Larry Murante: Regrets? I’ve had a few, but, then again, too few to mention

Today I’m featuring Larry Murante who recently performed at Bellevue Beats. He is an award-winning song writer, performer, and instrumentalist whose career has spanned decades.

As someone with such a caliber of a resumé, I wanted to know if K12 music education played a part of his growth as a musician.

Larry says that most of his music education has been on his own, especially in his younger years as he took inspiration from his parents’ records: Eddie Arnold, Earl Scruggs, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Jackson Brown, Emmyloo Harris, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and Dan Folgelberg. That’s quite an inspiration list! What Larry liked most about these artists was the story they told through their music. He also attributes his training to family as they had multiple musical talents.

So what about music instruction? Despite everything Larry learned from his family and from the music he listened to, Larry still wishes he had a better early education in music. There was the weekly music instructor for his early K12 classes, but he didn’t find the class memorable because the classes were so short and so infrequent. They also didn’t inspire him as the teacher was focused on having the students sing a few songs and didn’t focus on any fundamentals. He explains he missed out on music theory and voice training which hurt both professionally and academically.

“I was way behind my peers in reading music and music theory knowledge.”

Larry Murante, personal interview

What is the result of being behind? Well, Larry lost the motivation to major in music, and earlier than that, he experienced vocal strain because he hadn’t been properly trained.

Instead, he swerved in a different direction – he performed in bands throughout high school and after high school. Once Larry recognized he needed additional help with his singing voice, he reached out to voice instructors. His most notable instructor was University of Washington’s Frank Guarerra who had previously performed with the New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. This was an instructor who loved his job and grew excited at every improvement he saw in Larry’s performance. Frank’s tenure with the University of Washington was an unforgettable ten years. And, what Larry didn’t know at the time was he had a 3-octave vocal range!

You can find Larry performing throughout the Puget Sound both as a solo artist and part of Taylor Made, a James Taylor tribute band. This band has upcoming dates in the local Seattle area this month and in October. If you are in the area, be sure to check them out!

Larry has a quite the repertoire of performing with fellow artists – pop singer, Brandi Carlile, folk singers, Christine Lavin and Uncle Bonsai, and contemporary music artist, Peter Mulvey, to name a few.

His upcoming dates are listed on his website. But, if you want to listen to his music now, I recommend Patch of Sky. It’s a few years old, but you can hear his wonderful story telling that he gleaned from long ago.

If you enjoy his music as much as I do, be sure to check out his Facebook and Instagram. And, as always support artists by buying their music!