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Welcome to American Heritage School's Patriot Podcast, hosted by the students of the podcast class at the AHS campus in downtown Salt Lake City. Each episode features students interviewing professionals, experts, and inspiring guests to explore real-world experiences through the lens of The Seven Principles of Personal and Civil Liberty. These conversations are designed to uplift, educate, and spark meaningful dialogue within the family.
Tune in with your family each week to learn together, reflect on the values that matter most, and be inspired to live with greater purpose and principle.
Learn more about The Seven Principles of Personal and Civil Liberty here: https://slc.americanheritageschool.org/the-seven-principles
What's up? What's up? What's up?
Chandler:We're here at American Heritage School
David:in Salt Lake City, and this is the Patriot Podcast, where we get to talk to different professionals about their awesome jobs. At AHS, we strive to live
Chandler:the seven principles of personal and civil liberty.
David:So we'll be talking to each professional about how they apply these principles each day.
Al Van Der Beek:Let's dive right in.
David:Let's dive right in. Let's dive right in.
Chandler:Hi. I'm Chandler.
David:And I'm David. Welcome to the American Heritage School Masterclass Podcast. We're excited to get to talk with mister Al Vanderberg. Am saying that right?
Al Van Der Beek:Oh, you got the almost. Vanderbeak.
David:Vanderbeak. There you go. Today. Mister Vanderbeak is a music producer and songwriter who has worked with The Piano Guys, a music group that works to make a positive impact in the lives of people all over the world through music videos since February.
Chandler:Mister Vanderbeak, will you please give our audience a brief self introduction, including your education and career track? How did you become a music producer?
Al Van Der Beek:I would love to. First of all, like to thank you guys for having me here today.
David:Yeah.
Al Van Der Beek:Cool. Thank you all. Second of all, my dad isn't here. He's mister Vanderbeak, so you guys just call me Al. Okay.
Al Van Der Beek:Okay. The question was how I got into the music business. Well, my official title is a music producer. Do you guys know what a music producer is? What is a music producer?
David:I'm gonna guess someone who produces music.
Al Van Der Beek:Yeah, very good. That's kind of my official title is a music producer. The short story musical family, seven kids. We were all required to play instruments and sing. My instrument was the violin.
Al Van Der Beek:Awesome. That my parents chose for me. Didn't choose that for myself, I ended up loving it. And we had piano, we had guitar, we had drums, we had keyboards, we had accordions, harmonicas and we all sang together. So music was just a big part of my life.
Al Van Der Beek:And so I started kind of just hearing all these different instruments and I wanted to play them all, right? But I didn't want to have to like practice them all. So I just learned enough just to get by. Know, a little bit of chords here on the piano, a little bit of chords on the guitar. And as I started doing that, songs started I would just hear songs just swimming in my head all the time and I just had to get them out.
Al Van Der Beek:So it was one Christmas when my parents bought a boombox. You guys even know what a boombox is? It's like a big stereo, you know, you've seen them old school with cassette tapes. You guys even know what a cassette tape I
David:think I've seen it in Home Alone.
Al Van Der Beek:It came with a microphone and I could record. You could push record, put a tape in there, go blah blah blah blah blah. And then the cool thing is I figured out you could take that what you just recorded and you could play it on this side and put another tape on this side and push record and it would record what you just recorded and you could layer stuff on top of it. So I kept doing that back and forth until there was like 10 of me making all these sounds, all this music. I go show it to my friends in the neighborhood and be like, Dang, that's so cool.
Al Van Der Beek:Who are all those people? I mean, that's me. So I didn't know at the time, but I was music producing. I was producing music and I was songwriting. That's kind of what really sparked me into it.
Al Van Der Beek:Then I just kind of followed my path and followed what I felt I was good at. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I just continued to practice and hone my craft by recording myself. You know, as technology got cheaper and more accessible, I had a home studio, you know, in my bedroom I always had something like, kinda look like that. To record all these songs I had in my head and eventually people said, Hey, I'll pay you to do that. So I was like, No way, you'll pay me to do this?
Al Van Der Beek:And then one thing led to another and probably the last thirteen years I've been doing it full time.
David:That's so cool.
Al Van Der Beek:Yeah. Awesome.
David:I was about to ask with that thing you saw earlier when I was like researching you.
Al Van Der Beek:Oh, you were doing some research, Yeah.
David:It said like you were able to teach yourself like a bunch of these instruments just by ear. Yeah. How did you even figure out you could do that?
Al Van Der Beek:Your ear really hurts because when you're trying to strum a guitar, you know? Yeah. You know, playing music by ear. Yes. Anyone get that?
David:Yeah. I got it.
Al Van Der Beek:I always had the mentality that I I hated just like practicing the violin, like just for two, three hours a day. Like I just, I couldn't, I didn't have the attention span to do it, right?
David:Two, three hours.
Al Van Der Beek:I mean, that's what my parents expected me. I didn't do it, mostly.
David:I don't think anybody has that attention span.
Al Van Der Beek:Know, I'd pick up the guitar and I'd start strumming that and I'd go on the piano and start. So I wouldn't say I'm like a master at any one instrument, but I can get by. Like I know enough just to write a song. You know what I mean? And it's one thing I tell kids is like, you know what instrument should I play?
Al Van Der Beek:Know, Like I always say piano, guitar, like the go tos. My preference is the guitar mainly because it's more accessible as far as you can take it with you. You know, piano is a little bit bigger. You can't be taking that to the campfire, you know, be kind of heavy. But guitar, learn two or three chords, you will know hundreds of thousands of songs.
Al Van Der Beek:Know, learning curve isn't that huge. Piano, could learn a few chords and know a lot, but it was just me just being obsessed. Know, you guys, kids, you guys get obsessed with what you get obsessed with. You know, probably studying. I know you guys are probably obsessed with studying.
Al Van Der Beek:Absolutely. And like, I know you don't play video games or anything like that, but sports, dance, music, whatever it is. Like, I got totally obsessed with music to where I just always had it in my head, and I had to find a way to get it out. And so recording, producing was a way for me to get it out, and I could listen to it. It was almost like I was freeing up space in my head, you know, because you get all these ideas sometimes just like, why?
Al Van Der Beek:What's going on? My mind is so much going on in my head. And I had so much music was like every time I would do a song, it would just feel like, okay. Like making progress here.
David:So cool. Yeah. So cool. Okay. So at American Heritage School, we try to live by principles of personal and civil liberty.
David:And we would like to ask you which of these principles has guided your career as a music producer and songwriter. And while you're at it, could you share a personal experience showing how this principle has like helped you through that?
Al Van Der Beek:You bet. Mine for sure, I didn't have to go too far because divine identity and purpose to me is I think probably most of us in this room at one point or another have thought to ourselves, why am I here? What's my purpose? Have you ever thought that? Multiple times, yeah.
Al Van Der Beek:Yeah. And so that was a question I've always asked myself. I continue to ask myself almost on a daily basis, like what's my purpose today? You know, we can get caught up in, you know, what's my purpose in life? Which is a good thing to focus on, but also like, what is my purpose just for today?
Al Van Der Beek:But when I think about that, you know, there was a time in my life where I felt like I kinda had to do this all on my own and had to figure out all on my own. Sadly to admit, I didn't really include God in my life, in the decisions that I was making. I kinda had this attitude that I gotta do all the work, I gotta figure this all out on my own, and then He'll help me out. But what I realized is that through his perfect love and understanding of me and what I was interested in, and he knew what made me happy, I've learned that he's interested in those things too. And there's a quote and it's by a prophet you guys probably don't remember, but maybe you've heard of.
Al Van Der Beek:His name is President Ezra Taft Benson. Yes, know. You've heard of him? You all have? Yeah.
Al Van Der Beek:And he said, Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find that He can do much more with it than they can. I kind of paraphrase, but the whole point was that, you know, we have our ideas of what we want out of life, what we want to do. And that's good, we should have those things. But I think when we turn our life over to God, whatever happens, we're not disappointed. You know what I'm saying?
Al Van Der Beek:Yeah. We're not disappointed if we wanted to do this, but then God put us over here. Because we know that's what God wanted us to do. And through that, we find our purpose and who we are. And we find out that the gifts we have and how God wants us to use those gifts.
Al Van Der Beek:Because yeah, we have our ideas of how we wanna use our gifts, but God knows how to use them and He will multiply them. He will put you in a place in life that you can make a difference, not only in your life, but in other people's lives. I think when you use the gifts that God gave you, whether they be arts, speaking, dancing, musical, giving interviews, you guys are great.
Chandler:Thank you.
Al Van Der Beek:When you do it, because you feel like God wants you to do that, that's where you're like, Yeah, I'm in the right place. Like, I found the place of David, I found the place of Chandler. You know what I mean? Once you come to that point in your life, it's a pretty amazing space to be. It's a very humbling place.
Al Van Der Beek:Finding out your divine identity and purpose is is something I feel like we're all striving for. And I I feel like when you get there, that's when you really start to experience what true joy is.
David:So true.
Chandler:Thank you. That was amazing. Thanks. How could a high school student begin to explore a profession in the music industry? What would you recommend as skills or pursuits for a student to succeed in that field?
Al Van Der Beek:Well, of all, would say you just have to have a desire. My parents had a greater desire for me to be in music than I had for myself.
David:Yeah, I get that.
Al Van Der Beek:Even if it's a desire that's lovingly caressed by your parents, okay? Second of all, and this is the most important thing, is collaboration. I care what you're doing. If you're trying to do it all alone, it's a lonely place to be. It's not as fun.
Al Van Der Beek:But when you find like minded people with the same desires and passions and you bring those ideas and that creativity together, man, it's a game changer, right? And it's just, it's like my son, when he first started playing violin, he was taking private lessons. He's like, this is so lame. I'm just playing by myself. And then I just do a recital and it's all by myself, maybe within accompanist.
Al Van Der Beek:And then I was like, Hey, you want to join the orchestra? And he thought it was the lamest idea ever. I'm like, But it's like a lot of people like you, but you all get to play together. He thought it was so lame. He didn't want to be in the orchestra carry his violin to school.
Al Van Der Beek:I think that was the main thing, didn't want to carry his violin. Anyway, the first day he came back, I'm like, Hey, how was orchestra? She's like, It was so cool. It was like everyone was playing together, and there was like different parts going on, and it was just because he was together with people. There's strength in numbers, right?
Al Van Der Beek:And there's power in that. It's being together with people that share the same passions but have different ideas in you. That's the greatest thing is that you all don't think the same. So for example, if you were writing this song and you're just like, Man, this song is so good. And whew, I think I nailed it.
Al Van Der Beek:And then all of a sudden you get together with some other people and they're like, Oh, well what about if we change this word in the second verse or the melody a little bit? And you're just like, this is my song. You gotta be open to other people's ideas because a model in life should be, It doesn't matter who's right, but it matters what's right. And that's one thing that I've tried to do, especially in the piano guys, because you got four guys and we were older guys when we started piano guys. You know we had these strong opinions and ideas musically how we wanted to do things and even as far as business.
Al Van Der Beek:So how did we get through those things? Well we collaborated, we threw out all of our ideas and then we checked our egos at the door, and it was just like, you know what? What matters is what's right. It doesn't matter who was right, or who had the best idea, or whose idea was really bad. All that matters is what was best for the song.
Al Van Der Beek:Find people, collaborate, and just let the energy. I'm all about energy. We talk about the Holy Ghost. I feel like the Holy Ghost manifests itself to me as like really good energy. Like, you're having these like, you ever been in a room and you're talking to people and you just feel like the energy, like
David:Yeah.
Al Van Der Beek:The ideas are just flowing and the energy. And I feel like, well keep going down that path because the energy is good. You don't need to second guess it. You know what I mean? Maybe tomorrow the energy might shift to something else, but in the moment you gotta follow that good energy.
Al Van Der Beek:You gotta follow how the spirit directs you.
David:Yeah, because the Holy Ghost is never gonna give you negative energy.
Al Van Der Beek:Oh heck no. No way. No, sir.
David:Follow that positive I love that. That's so cool. Has there ever been like a major challenge in your career that has ultimately led you to success, but like also was a challenge in the moment?
Al Van Der Beek:The biggest challenge as far as in the business side of things, like in music business, the biggest challenge? Yeah, I think probably one of the biggest challenge was my own ego and pride. Know, in the beginning thirteen years ago, you know, four guys come together. You got John Schmidt, he's had a 20 career already as a solo You had a very accomplished cellist, Stephen Sharp Nelson. You had this videographer named Paul, who had a piano store and he knew how to film videos.
Al Van Der Beek:Then me, this producer guy. But I felt like I brought something to the table too. And it was really hard for me, I'm a be super vulnerable. It was really hard for me in the beginning, because when we started releasing videos and we started getting a lot of traction and popularity. When I read comments, even though I was doing the songwriting, I was doing the music production, was doing all the post music, everything in the music, and then I would read the comments and it would just say, John and Steve.
Al Van Der Beek:Like would say, Oh, this song is amazing, John and Steve. And I'm just like, Oh, well I helped too. I did something, you know? And so it was super hard for me because I wanted credit. I wanted that recognition.
Al Van Der Beek:Everybody wants that. My pride, it was just, I started to get resentful. I'm like, oh, like nobody knows. I had to have this moment where I was just like, what's more important? And then to go full circle, I started thinking about my purpose.
Al Van Der Beek:And my purpose wasn't to get recognition. Like my purpose, you know, was something to be a part of something that was way bigger than than I was. And that was to share music with the world that could bring families together and that could make people feel happy. And it didn't matter if they knew who Al Vanderbeak was. Once I got to that place, and it took me a while, but once I got to that place and Heavenly Father reminded me that He's been leading me all along and preparing my life and He's orchestrated everything that's happened in my life just perfectly, according to His timing and not just my desires and my timing.
Al Van Der Beek:Because if things would have happened according to my timing and my plan, to be honest, it probably would have ruined my life. Yeah. That was probably the the hardest thing was just getting over the natural man.
David:I was gonna say if it makes you feel better when you look up the piano, guys, your name definitely pops up.
Chandler:I would like to know, what is something special that you do in your process of music production that sets you apart from other music producers?
Al Van Der Beek:Pray. For every time I sit down. If I'm working by myself or if I'm collaborating with somebody, which I just recently, I don't know if you guys know, but you know the Lyceum Orchestra? Any of you be part of that? Yeah.
Al Van Der Beek:So I just with Kacen Brown, he's their conductor and good friend of mine, we just cord and he asked me if I would produce that album. One thing we always did, you can even ask him, fact check. Every time we sat down, we'd say a prayer. Because I just feel like everything in my life, no matter how big or small, like God cares about it. And He wants to know what I'm up to.
Al Van Der Beek:Even though, yeah, He knows, like He knows. He knows I was gonna do that. Like I tried to fake him out.
David:Like
Al Van Der Beek:you didn't fake him out, right? I don't know if that sets me apart, but I feel like that's something that, like it's a non negotiable for me. When I start things out with prayer, it's part of my life, who I am. Like my communication with Heavenly Father and His direction and guidance is something that I feel like I always need. So even if we're just sitting down to like listen to the music or turn something up or down, as simple as that, I want Heavenly Father to know like, Hey help me because anything I do, know this music is gonna get out to the world and I want it to be perfect for the people who are gonna listen to it for them to be able to feel of your love.
David:We ask every person we interview to share a joke with us.
Al Van Der Beek:Well I was at a funeral the other day and Why did I laugh? It was a friend of mine and just sitting out in the audience. His wife gets up and she's like talking about him and she's like, And Al, I know you're really close to him and I'm just wondering if you could come up and say a word. And I was like, Oh, cool. So I went up, didn't have anything prepared.
Al Van Der Beek:So I got up and I looked at everyone and I was trying to think, What am I going to say? And I said, Plethora. And then I sat down. And she got up and she said, Thanks Al. That means a lot.
Al Van Der Beek:I got it. True story. That was not a true story.
David:That's good.
Chandler:Thank you, Mr. Vanderbeak or Al, for taking the time to sit down with us today.
Al Van Der Beek:My pleasure.
David:Thank you. That was really fun. We hope you enjoyed listening to our podcast.
Chandler:Special thanks to our guest today.
David:Our music was generously provided by the Lyceum Orchestra. That's it for American Heritage School Patriot Podcast. See you next time.