Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Succeed at Piano with Innovative Class at PCC

Photos and story by James Hill

SYLVANIA CAMPUS – Do you get nervous trying to learn how to play the piano? Relax, because there’s a no-stress way to learn and Portland Community College has the classes to get students on the right track to piano proficiency. Featuring 18-year professional musician, composer and educator Donn Rochlin, the non-credit class "Instant Piano For Hopelessly Busy People"will go from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 16 in room 112 of the AM Building on the Sylvania Campus, located at 12000 S.W. 49th Ave.Rochlin, a professional musician, composer, and educator for more than 18 years, will demonstrate how to get more out of sheet music by reading less of it. He promises that each student who completes the workshop will be able to play any tune with both hands the very first week. Students will be able to take home lots of information that they can use immediately without a big investment of time and money.An additional class, "How to Play Music by Ear,"is scheduled from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the same location, on the same day. This class is for any instrumentalist with basic knowledge of chords. It is a great asset for any novice or experienced musician.Rochlin is a classically trained French horn player and self-taught pianist from Ashland. He is originally from Los Angeles, Calif., where he worked in the sales and marketing industry before moving to Arizona eight years ago. There, Rochlin enrolled in a speed-learning seminar that promised to teach him to play 36 chords in three hours and was instantly hooked. From there he developed his own instruction program, including a workbook and cassette tape that allow students to work on their own. The cost of each PCC class is $60 and pre-registration is required. For more information, contact Community Education at 503-731-6620.