Roger Williams, director of the School of Music at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. - Photo by LeVaughn Flynn
"Talent is not a problem in Jamaica," said Roger Williams, about the country's musically gifted.
The unequivocal statement comes from a man who should know. Not only has he been surrounded by the musically talented for many years - as a student, teacher and performer, here and abroad, and currently as the director of the School of Music at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts - but he was a prodigy.
Self-taught
An anecdote he tells indicates this. As a child at home in Montego Bay, he taught himself to play the piano to the degree that when he went to get his first formal lessons from Clarice Crawford he was able to sight read a grade-three music book. Amazed, the teacher tested him on a more advanced book. Again, he sight read it with ease.
"She (Crawford) was very influential at this stage. I was about about 15 years old," said Williams. "She taught me how to express the music, and at recital each year that was where you really developed your skills to play in public."
Soon after he started his lessons, he told Sunday Gleaner, his skill surpassed that of his friends who had been playing for years before him.
Williams has not slowed down since.
From Montego Bay, he went to the Jamaica School of Music at the Cultural Training Centre (now the School of Music, Edna Manley College) from which he gained a certificate in instrumental teaching in 1988 and graduated in 1989 with a diploma in music education (Honours).
On a double scholarship, he attended the University of Southern Maine (USM), graduating in 1993 with a bachelor of music (Summa Cum Laude). Then it was on to Butler University in Indianapolis, where he earned a master of music degree in 1995. Both degrees are in piano performance.
At USM, he was twice a winner in the annual Honours Recital, and a winner in the University's concerto competition. On a two-year teaching assistantship at Butler University, studying piano and chamber music with the internationally acclaimed concert pianist, Panayis Lyras, he earned further honours. He was twice awarded the Faculty Distinction Award, was a winner in the 1995 Honours Recital and was invited to join the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary Society, a nationwide organisation which recognises artistic and academic excellence in the field of music.
As a professional pianist, Williams has given numerous recitals both as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist in Jamaica, Cuba, Curacao and the USA. His performances have been lauded.
In 1998, he was recognised by the music fraternity and was awarded the Jamaica Music Award (JAMI), Best Classical Performer - Instrumental. He continues to develop some of Jamaica's finest talents and his students generally do well in the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Conservatory Canada graded and diploma examinations.
Choral director
Williams is also a composer and arranger of choral music for a wide variety of genres. He frequently arranges gospel, Jamaican folk and other contemporary pieces for choral ensembles. As a choral director, he has conducted the Providence Methodist Church Family Choir, the Methodist Chorale, School of Music Choir, Edna Manley College Choir, and has guest conducted various choral groups. He has also been an accompanist with a variety of vocal groups in Jamaica and overseas, including the Jamaica Vocal Ensemble, USM Chorale, USM Opera Workshop, and the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre.
Williams told The Sunday Gleaner he loved performing (but couldn't say whether he enjoyed it more than teaching) and he frequently collaborates in concerts with singers and instrumentalists in addition to performing as a soloist. He has formed a piano duo team with Ann McNamee, a teacher at the School of Music, and regularly performs chamber music with the Cuban clarinettist, Rafael Salazar, and Jamaican soprano, Lori Johnson Burnett.
Classical music
He recently announced that he and his chamber group had plans for a series of classical music performances in schools, which has been a long-held dream of his.
"Classical music has never been the popular fare here, nor even in other countries, so it's not a Jamaican thing," he said, "but you can get 200 to 300 people for a concert in Kingston, and maybe smaller numbers in Mandeville and Montego Bay. So there is an audience."
Williams said he wanted to widen that audience, hence the school concerts.
Because there is so little classical music available in schools, he noted that students arriving at the School of Music directly from high school tend to have a "one dimensional" view of music. Fortunately, those who have training in private music studios are better equipped, he said, pointing out that those wanting a career in classical music have to begin training well before their mid-teen years.
Williams said he hoped the recent introduction of music degrees at Edna Manley will result in more music being taught in high schools.
While the second- and third-year music in education students number only four in each of the years, the current first-year batch is between 12 and 15.
"Talent is not a problem in this country," he said. "The problem we have is nurturing the talent we have. "
As administrator, performer and teacher, Williams is doing his best to assist that nurturing.