From humble beginnings on a North Dakota farm to sharing stages with music legends and going viral on social media, David Snyder opens up about the pivotal moments that shaped his journey. With raw honesty, he reveals how a surprising twist reignited his love for music, leading to an unexpected rise to fame. David brings us a story of resilience, creativity, and the pursuit of joy that will inspire anyone chasing their dreams.
What is something a lot of people know about you now?
Not a lot of people know about this, but I grew up on a farm in North Dakota, a little over an hour south of the Canadian border in a small town. I have nine siblings: seven brothers and two sisters; I’m number three.
How did you get into music?
Growing up, my parents had this funny rule where every kid had to take two years of piano lessons. If anyone wanted to quit after that, they could, but only after two years of piano lessons. I was ecstatic to start playing the piano when I was about eight years old. I fell in love with it. Of course, there were dips and valleys along the journey, but what made it great was that my brothers and I loved to jam together. My oldest brother also learned the saxophone and the drums, and my other brother learned the bass guitar. I just stuck with the piano. My other brother started learning the drums and electric guitar, and my other brother played the bass guitar. Next thing you know, we got ourselves a band. My favorite childhood memory is playing music with my siblings, who are also my best friends.
What made you want to take on music professionally?
I think that who I am today is so greatly attributed to the fun of playing with them. That is what I want to relay in my performances: that music, or anything else you do, should come from a place of joy. It is such a privilege that I get to play this incredible instrument.
What was it like learning to play the piano as a child?
I would say the biggest obstacle throughout my journey was my teacher. She was a classical pianist, and classical piano teachers have an intense reputation. They always make sure you have impeccable practicing techniques, everything classical. I started taking piano lessons with a teacher, Mrs. Halvorson, and she was amazing and gifted, and by the book. No time was wasted. There was no playing Taylor Swift or ACDC, so you had better practice classical pieces. As a kid, I was a people pleaser, desperate to make my teacher proud. My whole identity became the piano, and I started competing in classical competitions. Although I did enjoy it at a very young age, I wanted my teacher to be proud of me. She wanted to mold a classical genius out of me. So, every year, I would memorize two classical pieces and play them for a judge, and if the judge gave me a superior rating ten years in a row, I would get this beautiful trophy. For nine years, I got a perfect superior. Meanwhile, in secret, I would compose music, and I was so nervous that my teacher found out because she would say it was a waste of practice time. With Mrs. Halvorson, she thought it was most important for me to learn to play classical music from the greats – notably Beethoven. That was hard for me because at home, I was jamming out and having fun with my brothers. But with my teacher, it was business as usual.
So, did you eventually get your trophy?
Everything summed up my senior year in high school, and it was my tenth year in classical music competitions. I worked so hard and so many hours on these classical pieces. The competition day finally came, and I was determined to make Mrs. Halvorson proud. As I started playing my piece, in the middle of it, I got so carried away by the music that I started having fun and improvising little melodies. When I finished the piece, I realized I had improvised through half of it, which is obviously a huge no-no. There is no improv in classical music. I remember going to the judge and her giving me my scorecard. I looked at it, ran to the bathroom and cried my eyes out. My family was in the waiting room, and I couldn’t face seeing them. It sounds dramatic, but to me, it wasn’t just a competition. I felt like I had lost my whole identity at the place where I thought I had found it. On my way out of the bathroom, still crying, I ran into my teacher, barely keeping it together, and said everything was fine. I kind of lied to her. At my next piano lesson, she talked to me about it, and she was disappointed. She was a great teacher, but this was the way she saw music. It meant a lot to her, so she was pretty disappointed after that competition.
Did you continue playing after that?
I was so burned by the piano that I started walking away. That was the year I graduated from high school, and I realized I always loved musical theater and acting. I decided to move to Los Angeles. I had an offer from a modeling agent to go to LA. I was eighteen and decided I would just play the piano for fun. I’m a prime candidate for the “imposter syndrome”, so I never thought I could make a career out of playing piano. That’s one of my biggest struggles, even now as a musician.
How did you start your one-man show?
Well, I need to finish my story to help you understand the show. After I moved to LA, I had a hard time even having fun playing the piano. But then I met my wife, and she honestly completely changed my outlook. She is just an incredible human. When you fall in love, you start to see music and life differently, and I was so inspired. She always encouraged me to play for fun, which really softened me, and I realized that I could sit on this instrument and be free and play what I wanted. So this was happening as we were dating, and then we got married right before the pandemic. Then, my friends started asking me to play at their shows and in their music videos, so I would like to help out but didn’t feel so into it. When the pandemic hit, my wife said, “David, you composed so much music, you should record it.” I was working at a restaurant then, and in my free time, I just started recording. The quality was so bad, but it felt so good. I fell in love with the piano once again. I started making TikTok videos, and they have just started going viral. So I started recording my music. It was so weird to see my stuff go viral on social media. Then, all of a sudden, America’s Got Talent reached out to me, and I went to the show. Then, someone else reached out to see if I wanted to open for SnoopDogg. So, I ended up collaborating with DJs and headlined a festival alongside Ice Cube and Flo Rida. This is when I realized I wanted to design my show.
That brings me to my whole “one-man piano show” tour, where I tell this whole story on stage. It’s something like music mixed with comedy and storytelling. In between the stories, I play my compositions to tie in what’s happening and the full cinematic visuals I developed with friends. I wanted everything to complement each piece.
What is your mission?
I want people to feel the same joy that I feel when I play the piano, just immersed by the music.
It’s so crazy to see how this slowly became my career. My last show from my first tour was in February, and over the summer I recorded more songs and continued to make music. I am very excited for the next tour, and to show it to more people because it’s more than music, but an important story about how to have fun at an instrument and how to discover your own creative voice. It took me a while to accept that I love composing and it’s okay to play the piano the way that I play it, because my teacher told me it wasn’t the right way. I really hope that what I do makes people reflect on their own life and how they can use their gifts to spread light into the world, not only with music. One of the highlights of my tour was when, following a performance, I had a lady come up to me. She was struggling in her job, and she said during my performance she connected to my struggle and my vulnerability, and she was encouraged to continue exercising her creative gifts in her career and life. I was so encouraged by that conversation. Hopefully that’s the takeaway for most people, in whatever they do.
What are you most proud of?
I’m really proud of some of my storytelling and the visuals I created combined with my compositions. My new composition “Nightmare” just came out on YouTube, and it is a work that I dreamed of from start to finish – the images, the music, the storyline. For the “Nightmare” music video, I invited my friend’s child to play young “me” in the video, and he really looks like a “kid-version” of me! This was his first acting gig, and I think we all had a blast doing this together. Everything came together beautifully because my friends, who worked on the video, really saw the vision I had in mind for the video. I love storytelling, and am really proud of the final product. I am always so thankful to all my family, my wife, and my friends for their constant support.
What are some of your future plans?
I love to work with schools and inspire kids, so one day I would love to do a TedTalk in the future. I’m also getting ready for my 2025 tour of the one man piano show, “The Piano Says It Better”. I already have Los Angeles, Texas, New York, North Dakota, and some other cities lined up. I can’t wait!
Published by: Martin De Juan
