Article with pictures by Chelsea Purgahn
www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2016/05/14-year-old_piano_prodigy_play.html14 year-old piano prodigy playing the Gilmore Festival has a story to tell
BATTLE CREEK, MI -- "Who's got a story to tell?" Emily Bear asked the audience of over 100 people. Someone took to the microphone and told a story of a girl playing in a tree house while her parents sipped lemonade before the girl fell. The parents worriedly rushed to her side, but in the end, the girl was OK.
In a matter of seconds, Bear put her fingers on the keys and composed the story to music, evoking feelings of joy and sadness through her quickly yet masterfully assembled melodies.
For Bear, making up a tune on the fly is no big deal. Even more impressive is that this pianist is only 14 years old.
Bear started piano lessons at age 4, but had already composed her first tune, Crystal Ice, by the time she was 3. "I was always fooling around on the piano," she recalled Wednesday from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, where her Emily Bear Trio performed for the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.
Since Crystal Ice was penned, Bear has composed hundreds of songs and worked with countless award-winning artists over her young career. Her close friends and mentor just so happens to be Quincy Jones, one of the most recognizable names in the music industry. Jones produced Bear's latest album, Diversity.
"I've got a bunch of ideas, millions of them, that aren't fully songs yet but aren't small enough to ignore."
"It's amazing working with Quincy. He's one of the most down to earth people. It's crazy, because he of all people should be high and mighty, but he's not. He's wise, and it's great when we're together," Bear said of Jones.
Bear draws inspiration from all kinds of artists, including her numerous teachers, and two of her favorite composers, Michael Giacchino and John Williams.
"Have you heard Michael's new Star Trek music? It's beautiful. And John? No one's greater than John," Bear gushed about the composers' work.
"Some people think it's a spiritual or scientific thing," she said of her process for composing new songs. "It's really just me getting inspired by something or a place, and I sit down and play. I've got a bunch of ideas – millions of them at home – that aren't fully songs yet but aren't small enough to ignore."
She rarely writes out her songs anymore. She will get an idea for say an A section of a jazz song, sit down and record it in a few takes or less, then think of the next section later.
Bear has played her original compositions all over the world, "but I actually haven't gotten to tour Africa yet," she said, adding she hopes she'll get to play there soon. While she loves performing with different symphonies and artists internationally, two of her favorite things about traveling for her concerts are simply trying new foods and experiencing different cultures.
Bear visited Kalamazoo last year to play a private event during the Gilmore Festival, but this is her first time playing officially for the festival. Bear was contacted by the festival after they learned of her from Conrad Tao, a Gilmore Young Artist, whom had a mutual teacher with Bear.
"It's really an honor to be part of this festival," Bear said. "They have a great lineup and hopefully I'll get to go to a few shows."
Of all the venues Bear has played, one of the most memorable was the White House, when at 6 years old she was invited to play at the Easter Egg Roll during President George W. Bush's term. The Jonas Brothers played the outdoor concert while Bear played the indoor concert on an old Steinway with golden eagle legs in the East Room.
She got a chance to hang out with the boy band before her family had a private meeting with President Bush, but was really excited at the time about all the "presidential swag" she got for performing, everything from White House M&M's to White House playing cards.
Currently, Bear is writing lots of pop music, which she says is a fun challenge, as well as a few orchestral pieces. She has even been commissioned to write her first choral piece, due out next spring.
So how does a 14-year-old prodigy balance composing and performing with her school and social life?
Bear was homeschooled in seventh and eighth grade. She is technically still homeschooled, but takes all of her classes at the local high school so she can go to football games and homecoming, and even play as the quarterback of the powder-puff team, which she did with her friends recently.
"I'm kind of overwhelmed right now because finals are in two weeks and I've missed, like, over a month of school, but it's all been pretty good so far," she said. While it's been a busy month, having a social life is very important to Bear, and she plans to have a few people over and to go to a friend's birthday party, like any normal teen, once she's back from the Gilmore Festival.
"You have to be balanced," she stressed.
Bear has done much in just 14 years of life, and has big plans for the next 14 and beyond. "There's a lot I want to do ... I want to dive into songwriting more, and probably also do some film scoring for animations and sci-fi movies."
There are also two big names she would love to perform with – John Legend and Bruno Mars. "I met John Legend once, but it'd be really cool to perform with him," she said of Legend, who performed in Kalamazoo two years ago during the last Gilmore Festival. "Or Bruno Mars. I love how he makes the throwback feel so popular."
Bear's final performance for the Gilmore Festival is set for noon Thursday, May 12, at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre Auditorium. The festival, which began April 26, wraps up Saturday, May 14.