Ruth Pheasant Piano Lessons

I share all my music directly through my blog, where each video is embedded with context and reflections. This channel is still home for the videos themselves, but for the full experience please go to my blog (link below).

I explore blues, gospel, and lyrical jazz improvisation, modal composition, and classical repertoire. Improvisation has deep roots in classical tradition — Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were all renowned improvisers — and my blues explorations are one way of keeping that creative spirit alive today.

My improvisation includes a lot of blues, and the roots go far back — from playing in a Dixieland jazz band as a teenager to years of composing with modal, pentatonic, and dominant 7th harmonies. Those early experiences influenced the language I use now decades later, and the building blocks of the blues were already in my hands. You'll sometimes hear fragments of Basin Street Blues and St Louis Blues melodies from those early days make their way into my improvs.