PERFORMANCE
An orchestra in two hands.
At the age of 6 I fell in love with Beethoven symphonies, Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Mozart piano sonatas, and other classical music. At the age of 12 I decided that I wanted to be a professional musician, although I had not specifically decided that piano would be my main focus. That changed at the age of 15 when I watched the movie “Shine”, fell in love with Rachmaninoff and never looked back.
I received my Bachelor’s, Master’s and will be receiving my Doctorate in May 2020, all within the same musical field of Piano Performance. I’ve had the privilege of performing numerous recitals at multiple venues, including my Carnegie Hall debut in 2016. I make it a point to perform several solo recitals a year, at churches, retirement homes, community venues, and wherever I can find a decent piano and an audience who is willing to listen!
Piano
In addition to classical piano performance, I have worked in other genres including jazz, gospel, rock, Broadway, pop and whatever I find interesting. My first teacher was my father, who is an amateur musician and studied under jazz pianist Matt Dennis. So my introduction to music had a jazz slant, learning chords, inversions and voice leading early on. Although I did not major in jazz performance, I made it a point to take a couple jazz improv courses as an elective in college. Jazz knowledge has come in handy working at various churches and with a variety of teams, since playing by ear is a large part of church music, especially in the gospel idiom.
Guitar
I began playing guitar at the age of 7 when I attended a Saturday morning music conservatory for children at the California State University Los Angeles music department. I began with classical lessons, learned my basic techniques, played in guitar ensembles, and went on to study privately for another year. At the age of 12 I became obsessed with electric guitar. Every day I would go home after school and listen to my favorite solos over and over, dissecting them measure by measure until I knew how to play them. I played in a handful of rock bands, none of which became any big deal, but I also played guitar at church beginning at age 12, and went on to lead worship in high school and college, often from the acoustic guitar.
Keyboard
Just because someone plays the piano does not mean they are a good keyboard player. There is quite a difference between the acoustic instrument and the synthesizer. Playing keyboard allows for a countless library of sounds, pitch bending, shifting of sound parameters and keyboard percussion. Knowing how to work with keyboards and synthesizers is an extremely useful component within songwriting and performance of non-classical music.
Organ and Harpsichord
Over the last couple of years I have had the privilege of playing in the early music orchestra at the University of North Texas. Here I have learned the art of reading “figured bass”, an early classical music prototype of the modern jazz lead sheet, and one that is not commonly studied by most classical musicians. Figured bass is heavily reliant upon improvisation, another topic which is sadly lacking in education of most classical music institutions. I have found alongside many of my other colleagues that improvisation can greatly broadens musical understanding and opportunities, and this helps to create a linkage with the jazz world, which is too often distanced from the classical simply because of its demand for improvisation.
Aside from my experiences early music, I received pipe organ lessons, learning to work my feet on the pedals as well as my hands on the keys. Playing church organ is a valuable and in-demand skill around the world, and many pianists would benefit from rudimentary knowledge and ability at the pipe organ.
Bass
Bass is one of those instruments where it is easy to learn the basics, but extremely difficult to master. Essentially anyone who can play guitar can technically play bass, since the four strings of the bass are the same as a guitar but an octave lower. To be a good bass player, one has to have a solid grasp of rhythm, note substitution and musical theory. Like guitar and keys, I primarily played bass in church groups, and on occasion in different rock bands. Being able to lay down bass tracks for songs that I write has been very helpful, both musically and financially, since I don’t have to hire other musicians every time I want to record a session!