"The Post" sat down with award-winning pianist Eric Zuber to talk about the experiences of a solo pianist.
Eric Zuber began performing with an orchestra at age 12. But instead of being prodded by his parents to begin lessons, it was something he chose on his own accord.
"It was something that I always wanted to do," he said. "By the time I was 11 or 12, I was already in for the long haul basically."
Natalie Barman, an audience member for Zuber’s performance Sunday in Glidden Recital Hall, said the explanation in between songs was a welcome addition.
“He gives you that and then helps you also listen for certain things in the piece,” she said.
In between pieces, Zuber explained the backstory of the song he was about to play and told the audience to listen for specific aspects of the performance, such as the piano part that was changed to encompass what an orchestra would normally be playing.
“It was fantastic,” Barman, an Athens resident, said. “We’re so fortunate here in Southeast Ohio to have artists like this come. He brought me to tears today.”
Before his rehearsal for the performance, Zuber sat down to talk with The Post. Zuber is an award-winning pianist and a visiting assistant professor at Memphis' Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music.
The Post: I saw you began performing with an orchestra at the age of 12. Was piano something you felt obligated to do, or was it something you wanted to do on your own?
Eric Zuber: I started quite young, but I remember having this kind of burning desire, not necessarily to practice what I needed to practice for my lessons, but the need to express and express through music — that was always there with me.
P: Did you try to write then too?
EZ: I lacked the patience necessary to put it down on paper. I also was very critical of it once it was down on paper. I improvised a lot when I was younger. … That was my instant gratification — improvising.
P: A lot of the time the most obvious form of expression with music is through words. How do you still create that expression without the use of lyrics?
EZ: I think music is very special in that way, you don’t need to have lyrics in order to be expressive. … Generally one does not need to be told that a major chord equates with happiness and a minor chord equates with sadness, there’s just something innate (within) us that we respond to harmonies in an emotional way.
P: Besides music, what other art forms do you enjoy?
EZ: I appreciate the arts … but nothing ever really spoke to me the same way as music did. … When I go into a museum of course I can appreciate everything but it doesn’t hit me in kind of a visceral way, the same way as when I go to a concert hall and I listen to a great symphony.
P: Apart from the music you perform and deal with, are there any other genres you like to listen to?
EZ: I listen to anything and I appreciate anything that’s good. … There are some times when I want to listen to something simple, and when I’m driving or something I’ll put on the country music station. I don’t always listen to classical music, that’s for sure.
P: For people who wouldn’t give classical music a chance, is there something you could say to them to show them it might be more accessible than they thought?
EZ: The history of music is long and wonderful, and it’s too long and too wonderful to just limit yourself to what has been written in the last 20 or 30 years. … My recommendation would be that they go to a symphony concert and sit as close as possible to the orchestra in order to feel that sound. … It’s less distant than if you’re sitting at home listening to it. … It’s more than just elevator music, that’s for sure.
P: You have performed all over the world with different orchestras and performers, what have you taken away from those experiences? Has it affected how you write or perform?
EZ: I think it’s affected who I am as a person more than anything else, rather than who I am as a musician. A lot of those performances were very highly pressurized situations, in the final round of a competition or something, and to go through an event like that … it does affect you. … It does kind of change you a little bit.
P: What’s the biggest thing you want to students to take away from what you’ve taught them?
EZ: The artistry and the communication and the emotion is more important than hitting the right notes. I think that’s the biggest misunderstanding that a lot of students have. It comes from growing up where they're told “You played a wrong note there.” … Audiences go to a concert not because they want to hear perfection. They go to a concert because they want to feel something. … They want to be moved just like when we go to a movie theater. … That’s our job as musicians, to communicate something that’s going to mean something to our audiences.
P: What made you want to teach? What do you like seperately about teaching and performing?
EZ: I love both. In a way I think I wasn’t necessarily a performer such as Lady Gaga. … I never felt super comfortable being in the limelight like that. Teaching allows me to share the intense love that I have of music and my belief that it can really shape people’s lives in a positive way without having to go through the trappings of being a performer.
P: Do you ever find that your students teach you a new way of looking at things that you hadn’t previously considered?
EZ: Absolutely, that happens all the time. Whether it’s by the process of kind of mutual discovery, where you are teaching someone a piece that you yourself have played many times. … Then there are situations where your student’s personality teaches you something about how to approach the piece or how to approach life in general.
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P: What kind of topics do you go over in your master classes?
EZ: In a masterclass setting, generally a student or two will come in and play a work and then you just work with that student on their work. So I don’t come in with any preconceived ideas about how to teach the class. I respond to what I hear and what I see from them, and I won’t know that until I meet them and hear them play.
P: From what I can tell, you’re traveling all over the world and you seem like a pretty busy guy. Do you think you’ll want to settle down at some point?
EZ: Already that kind of going all over the place has settled down a lot. … I have a job now, a college teaching job which I enjoy, and I’m not going to want to go back to doing just concerts. The life of a solo pianist is extremely difficult just from a psychological and social aspect. You’re always by yourself generally.… For someone like me, I enjoy my friends and being around people. I need people in my life, otherwise I go crazy.
P: You mentioned being alone most of the time, in a way has that helped you appreciate your alone time?
EZ: It depends on the type of person that you are I think. I enjoy both, like most people. I enjoy having some time to myself. I enjoy being around other people. I don’t think being alone has taught me one way or the other.
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