So my piano-playing buddy Darin recently was lamenting the fact that there aren’t more men who play piano. In fact, he says, in all his blog travels he has never found another male pianist!

Darin, I’m happy to tell you that your search is over!

He further questions, “Is a guy pianist a wimp?” Of course not, I say. Maybe a little misguided, but that can be remedied with the revelation of vocal light!

It is no secret that I’m an a cappella freak. I love a cappella music of all kinds. In general, I find instrumentation of nearly every sort quite boring.

There are exceptions of course, and the occasional instrument does have it’s very limited place. For instance, I believe every child should have to take piano lessons. The piano can be a wonderful tool for learning music theory (so that theory can then be applied to the voice of course).

It might surprise you to know that I took piano lessons for several years as a small child. I was too lazy and short-sighted to last though, which I now regret. Further keyboard skills today would greatly enhance my current vocal producing and administration work. But alas, it isn’t so.

I do, however, retain even now quite a bit of the keyboardist talent I once nurtured and cultivated! And for your edification, tonight I blew the dust off the old ivories, sat down and hammered out an instrumental masterpiece!

Allow me to apologize in advance for the quality of my instrument, however. The only thing I have to work with is a rather old electronic keyboard, so my normally larger-than-life dynamics are cut off at the knee. The louds, the softs, the arpeggios, the delicate and intricate passages, the exquisite pedal work, unfortunately all will have to be saved for another time.

But rest assured the raw talent still shines through! Maybe God didn’t want me to continue on the keyboard path because He knew I couldn’t handle the fame, stardom, and riches that I would have had with a concert pianist career.

ITF at the Piano — Make Up Your Mind