Who Is Dick Grove?
I am excited to be studying Dick Grove's "School Without Walls" program. I graduated from a leading university with a Bachelor's Degree in Music with a 3.5 average. But after getting a job in music preparation for a major motion picture company, I found my musical education to be very lacking in many areas, namely harmony and eartraining. Some of my colleagues had gone through Dick Grove's program and I was very impressed with not only their harmony and ear training chops, but also their "nuts and bolts" understanding of the various styles of music we encounter in the motion picture industry. I am seeing great results so far from my studies in the "See It - Hear It / Hear It Play It, Part 1" course, and being able to work at home at my own pace is a must with my demanding work schedule. For anyone who's completed a music degree and realizes that they don't really know what they're doing, I highly recommend Dick Grove's courses. The possibilities are endless!!
Mark Frisbie (L.A. Studio work)
Finally, after three degrees in music, including a Master's Degree, I got the education on how music works! Dick Grove's 'See It - Hear It / Hear It Play It' course is a complete study in Modern Harmony. I use it in my private studio as well as my public school curriculum. His advice is professional and a welcome substitute for the phony hype that commonly lives among modern music education. This year I have increased my confidence in my own musicianship as well as inspiring my students as well. I have no hesitation in my recommendation of the "School Without Walls" or my further study with Dick.
Tim Patrick (guitarist, educator)
Changing instructor had always felt like "changing chairs on the Titanic". When I switched to Dick Grove, everything became manageable and clear. His system works because it is organized and precise. Each month you receive a new lesson that builds upon the previous ones. It helps you to "focus" and it eliminates the "overwhelming" feeling. The lessons actually become easier over time because you are building a foundation that is secure and solid. Little "miracles" start happening, i.e. you wake up one morning and your fingers seem to have a "brain" of their own. This is what Dick refers to as the "intuitive process".
If I can be in a restaurant and the background music comes to the foreground and I can actually "see and hear" the exact setting of the music! I have studied with Dick for over 9 months. I look forward to receiving my monthly lessons like a child looks forward to opening his Christmas presents. The most important factor involved in my continuing study with Dick Grove is that I am convinced he knows the "system" of music. The most common word used by other students, and myself included, is that this man is a genius! It takes faith/trust to stay with an instructor because you have no idea if what they're teaching you will help you achieve your goals. With Dick Grove, I am achieving my goals and my practice sessions are filled with a new sense of hope and inspiration. His commitment comes from the heart, and his dedication to professional musicianship and creativity is unwavering. In short, this man is a "legend" in his own time.
Doreen Kennedy
I am a professional Bassist and Guitarist, with 30 years experience. Your course, See It - Hear It / Hear It - Play It, has not only changed my life, but changed my music as well. The goal of the course is to play the music that is in one's head, as well as train one's ear to recognize all the elements of music, no matter what style or complexity. You said it best yourself in the 2nd lesson; "It's O.K. to know what you're doing." I agree, and admire the painless way you have devised to teach music simple, step-by-step, and yet I have never learned so much so quickly.
As you know, I have ordered the first two lessons, one at a time, because frankly I was skeptical. Now, after just those two lessons and our conversations about music, I am anxious to learn more. Please send me the remainder of the lessons in See It - Hear It / Hear It Play It, Part 1, immediately!
Forest Doran (Bassist/Guitarist)
See It - Hear It / Hear It - Play It has been great! Now when I am playing jazz I have begun to really hear the inner voicings within the chord changes. Instead of playing over chord changes I am beginning to play in the changes. I am more aware of tension and resolutions in the music. I can communicate with the other players (piano, horns) in a much more professional manner. It has also helped my reading and writing. I make my living in the music industry, and this has helped beyond what I thought it would. Thanks for your help.
John Smith - guitarist
I have studied at major universities and music institutes and have never come across any education system like Dick's - bar none! If you are trying to get your musicianship to the next level or if you really do take your music seriously, you owe it to yourself to let Dick show you the way. I honestly feel that Dick is an Angel sent here to help us to bring better music into this world.
Thank you Dick!
Michael Kato - guitarist, engineer
I have found that the course in Basic Musicianship - Part 1 helped fill in the gaps in my music education. It is not a "quick-fix" gimmick, but a very extensive and thorough system. It is a fully integrated method that incorporates notation, sight-singing, Modern Harmony and transcription as well as ear-training. The best part of this program is the master teacher himself. Thanks Dick, for your inspiration.
Sunny Abarbanell - Director of Education, Fresno Piano & Organ, Fresno, CA
Dick Grove knows music and how to teach it! He transcends the barrier and frustrations of seeing or hearing music. Whether he is explaining the basics or the most complex harmonies, you will learn both to see and hear music while learning professional musicianship. Dick Grove shattered my preconceptions of keyboard lessons. He teaches the complexities of contemporary keyboard by hearing, seeing and understanding. One understands his concept of teaching one's self at the completion of each exercise -- and at the end of each exercise, you will own that aspect of the keyboard. Dick Grove has given me a process of approaching music exceeding any imaginable expectation.
Gordon Dean
After playing drums for 1 year, taking piano lessons for 7 years, and playing guitar for 7 years-I still felt that I was missing something. I had played in bands, studied classical guitar at a local college, taken private guitar lessons from over 20 people, & even won a scholarship to a guitar workshop. People were always touched by my playing & impressed with my chops, but I just wanted playing to be more natural for me. I always felt that I had to concentrate too hard while performing. I was tired of paying a teacher $15-$20 for a "lesson" & only getting some new chord shapes or some new licks out of it. That is where your course came in.
I procrastinated in ordering it because I felt that the price was rather high & I already understood music theory beyond modes & chords. I kept asking myself- "what can he show me that I have been unable to find in other books, videos, schools, or other resources?". Then I realized that most of my guitar heroes seemed to be able to play anything that they could imagine, & that most of them had studied music at schools for years. I realized that if they were willing to pay to study music even though they were at such high levels of musicianship then there must be more to musicianship than just learning rules of music theory & the techniques of playing. Even though I figured that I would probably breeze right through the first few lessons of your course, I ordered the SEE IT PT 1 complete on a credit card. Well...I didn't breeze right through any of the course! Chapter 1 took me a month to work through (& I was diligently working). I began to know what I was hearing in music, & I was able to "see it" in my mind! It was becoming second nature to me, & since it was becoming an ingrown part of me-I was able to apply it to every aspect of my musicianship. I wouldn't have believed that this ability could be taught (an issue which you address in the first chapter), but through my hard work & your guidance-I am understanding the music that I hear & write. Instead of just picking up some ideas from others, I am getting an education. The See It Course is allowing me to let the music flow from within me. Thank you for all of your work in putting this course together.
Robert Deveaux
DICK GROVE (1927-1998) had a distinguished career as a professional writer and composer in Los Angeles and as a unique innovator in the field of contemporary music education.
In 1973 he founded the world-renowned Grove School of Music in Los Angeles and guided this highly regarded institution into the top rank of leading contemporary music schools, mainly on the concepts and methods included in some 70 music education books he authored during this period.
Dick Grove was very active in the music education field, creating many of the courses for the "School Without Walls", as well as products for Grove/Rasch Music Education Systems. These products are based on his 20+ years of classroom experience in the fields of harmony & theory, keyboard, eartraining, improvisation, composition, arranging, orchestration, songwriting and contemporary musical styles.
Dick Grove passed away on Dec 26, 1998.
He will be remembered forever by all of his students and friends.
Dick Grove's Credits
The Andy Williams Show
Away We Go - Buddy Greco/Buddy Rich/George Carlin
Bill Cosby Specials
The Dean Martin Show
Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman Special
The Dionne Warwick Special
Guide to the Married Man
(Joey Bishop Special)
Hooray for Hollywood
(Don Rickles Special)
The Jack Benny Special
The Diana Ross Special
The Goldie Hawn Special
Carol Burnett Special
Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters
The John Gary Summer Show
John Gary Syndicated 90 Minute Series
The King Family Show
The Mama Cass Special
The Norman Rockwell Special
The Supremes Special
The Vic Damone Summer Special
What It's All About World (Dean Jones)
The Grammy Award Shows
The Golden Globes Shows
The Julie Andrews Show
The Milton Berle Show
The Amusement Co. - Bobby Darin
The Jim Nabors Special
The Phyllis Diller Show
Jimmy Bond "Jimmy Bond Plays James Bond"
Vic Damone "The Damone Type of Thing"
Rey DeMichels "Here's Rey"
John Gary "Holding Your Mind"
John Gary "That's The Way it Was"
John Gary "Love of a Gentle Woman"
John Gary "Carnegie Hall"
Earl Grant
Pete Jolly "Hello Jolly"
Paul Horn "Cleopatra"
Fran Jeffries "This is Fran Jeffries"
King Family "Christmas With the King Family"
Rod McKuen "Feb. 23"
Rod McKuen "Alamo Junction"
Margaret Whiting "Readers Digest Series"
Gerald Wilson Orchestra "Feelin' Kinda Blue"
Helen O'Connell "Readers Digest Series"
Readers Digest "Million Dollar Hits"
Buddy Rich "The New One"
Buddy Rich "The Best of Buddy Rich"
New American Orchestra "The Debut Album"
Rosemary Clooney
Hal Frazier "My Way"
The Hi Lo's
Rock Hudson "Rock Hudson Sings Rod McKuen"
Mavis Rivers "Mavis Meets Shorty"
Nancy Wilson
Laurendo Almeda
Dick Grove "Little Bird Suite"
Dick Grove "Big, Bad & Beautiful"
Liz Story "My Heart-Your Heart"
"Unaccoutnable Effect";Windham Hill
Liz Story "My Foolish Heart" Windham Hill
Dick Grove Trio "Live & Well"
Westlake College of Music 1958 - 61
Cerritos College - 1972
Jazz International, Europe, 1972
various clinics and guest appearance instruction
throughout the country 1970 - 73
Grove School of Music 1974 - 92
Grove Center of Contemporary Music 1992
Grammy nomination, Best Jazz Composition - "Little Bird"
Jazz educator of the Year - 1988
Guest Artist - Norwegian Radio Orchestra - 1991
ASCAP
ASTHMA
1994 Recipient of the 3M Visionary Award for Producing the Liz Story "My Foolish Heart" Album for Windham Hill Records
Steve Allen
Laurendo Almeda
Frankie Avalon
Angeline Butler
Canadian Broadcasting System
Jack Carter
George Chakaris
Robert Clary
Rosemary Clooney
Vic Damone
Jose Ferrer
Sergio Franke
Hal Frazier
John Gary
Frank GorshamRobert Goulet
Helen Grayco
Buddy Greco
Dick Haymes
Florence Henderson
Paul Horn
Jackson 5
Fran Jeffries
Dean Jones
King Cousins
King Sisters
Stan Kenton Neophonic
Marilyn King
Eartha Kitt
Sue Ann LangdonShari Lewis
Donna Loren
Barbara Luna
Roberta Lynn
Johnny Mathis
Doug McClure
Rod McKuen
New American Orchestra
Anthony Newley
Marni Nixon
Helen O'Connell
Jane Powell
Juliet Prouse
Osmond Bros.
Alvino Rey
Buddy Rich
Mavis Rivers
Shorty Rogers
Jimmy Rogers
Sandpipers
Dorothy Shay
Roberta Serwood
Liz Story
Connie Stevens
Joanie Summers
Caterina Valenti
Shani Wallace
Jimmy Webb
Nancy Wilson
Timmy Yuro
Practical Sight-reading for Beginners (Alfred Music)
Arranging Concepts (Alfred Music)
Fundamentals of Modern Harmony, Parts 1 & 2
(Alfred Music)
Modern Harmonic Relationships, Parts 1&2
Chromatic Tonal Harmony, Parts 1&2
Harmonic Styles - the Blues, Modal and Symmetric
Jazz Harmonization & Reharmonization, Parts 1&2
Applied Modal Improvisation (Alfred Music)
Jazz Open Voicings (Alfred Music)
Keyboard Shapes, Vol. 1, 2 ,3, & 4
Keyboard Settings, Parts 1 & 2
Dick Grove Fake Books, Vol. 1, 2, & 3
Secrets of Great Improvisation
The Art of Pro Arranging
The Organization of the Arranging Process
Chord Substitution
Rhythmic Theory
Block Voicing Technique Applied to the Keyboard
How to Create Introductions & Endings
Thematic Improvisation
Beginning Keyboard Sight-reading & Technique
Encyclopedia of Modern Harmony Applied to Improvisation, Parts 1, 2, & 3 (Alfred Music)
Brass Writing, Parts 1, 2, & 3
"See It - Hear It / Hear It - Play It " Musicianship Video Course, parts 1 & 2
"Jazz Keyboard 1 & 2" Video Course
Composition and Arranging Program 1-4
Free Lance Pianist - 1950 - 60
Free Lance arranger , composer, orchestrator - 1960 - 1974
Musical Director: Channel 5 TV Variety shows 1960 - 63
Musical Director: Mavis Rivers 1965 - 70
Musical Director: John Gary 1968 - 71
Dick Grove Big Band: Leader, writer, conductor - 1960 - 1972
Producer: Liz Story, "My Foolish Heart" Windham Hill Records