Welcome to michaelpollock.com! Here you can find out about Michael’s recent activities, books and CDs, musical improv workshops and classes. To inquire about his availability as a guest teacher for your group or event, please write via the contact page on this site. Thanks for visiting.
Opening Night: The Improvised Musical
Every Friday night I accompany a spontaneously-created, Broadway-style musical at IO West. All of us that do this weekly have worked together for a long time; we’re quite at ease and attuned to each other. Although there is always some adrenalin connected with doing a performance, in some way I’m never more relaxed than when I’m playing this show. It’s just a fun game to enjoy with my friends, who play it as well as anyone in the world.
Photo by Katie Harker
Opening Night: The Improvised Musical has been playing on Friday nights at 9 pm for 12 years – our 600th performance took place on December 3, 2010. It was a gala evening, preceded by special publicity and featuring complimentary catering for the whole audience. Charna Halpern, owner of IO West, went all out to honor this milestone. Continue reading
Debbie Gruber Interviews Michael Pollock
Debbie Gruber is an innovative piano instructor in the Boston area. I recommend checking out her web site: www.easypianostyles.com. She invited me to be interviewed for her podcast series and we had an enjoyable phone conversation. Click here to listen!
A Disneyland Cast Member’s Dream Comes True
When I was 12 I began to acquire workbooks and tapes that promised to teach me Spanish “in no time.” I took these exaggerated claims seriously for the next 2 decades. Every once in awhile I would tackle the subject anew, only to give up when the material inevitably became overwhelming.
Years later I saw that many of my co-workers at Disneyland had foreign-language designations on their nametags. Some even had more than one. I was inspired one last time (or bust!) to try learning Spanish. I got myself a shiny, new course from the internet and dug in.
I made more progress than ever before with Marcus Santamaria’s “Synergy Spanish,” and began to experiment with live conversation. When I heard someone speaking Spanish or saw that they had a badge, I’d say “Hola.” Co-workers were eager to help – this marked the beginning of many new friendships that I continue to enjoy.