John Spradling Piano Studio

My studio is open as it has been since 1997 in Central New York. I never stopped teaching for any reason in 2020.

The John Spradling Piano Studio will soon resume in-person lessons, and there are openings for new students! Call or message right away for information. This photo is of my dearest studio dog, Mack, with his own cookie while participants at a home studio recital all had theirs. I took the shot at the close of a studio recital a number of years ago.

Virtually all of my lessons are given on the Baldwin L at First Baptist Church in Manlius. After almost 30 years at the church, the action of the faithful Baldwin has been removed for a complete regulation. In the photo you can see cables and wires in place for making videos of services during the pandemic. Since the sanctuary has been empty, what better time than now to bring the Baldwin back to new life? We have contracted Bob Lee to do the work.

I recently gave a ninth grade student a lesson on the Beethoven "Waldstein" Sonata, and found myself crying with delight. Believe me, we have come up through the ranks with Haydn, Mozart, and other Beethoven. This student has a set of fingers, so we have done Op. 31, No. 1. All that was very competently done, and his Concerto No. 3 was played with orchestra. This Waldstein, however, is another thing altogether. It is a full 152 Allegro con brio, and he is exulting in Be...ethoven's pure athletic ability to express simple, profound ideas with muscular, subtle, and sleek delight. You may think the Waldstein is not a piece to evoke such emotion, but I assure you such things are possible. We are now attacking the Rondo, and I divulged to him the secret words to the main theme--necessary to correct interpretation: "Was macht die Sau im Garten?" See more

Many people have heard of Vladimir Horowitz, whose reputation still grows since his death in 1989. Most have not heard his piano rolls, made in an age when acoustic recording was experimental. These are incredible performances.

Today, Sunday, March 15, a fine student thanked me for continuing to give piano lessons in the face of the mass hysteria taking place. Am I deaf to all the scr...eaming about the virus? No. Am I in denial that there is a pandemic? No. I do not watch television, and have not for decades. I do not listen to news announcers, because they no longer offer objective coverage. I read, study, pray, and discuss issues with friends, and form my own opinions. I find no reason to stop piano lessons at this time, and want to do my part in creating a down-to-earth, calm and reasonable environment. I have not been called upon to create policy for a group of people, a company, or a nation, but to meet one-on-one with students. I am still open for business. See more

Piano Lessons Continue According to Schedule!

John Spradling Piano Studio just entered seven students in the CNYAMT Competition!

A weekend at the Orchestra Of Northern New York Young Artist Competition, Potsdam, NY.

This is beautiful......

Congratulations to all five finalists in the CMM/Symphoria Youth Concert Competition for 2020! Violinist Dai Wei Shen is the winner.

Both of my student entrants to the CMM/Symphoria Youth Concerto Competition--Alex Wu and Victoria Huffman-- have advanced to the Finals, to be held Monday evening, January 13, at Park Central Presbyterian Church. Bravi tutti!

Alex is enthusiastically applauded after Beethoven, and encores with the Bolcom Knight Hubert rag.

Alex Wu plays Beethoven III with Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra

My fine student Alex Wu will be playing Beethoven III this Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you there!

John Spradling Studio Fall Recitals were a success! All my recitals take place at First Baptist Church of Manlius, where I have taught for 22 years. I owe a large debt of gratitude to my church home!

Saturday, May 11 was the date of TWO recitals, in the morning and afternoon. Many thanks to First Baptist Church of Manlius for hosting! I would be happy to consider including other photos from other sources.

My friend and (former) student Andrew King is giving his final mater's recital at Manhattan School of Music on Sunday afternoon. My thoughts and prayers are with you!

I entered six hard-working students in the 2019 CNYAMT Piano Competition. Pictured here are the four who won places in their divisions.

Bravi, tutti! to my six students who entered the CNYAMT Piano Competition this year. Ethan Wong won Second Place in Junior, Allison Wong won Second Place in Intermediate, Carter McCrea won First Place in Senior, and Tania Hrosar won Fourth Place in Senior.

CNYAMT Advanced Piano Competition Winners' Recital. Sunday, March 17, 1:30PM at Park Central Presbyterian ChurchCNYAMT Advanced Piano Competition Winners' Recital. Sunday, March 17, 1:30PM at Park Central Presbyterian Church

Pete Spinelli wins Third Place at the Orchestra of Northern New York Youth Concerto Competition. He play the first Movement of the Grieg Piano Concerto

John Spradling Piano Studio is gearing up for competitions this spring, and we just concluded the Orchestra of Northern New York Concerto Competition with Peter Spinelli taking third prize! Kudos go to ONNY, Kenneth Andrews, Music Director, and the orchestra board for their tireless work investing in youth and giving the winners cash prizes and performance opportunities.

This is an enjoyable clip played by my student Thomas Nguyen, now a student at SUNY Potsdam.

A potpourri of photos taken in various locations featuring various events in the JSPS

On this frigid Monday, January 21, 2019, we will have regularly scheduled lessons at First Baptist Church of Manlius.

Sunday, January 20, 2019: I will not be in Syracuse today, due to the ongoing snowstorm. Lessons are cancelled!

A new student who played very well.

I thought I was going to continue uninterrupted about Vronsky and Babin, but I got a little sidetracked. It's been a long time since I got the effect of a frei...ght train approaching at full speed while listening to Rachmaninoff III, but Bronfman does it. He plays the ossia cadenza in the first movement, even though the old fear concerning the ossia cadenza was that it was too big, and sounded like an ending unto itself. With Bronfman, that is no problem, because his second and third movements are scaled such that they make a greater effect even than the ossia cadenza. Rachmaninoff said he wrote the concerto "for elephants", and I think he would have been pleased with this. Like Horowitz, Bronfman "swallowed it whole." It is worth the listen--every minute of it. See more

Looking sharp and played very well!

I have recently been involved in music for four hands, and when this happens, I cannot stay away from performances of my favorite duo team, Vronsky and Babin. ...I have so much to say about them, I will spread the content over several entries. I believe with certainty that no team ever played four-hand music better than Vronsky and Babin See more

Two recitals at First Baptist Manlius Church. The level of preparation--and luck--was very fine for these recitals! I stress that appearance is an important factor for playing in public. Special commendation goes to those who have stayed with it the longest. As one matures and becomes more proficient, it always seems there is a greater amount to learn. In any difficult endeavor, the horizon always rapidly recedes. I am happy to post more photos as I receive them. Please understand I will not tag with full names.

I gave a lesson today to one of my finest students--via FaceTime. He was in China, playing on a keyboard. Talk about having an entire deck stacked against you...! Don't get me wrong. I know this boy very well, and we got the job done, tiding him over until he returns to Syracuse, but the more we depend on digital devices to convey artistic impulses and subtle nuances of speech, the more we thrust ourselves into a new dark age. The greatest musical works of art were produced with pen/pencil and paper by composers--some blind, some deaf, or sick with various maladies--whose hearts burned to unleash and bring to life the inspiration lying within. Give me a modest upright piano in a small room, face to face with my student, and I will give you fine, dependable results. See more

First Baptist Church of Manlius was the scene of my studio's Spring recital this year. The music played was all levels of difficulty from Faber and Faber Primer to Bach Inventions to Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, and the Grieg Concerto. Performers ages ranged from young child to adult. Congratulations to all performers and sincerest acknowledgment of the hard work on everybody's part!

Jessica Spradling in moments of her brilliant senior recital at SUNY New Paltz.

Less than two weeks away!:D No need to get tickets beforehand--free admission! Bring your friends:)

Despite bad weather, the 2018 edition of the CNYAMT Advanced Piano Competition took place this season, winners were announced, and the Winners' Recital took place at Park Central Presbyterian Church

On Wednesday, January 24, 2018 I presented three students, Zachary Slade, Thomas Nguyen, and Patrick Tuohey in recital at the CMM Wednesday Recital Series in Park Central Presbyterian Church. They played very well, and the performances were a valuable experience for them.

On Wednesday, January 24, 12:15PM, I present three of my students on the CMM Wednesday Recital Series at Park Central Presbyterian Church, 504 E. Fayette St, Syracuse, NY 13202. I am proud of this group of students, each one very different from the other. You are most welcome to attend, and admission is free of charge. Thomas Nguyen is a graduate of CNS High school. He is the winner of the 2016 Artist Pianos CNYAMT Advanced Piano Competition Senior Division, and appeared on... Carrie Lazarus’s Extraordinary Talent series in November 2016. He attends OCC for music and will continue pursuing music as a career in performance or education. He thanks Artist Pianos and Carrie Lazarus for helping him, and his parents for having raised him to be the person he is today. Zachary Slade is 14 years old and an 8th Grader at Perry Junior High School in New Hartford, NY. He has been playing the piano for 10 years. His first lessons were with Ewa Lawrence, and he began studies with John Spradling in 2010. Additionally, Zach has been playing the tuba in the school band for 4 years. He is an altar server at Mt. Carmel Church in Utica, NY and earned a black belt in American Eagle Style martial arts. Patrick Tuohey is a student at Berklee College Of Music where he’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Music Business. He is a talent buyer/promoter with upstate New York’s largest independent events company After Dark Presents and is also a co-owner of Spark Contemporary Art Space on East Fayette St. Patrick has worked with John Spradling a little over a year. John Spradling is a collaborative and solo pianist who has appeared in the USA, Europe, and Asia. He has developed one of the most successful piano studios in CNY, where he teaches beginners, amateurs, adults, and aspiring young artists. His students have been recipients of scholarships to renowned conservatories and have won every competition in Central New York and the surrounding regions. For more information, see www.johnspradling.com

Any musician knows how important phrasing is. Two people might play the same composition, but if only one person phrases convincingly, the two may almost sound like two different pieces of music. In this photo, Benjamin is making sure he is learning how to phrase not only with convincing sound, but also with important visual effects.

I am reading BeethovenAnguish and Triumph, the biography by Jan Swafford, and highly recommend it, as well as Swafford’s biography of Brahms. In recreating the account of Czerny’s audition for Beethoven around 1800, Swafford says,As Czerny’s teacher, Beethoven shaped not only a musician and a disciple, but what became a lasting school of piano pedagogy. One thing Swafford declines to mention at this time is that Czerny later taught Liszt. Truer words were never spoken. I doubt if our piano repertoire would be recognizable as it is today without this momentous association. If you have studied with me, you know Czerny, and will understand why I hold him is high regard.

Fall studio recitals took place Saturday, October 21, 2017, at Artist Pianos and First Baptist Church of Manlius. We had a great array of solos, duets, and concerto playing from students aged 7 to 87, with new performers as well as veterans. The adults had a pre-recital dress rehearsal, thanks to one of the adult students. I always learn new lessons in preparing so many people for performing, and my heart is warmed to see generally what a great encouragement it is for each person involved. There is a funny anecdote on my personal Facebook page.....

At my student Kathleen Watters behest, we held an adult student get-together yesterday, Sunday afternoon, August 13. This was an excellent idea! Not everybody was able to attend, but those who did shared with each other what their piano backgrounds are, and how they came to be in the studio. We had some fine offerings of solo and ensemble music, as witnessed by the Spindler Sonatina being played in the photo. Playing something you have seriously practiced on a musical instrument gives you the incomparable experience of playing while listeners receive what you present. It takes nerve and determination to do this, and I know everybody is happy they stepped out and took the chance. Bravi, tutti!! We have another event in the making for the Christmas season.

A Note to Scammers-- All music teachers receive "requests" for lessons from scammers--people who have ways of getting money out of them under the guise of interest in lessons. We know you and are on to your ways. There are many ways to tell a note from a scammer, and as a professional looking to protect myself and my colleagues, I am not going to reveal the many ways we can tell. However, I will tell you one way, the most important way, we know you are a crook. It doesn't... need to be a secret, because you can never fake it, and you will never do it convincingly, because you cannot get past its protective barrier. The protective barrier is PASSION. A person wanting information about piano lessons is burning with passion, either for himself, or for his kid. You cannot fake that. No amount of vocabulary will do the job. You simply do not know how it is done, and will never understand. You are trying to break into one of the holiest of holies when you try to rob a music teacher. Teachers have sweat blood over their studies, development, and careers. We cry many tears. We love our students and often go many extra miles for them. We don't make much money, nor is that the focus of our lives. We focus on our students' development, and can tell your faking, lying scum a mile away. You smell and write like the gutter from which you came, and to a teacher who has lived the life all teachers live, your type announces itself with flying banners. If this post hasn't shown you a taste of the passion we have, then nothing will. See more

The world is a dangerous place, and we must be well-prepared to face the challenges that come our way. Following one's passion is still a very powerful force in today's world. I can vouch for that.

I am a modern teacher. I use up to date methods that will appeal to today's youth in my efforts to get them to practice effectively. I thought I would take a moment to share my modern methods with you to see if maybe my ideas would help somebody else. Here goes: I have a brilliant young man who is finishing up Beethoven Opus 31, No. 1. He won a competition with the second movement as part of his repertoire. Now, we have begun Concerto No. 1 in C Major. He will play tha...t piece inside out, and his spirit is right for such a youthful outburst. He has always had trouble keeping track of accidentals in chromatic passages, so our work on pieces like the Chopin Berceuse was a bit belabored with weeding out mistakes. As for the concerto, the large cadenza, No. 3, is the one we are using. You are no doubt familiar with the long development of the opening theme which begins about 18 bars from the start of the cadenza, right? You know, the area that goes for more than a page of LH 16th notes that modulate through all manner of keys. I played some of it for him, and made him notice all the accidentals in the LH. I told him to get through that part of the cadenza, and that $10.00 would be coming to him if he learned the passage without playing wrong accidentals. He doesn't have to pay me if he is wrong--he just gets ten bucks if he is right. A smile beamed across his face, while his Mom said, "It must be a hard passage!" I will be updating this post to let you know if I had to pay him. Do you think that with my great ideas I will be in demand to teach graduate seminars? See more

We had our Spring recitals at First Baptist Church of Manlius and Artist Pianos in East Syracuse. I have a large studio, but due to the late date of the recital, many were unable to participate. Besides those who did not appear, certain others will not find their photos here. Sometimes I could not take a picture because I was playing a duet, and some of them did not turn out. Our public performances went very well, and in the case of momentary surprises, good decisions were made! Special thanks to First Baptist Church of Manlius and to Artist Piano

I recently gave Zachary Slade a lesson on Debussy's La Cathedral engoutie. Photos are courtesy of Jen Martinez.

Easter is over. A musician is very busy coming up to Easter, and although rehearsals are fun, services can be nerve-wracking. My Easter was actually easier than Palm Sunday, but the Good Friday service was my favorite this year. The Good Friday service pre-empted some of my teaching, so I taught late this afternoon, which brings me to the reason for writing this. The little girl I taught this afternoon is new to my studio, and along with another girl who just started, the...se girls are going to be formidable pianists as well as MUSICIANS! Every lesson is exciting. Even as little kids, their rhythm crackles with vitality and excitement, their allegro tempi are vibrant, and their attitudes about technique are actually simple: nothing is going to stop them or get in the way of their progress. Obviously, a child with an attitude like theirs is going to be good at everything, so eight years from now, they will probably be thinking of pre-med, but maybe, just maybe, if I can get them advanced enough, they will continue to take music seriously. See more

My student Thomas Nguyen, who also studies with Kevin Moore at OCC, has just won the Barbara Micale Piano Competition at OCC, where he is studying for his Associate's Degree. In addition to this, Thomas recently gave a full recital at Temple Adath Yeshurun, where he was heard in the works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Bartok, and Gershwin. Thomas, who began piano lessons in January of 2015, is a young man of great potential. Congratulation, Thomas!

Brothers Frank and Stefan Wang have a go at their first collaboration. You can imagine what a luxury it is for a teacher to have two siblings who live under the same roof both studying piano at the same time! We are playing the Schubert Military March for piano four hands, and as I have said many times before, piano collaboration lessons are 10% music and 90% character building. Playing your own part strongly, correctly, and with regard to successful mutual interpretation is a gradual and very revealing process. I spent time telling them what place in society duet playing occupied in the 19th Century, but as for how THEY will benefit, I don't need to waste time talking. It'll happen to them, and they won't even know it until later. They will play their duet on our Spring Recital.

The Winner's Recital for the four divisions of the CNYAMT Advanced Piano Competition took place on Sunday, March 19, 2017. I am not sure how many students entered altogether, but everybody who placed performed today and received his/her prize. Three pianists from my studio received prizes.

Our local piano competition is over, and the results have been announced. I always enter a number of students: in recent years, I entered 14, 10, 12, and this year, I entered 5. I got tired of people not practicing enough, and thought I'd take an "easy year." I didn't do badly in terms of winning. With the five I entered, I had a first place, a second place, and a third place in the various categories. Two students did not place. A letter from the mother of one of them ...caused me to sit back and reevaluate. Here is a portion of the letter......... "Thank you very much for letting us know our son did not place in the competition. We accept that. As long as he keeps working on his skill, he will benefit from the work. As for improving his time managementwithout the lesson of this competition, he might never get the point of keeping up on his practicing each day no matter how busy he is. We also have to face the probability that he will never really be ready for a competition. He has so much homework, so many exams, so many deadlines and varsity sports responsibilities that he is not able to find a chunk of time each day to properly prepare. However, the competition was a good lesson for him, and we are glad that he tried." This boy has definitely learned a lesson, and probably a more valuable lesson than those learned by the "winners." I think I will return to entering those kids who aren't probable winners. I don't want to deprive them of a lesson such as this one.

The dogs are usually present in the studio during lessons. I always keep them under control, and they know when a student is particularly friendly. Some people bring them treats, which causes merry bedlam, but otherwise, it is just a congenial atmosphere, as exists in the lessons of Nicholas Cantello

Teaching is a gimmick. The game is fixed. The musician, not having the opportunity to perform and have his name become a household word like the great Adele or the --apparently--even greater Beyonce, turns to teaching to keep together body and soul. Of course he has to teach true to the manner of his great instructors, so he demands high standards of his students. He finds every means under God's sun to get his students to progress in their music studies. You see, he wants th...em to excel, win competitions, and glorify HIS name. After about ten years of study............they quit. They go into medical school, or into finance, or into the ministry, or they get married and have fine families. You catch up with them in their mid-20's, and in the course of conversation, they say, "Mr. Spradling, you really, really helped me. You changed my life. I couldn't have done it without you." At moments such as those, you realize you have panned for gold for ten years. You worked in the blazing sun, got filthy in sludge and mud, had to fight squatters off your claim, and finally found this nugget. You are a rich man. See more

Why, why WHY did I quit piano? I just spent the better part of an hour composing a response to a parent whose child is overwhelmed with all her activities, and is now at the point of thinking they can solve their problem by "temporarily" quitting piano lessons. As I was finishing the letter, I realized I could keep it and use it in the future, since the circumstances each person finds themselves in are always strikingly similar. Here is the letter: "Thanks for the question.... I’m sorry your child's overall load is proving to be overwhelming at this point. Only you and she know the overall priority of all her activities in addition to her school work, but it would seem piano rather tends to be at the bottom of the list since you propose you would free up time by stopping piano lessons. To answer your question, I would say that no, no student temporarily pauses their lessons to assess what direction they wish to take in piano. I have never had that happen. What does indeed happen is that they stop lessons for any of quite a few reasons. Once they stop, no matter what the reason for stopping, and the intent for the future, they never come back. I have never had it happen, even once. Whatever they say, they never come back. There is a big problem with once-off events which claim a lot of time and cloudy up the waters of priorities. These events make students feel overwhelmed, and in some cases, cause them to make unfortunate decisions that affect them for years to come. I receive calls around the year--non-stop--from adults who actually grieve that they quit piano. Not one of them has mentioned the musical in which they were able to take part, or the weekend workshop in which they were able to participate because of increased time gained by cessation of piano lessons. Their overwhelming focus is why, why, WHY did I quit piano? This is the God’s honest truth, and I accept adult students year around whose stories are variations on this same theme. Some of them start, and continue their lessons for years, and others are never able to favorably compare the difficulty of learning as an adult with the effortless ease of learning when they were children. Although I do not wish to overplay it, this is a serious crossroads at which you find yourselves. Good luck in your decision." I wrote this letter purely in the best interest of the student. A child in this position does not produce great things in lessons, and I find my energy greatly drained by students such as these. However, I also know the grief these kids feel as adults from faulty decision-making in the years of immaturity, and it is for this reason I tell people to take great caution in such circumstances.

Every January, ONNY runs its Young Artist Competition in Hosmer Auditorium of the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. Open to young musicians from many counties, the competition offers cash prizes to its winners and rehearsals and performances to its first place winner. I entered one student, Nicholas Cantello, playing a Mozart piano concerto, and also the Strauss Horn Concerto.

Three of my students were featured in a recital we gave at the Everson Museum on Wednesday, January 18, 2017. We are grateful to Civic Morning Musicals for the opportunity to perform great music and gain invaluable experience. Taking serious music lessons helps one develop career goals as well as build character.