In the Spotlight

Stuart Schaffner began learning guitar and flute later in life after his wife (an accomplished amateur musician herself) passed away. He says,

“I figured out that unless I did something about it, there wasn’t gonna be any more music in the house.”

But Stuart wondered whether there was someone who could help him explore the type of music he wanted to learn, in the way he wanted to learn it.

“I started at age 68, just about at the bottom. I have a mathematics and physics background, so I’m very much into the patterns. I come in at things at a different angle. Western classical canon people say, “What do you mean? Just memorize it!” I can’t do it. So, teachers who are flexible about that, we tend to have a positive relationship both ways.”

His current teachers at Powers, Tev Stevig and Meghan Miller, help him envision what each piece of music might sound like and why it’s written the way it is.

He’s also made great use of technology. A digital keyboard, electric guitar, and closed studio headphones allow him to practice at any hour without noise complaints. A camera that zooms and pans helps his teachers see his technique more clearly, and software for score-writing, recording, and mixing has enabled him to multitrack and recognize the patterns in the music he’s learning.

“People who teach adults need to be able to teach in a different way. I was a very unusual student with unusual needs – Tev saw it right away,” he says.

For Stuart, learning music is a joy and an exploration that’s tailored just for him.