I am clear about the things that matter to me.
The most important thing is performing.
I'd always juggled performing and teaching and, you know, wearing lots of different hats,
but I've always been really passionate about performance.
Engage, enthrall, and enlighten.
In our upcoming episode, immerse yourself in the journey of Danny Holt, a virtuosic
pianist, percussionist, composer, and producer, as he unfolds the tale of rekindling his passion
for performing live, reinforcing his conviction in music's unique ability to connect, heal,
and inspire like nothing else.
I need to be in a room with other people, making music.
I actually love it when I see and hear the audiences engage.
I feed off of that, and that combined with whatever kind of nervous excitement I'm already
feeling will often inspire me in the moment to do something, to take a risk, to do something
maybe that I don't normally do.
Transitioning from his roots in classical piano performance and conservatory education,
Danny expanded his musical horizons fueled by a fascination with percussion instruments.
This evolution steered him beyond solo piano performances, leading to the creation of his
distinctive piano percussion project.
Well, you know, the initial stages of learning a piano percussion piece involves a lot of
very careful planning and choreography.
I mean, some of the pieces are quite complex and I have not memorized them, but I've found
that some of them I end up memorizing them just kind of by mistake, kind of out of necessity,
because I have to be in so many different places at once.
And sometimes it's a matter of like, very quickly, like playing something on the piano
with this hand and then picking up this mallet and holding it in just the right way to go
hit this instrument and then putting it down so that I can play the piano again, or figuring
out a way to keep the mallet in my hand while I play something on the piano, because I have
to very quickly go over this instrument.
So there's a lot of incredibly painstaking work that goes into the initial stages of
figuring out the choreography.
And then it really is just about, I mean, you know how to practice, it's about lots
of slow, careful, repetitive practice of, I mean, oh my God, there are passages of music
that I have spent hundreds of hours practicing just to do something that takes like a second
or a fraction of a second.
I do find sometimes I have to remind people that as performers that we are creative, that
we are not just passive conduits.
Tune in tomorrow, April 2nd at 8 p.m. Eastern time for an inspiring conversation with pianist,
percussionist, composer, Danny Holt on the Pianopause YouTube channel.
The audio version of this exciting conversation will be split into two parts, with part one
available simultaneously on your preferred podcasting platforms alongside the YouTube
premiere.
Hit the subscribe button, spread the word, and don't forget to follow the Pianopod on
social media.
The links are in the description.
Catch you tomorrow.