How did you get into making music, and how did arts education (or lack thereof) affect you and your music?

My parents would most likely respond that I’ve been performing in one way or the other since I was a very young child. As a toddler I would always ask for certain records while I was bouncing around on a little horse. The music was my babysitter. I was also fortunate to grow up in a very musical family on both sides. From my paternal grandmother who has been teaching piano for seventy some odd years (and continues to do so…), to my aunt who got me started around age four, to my uncles in South America who combine multiple bottles of liquor and multiple instruments and then jam all night at the barbecue (and continue to do so…).

As I mentioned, I started on piano with my Aunt Barb, but after a few years, I discovered the cello and from there, I couldn’t put it down. As time passed, I learned the trumpet, which later turned into the euphonium (baritone). I kind of pushed myself to run around the orchestra and try to learn the basics of everything. This payed off as I was elected drum major of my high school marching band my last two years. In my early teens, music in Nebraska took on a very different meaning when I discovered Nebraska’s greatest cultural export right as they were leaving to make it big in California: 311. In addition, for a teen, The Edge was just a little cooler than NPR Classical Radio. Between 311 and similar bands, to the dismay of my private cello teacher, it pushed me and other very talented teens to start rocking. Drums and guitars were all over, nobody played bass guitar. I figured with my cello background I’d go for it, and I found my place (though I love playing drums and guitar too!).

I had dabbled in composition and songwriting as a kid, but I really started to put it together as a teen. I started writing music for cello and for the rock bands I was playing in. Mind you, most of it wasn’t that good, but it was a good foundation. I do remember this cello solo my aunt and I wrote as tribute to the sudden death of a beloved teacher of mine. In fact, she taught my aunt and dad too, so it was pretty special to put that together for her memory. From there, I just kept building the house.

Arts education was absolutely fundamental in my development as a professional musician. There is no way I would be where I’m at today without the musical knowledge I gained from the amazing and very patient teachers I was blessed with from elementary to high school. I am a product of both public school music education and private lessons that focused on the Suzuki method. While private lessons were intense and enabled me at one point to travel around the Mid-West competing and have some great accomplishments, the public school music teachers were the ones that taught me how to play the instruments, would stay after school to answer my questions, and most importantly, taught me how to play in ensembles and work with many different people on many different instruments. In a sea of very competitive, driven, and many times socially-awkward music kids, I was pretty easy going. Maybe too easy going; I think it sometimes annoyed my private cello teacher, Dr. Johnson (RIP). He certainly taught me a lot, but being cool among other musicians was not something I learned from him. That came from learning to balance the ego and learning to be a team player through Mr. Jank’s orchestra, Mr. Crowl, Mr. Roebke, and Mr. Duensing’s bands, and Mr. DeWalls’ choir. It’s kind of funny, when you think about what kills bands, it’s not usually a question of talent. From garage bands to double platinum sell-out-the-Metrodome-bands, it’s usually the ego battles. I’ve been pretty sensitive to this and have wondered where it came from. I must admit, in hindsight, it makes sense now.

To tie it all together, I would say that public music education is more important than any other “required” subject that politicians and administrators claim matter or need for their test scores. It’s so much deeper than learning how to play an instrument and performing for your grandparents every couple of months. You learn socialization skills, you learn how to “harmonize” (pun intended!), and that is something you can carry and apply to anything else as life moves on, long after that trumpet gets filled with cobwebs. Where the hell is my trumpet anyway? Nebraska? I’ve got to get back at that bad boy!

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This post is part of our 60-hour blogathon in support of music development and literacy within the Twin Cities. We appreciate you visiting the site – but before you go, we ask that you consider clicking the Donors Choose banner below and giving what you can to help enrich the lives of a number of local children through music and reading. Thank you. – Culture Bully