Hi, I'm Jonathan Cheney. I'm 24 years old and I am a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I began playing the piano when I was four, and started formal piano lessons when I was seven. Like most kids, I hated practicing. I loved to play - I just didn't want to practice the songs I was assigned. This frustrated my teacher, buy my parents knew that it was important that I keep going. I stopped piano lessons when I turned twelve because we moved to Paraguay. I have been self-taught ever since then, although I learned much from many music teachers in my years of middle and high school. My skills really began to develop when I participated in jazz band in tenth grade. My teacher, David Fullmer, taught me how to improvise, how to more quickly grasp new music, and the value of being able to sight-read anything. I began writing music as a senior in high school, and before long I completed my first CD of original compositions.
I play live whenever and wherever I can. I enjoy performing and am willing to travel to do so.
My greatest musical influences are movie composers. The main ones that I listen to are John Williams, Thomas Newman, Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore, Klaus Badelt, James Horner, and Jerry Goldsmith. I also listen a lot to people like Jon Schmidt and my personal favorite of all time - Michel Camilo.
I record with an eleven foot Fazioli grand piano. At my house I just have a Yamaha baby grand piano.