Concert Pianist

by B. J. Carter
Coastal Journal Staff
 
It’s rare to be sitting within four feet of a concert pianist as he blazes through virtuosic pieces from Romantic composers such as Liszt, Schumann, and Beethoven. It’s an event when the pianist in question is 14 years old.

Will Bristol started playing piano at nine-and-a-half years of age and never looked back.  He practices three to four hours a day on the grand piano in the basement of his house, after homework and dinner, of course.

But watching him play, I got the distinct impression that “practice” doesn’t mean the same thing to Will as it does most kids his age.  Mindful of both the flight of his fingers and his features, I felt like I was getting a glimpse of the subconscious.  He didn’t appear to be concentrating as much as meditating. 

The experience of watching him play in such close quarters was a combination of the pure adrenaline rush a roller coaster offers and something else entirely, a feeling I only get when I’m in the presence of something truly unique.  I had the exact same reaction to reading Benito Cereno or watching 81/2 for the first time.  My eyes mist over a little and I try to restrain a smile.  And it had nothing to do with his age; there can be an awful tendency to sensationalize the abilities of gifted children as supernatural phenomena.  No, Will was just that good.  Bravo, Mr. Bristol!

The accomplished pianist had this to say about growing up with music:

What is it about piano in particular?
I like it because you can play almost everything on it.  You can take an orchestral piece and arrange it for piano, or you can take any other piece for any other instrument and play it on piano.  And I also like it because you can get so many other tones that other instruments can’t get.  It has a very wide range.

Does anyone else in your family play musical instruments?
Well, not really.  My dad played trumpet when he was younger.  He played piano for about a month, then he quit.  But my grandfather, he lived in Berlin, and his mother taught him voice and piano, so I think it might be passed down from him.  It might’ve skipped a generation.

So you were just taking a music class in school, and everything just fell into place from there?
Yeah, I was also taking cello lessons, and I started studying with an organist at St. Martin’s Church.  He taught me piano. 

What are you playing with the Oratorio Chorale coming up on the 17th?
I’m not actually going to be playing with [the Chorale], I’ll be playing my own stuff in the middle of the performance.  I’m going to play Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, which is about eight minutes long.  I really like playing it at other galas because it has such great variety in it. 

Do you find it hard to balance your passion for music with the other areas of your education? 
No, I think I’ve found a pretty good balance between piano and school.

What’s your practice schedule like?
Well, hence my mom, I usually get my homework done before piano.  I like to practice after dinner because, I don’t know, I just find it easier to practice later at night for three to four hours.

Do any of your peers treat you differently because of the strength of your abilities?
Actually, no.  They’re really nice about it.  I think they probably don’t think about it, they’re so used to me playing piano.  It doesn’t make any difference.

Do you get nervous about playing in front of people?
I get very nervous.  That’s gotten better over the years, with more experience.  My piano teacher, she’s great, she has me perform all the time at one of her friend’s houses or something, to help me get ready for a bigger performance.   So I don’t get quite so nervous anymore, because what’s the point of getting nervous?  Why do you have to be nervous?

Do you have any kind of ritual or superstition before you perform?
Not really, sometimes I don’t eat meals beforehand because you can get stomach pains or something.  And I usually do a lot of deep breathing.  But I try not to practice very much the day of the performance because I want to save my energy.  I might sleep before the performance. 

So do you feel ready for the 17th?
Yeah.  The thing is, this Liszt piece I’m playing, Hungarian Rhapsody, I’ve probably done it 25 times or so in a concert.  So I’m very comfortable playing it.

 What’s your earliest memory of performing for other people, and how did it go?
I remember when I was maybe ten or something, I did a little piece on a program of all my teacher’s students, and I did it fine back then because I didn’t know enough to get nervous.  I wasn’t aware that people got nervous when they performed, so I just went out and did fine.  But then I remember other times when I just played really fast because I was so nervous, maybe when I was a year older.  And then two years ago, when I gave my first solo concert, which was an hour long, in front of 60 people, I was very nervous.  It didn’t go that well.

If you could only select five pieces to play, what would they be?
 I would put a lot of Liszt on there.  He was a great pianist, and he had a really great understanding of what to compose for piano.  I would also maybe put a sonata by Beethoven on the program because I really love the emotion that you can find in Beethoven’s work, all of the suffering that he went through.  So I might play two or three by Liszt, one or two by Beethoven, and for a fifth piece I would maybe do something by Chopin.

So you’re more into the Romantic composers?
 Yeah, they’re interesting.  Some of them were extremely eccentric.

Have you ever tried any composition yourself?
Well, a couple years ago I composed a few pieces but then I got to the point where I just wanted to play music on the piano and not compose at all.  Plus I don’t think I was that great at it.

Have you ever been approached by the media before?
Two years ago I had an interview with the Portland Press Herald.  I don’t think I spoke very well.  I remember when the interview came out I was really unhappy with it. 

I don’t think you have to worry this time around. 

Will Bristol will play at the Oratorio Chorale’s opening of its 34th season at the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle, beginning at 7:30 p.m.  He will also play on Sunday, November 18 at 3 p.m. at the Sacred Heart hurch in Yarmouth.