Steve Zegree - The Wow Factor: How to Create It, Inspire It & Achieve It: A Comprehensive Guide for Performers

Although writing a book certainly requires copious amounts of alone time for the author, it is by no means a solitary project. Ultimately there are numerous people involved in the project, most of whom work behind the scenes and generally do not receive the credit they deserve.

My personal growth and development of Wow Factors has been a lifelong endeavor with myriad influences, role models and mentors. In addition, as a performer I have been blessed with a wide variety of performance opportunities and travel experiences that have spanned five continents. As a professor, I have been equally blessed with and inspired by students who are not only talented, but also motivated, and perhaps most importantly, fun people to be around.

First, to all of my former, current and future students in the Gold Company Program at Western Michigan University, thank you for teaching me at least as much as I have taught you. My goal has always been to have a positive effect on your musical, professional and personal lives.

In my professional life as pianist and conductor I have been fortunate to interact with audiences that have included students and teachers throughout the world in concert, clinic, festival and master class settings. Although these encounters may have been brief and less personal, I thank you for the gift of wonderful memories, plus your part in adding and contributing to the factors contained in this book.

I am deeply humbled by my personal friends and professional colleagues who graciously agreed to be interviewed for this book. Your tremendous insights and experiences will educate and inspire every reader.

Thank you to my extraordinary friends and colleagues at Western Michigan University whose musical and personal contributions make the School of Music a special place: Diana Spradling, Duane Davis, Michael Wheaton, Trent Kynaston, Tom Knific, Scott Cowan, Keith Hall, Tim Froncek, Billy Hart, Fred Hersch, David Colson, Carl Doubleday, Margaret Hamilton, Kevin West, Joan Bynum, Gail Otis Birch and Margaret Merrion. Also, thanks to mon ami Jean-Claude Wilkens for literally bringing greater harmony to the world of choral music.

Special thanks to Duane Davis for his support and involvement in the Gold Company Program, and for agreeing to direct Gold Company for a year, allowing me a sabbatical and the desperately needed time to complete this project.

For the development and presentation of this book I am grateful to:

Emily Crocker and my friends at Hal Leonard Publishing, including Dan Stolper, Tom Anderson, and Janet Day, for their support and for always doing their best to make me look (and sound) good!

Denise Savas for her invaluable insights and suggestions as an objective reader, and offering perspectives that enhanced my vision of what this book could and should be.

Susan Rice for her initial editorial input (and especially her expertise in eliminating ellipses).

Dulcie Shoener: Editor Extraordinaire. Dulcie not only is a wiz in terms of crossing ts and dotting is; she is competent, conscientious and creative, and also has wonderful musical intelligencein addition to her gift for making the written page (and my message) much more clear and concise.

To my favorite sis and B-I-L, Joan and Spider, thanks for keeping it alive.

Finally, to my daughter Sarah and son Nat, who cause me to have a wow experience on a daily basis, thank you for the gift of joy and laughter. I love you more than all the world.

I have had an ongoing relationship with music for essentially my entire life. My earliest musical memories involve sitting at the piano with my father when I was just 3 years old. My father would play the melody and harmony of the first two measures of the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss, and I would play the famous two-note motive in melodic response. From a very early age I was aware of my ability to play melodies and harmonies by ear at the piano.

My formal musical training began with piano lessons when I was 7. My piano teacher recognized my ability to play by ear, and encouraged and fostered that creative ability (with equal amounts of traditional study that included classical repertoire and traditional music theory). I will always be grateful to my first piano teacher for allowing me the freedom to play non-classical music. In retrospect, I believe that freedom was significant in maintaining my interest in piano lessons throughout my formative years (combined with the fact that my mother did not allow me to quit!).

With formal piano lessons came the requisite solo piano performances at recitals and other musical functions. Therefore I was asked to (and I agreed to) perform from a very young age. Although I got nervous prior to a performanceand still do!I learned the basics of how to perform, focus, concentrate and even bow, all in the second grade, thereby establishing the roots of my career as a performer.

I formed my first band when I was in the seventh grade in San Mateo, California. The band included the best players from the eighth-grade class and even two high school students. Perhaps in deference to the keyboard player, we were called The Zigs. OK, there, I confessed itbut at least the name was catchy! We were offered and accepted professional performances like school dances and casual gigs at country clubs and private parties. As I reflect back, it seems as though I was quite young to be playing professionally, but it was a great opportunity to learn a bit about professionalism at a tender age and what that meant in every sense of the word.

As a college student I had the opportunity to perform with a wide variety of celebrities ranging from Bob Hope to Dave Brubeck. Because of my education, hard work and being in the right place at the right time, I was truly fortunate to collaborate with some extraordinary personalities. In every instance, not only was I interested in and fascinated by the performer from the audiences perspective, but I always had an even greater curiosity as to how the celebrities acted in rehearsals and then backstagewhere they were more inclined to reveal their true personalitieswhen they were not in the spotlight. To this day I still enjoy the opportunity to get to know a performer both on and off the stage.