- [Narrator 1] On this episode of "On Stage at Curtis".

- The improvisation, which I'm learning how to do now, is being able to compose spontaneously a... Basically a complete piece.

And that's the goal.

That's not... That's certainly not what I'm able to do well yet.

- [Narrator 2] In partnership with the Curtis Institute of Music, WHYY presents the following program.

(uptempo music) - My name is Daniel Carroll.

I am an organist and I'm studying performance at the Curtis Institute.

(accelerated music) I played baseball for most of my life up until about two years ago when music took the priority and I actually had to start practicing really hard.

There just wasn't enough time anymore.

It was always a part of life.

My dad was, I guess, my primary coach for baseball.

He helped manage a couple of teams that I was on and we would throw and hit at home.

My mom was in the Air Force for 20 years.

She retired a while ago now.

And then my dad, my dad has a very interesting story.

He was a baseball player and he got drafted by the Cincinnati Reds out of high school.

And so he played in the Major leagues for two years.

And then after that he went to work for a...

I believe it's an intelligence firm in the DC area.

Well, I didn't actually start playing the organ until later than most.

I started at 12, and before that, I played piano.

It was interesting because there aren't really any, typically people my age or at my age at the time, who played the organ.

(up-tempo music) And so it was very strange because people who I went to school with, they would always be confused about what I was doing or where I was going or why I had to practice so much and things like that.

(up-tempo music) I had a couple of friends who were also studying organ or piano as well.

And so they understood it.

They understood the whole thing of practicing and performing and researching and that kind of thing.

(up-tempo music) Outside of those people, it was really kind of a novel concept to them.

They didn't really know people who did it before.

or people who studied this specific of a field.

So it was a little confusing for them, I think.

(up-tempo music) (up-tempo music continues) I would say my least favorite part about it is probably just the volatility of the career.

There's nothing...

There's nothing sure about it, but that's also kind of a positive thing because there's never as much of a struggle with motivation to practice 'cause it's only a certain amount of people can, or not really a certain amount of people, but a certain level of musician can, I guess, make it.

I really love performing in front of people, being able to at least attempt to do justice to the music of the great composers and improvise as well at a level, which is hopefully at some point we'll be near the great improvisers of this century.

(audience applauding) The first recital was just a student recital at Curtis, which I did.

I get a small part of like a two-hour program, which is done by various students on various instruments.

Max Reger's Introduction und Passacaglia, which is basically the introduction is just...

It's very short.

It's about two pages maybe, takes about two minutes, and then the Passacaglia is about 10 minutes long and it's just an ever-repeating melody in the base, which is then transformed and used kind of in variations.

(soft classic music) (classic music continues) (music continues) (up-tempo music) (accelerated music) I think the greatest classical musicians, something that I've seen from experience of meeting particularly organists who are just really at the top level is that they are really down to earth people and really quite humble.

I think being humble enough to realize that you are serving the art and that it's not about you.

I think that's what makes the best classical musicians.

Greatest qualities that I've seen in people I've met is that they are...

They're very personable.

(up-tempo music) They know how to check their own ego.

(classic music continues) Particularly the Oregon program here is pretty renowned, certainly one of the most renowned in this country, and so it's not that well known to general populace, I guess.

(audience applauding) What made me interested in it is the name of Curtis, but more so my teacher, Alan Morrison, who I studied with in the summer of 2022 for a week at a summer program here, which it was just an incredible experience.

I mean, we got to visit and play instruments such as The Wanamaker's store, Longwood Gardens and Kimmel Center as well.

And all of that combined with his amazing teaching is really what drew me to this particular school.

(up-tempo music) So I performed several pieces.

It's part of a series at Curtis.

They'll send all the organists at separate times throughout the year, and some other musicians as well, like a string quartet or a pianist or something like that.

And I performed there in April of this year and I performed about, I would say about an hour and a half program with composers such as John Weaver, who was a Curtis graduate and faculty.

He taught at Julliard as well and taught my current teacher, Alan Morrison.

(bright classic music) This improvisation is something that I did at the conclusion of a mass, which I played on at St. Peter's on Capitol Hill.

(classic music continues) And basically the purpose of this type of improvisation is just as people are walking out to provide some music and conclusion, usually it's pretty boisterous and kind of flamboyant.

And I try to exemplify that in mine.

(up-tempo music) I would say Curtis is, from what I've seen from other musicians who have graduated from here and just alumni in general, such as Yuja Wong or Yo-Yo Ma or people like that, I mean, it's a great place to begin a career and to develop the skills you need to be able to flourish as a musician.

I think this is certainly the best place in this country to do that.

(audience applauding) And the pieces I played were Marcel Dupre's Final from his set of seven pieces.

This piece is contrasting to the Reger, which is much more subdued and quiet in comparison.

The Dupre is much more bombastic and forward and kind of forceful.

And so it was a piece which I auditioned to Curtis with, and so it was always kind of close to me and a major part of my repertoire.

(up-tempo music) (music continues) (soft classic music) (accelerated music) After graduation, probably a master's degree.

I've been thinking about trying to go to school in Europe for a couple years 'cause it's much closer to kind of the center of the organ world.

(melancholic music) I would say that after graduation, unless I already have a very good agent, I think that, yeah, getting a master's in Europe or possibly somewhere here, I'm not sure yet.

(music continues) I have not really needed to take any auditions because as an organist, the only auditions we really take are for church jobs.

Most auditions for agencies or that kind of thing are just the agent shows up to a competition or a recital or anonymously and they will pick you up through that.

(up-tempo music) So I have not really taken any auditions.

I do have a church job, but that's part of the curriculum at Curtis and so I haven't really needed to do anything like that yet.

A lot of organ music, particularly from this country, parts of it have moved towards jazz a little bit more.

If I had to pick another genre, it would probably be jazz.

Yeah.

(up-tempo music) I think next... Give me a second.

That's a very broad question.

I don't know.

That's part of the beauty of it all is that I don't really know what's coming next, but I would like to think that it's more performances and of getting invited to play more places and being able to bring my music to more people.

I think that's certainly what I would hope it is.

But in all truth, that's the beauty of it, is that I have no idea.

(up-tempo music) I would tell my younger self, keep going and don't stop taking piano lessons.

(accelerated music continues) And for my future self, I think I would be asking questions to my future self more than telling anything.

I would be asking, well, what happened after you graduated?

What are you doing now?

Do you work at a church?

Do you play concerts?

Do you teach?

What area?

That's my biggest question is what I'll be doing.

I'm interested in a lot of different things like composition and performance and collaborative performance as well.

So that's what I would ask of my future self.

(up-tempo music)