.



(June 22- September 4)

When not occupied with SummerKeys, Bruce Potterton teaches mainly adults at two music schools in New York City.  He has been a member of the faculty at Henry St.  Settlement since 1972 and at Turtle Bay Music School   since 1982.  For many years, Mr. Potterton was a student of Sasha Gorodnitzski of the Juillard School.  He has continued to concertize throughout his teaching career.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MR. BRUCE POTTERTON'S WINTER PIANO TEACHING SCHEDULE


(August 3-August 31)

Pianist Charles Jones is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the North Carolina School of the Arts. His major teachers include the late Irwin Freundlich, Clifton Matthews and Seymour Lipkin. Mr. Jones has performed solo and chamber music throughout the Eastern USA as well as in Rome, Italy. He has been heard on radio stations WFUV, WQXR and WNYC in New York. He is currently on the faculties of the Henry Street Settlement Music School and the Harlem School of the Arts, where he was assistant chairman of the piano department for several years. In winter 2004 Mr. Jones was recipient of a professional fellowship from the Rome Festival, Rome, Italy.


(July 20-24; July 27-31; August 3-7; August 10-14)

Gregory Biss was born in Illinois and educated chiefly in New England and Germany.  He has studied piano with Lionel Nowak and Nadia Reisenberg and composition with Leon Kirchner and Karlheinz Stockhausen.  He is a Maine Touring Artist as half of the Biss.Brubaker Duo, and as composer has had his works performed by the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Biss has recently retired from a 20 year career as a commercial scuba diver in the aquaculture industry and is known to many in the SummerKeys community as the piano tuner/technician.

Tuition Fees:

 Each program is planned to cover the span of five weekdays.  Absolute beginners (no previous instruction) are asked to spend a minimum  of two weeks in Program A or B.  The programs can be combined and taken on consecutive days (including week-ends) if desired.

 Our piano 4-hand week will be offered July 27-July 31 with concerts, a focus on 4-hand repertoire, and a new work written for our 2002 duet week by Maine composer Gregory Biss, to be coached by the composer.  Persons interested in the duet festival will need to register specifically for this program in order to receive assigned music ahead of time, and this year will also offer instruction in two-piano repertoire (we finally have two grands available together; there will be concerts.

 Program A:  $550  Three 60-minute lessons per week; three hours practice daily.
 Program B:  $550  Five 45-minute lessons per week; two hours practice daily.
 Program C:  $525  Two 60-minute lessons per week; three hours practice daily.

  All of the above programs also include "Piano Problems, Resources and Materials" a new hour-long group class,  meeting three times weekly.

 Class Meetings:  Usually 3 or 4 per week; two to attend concerts in Lubec, Machias or Eastport, one purely social and another where students who choose to do so may perform for each other.

 Facilities:  We have many pianos: among them, 6' and 7' Steinway grands, a 7'4" Yamaha, a 6'3" Baldwin, a 5'10" Yamaha and a 5'7" Chickering each in a private, sound-dampened studio.  All are in excellent condition, and kept tuned to A440.

 Scheduling:  We can accommodate sixteen students per week.  Practice and lesson time will be arranged to run consecutively (leaving time for other activities), extra or split sessions scheduled accordingly.  It's recommended that persons choosing more than two hours practice time have some experience with such a regimen.

 A typical day might begin with your 9 AM Piano Problems, Resources and Materials Class; your lesson and practice time may be preceded or followed by (lobster for?) lunch at a restaurant on the water and a round of hiking, site-seeing, whale-watching or golfing.  On Monday evenings we have a social, Tuesday and Wednesday evening we attend professional concerts and Friday is the student performance class where those who wish to perform for colleagues and friends may do so.

  
A double piano practice studio                                   The view from that studio

                                                                       

TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
 
or click here for our contact information

CLICK HERE TO read the articles about Summerkeys!