Sonny comes from an extended family of musicians. His mother Gloria was a talented singer and his father Frank was a song writer and professional piano player. Sonny began playing piano at seven years old when his father started giving him lessons based on the traditional piano instruction method. After studying classical music for a couple of years, he learned the chord method of piano playing and thereafter, began developing the ability to play and enjoy pop, rock, and jazz music.
He always had a knack for improvising and through the years studied with an assortment of teachers but it wasn't until he studied with New York City Master Jazz Improvisation Teacher and Artist, Connie Crothers, a student and colleague of the late, great Jazz Pianist, Lennie Tristano, that he broke through to becoming the piano player that he is today.
His love affair with pianos dates back to the German Upright and Chickering Baby Grand Pianos that his parents owned and he played while growing up in their household. The first grand piano he himself owned was an 1892, 6'3" Chickering Grand Piano. The sublime tone and responsive action of this classic piano so impressed him that he immediately became intrigued with the world of pianos.
Over the last fifteen years, via his state of the art all video piano website www.SonnysPianoTV.com Sonny has helped facilitate the buying and selling of numerous great, well-made, American hand crafted, European & Asian pianos throughout the the USA and beyond. He prides himself on finding the right piano for each person that comes to him for assistance.
Along with being a musician, Sonny has had an extensive career in the health, fitness, wellness, sports medicine and stress-management fields. As a child Sonny suffered from a crippling case of asthma. Over a period of five years, he experienced frequent serious attacks. But at the age of 10, his mother brought him to Doctor Irma Urbano, who put him on a nightly regimen of stretching, diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation exercises. After just two months of doing this regimen he was cured. He realized the healing, therapeutic, life-renewing, energy-enhancing benefits of these kinds of methods and continued doing his routine every night thereafter. As a result of learning how to breathe diaphragmatically and to relax, Sonny went on as a teenager to become a champion baseball and track athlete. He was the Captain of the X-Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track Teams at Carey H.S. in Franklin Square, NY where he won MVP awards and still holds the half mile record. He earned a full tuition athletic track scholarship to Adelphi University where he graduated with a degree in History Education. After graduating, he studied all forms of exercise, relaxation training and stress reduction so that he could better understand and help others with these kinds of techniques. A few years later, he earned his masters degree in Exercise Physiology from Adelphi University. As a corporate stress & fitness consultant, yoga teacher, sports coach, sports medicine clinician, stress management consultant and exercise teacher, he has helped thousands of children and adults to reduce stress and anxiety, improve health, enhance classroom and sports performance and enjoy a more relaxed life and a greater sense of well being.
His piano playing and teaching methods are also based on the ability to breathe diaphragmatically, relax, get into the flow, enjoy and let go. He calls this method Sonny's Piano Yoga and he has put together a DVD Kit called Sonny's Play Piano Instantly With Little or No Sheet Music wherein people who have never played piano before can instantly start making beautiful music using this method. See it here www.SonnysPlayPianoInstantly.com
He feels that piano playing is a wonderful, therapeutic, life-enhancing, stress-reducing vehicle that everyone can enjoy.
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- B.A & M.A From Adelphi University, Garden City, NY
- Creator, Host & Producer of Sonny's PianoTV; an entertaining, educational online piano website consortium devoted to promoting health & well being through pianos.
- Author, Host & Producer of Sonny's Play Piano Instantly DVD Kit; 8 Lessons with Sonny That Will Connect you with your musician within through learning to play intuitively.
- Author; Sonny's Stress & Fitness Manual; a How to Manage Stress & Enjoy Fitness & Improve Sports Performance Training Manual & eBook.
- Executive Producer & Host of Sonny's PianoTV Show; a Piano & Wellness Variety TV Show playing 24/7 on SonnysPianoTV.com and on Long Island Cablevision Stations.
- Sonny's Programs have been featured in Newsday, the New York Post, McCall's Magazine, and on News 12 Long Island, ABC's Eyewitness News and the Frank Field Show and most recently in Long Island Business News; The Suffolk County News and on TV10/55 News.
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- New York State Permanently Licensed Public Schools Teacher
- Former AT&T Medical Department Full Time Health & Fitness Director
- Executive Producer & Host of "The Wellness Workout" TV Series aired on PBS Station WLIW Channel 21
- New York College of Podiatric Medicine Sports Medicine Clinician
- United States Government Eastern Seaboard Stress Management Trainer
- New York City Board of Education Health & Fitness Consultant
Developed and taught "Classroom Fitness" and "Asthma Prevention" programs for empowering children to have more control over how they feel and function.
- Long Island University at Southampton College and Adelphi University Adjunct Faculty Professor teaching accredited Yoga & Aerobic Fitness Courses through the P.E. Departments
- Sonny has played piano in a wide variety clubs and other professional venues trhoughout the NY tri-state region
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