Transcription
I think it's really cool to see yourself express yourself without words. People can do it through dance, through food, through art and poetry. But I think when someone plays some notes and it's communicating something to another person without even moving their lips, you know, without words, I think it's one of the most beautiful things that can connect us as people together.
Hi, my name is Elizabeth Amels, and I'm a pianist and a collaborator. How do you describe music? I think of it as melody, meaning, rhythm. I think of it as pitch meeting some sort of organization. It's something that is so craftfully designed, and yet there is so much freedom to not even have a design at one point. I think of jazz, how there's such a blueprint, and sure, you can hear some things, but then you have the improvisation where music speaks for itself.
I started when I was five or four. Yeah, one of those ages. I started when I was four, let's go with that. And I only started because my mom's co-worker's sons were starting. So I played with this teacher for about three years before switching teachers. And the second teacher I had, her name was Miss Diane, and she was the most impactful teacher throughout all of elementary school. She taught me from 8 to 18, which is 10 years, maybe 11. And it was just really crazy to see how much of a performer was like instilled from that time. And so through her, I got to play in various, um, opportunities from the local church that we attended because she was the organist. Um, I also got to play in monthly recitals and really learn how to be a competitive piano player, constantly learning new rep. But I also got to do competitions and auditions. I got to play at Carnegie for like a couple of times, and I think that was a highlight of my high school career because I didn't play sports. So while everyone was doing tournaments, I was doing auditions to go to New York City because I grew up in New Jersey. And then I also, through music, not piano, it was also dance and acting and singing in theater since I was like six. So if I wasn't in piano, I was in an acting class. And not an acting class, I was in a play, or I was taking a voice lesson, or accompanying at my church. There was very little extracurricular activities that I ever did that was not music.
So when it came to high school and joining a church, understanding what it meant to be a pianist in the worship context, that's where I really started to love music more because it was less performance and less educational, and it was more purposeful. Yeah, that was really fun thinking about 16 and joining the worship band for the first time.
Coming into college, I grew commercially, meaning I did not know jazz. I did not know how to work rhythmically or work in a rhythm section. I could really play any accompanying piece. I learned how to be an entrepreneur in college with an accompanying business, with making connections with the other students, whether they were vocal or education or instrumental students. Um, playing in the worship ensemble bands would be a highlight for my college career. I learned so many things, not only from my professors but from the other rhythm players, and I think that was the greatest opportunity to me because I got to rub shoulders with some of the best people spiritually and just musically. They were so talented, and all the connections that were made here, I think of projects that would never happen if I didn't come and meet these people. They would have found other pianists, but I would have never learned the experience from them, which was really cool.
What would you say you add to music? I, I add myself. I hate to say that as the cliché, but I think each person has their own voice. Once you learn the tools of music, like everyone knows what a C major scale sounds like, or what a cadence sounds like. Everyone, everyone can play this progression in pop, which is one, six, four, five. But even between the people in the room here, we would all play it different. And I think just not just what I bring to music, but every artist brings to music is their voice. Similarly, just as one person can write the notes on the page, another one can interpret them and play them differently, and even the next person can play it differently as well, and it's unique and it's beautiful.
What is the best fruit that comes from being a musician? I think there are two. We talk about this a lot in education, and I think the first thing that I think of is the actual music produced. The emotion, the experience is just such a beautiful thing to see ink on a paper turned into sound waves, and that our brains can just like interpret all this data into being, "Wow, this symphony is beautiful," or "This soloist," or "This piano piece is gorgeous because of the emotion in it." I think the second thing that we also talk about is the people and the actual act of music. It's really built around the people. I think about all the relationships I've established because of music, because of the people I've met being in certain rooms. I think of the, the times my grandfather and I played piano together as a kid, and I think of the times that I'm probably going to play music with my kids in the future, hopefully. And just the special connection and the bond and the memories that's associated with those times. And music always happens to be there for me, whether it's friends, strangers, classmates, it's just something that unites it, and that's the best fruit.
I think of my senior recital as like the cherry on top. As a worship leader student, no one really thinks a lot as like a performance, like, uh, emphasis. Like you have your performance majors who are very high caliber, and I grew up that way. But I did not want my career to just be performance. And then I also struggled with education because I didn't know if I felt comfortable to teach, very little experience in my life. So going in that worship direction with a little bit of emphasis on both was where I ended up. I think that showcase was the best thing that ever happened because my family was there, all the connections I made from college were there. I got to kind of show off a little bit my classical chops, got to kind of show my baby jazz chops, my arranging skills. I love my friends. I loved conducting a rhythm band. I loved getting to work with my friends vocally, who are amazing. I've never worked with such talented vocalists outside, and it's just amazing how much talent this place holds. But at the end, we just worshiped the Lord, and it was such a great time to sit and offer up a sweet sound and a melody to his ear, and that's really special to me.
When my mom or my family's really just sat me down and was like, "What do you want to do? Or what do you love to do?" I think they started with that, and I was like, "I love music." "Why do you love music?" And we just kind of talked about it, and it turned into, "You should do what you love." I think I knew from a young time that music was something very special to me, just overall the experiences I had from theater to dance to even now here in college, and it's always been the thing.
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