Individual study in jazz piano, improvisation, harmony, repertoire and composition, shaped around the musician you are becoming.
Private jazz piano lessons are most useful when they make the practice room feel connected to the music you want to play. You may be learning how to improvise without losing the shape of a tune. You may have a strong classical background but want a more natural relationship with harmony, rhythm and sound. You may already perform and want a more searching way to develop your own material. The work begins with those real questions.
Michael Jefry Stevens brings more than four decades of performing, composing and teaching to individual study. His approach has room for the fundamentals, but it does not stop there. Technique, theory and repertoire matter because they give the ear and imagination more to work with. The larger aim is a player who can hear clearly, make choices in the moment and develop a personal voice over time.
Learn tunes deeply enough to play the melody with character, support another musician with care, and find more than one way through the harmony. Standards, blues, original music and material you bring in can all become useful ground for study.
Develop phrases that belong to the tune, hear chord movement more clearly, work with motifs, and make rhythm a source of direction. The goal is not more notes. It is more musical decisions that hold together in real time.
Explore the material behind the music you love, then use it in your own work. This can include voicing, harmonic movement, form, melody, texture and ways of writing for solo piano or an ensemble.
Technical work is most valuable when it serves a sound you can imagine. Lessons connect physical ease, touch, range, rhythm and ear training to the actual pieces and situations you are working toward.
There is no single correct route into jazz piano. A classical pianist may need a dependable way to hear and voice chords without treating the page as a boundary. A self-taught player may need to connect a good ear to clearer harmonic understanding. A working musician may want to move beyond familiar gestures and bring more shape to a solo, accompaniment or composition.
Michael meets students at that point instead of forcing everyone through the same sequence. A lesson can begin with a tune, a recording, a passage that is not working, a new composition or a practical performance goal. From there, the work becomes specific: what to listen for, what to practise, what to simplify, what to leave alone, and what to bring back next time.
That kind of attention matters because progress in music is rarely just a matter of collecting information. The useful change is often quieter. A line starts to breathe. A chord becomes something you can hear rather than name. A practice routine becomes focused enough to sustain. You make a choice on the bandstand because you actually heard it, not because your hands reached for a familiar pattern.
Start with the sound, tune, player or musical problem that has your attention. Naming the real question keeps the lesson connected to your work rather than an abstract checklist.
Turn a broad goal into material you can practise. That may be a voicing approach, a melodic exercise, a rhythmic limitation, a few bars of transcription or a fresh way into a composition.
Bring the idea back to a tune, an ensemble situation or your own music. The test is whether it becomes useful and expressive, not whether it stays impressive in isolation.
Lessons are normally held every other week, leaving space to practise, listen and notice what changes. The next meeting builds from what happened between lessons, including the obstacles.
“Making you feel special is what Michael is all about: he really hears you, supports you musically where you’re at, and takes you to the next place.”
Amy Kohn, composer, vocalist and pianist
Lessons are available in person, on Zoom and on FaceTime. That flexibility makes it possible to work consistently whether you are nearby, travelling, studying at a distance or fitting music around a full professional life. The focus remains the same: serious musical conversation, practical material to take away, and a teacher who is listening to the direction you want to pursue.
Michael also offers clinics, masterclasses and visiting residencies for high schools, universities and other educational settings. Musicians and institutions looking for broader group work can find more about those options on the Teaching page.
Michael works with pianists at different stages, including players coming from classical piano, musicians returning after time away, and experienced improvisers who want more depth, clarity and range.
Yes. Lessons are available on Zoom and FaceTime as well as in person, so the musical work can continue wherever you are based.
Lessons can include jazz piano, improvisation, repertoire, harmony, composition, arranging, technique and listening. The starting point is the music you want to make and the next step you need to take.
Lessons are normally held every other week. That rhythm leaves room to practise, listen, absorb new material and return with questions that come from doing the work.
Tell Michael where you are in your playing and what you want to explore. A short conversation is enough to see whether private study is the right next step.