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Devon Joiner, a fourth–year Music student at UBC, has been playing the piano since the age of four, and hasn’t gone more than a week since then without putting his hands on a keyboard.

“For me, music is sort of like language,” he says. “We at one point didn’t know how to speak English, but we can’t really remember any time before that, so it seems like we’ve always been able to speak. For me it seems like I’ve always been able to play music, so it wasn’t ever a decision for me to go into music, it just seemed natural.”

Joiner says he “draw[s] on personal experience to find what emotions” to draw out of the music he performs. “A lot of pieces are very dramatic and take a lot out of me emotionally.”

After graduating, Joiner plans to pursue a Master’s of Music and possibly even a doctoral degree. When it comes down to choosing between practicing for a performance and working on an assignment, Joiner puts his piano first and, like many university students, attempts to cram in the other work in when there is time. Understandably, he doesn’t sleep much.
Concert pianists that inspire Joiner include Horowitz, Rubinstein and Martha Argerich whose “incredible technique” keeps him motivated to practice.

Joiners’s more personal inspiration comes from his great–grandfather, who was also a concert pianist as well as an orchestra conductor for silent movies. “Although I never heard him play, I’ve heard many great things about his music that have [inspired me] to pursue this career as well.”

In addition to playing with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, Joiner has had the privilege to play with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. His current endeavours include a trio which combines a French horn, a violin and, of course, the piano. This may seem a bit unusual, but Joiner says that the odd combination is a large part of the appeal, because it’s “interesting to see how we can blend the different sounds together”.

Earlier this year, Joiner won first place in the prestigious national Knigge Music Competition, earning him a coveted solo recital in the noon-hour concert series put on by the UBC School of Music. Joiner’s solo performance will take place this Wednesday, November 25 from 12–1pm in the UBC Music Building Recital Hall.

The program for Wednesday’s performance includes a piece by his favorite composer, Chopin, who he refers to as “the poet of the piano.” Joiner hopes that his audience on Wednesday will “enjoy [the pieces] as much as [he] enjoys playing them.”