Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Rochlin Brings his Own Brand of Piano Instruction to PCC

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 classes to get students on the right track to piano proficiency. Featuring 18-year professional musician, composer and educator Donn Rochlin, the non-credit class Instant Piano for Hopelessly Busy People will go from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 7 in room 205 of the SC Building on the Sylvania Campus, located at 12000 S.W. 49th Ave. An additional class, How to Play Music by Ear, is scheduled from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the same location on the same day.The morning class will teach all of the chords needed to play any pop song while the afternoon class will teach students how to play songs off the radio, and pick tunes right out of the head. "One of my greatest joys is helping people realize how easy piano playing can really be,"Rochlin said. "Anyone with desire to learn can do it."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 each PCC class is $60 and pre-registration is required. For more information, contact Community Education at 503-731-6620.