Once Upon A Time: Everyone would say: ‘Holy Cow!’ They’d never seen a kid like me [Part2]

In my early teens, I’d search through the newspaper for local piano competitions. I’d go to them alone.  At the registration table, I would lie and say my parents were waiting outside.

Then I’d get up on stage in my cheap polyester suit, and I’d begin to play. The audiences in my neighborhood were Latino.

So I’d start with a classical piece like Moonlight Sonata, but then in the middle, I’d switch into a famous Spanish love song: Por Amor. The crowd would go crazy.

Then I’d switch back to the classical, without missing a beat. Everyone would say: ‘Holy Cow!’ They’d never seen a kid like me. Maybe there were kids like me in Russia. Or China. But not in my neighborhood. I’d almost always win.

Most of the time it was just $15 or $20, but the prize didn’t matter. I was being recognized. My entire life I’d been behind, but now I was ahead at something. At the age of fourteen, I became an accompanist for the Ballet Hispanico.

That same year I became the youngest church music director in the entire Archdiocese. The bishop gave me a medal for that. My grades were still terrible. When I got rejected from NYU, a friend suggested that I just show up at the music department and play piano for them.

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It was one of those freak, negative seven days in January. During the whole subway ride, I was sitting on my hands to keep them warm.

When I arrived at the school, I walked straight into the music building and said: ‘I’m here to audition.’ The secretary looked at me like I was crazy. She said: ‘No, no, no. That’s not how it works.’

But right then a door opened, and out came the Director of Music. She said: ‘What’s going on here?’ And I told her: ‘You have to hear me play piano.’ She led me into an empty ensemble room– Room 777.

All kinds of orchestra instruments were lined against the wall, and in the middle was a single grand piano. I sat down at the bench and began to play. I played some Beethoven. Then some Bach. Then some Spanish. Then some Spanish pop. The director listened quietly for thirty minutes, then she asked: ‘Is there anything you can’t play?’ ‘I’m not sure,’ I told her. ‘Maybe you can teach me.’ She gave me a full scholarship on the spot.”

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