All Art Is Connected: An Interview with Dr. Daniel Kuehler

Written by Brynn Elson

“If you could play only one piece for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

This question is difficult enough for an average college student to answer with their Spotify playlists and extensive vinyl collections. Now, pose the question to Dr. Daniel Kuehler, an award-winning classically trained pianist and recent hire at Hillsdale College, and give him a moment to sort through a lifetime of musical experience. Dr. Kuehler began piano lessons at age five and has played at Mass since second grade. He has performed in venues such as the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Tol’yatti Gallery of Art in Tol’yatti, Russia. Understandably, the question at hand carries more weight for him than for most of us.

Dr. Kuehler refers to Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor as his “desert island” piece—the score he would choose if he could only bring one piece of music to a desert island (never mind the fact that his mental library of music probably contains hundreds of memorized scores). In explanation, Dr. Kuehler says that this piece “contains all of life within it…every emotion that you can think of, so many characters, colors, orchestrations…” The diversity of characters, colors, and orchestrations is due to the multitude of registers used throughout the piece, which parallels the piano almost to an orchestra.

Dr. Kuehler’s talent is only one component of his identity as a piano instructor. Something unique that Dr. Kuehler brings to Hillsdale is his new approach to studio classes. Following the precedent of his undergraduate professor from Eastman School of Music, he makes tea and cookies for his studio students to foster the concept of a “piano family.” To further foster this family, Dr. Kuehler pairs up his students to give everyone a set of ears to provide constructive criticism as they prepare their pieces. In keeping with the idea of a piano family, the practice buddies become great friends by the time end-of-semester recitals come around.

In studio class, Dr. Kuehler covers topics that he and his students don’t have time for in lessons. He loves to discuss connections between music and neuroscience, especially the science behind music memorization. Dr. Kuehler began college as a biology major and pre-medicine student, hoping to study neuroscience, but quickly became fascinated with the concept of musical memory. He observed that musical memory is so deeply ingrained that, for some patients, Alzheimer’s can’t even touch it.

Dr. Kuehler has even more to offer his students than piano instruction. He hopes to expose his students to a unique form of service that he engaged in during graduate school: hospital work. While finishing his doctorate at Eastman School of Music, Dr. Kuehler was part of the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine (EPAM) program. Members of this program played a few hours each week for patients at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. Though the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily stalled the program, EPAM members quickly figured out a workaround. Dr. Kuehler gave many “virtual bedside concerts,” in which nurses wheeled him around on an iPad in a cart to different patients’ rooms. Even though in-person performances have resumed, Dr. Kuehler has continued to perform virtually from his new home here in Michigan.

What Dr. Kuehler has witnessed music doing for patients is “nothing short of a miracle.” The day before I interviewed him, he played upbeat piano covers of Adele and Beyonce songs to encourage a woman in need of a lung transplant to walk at least two steps so she could prove herself strong enough to receive the transplant. This program has had a multitude of positive clinical outcomes: in his very first session, Dr. Kuehler played for a patient who had previously refused the bedside concert four times. Thanks to a stubborn therapist, the patient finally consented to hear Dr. Kuehler play. Almost immediately, the patient’s breathing slowed, his heart rate stabilized, and his voice lowered. He smiled and laughed for the first time in the two weeks since he’d been hospitalized. He even told Dr. Kuehler about the memories that the songs conjured up.

Some forms of education allow students to pursue only one sliver of “what it means to be human,” which is antithetical to the understanding of music as a connective force. Dr. Kuehler’s undergraduate piano professor told him that “all art is connected,” and that knowing one art form benefits and informs the others. The teaching and study of music is truly part of general culture; according to Dr. Kuehler, “music is just as much the product of human thought as every other thing.” Since graduating from music school, Dr. Kuehler has come to appreciate the benefits of music in other settings. “Music school makes you think that music only belongs on stage,” Dr. Kuehler said. “No, it belongs everywhere.” Music belongs in hospitals, it belongs in dorms, and it belongs in the liberal arts curriculum. It belongs everywhere we can share it with others, because, as Dr. Kuehler said, “Pursuing music is just a natural part of being a human. That’s it.” 


Brynn Elson, ’23, is a biochemistry major with a decent comprehension of the English language. She enjoys drinking coffee, playing the clarinet, and overcommitting to things. When she’s not studying (which is rare), you might be able to find her running (read: getting lost) on the back roads or complaining about Hillsdale’s lack of mountains.


 

Published in May 2022