Piano Lesson Testimonials
PIANO TESTIMONIALS
“Essential training, methodical, as a musician he knows what he is doing. For any serious student who is interested in pure musicianship. You learn from the best. “ (long-term student) Joe Durham – Queens, NY
“No matter what skill level you are at, Zack will help you improve your ability. “Andy Caldwell- http://www.last.fm/music/Andy+Caldwell
“I learned more from this guy in fifteen minutes than I did with all my former teachers combined! He helped me to arrive at a new level in my playing and listening. His teaching is unique: using a hands-on “bandstand” approach, Zack uses his own well thought out, tell-it-like-it-is teaching approach to transform your weaknesses into strengths. Through this process, I have become a more relaxed and confident player. Definitely check this cat out if you have the passion to propel your playing to a new level! ”- Mike O’Dell – Columbus , Ohio
“Zack is a good teacher. He may seem older, but he still knows what is hip. He focuses on your form and helps you to extract ideas out of yourself that you never knew were in you. He has a good balance of routine exercises that happen every lesson and new things he likes to try out with his students. He is open to “improvising” the lesson as he goes along, experimenting on new ways of learning fundamentals through games, call-and-response, etc. He pushes you to become a better musician. “- Ronnie Matwiran de Leon
“With Zack, you start learning within the first ten minutes that you sit down, no matter how experienced you are. His style is innovative and practical, forcing you to strip away your assumptions and approach playing as a pure form of expression, be it solo or part of a dialog with the rhythm section.” -David Cameron, San Francisco, CA
“Professional and at the same time casual, Zack tailors each lesson to both work on weaknesses and encourage improvisation. I greatly appreciate his ability to challenge my existing skills, develop new ones, and keep me entertained to boot”- Andrew Waight, San Francisco, CA
“I really enjoy Zacks ‘jammin’ approach to teaching verses sitting in front of sheet music and a metronome. I was jamming along with Zack at my first lesson. He explains proper playing techniques in a way that is easily understandable to beginners like me.”Mark Camp- Digidesign
“I have taken lessons from 13 other jazz piano professionals in the Bay Area, and my playing has improved the most – by far – with Zach. As a student, you will spend the ENTIRE lesson playing music, which is surprisingly rare with most jazz instruction. Zach’s method incorporates theory & technique with practical performance guidance that you can only get by playing as if you were in a combo. Lessons are fun, high energy, and tailored to the individual. Further, Zach goes beyond the mechanics of music by delving into the mentality, energy, creativity, and desire that blend together to develop your musical abilities.” -Korin Crawford, San Francisco, CA
“Zack Ferris has an excellent ear for many different genres of music, and technique that is on par with many of the great pianists of our time. As a graduate of Berklee College of Music he brings the knowledge of one of our country’s greatest music institutions to bear, along with his own more holistic musical philosophies. Teaching out of his studio in San Francisco, he creates a comfortable environment that is both strict, engaging and positive. I found myself constantly challenged, but also encouraged to play accurately and to understand why certain fingerings are more efficient than others. I highly recommend him as an instructor” – Otis Goodnight (http://www.garageband.com/artist/Otisgoodnight )
“Zack is one cool cat. Taking lessons with zack has been challenging and rewarding. Thanks Zack for sharing your knowledge with your students” Tom Castaneo, San Francisco
“After working with Zach for 4 months now, I’ve seen my improvisational ability grow dramatically. I’m now (finally) starting to play solos that ‘make sense’, typically developed from a simple initial motif. We’re starting now to take solos ‘outside’ the form, and working at controlling the ebb and flow of energy and ideas so that a solo is beautiful from the bigger picture, across multiple choruses. I’ve studied with 6 different Bay Area teachers, and as far as improvisation goes, I’ve definitely seen my game raised further under Zach than under any other. He’s one of the most energetic and passionate teachers I’ve ever met, which I find extremely motivating. His lessons really take you to another mental place—a place that is calm but with “fire in the belly”—a place I try to recreate each time I improvise. His use of clave rhythm as a focal point has shown me what it means to truly groove and opened up groove as a lifelong path to explore. In the lessons, it is obvious to me that Zach is emotionally vested in seeing me improve. If you put in the effort, you will see results with Zach.”- Isaac Ho, aspiring keyboardist with 5 years of jazz and 10+ years classical training
” I have the pleasure of working with Zack Ferris as my musical instructor on the piano for over three months. After years away from lessons, I am a returning as a performer feeling at home. He makes it easy to rely on his capability as a responsible communicator as he explains, teaches and allows me to develop my own sound. As I learn how to improvise and make my own music, I acknowledge his unique system of piano practice- it is enjoyable and customized to my progress, rather than having a repetitive tone like most sessions from my past. Knowing that I can creatively move on the piano keys and still be in sync gives me confidence to continue to learn how to improvise. Thank you Zack!” ~April Coffey 2006~
“I just started with Zach but already the improvements are noticeable in my playing. It took only a lesson or two before I started lamenting the years of crap-ass piano instruction I got as a kid. Zach quickly had had me understanding rhythm better than ever before and thnking like a musician. He’s got a simple instruction approach that makes more straightforward sense than any number of books or complicated systems. And he’s a good guy on top of it all. If you’ve been wanting to get better on the keyboards, do yourself a favor and get some lessons from Zach.” – Lang
Zack is the first piano instructor I’ve had (and I’ve had plenty) whom I feel understands where I’m coming from and where I want to go with the piano. Whenever I feel that the lesson is moving too quickly, he is happy to take me back to home base and work with me till I feel I am comfortable and understand the lesson. I love that he has me use interesting rhythm while learning scales because it keeps me liking what I am learning as opposed to wandering away after a few minutes of drab scale practice. I am very pleased he is my teacher. Lauren, Queens, NY
Zack is a wonderful teacher and I would like to be his student for a long time, I think he is very inspiring. You are so dedicated and spend so much extra time on your students. Most music teachers are very specific with their time cos it’s their living/job, you have 60 min with them, that’s it. I think I am getting an awesome deal. Angela Cearns, Mountain View, CA
​