Piano professor Philippe Moehrke likes green. Bright green. His seven-piano practice studio at the Jazz & Rock Schulen has lime green walls, lime green splashes on the door, and a neon green fleece throw on the couch. He also bakes very good cookies, which he pressed on everyone who came in Tuesday morning.
Cookies and keyboards DO mix.
Moehrke teaches basic keyboards I and II to Berklee students, covering everything from classical sight-reading to German folk songs to funk vamps. What with a different semester length (the J&RS’s runs through February), the language barrier, and required Berklee coursework, the study-abroad crew mostly takes separate classes, which are very small.
Moehrke lays down the law with two of his three keyboards II students, Tara Porter and Gene Nye.
As a Berklee grad himself (’90, professional music), Moehrke is familiar with Berklee teaching methods but tried to make the competencies a little more fun, he said. Not that he shirks traditional piano discipline. “How old are you?” he asked Tom Brennan, a trumpet player.
Tom said, sheepishly, “Like I’m 85.” He straightened up his back.
The organizers thought it was important for the visitors to learn about the country’s creative traditions. Instructor Bernhard Drinnenberg had a slightly different idea, however, creating instead “a course about classical music with an accent on German composers,” he said.
They were, he added, really amazing chords.