Central Los Angeles : Bassoonist Offers Inspiration, Advice

Half the music students at Dorsey High School in the Crenshaw district had never even seen a bassoon.

So the workshop that brought Gian McCoy, a 25-year-old African American bassoonist, to their school was an unusual and inspirational experience.

McCoy had flown from Vienna--where he is studying the double-reed instrument--to participate in a series of concerts in the Compton area with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He also spoke with the music students in the Dorsey band room about being an African American classical musician. And he shared with the students, many of them aspiring musicians, that as a youth he was often told by the people around him that he would never be first-rate musician.

“Someone told me I couldn’t,” McCoy said, and that made him want to prove everyone wrong.

McCoy took private lessons and eventually went to CalArts and other music schools before being admitted to the Austrian music academy.

In Austria, McCoy said, he has performed in orchestras where he is perpetually the center of attention because of his race. “People were falling off the stage,” he said, when they saw an African American in the orchestra pit. But McCoy said he never lets such behavior bother him.