Please Note: For Cory & Marilyn’s bios, please scroll to the bottom of the page.
LEARN PIANO ONLINE AT YOUR OWN PACE: Now entering its sixth year and with over 2600 videos, WRP has new content and a new piano blog article uploaded each week. Select from the affordable membership plans! Check out our glowing Testimonials! View the comprehensive Index page to see all that is offered on WRP. This page is visible to the general public so they can see how awesome the site and its contents are! See the bullet list and sample videos below for all you get when you become a member of WRP. Weekly 45 and 60-minute piano students of Cory receive a FREE membership to WRP!
The Well-Rounded Pianist (WRP) offers piano students and teachers of all levels a plethora of resources and educational tools. It is operated by Cory and Marilyn Hall, who are both piano teachers. This page presents an introductory video, a bullet-point list all the features included in your WRP membership, 12 selected sample videos, and Cory & Marilyn’s bios. We invite you to become a member of WRP today and build a solid foundation in piano and musicianship! The following video provides an introduction to WRP:
What you get when you become a member of WRP
- Personalized assessment and recommended practice plan. New gym memberships often include an initial consultation and assessment by a professional fitness trainer. WRP is no different. All new WRP members get a FREE personalized assessment and recommended practice plan based on the students’ level, current abilities, and particular goals. To learn more about this exciting option, please inquire to “Dr. Cory” via email (cory@bachscholar.com)!
- Over 2600 high definition videos. 24/7 access to a current total of over 2300 videos not publicly available on YouTube.
- New content uploaded weekly. New content uploaded weekly (most weeks out of the year), which is listed in the weekly newsletter (see next bullet point).
- Weekly email newsletter. Each week (most weeks out of the year), members receive an email with new content uploaded as well as relevant news and announcements.
- Weekly blog. Cory posts weekly insights and articles on new content uploaded in the WRP Blog.
- Efficient system of organization. WRP uses an efficient system of organization (based on folders and sub-folders), which is much more efficient than endlessly searching through thousands of YouTube videos (many from unqualified teachers) and being bombarded with adds and suggested videos that divert your attention, and thus, cause you to waste valuable time.
- Real piano tutorials from an experienced piano teacher with over 35 years’ experience. WRP does not use any trendy or confusing apps or mechanical robots that teach only “notes” at the expense of more important expressive and technical issues.
- Instructional videos accompanying Dr. Hall’s bestselling book “Sight-Reading & Harmony.” The current count for videos accompanying SR&H is over 1000.
- Instructional videos demonstrating and teaching The BachScholar® Piano Method. This method is still in progress and currently being developed. Grades 1 and 2 are complete and there are currently some Grade 6 videos completed. Grades 3-6 are in progress.
- Church hymns with embedded sheet music. Instructional videos of quality church hymns through the ages, which are excellent for learning to read chords, sight-reading, and understanding music theory. All hymn videos on WRP feature sheet music embedded into the videos.
- Traditional tutorials. In-depth tutorials on selected works from the standard piano repertoire from all style periods.
- “Super Slow” tutorials. BachScholar’s incredibly popular and practical “Super Slow” tutorial series discontinued on YouTube, but now made exclusively for WRP
- Ragtime Academy. “Super Slow” videos, tutorials, and exercises in ragtime and related styles from one of the world’s leading interpreters of classic ragtime
- Music theory videos & lectures on a college-grade whiteboard. Music theory and harmony taught from an experienced composer/arranger and expert in music theory.
- Great Pianists of Yesteryear. Vintage live footage videos of the leading pianists, many of them legendary, from the earlier to mid 20th century.
- Free sheet music for members. WRP is full of links to free sheet music on music being played and discussed.
12 selected sample videos (private for WRP members, not on YouTube)
- GRADE 1: Note-reading exercise by Czerny (RH)
- GRADE 1: Note-reading exercise by Czerny (LH)
- GRADE 2: Note-reading exercise by Köhler
- D Major Scale in Double 3rds (from “The BachScholar® Piano Method” “Daily Exercises”)
- Part 1 of Chorale No. 3 from “24 Easy Four-Part Chorales” by J.S. Bach
- “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” from “The English Hymnal”
- Easy trick to learning the circle of 5ths (sharp keys)
- Music theory lecture on major and parallel minor scales
- Part 1 of the ongoing multi-video series on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”
- Part 1 of a 7-part series on Schumann’s “Träumerei”
- Scott Joplin and Louis Chauvin’s “Heliotrope Bouquet” played “Super Slow”
- Tutorial on the first piece from Aaron Copland’s “Four Piano Blues”
Bio of Cory Hall
ABOUT CORY:
Cory currently teaches classical and ragtime styles to students of all ages and levels. Cory Hall began his musical studies at the age of 6 in his hometown of Davis, California, and currently has over 35 years’ teaching experience. In addition to piano performance and teaching, Cory also composes, arranges, and publishes music. After taking piano from various teachers in the Davis/Sacramento area throughout his youth, Cory majored in piano performance at California State University, Sacramento where he studied with Gene Savage and Thomas Gentry and earned a B.M. in piano performance. Cory then studied with David Burge at the Eastman School of Music where he earned a M.M. in piano performance and literature. Cory was then invited to teach piano at the Musikschule Wilhelmshöhe, a community music school near Kassel, Germany. After three years teaching in Germany, Cory was awarded the prestigious “Graduate Honors Fellowship” from the University of Kansas where he studied piano with Richard Reber and earned a D.M.A. in piano performance and a M.M. in historical musicology. Soon thereafter, Cory moved to Florida where he served as an adjunct professor in music and humanities at St. Petersburg College for 11 years and adjunct professor of music at Eckerd College for 3 years. Cory has also served as church organist at United Methodist and Lutheran churches and currently is pianist for two weeks services at Grace Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg, FL.
Join “The Well-Rounded Pianist” today and become a better pianist!