- Contributed
Williamson caught up in the passion of his music during a performance.
Tamara King, Staff Reporter
ALTHOUGH AS a youngster Paul Williamson went off to piano lessons kicking and screaming, today he calls music his 'primary passion'.
Paul is a recent addition to Jamaica's illustrious, but short, list of classical musicians.
His significant and slightly chequered history with classical music goes back to childhood and took root because of the influence of his mother.
"I studied piano for about 10 years, starting from about age six," he noted.
Hinting at the source of his dislike for the instrument, Paul said: "When I was about eight, my piano teachers use to frustrate me because they use to say how musical I was, but I never felt that I could express myself on the piano."
Paul's family consisted of his mother, Mrs. Gene Williamson, a businesswoman, and father, Tony Williamson, an insurance executive, along with two siblings.
"My mother thought it was important for all of us to learn an instrument. So she picked the piano because we had one at home at the time," he explained. "She took us to piano lessons; I went reluctantly, because I didn't like the piano that much, but she felt we had to do it. So I was dragged to piano lessons," he laughed.
However, at Wolmer's Preparatory School, which he attended and was under no such duress, he discovered that music meant a lot to him.
"When I was at Wolmer's Prep I was on the boy's choir and I remember that I felt a joy in singing... I felt that maybe my gifts were in singing rather than playing the piano. Because whenever I was on the choir singing... I felt good," he said.
TAKING ON GREATER SIGNIFICANCE
He described this feeling in greater detail.
"Anytime I would be singing... I would always get goose bumps all over my skin. I could hear myself sing and sometimes, if I were not careful, I would just go off in a world where everything was perfect. I really enjoyed it and any opportunity that the choir had to sing, I was the happiest person," he reminisced, as he drifted off into musical bliss.
As he got older though, singing took on more significance for Paul and the chance to sing usually meant an opportunity to be redeemed.
"I wasn't an athlete. I tried to be, but I wasn't one. And I wasn't very good at a lot of other sports, but one thing I knew I was good at was singing and that felt good. It also felt good to be a part of something important," he beamed.
According to Paul, the monotonous nature of playing the piano, coupled with the patience and persistence needed to succeed, prevented him from enjoying the experience. However, he was afraid of disobeying his mother, so he put his all into playing the piano and eventually began to reap success.
When he was gearing up to sit the first exam of the Royal School of Music, he and his mother brokered a deal. If he put his heart into playing the piano, tried hard and passed the exam, then he could choose whether or not to continue playing the piano after that. The deal was sealed. He started working diligently at bettering his piano skills and, after a while, getting home from school, having dinner, doing homework and then positioning himself around the piano became routine.
After practising his scales religiously, he found that he was not only getting good at it, but was also enjoying himself. However this fickle love affair with the piano was never meant to be. "I did the Grade One in the Royal School of Music Examination in 1981 and thought I did really well. But then when the result came back, I had failed by one point. After that I lost all my courage. I felt that maybe this wasn't my instrument and maybe I wasn't a musician," he said in a disheartened tone.
However, a change of teacher on the eve of entering Wolmer's Boys' proved otherwise. His new teacher had much faith in him.
"He was so impressed with my skills at the piano that he put me at Grade Four. So I started doing Grade Four Level music. I was practising every day and this time I was self-motivated. Some days when I was practising my next door neighbours would say 'Man, you sound good at the piano'... but the week before the exam I got so nervous that I withdrew," he recalled. Paul and his piano parted again. It took him six years before his on-again-off-again love affair with the piano was on again.
"When I was 16, a number of us who had been in the boys' choir in first form decided that we were doing a Christmas carol service. We were going to bring back the choir. (It had been discontinued because the then administration of the school thought it was not important for boys)."
The tall, thickset musician recalled that "One afternoon we were practising some Christmas carols and then one of the students who was a very talented pianist was playing Holy Night and I just began to sing. I wasn't even conscious of what I was doing; I just closed my eyes and I was singing away enjoying the music and when I opened my eyes... I opened my eyes to people staring at me - stunned."
He thought, perhaps he was off-key. However, to his surprise, they were clamouring for more.
In college, Paul discovered his true talent for singing. He enrolled in Houghton College, New York, as a business major, but never left out music as he continued singing on the choir there. It was there that he discovered the power and versatility of his voice.
"It so happened that when I was there, I discovered more and more that I got this voice... it began to make such an impression on me that I had to chose whether or not I was going to stick with business or I was going to switch to music," he said.
One summer, while taking extra courses, he wandered over to the Houghton School of Music, which is located on the same campus as the business school. He went into one of the practice rooms and started singing. Soon after, one of the most respected professors in the school barged in.
"Are you the latest addition to the School of Music?" the professor asked.
"No, I am business student," he replied emphatically.
"No, you are a music student," insisted the professor.
Paul explained that the perplexing banter between him and the professor lasted well into three minutes. He had sounded too impressive to be a business student.
Out of this conversation with the professor and the fact that Paul was becoming more and more disenchanted with the business courses he was taking, he decided to do a double major in business and music.
However, Paul was in love with music and his other interest only created an entangled web.
"The more I did it (music), the more I began to develop a deep passion for it. I started taking voice lessons and I was learning so much. My voice was starting to do things I never thought possible... I thought I was a baritone, but then I realised that I had a whole opera register in my voice. One I didn't know I had," he explained.
He was a natural at music, while he had to struggle in his business classes. In the end, he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree, with the emphasis on voice.
Paul's quest for excellence took him to the Glinka Conservatory in Russia, where he obtained his second degree, a Masters in Fine Arts degree in voice and operatic performances.
"When you study music, not just classical music but opera... and the various art forms, you get into the minds of the persons who wrote the music and began to see what they went through and what inspired them to write the music in the first place. That's a wonderful thing. because you learn of their struggles," he said.
It is against that background that he fell in love with the Russian composers whose work he studied. One such is Rachmanninov, who Paul likes because of the intensity of emotions his works bring forth.
OVERSEAS PERFORMANCES
When Paul is not thrilling local audiences with his magnificent voice, he is overseas performing.
Locally, he has performed with the well-known University Singers under the direction of Mr. Noel Dexter and was the featured soloist at a concert last year which was put on by the United States Embassy. The event commemorated the terrorist attacks which took in America on September 11, 2001. He has performed overseas at such distinguished places as the Nizhegorodsky Theatre in Russia, where he gave his first professional performance at age 22 and at the Omni Centre/Turner Broadcasting Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was the featured artiste.
At present he has taken a break from overseas assignments and is helping to run his father's business. He noted that his chances of making a living in Jamaica as a classical musician are pathetically slim.
Paul's long-term wish for his island home is to see a higher value placed on classical music.
"There is a greater potential for me to earn a lot more, because of the level at which I am trained. Unfortunately in our economy, it's not budgeted for... the arts in Jamaica is in serious jeopardy," he opined.
Paul, however, is consoled that an appreciative audience exists for his music at home, even if people do not fork out money readily to see him perform.
He is currently working on his debut album, which will incorporate three or four categories of music, including work from the Baroque period, which is represented by Jamaica's Samuel Felsted who composed the oratorio Jonah.
A sacred oratorio from Handel's Messiah and work from Johann Sebastian Bach will also be included on the album; so too will American Negro Spiritual songs done by Hall Jaohnson, as well as Jamaican folk songs arranged by Peter Ashbourne.
