Gabriel “Gabe” Jaar is a pianist from Maryland. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of America, with a B.M. in Music Composition and an M.M. in Piano Performance. At a young age, Gabriel enjoyed playing the piano and composing his own music to play.
Gabriel first began taking piano lessons at the age of nine with Mr. Mike Miller. Through Mr. Miller’s teaching, Gabriel learned the basic groundwork for piano and gained a true appreciation for the instrument. Gabriel recalls “Happy Birthday” being one of the first songs he learned how to play. At the time, he had just a regular battery-operated keyboard at home to practice on.
By the fall of 2008, Mr. Miller felt that Gabriel was rapidly progressing in his lessons. In September of that year he began taking lessons at Hood College’s Preparatory Music Program with Ms. Laine Beachley. In the Fall of 2012, after 4 years under Ms. Beachley’s tutelage, Gabriel became a student of Dr. Noel Lester, still at Hood College.
Using what he learned with Mr. Miller and Ms. Beachley, Gabriel has been composing his own music since he was 11. Though looking back, Gabriel now says his first few songs, “were awful and don’t count!” He prefers to look at his song, “Nostalgia,” composed at 13, as his first true composition. Check back in a few years to see if his opinion has changed!
To strengthen his composition skills, Gabriel also began taking special composition classes with Dr. Wayne Wold at Hood College during the summer of 2010.
In 2010, Gabriel won 1st place in Frederick County’s PTA Reflection Program for his composition, “Nostalgia.” The Reflection Program featured entries from across the county in the form of visual arts, photography, film production, literature, and music composition. After winning first place, “Nostalgia” was sent to compete in the State competition where Gabriel won 2nd place.
In the past, Gabriel also volunteered as a pianist at the Buckingham’s Choice retirement community and with the local church band. He has also been asked to play the piano for school events and performed in two Master Classes at Hood College in the presence of Dr. Martin Jones from Great Britain (Mar. 2011) and Dr. Claire Wachter, the chair of the piano department at the University of Oregon (Nov. 2010). Both professors offered Gabriel valuable advice to improve his talent.
In the Fall of 2014, Gabriel begun his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He majored in music composition and studied with Dr. Stephen Gorbos (Jan – Dec 2016) and Dr. Robert Baker (Sept 2017 – May 2018). After graduating in 2018, he decided to continue his studies in Music at CUA. Under Dr. Nikita Fitenko, he earned a Master of Music in piano performance and completed this degree in May 2020.
Now a professional musician, Gabriel has come a long way from his battery-operated keyboard and continues to grow and mature as a pianist and composer.