a cardiologist, and people who work at the Fulton Fish Market. It attracts many different types of people.”

Glicksman has been playing the piano since he was six years old. Picking up the guitar in high school, he began his "garage band” phase and played at high school dances and the senior prom. When he wasn’t jamming with friends, he played along to records in his spare time.

Once Glicksman went to college and later began his career and family, music fell to the wayside. It wasn’t until his 40s that Glicksman, a resident of Suffern, New York, felt the desire to return to music and jam with similar-minded recreational musicians. He discovered The Studio when he ran into owner Bob Elliott, while looking for rehearsal space to rent in New York City. “I loved the whole idea of a place to go and meet other people similar to myself, on a similar level of playing,” says Glicksman. “It was great to find a place to jam with other people live and then play onstage. You get so much better as a musician when you play live with other people; there’s no pressure, but just enough [incentive] to push you a little bit further with your instrument.”

A workshop at The Studio begins when a club member posts an ad looking for fellow musicians to collaborate on a specific project. Glicksman loves playing Motown and R&B on the keyboards, so that was the focus of his first workshop. To familiarize the musicians who signed up with the music of The Supremes and Etta James, Glicksman burned CDs for each band member and printed out chord charts.

"At the beginning of a new workshop meeting I always say, ‘We are five strangers that have to sound tight, like we’ve been playing for 20 years, including three European tours and a tour in Australia,’” says Glicksman. “We are amateurs but we do look at it like it’s a show; we want people to be entertained.”

Although the workshop groups only have eight to 10 hours of practice spread out over a few rehearsals, Glicksman says he’s never had a bad show. Maybe once in every 25 or 30 shows a song fell apart at the end, but no one noticed. "Sometimes I get a little nervous playing with people who have never played out before. If the material is difficult, I think maybe, as a group, we’ve stretched ourselves too far, but it always comes together and everybody gets into the groove,” he says.

Various workshops have given Glicksman the opportunity to expand as a musician. In a “British invasion” performance, Glicksman sang with a British accent. During another performance, he played the conga drums to a Santana song, and at a zydeco Cajun workshop, he played an accordion that had been passed down through his family. "Where else am I going to be able to do these kinds of things?” says Glicksman.

Workshop showcase gigs coordinated by The Studio are easy for the musicians involved, since a Studio technician sets up the provided instruments—drum sets, keyboards, and percussion, like shakers and tambourines—with amplifiers and mikes. Guitarists and bassists generally bring their own instruments. All the musicians have to do is prepare and
show up. The Studio also keeps a tech on standby, just in case technical problems arise during the show.

"The Studio provides double keyboards that allow players to use the piano and organ, as well as horn or string parts simultaneously,” says Glicksman who often plays horn melodies with the right hand and changes the piano chords with the left. “I can get those bigger band sounds for Motown and R&B songs. I really encourage other keyboard players to try them out.”

One of the most special aspects of the showcase workshops, for Glicksman, is how a group of relative strangers can put together a cohesive band in only 10 hours of rehearsal time. “The challenge of running a workshop is bringing together five or six people, who for the most part, don’t know each other or the songs they are going to play,” says Glicksman. “In literally 10 hours we are onstage. You can tell some people are nervous wrecks because they’ve never been onstage before, but after a great set, they are elated. It’s wonderful to walk them through it and see them come out on the other side.”