Remember when listening to an album cover to cover was the highlight of your day?

There was a time when music was the main event. You'd sit with a record or a CD and do nothing else. You'd play the same song eleven times in a row trying to figure out why it kept getting better each time.

Most of us stopped listening that way somewhere along the line. Music became something in the background: still loved, but secondary to the commute, the workout, the chores.

Savor Sound is eight weeks of learning to hear what's actually happening in music as it happens, instead of taking it in as one surface of sound.

Hear the problem for yourself

Play this before you read any further. It's 30 seconds, and it will tell you more than the rest of this page.

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In most songs you love, there's a bass line doing something specific: setting a rhythmic groove, or outlining chords. Pulled out on its own, it's obvious. Put back into the full mix, most people lose it completely. It's still there. But with vocals, drums, and other instruments all playing at once, it's no wonder it gets buried.

If you're not hearing each part and how they interact, you're not hearing the music fully. Over eight weeks, you'll learn to hear the parts without isolating them first.

If you couldn't quite follow it even in the clip above, that's not a bad sign. Nearly everyone begins there.

This skill is learnable. Most people have just never been taught, because music instruction usually starts with playing and treats listening as the thing you already know how to do. So here you won't play an instrument and you won't read music. Eight weeks of guided listening, weekly sessions with a small group, and four one-on-one sessions with me.

What changes

Songs you've loved for years start showing you parts you never noticed. You'll learn to hear things that were there the whole time.

Beyond that:

• You can follow one instrument through a song instead of hearing everything as a blur

• You start to enjoy music that didn't sound good to you before

• You start to hear how a song is put together, recognizing patterns that all songs share

• You can say what you're hearing out loud, in your own words, and be right

Everyone has detailed reactions to music but few have a way to describe them, which makes the whole experience feel vaguer than it actually is. You don't need theory vocabulary for this. "Thick," "bloopy," and "sounds like spiders" are all real answers. There's no wrong way to describe what you're hearing, as long as you're actually hearing it.

These skills work on the music you already listen to, and they keep growing after the eight weeks are over. They're also the foundation for playing music by ear. That's a longer road than eight weeks, but this is where it starts.

Who this is for

You've wanted more from music for a long time. Maybe you played an instrument years ago, or enjoy singing in the car, or you've just always felt like there was something in there you weren't quite getting. Somewhere along the way you half-decided you're not a music person: that some people have the ear and you don't.

I don't think that's how it works. I think it's a skill nobody taught you.

If you're carrying that around, this is for you. No background required, and no confidence required either.

This isn't the right fit if you are expecting instrument lessons or a music theory class, or if you're looking for something you can work through alone on your own schedule. There are videos to watch on your own time, but the heart of this is the live sessions: a small group, meeting weekly, with real attention on your listening.

Why I'm doing this

I teach music for a living, and after working with hundreds of students at the piano, I keep finding the same pattern. The thing holding students back usually isn't note reading, natural talent, or effort. It's that they can't hear what they're trying to do yet. That's true for kids, adults, and even college music majors.

In my own life, I've struggled with recognizing my emotions. Music has been a more accessible way for me to feel deeply than words have ever been. What I teach here is the set of skills that opened that door for me. I’d like to help you develop the ability to experience sound and emotions more deeply.

How it works

Before we start: You'll fill out a Listening Profile. Part of it is about you: what you listen to, how you listen, what you're hoping for, and three songs that mean something to you. Part of it is listening, where I play you some things and ask what you hear. You'll get back a description of what you're already hearing and how I recommend you focus your efforts first.

Your listening kit, in the mail: A listening journal, my original listening exercises on CD, a portable CD player, and studio-quality headphones. If you can press play on a CD player, you can do the work. The listening happens away from a screen on purpose. It's hard to listen closely with full attention with a phone in reach.

Weekly group sessions: Thursdays, 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern, January 28 through March 23, over Google Meet. Guided listening, discussion, and exercises together. In the first week, we’ll kick off with a listening party where we’ll get to know each other and listen to some fun music together.

Four one-on-one sessions: 45 minutes each, spread across the program on Tuesday evenings. We go through your profile, work on wherever you're stuck, and apply everything to music you care about.

Video lessons: Short pre-recorded lessons you watch on your own time, so our live sessions can be spent listening and discussing rather than me talking at you.

At the end: We’ll run the same listening questions from your profile one more time, and I'll show you how much you improved.

Enrollment

$1,100, which covers all eight group sessions, the four one-on-ones, the video lessons, and your listening kit.

Six people, maximum. That's how many one-on-one sessions I can run well alongside my piano teaching schedule. This is the second time I'm running the program, and I'd rather keep it small enough that I know what everyone in the room is working on.

Enrollment closes January 12, 2026. I need the time to get your kit in the mail so we can all start together.

Interested?

Send me a note and I'll get back to you. If it seems like a fit, we'll set up a short call. You'll get a first taste of what we do, and I want to hear what you're hoping for before you commit to anything. Looking forward to talking!