JSO NEWS

Breaking News on the Classical Scene in Jamaica

Frozen in Jamaica!!!
One of Disneys most popular movies, Frozen, will
be performed live in Jamaica by members of Alice
Hogarths Drama Studio. The 62-member cast will
put their exceptional talents on the line to realize a
creative adaptation of a movie that has captivated the
world. The Play will run for two days: Sat, May 2nd,
and Sun, May 3rd at 5 pm.
As a twist to the plot, the Jamaica Symphony Youth
Orchestra, led by Dr. Lisa Walker, will make a special
appearance during the intermission to perform the
movies popular sound track, Let It Go, along with
other popular movie sound tracks. This innovative
move, which creates a perfect marriage of the arts, is
likely to become the standard practice for other similar high-quality performances in Jamaica.
Frozen is an interesting story about two princesses:
Elsa (played by Nishani Clarke) and her younger
sister, Anna (played by Mila Chang). Elsa possesses
special powers over ice but cannot always control
this power. As a rift between the two sisters widens,
Elsa flees the castle while inadvertently unleashing
an eternal winter on the kingdom. When Anna insists
that she return, Elsas powers accidentally freeze
Annas heart, which only an act of true love can thaw.
Since its release, Frozen has earned over US$1.2
billion worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing
film of all time and by far the highest-grossing animation. It has also won several awards and its DVD is
Amazons best-selling childrens film of all time.
The films huge success, which has been the subject
of extensive research, has been attributed to the
strong storyline, which illustrates the power of true
love. According to Playwright and Producer, Alice
Hogarth: When we show true love to each other,
love has the power to heal, to thaw a frozen heart . .
. . Love conquers all. Love can cure the social ill in
our society, let's try and show more love to each other especially those who are difficult to love.

APRIL 2015

Award-Winning Organist
Performs in Jamaica
The normally quiet Church of the Ascension at 1A Daisy
Avenue in Mona Heights Jamaica has now gone into preparation mode to pave the way for the much anticipated performance of the Award-Winning Organist, Roderick Demmings, Jr., who will visit our shores to perform at the
churchs 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert on Sunday,
May 3rd. The event, which is expected to be well attended,
is already creating a buzz in the music community as the
arrival of the guest artist draws near.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Roderick has been coached by
numerous legendary organists and is considered exceptionally
talented. As a child, Roderick would crawl to the piano and
curiously grasp for the keys. As a boy, he played gospel
hymns that he had just heard a few minutes prior at church!
His love and gift for music continued all throughout his
school years.

Now, as a young man, Rod has performed in

some of the most prestigious venues on both
sides of the Atlantic, including the famed Carnegie Hall in New York. He has also been featured
on national radio in the United States and recently participated in the Kennedy Centers Organ Showcase where he performed alongside many other organ
scholars across the country. In addition, he has performed for a number of dignitaries, including the
Pope.
Currently, there is a worldwide shortage of organists,
which places Roderick in very high demand. According to an ABC News report, churches large and small
across North America are facing a severe shortage
of organists. In fact, 99 out of 100 church organist
positions are open, and experts say the problem will
only get worse. According to the Washington Post,
the shortage has sent many churches overseas, particularly to Great Britain, to hire organists. Some organizations, such as the American Guild of Organists,
have initiated programs to lure children to the instrument in hopes of expanding the future pool of church
organists, and major music schools are offering scholarships to draw applicants.
The difficulty that students have to practise has been
cited as the main reason for the shortage of organists
in Jamaica. Most organs are in churches which have
activities in the evening when students are off work
and available to practise.

Tropical Rhythms: A String Project in Jamaica (Extract) - Part 5

Tropical Rhythms, a String Project in Jamaica, transpired from 1997 to 2001 under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Walker, who later submitted
the project as partial fulfilment of the requirements for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in California. The following is a continuation of
the extract from the project.
QUESTION: What is the difference between a perfect musician (one without mistakes) and a professional musician?
ANSWER:

A perfect musician does not exist. A professional musician does not allow mistakes to interfere with musical expression.
Dr. Lisa Darby Walker

It is amazing how little our quintessential pedagogical references deal with the concept of errors in performance. . . It has only been
within the last thirty years or so that some attempt has been made to address performance blunders and relevant issues. Timothy Gallwey, in his book The Inner Game of Tennis, advocates knowledge of the inner self to help control mistakes. In Performance Success:
Performing Your Best Under Pressure, Don Greene identifies seven aspects of performance and gives strategies in each of the areas to
achieve efficacy in performance. These references represent some of the literature available to deal with performance pressures for
mature performers.
When working with the students of the string project, I used a much simpler remedy with very positive results: I gave them permission to
make mistakes in performance and helped them maintain poise, concentration and a flow of communication in the same performance
environment. This approach did not eliminate errors altogether, but the resulting plausible performances were relatively free of anxiety.
Too often, I have watched students in performance neglect artistry because they are preoccupied with the technical difficulties of the
instrument and the composition. In my opinion, it is too late to wait until one has played a piece of music perfectly to add artistry. The
nuances of a work should be learned during study so as to practice producing the appropriate bow stroke, shift speed, vibrato speed and
overall temperament. In addition, I have found that a pupil tends to revert back to the primary way of learning the work when in performance. Thus, for students, it is necessary to allow for mistakes in music
expression to have music expression.

Train pupils to play expressively rather than perfectly

Felix Andrievsky once commented, Occasionally one hears an artist who is
not playing perfectly, but I would not change them for those who are faultless but who cant reach my heart.
In the string project, the students were trained to play through their mistakes when performing for one another. The idea (is/was) that the flow of
communication should not stop simply because one played an incorrect or
out-of-tune note. In fact, the students were cautioned not to advertise
their mistakes with telltale signals, including grimacing, looking embarrassed, playing softer, etc. Assurance that the audience (is/was) interested
in their music, not their mistakes, encouraged astonishingly polished performances from the participants. According to Leopold Auer, one is able to
perform better having less anxiety.
Continued in the next JSO

Rachael Lodge concentrating more on

the music than simply the technique

Mark Your Calendar