{"id":2795,"date":"2014-12-12T18:55:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T18:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/?p=2795"},"modified":"2014-12-12T18:55:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T18:55:31","slug":"on-the-record-robert-skiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/on-the-record-robert-skiles\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Record: Robert Skiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Youssefi — Contributor\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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ACCENT: How long have you been composing and performing?<\/p>\n

SKILES: My mother was a concert pianist and my dad was a jazz trumpet player, so truthfully I was around music from infancy on. I started plunking notes at the piano at age two or three.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: As founder of Beto and the Fairlanes, how has the band\u2019s success had an impact on your music career?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SKILES: We started playing at a place called Liberty Lunch. The city council would stop their meetings and come down to Liberty Lunch and dance to Beto and the Fairlanes. We are still going strong. I have been very blessed with the gift of these wonderful players that play my music and add something that no other band can achieve.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: Who are some of your jazz and Latin music influences?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo by Jessica Youssefi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SKILES: I went to college and was influenced by pianists like Art Tatum and Bill Evans and of course the more modern ones \u2014 Chickeria, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and a pantheon of jazz icons. The Latin influence largely comes from Tito Puente, Pe\u0301rez Prado and Ray Barretto.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: What kind of recognition have you received as a musician?<\/p>\n

SKILES: I have six, maybe seven CD\u2019s of my band Beto and the Fairlanes and they\u2019ve gained national recognition and critical acclaim. One got four stars in a magazine called Downbeat. I\u2019ve performed and written for the Austin Symphony, the Louisville Symphony and the Laredo Symphony. But as far as making a hit record like Lady Gaga, I\u2019m not there yet.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: What is your fondest musical memory?<\/p>\n

SKILES: I was the music director of singer Tish Hinojosa. She wanted to perform in front of orchestras, so I wrote arrangements, many of which were my compositions, for her orchestra. She collaborated on the lyrics. Standing in front of the [92-piece] orchestra \u2014 when I first heard them, I melted. I just had to look at them and say \u201cdo that again.\u201d It was like driving a Ferrari.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: How did your time in arranging and performing with the Unity Church of the Hills Austin shape you?<\/p>\n

SKILES: Well, it influenced me a great deal because I had to be at the top of my game there. Each week we had different songs to learn and rehearse. I wrote the<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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charts for the band and worked with a vocalist really closely. That was a great education. The music genre was contemporary gospel, which is everything from rock-and-roll to traditional gospel. I was there for twelve years.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: How has your wide-ranging musical background helped direct you in teaching music at ACC?<\/p>\n

SKILES: I bring to bear all the experience that I\u2019ve had over the past 66 years of being active on this planet. I focus it on points that the students need to learn. For example, how I got cheated by my record company, or my experience in California writing music for a feature film and encounters with the music business in Austin \u2014 from playing at the Armadillo to receiving an award at ACC.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: What is your advice for ACC students or local musicians trying to make a name for themselves in the Austin music scene?<\/p>\n

SKILES: It\u2019s extremely difficult. Hang on to your inspiration and make sure that your passion is guiding your decisions and not some other reason.<\/p>\n

ACCENT: During the 2010-2011 academic year, you received the ACC Teaching Excellence Award. What did that recognition mean to you?<\/p>\n

SKILES: That recognition was a celebration of the relationship I have with the students. The really important thing is recognizing that I\u2019ve had an impact on a wider scope than just ACC. I had an impact through my students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Youssefi — Contributor\u00a0 ACCENT: How long have you been composing and performing? SKILES: My mother was a concert pianist and my dad was a jazz trumpet player, so truthfully I was around music from infancy on. I started plunking notes at the piano at age two or three. ACCENT: As founder of Beto and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4015,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[53,100,325,509],"class_list":["post-2795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-accent-news","tag-austin-community-college","tag-jessica-youssefi","tag-robert-skiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}