WorkshopLive interview with David Pearl
Education: Bachelor of Music, University of Denver
Started: Age 7 in 1967
When did you start to play? When I was 13, I started taking lessons from a jazz pianist, and that gave me the freedom to find my own voice.
When did you start to notice that your playing was different from everyone else's? I can't pin down a date or time, but after playing ten years or so, I started not to care about heroes anymore or even my local competition; I started believing in my own playing and accepting it for what it was, and what it might become.
How do you keep your playing fresh? Play new music! There's a world of piano music out there, and sad to say, only one lifetime.
What do you do when you get stuck? Take a break, take a walk, and remember a performance I heard that inspired me.
What do you still find hard to do? Play left-hand parts that are as interesting as can be.
How often are you surprised by your playing, or what you're listening to, or music in general? I find I'm more surprised when I listen to recordings of the early jazz pianists, because they were so far ahead of their time.
Do you have a regular practice regimen? Do you have a practice "tool-kit" - metronome, tuner, recorder, etc.? Do you have a special place for practice set-aside in your home? How do you practice on the road or when you travel? The older I get, the more I realize how important the fundamentals are. I try to practice exercises, etudes, hands alone, with and without metronome, classics, standards, scales and patterns.
Is there a piece of gear you just can't live without? An acoustic piano.
Are there one or two core ideas that are central to your teaching that you make sure every student learns? Not really, since everyone has different desires and different obstacles. But I try to teach the theory of the music, so students understand the language of music, and not just the mechanics.
Do you find yourself returning to listen to the artists who inspired you when you first started to play? Who are they? Yes. Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington.
How often, when you're playing, do you find those moments of pure music, when your head is clear, your fingers are working, there are no distractions, and it's just you and the music? Whenever I give myself 3-4 hours to practice.
We have a feature called "Big Ears", where we suggest interesting music to our members that they might not have heard before. What would you suggest for them? Recordings of early jazz players like Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Albert Ammons, and early recordings of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington.
What are you listening to these days? Do you search out music that's new and unfamiliar to you? I'm listening to Prokofieff, Takemitsu and Bach, also opera arias.
Do you have a musical wish list - other instruments to learn, people to play with, artists or styles to explore? Just more time!
Have you ever had a really great teacher? What made him/her so good? I've been very lucky, all my teachers have given me so much. My piano teacher in college may have given me the best tool: He made me answer my own questions.
How do you learn best? Playing music that was above my level.
Do you have any practice tips we can share with our subscribers? Be patient, listen to the sound you make, and, if you get stuck, try a different fingering!
