Phil Farnsworth

Jane Potter

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Ear Training
Faculty Bio E-Mail
jpotter@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-8596

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Career Highlights
  • Pianist
  • Leader, Jane Potter Trio
  • Member of the Kamal Scott Group, New York and Boston
  • Solo appearances at the Prudential Center, the Brookline Music School Gala Event, corporate functions, and on National Public Radio
  • Performances with the Aaron Copeland Symposium
  • Recordings include Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz, a poem by Langston Hughes
  • Resident pianist and music professor at Northeastern University
  • Member, board of directors, Brookline Music School
Education
  • B.M., Berklee College of Music
In Their Own Words

"In order to grow as a musician, you have to transcribe to see how it's done. It's probably the oldest tried-and-true method of advancing as a musician. It's not just singing a Marvin Gaye song; it's learning what Marvin Gaye did, copying it, and then making it your own. It's like having a private lesson with Marvin Gaye."

"A couple of days a semester, students present work that they have transcribed—things they're inspired by. It's thrilling, because I know they're into it, otherwise they wouldn't be up there talking about it. I love to see them groovin' in their chairs and not paying attention to the theory of it. [Laughs.] You kind of lose them, but it's fun."

"When I first got out of school I was a piano teacher. I taught all levels, but especially a lot of little kids, and I realized that the only way to teach a beginner is to be completely patient. I teach my Berklee classes a lot like that: you teach them where they're at, not where you think they should be. I tell my students, 'Everybody at the school is good at something, otherwise they wouldn't be here. So all you have to do, if you're feeling weak in an area, is to work on that. And everybody's got weaknesses. It's not that you're a bad musician; it's just where you are with the material.'"