Private jazz piano instruction is available from DeMotta’s home studio in Oradell, New Jersey. Lessons emphasize improvisation, harmony and voice leading, rhythm and phrasing, ear training, repertoire development, music theory and analysis, and preparation for auditions and collegiate study.
The transcriptions and exercises below are drawn from that teaching — material used in lessons and university courses, offered here as PDFs.
Exercise
A two-handed voicing exercise handed down from pianist David Hazeltine, built on Cedar Walton's ii–V vocabulary. Two pairs of voicings — m11 to 13(♭9), m9 to 7alt — cycle through every key, first as straight ii–Vs, then approached from a half-step above with major-seventh chords. Play it slowly and let the hands learn the shapes.
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Transcription
Bud Powell's solo on the master take of “Bouncin’ with Bud,” from the 1949 Blue Note session. Powell was the subject of DeMotta's doctoral research; this chorus is a compact study in his right-hand phrasing and left-hand punctuation.
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Transcription
Bill Evans's solo on “Nardis” from Explorations (1961), with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian — a piece Evans would return to for the rest of his career.
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