Jeff Heisholt
The Trews
www.thetrewsmusic.com
Stage Essentials: Roland RD-700NX Digital Piano, Studiologic
Numa Organ with Neo Ventilator Leslie Pedal, Hohner Clavinet
E7 with Drive and Wah Effects, Moog Grandmother Analog
Synth, Yorkville Sound 200KB Keyboard Amp
I grew up in Thunder Bay, ON in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where it
seemed every kid I knew played hockey except for me. I tell
friends that’s really why I got into music; I didn’t want to do
Gerald Peter
The Gerald Peter Project
www.geraldpetermusic.com
Stage Essentials: Kawai VPC Virtual Pia-
no Controller, ROLI Seaboard Rise, Apple
MacBook Pro with MainStage, iPad with
GeoShred, and another computer running my
own MIDI reactive visuals
I was always very picky with music, even
when listening to recordings of my own
ideas/creations. I tried to make music driven
by inspiration. In piano lessons, I preferred to
learn chords and play music by my favourite
artists instead of learning traditional clas-
sical pieces. I never went to conservatory;
instead, I started to improvise. I was always
recording ideas, mostly starting with piano
improvisation. When listening through my re-
cordings, I evaluated whether I enjoyed them
as a listener and if they could improve. I
continued to work out my recorded snippets,
shuffling them around, combining different
ideas, and ending up with different versions
of every piece. Then it was an evolutionary
process – selecting and combining my best
parts to improve my creation.
Whether performing, composing or pro-
ducing music, I think this “feedback loop”
process was effective in finding my own
musical path. Overall, I don’t worry too much
if my creation is 100 per cent unique or not; I
do what feels natural to me, and if I enjoy the
result, I’m happy.
56 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
what everyone else was doing, and everyone I knew who
played music seemed to play guitar, so I chose keyboards.
It being a small town, I was able to find an abundance of
cheap, quality gear. When I first toured across the country in
1998, I had five keyboards on stage: a Yamaha P150 piano,
Korg CX3, Fender Rhodes Mark I, Clavinet E7, and a Roland
JX3P (and a big amp). This became my “sound.” I had a
mountain of gear to lug around and was always asked why I
didn’t trim it down and just settle for one or two keyboards.
I just couldn’t do it. The “easy” route didn’t even seem like an
option. It’d take forever to set up and longer to tear down, but
having all those magnificent keyboards and sounds for every
show has always been worth the haul.
Elijah Woods
Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine
www.ewxjf.com
Stage Essentials: Akai MPK261 Keyboard Controller, Roland RD-
2000 Stage Piano, Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad, iConnectivity mio4
MIDI Interface, iConnectivity PlayAUDIO12 Interface, Ableton Live
My strength lies in my ability to learn. My advice to anyone trying
to do anything in music: find something you love and commit to
learning the intricacies of that. Do something authentic to you, and
don’t worry about the conventional way of doing things.
There’s enormous value to dedicating time-proven ways of learning
and the elements of music theory and style in multiple genres. Music
is very much a language – one that is written and spoken in many
different dialects; however, the framework you begin with – like those
who’ve come before you, from classical composers to jazz greats to
rock and pop stars – is just a beginning. At some point, you need to
build on that, hang your own bits and bobs where you like, and make
it your own.
As for when to start that process, well, let’s finish with one more
Cummings quote: “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curios-
ity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the
human spirit.”
Kevin Young is a musician and freelance writer based in Toronto.