Story

Welcome and thank you for visiting. My name is Dan Moffatt, CEO and Music Director of Fingersteps Inc. Fingersteps is about making music truly inclusive for people with disabilities. Below is some background on Fingersteps' beginnings and why its mission can change lives.

How did Fingersteps come to be?

I am the father of seven children. Of them, Jennifer and Patrick have cerebral palsy. On occasion we have family "music sessions" in our music room. This usually takes place as free form improvisation with some playing drums, piano, recorder or other instruments, while others sing or dance. It's a fun activity and the kids have a great time. Jennifer and Patrick were left out from actively participating but loved the sound and the excitement.

One morning, my son Patrick asked to play piano with me. I took him to the music room and we sat at the piano alone. He listened as I played. After a time, he wanted to play. He tapped out a few notes on the piano and I jotted them down. It occurred to me that what he played formed a very usable pattern in which to compose a tune. I sketched out the tune and left it in my notebook. The next morning I had questions; 'Is there untapped musical potential within people with physical disabilities? Is it possible that a musical genius could be trapped inside of someone who is physically challenged?' The answer is absolutely. That was it. It all began with Patrick’s fingersteps.

Could you describe the music program?

Classes are conducted at the St. Paul Conservatory of Music, St. Paul, Minnesota. I am working with Conservatory Director Nora Gibson and early childhood music specialist Lori Wukmir. Our program differs from music therapy in that Fingersteps is about teaching music composition, theory and performance. Fingersteps is outcome based unlike music therapy. At its core, it is a traditional music program that has been adapted. We discovered that technology can solve this problem, but it’s not technology centric. There is a lot of ear training, reading and of course fun thrown in the mix. Our goal is to find the tools and open the door to music creativity. It’s working and we are having great success.

What technology are you using?

The latest technology is the Sonario Music System. This system uses 802.11 wireless PDAs as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controllers. The PDAs easily mount on the wheelchairs with a flexible gooseneck for best positioning. The host software communicates with the wireless devices and allows a unique configuration for each PDA controller to assist the student in playing his/her part. The PDA can be configured to play up to eight notes. It can play chords, you can strum it or it can be set for improvisation by simply moving your finger around the LCD display. It’s a lot of fun to play. Using a handbell choir approach to performance, the children work together as one musician. The results are fantastic and we are very excited about the possibilities.

Could you describe the recordings of the music composed by the children?

There were two goals I had hoped to achieve with these recordings:

1) engage people with disabilities in the process of composing music
2) match nationally and internationally acclaimed jazz musicians with local musicians to record the music

All of which was achieved on these recordings. A few years back, it was arranged for me to meet with several children through the Courage Center a local non-profit that offers wonderful programs for the disabled. The ages ranged from 4 - 6 years. All were involved physically to varying degrees. In my first meeting with the children I had a keyboard with me and I worked with them to hash out a few ideas that could be the basis for a jazz tune. Typically, the child would press a few notes or note clusters. I would joke with them, make them feel relaxed and play a few pieces for them. From this, I learned a little bit about their personality and what sounds and textures they like. I would then take their notes, examine the relationship between the notes and reuse the pattern in various ways. When you listen to the tunes, you will hear the phrases flip around. Listen to the first few notes of the melody and follow it through.

What surprised me about this whole process was the response from the children and their parents. I expected that the kids would be nervous, disconnected and possibly disinterested. And, frankly this thought gave me reservation. It was quite the opposite. The kids were beaming with joy and excitement that day. The parents were thrill to have their child involved. Jeffrey and Josiah Weitzel actually sketched out a few bars of music they worked on together and Christian Adzick brought his guitar with him so he could "jam" with me. Lucas Jacobson created a phrase that was truly beautiful. How do you top that? It was magical.

From that one session, four tunes were written. This was not enough to fill the CD, so I contacted the local jazz players in the Twin Cities and asked if they would donate some of their recorded original tunes to the project. Laura Caviani, Phil Aaron, Tom Lewis, Bobby Peterson and Keith Boyles very generously contributed.

All of the tunes on the CD are jazz trio as most of musicians I know play jazz. We are lucky to have some very good players here and what is really wonderful is that they have hearts of gold. I think it was the great jazz guitarist Joe Pass that said, "you have to be a great person first to be a great musician."

After completing the tunes, the next step is to find the right players to record with and the right studio. Avishai Cohen is a briliant jazz bassist. He is a young guy who has recorded and toured with Chick Corea as well as his own band. I first saw him in 1997 at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston with Chick's band called 'Origin'. He amazed me that night and I have been a big fan ever since. I ran into him again with Chick in a trio at the Dakota Bar and Grill. We talked after the performance and told him about my idea. He said that he would love to help and that he would be back in March with his own band.

Bill Carrothers is one of the most imaginative jazz pianists performing today. His interpretations and concepts are unlike anyone else’s. At first, I emailed Bill and asked him if he would be interested in contributing any of his existing recordings to the CD. He was so generous, offering any recording from any of his CDs. So, I got my hands on almost everything he has recorded. After listening and hearing him play duets at the Dakota with his wife Peg, there was no question, Bill would do an outstanding job with the music. And he did just that. I faxed him the lead sheets and he "Carrotherized" them; adding a wonderful new dimension to the music. Bill is originally from the twin cities area so he visits quite often for appearances and recording.

Jay Epstein plays drums on many of the tracks. I met Jay at the Sofitel in Bloomington where he plays weekends with the Phil Aaron Trio. Jay is a great drummer but I think more importantly, he is a musician first. He transcends keeping time to being essential to creating the sound. He listens deeply and draws on a great vocabulary and responds with a very high degree of musicality. He is an incredibly resourceful player.

Gordy Johnson sits in on bass also. The list of musicians he has played with is truly endless. He is the first call bassist in town, so I was fortunate that he could help out. Gordy is solid and has a lot of chemistry with Bill and Jay. I feel so fortunate that he, Jay, Bill and Avishai were a part of this project.

Yoshihiro Arita, Chris Silverstein and Cozy Miura also recorded for this CD. There involvement is an interesting one which I will expand on a little later on, but in short, my connection with them is through my good friend and bassist Chris Silverstein. Chris was my roommate when I attended Berklee College of Music. Chris and I played a lot together in those days and our families have stayed in touch over the years. He is an outstanding musician and bassist and a guy with a big heart. Yoshihiro and Cozy, although I have never met them, were so gracious and generous with their talent and time.

As for the studio, the late Bobby Peterson suggested that I record with Matthew Zimmerman at Wild Sound. That was great advice. Matthew and I worked well together. Not only did he do a superb job the day of the session and during the mixdown sessions, but he took a personal interest in this project. It meant more than just business to him.

What is your background?

I grew up on Long Island. I started playing the drums when I was about 7 or 8. My first sticks were these hugh tree trunks that I got from joining a drum and bugle corps at school. There were a lot of great musicians in my neighborhood. I was about 12 when I join my first band. It was a duo with me on drums and a guy named Tommy Byrnes who played guitar. We called ourselves the "Burnt Muffins" and played every backyard party we could find. Tommy was incredible for his age. He was two years younger (age 10) than me when we started. He had great chops. A natural. We later teamed up with a pianist by the name of Roy Gerson, another prodigy who was playing Chopin and Liszt at the age of 7. Tommy and Roy were the players. I had a drumset, PA system and a rehearsal basement. Tommy went on to work as Billy Joel's musical director and guitarist and Roy released several recordings for Concord Records.

I went to a small Catholic high school in a neighboring town. There were only a handful of kids interested in music so the program was very small. However, a Dr. Herbert Deutsche was teaching there. It seemed a bit odd to me why he, the head of the music department at Hofstra University, would spend his mornings teaching theory and harmony to a handful of kids at a school that was 20 minutes away from the university. But, there he was passing along a tremendous wealth of information to us and I soaked it up. It was he who got me interested in composing. It wasn't until later in college that I was to discover that Dr. Deutsche was responsible for a major contribution to the advancement of music. It was he who teamed up with Bob Moog to invent the first portable synthesizer. He still has the prototype they created in his studio today.

I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston which is one of the most musically stimulating environments you could ever imagine. I joined an eight piece band and played at colleges in and around Boston. Somehow I ended up playing keyboards. I was always transcribing tunes off records and I seemed to be spending more and more time at the piano. After two years at Berklee, I stayed with the band and did not return to school. I found myself playing a gig in Minnesota where I met my wife. Later, I finish my music degree at the University of Minnesota.

For the past 15 years I have been an independent software engineer. I found developing software and designing systems is highly creative and rewarding. When you connect the dots, Fingersteps is a natural mix of my experiences. It is the wonderful blend of music, technology and helping people who have music to share.