Gabriel Royal
I want to introduce you to Gabriel Royal, the Oklahoma-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and cellist who began playing in New York City subway stations. Today, he performs to sold-out crowds in countries worldwide and collaborates with some of the industry’s most in-demand names.
Could you tell us about your musical career and how you got to where you are today?
Man, that’s a loaded question, a lifelong question right there.
I started playing cello in middle school because there was an excellent public school education music program. And from there, I took lessons with my good friend, Diane Bukianarian. She was my first teacher. She was on the Tulsa Philharmonic. Then, I went to Booker T. Washington. We’re under the tutelage of one James Kirk.
Mr. Kirk is what we called him. He’s probably one of the most influential musicians in my life, as far as teaching me technique and taking music seriously, as opposed to just pop music. Not that I believe in the hierarchies of music. I think anything that makes you dance and that you like listening to is good music.
I’m pretty easygoing when it comes to that. But I do think that you should know the mechanics of music. Sure. And the man who taught me that was James Kirk. Jim Kirk, sorry. Then, I guess I came to TU, which is here in Tulsa University, where I studied under Diane Bucanieri again because she became the cello professor at the university here.
I was in the orchestras. At Booker T, there was a piano in the hallway, and during lunchtime, my friends and I, instead of going outside and playing basketball or soccer or something, would just hang out at the piano and make songs, essentially. And that’s where my songwriter bug took flight because I started writing songs in high school.
The first song I ever wrote was when I was five. My dad went from piano shop to piano shop, so I played many pianos. I’ll play that at the show, too. You can hear the first composition to the newest one.
Who would you say are some of your musical influences?
I have to say, Stevie Wonder was such a significant influence that I almost forgot to mention him. I hate to say that. He’s just part of our language…
