Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Mak.
Alex, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised just outside of Toronto, Canada. Music was always around somehow. Singing Grandparents and The Wiggles mingled with AC/DC and Rolling Stones live videos I’d watch with my dad.
He passed on the guitar bug and was my first teacher. When I was 4, he put VHS number stickers as fret markers on a mini guitar, and we were off to the races. Eventually, piano, bass, and drums joined the party.
High school came around and I was fortunate to live by a specialized music program. They didn’t offer a guitar, so I learned the double bass to get in. It was incredible! I felt immersed in an unknown world. By the end, I was dead set on spending my life in music.
I moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. Diving into jazz, the avant-garde, and non-Western music, I felt liberated as a beginner again. I came to New York right after graduating, started teaching, gigging, and subbing on an Off-Broadway musical called Titanique. A few months later, I got the call to take over and it’s been my main gig since!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Since high school, it’s felt like a constant state of flux. Moving to new places, learning new things, doing different kinds of work.
I try to follow the philosophy that once you’re comfortable in a situation, it’s time to move on. I love learning from the world around me, being surrounded by teachers! But the flipside is never really resting in one place, burning out from the stress.
I’m fortunate to be busy working. I teach and play shows seven days a week. With no traditional job or day off, it’s tough separating business hours from life. There’s always something to do. Throw in some health challenges and the usual adulting dilemmas and it doesn’t feel like there’s much chance to unwind, do my own thing.
Right now, my focus is clawing back some “me time”. For rest, passion, peace – the good stuff!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a guitarist, composer, and educator with a passion for performance. I love the interactions between musicians, the spontaneous moments, and the audience relationship.
I’m the guitar chair and programmer for the Off-Broadway musical Titanique, a parody of the film Titanic featuring the music of Céline Dion. We’ve been featured in The New York Times and People Magazine to name a few outlets. With Titanique, I performed on Late Night With Seth Meyers, a globally broadcasted American talk show on NBC that reached 795,000 US viewers. So far, my personal highlight was meeting Keith Richards when he saw the show with his family. He’s one of my #1s!
I was fortunate to arrange and play in Berklee’s 2022 Commencement Concert, selling out the 7,200 capacity Agganis Arena. I got to honor the legendary Chuck Rainey, one of the most recorded bass players of all time!
I bring a melting pot of genres and experiences to my work. Double bass with a symphony orchestra, film scoring studio sessions, rock covers at bars, teaching children, it’s all equal to me!
I reference this library to create something that goes beyond what one expects. I’m learning through doing and always finding new ways to approach the same ideas.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I was fortunate to start guitar young. I fell in love with the process instead of the destination. Certain things that seemed minuscule ended up coming in handy years later when I wouldn’t expect! I wish I knew how often this would happen and kept pushing to grow in this way.
With a lot of my students, there’s a concern over “learning the right thing”, having an immediate purpose and reward for everything they do. I’ve found what you’re learning isn’t as important. It’s that you are in fact learning! Everything we learn seeps into what we do, it just takes time. These small things make us who we are.
Contact Info:
- Website: alexkmak.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexkmak/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC9HpNrWDvs0KaozwaU0O0w
Image Credits
Kelly Davidson Owen Nathanael Matthew Watson Carissa Johnson
