About
Doug Large.
Author, lifelong musician, retired music educator. Forty years in the teaching room. Creator of the Numu and Numu2 methods. These days he writes from Boston’s south shore, and answers every email that comes in.
Forty years in the room.
Doug Large taught music for more than four decades. He worked with students in New York, Florida, and Massachusetts, from first-time beginners to career professionals. Along the way he wrote instruction methods for piano, bass, drums, harmonica, and virtually every style of guitar — material used by teachers and students across the country.
What tied all of it together was a conviction that the traditional way of teaching music is built for the wrong student. It assumes the reader has already decided to become a musician. Doug’s methods start from the opposite end: the student who might become a musician, if the first week doesn’t drive her away.
Beyond the method books.
In addition to his instruction work, Doug has held national leadership roles in music education:
- President, Association for Popular Music Education
- Editor, Journal of Popular Music Education
- Manager of Program Effectiveness, Little Kids Rock
On the performance side, he has played guitar in pop-rock, blues, country, and Christian worship groups; with Django Reinhardt-style string bands; in fifteen-piece big bands; and in jazz and funk groups across the Northeast. He brings that breadth into the books — the melodies chosen, the hand positions, the theory notes — are the product of a lifetime of playing, not an academic exercise.
Why Numu2.
Numu2 is the distilled version of what Doug has learned works, especially for the student who has tried traditional piano and walked away feeling like it wasn’t for her. It isn’t a shortcut. It’s an on-ramp. The student who starts with Numu2 ends up a better reader of standard notation, not a worse one — because she arrives at the symbols already fluent in the music they describe.
The books are a way to get that method into the hands of families who can’t get to Doug in person. They’re written to do what a good first lesson does: take the fear out of the keyboard, and put a song in its place.
Get in touch.
If you have a question about the books, a story to share, or want to know whether Numu2 will work for your specific situation, Doug reads every message that comes in.