Mr. Herman Whitfield III
R.I.P. (October 29, 1982 - April 25, 2022)
Pianist and Composer
Trend Magazine Online™

Jay -- Is your family supportive of what you do?
Herman -- They are very supportive and were actually the main ones to suggest that I start taking music lessons after they believed that I had a long-term interest for it.  And my family's encouragement has been sustained since then.

Jay -- When and what was your first paid gig?
Herman -- I believe my first paid gig was for a reception at a church.  I was probably 12 or so.  I was incredibly nervous, but I'm happy I made the jump.

Jay -- What is your most memorable gig to date and why?
Herman -- My most memorable gig was when I played a party for Super Bowl 2012 at the invitation of members of the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles.  Up until that point, I had mainly been paid for either performances of my own music or other music in a formal classical concert setting.  It also gave me a chance to experiment more forcefully with music outside of the classical field.  Up until then, I was familiar with many different genres of music but had forgone performing any of them in public with any real frequency.

Jay -- What is your favorite music genre and why?
Herman -- This one is an interesting one for me to think about.  As my familiarity with various genres of music has diversified over the years, my perspective and aesthetics have broadened.  I think what I am ultimately looking for are ways to experiment with combining various genres in order to highlight aesthetics that people may be inclined to overlook.  I regularly perform music with a classically trained violinist and cellist that are specifically written for piano, violin, and cello and have become staples of the classical literature.  However, I have also sought to further our interpretive skills by arranging music for our specific instruments in ways that are idiomatic.

The beauty of such musical arrangements lies, in my opinion, in the splicing of various musical genres with classical performance practices that manages to be respectful of the beauty of whatever music is involved.  Lately, I am interested in the ever evolving harmonic language of both hip hop and R&B [Rhythm and Blues] because I think that their respective styles are both innately fascinating and yet have been underestimated in classical music circles.  I think that the harmonic languages in particular are readily applicable to orchestral and chamber music writing.  I've also gotten into writing electronic down-tempo music as well.

Jay -- What advice would you give a young kid who wants to compose and play music?
Herman -- Well, I guess my first thing would be to be sure you know what your tastes and preferences are while still maintaining an open mind to growth and learning.  As your exposure to various perspectives and music is increased, it will be easy to pinpoint your aesthetic preferences as well as your choices for a career.  Also, it would be beneficial to always stay in contact with people that share your passions as well.

Jay -- You have won quite a few awards for music; which is your most cherished, and why?
Herman -- Well, there are at least a few that are quite memorable for me.  One is when I won a competition that was sponsored by the fraternity Omega Psi Phi when I was in high school.  At the time, I was a little timid about playing classical music there because it was heard alongside a lot of music that people, I thought, simply listened to more and purchased more frequently.  But the prize was awfully encouraging in that I knew I could play classical music and that it would be seen as a valuable contribution to the music industry.

Another was when I won the Detroit Symphony's emerging African-American composer's orchestral reading.  It was a huge sign of encouragement for me as well because that was the very first orchestral composition I had written, and I almost didn't enter due to doubts of the quality of my composition as well as my own perceived lack of orchestral writing.  The judge for this particular year was Patrice Rushen [R&B Composer; pianist, percussionist, clarinetists, flutist], whose presence let me know that in the future, I could basically write any genre of music I wanted.

Jay -- What can your fans look forward to -- say in the near and far future for Herman?
Herman -- Actually, I am completing an opera that is part of a trilogy.  The first two operas in the trilogy were dramas concerning administration of the death penalty in the United States and concerning the internment of American citizens in the United States who were either born in Japan or were in Japanese families.  The third opera that I am completing is a comedy set in Hawaii and will feature, in addition to classical music, reggae written for full orchestra.  The notion of reggae written for full orchestra might seem a bit far out for some folks, but I believe that I can respect the beauty of reggae while organically placing it into an operatic idiom.  Also, I have plans for four albums, three with singers and one with violin and cello.  I may look into producing my own electronica as well.

Jay -- What are your final thoughts concerning your music, yourself, and your future endeavors?
Herman -- Well, I am always researching and studying various types of music as well as how to both deconstruct them and splice them.  So, I guess I could say that that is the essence of my music and my future endeavors, to see what I can come up with and to make a contribution to the music industry that I believe is worthwhile.



Check out samples of Herman's work via his YouTube channel, and his Facebook page (under development) at https://www.facebook.com/Herman-Music-852466724865677/ and Twitter account (under development) at https://twitter.com/hi65music. Tell him that Trend Magazine Online^tm sent you!

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