Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Stress-Free Method for Learning Piano

Photos and story by James Hill

SYLVANIA CAMPUS – When piano lessons don’t work, don’t blame the piano teacher and don’t blame yourself. There’s a better way to learn and Portland Community College has the class to get students on the right track to piano proficiency. Featuring 18-year professional musician, composer and educator Donn Rochlin, the non-credit class No Stress Piano will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 in room 205 of the SC Building on the Sylvania Campus, located at 12000 S.W. 49th Ave.Rochlin says students will learn how to get more out of sheet music by reading less of it and promises that each person who completes the workshop will be able to play piano with both hands. Also, students will be able to take home lots of musical information that they can use immediately without a big investment of money and time."One of my greatest joys is helping people realize how easy piano playing can really be,"Rochlin said. "I’m educating them to the fact that there’s another way to play piano than the way they were taught."Rochlin is a classically trained French horn player and self-taught pianist from Ashland. He is originally from Los Angeles, Calif., where he worked in the sales and marketing industry before moving to Arizona eight years ago. There, Rochlin enrolled in a speed-learning seminar that promised to teach him to play 36 chords in three hours and was instantly hooked. From there he developed his own instruction program, including a workbook and cassette tape that allow students to work on their own. The cost of the class is $75 and pre-registration is required. For more information, call 503-731-6618.