Bill Leksen
Stockholm, Sweden
Accompanied by wife and swedish lapphund dog, Bill has been one of our most devoted students for many years.
With a rigorous practice schedule, consisting of 3 to 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, Bill has managed to study 66 of Willie’s lessons, ending with a thorough knowledge of what was taught.
However he started with a very creative upbringing, with a sister who became a professional ballerina, and himself learning ballroom dancing and classical piano. After studying under many German pianists and developing his own piano personality, sadly, Bill had to sell his piano and electric organ.
Life had quickly taken over, with a business in translating and work as a teacher of Russian, English, and Swedish. In order to get back his creative music life Bill re-entered the dance world, learning Latin and Swedish Folk song dancing this time. After 20 years of this new life Bill returned to piano by researching lessons online. With much trial and error and many sites he finally found PianoWithWillie on youtube.
His favorite lesson from Willie’s collection is Stella by Starlight. Bill comments “[It] has given me such vast knowledge in the field of improvisation. I have even created lengthy intros and endings of my own.”
Bill’s final thoughts and advice were about reading music. He finds this skill is very important, especially when trying to broaden your mental song list. You can play tons of songs by ear or memory, but what if you haven’t played a song in a long time, its best to have ‘notes’ to reflect back on. Bill finds this especially relative to his experience of having a 20 year gap in his playing.
