Eric Ollis teaches a group piano class on Tuesday.

Today Eric Ollis taught our group piano class. He didn’t consider himself a good teacher, but he did an awesome job! He had a very thorough handout and clear direction during class. The first thing he did was sit down at the piano and have everyone gather around him so they could see because he wanted not only to tell you what was on the handouts, but he wanted to show you so you could see and hear it. Throughout the class, those who were willing and had questions he had sit down on the piano bench next to him and they would work out the question. I really liked his teaching style b/c it wasn’t just verbal instruction, but he combined it with hands-on learning. No one has done that yet, and that really made an impression on a lot of the students.

Private lesson with Eric Ollis

I also had a private piano lesson with Eric Ollis. Eric went out of his way to encourage me. We worked on color chords and how they work in a piece. He showed me some little tricks that sounded really cool and encouraged me to use those principles in other songs.

My private songwriting lesson was with Jerry Meyers. He was so helpful and explained things really well that were confusing me during my group class. We looked over some verses I had been working on for a song, and he showed me how to improve my song structure. We are really going to focus on this song tomorrow. He answered all my questions and even went over on time into our lunch period to see that all my questions were answered.

I had another piano group lesson just before the evening meal and it was taught by Jeff Stice! He spoke on what it means to “disappear” which simply means that you’re not showing off and getting all the glory for your piano abilities, but instead, you are making the singer stand out more than you. (Some of you probably already knew that!) If no one notices you, you have done your job well.

This evening I was able to play in my performance class. Our group is so encouraging! No matter who sang or played, everyone clapped, screamed, hooted & hollered to encourage one another.

I found Dianna!

I was delighted to see Dianna again tonight! We didn’t have much time to visit tonight – but I think we’ll get to spend a little more time on Friday evening (I’m hoping so!). She is such a warm person!

Melissa & Jim Brady

Jim and Melissa Brady opened tonight for the Piano Fanfare in Dixon Hall. All of the piano teachers played one or two solos. Everyone did such an awesome job, it would be hard to pick a favorite. They had five keyboards on stage. Two of the teachers represented classical music with hymn arrangements. All of the SGM teachers did solos (Southern Gospel, of course!). For the grand finale, they had all ten come out on stage and play at once ….. It was so awesome! I’ll have to check my video and see if I can’t upload it to YouTube, it’s too good not to be shared! They sat two per keyboard and had such fun with it! Steve even played! The evening ended with a tribute to one of last year’s students who has gone on to be with the Lord. It was very moving.

Piano Fanfare Grand Finale!