Robert Van de Riet

Robb was playing national piano guilds and complex classical music by age 10. At 12, he taught himself guitar and electric bass, and by 21, he successfully auditioned into Shenandoah University & Conservatory for classical guitar. During his time there, he began his pursuit in jazz guitar and piano. He eventually toured Japan playing jazz piano and even played with the late Bob Berg, saxophonist. When he isn't teaching, Robb performs in various projects locally and regionally. He has been teaching since 1999 and has positively affected hundreds of students.

Teaching from an improvisational perspective, is how i describe my teaching style. You see, even the old 'classical' musicians could all improvise...its a required knowledge for composing and requires a deep understanding of the language of music. So, along with teaching all the in's and outs of note reading, rhythm counting, scales, etc...I also teach the deep understanding of the theory behind the music (circle of 5th's, chord extensions and substitutions, true improvisation, etc) The "stuff" that makes it possible for a student to create their own music, whether classical, jazz, RnB, rock or what have you. I do encourage performance with other musicians for my students once they are at that point, as there are things one can only learn by playing with other musicians, that no teacher can teach. Then to bind this all together, I keep a strong reminder that music is also fun to learn and play and encourage exploration, etc.