Jazz Musician-Teacher Reaches A Global Audience from North Kingstown [video]

Conventional wisdom holds that making a living in the arts represents one of the riskiest career paths around. Composing a successful musical career in a small place like North Kingstown? Infinitesimal odds.

Yet Willie Myette – alumnus of North Kingstown High School, former student of local music legend Joe Pelosi, graduate of the Berklee College of Music, composer, author, jazz performer and married father of three – has carved out a thriving livelihood as a musician, teacher and entrepreneur in our town.

The key is Piano with Willie, the website where Myette teaches folks how to play the piano over the Internet.

The concept often inspires a double-take, but as Myette’s YouTube videos show, well-designed video lessons demonstrated on a computer screen can be as effective as in-person tutorials for students who really want to learn – and to practice.

“There is no magic pill,” Myette observes.

Myette’s videos use an overhead camera to show his hands on the piano as he plays and speaks, plus an accompanying keyboard with keys that light up as they are pressed. Lessons include downloadable sheet music.

But others offer music instruction online, too. Myette, who uses a relaxed yet focused approach, says his value stems from including music theory and analysis as well as simply demonstrating the steps. “I shy away from 'Learn to play in 30 minutes,’” he explains “I’m blessed that we have a group of students that want to work at it.”

And after more than 20 years of teaching, “I have methods that work really well.”

Many of his students agree. His site is studded with testimonials such as this one, from former NFL player turned sports broadcaster Beasley Reece “I would like to thank Willie for unlocking the mysteries that have held my piano advancement in a stagnant place for many years. Willie's teaching method and the interactive website made the difference for me.”

While his site offers teaching for all ages and levels, Myette says that Reece represents a typical online student: someone over 40 who already knows the basics of playing, but who wants to develop further.

Potential students who register on the site can access several dozen free lessons. For more detailed instruction, they can take purchase DVDs or take out memberships that provide access to piano lessons in blues, funk, jazz gospel, Latin and rock music.

The membership model, which has attracted hundreds from around the world, supplies a steady income stream for the family-run business, which includes Myette’s wife, Valerie Remillard Myette, and a full-time production assistant.

Myette, born in 1972, began performing locally while still in his teens. After graduating from Berklee – he commuted from home to save money – he performed with jazz trio Katahdin’s Edge. The group earned good reviews and released two DVDs, but Myette says he quickly learned the financial downside of working as a professional musician. “It’s great to do music because you love music,” he says, “but society does not appreciate it.”  

Already an experienced teacher, in the 1990s he began writing jazz lessons and music for children and using the Internet to sell them. “I started using a computer when I was 14,” he recalls, “When HTML came out, I taught myself to program.”

Now Myette, who grew up in Saunderstown, combines his musical and computer expertise from his Quidnessett home, which includes a professional studio. He works at his music every day, yet he’s available when his youngest children get home from school.

He says he’s traveled a lot and and never seen a better place to live than North Kingstown. And with his current gig, “I like the freedom of not being tied down,” he says.