ROLAND VAZQUEZ
330 West 108 St. #2 New York, NY 10025-2738 / PHONE & FAX: (212) 316-1062
4/12/94

To Whom It My Concern:

When I first heard of The McClintock Piano Course, I had been working for about a dozen years in the Jazz and commercial music fields. Although I had my Bachelor’s degree in music, I had been away from formal education for about eight years, and was not interested in any further study. However, out of curiosity, I began to read the Course, and I certainly was not prepared for what would follow.

My experience with the Course opened many doors through which I continue to discover new things about music … and about myself.

The McClintock Piano Course works without the need of the physical presence of a teacher. The Course is the teacher … working like a living tool, through which each student can find the principles of music and self-education illuminated at his/her own rate of acceptance and understanding.

The Course does not attempt to illuminate through discourse or rhetorical example, but through the actual experience the student has while following the completely accessible lesson material. The student is taken step-by-step through each lesson, through each musical example, through each specific count and body movement … until a musical tone is produced – and a musical phrase is experienced.

As a student of composition, I have found Ms. McClintock’s lessons concerning the theoretical principles to be the most thoroughly understandable, practically presented, and as a result, the most retainable of any I have read or otherwise experienced. The lessons on harmonic progression, root movement, and altered chords are among my personal favorites … and I feel they should be mandatory for all students of composition.

As I mentioned earlier, I had been away from formal education for quite a while when I first began to study the Piano Course. As a direct result of this work, my confidence, musical awareness, and vision of my musical goals grew stronger. After about a year of work with the Course, I auditioned and was accepted with scholarship at Manhattan School of Music – graduating with a Masters degree, and shortly thereafter I was made a member of the Jazz Faculty.

I believe my overall musical vocabulary and understanding have improved tremendously since my work with the Course. I can also say that the emotional depth and stylistic diversity of my work have increased significantly. And, whereas before I was composing improvisationally dependent Jazz forms; now I am working with through-composed forms and with more varied instrumentations.

As I am now involved with Jazz Education, it is a joy to consider the imppact of the Course on my students. In my opinion, the effect of The McClintock Piano Course will be immeasurable. A work of this scope and clarity is seriously needed in today’s curricula. Up to now, most school programs have had very limited (if any) multi-dimensional technical material available – especially for their Jazz and commercial music students.

For the most part, these students (who usually have not had a formal music education background and/or years of “classical” training) are handed the “scales over chord progression” improvisation method books and/or ear training records to work with. The results of this kind of music education speak for themselves. Music departments all over the country, with few exceptions, are turning out graduates who may have temporarily memorized the “possible scale materials” – but who cannot read 16th notes or play a simple musical phrase.

I believe that with the availability of The McClintock Piano Course, this picture will begin to change significantly. Now, with The McClintock Piano Course, individuals can educate themselves to the level necessary to participate more directly in their own musical experience.

Now, we all can have the tools.

Thank you Ms. McClintock.

Roland Vazquez
Recording Artistl/ Producer
Jazz Faculty, Manhattan School of Music
Owner, RVCD