One Pianist Who Learned to Tickle the Ivories and Funny Bones

As a young boy, Dale Gonyea rarely performed alone. His mother wanted her brood of nine children to carry on the tradition of family singing groups--they’d be something like the “Von Trapp Osmonds,” Gonyea says.

Despite his mother’s hopes, Gonyea struck out on his own nearly 20 years ago from his roots in Monroe, Mich., and became a solo musical humorist. He will perform Friday at the Cultural Arts Center in Torrance.

Part of his mother’s support of the family’s talents was music lessons for everyone. Gonyea’s piano teacher wouldn’t let him listen to music until he’d learned to play it by reading the notes. The teacher was afraid he would only play by ear and never perfect the art of reading music.

For years, his family thought he would be a concert pianist, but when Gonyea sang a song he wrote about his father in a benefit concert for his high school, his outlook changed. After that performance, people encouraged him to sing more of the Billy Joel-style songs he had written and been keeping to himself.

Over the years, he has continued to develop his own brand of funny songs, mixed with dialogue and an actor’s delivery.

Gonyea’s close family provides lots of material for his work. Another song, titled “Help! I’m Turning Into My Parents!” pokes fun at the insecurities people face as they get older and see more of their parents in themselves.

But besides his family, he gets fresh ideas from every place he visits. Before he performs for a new audience, Gonyea does his homework. He flips through local newspapers, finds out what’s going on at City Hall and what musical the local high school performed this year. All this information gives him special material for his one-man show.

“It’s very difficult when you’re on the road to find time to write new material,” Gonyea says. “If you can throw in new things in each town it seems more fresh.”

He follows politics and current events, and tailors each performance to the demographics of the audience. He says he can do a show of obscure bits that only musicians could relate to, or a whole series of jokes about current off-Broadway shows.

But his mainstay performance features songs based on human observation and funny situations. He stays away from four-letter words.

“When I used to play comedy clubs they would bill it as the cleanest act they ever had,” Gonyea says.

Improvising during the show gets easier with practice, Gonyea says. He also has his own warm-up exercises. Each night, just before he goes on stage, he spends some time working a crossword puzzle.

“It tunes the same muscles . . . You are able to pull new thoughts out of your brain.”

Last month, Gonyea traveled 8,500 miles in a recreational vehicle, driving from venue to venue.

“I wouldn’t do it any other way,” he says. “You have your own pillow with you, your favorite books.”

But the hazard of traveling like a snail is that it’s hard to get away from an adoring public. On one of his visits to a campground outside a small town he was playing the next day, a trio of folk guitarists serenaded him--first thing in the morning.

“It was like an episode of ‘I Love Lucy,’ ” Gonyea said. “I don’t know whether they thought I was going to book them or take them with me.”

But even with the pitfalls of life on the road, he says making people laugh is fulfilling.

“That’s what I like the most, having people tell me, ‘Oh boy! I needed a good laugh.’ Then I’m glad I was there to make them feel good.”