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diversions
Carney correlates
life with music
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
Though he did not
own his first drum set until he was 16, Michael Carney knew
his life would be music by age 9.
"That's what I
have dedicated my life to: music," Carney said.
Carney, a professor
in the music department at Cal State Long Beach, remembers
summers spent at his grandparents picking blueberries and
banging on the baskets instead of actually picking berries.
A native of Rochester,
New York, Carney says he would find almost anything to make
music - spoons, glasses, or even forks.
At 9 years old,
he started to play instruments with a teacher.
"I learned to play
the piano and how to read music on my own before I was 9,"
Carney said. "I was probably 7."
What is rare about
Carney is that he taught himself piano and music notes by
watching his mother and aunt perform duets. He would observe
their fingers and look at the music sheets to figure out the
correlation between the two.
Today, Carney plays
about 50 instruments, most of them from other countries. He
plays all the classical percussion instruments, as well as
instruments from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and more. Oh,
and of course, he plays the piano.
He has helped many
students along the way. Senior music major Ian Grom came to
CSULB because of Carney.
"My first impression
of him was that he was so open," Grom said. "He wanted me
to check out everything on campus before I made my decision."
Grom attributes
more to Carney.
"Everything I know
about music, he has taught me," he said. "He is realistic
about performing and understands that anxiety is a big part
of everything."
Carney received
his bachelor's degree from East Carolina University in North
Carolina. He said many of his classmates are heads of percussion
departments all over the United States.
"At that time,
it was just the heyday of that school," Carney remarked.
He went to Eastman
School of Music for his masters at the University of Rochester
in Rochester, New York. Not once for any of his degrees did
he ever work.
"I put myself through
college by playing music," he said. " I never had a job."
Carney played at
night clubs, private parties, concerts and recording sessions;
whatever he could do.
"During my college
years I played just about every style of music there was,"
he said. "I played hard rock, country, blue grass, circus
music, Christian music, jazz, funk, soul, classical, even
close to what we might call heavy metal because I felt it
was really important to play every kind of music just for
my own experience."
Oddly enough, he
never planned to be a teacher. He was going to be a studio
musician in New York City because that was where he studied
as a teenager.
"It was about the
middle of my undergrad days that the teachers at my university
encouraged me to become a college professor because they thought
I would be good at it," Carney said.
At the time he
was winning awards at East Carolina University and had thought
about teaching. He talked to many of his role models and realized
that the greatest thing about teaching college students is
that he would have the freedom to play the music he wanted
to as well as be in a environment that was creative.
He started teaching
in 1978 at Western State College, which is in the Rocky Mountains;
a school of about 5,000 students.
When he got this
job, he had students his own age and older. When he walked
into the classroom and put his books on the desk, he remembers
a student remarking that he better move his stuff before the
teacher comes in. Carney says he could not go anywhere without
people mistaking him for a student back then; after all, he
was just 25 years old.
"It was a great
experience because I love to share the things I have experienced
as a musician and human being as well," he said.
A few years into
teaching there, he realized he wanted to move to Southern
California and teach at a major institution. So he looked
at schools to go to that would have some kind of connection
out here and ended up at the University of North Texas outside
of Dallas.
"Interestingly
enough, I was there only one month and found out about this
job here," Carney said. "Of course, I got the job. For the
next seven years I taught here and went [to the University
of North Texas] for the summers to get my doctorate. It all
just kind of happened the way I planned it."
Carney brings his
experience in performing all over the world to CSULB as a
professor in percussion, jazz, piano and world music.. He
has performed in the United States, and certain areas of Asia,
Europe, Canada, Brazil, West Africa and the Caribbean. Since
he had studied the music, he brought that knowledge from each
country he visited.
Carney does enjoy
other things in life but his heart is with music.
"Music is not only
my life, but it's also my hobby as well," he said. "I mean
that's what I do, that is what I am."
He has been teaching
at CSULB for 20 years.
"I know what it
is like to be a student and the kinds of teachers I liked
and the things about them and I try to emulate that," Carney
said. "I share certain personal experiences with students
and also help broaden their horizons and the spectrum of the
way they think of the world."
He classifies music
as a way to learn about other people.
"It helps [students]
understand what the world is about," Carney said. "We're not
living in a little microcosm any more. We're living in this
huge world where we can communicate worldwide because of communications
and the advancement of technology and it is important to get
rid of the misconceptions we have of other cultures.
"One way to break
down those barriers is through music, which is a universal
language," he said. "It has no color nor race. Music is for
all humanity."
That is one of
the reasons why he has branched out so much into all these
other cultures because it is important for him to understand
how he fits into the world.
He has found he
can analyze this by traveling all over the world, meeting
people and learning about the way people from other cultures
live their life and their values. He also feels he needs to
pass this on to his students, hopefully broadening their horizons.
He said that nothing
has changed since that first time he picked the drums up.
He still feels the same he did back then: happy.
"I can be just
as happy playing in my practice studio by myself, for myself
or playing for thousands of people. It's all about the love
of music."
He stressed three
things to students: dedication, motivation and discipline.
He believes that if they gain a certain level of those things
that will equal success in whatever they decide to do.
"Not all the students
that study music are going to be professional musicians,"
Carney said. "But if they learn to develop themselves in those
three ways and apply that to their music, they can take that
and apply it to anything in life and have success in anything
they decide do."
It is obvious he
makes a lasting impression on people and his students.
"He is amazing
because he has the musical ability to play with anyone he
wants to and yet, he takes his time to pass his knowledge
of music to everyone else," Grom said.
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