Conversations with Missy Alcazar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Missy Alcazar. 

Hi Missy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Hermon, Los Angeles. I went to school at a private catholic elementary in South Pasadena and all-girl private catholic high school in Pasadena. I graduated from California Institute of the Arts with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Fine Arts majoring in Piano Performance. I took piano lessons weekly since I was 4. From grade school all the way to high school, I was taught by a very strict former nun that made sure I was consistently competing in regional and national piano competitions. In high school, I gave my mom an ultimatum that I either quit piano or switched teachers because I was burned out. I can’t remember that part of my life all that well to be honest. From high school all the way to college I was taught by a wonderful teacher from the Hummingbird Music Studio who really focused on my virtuosity but helped me achieve the confidence I needed in order to continue my pianistic studies. It was then I began winning 1st place in the competitions. 

After graduating CalArts with my BFA I quit piano to become an amateur snowboarder. I ended up moving to Big Bear Lake and would snowboard Bear Mountain and Snow Summit every day. I would compete in local contests and get featured in some videos. After meeting some snowboarders who also did music, I was inspired to get back into piano, but this time through songwriting. After Big Bear, I ended up moving to Leucadia in San Diego, CA, where I went through a new phase of self-discovery. I was painting and learning songs from Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, and Vanessa Carlton, wishing I could write songs like them. That’s when I decided that I wanted to go back to school to get my MFA in piano performance but focus in songwriting and recording as well. 

2009 was when I first dabbled into songwriting. My first songs were, of course, terrible and definitely cringeworthy. I was too scared to share them with anyone and had no confidence in my singing at the time. Singing while playing piano was a new concept for me and at the time, I knew I had to practice in front of a crowd more in order to gain more confidence. Opportunities to sing and play was challenging. I signed up for every open mic I could find in LA & SF and would get discouraged whenever I would find out I had to wait 2-3 hours after signing up just to play 1-2 songs. I wasn’t getting enough stage time, and most experiences at the open mics were crippling due to the stage fright. It wasn’t until landing the gig as a “green” dueling pianist at the ShoutHouse in San Diego where I finally got the stage time and confidence I needed in order to play my own songs in front of a crowd. 

Training to be a dueling pianist at the Shout House taught me everything I needed (if not more) to be able to sing and play my own songs. There I learned drums, bass, musical improv comedy, and how to write comedy parodies. I also learned how to entertain crowds of at least 1000 per night. 

All while training at the ShoutHouse, Dec 2013, my mom at the time was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic breast cancer. I was in denial when I found out. That time of my life was a blur. But I definitely still wrote about it. 

I recorded my first EP album immediately after she passed Sept 14, 2014. Songs poured out of me. I felt this urgency to write them all because life became precious, and clearly, I needed to share my story. I had gone through so much pain, heartache, abuse, and self-deprecation during this time I felt the need to write it and record it and share. It was then that I learned how to record my own music, fundraise for my own music, produce and market myself. Everything I learned just by doing it and trying it to see what worked and what didn’t. 

My first EP album landed me a nomination for “Best Singer-Songwriter” at the 2019 San Diego Music Awards. I left the ShoutHouse in 2019 to become Disneyland’s first female dueling pianist at a show called “Showdown At The GoldenHorseshoe,” a short-lived musical theatrical which ended due to Covid. Covid forced me to hustle and learn how to live stream online. 2 years and thousands of dollars in live broadcasting equipment later, I am a full-time Twitch streamer making a comfortable living entertaining hundreds of people from all over the world online, performing my original music as well as covers. 

Thanks to this incredible community of loyal fans, I can continue performing my original music, continue recording and releasing music, release music videos and continue streaming. They have officially become my record label without the pressures of having a record label. They make things happen and have changed my life for the better. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Definitely multiple struggles. First having to suffer from the grief of losing my mom to stage IV metastatic breast cancer and having to constantly pick myself back up every time I had crippling anxiety from stage fright performing my originals in front of people. One struggle I suffer from to this day is the idea that my music, my voice, is just not good enough for the competitive music industry. I battle myself every day with that one. 

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?
I make my living as a professional dueling pianist, a full-time music streamer, a piano teacher, a business owner, and occasionally an artist. I specialize in many things creative, including performing music, songwriting, painting, snowboarding. I am known for my piano playing. I’m most proud of my first full-length album of songs that I finally believe in and have a message I need to share with the world. I think what sets me apart of from others is everything that encompasses me. I’m the only Filipina American female dueling pianist and multi-instrumentalist I know of that’s ever released an album of original songs, worked at Disneyland as dueling pianist, and has toured internationally and entertained thousands of crowds in their lifetime. 

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I got called “weird” a lot. I read a lot of books from the Scholastic publisher collection, so I had quite an imagination. I had a bit of an identity crisis growing up too. I grew up in a predominantly Filipino home but predominantly white and Mexican American school. I would get made fun of during lunch for having fried fish head and rice for lunch instead of having McDonald’s like everyone else. Being the only Filipina American in class was tough because no one knew what Filipino was. Starting Junior high, I was trying to fit in with the cool kids because I was tired of being called “weird,” and I wanted the boys to notice me. I became somewhat of a chameleon. I could adapt to any group and jumped around because I wanted to be liked by everyone. A people pleaser. Interest-wise, piano was my main focus. Others included dance, art, basketball, volleyball. Other than that, all I really cared about was partying with my friends and hooking up with boys. I had a bit of a strict childhood, so once I hit puberty and my hormones were on a rampage, I wasn’t the easiest teenager to live with. 

Pricing:

• $100 Piano Lessons
• $200 Live Streaming Coaching
• $5000 Dueling Piano Entertainment
• $500-$10,000 Artwork Commission

Contact Info:

• Website: https://missyalcazarmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missyalcazarmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missyalcazarmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/missy_alcazar
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/missyalcazarmusic
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/missyalcazar/tracks
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/missyalcazarmusic/about

Image Credits
Stephanie Girard Photography