Pat Egan is a singer/songwriter who has been writing music for the past 40 years. He is currently finishing his first EP entitled Bells of St. Marys. He is an electrical engineer at IBM.
1. Music background
"I come from a very musical household. There was always a piano in the house, and I learned how to play by ear with no formal training. I picked up the guitar at the age of 16 when a friend of mine told me, ‘You are going to play Guitar Man on the guitar!’ I started playing in front of people two weeks later."
2. Musical style
"I am an acoustic folk singer/songwriter, but I dance around that a little bit."
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3. Math song
"Math and music go hand in hand. If kids are introduced to music early, it strikes the right brain chords that make it so they will do better in math."
4. Music engineer
"I am working on the last recording of my EP, and I hoping it will come out at the end of the year. As an engineer, I tend to be a perfectionist, and it is hard to let it go."
5. Let your light shine
"I still play a few cover songs, but I mainly do my own stuff. I try to encourage the young people to play their own music. If they are writing music, I tell them to get it out there. Some
of the young musicians in this town are fantastic. Their music is so much better than mine was at 18."
6. Firsts
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"One of my first experiences on stage was playing keyboard. We had to start doing songs in 3/4 time because the audience expected polka music. It’s amazing what you can play in 3/4 time when you have to. I learned I am much more comfortable with a guitar in front of me."
7. Taken by surprise
"I attend a singer/songwriter workshop in the Twin Cities, and one of the tasks is to write against a prompt that they give us. It allows me to write songs that I didn’t think I was going to write."
8. Favorite place to play
"I really like it when I am outdoors in places where people sit and really listen. I also like coffee houses, where people are listening to the words that I am singing."
9. Rochester music scene
"Over the last ten years, the music scene has just exploded. And now we’ve got restaurants that are hiring musicians left and right to play. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, people have to make up their minds where to go."
10. Where to find Pat
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You can hear Pat on Mondays at the open mic at Forager Brewing Company and on Thursdays at the open mic at Café Steam.
