Sheet music by Jon George

The American composer Jon George was always interested in helping his students learn how to think for themselves and to express themselves both verbally and musically in most interesting ways. He is remembered as a wonderful and inspiring teacher who wanted his students to realize that helping other people was an especially important accomplishment in life.

He met his future wife, Mary Gae (George) when he was studying music composition at a college. He was required to take piano lessons and she was assigned to him as his teacher. When he was young, he had a bad experience with piano lessons, but after studying with Mary Gae, he went on to become an excellent pianist and they eventually married. Jon and Mary Gae collaborated on Artistry at the Piano, a series of educational piano collections published by Alfred.

Mr. George was very intelligent and gifted in many ways. He was a master chess player, an accomplished artist whose works have hung in many fine galleries, an author, a brilliant speaker, and a virtuoso guitar player. He taught himself to play the cello, and he and his wife performed together the Sonatas by Brahms and Beethoven and many other master composers.

Mr. George believed that students could accomplish more by studying his music carefully than by knowing the "facts" of his life. He placed great value on time, and he did everything to the best of his remarkable abilities. Students and teachers all over the world have stated how much his compositions mean to them, which is what he intended. His influence will live on through his music and his other artistic accomplishments.