Meet Michael Ragonese | Pianist & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Ragonese and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, is there something you believe many others might not?
When you are young and thinking about whether or not you want to pursue a career in music or any arts, the first thing people tell you is to have a “backup plan”. For example, say you are planning to go to college and are thinking about a degree in music. Most the people in your life are going to tell you to double major in something else just in case it doesn’t work out. In this case you would then have something else to fall back on. I completely disagree with this conventional advice if you are certain about the career you want to pursue. Obviously, to live a good life you must earn a decent salary to support your needs and one day your families needs, but if you are really passionate about one industry (especially one that doesn’t pay you a salary), I believe you need to dive fully into that without succumbing to your fears. In my field as a musician, it is difficult to earn a good living but very possible. You will start out your career struggling very much and you will have to find a way to balance that. In my case, I took out loans to go to college to study music and worked extremely hard. After graduating I was prepared to immediately succeed. That of course didn’t happen but you can’t just give up. If I had a backup plan I might have given up and went for a job that didn’t require me to “fail” as much. I lived 2-3 years after college with 5 other guys splitting the rent so I could afford my bills. The first year out of college I went out to clubs to meet people probably every night for an entire year. This was to build relationships and to develop a way in which I could get some gigs. This of course developed and by the 3rd year into my career I was supporting myself as a pianist. After I hit that point, a lot of the doubts went away and I was able to keep pushing into the career that I have now. In my early 20s I really struggled with this career choice. I was so passionate about music and was so uncertain that this would work out for me but since I didn’t have a back up plan, I just kept pushing and practicing because there was realistically nothing else I could do. I worked harder than I had ever worked and was constantly improving my skills as a pianist so I could succeed more. I truly believe that having a backup plan just because an industry is hard and unconventional will get in the way of pushing yourself to the extent that you need to in order to succeed in these career paths.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve had a lot of exciting journeys in my career as a pianist but I’d say I’m most excited about the projects I am leading now. In the last year or so I have started a music school and I completed my first tour as a bandleader. Usually in my career I function as a sideman and I tour with artists that hire me, so it’s a very difference experience to be doing it under my own name. I am the most inspired I have ever been because I feel like I’m building something that really gives me meaning. I get to travel the country playing the songs that I wrote and I get to pass my knowledge on to people that have a passion for music. Getting to where I am now was not an easy journey and I still have a ton of room to grow. The last 10 years required a tremendous amount of dedication and sacrifice. Succeeding in this industry meant practicing the piano all day while making connections with musicians all the time. It meant engulfing myself fully into the world of music. I didn’t see a lot of friends or family for a while as my head was buried into my music. I did whatever I could to make a living for myself early in my career which could mean driving 2 hours to a gig that only paid $100. I had a lot of roommates for a long time until I was able to support myself and get my own place. So many challenges arose almost every day and it really made me question a lot. I was always comparing myself to other musicians, asking myself “why didn’t I get the call for that gig”? This exact thought would come in my mind so often and it destabilized me in many ways. There was a couple years where I really questioned why I was doing music as a career. I felt like all the gigs I had were never good enough and I was always comparing to my colleagues who had “better” gigs. After years and years of these thoughts, I finally grew tired of being a victim to my own mind. I started to practice acceptance and gratitude and then a lot started changing. Working on my state of mind really helped me start to love what I was doing again. Believe it or not, the emotional setbacks were worse than the financial setbacks. Once I was able to overcome these mental challenges, I started thriving even more than before. This industry taught me so many valuable life lessons. Yes, I have to be the best musician that I can be and do whatever it takes to get there but the even bigger lesson is that you are constantly being challenged emotionally and being a musician/artist really forces you to find acceptance, love and gratitude in what you are doing NOW. You have to find a way to be happy with where you are at while at the same time wanting to get to that next level. It’s a beautiful life lesson and it transfers to so many aspects in my life. I want people to know that while being a musician is a difficult choice, it is also an extremely rewarding career.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In Los Angeles there are a lot of places to hang out and there is constantly live music. It can be overwhelming at times. Some of my favorite spots for music include Sam first Jazz club, ETA in Highland Park, and Just Jazz in Hollywood. All these venues specialize in jazz music and have some of the best musicians in the world performing there. I love to hang out in the Studio City/North Hollywood area as there are so many great restaurants there including Aroma Coffee & Tea. On Ventura Blvd there are a ton of amazing Bars including Firefly that I would take him to. In addition to eating, drinking, and listening to live music, I love to bowl. I go bowling quite regularly and would absolutely take my friend to the bowling alley with me. Getting out of the city is always nice and when i’m in that mood I love going up Angeles Crest Highway and taking a nice drive in the mountains. Up in the mountains there are some beautiful hikes and views where you can get out of your car and just relax a bit. There are even some restaurants. To end the trip, if the weather was nice, I’d take my friend to beach and enjoy a beautiful sunny day there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my story to both my mom and my mentor Gary Pratt. My mom was a professional musician and really pushed me to work hard in piano since I started taking lessons. I had to practice piano every day for at least 30 minutes and she would know if I was doing a good job or not. If it wasn’t a good job it didn’t matter if the timer went off at 30 minutes. I would have to keep practicing. Because of her I was able to play in church every Sunday, which gave me the experience of playing in public and constantly practicing my sight reading skills. In addition to playing in church, she always pushed me to perform in public and also gave me the opportunity to play in her band. Having that kind of support behind me really helped me develop as a pianist and musician. Later on when I got to college, I met Gary Pratt, who was the head of the jazz music department at Cal State University Northridge. He took me under his wing and really showed me the meaning of hard work. I would work with him in lessons constantly and he would always be pushing me. Practically every time I played the piano he would give me something new to work on. It was incredible motivation to work with him. I would practice the piano 6 hours a day in college since I was always pushed with new material. In addition to Gary pushing me in developing my craft, we also would have long conversations about pursuing a music career and the difficulties involved with that. He was always supportive and never let me give up. After graduating I would always go to him in worry because I didn’t think I could succeed. He always reassured me and told me to be patient. These two people had the biggest influence in my development as a musician and as a person and I am forever grateful for them.

Website: micahelragonese.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeragss/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.ragonese.7

Youtube: https://youtu.be/FIwyKBEzuhw

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0EjGd9H6W1MwrxignO2N4w?si=GjXdx5dBQkOZWQNUe54BCQ&dl_branch=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrmi8eMrNCU

Image Credits
Nina Ragonese Ricky Chavez