Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Gardels.
Hi Carlos, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started out when my parents enrolled me in piano lessons at the age of seven. Unlike most professional musicians, however, I was a horrific student. I never practiced what my teachers assigned; instead, I was attracted to music much harder than I should have been playing and would attempt to practice it in secret behind their backs. This created a weird dichotomy where my parents knew I was playing all the time, yet my teachers were mystified as to why I was making no progress. Eventually, at 14, I found a teacher who was on the same page as me, and we worked together on the music I wanted to play. Around this age, I became obsessed with practicing and with the idea of becoming a concert pianist – frequently practicing up to 5 hours a day on top of going to high school. It was work that needed to be done, but at the same time came at the expense of what was a normal social and academic development for a teenager.
What followed were eventual awards in competitions and performances with orchestras, then eventually pursuing music in college at the Manhattan School of Music and further on in graduate school at Indiana University Bloomington.
Once I finished my Master’s degree, like almost every other pianist (I specify pianists because other instrumentalists can have more opportunities finding work in an orchestra or ensemble) – I moved back home with my parents in Los Angeles and started teaching. At first, I drove around and taught whoever I could: two-year-old, neurodivergent students, people who only wanted to learn one song to impress their partner and then quit, people who refused to learn to read music, people who didn’t actually want to learn how to play but needed somebody to talk to, adults film actors who needed basic piano skills, children of celebrities, etc. These years yielded colorful and humbling experiences.
Eventually, as I garnered more control of my finances and learned to manage my time, I was able to direct my teaching into avenues more closely related to my musical skills: In 2015, I joined the Faculty of Citrus College in Glendora, where I teach piano and music appreciation, and in 2014 I guest taught at an international music school in Shanghai. My private students now are typically elementary to high school-aged students who I prepare for exams, recitals, and competitions and whom I also work with regularly to arrange community service performances in retirement communities. Around this time, I also returned to practicing regularly, made my Carnegie Hall debut, and began to play solo recitals in the United States and Europe.
During Covid, with the change of pace we all felt – I began composing and was fortunate enough to win some composition competitions and have my work published by Theodore Presser Music. I also began contributing regularly to musical journals, including Pianist Magazine, The Huffington Post, and the California Music Teacher.
My life now is divided between teaching, composing, and practicing – the daily work I do with my pre-college private students usually being the most meaningful and most consuming.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think anybody who has gone into the arts in any area can say their road has been smooth. When you train to be an attorney, doctor, or accountant – the road is brutal, but there is a modicum of security you can expect.
In the arts, one can put in equal quantities of work, but the end of the road is basically…..nothing. However, this is as terrifying as it is liberating! You are armed with a skill set that is of virtually no practical use to society but in a more spiritual and humanistic sense is the very stuff people live for. This is very empowering, and once you have done the foundational work of developing your skills, the real work is finding out of what use you can be to the people around you and (hopefully) how you can make a living doing it.
My largest struggle has been how to equate the thousands of hours of practice I have done in my youth in a way that does not make them feel wasted as an adult. This solution will vary from musician to musician, but for me the answers tend to lie into giving serious consideration to all people, opportunities, and – most importantly – your own ideas, regardless of how outlandish or ridiculous they might seem. Self-promotion and social media are a must – as much as we all hate it. People tend to think it’s a “new” thing, but it can be interesting to remember that even Mozart printed up posters for his own concerts, posted them around town, and sold the tickets himself from his apartment.
There have been several instances where somebody I met, messaged with or played for years ago in what seemed like the most banal chance encounter decided to follow up with me about something, which resulted in a life-changing opportunity.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Most of my income and daily work now revolves around teaching. Something I find gratifying is when I can start a beginner and be with them for a long period. While I’m still relatively young, I have already been fortunate enough to have the experience of starting somebody at age seven and have them stay with me for ten years until they graduate high school – watching them develop from playing a C scale to a Beethoven Sonata. While they have changed schools, changed teachers, moved houses, garnered new friends and hobbies – I (and music) get to be with them all along as an anchor in their lives. Watching somebody’s skill and artistry grow over such a long arc is rewarding and also a testimony to the magnitude of demands music makes. Many of my students now have been with me for many years, and I’m always welcoming new ones.
With young beginners, I tend to put perfectionism on the back burner and focus on instilling a love for music and a solid foundation in reading and counting. As they grow both in age and ability, what I strive to do is teach them HOW to practice. This sounds simplistic, but the truth is we play how we practice, just like we “are what we eat”. Many students struggle with practicing not because of laziness, but because their goals are not targeted enough and their strategies not specific enough. I also try to keep in mind that most of my students will not become professionals, and I try to be creative in ways I can still impact their lives. For example, one current student is a ballerina, so together we composed a piece of music to which she will choreograph and perform a dance to, have it filmed, and use it for the supplemental portion of her college admission application.
Equally rewarding is teaching college. While I don’t get to work with the students for as long (typically only a semester or two), the benefits here are that you are working with an already grown adult, and they have pre-formed ideas, opinions, and backgrounds that need to be met with patience, respect, and flexibility. I have found college students to be the most motivated, respectful, and hard-working. And while I don’t have quite as many – full-fledged, non-college, working adults can also be gratifying in that they are coming to lessons of nothing other than their own volition, and we can truly focus on the music at a comfortable pace without any external pressures.
If something sets me apart as a teacher, I think it’s that I still actively practice and compose for many hours every day and perform occasionally. In January, I made my solo recital debut in Paris, and a new set of piano pieces I wrote was published last year and available in stores worldwide. I am now working on a new solo program that will include music of living Los-Angeles based composers. More details about my work can be found on my website.
While it’s not always possible to teach and keep up an active life as a musician, I feel like it’s a natural course of action to at least attempt. While they are now only remembered for their music, almost all of the great composers of the past – J. S Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, etc. – all led unified lives of composing, performing, and regular teaching.
What were you like growing up?
I was an awkward, shy, and nervous kid. While I found solace in music, I also think it exacerbated these qualities because being in front of a piano for hours every day is about the most anti-social thing you can do. The experiences and rewards are deep, but they are very inward, and you spend a lot of time in a strange, abstract, and distant world of emotions and sounds rather than one of real-life words and scenarios. The typical American high school experience doesn’t really highlight achievements in classical music, so sometimes there was little to bond with over classmates. As I grew older, the demands of being self-employed and teaching helped me to adopt a more extroverted persona. I knew I would go into music around the age of 14 or 15, but before then I had wanted to be a writer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carlosgardels.com
- Instagram: Carlos_gardels
- Youtube: @sporadicmystic
