The dining room is filled with the rattle of dishes, the buzz of conversation, the clink of glassware — and, over them all, the clear staccato notes of the classical guitar.
It is New Year’s Eve at Angeloni’s Restaurant in Villa Park, and the guitarist sits, bent over his instrument, concentrating on the lovely tones that diners pause to appreciate.
Between pieces, guests occasionally speak to the guitarist or put bills in the tip glass sitting next to him. At one point a teenage girl shyly urges her father to speak to the dark-haired musician, who responds with a polite smile and a few words.
Later, the artist’s 2-year-old sister toddles forward to give him a hug, prompting delighted laughter and applause from observers.
The musician maintains his calm, professional demeanor throughout, even when a group at a nearby table gets a little loud; he waits, delaying the start of his next number until it’s quiet again.
Thus Garrett Dahm of Arlington Heights continues his gig as a professional musician after nine years of practice, hard work and performances in concerts and recitals.
Not an especially unusual story, except that Garrett Dahm is 13 years old, a normal 7th grader who likes basketball and roller skating and sometimes worries about homework — and is a youngster about whom musicians use the term “prodigy.”
World-renowned classical guitarist Christopher Parkening, speaking from Los Angeles during a break in touring, recalled that he first met Garrett when he was 8 years old. They were introduced by Garrett’s music teacher at the time, Scott Johnston, and the young musician went on to play that year in the college-level master class Parkening teaches annually at Montana State University in Bozeman. Playing with students more than a decade older, Garrett was one of the few selected to solo.
“Garrett is very, very good,” Parkening said. “He has the fundamentals of playing the guitar.
“He has good technique and a natural artistic instinct. He also has a very good stage presence and a natural rapport with his audiences. It is unusual to see all these things in an artist so young. The combination of him starting early, having excellent teachers and a natural-born talent makes for a prodigy.”
Garrett himself is matter-of-fact about his music and his potential. Casually dressed and sprawled across a chair in a room where 2-year-old Aungelina’s toys are side-by-side with a music stand and guitar cases, he said, “When I was maybe 3, I liked the guitar and I liked to listen to music.”
His guitar interest grew from there. “I like to play a variety of classical things, and I have an electric guitar and I play whatever I want on that,” he said. “The electric guitar is really easy.”
When asked how adults react to his talent, Garrett smiled: “I don’t really know what to say about that.”
For his parents, Mark and Pat, however, that discussion comes more easily. “Everyone has been really supportive of him,” said Mark, a construction contractor who says he played the guitar briefly in his youth. “I get nervous when he plays, but we’re really proud of him.”
For the family, which also includes 9-year-old Chanelle, Garrett’s music has taken an important but not overwhelming place in life. At present, Garrett takes lessons at the Harper College Music Academy in Palatine with teacher Steve Suvada and plays with the Harper Guitar Ensemble, while Chanelle attends gymnastics class and Aungelina is “a fan.”
“I really think each child gives you an idea of what they want to do,” Pat said.
Music lessons for Garrett began when he was about 4 through the Suzuki Academy of Performing Arts in Des Plaines.
“Garrett liked the guitar, and we had a neighbor who was affiliated with Suzuki when they were starting the guitar program,” Pat said. “We really thought the guitar lessons would just be one of those kid things that last a few months or a year.”
Instead, Garrett blossomed, leading his Suzuki-affiliated teacher to introduce him to Parkening, an introduction that led to the master class and to Garrett’s biggest performance to date, an appearance with Parkening at the American Academy of Achievement Awards in Las Vegas in 1994. He performed before an audience that included “Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Selleck and some guy named Francis Ford something — there were lots of people,” Garrett said.
That description leads to a chuckle from Mark Dahm, who helped by filling in the last name of producer/director Francis Ford Coppola.
Garrett’s progression has not always been smooth, however. After Johnston moved out of the area in 1995, Garrett’s parents hunted for a music teacher with the ability to teach a student who is so young and yet plays at such a high level. “I met some teachers who used a lot of (technical) words I didn’t know,” Garrett said.
The search led in 1996 to Harper College, where instructor Suvada, of Park Ridge, took over Garrett’s instruction and made him part of the college’s guitar ensemble to help motivate him. “When you are saying to a 13-year-old that he has to sit in a room for two hours a day and practice, that can be hard,” Suvada said. “Playing with the ensemble helps because it’s more like having a team to be involved with.”
Suvada also connected the Dahm family with Alfredo Angeloni, the owner of the Villa Park restaurant, who was looking for a musician to play at the restaurant’s first anniversary last December. Mark Dahm said Angeloni was at first nervous because of Garrett’s age, until “I told him I wasn’t going to leave him there alone.” That led to a free dinner for the family (“They have very good food,” Garrett said.) and recurring engagements at the restaurant.
Angeloni said Garrett has added to the ambience of the Italian restaurant. “People really stop and listen to him while they are eating,” he said. “And they give him a tip on the way out, and he always gives them a big smile. He’s a very nice kid — and I love his music.”
Angeloni said he plans to continue to book Garrett for his restaurant. “He may have other things to do with school or with concerts, but we’ll work around that,” he said.
Suvada said he suggested the Angeloni’s gig to the family because “it’s a different kind of experience than playing concerts, and you’re always looking for any way to keep a kid motivated. The fact he is getting paid for playing is good.”
Teaching Garrett is challenging, Suvada said, because “there is something in him that tingles and buzzes when he plays a piece of music. He and I will argue about interpretation — about whether the music should be angry or sad.”
Such understanding of the emotional content of music is rare in musicians, but especially in those who are very young, Suvada said. “When kids are 13, they are just kind of hanging on and hoping to play the right notes,” he said. “The thing that is tricky is to help them understand the emotional content of the music. For Garrett, that is innate.”
All of these experiences would seem to take Garrett far from the life of a normal young teen, but he said he has no problems with his friends at South Middle School in Arlington Heights.
“My friends have heard me play,” he said, “and I’ve played in the variety show and I played a Spanish piece for a project in Spanish class.”
Pat Dahm added: “He doesn’t ever brag in front of his friends, and there are some things he’s told me not to say in front of them.”
Of course, there have been some moments. A classical guitarist has to wear the fingernails on his right hand long for plucking the strings — a look decisively not fashionable among 13-year-old boys. “I’ve been asked about my nails,” he said, “and I just say, `Do you have a problem with that?’ ” Also, he added, playing the guitar has given him very strong hands and arms and “I beat everybody at school at arm wrestling.”
Garrett enjoys other activities, including basketball, hockey and in-line skating and has been working on starting an alternative rock band with some friends.
His favorite part of school? “Recess! I’m just kidding,” he said. “I like science and math, and I like Spanish.”
One thing that Garrett has not gotten particularly involved in are the school’s music programs. In 4th grade, he took some clarinet lessons, and “I didn’t like that. We played `Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ for four weeks.”
One of the unknowns is how Garrett’s future will evolve. Adults who know how difficult a career in music can be are nevertheless optimistic. Suvada said, “I think the sky is the limit for him. At this point, he’s enjoying it immensely, and when he gets to college, he should be able to get into any of the top three guitar programs in the country.”
Parkening said a very small number of classical guitarists in the world actually make a living giving concerts and doing recordings. “It’s a very difficult career because you have to be one of the best in the world,” he said. “If you are a very good violinist, you may not be a soloist, but you can play in orchestras. That’s not the case with guitar.”
Sylvia Kunin, 85, founder of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles and currently producer of a series introducing classical music to elementary school children for the Public Broadcasting System, met Garrett when taping a program at WTTW-Ch. 11 in Chicago last fall. The program featured Garrett playing guitar and answering questions on his music from elementary school children.
An early mentor of Parkening’s, she said Garrett “reminds me of a young Chris. He plays the guitar with such elegance, and I don’t even think he knows he’s talented. He did a wonderful job exposing the elegance of the guitar (on the television show), and he gave absolutely adult answers to questions.”
His parents try not to look too far into the future, just being pleased that Garrett continues to progress. Even so, Pat said, “He’s so opposite from us. He likes change, and he doesn’t mind being different.”
Garrett himself is more certain of the future. “I want to play concerts and tour and perform,” he said. “Performing is my favorite thing. It’s a good career.”
WHERE DAHM CAN BE SEEN
Gyarrett Dahm’s performance schedule includes appearances at Angeloni’s Restaurant in Villa Park as well as concerts sponsored by Harper College and a scheduled Chicago appearance.
– Feb. 10: At 7 p.m., Garrett will open for flamenco guitarists Jose Soto and Morito Chico at the Chicago Cultural Center at Michigan Avenue and Washington Street, Chicago. The free concert is one of a guitar series being sponsored by the Cultural Center.
– Feb. 26-28: The Harper College Guitar Ensemble with Dahm as a soloist will appear at the Mid-America Guitar Festival at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Tickets and performance times are available from Roosevelt at 312-341-3780.
– March 9: At 7:30 p.m., the Harper College Guitar Ensemble will perform at Harper College, Roselle and Algonquin Roads, Palatine. Also, at 7:30 p.m. May 11, the ensemble will perform at the college. Tickets are $5; for information, call the Harper College box office at 847-925-6100.
– Dahm performs at Angeloni’s Restaurant on many Friday or Saturday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. A schedule is available from the Villa Park restaurant at 630-832-8900.
