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I am clear about the things that matter to me.

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The most important thing is performing.

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I'd always juggled performing and teaching and, you know, wearing lots of different hats,

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but I've always been really passionate about performance.

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Engage, enthrall, and enlighten.

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In our upcoming episode, immerse yourself in the journey of Danny Holt, a virtuosic

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pianist, percussionist, composer, and producer, as he unfolds the tale of rekindling his passion

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for performing live, reinforcing his conviction in music's unique ability to connect, heal,

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and inspire like nothing else.

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I need to be in a room with other people, making music.

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I actually love it when I see and hear the audiences engage.

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I feed off of that, and that combined with whatever kind of nervous excitement I'm already

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feeling will often inspire me in the moment to do something, to take a risk, to do something

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maybe that I don't normally do.

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Transitioning from his roots in classical piano performance and conservatory education,

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Danny expanded his musical horizons fueled by a fascination with percussion instruments.

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This evolution steered him beyond solo piano performances, leading to the creation of his

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distinctive piano percussion project.

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Well, you know, the initial stages of learning a piano percussion piece involves a lot of

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very careful planning and choreography.

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I mean, some of the pieces are quite complex and I have not memorized them, but I've found

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that some of them I end up memorizing them just kind of by mistake, kind of out of necessity,

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because I have to be in so many different places at once.

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And sometimes it's a matter of like, very quickly, like playing something on the piano

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with this hand and then picking up this mallet and holding it in just the right way to go

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hit this instrument and then putting it down so that I can play the piano again, or figuring

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out a way to keep the mallet in my hand while I play something on the piano, because I have

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to very quickly go over this instrument.

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So there's a lot of incredibly painstaking work that goes into the initial stages of

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figuring out the choreography.

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And then it really is just about, I mean, you know how to practice, it's about lots

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of slow, careful, repetitive practice of, I mean, oh my God, there are passages of music

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that I have spent hundreds of hours practicing just to do something that takes like a second

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or a fraction of a second.

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I do find sometimes I have to remind people that as performers that we are creative, that

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we are not just passive conduits.

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Tune in tomorrow, April 2nd at 8 p.m. Eastern time for an inspiring conversation with pianist,

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percussionist, composer, Danny Holt on the Pianopause YouTube channel.

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The audio version of this exciting conversation will be split into two parts, with part one

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available simultaneously on your preferred podcasting platforms alongside the YouTube

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premiere.

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Hit the subscribe button, spread the word, and don't forget to follow the Pianopod on

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social media.

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The links are in the description.

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Catch you tomorrow.