MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING & CHORD FLUENCY
THROUGH CREATIVITY
SUMMER IS FOR LOVERS.
And my Lifelong Love, (besides Paris), is Song.
In Summer, we live inside those songs that have our minds, imaginations and hearts captivated, fascinated, intoxicated. Some songs are so intertwined with summer that only hearing the opening beat or strum can transport us instantly to that exact feeling that is indescribable except to say, it feels like summer.
I have created Midsummer Songbook to fill your days and nights with song, and to not so sneakily provide a way for you to further internalize how music works (AKA the number system!) as you increase your chord fluency on piano through exploration, tinkering, and creativity, and also, of course, the incomparable pleasure and bliss of just playing the songs you love with your own hands.
Wherever your musical curiosity takes you, whatever enchants and beguiles in these dreamy, deep summer days to come, you can follow!
Here is 2023 Midsummer Songbook (so far):
WHAT WINS SUMMER IN CHORD WORLD in 2023?
THE ERAS TOUR SETLIST
JOIN ME!
Cities are CHANGING THEIR NAMES in response to TAYLORMANIA.
Celebrate The Summer of Taylor with me as you totally level up your Chord Fluency & your Musical Ear in the Swiftiest way!
Whether you are a CARD-CARRYING TAYLOR-NATION FOUNDING MEMBER
or a SECRET SWIFTIE...You are invited!

AUGUST 1 - SEPTEMBER 15, 2023
Every Song. One A Day. Every Single Day.
FREE To ALL!
Join me as we chord-along to the ENTIRE Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Setlist. AND ALSO - for an extra challenge, you are invited to create something new sparked by the Daily Song.
Every Song. One A Day. Every Day. For 46 Days.
Oh, did I mention, it's free?!
How will it work? Why am I doing this? Click below for more info! Or just sign up and find out when it starts.
*There will also be a Chord Prep Class on July 31st Yay!
BEATLES SUMMER 2023
If you have NO IDEA what the ERAS SETLIST or SECRET SONGS are...or just aren't into it...
THIS MIGHT BE MORE YOUR SCENE:
CHECK OUT THE 7th ANNUAL BEATLES SUMMER!
But this year, there's a twist...
And remember the Gospel Truth of Songwriting:
KNOW THY BEATLES

August 2023
TIME & DETAILS TBA
Access Opening Soon
FOUR SUMMER SONGS X THE FAB FOUR
X FOUR FANATICS formerly known as Future Clouds & Radar WEIGH IN.
Every summer since 2017, students across my Austin piano studio have played only one thing: The Music of the Beatles. When I began what was called "HERE COMES THE SUMMER", some students couldn't even name one Beatles song. But this has been remedied I assure you! The results of this in my students' mastery of chords and chord function has proven tremendous, life-trajectory changing even.
But credit must be given where credit is due...Once upon a time, (okay, it was 2005), I joined a rock band. Seduced as I was by the wondrous, intricate songcraft, (and the magnificently unexpected chord changes), of mastermind Robert Harrison, I didn't realize quite that I also had a vast and extensive Beatles education (I mean...indoctrination) awaiting me as we traveled over the next few years thousands of miles between Austin, Texas, and all the cities North and East we could possibly go in a van pulling a U-Haul of gear.
No matter what the topic, conversations were ultimately pulled back to the center of all things: The Beatles.
Now, in life and in music, my old bandmates and I are all off on other adventures, but this summer, I purpose to pull these 3 quirky musical geniuses back together for a 4-session reunion of sorts, to capture and share with you all the magical insights of their collective perspectives.
Oh, yes, and all of this as we harmonically (and lyrically I imagine) deconstruct and learn to play four Beatles Summertime Songs (I am a committed chord teacher, after all.)
Will They? Won't They?
I am out to convince these very busy men to jump into this with me! They have NO IDEA I've devised this plan!
I'll report here what they say.
MEET ME:
Hi!
I'm Hollie.
I am an award-winning composer, pianist, and music educator wholly committed to helping others live full vibrant musical lives. I hold a bachelors in Music Composition and a masters in Education focused on Linguistic Acquisition. I taught Intensive English for 10 years to International students mostly at the University of Texas in Austin until 2003 when I resigned, resolved to create a life centered around music exploration and creation.
Since that time, I have performed classical and rock music worldwide with various ensembles and bands, but my constant fascination over the past two decades has been teaching piano, composition and music theory to the COOLEST people in my Austin studio, and as of March 2023, through my online classes with creative music-makers.
My Mission:
to empower others to become independent musicians through solid and clear musical understanding and creativity on piano.
I believe creative everyday music-making belongs to everyone, in everyone's hands and home, in childhood, and, equally, in adulthood. I simply don't see why it is not so. Everything I do here is to make the world a place where this is as effortless and as ordinary as a child drawing a picture of a flower.
Hollie is an absolute genius with all ages.
She understands deeply pedagogy, technique, theory, child development, art, craft, discipline and fun.
She mixes all these elements together into an experience that draws forth pure magic.
Chelsea Smock
Austin, Texas
I invite you on these Summer Adventures with me into Song!
THE ERAS SETLIST CHORD-ALONG CHALLENGE
$0
That's Right! Chord Along with Me Daily as we Celebrate the Summer of Taylor!
JOIN ERAS SETLIST CHORD-ALONGTHE BEATLES X FUTURE CLOUDS & RADAR
$127
Four Live Sessions with FCR & Live/Streaming Chord Classes.
JOIN BEATLES X FC&RMIDSUMMER POP-UP POP SONG In your INBOX
$0
Receive a note from me in your INBOX or by TEXT when New & Hot Pop Songs Hit!
GET POP-UP SONG NOTICE FIRSTLouis would sit at the piano for several hours a day tinkering with how different notes and chords sounded.
It wasn’t long before we traded our old piano for a better one because his playing was quickly becoming the soundtrack of our family’s life, and the quality of his creations were outpacing the quality of his instrument.
Because of Hollie, Louis will grow up not only knowing how to play beautiful music, but what it looks like to be a creator and a lover of music for the rest of his life.
Sarah Teale
San Marcos, Texas
I met Hollie when she joined my band Future Clouds and Radar in 2006,
and straight away she set the standard for what I wanted henceforth in collaborators.
Her knowledge of music is surpassed only by her enthusiasm for it.
I doubt I’ve met anyone in my life who loves music more--or is more the committed to sharing it.
Robert Harrison
Songwriter/Performer/Producer | Cotton Mather | Future Clouds and Radar