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Austin Basinger sits at a grand piano hunched behind long fingers that race up and down the 88 keys in front of him. His hands move quickly landing on accented chords in Franz Liszt’s “Mafisto Waltz.” Liszt was a rockstar in his day. Known to have wild hair and an even wilder musical style at the keyboard. His music, like his personality, was bombastic, frantic, dissonant. He was Mick Jagger 100 years before Mick Jagger was born.
By contrast, Austin is quiet, polite, and composed when he talks about his life and his love for playing piano. He is the antithesis of Franz Liszt, but if you close your eyes while Austin plays piano, you can hear a bit of the party going on behind this Berean senior’s quiet demeanor. His eyes are focused on the keyboard. His body doesn’t move much, except when he occasionally leans into a crescendo. If you watch carefully, you may see the slightest raised eyebrow when he lands on a chord. He’s enjoying himself. And why wouldn’t he? Franz Liszt was a virtuosic piano player who wrote music for himself that was too difficult for his contemporaries to play. But Austin plays Liszt’s waltz from memory.
When Austin was in elementary school, his parents encouraged him to try lots of activities ranging from sports to music. “They wanted me to find a hobby or activity that I liked well enough to stick with,” he says. Both piano and soccer stuck for Austin. He excelled at both and developed a passion for each.
“My parents love music,” he says. Austin’s dad played trumpet and even sang in a rock band when he was young called, The Scheme. They have always encouraged Austin to enjoy both piano and soccer. But his mother refuses to let Austin play the goal keeper position on the soccer pitch. “She’s worried I’ll hurt my fingers,” he says with a smile. But that’s ok, he prefers to play midfielder.
Austin has a mind for complex compositions by Beethoven and Liszt. Memorizing music is the easiest part of mastering a new piece for him. Getting into the emotional space of the composer and letting those emotions manifest through the music he’s playing on the keyboard has been his greater challenge.
Austin’s piano instructor, Vera Breheda admires his aptitude for learning music. “Besides having a keen ear, Austin's ability to technically master complex patterns of the classical repertoire have increased at an astounding rate in the last three years,” she says.
Austin loves math and science. There is order and fixed relationships with these disciplines. That may be why Austin has pushed himself to play music from Romantic Era composers like Beethoven, Liszt, and Fredrik Chopin. They offer him a chance to push his own boundaries.
Austin is an ambitious young man. When he sets his mind to a project, he says that he has a stubbornness to him that prevents him from giving up on a challenge. After graduating from Berean Christian High School this spring, Austin plans to go to UC Berkeley. He wants to become a doctor.
Austin wants to help people. Like so many Berean graduates, Austin is eager to contribute to society. He loves science and is eager to face the academic challenge that medical school will give him.
While music is not something Austin plans to pursue as a career, he says that music will always be a big part of his life. Music is an emotional outlet for him. “It’s almost a spiritual thing for me. It’s cathartic.” Music’s ability to balance the pressures of a high performance life is well documented. Many of the most successful doctors and scientists credit music and the arts as a necessary outlet for them to find balance in their life. Without it, they would more easily succumb to the mental and emotional rigors of life in a high stakes healthcare profession.
For Austin, playing piano has allowed him to live a fuller, more nuanced version of himself. He can be the quiet, polite student when he needs to be while allowing his inner Franz Liszt some expression when he sits down at the keyboard. And who wouldn’t want want to tap into a little Mick Jagger every now and then?
Listen on Youtube to several pieces that Austin recently performed in concert with his instructor.