Inside the orchestra room, piano music greets you at the door, but the piano is nowhere in plain sight. Who’s playing the piano? Where?
Behind a door is a space the size of a storage closet. The walls are painted beige and yellow, and are mostly bare. There’s enough room for an upright piano, a stool, a music stand and a student desk.
Royce Martin, brow furrowed, is seated at the piano in deep concentration, his finger racing across the keys. He’s playing the music that’s in his head. It’s not written on the notebook-sized white board perched in front of him. There’s no sheet music on the stand. It’s just him, the piano and the music.
Martin is a sophomore in the music pathway at Grand Center Arts Academy, a Confluence Charter School. He’s been a student at GCAA since sixth grade. Since he arrived at the school, he wanted to be in the band or orchestra, but he didn’t know how to play an instrument. All he had was an interest. Soon, he took the initiative to teach himself.
“I had friends in band who could play instruments and I wanted to be able to do the same. They became sort of my envy and my motivation,” said Martin.
“Once I finally got in band in eighth grade, I watched a teacher play the piano.”
He knew he could do the same. Then, he realized he could figure out the sounds in his head by playing the keys on the piano.
“I didn’t understand why it sounded the way it did, and I didn’t know the notes, but I knew the sounds,” said Martin.
In the two years since Martin has been playing the piano, it has taken him to places he hadn’t considered. Yes – only two years.
“Last year, I learned music theory. It’s essential,” he said. “Classical music is interesting to me. It’s good for technique. I wouldn’t be able to play the way I do now without classical music.”
In April, he won the 2016 St. Louis Teen Talent Competition at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. Out of 12 acts, he took first place with an original composition that he created, earning $7,000 in scholarships and other awards. Before the competition, he appeared on FOX 2 to play a piece to help promote the event. In February, a local organization called Pianos for People gave him a piano for his home. He was interviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a recipient.
“It’s been overwhelming,” said Martin.
“Being in the competition at the Fox taught me to be more courageous as a performer, and it helped with my stage presence.”
“I have to give some credit to GCAA for help with developing my skill. I’ve learned music theory. I’m around other artists and other people with a craft,” said Martin. For example, twice a week, he and others practice at Jazz at the Bistro. A few days before this interview, he performed at Jazz at the Bistro with classmates.
“I want to be recognized as a pianist and a composer,” said Martin. “Now, I’m writing with more emotion, but before, I just wanted to show people that I could play the piano.”
“I have to release what’s in my mind through music,” he explained.
In other words, he’s putting his emotions and experiences of life into his music.