Back in 2006, one of the forum moderators of the famous PianoWorld.com web site asked if I would participate in a thread whereas anyone could ask me anything about my music and I would answer. This free-form "interview" has always been a favorite because I got SO MANY great and unexpected questions from pianists, fans, and followers of my music. The scope of the topics covered is very broad, and conveys a good sense of who I am, what I do, and what I believe. The questions posed to the forum continued to drop in in over the course of a couple months - and a couple folks even added on to the thread years later.

With PianoWorld's permission, I've recreated the forum thread here in order to both make it easier to read AND to simply have a local archive of it. I feel the material contained here is historical, meaningful and important for posterities sake. CONTEXT: This interview took place right after the release of my album Overcome, which would go on to become my most popular album of original music, and right before the release of Adoration: Solo Piano Hymns, which became my most popular album overall. So, this interview documents my thought process just as my career was really starting to take off.

Note: There is quite a bit of back and forth in the forum thread (thank you's, observations, etc.) that I am not including here for the sake of brevity. If you'd like to read the exchange in its entirety, you'll find it here.

And now, to the interview...

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INTRODUCTION

Posted by Forum Moderator, ShiroKuro: Last week, I asked David (via email) if he would be willing to participate in a thread here where we could ask him questions and he would answer them. He kindly said yes, so I am starting the thread! I will start with some questions, so other folks please join in. (although, perhaps we should give David a chance to answer questions before we totally bombard him!)

ShiroKuro: David, I was very intrigued to learn that you don't really read music and you don't write your compositions down in musical notation. Your fact sheet says that you write your songs through improvisation. That makes sense to me, fooling around at the piano, finding some sounds you like and following them to see where they go. If this is an inaccurate represenation, please tell us more about your improvising process. So that's my first question, about your creative process.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. My compositions tend to come to me in one of two ways. Most of the time, I just sit down and start messing around until something stands out to me. Then I take that theme and keep building on it until I have all the parts of the song, the main melody (A), the secondary melody (B) and the bridge (C). A lot of my songs have intros/outros as well and lead in and out of the main theme. Other times, compositions I'm working on will split into two different pieces. I might be trying to develop a "bridge" for a song and that bridge is catchy enough to become a song of its own. So sometimes I start with one piece, and I might end up with two or three.

ShiroKuro: But then your fact sheet goes on to say that most of your songs take 6 to 9 months of arranging before you're satisfied with them. What I just cannot imagine (being totally dependent on written music) is how you can have a piece in the writing process and not just forget it completely! So my second question is: do you do anything to keep your composing process fresh in your mind?

I just play them as much as I can. If I forget a piece, then I figure it probably wasn't worth remembering anyway. :) It can get tricky when I'm developing several compositions at a time. It's hard to find the time to work up new material AND keep the old material fresh. I'm really struggling with this right now. I have about twenty new arrangements I'm working on for a Hymns album, plus another twenty arrangements for an album of original material. So that's about forty new compositions to tighten up and bring to a performance level, all the while keeping the old stuff ready to perform at a moments notice. That's a real chore.

ShiroKuro: My next question is about how you get your music turned into sheet music. I think your site said that it costs you about $300 to get a song professionally transcribed into musical notation/sheet music. Does that mean that you send a recording of your song to someone whose job is to make sheet music?

Yes, that's right. The price varies. I found a new transcriptionist who's quite a bit less expensive. I have about four different people I work with. All of them take the music from the MP3 or the CD and transcribe it by ear.

ShiroKuro: And then do they send you the finished product for your approval or how does that work? Do you ever get a score back and decide that there's a mistake there? Do you play through your own scores after they're written?

I try and play the sheet music through as best I can to catch the obvious stuff. I'll often sit with the sheet music and listen to the recording of the piece, too, following along with the left hand first, and then the right hand to see if everything looks OK. Then I have my wife, who does read sheet music, actually sit down and go through the piece. Finally, I have a friend who is a very skilled pianist and she goes through and proofs and edits the sheet music for me. One of the hardest decisions to make regarding my sheet music is the fingering because I sometimes play songs a lot different than what they are fingered. So often I have to decide whether those are things to adjust or not. I find that, as I'm not all that "technical", I play my own music technically "wrong." What I mean is, a normal, well-adjusted piano player whose been technically trained would probably play the music differently than I do.

ShiroKuro: Here's my last question (for the time being!) Your fact sheet also says that you enjoy creating music more than figuring out how to play something from a score. Do you regularly play music not written by you? If yes, what do you play? And if yes, is this for your own enjoyment or mainly for work (such as needing to play a specific song at a wedding etc)?

Yes, I play others' music - Christmas arrangements and Hymns predominantly. The only other time I play anything else is if I just get the inkling to do it. "Happy Together" for example on my Sweet Dreams & Starlight album. I used to play requested songs for weddings, too, but it just took way too much of my time to try and learn them. So now, if someone asks me to play their wedding, I just make sure they want "David Nevue" music and not popular wedding favorites.

At this point, the forum moderator turned the interview over to other forum members....

Monica Kern: We have been engaged in a long but ultimately unresolved debate on what exactly "new age" music is. Would you characterize your music as new age, and how would you define new age?

Good question. No, I don't classify myself as a "New Age" artist. I actually dislike the term as it can be associated with a variety of religious and philosophical ideas, most of which I don't wish to be associated with. When some people hear the term "New Age," they immediately have a negative reaction to it, some a negative musical reaction and some a negative spiritual one. However, as far as the music industry is concerned, "New Age" is just a musical category. Pretty much anything that isn't classical, jazz, rock, pop, country or a derivative of one of those can be tossed into the "New Age" category. I think it's much too broad a term. "New Age" can mean almost anything, musically speaking. I prefer to think of myself as "Neo-Classical" or simply "Solo Piano".

Rocky: how do you decide which pieces of music to create the sheet music for? Are they your personal favorites or is there some other method you use to decide?

I keep a count of what songs my listeners are requesting. When it's time to do some new sheet music, I do those that have been requested the most. I actually have a database where I keep track of what's been requested and how many times.

ARIAS: What is your favorite key to play in?

I'm not sure I really have one. For just the purpose of improvising, I like Gm. For some reason I can play in that all day and pretty much just make stuff up and it sounds good. :)

ARIAS: Also, I am into Hatha Yoga and I am always looking for music to do my poses to. I usually look for slow, peaceful music that is meditative. Do you have a CD that you would recommend for that category?

Do you have The Vigil? That's my personal favorite, and I think it's very meditative. Beyond that, probably The Last Waking Moment, While the Trees Sleep and Sweet Dreams & Starlight. The latter may not be as appropriate as there are a few recognizable tunes on there. Some folks don't like instrumentals of songs they know for meditative purposes because in their head their hearing the lyrics.

Ishmael: As far as I remember from your website, while in a concert, you tell stories (?) in between the pieces to better communicate the piece to your audience. Could you tell us one?

I think the stories would lose a lot without the performance context. Part of my presentation isn't just the words I'm saying, but how I'm saying it. The gestures, the humor, the timing, and the music itself. It all goes together to make the story appealing. Plus, honestly, it's too much writing for me to do in this context. Here's a little secret about me (not a secret anymore). I'm really obsessive/compulsive when it comes to writing. If it's just conversational email, I'm fine, but if I tried to tell a story in the writing, I would literally spend hours and hours editing it. It's part of the reason my blog isn't updated more often. I can't just write something in ten minutes and be done with it. I edit and edit and edit and edit until my fingers hurt. So, I don't really want to write the story here. I'd spend hours on it. I know it sounds weird, but it's one of my little personality quirks. I hope you understand. :)

JimJamz: Its pretty common for us guitar types to not read music as many of us are self taught, learn by listening, etc. However, its seems pretty rare among pianists. Do you considering not reading a detriment or enhancement to your creativity?

It's both, really. I mean it would be really terrific if I could just sit down and play anything from sheet music. So sure, I miss that part of it. I just honestly don't have the patience to sit down and learn to play other people's music. It's the reason I failed at piano lessons. I wanted my piano teacher to teach me how to play "piano," not how to play "Mozart." I was a terrible piano student. I had three years of lessons from three different teachers. I was a nightmare, I'm sure. Anyway, back to the question. I think NOT playing from sheet music and NOT going the traditional route has helped me creatively. I'm not bound by the rules. Now, obviously, certain rules are there for good reason, but they can limit you, too. You start focusing on all the "rules" and not the music. Since I don't know the rules, I don't worry about whether or not I'm breaking them. My wife tells me my pedaling technique is pitiful. I'm sure it is. But then, I pedal how I pedal. It's what makes me unique. I'm sure my fingering is atrocious, but it works for me. I know my posture is rediculous. You should see it. If I wasn't so serious when I play, it would be comical. If you record me in concert and then play it at double-speed it looks like I'm banging my head on the piano. :) But altogether it works, and without the rules to worry about, I'm not bound by them. I just play what I like and what I feel. And I'm INCREDIBLY BLESSED that people like my music. I am often in awe about that. It's so cool that I get to create something that appeals to me and that others' enjoy it too.

psychopianoman: I would love to see this. So you play with lots of movement. Did you always play this way or has it just evolved over time?:

It evolved. I think as I became more comfortable playing in front of people, I just started letting go of my emotional side when I played. Performance is an art. It's more than just the music. As a performer, when you're doing a concert you have to be three-dimensional. People want to SEE the music. So through the stories and the movement, I let them see it.

JimJamz: How did you learn to play?:

That's a question I ask myself now and then. I'm not exactly sure. When I was a kid I used to pick out the melodies of TV commercials on my gradma's piano. That's how my parents came to decide to start me in lessons - I could hear the music and find the melodies on the piano. I just have the ear I guess. As to how I learned to play, I just kept playing. You know, every song I write sounds terrible at first, but as it comes together, it starts to sound really, really nice. So it's just practice, repetition and fine tuning.

JimJamz: What do you recommend for a new player that wants to learn piano but is not interested in reading music?

LISTEN to the music you want to play. I started out listening to George Winston. Then I sat down and tried to figure out what he was playing on the keyboard. I did it all by ear. If you want to learn to play like I do, just get a CD player and put it beside the piano. Turn on some of the music you like (start with the easier, melodic stuff like mine) and try and find the key, the notes, what's being played in the left hand. This is more or less how I learned. I just kept hunting on the keyboard until I found the patterns I was looking for. The more you do it, the easier it is to do. Just about every artist has a pattern, a signature style, they tend to follow. Once you start playing the music and learn the patterns a particular composer leans toward, it becomes easier to do. As you become more comfortable, you'll begin to develop your own style.

psychopianoman: I have been playing around with making music and do not understand the principles behind the formating of a song such as ABA or ABCAB. I can make some nice sounding music but it is only 4-12 bars and I do not understand how to move it around the way you do. Do you have any suggestions for materials that teach about this song construction process?

I remember sitting down as a teenager and listening to my favorite rock songs on the radio and literally mapping them out: ABABCABBB The verse would start, and I'd write down an "A" Then the catchy chorus would kick in and I'd write down a "B" Then the verse repeated, so I wrote "A" again, then the chorus (B) and then finally the bridge, the "C" section. Then, more often than not the chorus would repeat a couple more times and "TA-DA" you have a 4 minute tune. This is a really good exercise to do. You can do this with just about anyone's music except the really obscure stuff. I really believe this is how I learned to write songs - just by listening to them and mapping them out on a piece of paper. The main thing is that you need to learn how to recognize the difference between an "verse" and a "chorus". This isn't too hard to do once you've practiced it. So just listen to music and try mapping it out the song structure. Whatever the "hook" is, that's the chorus. The "verse" is usually the part the leads up to the chorus. And the "bridge" is usually only heard once, twice at the most in most contemporary pop songs. It's just a slight change up to keep things from getting too repetitious.

psychopianoman: I think we have some Nevuites on here. There are certain avatars that pop in to every thread with your name.

My friends and I fondly refer to them as "NEV-Heads. :)

Monica Kern: Do you, as an artist, get to control how your music is categorized? Can you tell the producer "whatever you do, don't put the words 'new age' on my CD covers?"

I am my own producer, so yea, I tell myself what to do all the time, LOL. I definitely don't put "New Age" on my CDs, but I do promote the music to the New Age market, as well as Classical as I find I have fans in both. I don't worry about retail placement much, because my CDs aren't in any physical stores (although they can be ordered through a distributor). Online though, every digial media "store" has different categories. Rhapsody, for example, has "New Age", but then under that there are sub-genre's: Atmospheres Contemporary Instrumental Ethnic Fusion Nature New Age Acoustic New Age Electronic New Classical Self-Help Solo Instrumental Space Spiritual Techno Tribal All of that just under New Age, and every store is different. Sometimes you can request certain positioning, but most of the stores just put you where they think best.

angelojf: I am interested in the melding of Christianity with your music. Is much of your music a prayer? When you compose, are you sometimes in a state of prayer? To what extent is music for you actually an expression of your spirituality? Tanks so much!

I'm not sure if I'd say my songs are literal "prayers" although there are times when I play where the music *does* become an expression of prayer. When I'm writing, I'm looking at a song analytically, rather than spritually. I'm thinking of it as an arrangement - a puzzle to be solved. However, when I'm PLAYING or performing a song after it's been written, that's the point where the emotion and the "praying" comes in. I no longer see the song with my mind, but more with my heart and soul. My Christian faith is *strongly* integrated into all my music. Much of what I write is inspired by the Psalms or a reflection of my ongoing life in terms of how I relate a particular feeling/location/situation to my relationship with God. More than anything, though, I see the creation of my music as a mirror image of what God does. I view Him as the ultimate artist - the creator of all things. And so, when we ourselves create, we are (in a way) imitating that aspect of God. I'm not saying that in creating music, I AM a god - heavens no - what I mean is that our Creator made us in such a way that we can, though art, imitate that aspect of who He is. Much in the same way that we can share His love and mercy with others, we can also share His art. I often reflect on how amazing it is to create something new (a song) from nothing but my mind. Where no song existed before, I can create one. I make something from nothing, and that something becomes an expression of me, the songwriter. So in seeing that, it helps me to understand how God created everything from nothing, because this is all his "art," an expression of who He is. Only, I think that we are still each in the process being "written." Or perhaps it would be better to say we have already been written (from his perspective), but are still coming to be (from our perspective). God loves his creation in the same way that I love a new song. It's kind of a cool allegory.

ShiroKuro: David, your answers are all very interesting! I had all these questions floating around in my head, and I think they all bumped into each other and disintigrated! :p Well, there's one left anyway. So David, you never use a tape recorder when your in the composing process?

Yes, I do sometimes if I come up with something I really like and want to remember it. The problem is, I have found that even if I record something, I never take the time to go back and listen again. So even though I use it, I never really use it. :)

ShiroKuro: You must have an incredibly good memory. Do you ever sit down to play a song and find you can't remember it?

Yes, and when it happens, I just have to leave it and play another song. Then, if I try it the next day, often it will just "be there." I try not to freak out when I forget a song. If I do, I just end up frustrating myself.

ShiroKuro: If we sat down with a list of all the songs titles on all the CDs on your web site, and called out requests at random, would you be able to play them all at will?

Nope. I wish I could!

ShiroKuro: Would you have to stop and poke at the keyboard for a few minutes on any of them? Are there any that you probably don't remember?

It's possible I might remember part of a song, but not all of it. There are a few songs on CDs that I literally haven't played since I recorded them. I couldn't even hum them to you.

ShiroKuro: How do you remember a song? Do you think "that's the song that starts on A?" Or "that's the song in the key of G?" Or is it something else completely?

I'm not sure, actually. I play by finger memory quite a lot. Sometimes I just have to "dial in" to the melody. If I can find that, some of the rest might come. If I ever really want to remember an old song of mine to play for an upcoming concert for example, or just because I feel like bringing it to life again, I'll just go back to the recording to review it. Once I hear it, I can usually pick it up again in twenty or thirty minutes.

ShiroKuro: How do you get ready for a performance? Do you decide the program in advance, what you play and in what order? Do you write it down? Do you use that list during the actual concert?

Yes, I outline songs for each concert a couple of weeks beforehand. Every concert is a bit different. Some are more secular (schools), some more spiritual (churches), and some in between. I try to measure the expectations of my audience before each show. For example, I have three shows coming up in Jackson, MS, Abertville, AL, and Duluth, GA. The Jackson show is at a church - a Thursday night service. So my concert will have much more spiritual content. I'll share inspiration from the Bible, and play songs that draw from my spiritual walk. The Albertville concert is a benefit concert for people who've never heard my music before. So I'll play a lot of instantly likeable stuff. My goal there will be to take these people who've never heard my music and turn them into instant fans. The Duluth concert is actually a Whisperings concert that I am sharing with other artists, so I only have five songs or so to really hook people with. So I'll play the songs that I can tell the best stories with, because the stories sell the music.

ShiroKuro: If you do decide the songlist in advance, do you then practice for the concert by playing those pieces in the order that you'll play them in the concert?

Yes, I definitely run through the concert a few times. Also, more often than not I'll list my song order with "alternates" because sometimes, depending on my or the audiences mood, I'll want to play something other than what I initially put down. So even after I plan the concert, chances are good that some aspect of it will change during the show. In fact, that happens most of the time. The concert tends to deviate from my plan as I get the feel for the audience and my own particular mood in the moment.

IrishMak: So if you don't use sheet music, does each particular song change some each time you play it in concert? Or do you find you can remember note for note what the recorded (or originally conceived) version is?

The songs remain pretty much the same every time I play them in concert. By the time I've gotten a composition to the point that it's "done", I've probably played it two hundred times. So over time it just settles into a routine and doesn't change that much anymore.

Opus45: I was wondering, as a human being, what is it like for you to hear others play your music? Does that feeling differ in any way from David the artist?

It's very strange to hear my music played by others. I have this inner clock that expects the music to progress in a very particular way, with a very particular mood, timing and emotion. Other people have their own inner clocks, and their own way they feel things, so when they play, the song sounds very different to me than when I play it. Sometimes its surprising and refreshing to hear, other times it's jarring. I imagine it's a bit like it must be when someone who doesn't speak your language tries to learn it and speak it. Some of the correct "sounds" may be there, but the grammar and intonation just isn't quite the same.

Monika Kern: Do you get nervous at the beginning of or throughout a concert? Does it throw you off if you make a mistake? (I guess I should ask if you DO make mistakes!) How do you cope with mistakes or nervousness?

Yes, I get nervous, particularly the first three or four songs of a show. Usually, once I get through those, I settle down and just start playing without any nerves at all. I'm often playing a concert and in my head I'm thinking "what's next?, what's next?, what's next?" and I start going into this mini-panic. But the thing is, I've done it so many times, I've just leared to trust myself and calm myself down. So I tell myself, "Just play, just breathe," and I do. I've learned to trust my fingers - they know what to do. But yes, sometimes I do make a mistake. Often, they are just the kind where you slip and hit a wrong note in passing or something - not that big of a deal. But if you hit the wrong chord out of nowhere, your brain suddenly goes "What just happened?!?!" and it can throw off your whole rhythm. Then you have to try to spin it to a nice recovery. Most of the time, when I make a major mistake like this, I just improvise my way back into the song. There was only one time where I completely lost a song in concert and had to stop playing - and it was one of the first concerts I ever performed. One of the things I take comfort in (and you should too) is that people have very forgiving ears. More often than not, they don't consciously hear your mistakes, especially if you just keep going. It's like their brain "autocorrects" it for them or something. The secret is, don't draw attention to your mistakes. If you hit the wrong note, just act like it was the right one. Most people don't take notice of a mistake unless YOU take notice of it. They see your negative reaction to it and it's only then that they really notice. So if you make a mistake, pretend you didn't and no one will know any different. I remember one concert I did at a college where I played horribly - I made SO MANY mistakes it was probably one of the worst performances I ever gave. Afterward, person after person came up and complimented me, saying how beautiful and wonderful the concert was. One person, who was a professor at the college, said that in his 15 years there attending concerts, he'd never heard anyone come in and play the piano so smoothly and gracefully. I learned a big lesson that day. It doesn't matter what *I* think of my performance. It doesn't matter if I make mistakes. People still love it. So I've learned to just play and enjoy it, and if I make a mistake, oh well, life goes on.

ShiroKuro: Quoting (Yes, I get nervous, particularly the first three or four songs of a show. Usually, once I get through those, I settle down and just start playing without any nerves at all.) Do you plan your concert program with that in mind? For example, do you think things like "I don't want to play that piece until at least halfway through the concert, this piece is a good one to start with because it's easy and I can ease my nerves with it?"

Yes, I play songs that I tend to have NO trouble with first. I start almost every concert with The Vigil. It's simple, and I can play it even when nervous.

tolovemoon: Was your music already a career or was this something you started out doing from a hobby?

It was definitely a hobby. I did my first albums just because it seemed like it was the thing to do. I mean, if you write songs, you have to record them right? I don't think it was until I released my fourth album, The Vigil that I started thinking a real career as a pianist would be possible. I worked full time at Symantec Corp. as a Quality Assurance Manager until just five years ago. That's when I tool the "leap" and decided to go for it. So far, so good (mostly).

tolovemoon: Would you say that one must be passionate about what they are doing in order to become successful is a true statement?

Yes, in most cases. I mean, if you're not passionate about what you do, then other people have no reason to "follow" you. If you don't care, they don't care. If you do, they do. All generally speaking, of course.

tolovemoon: How much time do you spend a day practicing?

I typically practice five days a week, for 1-2 hours a day. On average, I'd say 90 minutes.

ARIAS: Do you ever have pains in your hands or wrists after hours of playing? Do you do any exercises or stretching exercises for your hands ?

Yes, I experience pain in my hands/wrists/arms and pedal leg on a regular basis. It's just become a part of my life. Years ago, I was given three days notice to prepare for a Christmas gig, and I practiced under a highly stressful situation for eight hours each of the three days before the show. I was in pain by half-way through the second day, but I kept pressing on... It was the worse decision I ever made, and all for a $75.00 gig. For MONTHS afterward, my wrists and fingers were in so much pain that I literally couldn't play the piano. I couldn't even type on a keyboard without pain. At work, I held a pencil in each hand and used the eraser tips to type so I wouldn't have to move my fingers. When I used my fingers, it felt like someone was lighting a match to the inside of my wrists. It hurt really bad. I remember sitting with my arms in bowls of ice for entire evenings. During this time, I remember watching "32 short films about Glenn Gould", a movie I recommend, by the way, and in that movie there's a scene where Gould has his arms in ice and taking painkillers and I remember thinking, "Oh my goodness, that's me." I thought I'd never play the piano again. It terrified me. I did eventually recover through both physical therapy and taking lots of vitamin B. It took me about a year before I could play the piano for an hour at a time. But to this day I still experience pain, especially in the day or two before I perform. Whenever I feel stress, it goes right to my arms and wrists. My pedal leg issue started up after playing mall gigs for long periods of time. That doesn't bother me as much as my arms, but when I play for hours on end in a mall, it starts acting up. Yes, I do do stretches to help my wrists, especially when I'm preparing for a gig. But more often than not, when I play a long gig (longer than 90 minutes or so), I take Tylenol to get through it, otherwise I start thinking about the pain more than the performance.

psychopianoman: Do you teach piano to supplement your income or do you find you make enough to actually make a decent living on CDs and concerts alone.

I don't teach, but I'm full time in the music business. I have been since 2001. My income comes from sales of my CDs, music downloads, sheet music, my book (promoteyourmusic.com) and then a smaller portion from various partnerships I've developed online. Everything I do though, is music-related in one way or another.

psychopianoman: I am just asking because I plan my life around music and want to be a musician full time. You know, record and teach, play concerts and stuff, gig myself out. Right now it is a hobby but I look to develop it into a career.

It's possible, but very difficult, especially if you have a family. It's not just the financial cost, but the time cost. Doing what I do is very demanding on your time. Just trying to keep your head above water takes an extreme amount of effort. It requires a very patient and understanding wife, which God has blessed me with. :) It would be easier for me, financially, if I gigged more than I do. But I try not to travel too much as when I do I'm away from the family and it also prevents me from composing or recording. I can't write when I'm on the road as I'm always busy with preparing for the next gig. I do believe that any talented musician with a marketable recording can make a good, solid income from music. But it's hard to make enough to live on on a *continuous* basis. That takes years to do. I've been building my career up since 1991. So where I am now is the result of 15 years of hard, hard work. Long days, late nights.

psychopianoman: Do you think this (doing music full time) is possible or in your case did fate play a bigger role? What I mean by fate is did you get to a point where you felt that God wanted you to do this so you got serious and pursued your calling or do you feel it kind of just developed over time?

In the beginning, I didn't PLAN on doing music full time. I mean, sure, I wanted to. Every artist hopes that someday they can financially support themselves just doing their art. But I understood the music industry and I realized that the reality was that I would never sell the millions of albums required to actually come out ahead as an artist. Then the Internet came along, and it provided an opportunity for me to grow my own career without worrying about the corporate music industry. You see, a recording artist who signes a major label deal (assuming a typical record contract) has to sell about 1.2 million albums to break even. That means that an artist who manages to have a gold record (500,000 units] still ends up in serious debt to his/her record label. That's part of the reason you keep having these pop/rock artists who are HUGE for a year or two and then you don't hear much from them again. An artist has to have a multi-platinum album to be able to afford to keep the machine going. But if you can go independent, forgo a record label, do your own promotion, marketing, advertising and distribution, then you don't need to sell near that many to break even. Once I sell about 500 CDs, I've broken even on that album. Everything beyond that is profit. Of course, there are always ongoing expenses, but my point is than an independent artist who sells just 10,000 CDs will take home *much* more money than a signed artist with a million units sold on a major label. So, that's the technical end of things. Basically, the Internet has provided the tools any artist needs to become successful on their own without worrying at all about what the "corporate music industry" thinks. As to the spiritual side of your question, as I look back on my life, I can see how God has led me to this exact place as an artist. So yes, I believe God brought me here and intends for me to do what I am now doing. If God didn't intend for me to be doing this then, well, I don't think I would be. However, I don't believe that what I'm doing now is my final destination. God's design for me, at this particular moment, may be for me to be a pianist and composer. But I believe that God is using the current events in my life to prepare me for whatever He has planned for me in the future. My music career may be nothing more than a stepping stone on the journey. We'll have to wait and see together.

Monica Kern: Most of us here in this forum are going through the agony (er, unalloyed pleasure) of trying to come up with a usable recording of a piece for our upcoming on-line recital. How long does it take you to record an album's worth of pieces? How many takes on average do you have to do of a piece to get one you consider "album-worthy"? Are the pieces on your album recorded in one take or do you do a lot of editing to come up with one perfect recording?

Good question! Each of my albums has taken longer than the previous ones to record. I recorded my first album, The Tower, in 11 hours. The second album took 13. Then I started doing them in multiple recording sessions, four or five songs at a time. My latest album, Overcome, was the result of three straight days in the studio. It was actually the first time since album #2 that I recorded the entire album at the same time, rather than a few songs at a time. I take more time with albums in the studio nowadays because, first of all, I'm much more of a perfectionist and secondly, because I can afford to be more particular. With my first couple of albums I had one day to do it and that was it. I couldn't afford to be picky about the takes. I just didn't have the money. So anyway, here's my approach, generally speaking: When I'm in the recording studio, I'll usually play a song several times in a row to try and find the "perfect" take. Most of the time, that happens, or very nearly happens, by take four or five. Usually with the first couple of takes I'm too wound up. It takes me 2-3 takes to chill out and just play the song without being over-aware that every sound I make is being recorded. About two thirds of the time, what happens is I end up with a take that's very nearly perfect, except maybe I'll like how I started or finished a different take better. Startings/Endings are, I think, the most important parts of the song. They are the first and last impressions. So I may use all of take 4 up to the last 30 seconds, for example, and then edit in the last 30 seconds from take 2 because that was the ending that had the vibe I was looking for. I'd say about 1/3 of the songs on an album are single takes. Most of the others contain 1-2 edits. I never piece a song together with a ton of edits. It disturbs the performance too much. I can justify a small edit, or using an alternate beginning and/or ending, but that's about as much editing as I prefer to do. If after five takes, I still haven't gotten the "perfect" take, I move on to a different song and come back to the original song later. Otherwise, I become too frustrated. The only way to record a great take with a great vibe is to stay relaxed. The most takes ever on a song? 32 on "Walking in Shadow" on Overcome. I went into the studio expecting it to be an easy song to put down, but I couldn't get the right feel in the left hand on the particular piano I was playing. The bass was coming off much too strong and I had to keep lightening my touch on the left hand. I finally got it after almost giving up on it. :) One of my favorite periods recording Overcome was "There is a Redeemer" and "It is Well With My Soul." I recorded the songs one after the other and we got the perfect take on the very first try on both songs. No edits. I remember playing "It is Well With My Soul", and then as I listened to it back in the studio I couldn't hold back the tears. I was so moved and so happy for how the song came out I just prayed right then and thanked the Lord for it. The song meant so much to me as it was my dad's favorite Hymn. I did it for him, and when it came off so well I just couldn't contain the emotion. I was very pleased with it. So now you know.

Monica Kern: When you practice, do you spend much or any time doing scales or Hanon type stuff? hoping fervently that the answer is "no," so that she can say "well, if David Nevue doesn't do scales, I don't have to either!"

No, I don't, though I know I should. I think Hanon is a GREAT way to train your fingers. I really recommend it for new players, but no, I don't do them. I'd rather just warm up with my own music. :)

DeepElem: Earlier when talking about learning to play you mentioned listening to artists you like and trying to learn what they do. When you went through that learning process did you pick artists from different styles (e.g. blues, ragtime, classical, "new age") or were the artists all of the same general style ?

Well, it was George Winston's music, for the most part. In those early days, there really weren't many other artists out there like him. When I started listening to Winston, I don't think they were even calling this music "New Age Music" yet. I also played around with Supertramp and enjoyed working on some Chopin pieces. Chopin's Etudes were really the only classical pieces I enjoyed working on.

DeepElem: If there were different styles, do you think your own style is made up of influences from all those different styles, or do you think it was more influenced by the artists of one particular style?

I think my influences are made up of all the music I've really poured myself into over the years. George Winston was a big one, but so was Pink Floyd and even Rush. During college I listened to Clannad and U2 all the time, as well as Jeff Johnson. They all played a part. You might enjoy reading my list of musical influences at https://www.davidnevue.com/influences.htm.

Rubiko: I have one big question, where do you get the inspiration for the titles of your songs?

I just title the songs what seems right to call them. :) When I write/play most songs, I have a particular thing in mind. An image, place, event, person or a mood. So usually, the song title comes from that - my trying to convey what it is that's on my mind when playing the song.

Monica Kern: David, here's a question from my 10-year-old daughter, Athena: "What type of piano do you have?"

I have a 4'11" Young Chang baby grand. It puts out a lot of sound for it's size and had a nice, dark sound. A heavy touch, too, which I like. But I've just about worn the piano out. I hope, perhaps next year, to be able to afford to upgrade. Side Note from the future: In 2019, David purchased his dream piano, a 7'6" Shigeru Kawai!

Monica Kern: I've been truly enjoying your Whisperings piano internet station. How did you get the idea to start that and how complicated was it to set up? And how did you find all the artists you highlight on the station?

You've heard the phrase "necessity is the mother of invention?" Well, that definitely applies here. I really didn't have a lot of options for promoting my own piano music to radio. While sure, there are little programs here and there (mostly college stations) that play solo piano, most of these are in the middle of the night or very brief - like two hours once per week. So I decided to start my own Internet radio station. I started Whisperings in August 2003 and now, three years later, it's the #1 broadcast on Live365.com About 750,000 people a month tune in. The station wasn't hard to start - Live365.com makes it easy to start and run your own broadcast. The tough part was (and still is) financing it. I'm starting to get that figured out now, though, I think. Just last month I released a subscription (commercial-free) version of our broadcast. Listeners can pay $5/month to support the program and they get several benefits from that. As for the artists, in the beginning I contacted some of my pianists friends and had them send me their CDs for inclusion on the show. I did that for the first dozen artists or so. After that, CDs just started coming in. I probably get 2-3 CDs a week from artists wanting to be on the show. There's no end to good piano music out there. So there you have if. For those of you not familiar with Whisperings, you can tune in at solopianoradio.com

Aside from Thank You's that was pretty much the end of the forum thread... until MORE THAN THREE YEARS LATER when someone saw the thread, read it, and posted a follow up...

Woody-Woodruff: Very interesting reading. Since there hasn't been any action on this thread in a few years, how about an update of what's been going on with your site and your music. I'm sure that all of the posters above would like to have an update. Thanks, Woody

Has it really been over three years since I last posted to this thread? Wow, time flies. Scary. Anyway, the last few years have been really busy with touring. I do all my own booking, so it keeps me quite occupied. You might be surprised at how much time goes into booking a tour. Managing so many people/venues/dates and the promotion for every single one. It's a lot. And when I'm not touring, I'm usually in the process of lining up booking for my next tour or two. It's ongoing. Right now I'm starting to work on dates for this spring, plus next September and November. You all probably know about my radio broadcast Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio. That keeps me hopping as well. There are so many technical issues to keep on top of, plus I do all the customer support myself. And every single day I'm reviewing new music for that. So Whisperings radio is a constant in my day. I just released a new CD called Revelation: Solo Piano for Prayer & Worship, so I'm in the process right now of getting that up on iTunes, Pandora and other such places. And then I need to work on licensing for the sheet music for many of the songs on that album, as most of the songs on that album are cover songs. That's going to be a challenge. I do have a brand new album mostly recorded. I'm returning to the studio in the spring to put the final touches on that. That one is almost all original music. I hope to release that in September or so. I should have some new sheet music up on my web site within the next week or so. Doing taxes. Answering emails... Ummmmm.... Beyond that, I have a "live" album that I will start working on as soon as my new one is out. Plus another "Best of" CD covering the years 2001-2010. After that, I'm not really sure. I will probably continue to write, but I'm itching to do an album of my original worship songs (on guitar) with my church band. So in 2011 I might take a break from piano and work on that. That would be interesting to do, as I've never recorded anything professionally other than piano. I'm not sure whether that album, if I do it, would be something I'd release. I might just do that for my church. I will probably just have to wait and see how the recording goes. Anyway, as you can tell, always lots going on. Seems like I'm always juggling a million things. But it's great to live a life full of music! I am blessed.

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the interview!