When I was 3 years old, my family moved into a new house in Omaha, Nebraska. As a house-warming gift for my mom, my dad bought a beautiful white Yamaha baby grand piano. No one in the family played piano, but my fascination with the instrument kept me busy for hours at a time. My parents (and 4 younger siblings) eventually grew tired of my curious tinkering and I began taking lessons from Ms. Donna Smith at the age of 8.
My favorite part of my lessons was when Donna would sit down and play old jazz standards for me. I had never heard jazz before Donna played it for me, in fact I didn’t even know it was called jazz, but I could feel something stir inside me every time she played it. Though she primarily taught classical piano, Donna took a few liberties with me and we studied jazz and popular music.
As soon as I’d built up a little repertoire, I started playing the piano at church. I played a wedding for the first time when I was 14 and to this day weddings are some of my favorite gigs. It was around this time that I started writing my own songs. With the help of my parents, I started playing around the Omaha area at more weddings, private parties, corporate events, and even landed a job playing on the River City Star dinner cruise boat on the weekends. I also started taking lessons from Jackson Berkey, featured keyboardist for Grammy-winning group Mannheim Steamroller. Though I was a player who strove to do a lot of improvising, Jackson taught me the importance of paying attention to every written nuance on the page of a piece of music. I started to see music as a beautifully intricate yet universal language.
I went to an all-girls’ high school in Omaha called Marian. The choir director, Ms. Cathy Pruitte, was instrumental in getting me on-stage and in front of an audience. She gave me an outlet for my creative musical ideas by welcoming them into her classroom. I accompanied the choir and wrote arrangments for the girls to sing. As a junior, I won my first song-writing contest: the Nebraska Choral Arts Society’s Christmas Carol-writing Contest with a song I titled “The Chosen One.â€
After attending Berklee College of Music’s 5-week summer camp in Boston before my senior year of high school (where, I might add, I had the honor of spending an evening with Billy Joel), I applied to the school. In August of 2004, I packed up and flew to Boston to begin a new chapter of my musical journey. During my 4-year tenure there, I gained a wealth of knowledge about the music industry, as well as some first-hand experience in recording studios. After my junior year I recorded my first full-length album, “Good Company.†I returned home to Omaha that summer to put on my first professional concert. It was a huge success.
In May 2008, I received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Berklee. The Berklee environment is unlike any other place I’ve ever experienced and I am so fortunate to have been able to spend my college career in the midst of so many talented professors and peers. I look forward to using all that I’ve learned at Berklee as I enter the “real world†as a musician and song-writer.
I now live in New York City. It couldn't be more different than Omaha, but now that I can find my way around (without my map most of the time) and have come to terms with the fact that everything is 3 times as expensive as it should be, I am liking it more and more.
I look forward to sharing my latest project with you--an instrumental CD, as so many of you requested. I realize every day how fortunate I am to be so effortlessly supported by my family, friends and fans. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Stay tuned!
Best Wishes,
Karly
