GARY ALAN
ACCOUNTANT
BIO:
Bachelors of Science Degree, Business Administration /Accounting with honors. California State University Northridge (CSUN).
I grew up in West Los Angeles, on the west coast of Southern California. From a young age, I was good at math. My dad was a successful dentist in Beverly Hills, who later relocated to a new exciting high rise development, Century City. He said, if I wanted to become a tax attorney someday, “I could make a lot of money.” That sounded promising at the time...
I have been an accountant for 15 years and have completed extensive tax returns. However, I learned that money is not a primary reason to choose a profession. It’s better to find your talent or “gift,” i.e. what you love to do. Performing a service to help others in a field that you are good at and enjoy offers the ideal possibility of earning financial reward.
Since age five, I experienced a deep gift for piano. I started traditional classical lessons, practiced and played piano for many years. I played portable electronic organ in a rock ‘n roll band in junior high. I remember having no real sense of how to improvise because my emotions were mostly suppressed at that time. Later I “opened up” and improvisation became a deep felt expression…
In my 20s, I heard jazz pianists Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans. I saw that their ability was way beyond a rock ‘n roll musician. There was no comparison, the knowledge they had and what they could perform on the keyboard..
My attraction to the above artists led to my private studies in jazz harmony and improv. I learned standards or classics, which are popular tunes that have withstood the test of time, and are immensely enriched by full, embellished jazz chords.
I later also appreciated that rock ‘n roll musicians, though not technically knowledgeable as jazz artists, had other abilities which appealed to large contemporary audiences and brought them great popularity and rewards.
I studied privately with the best jazz harmony teachers in Los Angeles, Mike Asher and Terry Trotter. Later, in northern California, with Peter Horvath (San Francisco). I currently enjoy many cultures of music from around the world.
In childhood, I was interested in deep questions about the ultimate meaning of life. I read many self-improvement books and studied several contemporary and past spiritual teachers.
This led me to the technique of Transcendental Meditation (TM) when I was 17. TM, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from India, greatly influenced The Beatles rock ‘n roll band, celebrities, athletes, professionals, and literally millions of people in the world.
In high school, in my late teens, I became drawn to holistic health, diet and nutrition. I read every book I could get my hands on in health food stores and was impressed by individuals (like Paul Bragg) who had abundant energy and clarity from living a healthy lifestyle of nutrition and exercise.
These have been some of the main influences in my life.
