Cecelia Sharpe, our concert host and WRCJ 90.9 FM radio host, speaks with pianist Charlie Albright before his March 23 Pro Musica of Detroit concert at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. Tickets availble here
Cecelia
My guest is Charlie Albright, amazing pianist who is going to be performing with Pro Musica Detroit’s concert series on March 23 Charlie, thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me. You started piano at the age of three years old, and by 10 years old, you made your solo debut with a professional symphony orchestra. At that time, were you sure that piano was definitely for you?
Charlie
That’s a question that I struggled with for many, many years, actually, long even past that. So I did start when I was, like three and a half. I had a little clunky junky upright garage sale piano in our house that was missing probably a few keys. My dad bought it at a garage sale for a few bucks somewhere. And I guess I climbed up and started picking up twinkle little star by ear. So my mom saw that I had a knack for it, and then so she taught me a little bit that she knew. And then I was introduced to several different teachers that I took from for several years who only taught me by ear, so I only played by ear completely. My first real teacher was a 97 year old grandma that lived a block away who played the accordion and the piano. She taught me stuff and and I learned a lot from a lady who owned a piano and organ store. We improvised many things. And eventually I was taking from a jazz teacher when I was about seven, who said to my parents that Charlie needs a year of classical music training to develop his technique. So he introduced me to Nancy Ansit, who’s actually a native of Michigan, and the plan was to do a year from her, take a year from her, and then go and go back to the fun songs, as they called it. So I took from her, and then one year became like 12, and she became like my grandma, and her husband became like my grandpa, and we traveled the world for competitions and stuff. But in terms of music, it was always something that I loved to do, and it was always a part of me since as long as I can remember. And I knew that I loved it, but at the same time, you know, I didn’t come from a wealthy background, and I knew that, you know, you have to pay the gas bill. And you know, a lot of a lot of a successful career in music isn’t just practice, practice, practice. There’s a lot of things that are outside of your control. You know, having people hear you the right people at the right time, being the right place at the right time, God’s blessing, a whole bunch of things have to come together to make a career in, you know, just like almost any kind of Arts or entertainment work. So I thought, if I couldn’t do music, what would that be? And that’s why I studied other things as well.
Cecelia
Speaking of those other things, you actually graduated with two degrees, so a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s in music. Were you still in love with music, but wanting to have a backup plan? What? What was that? Was the idea?
Charlie
So that was the idea. When it was time to decide, you know, where I’m going to go to college or whatever, what am I going to study? It was kind of the beginning. Several schools were doing, like starting these partnerships between a music school and an academic school. And it was kind of a new thing back then. There were kind of dual degree programs. Most of them were a master bachelor program, so you can study bachelor’s degree in whatever you want at the academic school, and you could do music as your masters at the music school. And instead of taking four and two years, it’s like only five years to do all of it. So it was kind of like, oh, that’s a great thing. I could study something unrelated. So I did economics and studied pre med at Harvard, and then after four years, I graduated there, but I’d already done my first years masters in music at the same time, and did one more year. And at the end of that program, you know, I was performing more and more through that as well. I was starting to tour more frequently. And I realized at the end that, yeah, I had to ultimately make a decision. And I realized that music was a passion, and, you know, the pre medicine and the and the business stuff, I was interested in a lot, but there’s a big difference between a passion and interest. So I decided to do the music part, and did my degree at Juilliard, and that was kind of just going off the music end, yeah,
Cecelia
Let’s rewind the clock just a little bit, because you started learning to play by ear, and you also took jazz lessons. How did your early foundational studies contribute to the musician and artist that you are today?
Charlie
That’s a really great question. I mean, in terms of the first several years where I couldn’t read a note of music, I think that really helped develop my ear, because literally, that’s the only way that I was able to play. And another thing that kind of went along with that was not only me making up my own versions of covers, basically, of other people’s music, but I also made my own piece of music and started kind of composing on the spot, improvising from scratch. And that kind of got put to the side a little bit, as you know, when I was in my, in my elementary and teenage years, because I was studying mainly classical, you know, what’s on the written page, interpretation, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, all that stuff.
But, you know, later on, when I started giving more and more concerts, you know, I realized that, you know, music is almost like, I think of it almost like a coin. On the one side you put in your interpretation of music that other people have written, and the other side is, you know, making up your own thing, whether that be through composition, which you know, a lot of people do, but I think improvised improvisation is almost like the purest form of music, in a way. It’s like impromptu speaking. There’s no filters, there’s no go back. It’s pure emotions, pure music. So I started putting in in my concert programming, not just what’s written on the page, but parts where I get to put my own things in, whether it’s in a cadenza, I’ll just make it up and play just like they actually did in the old days originally — make up your own cadenza and it could and a concerto. I’ll incorporate some pieces that are lighter, but you know very well, much loved, and making my own covers of them, or like I’m going to do here on this weekend in Detroit, I’m going to have the second half be an entire composition, an entire Sonata that I’ll just make up on the spot. And I’ll probably ask the audience for a few notes as a basis of a theme to base that 30-minute piece on. And I’ll just go from there.
Cecelia
You’re going to build a sonata, a 30 minute Sonata, on the spot!
Charlie
Yes — or give or take the time. I’m not sure how much we will have.
Cecelia
You have a lot of the piano greats in the mix, and you also have a sonata that’s going to be composed on the spot with input from the audience walk us through the concert experience.
Charlie
So, I’m a firm believer that music should be for everyone, and I think that classical music gets a bad rap. And partially there’s some truth to it for being kind of too hoity toity, as one would say. But you know, for me, going to a concert is very different than listening to a recording. It’s an experience. And a lot of the old fashioned rules that have developed in classical music over the years didn’t exist back in Mozart’s day.
So, you know, the “don’t clap between movements thing” — Why not? If you play the first movement of something and it’s great and people want to clap, do it. That’s part of the experience, you know. If someone needs to, cough or something, you don’t need to shut the entire concert down and glare at the person and wait until they’re finished and then start it up again. One thing I love to do is speak at my concert. So, between every piece, I’ll talk a little bit. And I’m not talking about giving a lecture on the history of when this piece was composed — you could look that up. How did I learn it? When did I hear it? I really like this. Listen for this part, because I think this is really cool and it’s really fun to play. Let’s give it a go. Like, I think that kind of a thing can really bring down, like that invisible glass wall between a stage and an audience.
Cecelia
Well, you can definitely expect a good time from Charlie Albright. He’s thrown out the classical rules Now, Charlie, what’s on the program. In addition to that Sonata,
Charlie
I’n the first half, I’ll have several different pieces. I’m going to be playing one of my favorites, one of the most underplayed, overplayed pieces of music. It was played so much that people stopped playing it. But it’s famous for a reason. The Moonlight Sonata. It’s one of those that everyone knows. The first movement is so iconic, but then the second and third are often overlooked.
I’ll also be playing a version of a piece that no one will, that no one often gets to hear unless you’re learning it yourself. So I’m going to be playing the piano part of the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue. And so every time people go and hear the pieces for piano and orchestra, and the thing with that is that you never get to hear what the piano does all the time, because oftentimes it’s swallowed up if the orchestra has the main part. So I’ve been doing this lately at a lot of my recent concerts, and people love it because they get to hear parts that they never hear elsewhere.
Cecelia
That’s going to be an interesting way to hear the Rhapsody in Blue. I’m definitely looking forward to that.
What do you hope the audience takes away from your performance at the girls point war memorial with Pro Musica Detroit.
Charlie
I just hope that everyone that comes has a fun time, because I think that’s really, really the point.
Cecelia
Well, get ready for a fun time with Charlie Albright at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial on March 23 presented by Pro Musica of Detroit, Charlie, thank you so much once again for your time, and I look forward to seeing you this weekend.
Charlie
Thank you!
