The Trevor Pan Show

With two years separating my employment as an architect and now, I’ve enrolled in a music composition course at Scottsdale Community College. Music was something I have aspired to since I was 12, but family pressures and genuine interest in landscape design, and subsequently architecture, guided me to professional and master degrees. It was my backup plan for music. Now, it appears, music will be my backup plan for architecture.

The first complete composition I have written is called How ’bout a Glass of Lemonade? With weekly vocal lessons with Beth Livingston-Hakes coupled with weekly composition lessons with Dr. Rob Esler, they both helped reign in my creativity and apply song form, stressing the right beats for syllables, basically helping me to form a solid song. It was originally inspired by the Nickelodeon kids show Yo Gabba Gabba!; I volunteering for a Billboard Magazine music/film conference in late October 2010 and caught the Yo Gabba panel – they mentioned they are looking for children’s music and while I was drinking lemonade!

With that inspiration, from October 28, 2010 – June 2, 2011 I worked on it at school, at the parking garage where I work to make ends meet. Imagine .. the career trajectory?

Once the song was finished and composed as sheet music on the page in early April, I contacted the Chandler Children’s Choir, my piano teacher Dr. Andy O’brien, my composition teacher and percussionist Dr. Rob Esler, Ryan Salcido – an ASU trumpeter, and the Saltmine Studios in Mesa – with Jason Levine at the boards. The only trouble then was financing, so I had to sell my four wheeler and Papa Pan’s gun collection to pay for it. As one buddy said, “dude, you’re trading in a 6-shooter for a children’s choir!” True, but what a positive trade!

Then I took it to Capitol Mastering with Evren Goknar and what you hear on the Facebook Trevor Pan Show page is the result. A charming and polished composition and recording.

Once I had the final in hand, I researched some lemonade companies, but came across this post – http://www.alexslemonade.org/campaign/national-lemonade-days-2011 . After thinking about it, my struggle with architecture channeled into lemonade with this song. Alex’s Lemonade Stand is an organization dedicated to curing children’s cancer. My own family has lost members to cancer, or suffering from stroke, diabetes, etc. So I thought, let’s see how many songs I could sell for a real cause, not just an advertisement for a lemonade company.

I’ve decided to donate 50% of digital download proceeds to their cause from June 2 – Sept 2, 2011. At the end, I’ll announce the amount and if you’d like to contribute, in addition to purchasing the song, please do. I may even come up with an architectural concept for a new building, if they needed one.

Please, if you enjoy the song and believe in the cause, buy the song on itunes, rhapsody, emusic – nearly every legal download platform available. Forward this to friends. If lemonade can end some of my economic struggles, and help further research to end struggles for young people who have done nothing wrong and are suffering – THAT is cool.

Trevor Pan
June 9, 2011

The economy has beat me up pretty good lately. Kicked out of the architecture profession for the past two years, I’ve been studying music composition at Scottsdale Community College and have finished my first “schooled” composition “How ’bout a glass of lemonade?”. It’s amazing what some good music theory can do for a creative person. I’ve tried to keep my spirits going at my job at the parking lot in Tempe and play for girls that drive through! It’s kind of fun and its a great surprise for them.

Life brings us interesting paths for achieving things. I’ve been trying to get my furniture to sell and other designed things here: fatstickfurniture.com and bought a booth at the Maricopa Home and Garden Show. One of the older ladies came up and said, “you look like you should be in show biz”. Well? It was an interesting comment, especially considering I only sold one garden trellis!! Though, its been a crazy way to arrive at music I guess it was necessary to get some life under me first; I have wanted to be in a band since I was 12. And now I can talk about deeper things as a music artist.. Stay tuned. Thank you.

Just quit the lot on Friday, feels great.

My dear friend of immeasurable laughs, insights, silliness and the serious passed on June 3, 2010. Mark J. DeCotiis came in my life when I bought a Steinway piano a few years ago. An unlikely pair, really, but for whatever reason he just had an understanding that few friends can muster.

He’s my first close friend to go, I can’t much do anything other than play a song we had worked on. It’s the song, “When We Get Together”. I’ve reworked it, and will play a piano version of it this coming Sunday June 27 at Steinway Hall, Phoenix. He was a concert technician and piano tuner trained by Steinway and Sons. It’s funny, because I’m not much of a pianist but he worked on my piano as if I was Beethoven. He just had an immaculate perception of sound and dedication to excellence and love in his work…

And so with the nickname he gave me,
V-Fi

The Trevor Pan Show just finished “When We Get Together”. The first major single to feature a full band. Up to this point I have played solo on my recordings, and felt that because what I write was intended for a band that the next recording should feature a bass player and drummer.

Maggie Reamy, my new friend and up and coming engineer at school is behind the boards recording and mixing. Dennis Sexton, bass, and Steve Hargrave, drums, have been playing blues, jazz and rock for about 60 years together. I’m terribly pleased to have them add their talents to the record. And to top it off, it was mastered in Hollywood with Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering – how could it be any better?

This spring, forced by the economy from architecture, I had to make a choice. Do I continue down a temporarily futile path or enroll in music school and learn the things I should have years ago? Well, because there’s a surplus of vacant buildings in Phoenix an architect is next to useless. But, for music and you its a great thing.

After just a semester at Scottsdale Community College my songwriting sharpened. This song, I feel, will be the major breakthrough I’ve been searching for. Persistence I hope will pay off. Its chorus/refrain melody, juxtaposed to a syncopated verse section makes for a beautiful contrast and the bridge changes key and wraps it up so nicely in just a little over 2 minutes. And one of my favorite all time lines, “the way you laugh is music to me, like an afternoon symphony,” I feel will hold up against the best. Of course its up to you the listener to let it become that, but its the best from me at this point in time.

I look forward to touring and playing out, and finally getting a band together.

TP

Well,

What a wonderful thing our forefathers did with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

~TP

So, last night I performed my song “She’s a Lovely Lady” for the first time at a concert of mine. It’s my newest song and perhaps the most touching. In fact, it hushed the entire crowd of about 150 people. In the process, scared me out of my wits. You could hear people setting their cups down. This made me a lot more uncomfortable even though it’s what you want as a performer, and I totally blew the next song “White Christmas”. Even though I was down after the show, thinking about it today I realized this was the turning point.

My new music is beginning to really capture people, I’ll just have to get used to the dead silence. Thank you for listening if you were there!

Whoa!

One year has passed! Not only did the billboard not work out I didn’t get accepted to Berklee College of Music! Oh well, someday it’ll be a great story….

So, I just finished another Music on Mill show in Tempe, AZ. A lot of people stopped by, many girls giggled and danced. But it was really hilarious when one girl came and shook it up next to me, I totally forgot my lyrics and her friend video taped it all!

Off to Boston for an audition at Berklee College of Music’s Songwriting major! Very excited about this………….

Whoa, what a great time in Boston. I made some cool new friends and attended a songwriting workshop. It was their summer songwriting program. I’m now applying study in their songwriting major.

Should be pretty amazing!