Born in 1978 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Daniel C. Mouyard grew up in a musical family. By the time he was 12 he had learned to play the guitar, mandolin and banjo. Finally, around his 14th birthday he taught himself to play Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag."
At this point, you should probably know why Dan taught himself the piano. It's simple really, he was grounded. Nobody can remember now why he was grounded, but it must have been horrendous because he was grounded for a whole month. And it wasn't just a simple grounding, he was grounded from just about everything! No television, no telephone and certainly no video games!
He was, however, allowed in his bedroom. A few months before this tragedy his family had just gotten a piano from one of his grand-mothers, and his bedroom was the only place in the house that had space for it. Needless to say, Dan decided to play the piano since it was one of the 4 things he was allowed to do (the others being eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom.)
Dan found a sheet music folio in the piano bench that contained ragtime pieces written by Scott Joplin. He remembered hearing his cousin playing "Maple Leaf Rag" and decided to try and learn it. The only thing he knew about reading music, however, he learned in grade school (F-A-C-E & Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine.)
After learning "Maple Leaf Rag," Dan decided to learn the only other song in that folio that he had heard before, "The Entertainer." Not too long afterwards, he decided to enter a ragtime piano competition in New Oxford, Pennsylvania.
He played both "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer" and came in 2nd place in the Junior Division. More importantly, however, he met several ragtime enthusiasts including Sue Keller and Bill Edwards.
They both gave Dan plenty of advice and encouraged him to keep playing. Bill Edwards' first piece of advice was "Please! Play anything but those 2 songs. Everybody plays them! Here's my address, I'll be happy to give you more sheet music." Later in the contest, Sue Keller managed to convince Dan and his mother to attend the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Decatur, Illinois.
The following year, 1995, Dan made his inaugural trip to the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, placing 3rd in the Junior Division. He has been to almost every contest since then, winning the Junior Division in 1996, the New Rag Contest in 2000, and the Regular Division in 2001 & 2003.
Since his early days when he focused on classic ragtime (Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, etc.) he has fallen in love with stride piano, which is similar to ragtime but has more emphasis on improvisation and is usually more technically demanding.