Has anyone popped for this Cory Henry tutorial?

[MathOfInsects]

At $150, I can’t see myself on this train. But I’m also curious what he shares. If it’s good, it would be great. Has anyone popped for this? The promo is a lot of fluff. At that price I’d hope the course itself is more content heavy.

 

Anyone done this one?

 

https://piano.yousicplay.com/cory-henry

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

Not sure about this tutorial, but I'd pay 3x that price to get a tutorial on this, if nothing else to get his description of his expression pedal.   Maybe it's just me.

 

 

[nursers]

1 hour ago, MathOfInsects said:

At $150, I can’t see myself on this train. But I’n also curious what he shares. Has anyone popped for this? The promo is a lot of fluff. At that price I’d hope the course itself is more content heavy.

 

Anyone done this one?

 

https://piano.yousicplay.com/cory-henry

 

 

I too would love to hear from people that have done it - have been considering it seriously but as you said, it's not heavy on detail....

[Docbop]

I haven't done the Cory Henry occasionally one of the videos pops up online.  I did pop for the Jesus Molina from the same people and I think they are similar a lot of short videos on topics like a clinic.   You have think about where these guys came from any that playing in the church where ears are everything add in a lot of transcription by ear, it's the old school way of learning.   I am a Patreon of Nick Semrad Cory Henry's co keyboard player in his band and other group like Knower.   Nick you can tell learning in a similar way always talking about playing church music and approaches he's  learned from that that is his base.   But when Nick gets going in one of his talk or Q&A I get blown away by the depth of his knowledge of all styles Church, R&B, HipHop, Rock, and Jazz.   He talks about his concepts in hearing and thinking about harmony that sounds similar to the old Jazz sax player I got to hang around for a few years.   Nothing is written out it's also talk, play, and hear them explain how they view things, it's for your Classical or even Jazz school pedagogy.   It really does make you go away from a video or Q&A with a lot to think about and ideas to try out.   It's how the Jazz master learned.

 

So if you're looking for a codified approach you're not going to find it.    I will say I don't think $150 is much to get a change to hear a great musician talk about how they hear music and watch/hear them play.   A 45 minute to hour private lesson with a name player will cost you a $100 or more these days. 

 

If you want more printed materials and organized teaching check out Open Studio  Adam and Peter have really put together a great site with live lessons as well as prerecorded with handouts. 

 

https://www.openstudiojazz.com/

 

 

[MAJUSCULE]

I’ve gotten lots of ads for it, I can tell ya that.

 

As cool as it could be, I’m more inclined to just pay for an online lesson with someone directly, even if it’s a group lesson. There are plenty of cool people who are eons ahead of where I am to learn from. I suppose if you really dig Cory (or Jesús, or Herbie), you might be inclined to do so, but I don’t know if I would. But hey, it’s only money, so smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

[ProfD]

It's another source of income for Cory Henry and more money to be made by the folks producing it.

 

There's no shortage of folks who would love insight into how [insert musician here] approaches the music they play.

 

The reality is that musicians cannot buy the gift.  No amount of money can be spent to unlock the way Cory Henry or any high level musician thinks. 

4 hours ago, MAJUSCULE said:

But hey, it’s only money, so smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

That $150 is just an alternative form of watching a Cory Henry performance.😁😎

[Reezekeys]

What ProfD said. I've seen the FB ads for this and have to say that I'm turned off by the catchphrase "learn the secrets of how xxxx plays... etc." Not entirely sure that applies here but it's what I remember seeing as I scrolled by.

 

I can try to look inward and figure out what if any "secrets" I could impart to explain the choices I make when I play, and for the most part, I cannot. In all likelyhood, any "secrets" I have are shortcuts to help make up for my deficiencies - not exactly somebody with a conscience or sense of pride might ask money for! 🙂 

[Dave Bryce]

3 hours ago, ProfD said:

IThe reality is that musicians cannot buy the gift.  No amount of money can be spent to unlock the way Cory Henry or any high level musician thinks. 

 

dB

[linwood]

I haven’t done Cory’s yet, but I should. I do have an Open Studio subscription though. I love it. Tons of solid info there and it presented in a clear and understandable way. It’s great for any level of player and you can move at your own pace. I go through spurts where I might hit it every day for a week or two and then I might not do I for a couple weeks. It depends on what’s going on at the moment. Bottom line though…totally worth it at their price and at any skill set. Peter and Adam make it fun, too. You can see their excitement when they’re doing something like showing you a Herbie or Chick transcription and analyzing it for you. They’re so into it and it kind of rubs off on you. It’s a good hang.

[uhoh7]

Cory Henry's skills are founded on his COGIC experience. You guys have probably seen videos of him at like 6, on a Hammond in Church. These two videos give a great sense of the COGIC esthetic on the Hammond by the Detroit raised, Eddie Brown, at a very reasonable price. I bought both about 5 years ago, and still love to watch them.

 

https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/eddie-brown-gospel-organ-lesson-1/

 

Basically Cory is Cogic plus Berklee. The all day services, demands on multi-key improvisation, choir leading, knowing a ton of songs, with a regular audience who care about them....this is the background of great musicians going back 400 years. Beethoven came up this way. 

 

 

A taste of the videos above:

 

Eddie went to an arts high school and got a serious music education, and he plays alot of instruments. I'm not sure what he's up to right now. 

 

These guys hear all the chords and beats and their fingers know all the keys....like Tatum in a different time.

[GovernorSilver]

First lesson in Cory's  course is his arrangement of "Creepin'" by Stevie Wonder.  He is aware he has long-ass fingers compared to other humans, so he also presents an alternative arrangement.   Excerpts from this lesson:

 

2nd lesson is the thirds exercise

 

 

I have not gotten further yet, but I can already see the course is not designed to progress the viewer from one level to the next in keyboard skills.  The lessons do not appear to be arranged in progressive difficulty level.  It just goes from one topic to the other.

 

Someone looking to develop their chordal vocabulary beyond plain major and minor triads could probably find that info elsewhere.  Same for those looking to level up soloing chops.

 

But if you have the disposable income and are willing to pay up to see Cory Henry show you how and way Cory Henry plays certain things, instead of some Joe Rando on Youtube who thinks he gets Cory Henry, it might be worth the cost.

[jazzpiano88]

8 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

 

dB

 

You guys are right.   You either have it or you don't.   Getting insights from a master is really just a cheap pointless exercise in "unlocking" what's in their mind.

 

Really no one self-respecting music pro ever legitimately learned anything from a great teacher by paying actual money to "unlock secrets".   And even if they did, it would be kind of dirty and disrespectful, as they got it through "getting insight into what was in their mind" rather than the correct way.  

 

Only when we eliminate musical education and the direct transfer of knowledge directly from the brains of better musicians can we truly allow pure music to be created.

 

We need to eliminate all of this bullshit crap like "I studied piano with Lennie Tristiano",  like that's a good thing that you have some of Lennie's ideas spewing forth from your fingers.  Like he was actually able to tell you what was in his mind and have it meaningfully come out of your playing!   Give me a break!

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, JazzPiano88 said:

We need to eliminate all of this bullshit crap like "I studied piano with Lennie Tristiano",  like that's a good thing that you have some of Lennie's ideas spewing forth from your fingers.  Like he was actually able to tell you what was in his mind and have it meaningfully come out of your playing!   Give me a break!

 

In fairness, I see a lot of musicians' web sites, and they very often list their experience and education. It's the nature of the business - they need gigs! They're selling themselves. If they list a particular teacher who has an actual presense in the industry, I don't necessarily take that as them claiming to embody any aspects of their teacher's style, although I suppose you never know. It would probably be obvious by listening to them.

 

Has anyone ever hired a musician based in any part on who they studied with? That would be funny.

[niacin]

i was on a gospel fix early this year and tried a few of the online options. there’s nothing in Cory’s course you won’t get from transcribing his recordings yourself and your ear will be the better for it. My only real takeaway from those i watched was Eddie Brown’s message that in gospel playing when you’re improvising the audience should be able to hear the melody in your playing, blowing changes isn’t where it’s at. While I enjoyed Eddie’s videos i think it’s more a matter of finding stuff that grabs you and transcribing it yourself to see what makes it tick.

[jazzpiano88]

9 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

 

In fairness, I see a lot of musicians' web sites, and they very often list their experience and education. It's the nature of the business - they need gigs! They're selling themselves. If they list a particular teacher who has an actual presense in the industry, I don't necessarily take that as them claiming to embody any aspects of their teacher's style, although I suppose you never know. It would probably be obvious by listening to them.

 

Has anyone ever hired a musician based in any part on who they studied with? That would be funny.

It was sarcasm (poor attempt).   I think it’s perfectly valid to spend money on music education in any form even it it uses advertising like “unlock the secrets”.    Especially if the master class tutorial or lessons or whatever is from someone you dig.   

[Reezekeys]

I guess my sarcasm detector wasn't tuned high enough!

 

I do think the whole "unlocking secrets" hype is designed more to build a player's hope that they can sound like the person doing the teaching - in part due to the phenomenon of youtube shredders and the general climate of acquiring "shortcuts" to get there (witness the FB ads for "midi packs" of pre-rolled chord progressions with the tagline "you don't need to know anything about music theory").

 

Pretty sad if you ask me. This has nothing to do with what Cory Henry or anyone else is actually saying or doing in their videos - I'm sure there's valuable stuff there. It's just the way it's sold. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he wasn't down with how he's being marketed - or maybe he doesn't even know?

[ProfD]

I do not begrudge music education.  I think it's an awesome way for musicians to gain additional income too.

 

As @Reezekeys mentioned above, it's the gimmicky side of selling music education that I take exception.

 

Reminds me of infomercials selling diet pills and weight loss programs. 😁

 

There is a secret to losing weight and getting ripped.  It ain't on TV. 🤣😎

[jerrythek]

44 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

I wouldn't be surprised to find out he wasn't down with how he's being marketed - or maybe he doesn't even know?

I bet they told him this is how to maximize your return - trust us, we know how to do this.

[MathOfInsects]

Well this much is for sure: there are no cans on Keyboard Corner that do not contain worms.

[GovernorSilver]

I got it when it was on sale for $99. 

 

Maybe it'll go on sale again?

[MathOfInsects]

Those teaser vids confirm my general sense about things like this, which is that they are basically Bowfinger. The artist phones something in and the marketing team cuts it into a 6-hour miniseries "starring" the artist.

The last and maybe only time I've ever popped for something like this was the Dr. John New Orleans Piano VHS, long enough ago for each of those words still to mean something. Which is VERY LONG AGO. 

[GovernorSilver]

You're not going to thank me for helping you save money?  

 

I did expend some effort to post those vid clips for you.

[jazzpiano88]

5 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Well this much is for sure: there are no cans on Keyboard Corner that do not contain worms.

 

But of course!   Magazines know how to sell magazines.

 

[GovernorSilver]

Wow ok then @MathOfInsects

[MathOfInsects]

5 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

You're not going to thank me for helping you save money?  

 

I did expend some effort to post those vid clips for you.

Thanks for posting! I said in my OP I wasn't going to buy it, but was curious what the content was. You definitely helped answer the second part--greatly appreciated. My own money was always safely unspent on this, not least of which because of how none of it I have. 

1 minute ago, GovernorSilver said:

Wow ok then @MathOfInsects

???

[MathOfInsects]

9 minutes ago, JazzPiano88 said:

 

But of course!   Magazines know how to sell magazines.

 

I know it's the "wrong half of the sentence," which is what I always tell my kids when I'm like, "You didn't do the dishes," and they're like, "THEY ARE UGLY DISHES ANYWAY," but...

My guess at what heaven is, is we just get to sit around and listen to Bjork talk all day. 

[Al Quinn]

I’ve noticed that there are two types of music education which are very different (i.e., these thoughts are for students who already know how to play their instrument and aspire to be an artist):

1) the teacher shows the student how to play like them (or some other great player). I have friends who tell me about their lessons with top notch musicians where the teacher shows them licks. It makes me cringe. I don’t see how that has much to do with art. I think this type of education is mostly a waste of money unless, of course, the student actually wants to sound like the teacher.
2) the teacher shares concepts that the student can work on. The concepts are shared so that the student can get in touch with who they are and what they have to say. The student is encouraged to explore and find they’re own voice while trying different concepts The teacher can also share productive ways to practice various concepts. The goal is to advance the student along their path, not the teachers path. I think this type of music education can be very helpful.

 

A few years ago I took Chick’s online class. It was strictly the second option. He wouldn’t even answer a question about what scale to play over a particular chord. I remember him answering “only you know which notes sound good to you.” Without telling anyone what notes to play he demonstrated his process for finding notes that appeal to him.

 

I hope Cory’s class is option 2. He’s such an amazing player! Hopefully, he can articulate how he got there.

[Outkaster]

Every time i have bought anything or any music tutorial I was always in for disappointment.

[jazzpiano88]

31 minutes ago, Outkaster said:

Every time i have bought anything or any music tutorial I was always in for disappointment.

 

This one was money.   It's an insight into the whole Yellowjackets sound and a lot of Russell's compositions.  He also has a class on voice leading which is incredible.  Well worth the money.

 

 

[Reezekeys]

I studied with John Mehegan when I was a teen. He showed me the basics - chords and modes, using roman numerals to show the harmonic relationships between them. Nothing about styles of playing. He was more of a swing player and I was smitten with McCoy then, so the idea of him showing me his approach to piano playing never entered my mind. I had no interest in learning anything resembling a "lick" and we never once worked on my soloing (I had just gotten into jazz the previous year; he knew I needed to build the foundation before I framed the house!). I actually wound up playing gigs with him on bass and drums (how he put up with that I'll never know!) but my main education was doing gigs with players that were better than I was. John was a hoot, very smart and opinionated (but he never had any bad words for the more modern stylists like Chick or McCoy). Looking back, getting his insights into how jazz musicians think was as instructional as learning what a dorian mode was. I also got to hang at Leonard Bernstein's house for a party honoring the Berrigan Brothers, pretty heady stuff for a 17-year old!

 

I wonder how he would adapt to today's youtube world - could this be a clue? Sign me up! 🙂