An article in the local paper!
Rick Patrick
When asked what style of music he
enjoys, John Beggs responds with artists that
you may not expect from a l3-year old.
Instead of Post Malone, Bruno Mars or
maybe Beyonce´, Beggs responds with George
Gershwin, Fats Waller and Benny Goodman.
For the past four years, he has been working
and practicing "old style piano music," which
is a combination of ragtime, early swing and
jazz from the early 1900s. A fan of country
music from a very early age, the Madison
County native began taking mandolin lessons
because he wanted to learn to play the fiddle.
"Every fiddle player I ever met said to learn
to play mandolin first," said Beggs. After a
year of plucking on the mandolin strings,
Beggs' teacher decided to teach him to play
the piano.
Being gifted with an incredible ear,
Beggs found that he could play almost
anything he wanted, simply by ear without
musical notation. A new piano teacher
attempted to teach Beggs to play more by
musical notation, without much success. "I
did not like that," said Beggs. "I tried to show
her how I could play what I heard better than
by playing with music. After about a year, I
quit taking lessons from her because my Father
realized I was spending an hour or two a day
playing piano, but I never practiced my lessons. I
just wanted to play the songs I was hearing."
When Beggs was nine, he was introduced to a
new style of music that caught Beggs' ear. Beggs
heard a performance by the noted ragtime and
“boogie-woogie” piano player, Bob Milne. Soon
after, Beggs’ father, Chip, learned of Milne’s
annual “Ragtime Retreat” in Michigan. Beggs was
able to attend and the result was “love at first note.”
“I had a great time there,” recalls Beggs. “It was
four days of piano playing fun. Bob also gave
me a private lesson.”
Beggs began spending his time perfecting his
"old time piano playing" skills. According to
the OId Time Piano Playing World
Championship and Festival, this style of
music can be described as:
"The style of piano playing found
primarily in public venues of performance
between 1890 and 1939, particularly in bars
and piano competitions, consisting of popular
songs and instrumentals of that era, including
ragtime, traditional jazz, novelty, stride and
boogie, but excluding advanced chord
progressions more commonly found by l940
or later in symphonic, modem jazz and be-hop
music forms."
Last year, Beggs entered the Junior
Division of the Old Time Piano Playing
World Championship during their annual
festival, held in Oxford, Miss. each year.
Beggs placed fifth in the division, which
included young musicians from across the
nation.
The current situation has put a damper on
performing live for many musicians, and it
has been no exception for Beggs, Beggs has
made attempts to counter-act this by offering
his music online. He also plans to produce
some educational videos to be posted on his
website. According to Beggs' father, Chip,
Beggs incorporates a bit of musical history
with interesting stories about the artists and
composers of the music he is playing. Beggs will
even offer to provide relaxing music for your
family for dinner or after-dinner enjoyment. He
says he would love the opportunity to perform in a
local restaurant. You can also hear samples of his
music and order CDs and download individual
songs at www.JohnBeggs.us.
Young John Beggs, a l3-year old Madison native
has just released his second CD of “old time" piano music.
