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Share Skip Moyer, this year’s Frank Scott Award Winner, shares the story of how it all started.
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Skip Moyer, this year’s Frank Scott Award Winner, shares the story of how it all started.
Skip Moyer is looking forward to sharing the Frank Scott Award moment with his kids. He played with Frank Scott a lot of times over the years. The award is all about a musician who has made a significant contribution to jazz in Berks County, as well as their active involvement in giving back to the community through music. Skip has been involved with Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest since the beginning and he is still amazed that he is asked to play when all the big names are coming in to town to perform. He can’t imagine why people would choose to see him!
Skip graduated from the Navy School of Music where he met a lot of great musicians. “Dennis … from Lehighton … ended up playing with Paul McCartney and the Wings … and Vaughn played bass trombone with the Woody Herman Band for years”. Skip says he got to play with a lot of great musicians in the Navy Band, “especially during peace time ... they are pretty picky about the musicians they choose”.
Skip teaches locally. He is really happy this year because he has a student playing bass with the All County Jazz Band. Most years his students were the ones that played bass with the County Jazz Band. Skip says, “Last year was one of the years he didn’t have a student do it ... It’s because people that were actually qualified to play weren’t really interested in doing it. There are so many different kinds of music. Their pursuits were more toward the classical vein”.
How do you teach jazz? Skip says, “It starts from how to hold the base, how to pull the string. Then you get into the harmony aspect … I usually teach how to play the blues first”.
Skip wanted to play an instrument since he was 10. He bought an Oscar Peterson record but didn’t even own a turntable! He fondly recalls the local hillbilly parks and firemen’s carnivals where all the big names came to play including Bill Monroe, Webb Pierce, Bill Haley, Earl Scruggs and Minnie Pearl. They provided the inspiration and he really wanted to play steel guitar and dobro. His High School teacher urged him to play the Bass instead. That was the beginning of a lifetime making and sharing music.
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By The People Chronicles RadioSkip Moyer is looking forward to sharing the Frank Scott Award moment with his kids. He played with Frank Scott a lot of times over the years. The award is all about a musician who has made a significant contribution to jazz in Berks County, as well as their active involvement in giving back to the community through music. Skip has been involved with Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest since the beginning and he is still amazed that he is asked to play when all the big names are coming in to town to perform. He can’t imagine why people would choose to see him!
Skip graduated from the Navy School of Music where he met a lot of great musicians. “Dennis … from Lehighton … ended up playing with Paul McCartney and the Wings … and Vaughn played bass trombone with the Woody Herman Band for years”. Skip says he got to play with a lot of great musicians in the Navy Band, “especially during peace time ... they are pretty picky about the musicians they choose”.
Skip teaches locally. He is really happy this year because he has a student playing bass with the All County Jazz Band. Most years his students were the ones that played bass with the County Jazz Band. Skip says, “Last year was one of the years he didn’t have a student do it ... It’s because people that were actually qualified to play weren’t really interested in doing it. There are so many different kinds of music. Their pursuits were more toward the classical vein”.
How do you teach jazz? Skip says, “It starts from how to hold the base, how to pull the string. Then you get into the harmony aspect … I usually teach how to play the blues first”.
Skip wanted to play an instrument since he was 10. He bought an Oscar Peterson record but didn’t even own a turntable! He fondly recalls the local hillbilly parks and firemen’s carnivals where all the big names came to play including Bill Monroe, Webb Pierce, Bill Haley, Earl Scruggs and Minnie Pearl. They provided the inspiration and he really wanted to play steel guitar and dobro. His High School teacher urged him to play the Bass instead. That was the beginning of a lifetime making and sharing music.