Josh is a young Jamaican-Canadian and this blog is about his music & travel adventures and anything that takes his interest. He sings bass, and studies organ, piano, violin & viola.
(This blog was last updated in April 2019, and will no longer updated in the future.)
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.
On Tuesday, I had a recital at the Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto.
I only just stopped having organ lessons here last month. I will miss going there each week but, I hope that I will be able to do more recitals in the future.
Stephen Boda, my new organ teacher, came to help me out for this recital. He is the Organist at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. He is excellent!
Thank you to Stephen Boda for coming out to help; thank you to Philip Eliot for recording my recital;
And a HUGE thank you to Robert Busiakiewicz for your continuing support!
And of course, thank you to everyone who came out to listen!
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:
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!
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. :-)
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. :-)
David Briggs had a private Masterclass at St. James' Cathedral with me, Manuel Piazza and Gerald Loo on Saturday, April 28th.
Manuel Piazza is an organ student at the University of Toronto and he is the Bevan Organ Scholar and the Organ Scholar at St. James' Cathedral. Gerald Loo is working towards his Fellowship Diploma of the Royal College of Organists. He also plays at St. Paul's Bloor.
I was the most junior person there! But, I was invited because I take lessons at St. James with Ian Sadler.
We all worked on different things.
I worked on two pieces that I will be doing in my upcoming recital on Tuesday, May 8th at 1pm at St. James.
Manuel Piazza played Choral no. 2 in B minor by César Franck,
And Gerald improvised a passacaglia.
We each had about 40 minutes of one-on-one instruction with David.
I played Choral Song By Samuel Sebastian Wesley and Gaelic Fantasy by Hans André Stamm.
For Choral Song, David recommended that I change some fingering and registration to make it more stylistically appropriate for a mid 19th century piece.
Gaelic Fantasy is a contemporary piece. It doesn't have dynamic markings or suggestions for registration so he recommended making the whole piece a giant crescendo. It is a piece that makes you want to dance and you will love the celtic themes and the crescendo just works.
David suggested ways to make Manuel's piece more expressive. One way was by using rubato in a slightly different way. He also changed the registration to reflect the composer's intentions.
David is extraordinarily good at showing us such small things that make a huge difference. It is these details that make him such a good organist!
For Gerald's improvisation, David pointed out that you need to have a plan. You need to think about are the implied harmony and the variations that you might do. One specific thing he mentioned was that using thirds and sixths can help make it easier for the actual improvisation.
A special thank you to Robert Busiakiewicz, who organized the Masterclass and to David Briggs for being so patient!
Thank you!
After spending a week at Chichester, around the New Year holiday, I went with the Cathedral Singers of Ontario to Winchester. We sang at Evensong at Winchester Cathedral.
Here are some pictures of the Cathedral:
I also got to rehearse at the Cathedral and do the prelude before Evensong.
Here is a video of me playing Siciliano by Max Reger there:
Thank you so much to Ian Sadler, the Conductor of the Cathedral Singers of Ontario for such a wonderful opportunity! It was amazing!
I still can't believe I sang and played the organ in England!
Dad and I went to England because Ian Sadler, my organ teacher, invited me to sing with the Cathedral Singers of Ontario in Chichester and Winchester. It was my very first time meeting all of these great choristers.
I also had the opportunity to play the organ while there.
Chichester Cathedral is so beautiful.
They have a magnificent organ.
Manuel Piazza was our accompanist.
He is the Organ Scholar at St. James' Cathedral in Toronto.
The choir is made up of music enthusiasts and all very talented.
It was a pleasure singing with them.
Here is a picture of all of us together.
Manuel and I are on the left, and Ian is on the right.
"Thank you" to Ian for inviting me to sing with The Cathedral Singers of Ontario, for allowing me practice time on the organ, and for letting me play some of the preludes.
And another huge "Thank you" to Chichester Cathedral for being such wonderful hosts! I loved every minute!
I convinced my Dad to go with me to see Christian Lane perform on Friday. (I guess you can say it's more like I bribed my Dad with paying for the tickets and coffee.)
Christian Lane performed works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) on the magnificent tracker organ at Christ Church Deer Park including:
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564
Partita diverse sopra "Sei gegrüßet Jesu gütig," BWV 768
Choral
Partita I
Partita VIII
Partita IX
Partita X
Partita XI
Prelude, Trio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545/529ii
Christian Lane is very skillful and you only have to listen to his playing to understand why he is an award winning organist. Choosing the best registrations for a piece is a part of the challenge in playing the organ. I particularly loved his playing of Partita especially the registrations that he chose which showcased the potential of the organ. Partita has movements with different moods which have you feeling reverence, excitement, eagerness, and satisfaction. It is really indescribable and you have to hear it for yourself.
The final piece, Prelude and Fugue in A Minor was really dramatic and kept me on the edge of my seat. It was such an amazing piece!
It was totally worth it taking my Dad to see this concert!
I hope I'll be able to hear Christian Lane in concert again soon!
Today, I did my first organ recital.
It was at St. James' Cathedral.
The programme included:
Prelude and Fugue in C Major by J. S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
Largo e spiccato by A. Vivali (1678 - 1741) arr. J. S. Bach
Prelude and Fugue in G Minor by J. S. Bach
Voluntary in A Minor by William Boyce (1711 - 1779)
Berceuse by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937)
Trumpet Air by Bert van der Hoek (b. 1932)
Siciliano by Max Reger (1873 - 1916)
Gaelic Fantasy for Organ by Hans-Andre Stamm (b. 1958)
The prelude in C Major went smoothly, but I stumbled a little in the fugue. I had a 'fat finger' in a couple pieces but the good news is I think that any future recitals will be easier than this one. I learnt how to recover from my mistakes while performing in public.
Here is a video of Largo e spiccato from my recital:
A huge "Thank you" to Ian Sadler, my teacher and Robert Busiakiewicz, the Director of Music at St. James' Cathedral for allowing me to do lessons at the Cathedral, plus practice time and for letting me perform.
It is hard to believe, Robert introduced me to Ian, last year on October 18th and I had my first organ lesson on October 30th.
Here is a picture from the day I met Ian.
A special thank you to everyone who came out to hear me play, including Julia, Elaine, Kelly, Ken, Christine, Lisa, Mervin, Lucy, Barbara, Sage, and all the homeschoolers.
And thank you to Mom and Dad, I couldn't have done this without you!
Yesterday, Mom and I went to "Music at Midday" at the Cathedral Church of St. James.
Their new Organ Scholar, Manuel Piazza, played for us. He is going to take up the position in September.
He played:
Prelude in B Minor BWV 544 by J. S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
Prelude in G Major, Op. 105 by Charles V. Stanford (1852 - 1924)
Fugue in C Major, from Sonata No. 2, Op. 65 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1947)
Organ Symphony No. 6, Op. 42, No. 2 by Charles-Marie Widor I. Allegro II. Adagio V. Final
He was amazing and his program was very entertaining!
I especially loved the Organ Symphony selections by Charles-Marie Widor.
His playing was very precise but also artistic.
Prelude in G Major by Charles V. Stanford was soft, balanced and very enjoyable.
The pieces that Manuel chose were very good at showing off the organ.
I loved it!
People ask me what it is that I love about St. James Cathedral.... It is hard to put it into words.
I love organ music and I go to the Tuesday Music at Midday organ concerts whenever I can.
Above all, I like the people at St. James and I love that we share the same love of the organ.
I have met some really wonderful people at the concerts and it was at one of these concerts that I met my organ teacher. It makes me so happy that I am able to have lessons in such a beautiful, historic place and be a part of such a great community.
St. James has been going strong since 1807!
Of course, there have been many changes since then.
In February, there was a display up in the church for Black History Month..
This picture shows Thornton Blackburn's taxi stand outside of St. James Cathedral around 1874.
Thornton Blackburn was a former slave from the United States and John Strachan, who was rector of St. James objected to returning the Blackburns to the U.S.
I love that there is a long history of treating people with respect.
The Church building itself is beautiful. It has stained glass windows all around.
Each of them shows a different scene.
If you look closely, you might be able to spot a small picture of the Cathedral in this window.
There is just something about the church that makes you want to take care of it.
Of course, I love the organ itself....
It has 5101 pipes and it has such a wide range of sounds.
Here is an excerpt from Voluntary in A Minor by William Boyce.
(Mom taped me when I was having class one week.)
This one is Little Prelude and Fugue in G Minor by J.S. Bach
I am still very new at playing organ... My repertoire isn't yet varied enough to show off the full capabilities of the organ.
Here is a link to the website for the Cathedral Church of St. James:
