Re: [Harp-L] Michael Polesky - is giving lessons

["Michael Polesky, MPA" <m.polesky@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

I want to thank Robert McGraw and David Naiditch for their flowery 
endorsements of me.  I am in fact teaching chromatic and I am always looking 
for new students.  If you are in the Santa Monica, CA area and you want to 
learn some chromatic I would be happy to oblige.  Just bring some of your 
favorite recordings or sheet music (it doesn't "have" to be harmonica music) 
and we'll see how was is done or can be adapted to chromatic.  I would love 
to meet you and, if I am not the right guy for you I can probably find 
someone close by who is.

I also love to give lessons by e-mail.  I must admit that WVa Bob is first 
and only "e-mail" student, but I find it tremendously rewarding.  WVa Bob 
lets me rant and rave about what I think the most fascinating or salient 
points are to a given set of harmony changes.  I do work seriously on what I 
send him, but I take the time to be light-hearted as I can't expect anybody 
to read my mind or immediately grasp what took me 25 years to understand.  I 
try very hard to remember what it was like for me when I learned these 
things and I try to bring the "wonder" back to bland theory.

If you are working on some jazz tunes and you are having trouble figuring 
out what notes to play over the changes, I am happy to help out.  This is 
theoretical, so you don't have to play chromatic or even harmonica. 
Essentially, I charge $30 an e-mail (or an hour).  Sometimes it takes me a 
while to write an e-mail, but for the majority of the tunes I can do it in 
an hour or so.  In that amount of time I hope to address all the chords in 
the tune with simple, but useful solutions as to what to play.

You should have a good "stomach" for theory because, as WVa Bob points out, 
not everything is clear all at once.  On the other hand, I like to give an 
explanation you can go back to several times to pick up new ideas.  I also 
like to give more than one approach to certain chords.

I am truly enjoying teaching.  It is my chance to share with people all 
those things that helped get me started and the epiphanies that led me to 
greater understanding of harmony.  So, I hope to hear from some of you and I 
will do my best to answer your questions.  Thanks again to David N. and Bob 
McGraw!

Michael


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <french10@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "robert mcgraw" <harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "harp-l harp-l" 
<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Michael Polesky


> I second Robert Mcgraw's observations.  I've never played with a jazz 
> harmonica player whose choice of notes is as sophisticated and profound as 
> Michael's.  I've heard him play with seasoned jazz musicians, and Michael's 
> breaks are always among the best. And Michael is always eager to teach 
> others what he knows.  If you are serious about learning jazz harmonica, 
> contact Michael!
>
> David Naiditch
> www.davidnaiditch.com
> www.myspace.com/highdesertbluegrasssessions
> www.cdbaby.com/cd/naiditch2
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "robert mcgraw" <harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "harp-l harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 11:53 AM
> Subject: [Harp-L] Michael Polesky
>
> Several months ago David "Jazzman" Fairweather mentioned being helped by 
> Michael
> Polesky with "Around Midnight." this was a tune I was struggling with
> myself at the time, so I emailed jazzman and asked him for tips; he 
> suggested I email
> Michael directly. I did, and Michael graciously sent me a long response 
> with
> wonderful suggestions about how to approach improvising over the changes 
> to the tune, along with comments about the relevant theory behind his 
> suggestions.
> This was fantastic! The suggestions Michael made were just what i needed 
> to hear, and while I didn't really understand all the things he wrote 
> about theory, I
> learned a bit there, too. Since that time, i have sort of become a student 
> of Michael's via email...I send him tunes I need help with, and he sends 
> me suggestions,
> very well-written, frequently quite witty, and always helpful...also 
> included are musings on the theory behind the suggestions; at this point 
> much of the theory is
> still over my head, but I'm learning. I'm not sure if Michael is looking 
> for more work like this...and yes, I pay him...but if you are like me, a 
> beginner/intermediate
> jazz player, you might email him and ask...this has been a very productive 
> learning situation for me, that's for sure...WVa BobP.S. by the way, 
> Michael, when are
> you gonna release the CD? You are working on one I hope?