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Music Instruction TestimonialsMany people have given praise for our products and information. Find the product you are looking for below. All of the following testimonials and endorsements are from real people and are on file. If you have positive or critical comments about any of our products or services we’d love to hear from you too! Please go to our Comments Form. Piano Lessons with Howard Richman (lessons) "'Howard's awesome!!" Those are the words our daughter, Michaela uses to describe her piano and music lessons with Howard Richman. We have found that she learns more with his method of teaching, and enjoys it more at the same time. Michaela's classes with Howard have gien her great confidence when performing in front of audiences ranging from family to music producers. We love the way he tailors his lessons around the abilities and interests of his students. He shows great compassion in teaching his trade to others and bringing out the best in them. We would highly recommend Howard Richman to anyone, at any age, who wishes to add or improve the music in the lives." —Proud parents, Anchalina and Gregg Thurlow “It’s such a joy to know our clients are in such great hands with you! Thank you.” —Michael and Jennifer Goodrich, “As a singer and songwriter I found Howard Richman’s approach to music study delightfully perfect. He stressed the importance of finding the vital balance between technique and emotion while taking my piano facility to another level. As an experienced concert pianist, Howard is also a great resource of ideas for combating stagefright and becoming a more powerful performer.” —Rhian Benson, Singer/Songwriter “Howard helped me gain the facility to play what I heard, both technically and creatively.” —Starr Parodi, Film Composer/Keyboardist, “Howard gave me a good foundation to manifest my abilities in all forms of music.” —Vonda Shepard, Recording Artist, “Since our 7 year old daughter started piano lessons with Howard several months ago, both her interest in the piano and ability to play piano have blossomed. Howard is an exceptional teacher. He has a wonderful balance of firmness, patience and encouragement. He allows our daughter to express her own creativity at the piano, but still maintains control of the lesson. He is very good about meeting her at her level, while encouraging her potential. I would highly recommend Howard Richman as a piano teacher.” —Michelle Tack, “Howard Richman has been a great piano teacher for my 11-year-old daughter. Prior to coming to Howard, my daughter had not really progressed after 6 months of lessons with another teacher. Now, under Howard's teaching, my daughter is developing her ability to play piano and is motivated to learn more. Howard is extremely knowledgeable of the piano, is very patient and uses a lot of positive reinforcement. We are very happy with Howard Richman.” —Shannon Mulhearn, Canoga park, CA “Howard's patience and teaching ability precedes him. When my son asked to learn piano, he found encouragement, patience, and learning tricks that only someone with years of honed teaching talent can provide. These new skills will are having a profound effect on his learning ability in general. As a parent, I couldn't wish for more.” —Cynthia Purcell, Calabasas, CA “I just wanted to thank you so very much for being an amazing teacher and a huge inspiration in my life. I am learning to play my songs thanks to you.” —Diana Wallace, Singer/Songwriter/Producer “You are a great teacher. You have helped me in so many ways.” —Rodney Borr, English Teacher “It was really great to see you in this clip, because it brought back great memories of taking lessons from you! I wanted to thank you for being such a great teacher. I wish that I could have taken from you for a longer amount of time, but I did learn a great deal from you. Thanks again for being such an inspirational teacher and musician.” —Lindsay Yegan, Nashville, TN “My hope is that people who don’t know you, and are passing through your page for the first time, can begin to discover how brilliant you are and how much you have to offer them. One piano lesson with you and my life was changed... now three years later... wow... I even amaze myself on the piano sometimes, thanks so much to you. ;) And I can not imagine recording the upcoming album with out you!” “I am so thankful to you Howard! You have made my move to LA SO worth it. Because of you, I am a musician — an ever-growing one. I am so grateful for your wisdom, your dedication and your thoughtfulness.” —Kaiulani Kimbrell, Singer/Songwriter “Thanking you so much for everything!” —Genevieve Yang, http://www.genevieveyang.com “I want to thank you for everything! Seriously, you’re such an awesome teacher and I’m so blessed” —Danielle Keaton, Actress, “Having studied since age 6 with a Julliard-trained teacher, and later with several of the Boston University faculty, where I obtained my Bachelor of Music degree, I continued to experience pain in my forearms when executing fast passages. After studying with Howard Richman, I learned relaxation techniques that allowed me to achieve the desired speed with greater control—and no pain!” —Margo Guryan Rosner, Teacher/Composer “Dear Howard, I just wanted to say thank you again for all of the help and support you’ve given me. You helped me to regain the modicum of confidence that I had lost — plus much more than that. Thank God that your way of teaching actually makes sense compared to the traditional way, and that you are open to the special needs of each individual student. It’s frightening to think about how many people may have given up on learning or improving on their sight-reading/piano skills out of sheer frustration. It’s sad, really. Anyway, I thank God for you.” —M. Leah Klaver, Lyric Soprano “I want you to know that our lessons have been invaluable as it has given me direction where I was lost before. For the first time, I have started to have a ‘feel’ for the music that I play from the fake books. It has allowed me to improvise while getting an understanding of the melodic relative pitches and the chords that accompany them. I hope that you will feel free to give my name and number as a reference to future potential students. I can guarantee that they will receive nothing less than adulation as to your abilities.” —David Schneider, Attorney, Beverly Hills, CA “I’ve known Howard Richman over 20 years, as both a friend at UCLA, and later in my life, as the fabulous piano teacher, and pianist that he is today. Having studied under many big name teachers myself, gaining musical insights, I became a professional player in the hotel circuit in Los Angeles. While at UCLA I noticed something curious — Howard displayed the finest technique of any student and so I followed his career. From the beginning, Howard wanted to become a great teacher of piano. He did a huge amount of research which I saw once encompassing many volumes on subjects such as physical problems and their solution at the piano. The book, “Super Sight-Reading Secrets” is a masterpiece and to my knowledge the only book of its kind dealing with the problems of technique and sight-reading. Fifteen years went by. Something wasn’t clicking. I was frustrated. I wasn’t able to play the things I wanted to. I remembered Howard and called. Since that time, Howard has given me the tools that were missing. He has taken me on a journey which has included privy information in the tradition of the masters — secrets of playing transferred from great artist to artist. Howard will one day soon receive a call from the Juilliard School begging him to be on their faculty! His genius in transmitting exceptional facility at the piano ranks him with the finest teachers of our day. With his book alone, my sight-reading more than doubled in speed. Having Howard as a teacher was the best move I ever made to further my career goal as a virtuoso pianist in the jazz and classical genres. I only wish I had studied with him sooner!” —Evan Sachs, Pianist/Teacher/Composer, Mission Viejo, CA “I’ve been playing professionally for 26 years. About a year ago I realized that my technique was holding me back from executing the ideas that I was hearing. After beginning lessons with Howard, I was seeing results in my playing immediately and the progress is constant. It’s also a pleasure to study with someone who actually enjoys what he is doing instead of just being in it for the buck. Howard has touched and shown so many the beauty of being able to realize, through their fingers, what they hear in their head. I strongly recommend Howard Richman for anybody. Through studying with him you will be able to play like you’ve never played before.” —Chris Hardin, Keyboardist/Composer/Conductor “I really believe that you were the doorway into my spiritual life and into my having some kind of spiritual awakenings. I feel that I was very lucky to have been your student. I think that music, and the study of it, became transformed through your guidance, as it should, into a greater vehicle for experiencing life, especially at the level of the soul—and I wonder sometimes if that isn’t somehow part of your greater mission on the planet.” —Alx Utterman, pianist, composer, actress, “Howard, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your ability and willingness to recognize indiviual learning styles and modalities. This ability enables piano students to harness our strengths and challenges, and to maximize our potential — whatever that might or might not be.” —Laurie M. Savage, Program Director, Also recommended by: Michelle Pfeiffer, Actress, Peter Horton, Actor, Frank Dookun, Synclavier programmer. If you have positive or critical comments about any of our products or services we’d love to hear from you too! Please go to our Comments Form. Super Sight-Reading Secrets (book) “This book actually sounded too good to be true, so I checked it out of the library. It’s so incredibly awesome that I’m buying it now, and hope to make even more progress. —Steven Plaat, Columbus, OH “Thank you for providing piano educators with a most useful tool.” —Jeanine M. Jacobson, Assistant Professor, “This is the best book on sight reading. It contains all the fundamentals; they are described in complete detail, teaching us all the correct terminology and methodologies. It starts from how to read music, for the beginner, and advances logically all the way to advanced sight reading levels; it is especially helpful for the beginner. It is also concise, so you should read the whole book once before starting any actual drills/exercises. Starts with how to psychologically approach sight reading. Basic components of sight reading are Pitch, Rhythm, and Fingering. After an excellent introduction to music notations, appropriate drills are given. Then the sight reading process is broken down into its component steps of visual, neural, muscular, and aural processes that start with the music score and end up as music. This is followed by drills for learning "keyboard orientation" (finding the notes without looking at the keyboard) and "visual perception" (instantly recognizing what to play). Depending on the person, it may take from 3 months to 4 years to learn; should practice every day. Finally, about one page of ideas on advanced sight reading. A MUST READ.” —Chuan C. Chang, Fundamentals of Piano Practice “What piano player doesn’t want to have a superhuman sight-reading ability? If Super Sight-Reading Secrets suddenly landed on your doorstep, your dream might just have come true. Full of inspiring and valuable tips, this book makes a refreshing change from the many monotonous teach-yourself sight-reading books.” —Pianist Magazine (UK), April/May, 2003 “Howard, I just received your book. All I can say is ‘Wow!’” Extremely well-organized, very easy to understand and very professional. It was way more than I had expected. I plan to study it closely and then begin to work with it. —Doug Mullikin “Richman has gone a long way toward de-mythologizing the process of sight-reading. Highly recommended” —American Music Teacher Magazine, September/October, 1988 “All pianists can benefit and some will experience the transformation into 1st-class sight-readers — something they may have thought was an impossibility.” —Leonid Hambro, Concert Pianist/Teacher, New York “I want to tell you how thrilled I am to have discovered, quite by accident, your wonderful book on Sight Reading. I studied at Mannes College of Music years ago, verred away from the piano for a while, came back to it later, and began to play chamber music with friends as an enthusiastic amateur. My biggest problem, however, was that I was a shockingly bad sight reader. I felt there must be some way to ‘learn’ to sight read, but all the good readers could ever say was ‘Just do it. The more you read, the better you’ll get.’ Frustrating advice, and not very helpful... also, not very true. Your book is excellent. It’s logical, well-organised and makes intuitive sense. I can feel the progress. Wonderful.” —Michele Witt, London, UK “His ingenious exercises cannot fail to help people become better sight-readers.” —The California Music Teacher, Vol 10, Number 2 “It presents a series of progressive drills that help all keyboard musicians overcome their weaknesses and develop into better sight-readers.” —Piano Guild Notes, Vol 36, Number 2 “The drills and lessons are well thought out, and sincere application of the material he presents will improve a pianist’s sight-reading ability. ...his enthusiastic encouragment to all struggling sight-readers keep this method from being dry and tedious.” —Clavier Magazine, July/August 1989 “You certainly approach a daunting subject with simple and direct advice. This straightforwardness gives one confidence. It seems so logical the way you structure it. Well done.” —Jonathan Mullen “A pianist’s main asset is to be a good reader. This book will be an invaluable asset toward that goal.” —Delores Stevens, “It is elegantly simple yet comprehensive.” —Todd Winkler, Professor of Music Theory and Solfege, “I've used it in the studio, on tour, and in playing classical music.” —Vonda Shepard, Recording Artist, “By breaking down into manageable units the subject that I have spent most of my professional life avoiding, I am feeling a sense of accomplishmet unparalleled in my musical career.” —Sam Glaser, Keyboardist/Composer, Los Angeles, CA “Richman’s Super Sight-Reading Secrets has served as the basis of my beginning work on the piano and the technique has me playing intermediate to advanced piano music in six months ... a complete system.” —Steve Giles, Beginning Piano Student “This book is absolutely amazing, it’s ‘all’ here but does take some ferreting out to put the exercises into practice. My piano teacher suggested that it might be best kept as ‘our’ secret and let others guess how I am making (such) rapid progress.” —Chuck Bell “I bought a copy of your book and I really appreciate it. The small set of exercises are more encouraging and fun to practice than all the other drills I have seen.” —Jörn Gehring, Bielefeld, Germany “I am a beginning piano student. I consider this book to be just too good because of the following reasons: 1. It splits the topic into small chunks, each chunk being easy enough to be doable, yet difficult enough to teach something new. So a spirit of ‘Oh, I must be able to do it’ prevails throughout. 2. It outlines a very rigourous practice schedule. I have seen books on arts where the authors vaguely say that ‘go on 3. I came across the book while searching the internet for book that would teach me sight reading. When I found the book I was a little turned off by the book’s title. Typically, or so I think, the books with titles like ‘super secrets of ...’ tend to be a collection of tricks to produce some shallow, eye-catching effects without going deeply into the subject. However, I was pleasantly relieved to find that this book was not like that. It does introduce lots of practice technques, but never presents the techniques as substitutes for practice. Additional = There is one point that I find very nice about the writing style. The author seems to be able to predict my reactions very accurately. eg, in the ‘VP2 drill’ the author says that every time I goof up it must be that I am trying to skip one of the 4 steps. Well, that precisely turned out to be case. This and other such instances give me a feeling of practising right before the eyes of a human teacher. And that’s not a little effect for a book to produce!” —Arnab Chakraborty, Graduate Student, Stanford University I have recently purchased your book Super Sight-Reading Secrets. I cannot seem to put this book down. I have been playing piano for 32 years, and am knocked out by the content — accurate to the point information, difficult, but yet simple in approach! OUTSTANDING! —Jimmy Baas, Assistant Choir Director/Accompanist “Mr. Richman, you are a GOD! I purchased Super Sight-Reading Secrets just short of a year ago and, by adhering closely to its simple instructions, am making progress as a piano player I NEVER thought I ever possibly could! —Jay Ross, Student, New York University, New York “Super Sight-Reading Secrets has not only improved my sight-reading of notes, but it also has helped me take care to read rhythms accurately instead of making ‘educated’ guesses. Your book sold me on the value of isolating the different aspects of playing the piano. —Clelia Niesen If you have positive or critical comments about any of our products or services we’d love to hear from you too! Please go to our Comments Form. Secrets of Singing on Pitch (ebook) “My 12 year old daughter has been in several school plays over the years but has avoided singing auditions because she: (a) had absolutely no pitch sense whatsoever (I do not exaggerate here); and (b) had a very narrow singing range (singing up an octave from middle C was way out of the question). Though initially skeptical (I really thought that people were born tone deaf and were stuck with whatever range they had), but with nothing really to lose, we decided to give your method a try, supplementing it only with some additional exercises regarding breath support (See your Step 8). Her target was a singing audition for the lead in a May school play. I was shocked (even this is an understatement) to see my daughter progress week by week ... in range, in pitch, and in ultimately confidence. After a month of this she was not only able to sing her audition song well, she was having a great time just singing around the house (something we never thought we would hear her do). But here is the incredible part: The audition day came and she was up against many girls, several of which who had been singing for quite some time. Worse yet, she chose a song that began on A above middle C (a note she could not have even hit without sounding strained, let alone sang on pitch four weeks earlier) so if she missed the note she would never be able to recover. Howard, not only did she nail the song, she got the part! We cannot thank you enough! So, for anyone thinking of giving your method a try, I say, GO FOR IT. Literally, my daughter’s life will be different because of it. Is this a great value or what?” —Sincerely, Bruce McKellar “This product is great. You get instant results. It is certainly worth the small financial outlay. It uses a very clever technique which really helped me overcome some of my singing obstacles. If good pitch does not come to you naturally, I would recommend giving this a try.” —Arthur Stabolidis, “I believe that your ebook cuts through numerous pages of unnecessary information offered by others. I have been singing on and off with bands for years. Now, at 55 years old, I want to be able to sing all songs on key, not just the fast, screaming ones. I'll let you know of my progress.” —Name withheld, but on file If you have positive or critical comments about any of our products or services we’d love to hear from you too! Please go to our Comments Form. How to Tell the Key in Music by Ear or by Sight (ebook) “As a singer, I found this ebook to be excellent and very easy to understand and follow, even without any formal background or training.” —Rob Rock, Professional Singer/Songwriter/Recording Artist, “Once again, you’ve put together a very informative (and simple to understand) approach to learning different aspects of music. You truly have a wonderful gift in your teaching abilities.” —Chris Hardin, Keyboardist/Composer/Conductor If you have positive or critical comments about any of our products or services we’d love to hear from you too! Please go to our Comments Form.
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| Copyright © 1998-2007 Sound Feelings Publishing, Tarzana, California, All Rights Reserved. Tel: +1-818-757-0600 Customer Comments Website created by Howard Richman with special thanks Website maintained by web engineer Last updated Saturday, March 22, 2008 |
