Tyler Strobel, a member of the Johnson family from New Jersey, started teaching himself to play the piano when he was 13. Four years later, shortly after turning 17, he traveled from his home in New Jersey to play for his Tribe at the Cultural Heritage Center.
Tyler’s mother, Debbie Strobel, first contacted the CPN Education Department to seek information about applying for scholarships, and during the conversation she also mentioned that Tyler played the piano and would be happy to come to Oklahoma to play at CPN. A few months later, the department called Debbie back to set something up.
“(They) took such a chance, because I could have been that mother who said, ‘My kid’s really good,’ but then you hear them play Twinkle, Twinkle,” Debbie said.
With help from Workforce Development & Social Services, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Education Department was able to organize two concerts at the CHC — one for the CPN After School Program and JOM/Youth students and another for Tribal citizens and the community at large.
Workforce Development and Social Services Director Margaret Zientek provided the funding for the refreshments and the piano rental.
Tyler and his father, Mike Strobel, traveled to Oklahoma for the concerts July 10. After a practice at Oklahoma Baptist University’s facilities in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Tyler performed first for CPN’s After School Program students and then later that evening for an event open to the public.
He started the first concert with The Carnival, an original song he composed, and then moved into a selection of songs including classical music, Disney and hits by artists such as Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. The evening concert also included showtunes, including Oklahoma! and music from Jersey Boys to pay homage both to CPN’s current headquarters and Tyler’s home state.
“It was such a good experience, and everybody was so kind,” Debbie said. “Eight years ago, we toured the CHC, and it was my first time at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. What a full circle moment. Eight years ago, he was this little kid who had never touched a piano. We didn’t even know he could play the piano. Coming back eight years later, and he played in the Cultural Heritage Center. It was touching, to say the least.”
Finding his voice
Tyler’s resumé shows he’s performed as a soloist, accompanist and with ensembles many times over the past two years. However, several years ago, his parents didn’t even know he had an interest in music.
“Tyler never showed an interest in any sort of music. Other than when we sang Happy Birthday to him, he would run out of the room screaming,” Debbie said, adding that she now understands why. “Think about it. You’ve got a lot of people singing off key. It sounded like a freight train in Tyler’s head.”
When Tyler was young, his mother said she knew his brain worked differently, and at the age of 4, a physician referred them to neurodevelopmental pediatricians and psychiatrists to receive a formal diagnosis for autism spectrum disorder. They put him into an ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) program, and he learned in a one-to-one environment with a teacher.
“He was the top performing student in his ABA school, so it was time to move him into a more mainstream school where he could still get ABA therapy,” Debbie said.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when classrooms were virtual, that the Strobels discovered Tyler’s talent for music.
In a sixth-grade elective music class, there was one day when Tyler was the only student to show up. While drawing a picture for an assignment and listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Spring Concerti, Tyler said, “This is in E Major.” His teacher then played several things on a keyboard, and Tyler was able to call out the chords as she played.
“She said, ‘I have only seen this one other time,’” Debbie said. “She’d been teaching for 14 years at this point. She said, ‘I think he has perfect pitch.’”
The Strobels then dug an old keyboard out of storage, and Tyler’s teacher asked him to play certain chords, which Tyler did.
“That’s how his musical career got started,” his mother said.
Doors opening up all over
Since then, Tyler has learned to play without any formal lessons, and he’s been involved in university ensembles and had scholarships offered to him.
In April 2024, Tyler was selected by Stockton University’s School of Arts & Humanities to be a featured soloist at the inauguration ceremony for the school’s sixth president, Dr. Joseph Bertolino. Tyler was invited to play with the Stockton University Classical Ensemble. He even did a private concert for the owners of Jacobs Music, one of the largest Steinway distributors in the world.
In October 2023, he composed The Carnival, a rondo written in A major, which has now been copyrighted and published. Tyler said it took him about three hours to compose the piece.
At the concerts in Shawnee, Tyler played for two hours for the evening concert and for almost an hour for the afternoon concert — all from memory and without sheet music. He can read sheet music, and does when he’s learning pieces, his mother said, but is able to play songs from memory.
The most difficult part of the concert was not the music, but the talking. They knew Tyler would have to give context and introduce the songs before he played them.
“I knew that was going to be the toughest part of these concerts, the scripts that Tyler had to memorize to get up and talking about each piece, getting him to talk naturally, not sounding like he memorized it,” Debbie said. “But it really helped him. This has really helped him in his public speaking and developing his English skills.”
Tyler starts this semester as a high school junior but is also enrolled as a college freshman at Stockton University. He said after high school, he hopes to attend a conservatory of music such as the Curtis Institute of Music, Julliard or the Cornish College of the Arts.
His mother said music has given Tyler so much, including a career path.
“They told me at one point that Tyler would need to be institutionalized,” Debbie said, adding that she’d also been told he could work busing tables or as a dishwasher. “I said no. I’ll have him sit at home playing on his iPad before I’m going to have him do that. And then this musical gift came out, and now he’s going to have a real career.”
Tyler has gone from the most restrictive learning environment possible, with one-to-one teaching, to excelling in a traditional school with a 4.125 GPA and being admitted into the National Honor Society. His mother credits a lot of that to the music.
“He has a sense of confidence. Music has just given him a voice,” she said. “Tyler’s talent is unlocking new things every day for him. He loves music so much, and music has given so much to him. We’re just eternally grateful.”
To listen to Tyler play, follow him on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok at @typlayspiano.