He said that some insist a messy work area will negatively effect the quality of a musician. But Kris Kooi doesn't know he believes the truth behind that as he rummaged through the stacks of famous, rare and more recent compositions and “Family Guy” DVDs on top of his piano.
Laura Boyce / The Citizen
Kris Kooi sits at the piano in his home, where he spends much of his free time. Kooi, a senior at Auburn High School, has played the piano since third grade and had one of his original compositions performed by the Auburn Chamber Orchestra earlier this month. He will go on to major in music in the fall at Cornell University and aspires to become a music professor and professional musician.
Kris Kooi sits at the piano in his home, where he spends much of his free time. Kooi, a senior at Auburn High School, has played the piano since third grade and had one of his original compositions performed by the Auburn Chamber Orchestra earlier this month. He will go on to major in music in the fall at Cornell University and aspires to become a music professor and professional musician.
“I really enjoy ‘Family Guy,'” he said before sitting down to play George Gershwin's “The Man I Love” from memory.
Kris, 18, a senior at Auburn High School, has music playing in his head most of the time.
“I am always listening to music, even when there is no music around,” he said. “Music is such a big part of who I am.”
Since the third grade, Kooi has been playing the piano. He got started as an impressionable young boy who watched his two older sisters, Kim and Kerry Kooi, play the instrument and wanted to do it too.
“It turns out, I just liked it better,” Kris said.
Since then, the world of classical music has engulfed him, and besides his weekly lesson with John Spradling in Syracuse, he said he spends many of his free hours just playing the piano at the family's home.
“I also look into jazz a bit,” he said. “I play music on the border of jazz and classical, but the fact that it's written down, it's not jazz.”
He knows what he likes and finds it slightly ironic that the two pop musicians he enjoys listening to - John Mayer and Norah Jones - both also seem to be moving toward jazz.
Yet on the classical end, which the vast majority of his CD collection is made up of, he still finds it hard to pick a favorite.
Deciding on five composers, Kris has a different reason for liking each.
“Gershwin is the best American composer, period,” he said, while moving onto his admiration for the way Johann Sebastian Bach arranged his music. “There's really not a non-musical way to say it, but the way (Bach) arranged his music, it's very contrapuntally perfect, contrapuntally beautiful.”
Bach's music was not necessarily unified sounds, but various melodies woven together to create a larger sound, he explained.
He said Ludwig van Beethoven's mastery of solo, chamber, opera and symphony composition puts him as the best composer of all time, while Frederic Chopin is the easiest to say the music is just beautiful. Rounding out his list of favorites Kris included Sergei Rachmaninoff simply because “I just love his music. It's hard to explain.”
While those men have created some of the most recognizable compositions, the Auburn Chamber Orchestra recently performed an original by Kris, who has also been a member of for four years, playing the double bass - his other instrument of choice.
“It definitely was very rewarding to hear,” Kris said of the first public performance of any of his pieces.
He just recently started composing his own music but says he hasn't figured out the creative process and improvises mostly at the piano.
“Not much gets written down,” he said.
Kris was also recognized at that ACO concert when he was surprised with a scholarship. He will be attending Cornell University in the fall to major in music. This past fall, at the Adam's Foundation's presentation of pianist Ursula Oppens, he was recognized for his achievements academically - Kris was a National Merit Scholarship finalist, one of the only to receive such an honor from Auburn High School.
“They wanted to bring attention to the fact that musicians can excel academically, too,” he said.
Founders of the Adam's Foundation, pianists Richard and John Contiguglia, also inspire Kris to continue on with music.
“We have similar beginnings,” he said of the Auburn natives.
Someday, he hopes his career will lead him to teach music at a college level, while also performing professionally to some degree. He's also contemplated conducting, which he said Spradling has told him he should pursue.
Having played all the string instruments, piano, guitar, electric bass accordion and the saxophone, Kris has a strong understanding of the world of music to take up such a task as conducting. Though he admits he only played most of them briefly when he was young in the search for what he wanted to pursue.
“Ask me to play the violin now and you'll want to run,” he said laughing.
Staff writer Laura Boyce can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 236 or at laura.boyce@lee.net
Kris, 18, a senior at Auburn High School, has music playing in his head most of the time.
“I am always listening to music, even when there is no music around,” he said. “Music is such a big part of who I am.”
Since the third grade, Kooi has been playing the piano. He got started as an impressionable young boy who watched his two older sisters, Kim and Kerry Kooi, play the instrument and wanted to do it too.
“It turns out, I just liked it better,” Kris said.
Since then, the world of classical music has engulfed him, and besides his weekly lesson with John Spradling in Syracuse, he said he spends many of his free hours just playing the piano at the family's home.
“I also look into jazz a bit,” he said. “I play music on the border of jazz and classical, but the fact that it's written down, it's not jazz.”
He knows what he likes and finds it slightly ironic that the two pop musicians he enjoys listening to - John Mayer and Norah Jones - both also seem to be moving toward jazz.
Yet on the classical end, which the vast majority of his CD collection is made up of, he still finds it hard to pick a favorite.
Deciding on five composers, Kris has a different reason for liking each.
“Gershwin is the best American composer, period,” he said, while moving onto his admiration for the way Johann Sebastian Bach arranged his music. “There's really not a non-musical way to say it, but the way (Bach) arranged his music, it's very contrapuntally perfect, contrapuntally beautiful.”
Bach's music was not necessarily unified sounds, but various melodies woven together to create a larger sound, he explained.
He said Ludwig van Beethoven's mastery of solo, chamber, opera and symphony composition puts him as the best composer of all time, while Frederic Chopin is the easiest to say the music is just beautiful. Rounding out his list of favorites Kris included Sergei Rachmaninoff simply because “I just love his music. It's hard to explain.”
While those men have created some of the most recognizable compositions, the Auburn Chamber Orchestra recently performed an original by Kris, who has also been a member of for four years, playing the double bass - his other instrument of choice.
“It definitely was very rewarding to hear,” Kris said of the first public performance of any of his pieces.
He just recently started composing his own music but says he hasn't figured out the creative process and improvises mostly at the piano.
“Not much gets written down,” he said.
Kris was also recognized at that ACO concert when he was surprised with a scholarship. He will be attending Cornell University in the fall to major in music. This past fall, at the Adam's Foundation's presentation of pianist Ursula Oppens, he was recognized for his achievements academically - Kris was a National Merit Scholarship finalist, one of the only to receive such an honor from Auburn High School.
“They wanted to bring attention to the fact that musicians can excel academically, too,” he said.
Founders of the Adam's Foundation, pianists Richard and John Contiguglia, also inspire Kris to continue on with music.
“We have similar beginnings,” he said of the Auburn natives.
Someday, he hopes his career will lead him to teach music at a college level, while also performing professionally to some degree. He's also contemplated conducting, which he said Spradling has told him he should pursue.
Having played all the string instruments, piano, guitar, electric bass accordion and the saxophone, Kris has a strong understanding of the world of music to take up such a task as conducting. Though he admits he only played most of them briefly when he was young in the search for what he wanted to pursue.
“Ask me to play the violin now and you'll want to run,” he said laughing.
Staff writer Laura Boyce can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 236 or at laura.boyce@lee.net
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Maurice Colgan wrote on May 21, 2007 1:36 PM: