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By Shannon McFarlin
smcfarlin@henrycountian.com |
When he was five years old growing up in St. Louis,
Missouri, Christopher Schlegel's mother played
Tchaikovsky for him and he immediately built a makeshift
podium and began pretending to "conduct" the music.
The next year, his musical tastes broadened. Someone
gave him two albums-a "Mary Poppins" soundtrack and a
Monkees album-and he responded by making himself a
guitar out of a yardstick, shoebox top, twine and rubber
bands.
At nine, his parents gave him an acoustic guitar.
Schlegel began making his own music and never looked
back.
Given that musical pedigree, it should come as no
surprise that Schlegel now composes and records his own
music. Schlegel married a McKenzie girl whom he met in
college-the former Rena Reaves-and they now live in
McKenzie with their four-year-old son, Ethan.
Over the past decade, Schlegel has recorded dozens of
CDs of his own compositions. He followed the route many
musicians do these days-forming a rock band in high
school and playing all types of music for any venue that
would play.
But he quit playing for bands by the time he was 28 so
that he could focus on serious composition. He has
eclectic tastes in music-from classical to jazz to
ragtime-and his original compositions run the gamut from
sonatas, piano waltzes, electric guitar, instrumentals,
fusion, and symphonies.
Schlegel is mostly self-taught. When he decided he
wanted to write his own music, he bought a book on
orchestration and obtained classical scores from
Beethoven, Mozart and Hayden. He began, as he said,
"studying intensely."
He took private lessons from Professor John Fannin of
Murray State who he credits with "helping me get a
better handle on the many finer details of musical
composition." While working at Bethel College as a
Library IT technician, he earned a bachelor's degree in
music in 2005.
His musical hero is Beethoven, whom he describes as "the
master craftsman of music. I love his voice leading,
sense of goal-directed melody and harmonic structures,
how closely his 'forms' follow their 'function.' Also,
the emotional component is satisfying-high drama and
adventure! From the height of glorious triumph to debts
of heartbreaking despair and back again to heroic
highs."
Beethoven, he said, "knew how to build music better than
anyone before he lived and I don't think anyone has
since matched his accomplishments."
That doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy lighter fare, he
said. "But I look at it this way-pop, rock and jazz
stuff is a 'light snack.' But when I desire a
'soul-satisfying four-course meal,' it's time to pull
out the big guns, like Beethoven."
For Schlegel, music has become a full-time occupation.
For the past ten years, everything he has recorded has
been done in his home studio. "I use pro quality digital
audio workshops on various desktop computers and
laptops," Schlegel said.
"I have a great deal of experience in recording studios
from the past. I was in four different bands that had
recording contracts to record original music. And I also
worked as a studio musician off and on over the years,"
Schlegel added.
So, he said, "once the technology was within my grasp
financially, I bought all the gear to do it myself and
put my experience to work. Typically, I don't send
audition material to anyone anymore. I stopped doing
that as soon as I had my own studio and website to sell
my music directly. That cuts out the unnecessary middle
man."
Schlegel's wife, Rena, who he describes as "the most
wonderful woman in the world," is the director of the
department of physical therapy and sports medicine at
McKenzie Regional Hospital. Her father, Jerry Reaves,
worked for many years at Tower Automotive in McKenzie
and died in 2004. Her step-mother, Marsha, still lives
in McKenzie.
Anyone who wants to learn more about Schlegel and his
music, order some of his CDs or even listen to some
audio samples of his music, can visit his Web site at
www.truthagainsttheworld.com.
He has recently released two new CDs-"Classical Guitar
Sonatas" and "Concert Electric Guitar." He can be
contacted by calling 352-0873 or emailing
info@truthagainsttheworld.com. |
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