Lessons

"Those who can, do.  Those who believe others can also, teach."

John E. King

PRIVATE LESSONS

Hal gives private lessons to intermediate and advanced level students and ensemble groups seriously interested in improving their musicianship.  Most students enrolled are college age, or are already professional musicians.

Musical subjects taught include:  jazz improvisation, music theory, harmony, transcription and analysis, counterpoint, composition, arranging, ear training, repertoire, ensemble performance, sight-reading, instrumental technique, and how to practice.

Lessons are offered on all musical instruments and voice and are given at Hal's studio--equipped with keyboard, amps, drums and recording devices--which is located in Attleboro, MA, directly across the street from the commuter rail station (approximately 45 minutes south of Boston, or 15 minutes north of Providence).

Private lessons are generally scheduled three times a year:  September (for fall and winter), January (for winter and spring), and May (for summer), and also whenever openings are available.

Lessons are scheduled on a once-a-week basis, or once every two weeks.  However, lessons may sometimes be scheduled to occur once every three weeks or once a month.  Students may also schedule longer lessons if desired.

PRIVATE LESSON APPROACH


Hal's approach to teaching performance related subjects (such as improvisation) in a private lesson is to begin the lesson by playing familiar music with the student while recording the performance.  (Hal comps while the student solos.)

The results are then examined and critiqued, and weaknesses in the student's playing are identified.

A topic is then selected for study and exercises are designed that target the student's weaknesses relative to the selected topic.

The exercises are then demonstrated by Hal while the student observes and asks questions.

Finally, the student demonstrates the exercises while playing with accompaniment.

Subsequent lessons focus either on the current topic and lesson material or on a different topic and material, as needed and desired by the student.

Click here to contact Hal Crook for lessons.











STUDENTS

Following are some of the notable students Hal has coached over the years, in one musical subject or another, and to whom some modicum of success may have come because of--or in spite of--his teaching.

Saxophone

Chris Cheek, Eli Deglibri, Antonio Hart, Mark Turner, Seamus Blake, Miguel Xenon, Jaleel Shaw, Walter Smith III, Patrick Cornelius, Mark Small, Dana Stevens, Sam Newsome, Teodross Avery, Jesus Santandreu, Mike Sims, Bill Vint, Jamie Oehlers, Dan Pratt, Chris Ward, Gilad Ronen, Jaques Schwartzbart, Oscar Feldman, Tim Green, Dan Moretti, Sam Thomas, Bob Reynolds, Anat Cohen, Libert Fortuny, John Tornatore, Brian Breach, Aaron Henry, Dylan Heany, Godwin Louis, Pat Carroll, J.J. Byars, Aki Nishiguchi, Mike Tucker, Matan Chapnizka, Alex Terrier, Logan Richardson, Nathan Cepelinski, Ben Van Gelder, Brian Crutchfield, Frank Silva, Dave Negrete, Joe Albano, Mark Weissman, Phillipe Crettien, Joe Santamaria, Gary Lindsay, Jesse Scheinin, Kyle Nasser, Oleg Ostapchuk, Simone LaMaida, Adrien Sanchez, Davindar Singh, Eyal Hai, Jonathan Greenstein, Malissa Aldana, Matt Halpin, Grace Kelly, Dino Govoni, Shannon LeClaire, Andrew Krasilnikov, Jon Orland, Rafael Aguiar, Lucas Ellman, Leon Cotter, Clayton Lyons, Mario Castro, Matt Halpin, Daniel Rotem, Eitan Gofman, Robert Struthers


Trumpet

Roy Hargrove, Ingrid Jensen, Avishai Cohen, Christian Scott, Ambrose Akinmusire, Ingmar Thomas, Dontae Winslow, Eric Bloom, Dave Ballou, Lars Lindvall, Diego Urcola, David Boato, Tony D'Aveni, Trent Austin, Mike Shobe, Voro Garcia, Greg Diaz, John Allmark, Gordon Au, Mark Greel, Jeremy Sinclair, Billy Buss, David Neves, Josh Shpak  

Trombone

Jeff Galindo, Nick Vagenas, Elliot Mason, Delfeo Marsalis, Brian Drye, Evan Dobbins, Al Cron, Andre Haywood, Rene Mosele, Jeff Adams, Chris Dempsey, Chris Gagne, Bruce Paulson, Heinz Czadek, John Pierce, Bob Pilkington, Jeff Hoyer, Dave Pannecki, Jason Camelio, Nick Sweet, Ryan Dragon, Ido Meshulam

Piano

Danilo Perez, Frank Carlberg, Renato Chicco, Seung Young Cho, Toru Dodo, Leo Genovese, George Dulin, Arpad Olah, Milton Fletcher, Romain Collin, Ruslan Sirota, Scot Kinsey, Guillermo Klein, Ernesto Vodos Posse, Steve "Lionel" Hamilton, Pete Rende, Alexandra Samsonova, Vladamir Nesterenko, Assen Doyken, Pat Bianchi, Daniela Schacter, Michael Shteinberg, Roy Ben-Sira, Milan Milanovic, Niles Juliarso, Josh Gallagher, Plamen Karodonev, Roy Assaf, Aruan Ortiz, Lawrence Fields, Michel Reis, Victor Gould, Michael Palma, Andrew Toombs, Julian Shore, Chihiro Yamanaka, Suzanne Davis, David Azarian, Danny Grissett, Suzanna Sifter, Gilson Schacknik, Max Lubarsky, Rebecca Cline, Leo Blanco, Vardan Ovsepian, Casimir Liberski, Evgeny Lebedev, Alberto Palau, Cedric Hanriot, Jordon Seigel, Takeshi Obayashi, Julian Shore, Christian Li, Jiri Nedoma, Sharik Hasan, Ronen Schmueli, Calvin Browne, Kyumin Shim, Wade Ridenhour, Eitan Kenner, Matt Savage 

Guitar

Wolfgang Muthspiel, Lionel Loueki, Lage Lund, Frank Mobus, Kevin Barry, Hilmar Jensson, Marek Dykta, Stefan Hiller, Gil Monteiro, Roman Pilan, David Douruska, Paul Vinton, Jeff Gittleman, Julian Lage, Matt Stevens, Brian Baker, Nir Felder, Brad Barr, Adam Agati, Ryan Seaward, Marco Buena Ventura, Kazu Mitsushita, Garrison Fewell, Roland Gephardt, Andre Matos, Sal DiFusco, Giovanni Moltoni, Alex Wintz, Jeff Miles, Randy Runyon, Sam Dickey, Ilan Bar-Lavi, Roy Guzman, Jeff Miles, Italo Machado, Lee Dynes, Raphael DiFigueiredo, Alex Baboian, Asher Kurtz, Jamie Stewardson, Tom Holladay

Bass

Matt Garison, Ben Street, Marco Panascia, Marty Ballou, Paul Del Nero, Dwayne Burno, George Donchev, Janek Gwizdala, Skuli Sverrisson, Yasushi Nakamura, Massimo Biocalti, Peter Slavov, Luques Curtis, Alan Hampton, Garth Stevenson, Demian Cabaud, Evan Gregor, Jeff Densen, Brain Ladd, Mike Oien, Hogyu Hwang, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Sanders, Dave Zinno, Mike Janisch, Josh Davis, Ben Zwerin, Christian Bausch, Justin Purtill, Michael Hicks, Lello Molinari, Katie Thiroux, DJ Foster, Frank Abrahams, Fernando Huergo, Tino D'Agastino, Yoshi Waki, Florian Feuser, Peter Kontrimas, Jeremy McDonald, Peter Spear, Josh Brososky, Dan Carpel, Shin Sakaino, Max Moran, Justin Richey, Greg Chaplan, Noam Weisenberg, Jared Henderson, Spencer Stewart, Yoshi Yamada, Jeonglim Yang, Mitsuru Yoshizumi, Aaron Darrell, Zack Brown, Norihide Shiota, Young Hoo Kim, Sang Ouk Jung, Yonatan Marianer, Robert Taylor, Aaron Nebbia

Drums

Take Toriyama, Jim Black, Antonio Sanchez, Kendrick Scott, Jorge Rossi, Frank Nemeth, Mark Miralta, Jose "Pepe" Taveira, Mathias Kunzli, Sebastian De Krom, James Williams, Deon Hairston, Ziv Ravitz, Lyndon Rochelle, Jordan Pearlson, Dennis Frehse, Brian McGlaughlin, James Alsanders, Sam Duesler, Mike Prowaznik, Nick Faulk, Lee Fish, Toshio Tanaka, Jeff Fajardo, Matt Brady, Eric Doob, Hamir Atwal, Jody Giachello, Alex Deutsch, Dave Weigert, Ralph Rosen, Bertram Lehmann, Masa Osaka, David Cowan, Dan Platzman, Zach Mangan, John Chapman, Ryo Shibata, Ryo Noritake, Dan Pugach, Wen Ming Soh, Jonathan Bailey, Mark Whitfield, Joey Lefitz, Terry Cambell, Isaac Haselkorn, Vishal Nyak, Jun Young Song, Cameron Outlaw, Jon Pinson, Pablo Eluchans, Marton Juhasz, Roberto Giaquinto, Gabe Smith, Dor Herskovits, Oscar Suchanek, Angelo Spampinato, Shane Fox, Jordan Rose, Anthony Fung

Vibes

James Westfall, Chris Dingman, Jeff Davis, Matthias Lupri, Joe Doubleday

Flute

Jim Connors, Fernando Brandao, Anders Bostrom

Violin

Mads Tolling

Voice

Chiara Civello, Gretchen Parlato, Rita Martins, Sarah Serpa