Monty Hines started his music education at the age of 4 when his parents sent him to a musical kindergarten. He started formal piano lessons at age 6. Monty has been teaching piano for over 32 years, instructing 40 to 50 students each week.
While in college, as a Music Performance Major, Monty studied “Piano Performance” under Sigrid Grinius, who at that time, was the pianist with the Spokane Symphony and who had studied under the brilliant Hungarian pianist and composer, Dr. Bela Nagy (pronounced "Nahj") while she attended Boston University. It is worth mentioning that, while in Hungary, Bela Nagy was a colleague of Bela Bartok and had studied under, Erno Dohnanyi, and Zoltan Kodaly at the Liszt Academy of Music.
While studying with Sigrid Grinius and also in the precious few “private master class lessons” that he had with Dr. Nagy, Monty had the great opportunity to glean and absorb the knowledge handed down by these great pianists and composers.
Monty attended Fort Wright College, which had a wonderful music department, with Juilliard and Boston trained music instructors. Under them he studied, Piano Pedagogy, Music Theory, Composition, Music History, Conducting, Classical Piano, Jazz Piano and also, Double Bass. During this time he played piano with various classical and jazz performance groups and also, played double bass in the Whitworth College Orchestra. Monty has also studied violin, and voice, among other instruments.
As a teenager, Monty played in “Rock Bands”, while also performing “Classical Music”. As an adult, he has written and performed music in a number of different styles, including Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical, Country and Folk, with other Spokane musicians.
Most importantly! Monty states, “I love teaching, playing and writing music and am very grateful for having the opportunity to share my love of music with all of the students I have had over the years!”
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