James Sinigalliano

James Sinigalliano is a session musician/music teacher/producer/musicologist from NYC, now based in LA. He grew up in the classical piano competition sphere in NYC, winning numerous international piano competitions and performing at Carnegie Hall over 15 times. After studying for many years with Dr. Ana Maria Bottazzi, he became interested in many different music styles when he began playing in rock/blues/rnb/pop bands at age 15.

He then began studying pop and jazz music at USC with Dr. Patrice Rushen. Throughout that time he began teaching classical piano, pop keyboard, drums/percussion, production, DJ, songwriting and composition lessons. With all of his students he tries to give them foundational knowledge of theory and classical music such as using a method book while supplementing it with learning pop music, improvisation and ear training. He thinks it keeps students a lot more engaged in music while also providing them with a different set of what he believes to be necessary skills.

He is such a huge fan of so many styles of music and he loves exposing students to it! It’s wonderful to see students playing a Chopin nocturne alongside the Beatles, but also gives them foundational theory knowledge in a fun way. This approach is also great for retaining students’ focus and engagement in lessons. He knows a number of students that drop music education because of the slog of repertoire that they may not be interested in. While he is very passionate about getting students interested in classical music, supplementing it with pop music and other styles of music learning (such as chord numbers and improvisation) can be extremely beneficial to student enjoyment and retention of lessons.