Andy Wasserman
Pianist, Educator, Composer, Recording Artist, World Music Specialist, Producer
Pianist & teacher, Andy Wasserman draws on an astonishingly diverse range of experiences in the music industry. His original compositions, arrangements and instrumental performances on many recordings and soundtracks for TV, Radio and Film productions have appeared on the NBC, CBS and ABC networks, as well as Cable TV stations that include A & E, The Lifetime Network, The History Channel, The Travel Channel, TBS, Nickelodeon, The Turner Network, QVC and The Learning Channel.
Internationally, his work has been heard on TV, film and radio produced around the world in countries that include Japan, Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Australia, Brazil, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom and France.
Pianist
"returning the Resonance to It's source"
Andy Wasserman began playing the piano at age 3 and started formal lessons at 7 with teachers trained in the innovative Robert Pace method. He studied Jazz at the Metropolitan Music School in New York City with Anne Bacon Dodge and went on to develop a very deep 30-year relationship with his mentor, Jazz piano virtuoso Dwike Mitchell. Mitchell talks about his relationship with Andy in the "New York" chapter of the book about the Mitchell-Ruff Duo by William Zinsser entitled "Mitchell and Ruff."
Andy earned his his degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Jazz Studies and Composition primarily focusing on study with Jazz legend George Russell. While at the Conservatory, he studied the classical piano repertoire privately with Ms. Jeannette Giguere, a renowned NEC faculty member.
The World Music Experience
African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Native American, Latin & Afro-Cuban, South American
Andy specializes in both Western and non-Western music. He has been performing, recording, composing and teaching music from around the world since 1972 with his collection of over 140 traditional wind, string, and percussion instruments from West Africa, Japan and China, The Middle East, Latin America and Afro-Cuban diaspora, South American and Native American regions as well as American Jazz.
Andy has created participatory multi-cultural productions that have been presented in performance, master class, artist-in-residence and workshop venues at over 2,000 festivals, schools, colleges & universities, museums & various public & private institutions since 1979. Andy tours regularly with his original solo presentations “Making Music From Around the World”, “Instruments: Ancient to Future” & “Music: The Voice of Unity” utilizing the 140 traditional ethnic wind, string and percussion instruments in his personal collection.
Arts In Education
Concerts, Workshops, Artist Residencies, Staff Development
His extremely popular programs have been presented in thousands of schools, teaching students and faculty since 1979. Andy’s pre-K through 12th grade assembly concert performances, teacher-training seminars, hands-on workshops and artist-in-residence productions have been sponsored by leading arts agencies including Young Audiences, Festival of Music, Hospital Audiences, Culture Corner, Jumpstart, BOCES, and Morris Arts.
Professional musician, ethnomusicologist and educator Andy Wasserman introduces students to the secrets that unlock the key to the universal language of music. These connections are experienced in a highly interactive setting by demonstrating dozens of musical instruments while weaving vibrant tapestries of sound with rhythm, melody, harmony, texture and form.
Recording Artist
Jazz, World Music, Blues, New Age, Television/Radio/Web/Corporate
Andy has had 9 CDs released on different record labels as leader or co-leader. Dozens of his original compositions, arrangements, piano and multi-instrumental recordings have appeared in soundtracks for TV, radio and film on major networks and cable stations, in both American and international broadcast markets.
Andy was also an active studio musician on the New York City scene since the 1980s, appearing as an instrumentalist on numerous projects and recordings with his piano artistry and unique collection of wind, string and percussion instruments from around the world.
Holistic Music Healing
"It's the music inside us that hears the music"
Beautiful music can modify emotions, purify the soul, and bring enjoyment. But did you know that in ancient times, music was created to heal illness? This point can be traced back to the creation of the Chinese characters because the word for medicine (yao) comes from the word for music (yue).
Andy Wasserman has been researching, exploring and utilizing many therapeutic and healing modalities of music since 1974.
Composer
"Music is a gift, given to humanity to teach us to become better listeners"
Wasserman earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and Jazz Studies in 1982 from the New England Conservatory, Boston. He is a BMI artist and owns a publishing company with over 70 compositions that have been released and distributed both nationally and abroad for TV, film, radio and digital media.
Andy is currently signed as a featured songwriter and composer in the TV/Film/NewMedia division of MISSING LINK MUSIC, one of the music industry's leading publishing and copyright administration companies, covering all genres of music from R&B and rock to hip-hop, jazz and everything in between.
Music For Dancers
"The musicians are dancers and the dancers are musicians"
Creating music for people to dance to is one of the greatest joys a musician can experience.
Wasserman has spent decades composing, performing, accompanying and working as musical director for Jazz, Tap, African, Modern and Improvisational dancers.
TransMedia Sound and Music
"Music is a voice for Unity among all the people"
TransMedia Sound & Music was created by Andy Wasserman in 1991 to fulfill the need for both a production company and independent record label.
Some past clients include AT&T, Time-Life Music, Mastercard, QVC, Digital Cable Radio, Virtual Entertainment, Panasonic, IBM, Atlantic Mutual Insurance, Prentice-Hall, New York Communications, Prime Productions and The Mayo Clinic.
Interactive Portfolio
mouse-over for QUICK VIEW, click to LEARN MORE
On Sunday June 28, 2020 at 7:00pm, Andy Wasserman's production company TRANSMEDIA SOUND & MUSIC successfully launched the first broadcast of Andy's weekly Live Streaming Concert series entitled "The Listening Experience." It showcases fresh performances in real-time of his own original music: solo piano improvisations, original compositions, Jazz and Blues, performed on his beautifully restored classic 1924 Steinway Model "M" grand piano.
Interact live - in real time - using your choice of either Skype or Zoom Video Conferencing platforms. Andy creates customized sheet music, practice videos and audio tracks for songs you want to learn! Taking lessons online make study available and affordable no matter where you live around the world in this very comfortable learning environment.
Maestro George Russell life's work on Tonal Gravity changed the direction of Jazz in the 1950s. His Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization has since inspired generations of composers and improvising musicians of all styles. Andy Wasserman was personally certified by George Russell in 1982 as one of only a handful of qualified teachers of the "Concept."
Andy Wasserman solos, compositions and arrangements for piano TRANSCRIBED from recordings!
These videos allow you to enjoy note-by-note transcriptions as they scroll, synchronized to the audio tracks. Watch, follow and listen! All transcription notation and videos produced by Chris Bandy. Feel free to contact Chris Bandy if you would like to purchase a PDF sheet music copy of any of these transcriptions.
Beginning in April 2021, the live stream and archived past performance playist of "The Listening Experience" concert programs that fans watch from this website will be simultaneously broadcast on the ROKU TV platform . Viewers with ROKU TV will now have a choice to either watch here on the AndyWasserman.com live stream page as well as on a Roku streaming device.
Announcing 2 new Andy Wasserman "Couch Tour" live stream ROKU channels: one to view the Sunday weekly LIVE concert in real-time at 7:00pm ET, and a second channel to access the 24/7 video-on-demand archive of all his previous live stream
… Read MoreMarch, 2021 : Two solo piano albums released in 2020 by Andy Wasserman - " FLOWERS " and " THE SEVEN VERICAL SCALES " received ALBUM OF THE YEAR nominations in the JAZZ genre category by SOLOPIANO.COM . Both albums showcase new, inspiring, uplifting Contemporary Jazz original compositions performed on a 1924 Steinway grand piano.
SoloPiano™ is the top-rated home to over 350 Solo Piano Artists from all around the globe. Their Piano Artists include piano legend George Winston, GRAMMY Award Winning & Nominated Artists, along with Billboard Charting International artists including Canada’s Got Talent Judge Stephen Moccio.
In addition to their official Spotify playlists, SoloPiano has
… Read MoreThe January, 2021 issue of The New York City Jazz Record features a music review written by Jazz author, poet and musician John Pietaro of Andy Wasserman's PoleStar live stream solo piano concert (December 13, 2020), appearing in the NY@Night section alongside other concert reviews of Eddie Palmieri, Christian McBride and Matthew Shipp on page 5. The NYC Jazz Record is the city's only homegrown gazette devoted to the music world of Jazz.
The PoleStar concert consisted entirely of original compositions , presented with the intention to uplift and inspire the listener in relation to the themes of the light emanating
… Read MoreBeginning on August 1st, 2021 with my 60th consecutive weekly livestream concert, the "Listening Experience" Couch Tour solo piano Sunday Jazz Jam program I present for a global audience will continue to broadcast new original music throughout August, September and October 2021. Posted on Jambase as well as other concert venue hubs, the events are billed as: Andy Wasserman COUCH TOUR Livestream: Solo Piano - Sunday Jazz Jam EVENT DESCRIPTION:Tune in, join the upbeat vibes and let this LIVE Jammin' music rejuvenate you! Watch musical artist and certified Lydian Chromatic Concept teacher Andy Wasserman's Live Stream "Couch Tour"...
Announcing a new landing page for all of my most important, up-to-date and prolific online content connections at the LinkTree platform. This very cool single link concept allows anyone to access not only my official website, but also connect with the most current info on my Live Stream concerts, my YouTube Channel, my JamBase artist concert page, my Couch Tour at Bands-In-Town, my BandCamp albums, my George Russell Lydian Chromatic Concept page, my online music school, my Google pages, and social media icons for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Click this banner to view my new customized LinkTree...
I happy to announce that my LISTENING EXPERIENCE Live Stream Solo Piano weekly concerts are now proudly listed on JAMBASE, a major online music event platform and news portal of live music and festivals with a focus on Jam Bands. As a life-long, professional performing Contemporary Jazz pianist/composer who is deep into improvisation, jammin' is what my musical artistry is all about. It's what I love doing more than anything else! JamBase is deeply committed to supporting and growing the live music community of listeners. Their organization believes live music can truly change the world! They are dedicated to channeling its power into...
I am humbled and honored to share my latest album with you - my 20th album release since 1995 - entitled "Peregrination." The album title pays homage to the course of travel, that path you take on a journey, even a pilgrimage - within and without. These original compositions for solo piano are presented in the Contemporary Jazz genre, performed to accompany the listener on their inner journey, a mysterious and magnetic pilgrimage to the center of the heart. The improvisations are built on a foundation of my four decades of work as editorial assistant and certified instruction of George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of...
I've composed, arranged and performed a total of 159 new original compositions for solo piano during this last six-month period. Scroll down this blog entry to view the database of new pieces created for performance during 21 live stream concerts ("The Listening Experience"), listed by date, concert theme and composition title. Last week's detailed blog article AT THIS LINK tells the story of my 25 consecutive live stream concert events with in-depth information. These compositions are also listed on my Live Stream Page, featured in the song set list for each live stream concert in a gallery of text panels you can scroll through on the...
The live stream concert dedicated to "PoleStar" broadcast from my website on Sunday, December 13th, 2020 was the 25th consecutive solo piano concert since the inception on June 28th, 2020. Each and every Sunday I have presented "The Listening Experience" of all original music created to inspire and uplift audiences around the world. They have all been free-of-charge (donations accepted), with no log in or registration needed to view. The majority of concerts are one hour in length, consisting of 8 instrumental songs. I've composed, arranged and performed over 150 original compositions in these live streams during this six-month...
Although released as a full-length documentary film in 2017, I had not had the opportunity to see this movie until this week. Let me begin by saying that it is a very important film for everyone to enjoy and learn from, especially musicians. The focus is on Rachel Flowers. She is what a real musician looks like - in every way, shape and form. Her essence is one of purity. That's what this film means to me: music is purity. The purity of her soul made me cry tears of joy at the end of the film. She hears a sound in everything and in everyone. The title says it all. More than the familiar motto "seeing is believing," the truth is that...
A new video of me playing my original compositions of the first 3 Lydian Chromatic Concept Scales from my "Seven Vertical Scales" album is now live on YouTube on Chris Bandy's channel! It captures a split-screen where you see me performing the instrumental works from the solo piano album live on my 1924 Steinway "M" on the left, and a note-for-note transcription scrolling on the right. You can follow along by watching the music notation to get a better idea of these first three scales in the Western Order of Tonal Gravity. Notation and video produced by Chris Bandy, and original performance live stream concert produced by me for...
As we observe and celebrate on this day, Thanksgiving day 2020, it is my intention in this blog post to share with everyone a list of the qualities of giving that we can nurture moving forward, pressing onward and upward. These internal attitudes of character and behavior represent the antithesis of narcissism. Thanksgiving is a time to feel grateful and connect with gratitude, but besides the first part of the word "thanksgiving," the second part is more important, especially now with all the challenges we face as Americans and as human beings around the globe. Giving is what makes us human - whereby we feel that others are more important...
Here's a review posted on Facebook from this past weekend's Live Stream Concert Fundraiser to benefit the Sussex County Food Coop: THIS WAS TRANSFORMATIVE! An Editorial Note: Last night we hosted a lovely concert by Andy Wasserman, and I just have to say an amazing thing happened. I took an hour to just "BE" and relax and enjoy the show. Not only the music, but how the music made me feel. It was relaxing and an almost spiritual experience as I set aside an hour for myself to enjoy this. Maybe it's because it's been such a busy few months and there's been so much at stake this past year. Whatever your reason, I urge you all to take a...
UPDATE TO THIS POST: The concert was a success, raising over $800 for the Coop and viewed by over 70 people in the USA and abroad. Thanks to all who were involved and contributed! Shout out to Ruth Cruz for doing a stellar job in the marketing and publicity. Here's a link to where the video is now posted on Vimeo. Please do not use the Virtual Tip Jar to donate. Donations are no longer accepted on my Live Stream page. But you are free to watch and listen to the hour long concert anytime. Enjoy! CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO ARCHIVE OF THE LIVE STREAM CONCERT FOR THE SUSSEX COUNTY FOOD COOP Here's the original post prior to...
You can now take a whirlwind tour through a virtual art gallery showcasing my own album cover artwork. I use graphic design software to design and illustrate all the artwork creations for my music album recording releases. The video can be viewed on my Vimeo and YouTube channels, as well as within this website. The video soundtrack is of course me jamming on my "Broadway Boogie Woogie" solo piano composition, borrowed from my "Andy Wasserman Plays The Blues, Volume One" album. This stunning video was created using a beautiful Adobe AfterEffects template by Patrick Doyle, the webmaster of this website. Check out his portfolio and website at...
It is with great pleasure that I'm happy to share with my fans, YouTube viewers, live stream concert audience, my online students and all visitors to my official website that some of my original music for solo piano is now streaming on SoundCloud Pro. The SoundCloud Pro platform offers a wide range of very useful features that give the creative musical artist a platform to reach a global audience. With my new membership and uploads on SoundCloud Pro, I can upload unlimited hours of any type of audio in high-quality WAV file format. It allows me to distribute and monetize with their Repost service for no extra cost. I've got amazingly...
After extensive research and comparison shopping the major online companies that allow people to upload and download huge files, I've come to the firm conclusion that FileMail is the best for many reasons, especially because it has no limit on file size (even the most basic free version) and has a solid desktop utility for off-line uploads with speeds up to 20 times faster than other web browser transfer sites. Teaching online, creating music videos and posting WAV files requires the sharing of very large files. After many months of use, I'm sold on Filemail. To put it simply, Filemail works perfectly with all the features a musician and...
It is with great pleasure that I'm happy to share with my friends, students, fans, YouTube viewers, live stream concert audience members and all visitors to my official website that I'm currently working on the upcoming launch presenting a series of weekly podcasts on the Buzzsprout platform. The first podcast I'm going to launch will be all about the piano, the center and heart of my life's work as a full-time professional musical artist. It is entitled "Solo Piano Artistry - Andy Wasserman" and will feature Contemporary, Modern, Jazz and Blues genres of all original music, composed, arranged, performed, recorded and produced by me...
The Andy Wasserman Bandcamp page has been updated again and now lists one of my latest original solo piano concept albums of seven tracks featuring themes from a poetry book I've been working on the last few years. It was released on August 21, 2020. I’m performing live with brand new compositions on my 1924 Steinway Model "M" grand piano. This collection of newly recorded original solo piano performances features my musical reflections of poems about nature and wisdom. Feel free to read the poems that correspond to each track when you click on the "info" details link for each individual song on the Bandcamp album page. Learn more...
The Andy Wasserman Bandcamp page has been updated and now includes my latest original Blues solo piano pieces in an album of seven tracks as a follow-up to my first Blues release “Andy Wasserman Plays The Blues – Volume One.” It was released on August 21, 2020. I’m performing live with brand new compositions on my 1924 Steinway Model "M" Classic Grand. This collection of newly recorded original solo piano performances features my signature Blues and Boogie sound, presented as a living tribute to the tradition of this American musical treasure, past and present. All music composed, arranged, performed live, recorded...
The live streaming service STREAMHOSTER was suggested to me by Webmaster Extraordinaire Patrick Doyle, The Nashville Webmaster as the best option for my new regular Sunday evening live stream events. After launching this new concert series from my website, I was blown away by the quality, professionalism, and technical support offered by this top-flight service. As you can see by the archived videos playlist on this website's LiveStream page the results have been spectacular. Michael Barsoumian, the President of Streamhoster, went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me with my unique configuration that required a hardware encoder...
If George Russell were gracing us today here on Earth with his presence on June 23, 2020, we would be joining in celebration of his 97th birthday. In his honor, this blog post pays reverence to a true human being, a vertical man, an innovator, composer, band-leader, music educator and theoritician who devoted his life's work to sharing the deepest insights into what the music itself is telling us about its own self-organization and unity, entitled "George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization - the art and science of tonal gravity." First, a preface with two quotes: “Though his pieces were direct offshoots of his...
No matter which musical instrument you teach to your online music lesson students, most teachers giving online music lessons agree it can be a real challenge to find interesting and innovative ways to enhance your curriculum with the all-important subject of rhythmic training. Both you and your online music students will love meeting the challenge with the help of Groove Scribe! Rhythmic training has always been at the forefront of what I share with my music students because the synergy of listening and timing are at the core of musicality and music making. I played drums and orchestral percussion while growing up, from Elementary school,...
This is Part One of my new Blog post columns on the significance and meaningful connections between learning, understanding and engaging in music through "wisdom and intuitive intelligence. " This beautifully written article exemplifies the sage advice of Jazz legendary saxophone master Sonny Rollins, who at age 89 wrote an essay published by the New York Times in their "Why Does Art Matter?" series To begin, please click the link below this photo to read the article in its entirety. It is heart-felt, authentic, inspiring, and profound. All my students loved reading it. CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE And for those online music...
For those private music lesson teachers that are unfamiliar with what an online whiteboard is and how it can be useful to you, it is simply a blank white space with annotation tools for text, lines and shapes that allows you to write and draw your content in real-time for your students while screen sharing. After checking out the top five online whiteboards, I settled on using AWW Whiteboard and have been very happy with it. I find it useful and most helpful when I’m trying to illustrate harmonic analysis, custom charts, chord changes during the lesson. I use the Basic version, which is free and requires no registration. It...
XODO is an online teaching tool I can not do without. It comes in handy every day while I teach real-time interactive, personalized private lessons via video chat with every student, whether children, teens or adults. It is a web-based PDF reader and annotation program for free that you open as a tab in your browser to view, store and mark up any music documents you use in a lesson. Here is the default home page to get started using it: With Xodo, you can edit, annotate, sign, and share PDFs on desktop, mobile, and web. Xodo makes working with PDFs quick and easy. With its screen-sharing, you can annotate, highlight and illustrate...
Andy was honored to receive today's endorsement of his "Advanced and comprehensive online teaching by our long time member of 18 years" with a highlighted 'Featured Teacher' spot on the homepage of PianoTeachers.com PianoTeachers.com has been a virtual home to over 500 piano teachers since launching at the start of the 21st century. All its qualified piano teachers have music major degrees from colleges and universities in every state in the USA and internationally in Canada, Macedonia, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. It is a community of teachers, pianists and music educators, a site for everyone... for teachers, for parents...
Want the best of breed for super high quality audio and video quality at a price point of under $250? This hi-def video camera with built-in USB stereo microphone has all the features you'll ever need in a webcam! The Zoom Q2n-4k is advertised as a "handy" video and audio recording/playback device specifically designed with the musician in mind. But the webcam function makes it the perfect webcam for both video and audio whether you're the teacher or student for live private online lessons in real-time via video chat. It was a game-changer for me, and my students love the expanded field-of-vision view that allows them to feel like...
Of the many awesome software tools to help students connect musically with what I'm teaching during online piano lessons is the software program "Chordie App" by Makat Music. The Chordie App is truly state-of-the-art online piano lessons software because it is developed by accomplished and experienced professional musician Charles Schiermeyer for his California-based company "Makat Music," and is available for both Mac OSX and Windows (version 7 through 10). It stands out as well-designed and useful in a real-time setting for private piano lessons. It is the brainchild of an accomplished musician who understands music theory and...