I was fortunate to have parents who forced me to start taking piano lessons each day after school when I was in 2nd grade—something I initially hated doing. Thanks to my teacher’s infinite patience, she also taught me how to read and write music. In hindsight, I’m forever grateful to my parents and my piano teacher.
By the 4th grade, I was on my way to learning how to play the ‘cello and received my first paying gig (a Christmas concert at a local church). In 5th grade, my wonderful music teacher and his wife, accomplished musicians on various instruments, offered me regular paying gigs as long as I stuck to their simple rules.
Classical Music Rules
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Practice every day.
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Improve my music sight-reading skills so that a music librarian or conductor could place a brand new score on my music stand. After 5 minutes of review and pencil notations, I could competently perform the music.
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Show up to everything at least 30 minutes early or however long it took me to set up my equipment, tune my instrument, and be ready to perform on time.
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Be friendly to everyone because that was the way to get the vast majority of future gigs–no one likes being around someone who isn’t friendly with a good sense of humor for any amount of time.
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Respond to any inquiries for a gig within 48 hours.
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No drugs, including alcohol.
I asked my music teacher how he came up with these rules, and he said an artist named Elton John gave them to him. Having no idea who Elton John was, I asked some friends. After their initial shock wore off, they explained and loaned me some of his music. It turns out he was a big deal and a great artist, and today, he remains one of my favorites.
The next day, the obvious question to my music teacher was how he knew Elton John. It turns out that, in the summers, he was part of his touring band. The following fall, he gave me an envelope with two photographs on the first day of class. One was with him, standing next to Elton John, and the other was on stage performing with him. It seemed funny to me at the time because, from an appearance perspective, you couldn’t imagine two different people. My music teacher looked like he had just been discharged from the US Marines with his flattop haircut and big military-issue glasses. But it was another good lesson that appearances can be deceiving.
Writing Classical Music
By 6th grade, I had written my first song about Leonardo da Vinci. This first song led to over a hundred more that I performed for family and friends. While they weren’t grand Mozart, Shostakovich, or Beethoven symphonies, it was all part of my learning experience. I was grateful to my family and friends for listening to the often cringe-worthy writing and performances and giving me valuable feedback and support.
Walter Sommer
This brings us to my collaboration with Walter. We both had a similar start to classical music. But while I was not enjoying my initial journey learning piano, Walter loved it. And his compositions early on were excellent. The similarities and differences convinced us to co-compose a dozen songs around the theme of our mutual love for the Victorian-era UK. While Walter loves writing symphony-length music, I challenged him to write shorter “songs” with no more than 3 motifs.
We ended up writing 12 songs, and we’re releasing one per week, the first being Cotswold Rain.
Stream/Download
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YouTube Music
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With the release of this first song, I’ve returned to the very earliest of my music roots. I hope you enjoy listening to Cotswold Rain as much as I enjoyed working on the project.
Composed by Walter Sommer and Tom Libertiny
Performed by Walter Sommer and his Orchestra
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Tom Libertiny
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