Coffee Day at Northbridge Village 16th April 2024

 The Club was invited to play at Nothbridge Village, Northcote for our Coffee Day this month. We had an enthusiastic audience of residents and visitors (parents of the piano students that played for us). Whilst it was disappointing that we had few of our playing members attend, nevertheless this was more than compensated by the great variety of music played. Particularly wonderful was the attendance and performance for us of 14 piano students and one violin student and supported by their music teacher Wu Liu.

It was great to catch up with Stephen Beech who is a well known organ enthusiast and player. In fact Stephen now lives at Northbridge Village and proudly showed the writer his organ setup in his garage. Stephen built his Classical 4 manual organ himself using sample sounds from various pipe organs around Auckland. Incorporated in the organ is a 5 manual theatre organ with sounds sampled from the Paramount organ of New York (now relocated to Texas). Stephen spent 5 years building his 5 manual organ which is primarily electronic but with some physical classical flute pipes. The organ is the largest in New Zealand and the brief demonstration to the writer on the day was mind boggling with the sound quality and power of the instrument.

All in all, a most amazing and enjoyable day was had be one and all!

A big thank you to Kay Boyes, the Club's Events Manager, for arranging this Coffe Day.

The Photos:

Kay Boyes on the Yamaha CVP-609

Music Teache Wu Liu playing a duet with a student

Music Teache Wu Liu playing a duet with a student

Music Teacher Wu Liu with his 15 students that played for us

Patrick McMillan on the Yamaha CVP-609

Stephen Beech on the 5 manual Classical/Theatre organ
that he built over 5 years

Stephen Beech on the Yamaha CVP-609

Warren Levick on the Yamaha CVP-609

Gordon Sutherland on his
Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard

 

Club Night 2nd April 2024

 Some great music this evening was enjoyed by an appreciative audience. We started with arrival music being played unrehearsed by Patrick McMillan on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809. Thanks Patrick for some great music to start the evening. Due to a late drop-out, Gordon Sutherland then played his Korg Pa5X with a mixture of backings, overplay and vocals. Next up, Mary Elvin played our Clavinova with some great bouncy music. To finish the first set, Warren Levick played the Clavinova also with a mixure of modern and classical (with an upbeat twist!).

After the raffle draw and a refreshments break, we were delighted to welcome back Joe Fingers and his wife Jill. Joe played his trusty Yamaha PSR-S950 with added vocals on some numbers. Jill also participated in some numbes with vocals and harmonies. A great mixture of genres with an emphasis on memory lane. As always, Joe and Jill were a delight. There will be a video added to this post in the next few days of Joe Fingers and Jill and one of Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X.

A big thank you to Yvonne Moller, Delyse Whorwood and Nelleke Moffat for helping with the refreshments break as our Catering Manager, Karen Steen, was indisposed.

The Videos:

Joe Fingers and partner Jill were our guest artists for the evening. Joe is using his Yamaha PSR-S950 arranger keyboard and Jill adds vocals

Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard

The Photos:

Joe Fingers playing and singing
using his Yamaha PSR-S950

Patrick McMillan played the arrival music
on our Yamaha CVP-809

Mary Elvin playing the
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Warren Levick playing the Clavinova

Jill and Joe Fingers. Joe with his
Yamana PSR-S950 arranger keyboard
with Jill adding vocals

Joe Fingers with his
Yamaha PSR-S950 arranger keyboard
and added vocals

Jill gave some great solo vocals
as well as brilliant vocal harmonies on some numbers