My Recital at St.James on April 9, 2019

Last Tuesday, I did the "Music at Midday" recital at St. James' Cathedral. I was asked to fill in just a week before, and I was really excited to help out.

I repeated the program for my last recital (in February) as I am still working on new pieces. My new pieces are really close to being ready, but I want to work on them some more with my teacher first. 

My past performances have been arranged weeks or months in advance, so this was a new experience for me. 

We recorded the Petite Suite by Gerald Bales.

Thank you so much to Robert and Elizabeth for your support and faith in me!

I really loved doing this performance!

My Recital at St. James' Cathedral - Music at Midday

Last Tuesday, I did a recital at The Cathedral Church of St. James for "Music at Midday".
Philip Elliot recorded it for me and I uploaded the full recital to SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/joshua-duncan-lee/full-july-24-2018-music-at-midday-recital-at-the-cathedral-church-of-st-james-live/s-6fQwB

I played:

• Rigaudon by Andre Campra (1660 - 1744)
• Largo e Spiccato by A. Vivali (1678 - 1741) arr. J. S. Bach
• Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533 by J. S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
• Voluntary in A Minor by William Boyce (1710 - 1779)
• Choral Song by Samuel Wesley (1810 - 1876)
• Folk Tune by Percy Whitlock (1903 - 1946)
• Trumpet Air by Bert van der Hoek (b. 1932)
• Variations on 'Fidelis' by F.R.C. Clarke (1931 - 2009)
• Gaelic Fantasy for Organ by Hans-Andre Stamm (b. 1958)

Just in case you don't have time to listen to the full recital, here are videos of a few of the pieces:

Rigaudon by Andre Campra

Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BWV 533) by J.S. Bach

Choral Song by S.S. Wesley

Folk Tune by Percy Whitlock 

Variations on 'Fidelis' by F.R.C. Clarke

It was a lot more relaxed than my first two recitals and I felt better prepared, mainly because I had done it before.

Thomas Fitches came to hear me play!
The first time I met him was just a couple days before I started doing organ lessons. I heard him play at "Music at Midday" and so it is really a big deal to me that he came to hear my recital. Thank you so much for coming!

The biggest surprise was that Chrissy Quigley came to my recital! She helps to organize the Leahy Music Camp and she mentioned that she might come but it was wonderful seeing her!
I made sure to upload both Choral Song and Folk Tune since I know you loved them!  Thank you for coming all the way to Toronto to hear me play!

One of the highlights of the recital is showing people the Pipe Organ afterwards... I'm hoping that some of the kids will be interested in learning organ in the future!

A huge "Thank you" to my teacher, Ian Sadler and to Robert Busiakiewicz, the Director of Music at The Cathedral Church of St. James for allowing me to perform and do lessons there.  And of course, thank you to Philip Elliot for the audio-recording and to my Mom for the videos!

My Recital at St. James

I did my second ever solo recital earlier this month. It was on May 8th at the Cathedral Church of St. James.
It wasn't as nerve-racking as the first time.

Normally when I do concerts or rehearsals, my parents record some of it, but this time, they sat and enjoyed it.

We arranged with Philip Elliot to do an audio recording of the concert for us.
I'm so happy that we could get such a wonderful recording!


My program included:

• Rigaudon by Andre Campra (166 - 1744)
• Trio in C Minor, BWV 585 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
• Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533 by J. S. Bach
• Fantasia in C Minor, BWV 562 by J. S. Bach
• Sonata de 1o Tono by Jose Lidon (1748 - 1827)
• Folk Tune by Percy Whitlock (1903 - 1946)
• Choral Song by Samuel Wesley (1810 - 1876)
• Berceuse by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937)
• Gaelic Fantasy by Hans-Andre Stamm (b. 1958)

I finally had time to sit down and listen to the performance.

It is very different listening to the concert and comparing it to how I experienced it while playing. The Rigaudon and the Bach pieces all went really well. I stumbled in the Sonata; the stumble was only about a split second, but it seemed so much longer while playing. I approached the Gaelic Fantasy a little too fast..It would have sounded better if I had just gone a little slower. Everything else was good. :-)

I uploaded a few of the pieces from the concert to SoundCloud
Rigaudon by Andre Campra
https://soundcloud.com/joshua-duncan-lee/rigaudon-by-andre-campra-live

Fantasia in C Minor by J. S. Bach
https://soundcloud.com/joshua-duncan-lee/fantasia-in-c-minor-bwv-562-by-j-s-bach

Choral Song by Samuel Wesley
https://soundcloud.com/joshua-duncan-lee/choral-song-by-samuel-s-wesley


Lots of homeschoolers came out to listen. Thank you so much for coming, it was great having so much support from other homeschoolers! I really hope you all enjoyed it!

me with Robert Busiakiewicz (left) and Ian Sadler (right)

A special thank you to my teacher - Ian Sadler,  Robert Busiakiewicz - the Director of Music at St. James, and to Philip for recording the concert. :-)

Minuet in G by Beethoven - for Annie Chris

Annie Chris,
I uploaded a video of me practicing Minuet in G by Beethoven for you. Grandma told me it is one of your favourite songs.
Hope you like it.

The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns - For Grandma

Hi Grandma,
I uploaded a video of me going through your favourite song in class... the version that you love.

The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns

My Grade 7 Piano Exam

I did my RCM grade 7 piano exam this week.  I'm not very happy about it.
I'm not very confident with the Ear Training segment because they changed the format of the Four Star books.  You have to have a computer with internet access to do the Ear Training exercises at home. There is no internet or computer where my piano is.

Anyway, here are the songs that I did:

Kabaleveky - Etude, Opus 27, Number 3

Hoffmann - Elegie

Bach - Invention Number 1 in C Major

Albeniz - Sonata in D Major

Rebikov - Waltz

Hogmanay 2015 at Mackenzie House

Last year we celebrated Hogmanay at Mackenzie House. (What can I say? We love it there!)
Gin Lane was there and either last year or this year will be their 20th time performing for Mackenzie House's Hogmanay!

Since I've blogged about Hogmanay before (in 2014 and 2013), this blog post will be mostly pictures.

Here are some pictures from the Print Shop.

 Pictures from the main house.

The toys that they showed were some of the gifts that kids might have gotten in the Victorian period. 

 Pictures from downstairs.

It seems like Gin Lane gets better and better every year!

And we especially love the food!

Thank you to Bruce and Liz and all of the staff and volunteers at Mackenzie House and to Gin Lane for such a wonderful time!