STARKVILLE — Tristan Pisacane had to make a choice as he entered Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee. He was going to use his time there to get to a college and do something of note when he got there, it was just a matter of which one: football or music.
Pisacane chose football, but he’s far from giving up the latter.
Whenever he gets the chance — which isn’t often, between academics and his spot as a walk-on wide receiver on the Mississippi State football team — he’s been known to play the fiddle. It’s not nearly as often as he used to, maybe once or twice a week, he says, but he’ll always enjoy it.
“It’s really nice. Music’s kind of an outlet to get your mind of difficult things in life: a bad practice, a bad test, something like that, for sure,” Pisacane said.
Playing the violin has been a nearly lifelong thing for Pisacane, who first started playing and taking lessons when he was four years old. Playing it like a fiddle came later.
When Pisacane first picked up the instrument his family was living in Connecticut and got his start in classical music; then, when he and twin brother Peyton, a former MSU walk-on now at the United States Military Academy, moved to Franklin, Tennessee, the local scene was too much to ignore.
“There’s just a lot of music around you so I decided to get more serious about it,” Tristan Pisacane said. “Joined an orchestra in school, started playing with people in my school, getting together and jamming, playing in church functions. Our school had a baccalaureate service and I did that.
“More of the stuff I like, because classical is kind of boring.”
Part of that spurt of playing a lot in Tennessee was in a middle-school orchestra class, where he obviously played every day. It turned out his background in classical music helped him out: his acquired ability to sight read classical music helped him pick up the country style of playing he grew up around in Tennessee.
He might have had genetics on his side, too. Pisacane said his mother plays piano and Peyton plays guitar; it was common for he and Peyton to have improv sessions in high school.
It’s not as frequent now, but he still plays once or twice a week — even if it never lasts more than a song or two.
“Roommates are always trying to study anyway,” he said.
He also knows the time will come where he has more opportunity to play and he plans to take advantage of it. In time, he’ll pass it down like his mother did.
“I’ll try to get my kids into music.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
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