From an early age, music has been a passion for Steve Lonsky. Something that runs in the family.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Steve Lonsky plays the piano at St. Mary's Church in Auburn on Friday afternoon. Lonsky, who lost fingers on both of his hands as a teenager, plays regularly at Sempronius Baptist Church.
Steve Lonsky plays the piano at St. Mary's Church in Auburn on Friday afternoon. Lonsky, who lost fingers on both of his hands as a teenager, plays regularly at Sempronius Baptist Church.
Starting off with banjo and guitar, Lonsky took an active interest in piano when his brother began taking lessons.
“My brother Joe still plays in a band called The Destination,” Lonsky said. “But he started taking lessons when I was 16 and I heard him playing the ‘Maple Leaf Rag,' so I decided I wanted to play.”
With a knowledge based in guitar and banjo, Lonsky said that he persistently worked at teaching himself the fundamentals of reading music and how to play the piano.
“I just kept hammering away at it,” Lonsky said. “I took one lesson and the teacher told me I should really just keep doing what I was doing, so I guess I was really pretty much self taught.”
Growing up, Lonsky, like many other kids, had another interest in fireworks. At the time, there were often how-to instructions in the back of publications like Popular Science, where he learned some of the rudiments of making his own explosives - something that ultimately cost Lonsky two fingers on his left hand and two and half fingers on his right.
“Some kids like to drive too fast or snowmobile and things like that,” Lonsky said. “I liked fireworks and things like that and I was mixing up some gunpowder with a chemical that shouldn't have been in the mix.”
After the accident, at the age of 19, Lonsky put his musical interests on the shelf.
“I didn't play at all for a few months,” Lonsky said. “But after a while I gradually picked it up again.”
Lonsky said that he dabbled with the piano off and on for years since then.
But at 38, he suffered another setback when he severed some of the tendons in his hand. “I had surgery and they reconnected them,” Lonsky said. “But I only have half the mobility I used to, I couldn't move my fingers, but now my hands actually seem to work better.”
These days, a resident of Genoa, Lonsky works as a welder fabricator, but still finds time to play his music.
“I use it to unwind really,” Lonsky said. “I try to get a few hours a week in playing, it just depends on everything else that is going on. Life is busy, but I try to find some time to play and unwind.”
One driving force in Lonsky's life has been religion. Lonsky said that he has become a Christian, attending Sempronius Baptist Church, which has offered him the opportunity to play much more than he might normally.
“There was a woman there who was leading the music there,” Lonsky said. “But she said that she couldn't do it, so I found myself leading that music. Everything we do is for God and His glory and that is what I try to do with my work and with my music.”
But even at church, Lonsky finds a little room for his own musical voice.
“I play a little jazzier,” Lonsky said. “So I'm playing the music like it is written, but you might hear the ragtime bass in there too. I like it to be upbeat, for me that is what music is all about.”
Lonsky said that he also works on his own compositions at home, and sometimes plays with his wife, Barbara, on guitar and his daughter, Stephanie, playing mandolin.
While Lonsky's public performances have mostly been limited to church these days - namely a couple of weeks ago with the encouragement of Barbara and Stephanie - Lonsky took his music to the stage at Burritt's Cafe in Weedsport, playing his own original composition.
“That was really nice,” Lonsky said. “It was nice to play and that people actually wanted to hear the songs that I wrote and that people really seemed to like to hear them.”
Lonsky said that he has been asked to play at Burritt's again. Though no definite dates have been set yet, he may be taking a step into another musical world.
“My wife and daughter keep saying I should make a CD,” Lonsky said. “So we'll see that might be something I do, record my songs that I wrote, I think that is something I'd like to pursue.”
“My brother Joe still plays in a band called The Destination,” Lonsky said. “But he started taking lessons when I was 16 and I heard him playing the ‘Maple Leaf Rag,' so I decided I wanted to play.”
With a knowledge based in guitar and banjo, Lonsky said that he persistently worked at teaching himself the fundamentals of reading music and how to play the piano.
“I just kept hammering away at it,” Lonsky said. “I took one lesson and the teacher told me I should really just keep doing what I was doing, so I guess I was really pretty much self taught.”
Growing up, Lonsky, like many other kids, had another interest in fireworks. At the time, there were often how-to instructions in the back of publications like Popular Science, where he learned some of the rudiments of making his own explosives - something that ultimately cost Lonsky two fingers on his left hand and two and half fingers on his right.
“Some kids like to drive too fast or snowmobile and things like that,” Lonsky said. “I liked fireworks and things like that and I was mixing up some gunpowder with a chemical that shouldn't have been in the mix.”
After the accident, at the age of 19, Lonsky put his musical interests on the shelf.
“I didn't play at all for a few months,” Lonsky said. “But after a while I gradually picked it up again.”
Lonsky said that he dabbled with the piano off and on for years since then.
But at 38, he suffered another setback when he severed some of the tendons in his hand. “I had surgery and they reconnected them,” Lonsky said. “But I only have half the mobility I used to, I couldn't move my fingers, but now my hands actually seem to work better.”
These days, a resident of Genoa, Lonsky works as a welder fabricator, but still finds time to play his music.
“I use it to unwind really,” Lonsky said. “I try to get a few hours a week in playing, it just depends on everything else that is going on. Life is busy, but I try to find some time to play and unwind.”
One driving force in Lonsky's life has been religion. Lonsky said that he has become a Christian, attending Sempronius Baptist Church, which has offered him the opportunity to play much more than he might normally.
“There was a woman there who was leading the music there,” Lonsky said. “But she said that she couldn't do it, so I found myself leading that music. Everything we do is for God and His glory and that is what I try to do with my work and with my music.”
But even at church, Lonsky finds a little room for his own musical voice.
“I play a little jazzier,” Lonsky said. “So I'm playing the music like it is written, but you might hear the ragtime bass in there too. I like it to be upbeat, for me that is what music is all about.”
Lonsky said that he also works on his own compositions at home, and sometimes plays with his wife, Barbara, on guitar and his daughter, Stephanie, playing mandolin.
While Lonsky's public performances have mostly been limited to church these days - namely a couple of weeks ago with the encouragement of Barbara and Stephanie - Lonsky took his music to the stage at Burritt's Cafe in Weedsport, playing his own original composition.
“That was really nice,” Lonsky said. “It was nice to play and that people actually wanted to hear the songs that I wrote and that people really seemed to like to hear them.”
Lonsky said that he has been asked to play at Burritt's again. Though no definite dates have been set yet, he may be taking a step into another musical world.
“My wife and daughter keep saying I should make a CD,” Lonsky said. “So we'll see that might be something I do, record my songs that I wrote, I think that is something I'd like to pursue.”
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