Piano Teacher

Didi Mudigdo

Four-Finger Jazz Piano

Lush chords are one of the characteristics that typify jazz standards. Did you know that with only four notes/fingers per chord, you can play a simplified yet functional version of these lush chords? The question is of course: which four notes, and which four fingers? This course will show you how. It is recommended for jazz singers or horn players who want a taste of rudimentary jazz piano. With this basic skill, you can play jazz piano accompaniment while you sing, make simple backing tracks to practice with, or simply gain confidence to learn more jazz piano

Didi Mudigdo

THE SHORT VERSION

I am a jazz piano accompanist and vocalist based in Perth Australia with over 25 years of performance experience.

* Graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium

* Participated in vocal workshops by Betty Carter, Mark Murphy & Kurt Elling

* Accompanied for Sydney Conservatorium jazz vocal classes 1997 – 2005

* Performed as piano-vocalist in jazz festivals & venues in Australia, Japan, China & Southeast Asia 2000 – 2011

* Piano-accompanist for Bobby Taylor (USA), Gregg Arthur (Australia), Juliet Pang (Singapore), Jasmine Chen (China), Sherly O (Indonesia)

THE LONG VERSION

Early Years

My parents parents arrived in Australia from Indonesia in the early 1960’s as part of the Colombo Plan scholarship programme. Born in Melbourne to a musical family, my father taught me three-chord ukulele songs when I was seven. I had a wandering childhood, living in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia before the age of 12. After starting my first ‘jazz band’ in Jakarta, I eventually made my way to back to Australia.

Sydney Start

Soon after graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium, I was a jazz piano accompanist at the Sydney Four Seasons from 2000 to 2005. In this post, I played with and learned from Sydney’s top bassplayers and music educators Craig Scott (ex. Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, Nat Adderly) and Gary Holgate (ex. Randy Brecker, Mark Murphy, Annie Ross), accompanying the likes of Gregg Arthur and Katrina Rettalick. In the education field, I accompanied teachers and students of workshops and masterclasses held at the Sydney Conservatorium by leading jazz vocal educators Pamela Knowles, Joy Yates, and Nicky Crayson.

Working primarily as a singer accompanist, I eventually developed an interest in singing myself, and studied jazz vocals under Kerrie Biddell. I also took part in workshops and masterclasses by US jazz vocalists Betty Carter, Mark Murphy, and Kurt Elling.

Adventures in Asia

In 2005, I left Australia for China as part of Nikki Doll and The Voodoo Blue for a 6-month engagement in Shanghai and Beijing. Nikki and the rest of The Voodoo Blue returned to Sydney after this engagement, but I stayed on and continued over a decade of touring the Asia-Pacific region as a piano-vocalist. A highlight of my Asian travels was performing at the 2007 Sapporo Jazz Festival in Japan with Dave Goodman (drums) and Kyo Kitagaki (bass). While abroad, I continued to put my jazz piano accompaniment skills to good use, backing ex. Motown singer Bobby Taylor in Beijing, Shanghai jazz singer Jasmine Chen and Indonesian jazz singer Sherly O.

Perth via Sydney and Asia

Returning to Sydney in 2009, I met the wonderful Singaporean jazz singer-songwriter Juliet Pang at a jazz open mic. We formed the popular ukulele duo Polkadot + Moonbeam and piano duo Mint Street, and were based from 2011 in Singapore, from which we toured Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Juliet and I married in Singapore in 2013, and in 2016 settled in Perth Australia as music educators, sharing our extensive music performance experience.

Qualifications -

• Ass. Dip. Jazz Studies (Sydney Conservatorium of Music)

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