When Lucian d’Smair, 15, goes to the piano to play ragtime blues and elegant waltzes, he does not look at a book of scores. Instead, the high school student of Manheim Township Rising Sophomore constantly turns to his piano teacher François Byrs, who gives him approved looks of a seat. Beyond the lessons, Byers and Lucian have been friends since Lucian started in the East Petersburg studio in East Byers.
And Lucian does not play Byers missions. He plays his own compositions.
Last month, Lucian released his first album, “Lucian d’Atair: Live at Hamilton Park”, featuring the various catalog of original songs from Lucian, ragtime improvisations with calculated waltzes.
The album is available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.
The album marks a quick progression – Lucian did not start playing the piano only two years ago.
Lucian has always been creative, whether writing news or drawing. When he was 13 years old, he decided that he wanted to write his own music. Inspired by his interest in composers of blues and jazz from the 1940s and 50s, he began to study with Byers, who encourages students to engage immediately with composition and musical theory beyond simple classical training.
“I started learning jazz on the first day. When I got home, I just started playing with just the simple things that taught me,” said Lucian. “Because it was something that I already felt good, I just fell in love with that.”
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The byrs’ teaching method, he says, is rare among traditional and classic piano teachers. But he believes that this engages the creative spirits of children, allowing them to fall in love with the instrument.
“I’m not going to train someone to go to Carnegie Hall,” said Byers. “I am much more creative – I like to create things. The ultimate goal is that the student makes the piano a friend for life. ”
‘Blood, sweat and tears’
For Lucian, the piano is not only a friend, it is a discipline vehicle. And it is a concept that he knows as a black belt in Taekwondo.
Lucian mainly attributes his rapid progress on the piano following a constant self -discipline – one of the five “pillars” of Taekwondo.
“Music comes from a place of integrity, perseverance and self -control,” said Lucian. “It’s just this discipline that I put everything in what I do.”
Lucian says he can spend up to four hours a day practicing the piano, while balancing his courses at the secondary school in the canton of Manheim and teaching Taekwondo lessons at the Academy of Martial Arts in Cuascut on Lititz Pike.
Whenever Sarah of Smart hears her son training on their piano, she remembers that the hard worker has always been. She has always trusted him to “know where he is going” – whether watching him wake up at 4:30 am every day or remember his 11 year old wish to win directly, now accomplished in the secondary math courses.
“If he says he’s going to do something, he does it right,” she said.
While Sarah d’Atair says that her son can decrease her own talents in many areas, she works to remind him that her achievements are the result of her efforts.
“He does well at school, he produces his own music, and he is incredible in his martial arts and does something else. But it doesn’t come easy,” she said. “He works very, very hard every day, from the moment he gets up until he falls asleep.”
It is a feeling resolved by Byers, which decided to produce the album for Lucian because of his commitment to art without “Ultoror motives”.
“(He is) someone who puts blood, sweat and tears in something,” said Byers. “It’s very hard work, almost hard for hard work, just in itself, it brought us to that.”
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Lucian d’Atair, a 15 -year -old pianist and student at the Canton of Manheim’s Canton, recently released an album of original compositions from Ragtime and Valse.
“ Music is a question of feeling ”
With his commitment to discipline, it is passion. When Lucian composes, whether meticulously repeated or improvised, he has the most pleasure in playing with different scales, half-past and other musical components that he can add to his sound.
He says that the most fulfilling part of the creation of an album is his completion – not being caught in rivers, sales and actions. In fact, Lucian and Byers give free CDs to recitals and friends and family.
The album obtains his namesake from the United Church of Christ of Hamilton Park, the place where Byers and Lucian recorded the nine tracks of the project.
Each of the nine songs on the album has a story behind his name – whether inspired by his cat maple or his fictitious characters found in the personal catalog of Lucian of Nouvelles.
When Lucian interprets compositions such as “Yipikir’s Stride”, he does not play the note of the version of the album for note. This is because the song was made up of its recording – an improvisation recorded in a single catch.
Despite this, Lucian argues that he can always play the same song even if it is not an exact copy. For Lucian, the integrity of the song lies in the mind rather than in its precise rating.
“Being able to feel the slowness or speed of the song – I have the impression that this is what makes it the play that it is, rather than the melodies and the notes and so on,” said Lucian. “Music is a question of feeling, to feel symmetry on the piano when I look at the keys and listen to it.”
Lucian is open to the recording of more music in the future. For the moment, he simply focuses on improving his skills by mastering new progressions and experimenting with more sounds – sticking to his Taekwondo discipline regime.
“I hope this album is just something for my rear pocket, which I can come back and listen to one day when I am older,” said Lucian. “It’s great. It’s a good thing to live in your life. “
