The man behind the keys

Piano professor brings success with him to San Marcos

By Jeff Walker

San Marcos — When Washington Garcia’s grandmother passed away, he inherited her “baby grand” piano — the same one that she’d let him bang on tirelessly as a young child. It was a fitting gift for a man that’s accomplished more with 88 black and white keys than most could imagine.

The Garcia family has always found a connection through music. Some of Washington’s fondest childhood moments were spent gathered around the piano with his family, singing and dancing to old Ecuadorian folk songs. Everyone — his mother, father, brother, sister, grandmother and uncle — could play either the guitar, violin or piano, though none could read music. They didn’t have to. The family was blessed with fantastic ears, playing back anything they heard on the radio after one listen.

By the age of four, his grandmother had him up on the piano stool teaching him to play notes with one finger. The music instantly affected him. In fact, on the occasion that she’d strike up the Ecuadorian National Anthem, Washington would run up and down the hallway, extending his arms rigidly and marching like a soldier. The family of musicians feared what this might mean for Washington’s future.

“Everybody freaked out a little bit, they all thought I was going to be the first military member in the family,” Garcia said. “They didn’t know that just showed how much the music meant to me. That’s why I would act like a soldier, because the music moved me.”

And Garcia hasn’t stopped moving since.

He’s played for presidents as a child, wooed a Juliard panel as a teenager and even had a Grand piano flown from Quito to the coastal city of Salinas for a one-night-only Washington Garcia performance. But his latest stop is San Marcos, where he’s an assistant professor of piano at Texas State University. His ambitions are strong here — he aims to make Texas State a destination school for piano students all over the world, but do so in a way that it remains financially accessible to them. He takes Texas State’s “Rising Star” mantra to heart.

“I want to recruit and maintain quality students that would take the name Texas State University all over the world,” Garcia said. “I want to prepare them so that they can represent us on the concert platform at the highest level.”

Garcia’s own education started early. At the age of five, he accompanied his sister to the National Conservatory of Music in Ecuador, where she was already registered as a student. Though he was just there to visit, he took part in the classes anyway, and at the end of the year a teacher called his mother.

“He told her that I was really talented and that I should not repeat that year, that I should start my education,” Garcia said. “I was then officially enrolled at the International Conservatory of Music in Quito.”

And the performances would follow. By the age of six, Washington was invited to perform at a benefit concert for children with disabilities — his first public appearance.

“We were there, we raised money for the kids, and that was a very fulfilling experience for me,” Garcia said. “That’s something I’ve wanted to do throughout my life — to serve the community in a particular way, rather than to just fulfill personal goals.”

He won his first national piano competition at the age of 10. When he received his first paycheck for the win, he began to consider the piano as an eventual full-time gig.

“That was the first time something tickled me in the back of my mind to say ‘hmm... what is this? Is this a career I could pursue?’” Garcia said.

By the time he was 14, Garcia had been invited to perform for the former president of Chile. A year later, he debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra, and it was clear that his life would be devoted to music.

Garcia’s childhood was crammed full of auditions, practices and accelerated academic studies. At one time in his childhood, he was juggling high school classes, college courses, private English lesson and private piano lessons. He would begin his college studies at the age of 15 at The Conservatory, and by the time he was 18, he had a bachelor’s degree to go with his high school diploma.

“I didn’t have a normal life, per se, in terms of the fact that I really had to organize my time so I could do everything I wanted to do,” Garcia said. “I was kind of early to graduate. It was very uncommon.”

He made his first trip to the United States at the age of 15. Garcia had an appointment with an advisor at the Juliard School of Music in New York to check out the school. That visit quickly turned into an audition.

“They were having late auditions in August. I had a meeting to say ‘hi,’ but she said ‘you’re right here, we have your resume, would you like to audition?’ I said ‘sure,’” Garcia said. “I had to prepare an audition by myself in one week to audition at one of the best music schools in the world. I showed up for the audition, which was quite scary at the time.”

He met with the director afterward and she told Garcia that he’d been accepted and would be offered a full ride. Fifteen, though, was a little too early. Garcia called his parents to let then know what had happened.

“They very wisely told me that it was very good, they were proud of me, but the best thing would be for me to return to Ecuador to finish my education,” Garcia said. “I just needed to grow up a little more before I was ready to go alone into to a new country and into New York.”

Three years later, Garcia would get his full ride at a premier music university, but in Washington D.C. He was one of two Latin American artists to be awarded a $25,000 fellowship by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The grant allowed him to come to the states for one year in order to pursue studies with teachers, to perform concerts, to go to music festivals and to attend master’s classes. Under the suggestion of one of his private teachers, he chose the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University at 18. The only problem was that he was accepted into the bachelor’s program.

“When I first went there, I went to classes and everything I knew, I’d already done. I talked to the director and said ‘I know this stuff. I finished my bachelor’s in Ecuador,’” Garcia said.

Once he was placed in the proper program, Garcia flourished. He earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins at 20 and finished his doctorate degree at age 25, the youngest ever for a Latin American student.

While Garcia’s life has been full of anecdotes and experiences, he doesn’t shy away from the hard times that he’s faced. With every accomplishment, he says, there’s been just as much struggle.

“My life has been full of blessings, but each blessing has come with a great deal of challenge,” Garcia said. “Leaving home at the age of 15 and coming to a foreign country, it was difficult finding yourself alone, having no family, having nobody to be there to give you a hug and say everything is going to be okay. My first birthday alone in the United States was quite hard. Coming from a very strong family with a strong family nucleus, I miss them very much.”

But his determination to be a professional pianist keeps him here, and that outweighs any obstacle. Besides, he plans to see his family for Christmas. And there will be plenty of time then to gather around the piano for a couple of tunes.

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