Local musician bidding farewell to community with live concert at ISU

POCATELLO — Piano notes slow but deliberately drifted down nan hallway of nan Idaho State University Fine Arts building Monday.

It’s 9 days aft graduation and nan halls are silent.

The musician astatine nan soft keys successful room 220 is Gabriel Lowman. The 2021 ISU euphony capacity postgraduate is performing a farewell performance successful Goranson Hall connected May 31 earlier he leaves for postgraduate schoolhouse successful Colorado this summer.

Ahead of his trip, Lowman says Room 220 is wherever he feels astir astatine home. It’s his favourite spot to play and nan keys connected nan soft are for illustration toys to him.

“In nan highest complimentary form, nan soft is simply a toy. It is simply a alloy for playing,” Lowman said. “Adults telephone them hobbies, aliases we telephone them interests. We find a measurement to debar calling it play.”

And for Lowman, nan soft is simply a artifact he’s been willing successful playing each his life. He was conscionable a curly-haired toddler erstwhile he started banging connected nan keys and flipping his caput wildly to nan noise.

When Lowman was a small older, his soft coach asked if he knew nan quality betwixt nan precocious broadside and nan debased side. His reply was wrong.

“I distinctly retrieve thinking, ohio no, I’m doomed. I’m gonna messiness this full soft point up,” Lowman said.

But he kept practicing and kept improving. He took a stab astatine songwriting for nan first clip successful eighth grade. At his friend’s suggestion, he wrote it for nan woman he had a crush on.

“It was a really horrible emotion song, and I showed it to her and astir a week later she sent her friend to break up pinch me, and I wonderment if it was nan value of nan song,” Lowman laughed.

Despite that, Lowman was hooked. That year, he wrote a fewer twelve of what he now describes arsenic “garbage songs.”

He didn’t consciousness that measurement astatine nan time, but says clip has changed his perspective. Creating euphony that makes group “cringe” is portion of nan earthy process for aspiring artists, he says.

Lowman plays soft successful room 220. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com

The opus Lowman was playing connected Monday is 1 he wrote successful 2020 called “The Absence of Ritalin.”

He was trying to find a expert to dainty what he believed was ADHD astatine nan time. His relative called him aft getting his test and medicine for nan condition, and told Lowman he should do nan same.

Writing this portion helped Lowman woody pinch his vexation while he spent 2 and a half years trying to get medicated. For him, playing nan soft is simply a bully measurement to process emotions.

“It brings emotions retired successful a really beautiful measurement that you whitethorn person not been facing aliases that you whitethorn not person been alert of,” Lowman said.

Lowman is now preparing to study collaborative soft classical euphony astatine nan University of Colorado Boulder. As he reflects connected his puerility successful Pocatello and clip spent astatine ISU, he has mixed emotions astir leaving.

“There’s a batch of excitement. I’m fresh to move, but I’m trying to bask nan coming moment,” Lowman said.

He’s grateful for nan chance to execute astatine ISU 1 past clip during his farewell concert. It’s a “do over” of his elder recital that he’s calling “Recital Redux.” The performance will commencement astatine 7:30 p.m. connected May 31.

“The Absence of Ritalin” is 1 of nan songs Lowman will beryllium playing. He’s ne'er played it for a unrecorded assemblage before. and he’s proud to stock it pinch an audience.

Though nan performance is free to nan public, he’s hoping to raise immoderate money for his trip. Any costs group donate will spell towards immoderate unexpected expenses.

But sloppy of whether group donate, he’s conscionable excited to show nan organization what he’s been moving connected for nan past 4 years.

“I learned 100 minutes of music. I want to execute it somewhere,” Lowman said. “I want to execute and conscionable stock euphony pinch people.”

Lowman plays soft connected stage. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com