2008 Augusta Instructor Bio


Week 2
Blues Week
Beginning Blues Piano
Judy LaPrade

 
"I grew up playing piano, the standard classical lessons kids get. I played piano for church starting about age ten. ... Then, in 1985, a friend told me about a blues week camp that taught piano and since I loved listening to blues, I thought I’d give it a whirl. It was very scary to play a form without written music but I kept coming back to camp every year. I had fallen in love with the blues, both for my own playing and playing with other other people.

"My first blues piano teacher was Maureen DelGrosso. She really understood the transition I was making from the chains of classical training, and she turned me on to some greats, like Otis Spann. He’s something else. I later studied with Ann Rabson, Daryl Davis, and Erwin Helfer. I listen to many people, originators like Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller, as well as more comtemporary folks like Memphis Slim and Ray Charles.

"The people who love blues are passionate and growing in numbers, as are the people who are learning it and will carry the torch forward. ...  First-rate camps have a tremendous impact. Every single person that comes is another seed to go out and spread the power of the blues."