15 minutes with Lucia Unrau

Jeremy Sutton. (This is important because Lucia grew up near Goessel, Kansas, and dancing was finally allowed the year she was a freshman in high school.)

Is it still controversial in Goessel to maintain your "maiden" name?

Absolutely.

I tried smoking cigarettes with my brother, in the barn - actually I watched him. It was scary because our mom found us.

I didn't have to drive for the test. In Kansas, we took driver's ed in school and drove with the instructor.

It was ugly -- peach with a six-inch ruffle on the bottom. My mom made it.

I started just before I turned 5. My first teacher was Celia Goering who is now raising Christmas trees on a tree farm outside of Wichita, KS. I studied with her until I was 18. My parents had a Baldwin-Hamilton upright (which they still have). After high school, I got my bachelor's of music at Oberlin and master's of music at Indiana. I always knew I'd go on for a doctorate but I needed a break, so I moved to Rosslyn, Va., and worked as a legal secretary for Terry Sanford's (former governor of North Carolina) law firm. I Interviewed in November, graduated from Indiana in December and worked in D.C. for 18 months. I had an upright piano in my apartment and flew to New York to take lessons from Alan Feinberg. I also took lessons from Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School - she was scary. She'd yell at me.

That depends on what I'm playing. I once sight-read Mozart when playing a gig with a violinist.

I practice a lot.

Really, it's whoever I'm playing at the time. I like the romantics. This (2010) is the 200^th anniversary of Chopin's birth.

Probably the Detroit Chamber Orchestra - I played Carnival of the Animals with them at Interlochen in 2007. The conductor had such a good ear that he guessed what frequency the technician had tuned the "A" to.

That helps me get the right tempo. If it's complicated, I won't do that. I learned it from Steve Jacoby.

Who was the first person you met in Bluffton?

Steve Jacoby - he picked me up at the airport in February 1994 when I came for my interview.

Do you compose music?

Lucia: No. Peter: Yes. She's very good off the cuff. Lucia: I don't sit down and write an entire piece from scratch.

Some are. Some work very hard at it. Some never get it (pointing at Peter). It's painful to watch him (he nods).

A "1". (Here she relates the story of a contest during graduate school in Texas. Each judge ranked the performer, then all three are added up and averaged - similar to figure skating performances. She received a 1, 1, and a 7, which resulted in honorable mention.) My GRE score was the worst - I was admitted to graduate school conditionally.

If I could practice like I'd want to, I'd practice 4-5 hours a day. That doesn't happen anymore.

What happens if you don't play every day?

I start to miss piano. (However, she admits when she's on vacation, she's on vacation.)

What kind of piano do you own?

A 6-foot Steinway grand. (The story behind this is that she and Peter were living in Los Angeles and began their search at the Kawai and Steinway stores. A salesman suggested they watch the classifieds since new ones cost $30-40,000. They went to a home to check out a 6-foot Steinway. She sat down and began playing Brahms' F minor concerto. The owner had left the room, but returned immediately to listen. They'd not even gotten financing yet, but the woman held it for them. They learned later that the owner just wanted them to have it so they got an excellent deal.)

Did Duke Ellington's piano really have one extra key?

I don't know about his, but there is such a piano - Bosendorfer makes one with extra keys at the bottom (left end of keyboard). They allow the pianist to change the scale. The extra keys are covered with a special panel when not being used.

I wanted to but you had to stay for eight weeks and wear knickers. In 1991, Peter got a call to teach, but had to say no. We thought that was it, but in 1992, they asked him to teach electronic music courses. I didn't teach, but did some accompanying. The next summer, I went back to teach. Now I'm the coordinator of the keyboard area, which is mostly administrative. Peter teaches four classes a day. We're there for six weeks, and the kids go along. It's like having two lives. There is a Facebook group called "Post-Interlochen Depression Syndrome." The kids don't take classes there, but do take guitar lessons from a guy in Traverse City.

Do your children play other instruments? Piano?

The girls took piano lessons. I tried to teach them but gave up. Kallen plays percussion and is in show choir. Elyse is the band field commander and plays flute. Dylan plays guitar.

At the University of Texas, at a Star Wars party. I was a grad student; he was on the faculty. Both of us did our doctorates there. I was NOT his student.

Where did you live before moving to Bluffton?

Peter was teaching computer music and composition at Cal State. I was playing gigs, usually as a duo with a violinist or saxophonist/flutist. I played at James Woods' wedding, where I met James Garner. I played at a lot of bar and bat mitzvahs. One I played all day at a public storage unit. They had gambling parties there - a casino - and I played (mostly) pop stuff. (She's also met Buddy Ebsen and Michael Moore, which they claim is no big deal since Moore was in high school with Peter's sister.)

What was the biggest tip you ever received while playing a gig?

Probably $50.

Carnegie Hall - it's beautiful.

What goals do you have outside of music?

I want to run a marathon - and finish one. (She's currently aiming for the Columbus Half Marathon in October.)