Renaissance man of Malibu sings, composes for and plays the piano, produces TV, is president of his own PR firm, creates art to music and writes a book.
By Michelle Logsdon/Special to The Malibu Times
“I had no intentions of writing this book,” said composer and author Brooke Halpin.
Yet, 289 pages later he had penned “The Everything(r) Playing Piano and Keyboards Book,” an informative and well-organized book that’s a great teaching tool for beginners and a helpful reference manual for advanced musicians.
Halpin is an accomplished pianist and composer but he hadn’t considered transferring his knowledge into a book until literary agent and friend, Wendy Keller, moved in across the street from him in Malibu.
Keller often attended musical get-togethers at Halpin’s house and thought he would be the perfect person to author an upcoming piano book Adams Media Corp. planned to publish in its “Everything(r)” series.
“The good news is I already had the book in me so I didn’t have to do a lot of research,” Halpin said. “I knocked the book out in about six months.”
Adding the title of author to his repertoire wasn’t much of a stretch for Halpin as he’s worn several hats in the music and business world. Halpin has worked as a singer, composer, pianist, television host/producer and, currently, as president of his own public relations firm.
“I’ve always had a business sense too, so I try to be balanced. I try to follow the natural path life gives me.”
His lifelong professional and personal relationship with music began when he saw the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964.
“I was at a very impressionable age and I thought, ‘that is what I want to do, I want to be like that.'”
He started his own band in high school and actually made a living playing gigs throughout Connecticut and New York. Passion and discipline kept Halpin on the fast track to reaching his goals. And his accomplishments are many, including composing the music to the Academy Award-winning film “Molly’s Pilgrim.”
Music came so naturally to Halpin he didn’t take formal piano lessons until he had to as part of the curriculum at the Hartford Conservatory of Music. Even then, Halpin forged his own path by writing his own piano tutorials.
“They wanted me to play Handel and Haydn and I was a young rock ‘n’ roller. I didn’t want to play all this dead music by dead composers so I wrote my own piano lessons.”
After moving to California and graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, his innate understanding of music led Halpin to the theater where he worked as an improvisational pianist/composer for the Los Angeles Ballet, The Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre and the Martha Graham Dance Company.
This same natural ability motivated Halpin to write his own compositions for the “Everything(r) Piano Book” instead of regurgitating well-worn pieces of instructional piano music. The first part of the book covers the history of the piano and many famous pianists from the classical, romantic, pop and jazz genres. Then Halpin explains the types of pianos, purchasing a piano and caring for it, taking piano lessons and even the assembly of a home recording studio. The second part of the book is the tutorial.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Halpin created paintings to go along with some of the pieces of music he wrote for the book. The canvases are decorated with geometric pieces of the actual sheet music.
He presented the paintings at the Timothy Yarger Gallery in Santa Monica July 20 and combined the show with a book-signing and mini concert. Intermingling Beatles songs with songs from the book, Halpin entertained the crowd and discussed his art.
One of the compositions is called “Quiet Sunday.” Halpin wrote this piece on Sunday, Sept. 10. He painted the accompanying artwork in March. The peaceful peach backdrop is dotted with puffy white clouds and soft clippings of the sheet music. But Halpin felt it needed something more and so he added two tall strokes of light blue paint to resemble the World Trade Center Towers. Herein lies the lesson Halpin wants to share through his book and his art.
“If you look around the world in which we live in today, it’s crazy out there. Maybe people don’t have the pleasures, depth and richness that art and culture provides. We need music, it helps us express our emotions.”
That message got through to. Ann Ready, who bought a copy of the book. “I’ve always wanted to learn to play piano. It would be wonderful to even come close to [Halpin’s] love for the music.”
Halpin hopes his book creates new musicians who will use the piano as a meeting place for family and friends. A place where people can express themselves, have fun and experience life. Although this was Halpin’s goal for the book before the Sept. 11 attacks, it became even more significant to him afterward
“Everybody can relate to music because music is the universal language.”