Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Harry Massoud. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Harry, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I have played piano all my life but the moment I knew it was my purpose to really pursue it was when I discovered the effect my music was having on others. When you are able to touch the souls of others you have never even met, make them feel deep and/or buried emotions to the point where they are crying out of nowhere, then you have reached the highest level of musicianship. This is the ultimate power within music. No matter where you are from or what language you speak the emotion that you put into music can be felt by anyone and anywhere in the world when done right. When I discovered I had mastered that element in music, I knew it was my purpose to keep diving deeper into it because it was not just a gift for me anymore, it was a gift that I could share with others. A gift from God.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a musician with most of my focus being on the piano. I have been playing since I was a little boy. My father invested in a beautiful baby grand piano with the hope that me and even my two sisters would all learn to play. My sisters learned for a few years but ultimately I was the only one to stick with it. Usually when you first start playing music, and especially at a young age, you are simply just playing that instrument. As you get older and more mature, the emotional connection to music starts to develop and as time goes on, it can get deeper and deeper. That is what has kept me going with music.
I fell in love with film scores early on because the music I was hearing (and eventually playing on piano) could always be tied back to some scene in a movie that hit me emotionally. It was powerful.
Playing film music on piano became my passion and specialty. For a while, I played whatever I could find piano sheet music for. There came a time though when some of the music I was hearing in films was not officially published on the internet or anywhere for me to find. This is when I began listening to music and deciphering it purely by ear so that I could be able to play the songs on piano. This process is known as arranging music. I was listening to film scores, which most of the time are performed by a full orchestra with many instruments playing together, and then arranging it to be played solo on the piano while still capturing the full feel of the original music.
At first, it was quite a difficult task. There are so many elements that make up a piece of music – the tempo, the time signature, the key, the different chords, the melody timing, the dynamics etc…and some pieces of music are much more complicated to decipher by ear than others. In doing so, it forced me to really understand music on much more profound level and it truly honed by skills and knowledge as pianist. I was not just learning music but studying it in depth at this point.
This led me to the next part of my musical journey where I began to compose my own music with the inspiration and knowledge I was gaining from all my time learning the film music. I never saw myself composing my own music but it just happened naturally in the process of studying the music I was connecting with so deeply. When I tell people about the music I compose, it definitely has film score tone to it. People listen and do feel like my music could be heard in motion picture somewhere with the emotion I put into it and the themes. They can hear a story in my music.
To this day, I have published two albums of my original piano compositions and six albums of music I have arranged for piano that vary from film music to popular singer-songwriter music ranging from the 1970’s up to current times.
Arranging music is nothing unique as many people do it, however, I believe what sets me apart from others is my ability to accurately capture the full feel of the original music I am arranging and stay true to its essence. Other people I have listened to try to complicate things because they are trying to make it their own or different or simply show off their technical skills as a pianist…it is already so different though when you are playing a song on piano that is originally done by a full band or orchestra. Keep it simple!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first element of my journey that was most impactful was being connected to what I was doing from the start. I was so fortunate to have a piano teacher growing up who let me play what I wanted to play. She let me learn what I wanted to learn which was the music that had meaning to me or I actually enjoyed like the music from my favorite movies. I know so many people who told me they quit piano lessons or any music lessons early on and it almost always has to do with a teacher who was not allowing them to first have fun and be connected to the music. Technique and music theory and overall musical knowledge is important of course but when you first start out, it can be boring and overwhelming and hinder you from really learning to play music. Find music you love and connect with (very simple stuff at first of course) and start there to get the momentum going because at the end of the day, if you are not enjoying yourself and connecting with what you are learning, then what is the purpose of it all? The next thing I believe that has helped me tremendously with music and just about every area in my life is learning how to learn. What exactly does that mean? Well learning is a skill in itself and when you learn how to learn, you can seriously learn anything you want. In the process of learning how to learn, the emphasis should be on how to do something the right way and not the quickest way. I have that the right way usually involves gaining a little more knowledge about the skill it is you are trying to learn rather than just jumping into it and also focusing on forming good habits right from the start rather than bad habits that will become very difficult to break. When you learn how to learn, you cannot only learn a new skill but be on the path to master that skill and be greater at it than most others.
The final area that I want to touch on that has been apart of my musical journey would have to be discipline. It seems obvious but it is so true. If you want to excel at anything, you have to discipline yourself to first put in the time to work at that skill and second work at it efficiently. You do not need hours everyday (although that would not hurt) to excel with a musical skill. You do need to discipline yourself to first make some time though during the day to practice and then discipline yourself to practice efficiently. By efficient, I am going back to point number two where I say practice with good habits being formed. If you have 30 minutes only a day to work on music, make sure you discipline yourself to form good habit in those 30 minutes if that is all you got. If you want to greatly improve as a musician, you have to discipline yourself to learn slow and correctly rather than fast but poorly.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
The challenge I am facing with my journey as a pianist or musician in general is whether to go after it all out or not. I do not do my music work full time. It is more of a side gig that I do when I have free time. I work full-time in a family business with my father and uncle six days a week. Sunday is my main day for music although I try to get music time in during the rest of the week if I have the energy after a full day of work and then exercising. It can be tough but I do stay pretty disciplined with it all. So the challenge to me is whether to try and pursue music full time and possibly live that “starving artist” life that we all hear about or keep music as a pure love of mine on the side as I have been doing all this time. I do love living a balanced life and enjoy keeping music as a stress free hobby on the side. However, I know I love my music so incredibly much that I do dream of being able to do it full time and make a living in life from it. I think right now, I am still just trying to build up my musical platform and foundation by continuing to publish lots of my work and have it out there with the hopes that the right eyes land on it one of these days and can help expose my work to many others out there.
Contact Info:
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hmassoudmusic
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/04f0ufcNc2ZdFAOAMWyDZE Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ng/artist/harry-massoud/1437595750
