People ask me how to learn to play blues piano or how to improve their playing. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

WORKSHOPS

There are many blues workshops around the country. I've taught
at four or 5 but they don't all always have piano. There are a
some blues workshops that I'd recommend. One is the Augusta
Heritage Workshops' Blues Week at Davis & Elkins College in
Elkins, W.Va., another is the Centrum workshop program in
Port Townsend, Wash and there's one in Southern Ohio. I've taught
at all of them , and they are all wonderful programs.

Each program is like summer camp for grownups - lots of fun. Learn
all day and jam all night. Sleep? When you're home.

Each program has its advantages.

The piano classes at Augusta (where I'll be taught this summer)
are held in three spaces. One is a piano lab tightly packed with
electric pianos. One is a smallish room where the students must
bring their own pianos and may leave them set up all week. In
the other room students may also set up their own pianos, but
this is not a dedicated space and the pianos must be taken down
after each class, a time-consuming pain in the *&&. A bigger
problem is that none of the jam sites have reasonable pianos, and
even unreasonable ones are at a premium.

The Port Townsend setup is much better for piano classes. The
years I've been there they have a room full of well-maintained
*real* pianos, and they're on wheels. After class they can be
moved to any of many jamming spaces of various sizes. This is WAY
cool.

The Augusta workshops include a lot of wonderful non-blues stuff,
everything from basketry to blacksmithing. In addition, there is
always another music week going on at the same time as Blues
Week. Some years it's Swing Week, which makes the piano situation
worse because they have piano players who want to jam, too, but
it can make for some interesting jam sessions. Some years it's
Cajun/Creole Week, and we all act up and have a lot of fun. So at
Augusta you can hear some great music in addition to blues, go to
dances and concerts, check out the crafts classes and basically
have a wonderful time.

Centrum has a website at www.centrum.org, and Augusta has one at
www.augustaheritage.com.

Some years there is a piano component to Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace
Ranch in Ohio. Sadly, this year there doesn't seem to be one. It's a really
fun place. Much smaller then the others and the food in a million times
better but it is costly. www.furpeaceranch.com.

My recommendation would be to do all three.

LESSONS ON TAPE

Homespun Tapes puts out a series of audio tapes (also video for
those who learn that way) that are very helpful. You might want
to order one tape, and then the whole set if the one works for
you (they have a way you can do that). The ones I recommend for
all but very advanced players are David Cohen's Blues/Rock Piano
audio tapes. They start out very simple but are very good.

If you're interested in Gospel piano or, like me, interested in
incorporating Gospel style into your blues, I HIGHLY recommend
Ethel Caffie-Austin's videotapes on Homespun.

Doctor John also has some wonderful tapes on Homespun. I find
them harder to learn from, but it's great fun listening to him,
and, who knows, you might pick up something as well.

Homespun's toll-free number is 800-338-2737, and their website is
at www.homespuntapes.com.

Here are some of the things I did when I was learning:

I listened to everything I could get my hands on (for some
recommendations, see the Piano Heroes rap on my website - www.annrabson.com);

I set a cassette player on my piano and played tapes of people
with NO piano (like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) and played
along;

I jammed with anyone who would tolerate me.

Ann