Meet Your Middletown Neighbor: Brian Schroth

Introducing a new feature to the Eye: “Meet Your Middletown Neighbor.” This column aims to highlight regular people living, working, or otherwise being in Middletown who spend time on creative, interesting, or noteworthy pursuits. If you'd like to see this continue as a regular feature, we need to hear from you. Tell us about someone you know who is doing interesting things and who you'd like to see featured in “Meet Your Middletown Neighbor.” We can be reached at middletowneye@gmail.com

Brian Schroth is a soft-spoken, intelligent, and modest guy. A few years ago, in his early twenties, he decided to learn how to play piano. He started lessons at Joe Riff's on Main Street, where he met his teacher of the past three years, Brian Avery of East Hampton. Schroth says he was never very musically inclined, although his two siblings play instruments. In his late teens, he tried to learn to play the harmonica, but didn't get engrossed with it and gave it up quickly. He blames his failure at harmonica on a lack of patience, but he has certainly found some patience within himself when it comes to piano. He plays a range of styles, from rag to classical to modern rock songs. In contrast to his mild mannered demeanor, he has a powerful singing voice, although he uses it somewhat timidly, or maybe in an intentionally controlled way. Some of Brian's music is available on his YouTube channel, as are several piano playing video tutorials that he has uploaded in order to share knowledge freely with other musicians, potentially budding or otherwise. He is a strong believer in free and open sharing of music and information. He explains, “If I've gone to the trouble, or more accurately, if my piano teacher has gone to the trouble to help me learn how to play a song, then I'll take the time and try and share that.“ His dream job is working at a piano bar similar to Keys to the City at Terminal 110 in New Haven, though he recognizes that it would take a lot more work and a decade or two before he may be at the point where he would want to attempt to pursue a career in music. For now, he is exploring the possibility of becoming a high school math teacher, true to his philosophy of transparency and knowledge sharing.

Before living in Middletown, Brian lived in New Britain to be close to his job, but he didn't much like it there. He found himself in Middletown by accident and circumstances more than by conscious decision, though Middletown was an appealing choice. It made sense for him at the time, and he says he likes it here and it has worked out well, in that he is happy to be closer to his family. He's also happy to have found the open mic night at The Buttonwood Tree, where there is a piano available to play, which is likely out of the ordinary for a typical open mic setting. He enjoys the wide range of styles exhibited at The Buttonwood's open mic, and he likes to see people practicing and working on their talents and passions. He says that the Buttonwood is a very supportive atmosphere. “I like to see the different things people are working on there, and it's good to just experience that and hear other people's perspectives and get encouragement from other people.”

In addition to learning and practicing piano, Brian plays three days a week in an ultimate frisbee league, and he volunteers at Epoch Arts in East Hampton. The mission of Epoch Arts is to enrich lives with experiences in the arts, and it is an "arts for youth organization dedicated to helping young people learn to communicate, collaborate, create and celebrate by experiencing, hands-on, the arts.” Epoch has strong ties with the home schooling community, of which Brian Schroth was a part. At Epoch, Brian now teaches an improvisational acting class to kids. He revealed that the main criteria for being able to get involved with improv is a willingness to do so, and says that playing music in front of an audience is a lot more nerve wracking than doing improv, because with improv you can't really make a mistake.

Brian says that a big goal of his is to write his own music. For now, he'll continue to work on becoming proficient at piano playing until he feels ready to start writing his own pieces.

In terms of music happenings and an arts-friendly atmosphere, he says that Middletown is “a good place to be.”

Brian Schroth playing a song by favorite band of his Hey Rosetta! on July 18th at the Monday night Buttonwood Tree open microphone.