Making Music With Lauren Green
Friday, February 13, 2004
NEW YORK — If you thought Fox News' Lauren Green just did news, think again.
Green, an integral part of the "Fox & Friends" team, isn't just a trusted broadcaster. She's also a classically trained pianist, a former Miss Minnesota and a Miss America contestant — and she's just released her debut album, "Classic Beauty."
The album is a labor of love for Green, who said the music on "Classic Beauty," such as Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2, speaks to her heart.
Foxnews.com talked to Green about choosing journalism over music, her inspirations and today's pop stars.
Foxnews.com: When did you first begin playing piano?
Lauren Green: I actually had a couple of lessons at age six, but the teacher moved away, or we just couldn't afford it, I don't remember. So I chart my beginning of lessons at age 10. A woman named Barbara Smith, who I consider my first piano teacher.
Foxnews.com: Did you take to music right away or were you a kid who hated to practice?
Lauren Green: I loved playing the piano. My mom had to get me off the piano to do my schoolwork. Music always moved me. I remember being very young and hearing some beautiful melodies in TV commercials or programs, or movies. ... They would captivate me, and really stirred my soul. No one ever told me what music not to like, so I instinctively took to certain sounds.
Foxnews.com: What sounds were those?
Lauren Green: It's hard to say exactly. Probably music that had interesting and/or emotional harmonies and melodies. Music is a complex phenomenon, but yet very simple in how it stirs the soul. It can comfort and sooth, or arouse and shake things up. The sounds that I liked were those and everything in between.
Foxnews.com: How have your musical tastes shifted over the years?
Lauren Green: I still love a lot of the music I first drifted to years ago. In pop music I loved Elton John, Billy Joel and James Taylor. I also loved the teeny bop stuff. But over the years I studied more and more classical music. That's what held my attention and captivated me and continues to — so much so, I hardly know any pop music today. Except for what I catch on VH1 or MTV early in the morning sometimes in the green room. Frankly, much of the pop music today you don't have to hear more than a few times to become familiar with and then tired of. I do, however, like Josh Groban (search). He's probably not considered pop though. I've always loved the music from Broadway. My sister and I used to play and sing those songs all the time. Music from "My Fair Lady," "The Sound of Music," "Pippin" and a whole lot more. And the standards are always wonderful. I love the music of Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Steven Sondheim.
Foxnews.com: Tell us about the selection of pieces on your album. Why did you choose them? Which one is your favorite?
Lauren Green: There are 16 pieces on the CD. I started out with 19 on the original list, culled from a list of 30. I wanted to put on the CD music that you could just listen to, unlike a lot of the music I have programmed in my recitals, which has included more big concert pieces. The CD is filled with music more suitable for a soiree. You could be sitting in your living room with the lights low, maybe a few candles and a glass of wine. Or just having it in the background of whatever you're doing. It's music that speaks to my heart, and I hope to other people's as well. I'm not sure I have a favorite piece on the CD, I love them all for what they are. It's kind of like asking a mother who her favorite child is. On different days it's a different child.
Foxnews.com: "Classic Beauty" is a very atmospheric, sultry CD. Did you pick the pieces with a certain mood or tone in mind that you wanted to convey?
Lauren Green: Yes. I really wanted music that was more for the salon rather than the concert stage. So much of solo piano music is very intimate and plays well in smaller settings. A lot of times when people go to big concert halls to hear solo pianists, they won't hear this music, except perhaps as a quiet encore. This music is the music I play for friends when they come over.
Foxnews.com: Aside from being a broadcaster and a pianist, you've also been a Miss America runner-up and a pageant winner. Did you play piano as your talent? Tell us a bit about that experience.
Lauren Green: Yes, I played the piano for my talent and actually won the talent award. I played a Chopin Etude, Op. 10 No. 4 in C sharp minor. I'm still working on perfecting that piece. In fact I programmed it in my next recital, June 1, along with four other Chopin Etudes, including one —the A flat major — that's on the CD.
The Miss America Pageant (search) was a wonderful experience that taught me a lot about myself and helped me grow as a person. There are some wonderful stories to be told about the pageant, all positive and all wisdom-building. Suffice to say, I think the awards that are advertised on the TV program can never compare to the gifts of personal growth. All of us are who we are because of life's experiences, and the pageant experience helped me define more clearly who I am and what I wanted for my life.
Foxnews.com: It was in the news recently that Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA (search) pageant, wants Paris Hilton to host the show. Do pageants need to be updated to have some edge to them?
Lauren Green: I like the traditional values of the Miss America Pageant. And the two are different. Miss USA has no talent competition, and the Miss America Pageant is a scholarship pageant. I think it probably gets more negative press because it is trying to represent the modern woman who is sexy, smart, talented and beautiful. People seemed not to care if contestants are just showing that they're sexy and beautiful. I think tradition is good. Values are good. And the Miss America Pageant represents that.
Foxnews.com: How did you choose to go into journalism over music, and why did you decide to make this album now?
Lauren Green: Actually my first degree is in piano performance from the University of Minnesota. I had early dreams for becoming a concert pianist. But I started relatively late at getting top-notch conservatory training so I never had the confidence in my abilities. At age 16 I was accepted to a high school musicians' project through the U of M where I really began to get higher-level instruction. But I had no mentor and no encouragement. And let's face it ... there are no classical pianists that looked like me. In fact whenever I told someone I was a music major, they always assumed I was a singer. They asked are you a soprano or alto. I'd have to say "neither, I'm a pianist," and they'd always be so shocked and surprised. After the Miss America Pageant I got an internship at the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis. I really liked journalism and the fast-paced world of TV news. So I decided graduate school was my best bet, and went off to Northwestern University's Medill school.
I'm doing a CD now, because it just fulfills my earlier dreams. I never stopped playing the piano. Through all my years in TV news I always studied and always gave recitals. That's the beauty of music. It's something that stays with you to the end of your life. It's a great comfort.
Foxnews.com: This is obviously a classical album, but do you ever let loose with some jazz or rock? Is there another style of music you'd like to undertake in the future?
Lauren Green: (Laughing) I occasionally "let loose" with show tunes and standards. I'm really, pathetically bad at jazz, R&B or rock. It's just not something that has ever appealed to me as a performer, although there's a lot of jazz and R&B and even some rock that I like listening to.
Foxnews.com: Was there one person — someone you actually met or just idolized — who influenced your career as a musician? If not, who are your musical influences?
Lauren Green: Probably the greatest musical influences have to come from my days in Chicago, where I met and played for Sir Georg Solti (search), the former music director/conductor of the Chicago Symphony, and Daniel Barenboim (search), the current music director and conductor. Both of them along with the Executive Director Henry Fogel, were all complimentary of my playing and encouraged me to keep playing. It was the first time anyone had said to me, "You have professional-level talent." I'd never heard that from anyone before, not even my teachers. That made a huge difference in my life and how I practiced.
Foxnews.com: If you weren't a successful broadcaster, what other profession would you have liked to do?
Lauren Green: I would probably have taken up psychology/sociology, or gone to seminary, and/or just creative writing. All those things I have an interest with and dabble in it even now.
Foxnews.com: How can fans buy your album?
Lauren Green: It's available through my Web site laurengreencd.com. My family is operating the Web site and selling the CDs. It's really a grassroots effort at this point.
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