frontlines
Young Musical
Prodigy Lands
A Record Deal
Leslie Spector
JN Intern
M
usical prodigy Henry Plotnick, 12, started play-
ing piano when he was 4 years old. He fell in love
with the instrument and realized music was his
calling.
"Even before I started playing piano I was obsessed with
turntables and stereos:' said Plotnick of San Francisco, who
has ties to Metro Detroit.
Over the past year, he discovered musical composers, such
as Phillip Glass and Brian Eno, who fabricate repetitive,
orchestrated music.
"Both of these artists make very repetitive music, but it
grows and eventually adds on to itself' Plotnick explained. "It's
really cool to listen to, and I am very inspired by their work"
Plotnick's niche is electronic music, and 95 percent of the
songs he writes and performs are improvisations. His debut
album, Fields, consists of nine tracks and was released on
July 9 of this year.
After listening to the record, it's easy to assume this musi-
cal accomplishment was written and performed by someone
beyond Plotnick's years. The album was produced by Holy
Mountain Records and was written solely by Plotnick when
he was 11.
Plotnick's whimsical creations in his first album are titled
"Field 1", "Field 2" and so on. He did this strategically to
illustrate a musical progression in the album, as well as to
create an opportunity for listeners to generate their own
meaning of his work.
The virtuoso composer has had access to all kinds of musi-
cal instruments as he grew up. He has played drums, trumpet
and trombone.
"There are a lot of instruments around our house because
my wife is a musician so we have always encouraged him to
play:' said Danny Plotnick, Henry's father, who grew up in
JN CONTENTS
August 15-21 2013 I 9-15 Elul 5773
Around Town
30
Arts/Entertainment ...49
Business
38
Calendar
26
Family Focus
42
Food
54
Get Cooking
34
Israel ..1, 5,12, 22, 27, 30, 40, 49
Jews in the Digital Age.. 22
Letters
5
Life Cycles
57
Marketplace
59
Henry Plotnick at the keyboard
Detroit. "Early on, we recognized that he really had a natural
intuitive, so we made music available to him:'
Plotnick is the grandson of Mort Plotnick of West
Bloomfield, former Jewish Community Center executive
director, who still is fundraising for the JCC. His grandmoth-
er, Evelyn Sahan, lives in West Bloomfield.
"Henry has always been interested in the arts:' his grand-
father said. "He's talented, a decent human being and a great
performer. You can tell he really loves what he does:'
Plotnick has performed in front of live audiences at many
venues throughout the San Francisco area. He takes piano
lessons once a week and practices homework his piano
teacher assigns every other day. He practices his own elec-
tronic music daily. Plotnick has about eight hours of his own
material thus far.
"There are a lot of things I used to want to be when I got
older, like a mad scientist:' Plotnick said. "But music is what
I was made for. This is what I want to do. I think I have a
lot to offer in the weird music world and to people who like
this type of music. I am looking forward to making another
album soon:'
❑
theJEWISHNEWS
Vol. CXLIV, No. 2
Metro
8
Next Generation
36
Obituaries
66
Points Of View
40
44
Spirituality
Sports
48
Staff Box/Phone List ...6
Synagogue List
46
Torah Portion
47
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Danny Raskin
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