At nine years old, he won a local contest in his hometown of Lafayette, Indiana, for his talent in classical piano and secured a spot in the competition’s statewide level, he said. In seventh grade, he won the statewide competition.
He now majors in jazz studies at the Jacobs School of Music.
On Nov. 19, 2015, Wulbrecht sat down at a piano bench once again. He said he decided to play an old jazz number called “Witchcraft,” once sung by Frank Sinatra. This time, however, he wasn’t competing.
He had already won.
Wulbrecht was awarded one of five $1,000 scholarships given by the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation to college students in Indiana who demonstrate exceptional skill in jazz musicianship. Scholarship winners were each required to perform a song in last November’s IJF Legacy Showcase.
Brent Wallarab, an associate professor of jazz studies at Jacobs, nominated Wulbrecht for the award.
Wallarab said he doesn’t nominate a student every year but was impressed with Wulbrecht’s maturity on top of his musical ability.
“He had all the musical talent, and he had all those additional character qualities that I think need to be recognized,” Wallarab said.
Wulbrecht said he began his piano career playing classical music.
Around the time he was 12 years old, he started listening to jazz albums and trying to imitate what he heard.
“I just enjoyed playing it more than anything else,” he said.
Wulbrecht’s personal favorites came from John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Bill Evans, among others.
“It’s hard to explain why you like music,” Wulbrecht said. “It just connects to you somehow.”
Even with the considerable amount of recognition he’s received for his playing, he said he still feels pressure to improve and keep up with the talented musicians around him.
“I still have a long way to go to musically get better and be totally confident in my playing,” he said.
Wulbrecht said 15 years of piano experience doesn’t exclude him from feeling pre-performance jitters.
“It’s just the anticipation of the performance that’s the worst, but once you start playing, after a few minutes it subsides,” he said.
Wulbrecht said he spends hours practicing his craft every day.
He also spends a lot of time looking for new music to inspire his improvisation because it’s such an important part of jazz.
He said studying music on a regular basis can be exhausting, and every now and then he needs to recover.
As far as the future is concerned, Wulbrecht said he isn’t quite sure where his piano playing will take him.
“There’s several options,” he said. “I’ll just find whatever I get.”
Wallarab said his student’s options are a bit more broad.
“He could really go anywhere that he’d want to go,” he said.
