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):

WHO IS CIRCLE OF ALICE FOR?

Circle of Alice is open to your whole household--anyone who wants to join!   Mothers and Sons. Dads and daughters. People in Love.  People who are fond but not in love.  That's okay. 

Music making for everyone. 

I'm being silly (and quoting Radiohead), but I'm actually serious.  Anyone in your household can and is encouraged to join.  Age-wise, in my experience, children can participate, but they may not be quite at the piano level to play chords until, for some children, age 8-10.  But I've had exceptions in my studio in both directions.  

 

COMPENDIUM OF WHY CIRCLE OF ALICE MAY BE FOR YOU. 
In no particular order.


You are just starting in Music...
and have picked up a lot of cool stuff online, on apps or youtube, that made you realize that, wow, you can play the piano (or another instrument)!   But you're tired of relying on watching someone else to know what to play.

You've been playing Music for years...or decades, but never feel like you are seeing the big picture. You know all the scales and arpeggios, as most of your practice and study with a teacher has been focused on technique You can read music or chord charts, but your mind doesn't connect the dots automatically. 

You take or your children take piano lessons, but the focus is on how to play pieces for recitals. You practice scales, arpeggios and cadences to prepare you for playing classical music, but don’t think much about what chords are occurring in the music while you play.  You are mostly working on mastering the technique so you can perform well.

You just never can remember how key signatures work. And when is it called a sharp or a flat? Actually the whole music theory thing just isn't your cup of tea. You know you should study it more, and get determined and attempt it every once in a while, but it's just never clicked.

You know people who can just sit down and play what they hear, or can transpose things on the spot to another key...And you have no idea how they do it.   (It's numbers!).

You are a singer. You hear music naturally or have been trained to sing, but feel lost when other musicians talk about chords and structure and keys.   You dream also of being able to accompany yourself fluidly as you sing and feel a little envious of people who can do that.

You want to learn to improvise and try composing, but you feel silly...especially compared to the mighty masterworks you have learned in your life as a musician in your classical studies. 

You play music yourself, and your children also study an instrument...but you wish you could make time to make creative music together and not just technical practicing. 

You play in a band, or love creating music on your computer, using chords and making melodies and riffs, but you aren't sure why they all work together, and wouldn't be able to play them in any other key.

You are a music teacher. You might even be a piano teacher, but you want make time to explore improvising and creating music more without your inner critic shutting you down, comparing every melody you tinker with to Chopin's melodies.

You are a music teacher with children...and you would love to find a way to connect with your child or children meaningfully and creatively in music that isn't about you just reminding (coercing/cajoling) them to practice.  (Jk-- I know we music teachers never do that!)

You are a composer or arranger...but don't quite have fluency with chords and inversions in every key.  Yep.  You've gotta know this STAT.

You are just really into Alice in Wonderland...and heard about this and said--Oh yes, how can I get in on this awesomeness?  
(This was a real text I got).

(Keep scrolling, I'll show you how!)

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!

I WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT ALL THINGS TAYLOR!
JUST SIGN ME UP NOW!

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!

Free to all, but you need to sign up here so I can send you the access info and instructions on what to do!

JOIN ERAS SETLIST CHORD-ALONG

THE BEATLES X FUTURE CLOUDS & RADAR

$127

Four Live Sessions with FCR & Live/Streaming Chord Classes.

Enrollment fee includes The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook, which will be on its way to you asap.

JOIN BEATLES X FC&R

MIDSUMMER 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!

When surprise songs pop up on our collective radar, they become summer-defining. Jump in with me!

GET POP-UP SONG NOTICE FIRST

Louis 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

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