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Guitar whiz returns for First Night

Scott Verbeek wraps up first semester at Berklee College of Music, returns to showcase new repertoire and skills to Whistler's NYE crowd
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Who: Scott Verbeek

When: Friday, Dec. 31, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Main stage, Village Square

Cost: $15 adults, $8 kids 12 and under, kids under two, free

At 19 years of age, Squamish's Scott Verbeek has already hit some incredible high notes - literally and figuratively - in his musical career. He's already shared billings and opened for top Canadian acts like The Trews, Tokyo Police Club, K-OS, Hedley, John Butler Trio, Shad  and Finger  11. He's recorded and produced plenty of original material with his now-defunct band Black Swade.

Now, as a solo musician, he's well on the road to cultivating his musical interests into a full-time gig. (Do yourself a favour and check out www.myspace.com/scottverbeek/music - tracks like Southwest By East and Crunch will give you a good idea of what this up-and-coming young artist is capable of.)

On Friday afternoon, he'd just wrapped up exams at Berklee College of Music in Boston and was getting ready to head home for the holidays.

"I just finished today and it's a big relief, because it was pretty high-stress! There was a lot of stuff to do. I'm excited to come home and play some shows, see my friends and ski."

This isn't his first stint at the prestigious Berklee College. He's already done a few summer programs at the musical institution.

"That just inspired me to work really hard, because I found out how much work I needed to do and how much I needed to improve. And when I first got there, it kind of killed my ego a little bit," he laughed.

While he wasn't overconfident, it was definitely a grounding experience to be surrounded by a range of gifted musicians from around the world - both instructors and students. It also encouraged him to continue to work hard and improve, pushing his own abilities.

Now, Verbeek is back at Berklee, enrolled in their four-year Guitar Performance program, where he's studying on scholarship under instructors like Scott Tarulli.

"Right now, I'm just working on a little bit of everything, because before I came here I made sure that my skills were in an even line - like, I wasn't horrible at something and really good at something else. So, I work on everything: sight-reading, improvisation, just technical things like picking and whatnot," he explained.

"Before I got to this school, my only sight-reading experience was reading out of a book or something. But when someone gives you a chart and counts off a fast bebop tune and it's recorded the first time, you only have one chance to record it! You've got to be on-the-ball, you know?"

Verbeek, traditionally a rock player, has also been busy expanding his repertoire, infusing elements of jazz and contemporary genres into the mix.

"So I've been mixing jazz stylings with rock as I've been here, and kind of learning a lot and playing a lot with people from different parts of the world that play differently than an average American musician," he said.

Really, it's been about pushing himself out of his comfort zone, testing his own abilities and skills.

"That's what this school is all about, is making you comfortable in any musical situation, basically."

Though his musical interests began developing at a young age - he was 10 when he had his first guitar lesson - Verbeek's passion for guitar grew over time.

"I guess it sort of happened slowly. I didn't all of a sudden become really, really into it," he recalled. "I just started practicing gradually until eventually I was playing like five or six hours a day, and heavy into it."

He spent the next 10 years working with instructor Laurence Dinwoodie, mastering the basics of theory.

In seventh grade, Verbeek joined forces with like-minded classmates in Squamish and formed Black Swade, which proved to be quite a successful local hard rock group.

"We played mostly original tunes, but did a couple covers here and there," he recalled.

They started off with a few small performances around town and were eventually selected to perform at Sound Off in Seattle, a gig that led to more bookings in Whistler and Vancouver. Over the next two years, they went on to perform at large festivals like Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, The GMC Canadian Ski Championships, The World Cup of Skiing, Whistler's short-lived Mountain West Music Fest and the annual First Night bash.

"It was just a good experience to be able to play so many cool places and get to learn that this was what I really want to do, because I really enjoyed playing with those guys and playing lots of shows and writing songs," he said.

The experience helped to solidify his goal as a career in music.

"I just want to be a successful musician who can make a good living only playing music," he said.

Well, he's on his way. During his holiday break he's been booked to play on the Main Stage in Village Square for Whistler's annual First Night celebration.

"I've played (First Night) once by myself and, I think, twice with my old band, so it's always a cool thing to do. Everybody's always really excited and in the mood to listen to music, so I'm excited to play that show!"

As Verbeek well knows, the Whistler NYE crowd is always ready to party, and he's more than ready to help get them in the mood to countdown to 2011.

"I'm going to write a few new tunes when I go home that'll be more jazz-fusion-orientated," he said. "And I'll have some of my old rock stuff, some of my old funk stuff, fusion, just everything in that category."