The thriving drummer boy
Musician Anthony Fung has gone from high school drum line to prestigious U.S. jazz institute
Anthony Fung started his music career on a high school drum line. And now he’s beat a path to an extremely prestigious U.S. music program.
The Richmond Hill native, 23, who graduated with a master’s degree last spring from Boston’s Berklee Global Jazz Institute program, has won a coveted spot at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Fung, who is already composing his own works, said his first inspiration came at the age of 10, from a 2002 movie about marching bands called Drumline.
“I just remember being so captivated by the drums. So after a week, I went to go get drum lessons and about maybe a month later, my mom bought me my first drum set and I was just banging away in my basement,” Fung recalled.
His mother, a widow, was initially supportive as long as drumming remained a hobby, but was less sure when he decided to pursue it as a career.
“It was more of a self-pursuit kind of thing. I needed to do this thing,” Fung said. “I always just said, ‘Don’t worry about me.’ It’s now to the point where she’s very supportive; she’s like ‘Wow, I can’t believe all these great things are happening.’ ”
Fung, who performed with the St. Michael’s College School drum line throughout high school, got his first taste of jazz when he did friend Joe Manzoli a favour and filled in for a drummer during a Christmas concert.
“I just knew the basic ‘swing ride’ pattern. That’s all I knew about jazz. I’d never really listened to it in my life. I got hooked . . . and I played with Joe throughout my high school years,” Fung recalled.
Like his mentor Manzoli, Fung was later admitted to the Berklee College of Music and its highly regarded jazz program.
Marco Pignataro, managing director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, said the program’s philosophy is “music as an agent of social change.”
That involves bringing jazz to disadvantaged audiences around the world and, closer to home, includes seniors residences, homes for the disabled and prisons.
“The social component and the philosophy of the institute really resonated with him as a musician,” Pignataro said of Fung.
Performing in front of those “out- reach” audiences had a profound effect, Fung said.
“I found that music is a tool that can be used as therapy and it’s amazing to see the effects on people who are maybe at a bad place in their life. They’re dancing with us, they’re smiling and having a good time. They get a chance to express their emotions.”
It was his mentors at Berklee who urged Fung to apply to the Monk Institute, a two-year program that enrols only one ensemble of musicians per class, who attend on full scholarship.
It also requires a two-day audition before a panel of jazz greats, including Wayne Shorter, whom Fung called “the most prominent living jazz legend in the world,” as well as Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Kenny Burrell, James Newton and the Tijuana Brass co-founder Herb Alpert.
“It’s extremely prestigious to be selected,” Pignataro said.
“It’s one of those programs that everybody wants to get into and it’s very hard because they just accept a very limited amount of students.
“(Fung) has made us very proud, but it’s just confirmed what we were thinking and seeing from the beginning,” he added.
Fung, who began classes last month, said the biggest adjustment is the weather.
“Getting used to warm weather everyday, that’s kind of interesting to me. Part of me really misses stepping outside and being a little chilly.
“L.A.’s a town that has always been mysterious to me. I didn’t know if I would really fit here.
“But so far, it’s been really positive. There’s a lot of great connections and I’ve already played a couple of gigs here,” he said.
Fung, who hopes to tour some day with his own band playing his own compositions, said jazz has become a truly international musical genre.
“The word jazz is so broad these days. There’s so many different kinds of styles and avenues that are branching out of jazz music. Jazz is so accessible that it’s branching into different cultures at this point.”
“It’s amazing to see the effects (of music) on people who are maybe at a bad place in their life.” ANTHONY FUNG