My family has been described by a close friend as the closest living likeness to the Von Trapp family. The Von Trapp family was a family where all the members were singers and used their gifts to great effect to escape persecution during World War II.
Although we are not all professional singers, all seven of my siblings and myself were trained on the piano and other instruments until we graduated high school. Out of those eight kids, two of us are professional musicians while three others have gone to high levels for their ages and grades.
I wanted to give anyone who visited my site a chance to see into my musical background and history. I began playing piano at the age of seven and was formally trained in classical piano until I turned eighteen. After that, I continued my training on my own and never gave up the habit of practicing each morning.
If you meet me while I am performing somewhere, I typically describe myself as a honkytonk pianist. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry! The Honkytonk era of piano happened in the 1940’s, but it raised pianists like Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams.
I draw a lot of my style from Ragtime, Big Band styles, and smooth improv jazz. I love playing songs from Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, and of course, Billy Joel and Elton John.
In case you noticed, I’m pretty eclectic and even venture into a lot of classical music and have played rock songs on the piano. I love people and I love bringing music to them and light to the atmosphere I play in.
Taryn Starr 