TUNED IN

WASILLA — Music can be an emotional roller coaster for the audience and performer. From hopeless despair to giddy euphoria, it’s a universal language that conveys more than the notes scribbled on sheaves of staff paper.

For one Mat-Su Valley pianist, achieving musical excellence has come while dealing with personal trials.

Micah McKinnis is a 17-year-old home-educated student whose talent continues to blossom. Earlier this month, he won the Alaska Piano Competition, an event sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage. After performing well in a nationwide duets competition, his solo performance at UAA won the admiration of judges and the audience.

It was an emotional high that came just six weeks after his family home between Wasilla and Palmer burned. In addition to displacing the family, they lost three pianos and Micah was left scrambling to keep up a practice schedule with the state competition looming.

“With the competition coming up, that was kind of stressful,” he said. “Without a piano after the fire, I was a little concerned.”

The fire disrupted his practice for more than a week, but the kindness of friends and his teacher, UAA instructor Svetlana Velichco, allowed Micah to get back on track.

Talent discovered early

Micah was 7 when he was first introduced to the piano. His grandparents gave the family a piano and he took to the instrument immediately, he said.

“My grandparents had given my mom and dad a piano, and my grandpa always wanted my mom to play, but she never played,” he said. “So, I kind of putzed around on it a little. I remember I was interested in piano lessons and my mom signed me up for them.”

His first music instructor was Markus Bishko, an all-around musician whose main instrument was flute, Micah said.

“When Mr. Bishko first saw me, after a couple of weeks he said, because he wasn’t a piano teacher specifically, he thought he could only teach me for a short time because he thought I would pass his knowledge up. He said that in six months he thought he wouldn’t be able to teach me anymore.”

He ended up teaching Micah for about four years, and while still in high school — he’ll be a senior next school year — he takes piano lessons and music classes at UAA. He practices “at least an hour a day” and would like to use music as an avenue to get a college scholarship.

“I plan to attend college and I plan to study music to some extent,” he said. “I’m not sure how much, it just depends on what I want to do with it.”

Making more music

Now with 10 years of instruction and nearing adulthood, Micah’s music is also maturing. He recognizes the more subtle nuances that are the difference between simply playing the piano to making music.

“Well, you have to start with the technical aspects, that’s the beginning,” he said. “But you can’t just have the technical, because even if you play music perfectly you have to have emotion. That’s what people feel, that’s what they understand. The technical part is very important, but it’s only the beginning. Once you have that, (conveying) the emotions the composer intended and bringing those out is the challenge.”

He also enjoys performing, but admits there are always nerves involved. At the state competition, however, Micah said he was fairly calm. He played Beethoven’s Sonata No. 27 Opus 90 First Movement in D Minor, Chopin’s Fantasie in F Minor and Debussy’s Minstrel Prelude.

“I thought it went well,” he said. “On this performance, I was calm and I was able to focus and perform.”

And while music is an important part of Micah’s life, he likes to think he doesn’t have to be defined as a musician only.

“I think it’s important to be well-rounded in different ways,” he said. “I don’t just play piano, I teach gymnastics and do gymnastics myself, I love downhill skiing, hunting, fishing, hiking, mountain biking. It’s important to have balance.”

Next up is his senior year of high school and he’ll continue to play and study the piano, Micah said. Then, it’s college, “probably somewhere in the Lower 48.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.