The Butcher, The Baker, The Girl-whoplayspianoinapinch. February 1, 2010
Posted by jennyjumps in Uncategorized.trackback
Now then,
As you know, I was helping out and hanging around the church folk choir since I was very young. I started by looking after the transparencies, then training other kids to look after the transparencies, and then soon I started singing into the microphone with the other vocalists.
What you didn’t know, is that quite a while before that, the family had purchased a grand piano, and a bastien’s primer book for children. I used this book and this instrument to aid and develop my natural musical curiousity, improvisation and creativity.
Something I rarely share, is that shortly after beginning to sing with the choir, I took an interest in my father’s guitar playing. He supplemented this interest with a child sized guitar and some of the sheet music that the choir was using during the services. We practiced together.
Additionally, my mother’s participation in a more traditional choir and her operatic aspirations gave me ample opportunity to flex my vocal chords and experiment with range and dynamics.
Sometime around 1995, I was enlisted into regular piano lessons and it was assessed that I was playing piano at level equivalent to level five in the Royal Conservatory of Music without any formal training.
I wasn’t immediately accepting of this new formality, but quickly grew to enjoy the progress I was making in sight-reading and technique.
In the meantime, I found some opportunities to share my talents at school services and concerts which put me in contact with other similarily talented and musical children in my age group. We immediately began engaging in competitive behavior in addition to inviting each other to participate in musical opportunities throughout the community.
Did I mention my sixth grade teacher started a 50′s and 60′s rock and roll band which toured York Region and collected donations for the local foodbank? I played keyboard in the “Junior Band”. One of my classmates mentions it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTrDETGAIdI
I continued to regularly study piano in a formal setting and cycled through a number of teachers while progressing through highschool. In my first two years of highschool I took vocal music. In my third year I taught music in a co-operative position at a co-ed Preparatory School in Newmarket called Pickering College. In twelfth grade it was back to vocal music and then in my last year of school I applied for instrumental music, I had committed to studying music in university and believed that participation in an instrumental music class would be developmentally beneficial and altogether good preparation for post-secondary education.
I had yet to seriously study an orchestral instrument, but told the department director that I would play clarinet. I had heard jazz clarinet and loved it, day dreamed about the opening line in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and had helped the clarinet sections develop their embouchere while working at Pickering College. I thought it was a safe choice, and set down to develop my skills during the summer before the term began.
I rented a clarinet, bought all three levels of the Standard of Excellence series and some additional songbooks. The summer came and went, and my grade nine piano exam was scheduled for September. Suffice to say, my piano exam preparation was going along well, but the only progress I had achieved regarding my clarinet studies, was that ever growing blanket of dust covering the books.
September arrived and the new school term began and I sought out my upcoming music instructor directly. I told him the situation as follows, “Hi. I’m registered in OAC instrumental music for next year. I’m going to University for music next year. I only play piano. I told the director that I played clarinet. I don’t.”
He gave me a wide eyed look, smiled and said, “That’s ok”. And it was! He arranged the coolest, most chilled-out music class that I have ever witnessed. We played jazz, wrote electronic music, soloed and performed concert series. We studied music history, music theory and music appreciation. It was the most comprehensive highschool level course that I have ever taken. Most importantly, he encouraged, motivated and inspired his students.
I worked harder in that year than ever before. I was trying to make it through my level ten piano examinations before the school year ended in June. I had a series of 6 auditions across Ontario scheduled between January and April. I spent every free period and every lunch period practicing in the vacant music rooms. Teachers would stop by and stare, or come in to comment.
Retrospectively it seems as though every one of my teachers knew what I was up against. My projects and due dates all started to slide, but my teachers were all supportive and helped me to keep my grades up.
I’m glad I made the most of that OAC year – because I was going to need to hold on to those feel-good memories to make it through those next auditions.
