Christopher Norton - music legend - comes back to school

25/9/2008

A recent visitor to the school was Christopher Norton (1965-69), the internationally acclaimed composer of the popular Microjazz books, who gave a presentation and hosted a workshop for senior music students and music teachers from many of Otago’s schools.

Christopher had piano lessons from Johannes Giesen, head of music at Otago Boys at the time and was confident enough as a composer by the age of 16 to play a piece he had written for piano and orchestra at the school's concert in the Dunedin Town Hall. The piece was subsequently arranged by Jack Speirs for the Dunedin Civic Orchestra and broadcast on the Concert Programme.

Christopher Norton

After leaving school, where he had been the pianist alongside his future best man John Jamieson, Christopher gained a first-class honors degree in music from Otago University in 1974. He then taught music in Wellington high schools, worked as a Composer-in-Schools for a year and free-lanced as a composer, arranger and pianist.

He traveled to the United Kingdom in 1977 on a New Zealand Government Scholarship and in 1980, embarked on a free-lance career. Within a short time Christopher’s work was published - first by Universal Edition, then by Boosey & Hawkes, with whom he has had a long and fruitful association. His Microjazz series has become the most popular way world-wide for students to learn how to play contemporary popular styles with it being on every major music examination syllabus as well as featuring on festival and competition programmes in many countries.

Christopher also works as a record producer for a variety of labels, most recently for EMI and Virgin in North America. He also works extensively as a writer of music for television, has made many production music albums and is also a publisher in his own right, most recently as a founding partner in Novus Via Music Group, the publisher of American Popular Piano, his latest venture.

American Popular Piano, co-written with Scott McBride Smith, focuses his talent for composing authentic, appealing, yet educationally sound pieces in popular styles at all levels of piano study, including early years.

Christopher is in high demand for his unique and creative presentations. He has offered sessions ranging from improvisation coaching for grade-school band teachers to adjudicating non-competitive piano festivals with literally thousands of student entries; from offering personal, intensive Masterclass sessions at all levels to lectures in advanced composition. Everywhere he goes, his fresh and uplifting approach to music never fails to inspire and enlighten all who attend. He has presented in literally dozens of countries around the world, with recent touring taking him from Indonesia to Ireland, Singapore to Serbia, Italy to Interlochen, and Ontario to Oslo.

As well as his presentation at Otago Boys’ earlier this month, Chris was able to hear his latest composition, Octagon Overture, played in the Dunedin Town Hall as part of a 40th anniversary event for the Saturday Morning Music Classes.

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