— Music --
Although primarily a Classical Composer, Frank Stemper's interest in music began as a pianist. As a kid he
had non-traditional piano lessons from Milwaukee jazz pianist Tommy Sheridan. Tommy was a self-taught player from rural Iowa, who became the first pianist in Lawrence Welk's "orchestra." He left that lucrative position to marry "settle down," planting himself in Milwaukee Wisconsin. There he gigged and eeked out a good living by opening his own teaching studio. Tommy would make his own arrangements of the current popular, Top-40 radio tunes, and then he basically showed his students how to play these arrangements. There was very little emphasis on sight-reading the music, or music theory of any kind. But Tommy had enormous patience and got all of his students to play those tunes pretty well. By Tommy's personality and flash he inspired many young Milwaukee kids to have a future with music, whether it was professional or just a hobby.
Frank Stemper was obsessed with it. He learned other instruments, formed "combos" with neighborhood kids, and by the time he was 12 yrs. old he had organized a couple of rock n Roll bands to ease his obsessive musical urges - and also made a little bit of money. A few years later he was working as a jazz pianist, playing in clubs in his home town of Milwaukee Wisconsin. - competing with his former teacher. This early interest quickly evolved to composing Modern Classical Music (for lack of a better description). He moved away in the early 1970s to pursue a career at this opposite end of the musical spectrum. He followed, first, his education to Vancouver Canada, Boston, New York, Berkeley CA, and Paris France. After receiving an appointment to teach music as Southern Illinois University's Composer In Residence, following his activities as a composer took him pretty much around the world to hear premieres of his music, lecture on American Music, and teach young composers.
But the piano was there to assist his composing and performing. His keyboard skills, ingrained in the peculiar way the Tommy Sheridan taught them, have served him well as a chamber music pianist, performing Classical music from Mozart through Messiaen - including his own - as well as a soloing with orchestras and mixed ensembles. And Jazz was never too far away. That early interest is still fresh and, in fact, he considers his work as a composer as his very own version of jazz.
had non-traditional piano lessons from Milwaukee jazz pianist Tommy Sheridan. Tommy was a self-taught player from rural Iowa, who became the first pianist in Lawrence Welk's "orchestra." He left that lucrative position to marry "settle down," planting himself in Milwaukee Wisconsin. There he gigged and eeked out a good living by opening his own teaching studio. Tommy would make his own arrangements of the current popular, Top-40 radio tunes, and then he basically showed his students how to play these arrangements. There was very little emphasis on sight-reading the music, or music theory of any kind. But Tommy had enormous patience and got all of his students to play those tunes pretty well. By Tommy's personality and flash he inspired many young Milwaukee kids to have a future with music, whether it was professional or just a hobby.
Frank Stemper was obsessed with it. He learned other instruments, formed "combos" with neighborhood kids, and by the time he was 12 yrs. old he had organized a couple of rock n Roll bands to ease his obsessive musical urges - and also made a little bit of money. A few years later he was working as a jazz pianist, playing in clubs in his home town of Milwaukee Wisconsin. - competing with his former teacher. This early interest quickly evolved to composing Modern Classical Music (for lack of a better description). He moved away in the early 1970s to pursue a career at this opposite end of the musical spectrum. He followed, first, his education to Vancouver Canada, Boston, New York, Berkeley CA, and Paris France. After receiving an appointment to teach music as Southern Illinois University's Composer In Residence, following his activities as a composer took him pretty much around the world to hear premieres of his music, lecture on American Music, and teach young composers.
But the piano was there to assist his composing and performing. His keyboard skills, ingrained in the peculiar way the Tommy Sheridan taught them, have served him well as a chamber music pianist, performing Classical music from Mozart through Messiaen - including his own - as well as a soloing with orchestras and mixed ensembles. And Jazz was never too far away. That early interest is still fresh and, in fact, he considers his work as a composer as his very own version of jazz.
