Young Masters Music

Dermott Masters lost his Mother when he was very young and soon found a lonely void in his life . His Father did a brilliant job raising him in hard times .

Much of Mr Masters spare money was spent on piano lessons for Dermott who had a natural ability to play .

Immediately on listening to Dermott his music teacher took him under her wing and introduced him to the Holy Cross church choir .
In a matter of months Dermott was directed to play the Church organ at high mass on Sunday at noon .
There was only one pipe organ in the city and that was it so Dermott made the most of it .

At seven Dermott performed live on BBC radio giving a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus and bellowed out Bach , Brahms and Beethoven in a set that was as perfect as you'd ever hear .
He had impressed many serious listeners with his flying fingers over the keys .

Dermott had found a way to address the grief and loss of his Mothers death through music .

His Father was proud of him and continued to pay for piano lessons .

One day his music teacher made the comment ,

"There's nothing more I can teach you Dermott ."

At the age of sixteen years Dermott grew his hair long and allowed a beard to sport a growth upon his noble chin .

Then he took up riding a motor bike and purchased a brand new black shiny leather jacket .
He looked every part a rebel but was as tame as a church mouse .

Apart from playing the pipe organ at church and the odd recital in the community hall Dermott was restricted to sharing his talent .

With his spare he enjoyed doing little sketches and line drawings of life and the city around him . Images of the times with street life , markets , the people and events of the day , horses pulling carts and little shop fronts were his favourite themes .

He was invited to show some of his artworks of the city life and play piano for those who would come .
His pictures of trams running around on tracks brought some interest at the exhibition , but much more interest was shown by one man in particular who owned and managed three circuses that were currently on tour in different countries around the world .

Out of tyhe blue he approached Dermott and unzipped his jacket and from underneath he produced a small crocodile and placed it on top of the piano . He said nothing and walked away .
Dermott stopped playing and looked nervously at the small crocodile in front of him .

When the man returned he smiled at Dermott and lifted the crocodile and slipped it back under his jacket .

The man looked at Dermott and asked if he would like to play the organ for his travelling circus . The job entailed a two hour set each night for various circus performers .

Dermott was very excited about the offer but needed top speak to his Father before giving an answer . He realised if he went on tour that his life would change dramatically .

Mr Masters never hesitated ,
He gave his blessings to Dermott and encouraged him to grab the opportunity .

Times were still hard and jobs scarce so the possibility of playing music and making a living for it seemed too good to be true .
Now in his teenage years Dermott had a career path laid out before him .

At his first performance Dermott's Father and music teacher were in the audience which was a big encouragement for him .

The next few years had brought a romantic attachment to Dermott's life .
His circus lifestyle had discovered a side to life not many would have experienced . He travelled to other countries and met people of different creed and culture .

Each tour was different with different performers selecting new pieces of music for their performance .
Clowns, acrobats , jugglers , lion tamers , people on the flying trapeze and magicians all had their own music bracket .

Now and then Dermott had to provided his own music if one of the circus performers lost their sheet music .

Hi started to study electronics in his spare time and soon found he was able to build his own electronic organ .

After ten years travelling with the circus Dermott was offered an place playing keyboards with a band .
He did the club circuit for a while and living in digs in the city where he soon took up composing music .
The band was inspired by his new involvement and soon found favour with a record company . A piece of music Dermott composed was enjoying radio airplay and a three record deal was offered to the band .
As soon as the first album was released Dermott and the band went on the road .They played everywhere and anywhere
Some of the early performances include flower festivals and shopping malls in various cities . Pubs and clubs were the night bread and butter gigs and many of the albums were sold at these venues .

A lot of off the cuff stuff was played by Dermott and the band liked to follow the accompaniment of Dermott's excellent work .
It was always an inspired performance . His insight to music was coined as a magical experience by critics and the band landed right on its feet into the big time scene then .

The days of modern music included keyboards with digital software and extremely complex sampler systems extruded an extension of sound beyond the normal scale . Dermott only drawback was his overuse of technology that sometimes introduced a plastic over dubbed production on the studio albums and his very pedantic editing sequences created a style of keyboard playing that few could appreciate .
It was about this time in his career that Dermott asked himself the question , can music survive without technology and is music being driven by it .
The answer was a wake up call for him .
Dermott made the decision to change the direction his music was heading and reunite himself with who he was .
Progress was made and after bringing an old pipe organ into the studio he opened up a portal of time into his music .
The last album recorded by Dermott was a tribute to the classical masters like Mozart , Green and Rossini . There was not one experimental piece on the entire album . For the record company it meant something and they offered another four year contract .

Things went along a little different and much better after this .
He was able to use some of his early street sketches on his albums and soon made his mark in the world as an artist and musician of his time .

By Paul McCann

The End