About Alex Bohrer

Founder of Cool Piano Teacher LLC & Creator of Piano Phraseology™

🎹 Hi, I’m Alex Bohrer. I’m the founder of Cool Piano Teacher LLC and the creator of Piano Phraseology — a system that helps adults and gifted young players finally sound polished, expressive, and musical without needing prodigy-level talent or endless hours of practice.

For more than 25 years, I’ve helped beginners, returning adults, classical teachers, jazz musicians, actors, and award-winning performers go from stiff to expressive, robotic to real, and student-sounding to professional-sounding.

I’m a lifelong jazz pianist, a Berklee alum, and the coach people call when they’re ready to stop playing mechanically and start playing musically.

The Turning Point

The breakthrough didn’t come from more theory or finger drills. It came from realizing that most people struggle not because of talent, but because they were never taught to think like musicians.

They were taught to memorize shapes, patterns, and songs.
But not sound. Not motion. Not phrasing. Not expression.

So I built a system that fixes all of that.

Piano Phraseology — The Four Pillars

Piano Phraseology unites jazz freedom, classical precision, and orchestral imagination into one clear path. The system is built on four interdependent pillars.

1. Piano Orchestration

You learn to treat the piano like an orchestra — with bass, woodwinds, strings, and a vocalist — so your playing gains depth, clarity, and musical shape.

2. Chord Phrasing

Instead of blocky chords, you learn expressive musical phrases that bring harmony to life and make even simple progressions sound polished.

3. Jazz Reharmonization

You gain the harmonic freedom to replace predictable chords with colorful, emotional alternatives — the “wow factor” of professional players.

4. Classical Technique

A relaxed, effortless physical approach rooted in Russian technique and breath awareness — ensuring tone control, balance, and longevity.

Together, these Four Pillars create the transformation every pianist is searching for.

My Musical Lineage

I studied jazz harmony at Berklee, classical technique with Madame Chaloff, and orchestration with icons like Mancini, Conti, and Schifrin. I also went through the Dick Grove Composition and Arranging Program — the CAP program — which shaped a lot of the modern Hollywood sound.

This system blends their influence with decades of real-world teaching and performing.

Who I Work With

I work with:

• Busy adults
• Returning players
• Gifted kids
• Classical teachers wanting to learn jazz
• Professionals preparing for auditions
• Actors preparing for film roles
• Musicians seeking expressive, professional sound

My students have won national composition awards, best-in-state titles, scholarships, and symphony performances. Others simply learn to play for joy, expression, and emotional release.

Heart Over Ego

Piano Phraseology is heart-based, not ego-based.
It’s not about flash or speed.
It’s about sound, storytelling, and connection.

It’s how students stop sounding like they’re practicing and start sounding like they’re expressing.

How I Work With Students

Through Piano Phraseology Club Pro, personalized one-year lesson plans, live coaching, and private mentorship, I help students trade “student sound” for signature sound.

Whether you study online or in my Austin studio, you get a structured path, a supportive community, and a system built for real musical transformation.