My musical odyssey began when I decided to teach myself to play the piano. On the 18th of October in 1992, I went to church in the morning with my Mum. It was a different church that morning as it was a joint service between the 2 Methodist churches in Tauranga. But for some reason it was all quiet, no music was playing. The organist was there well before everyone else as we came in. I was not really interested though; I was only a middle of the road teenager. At 9:30 am the service started, and the vicar, Neil Keesing, processed in as normal, well not normal, there was still no music.

Suddenly, Neil asked, do we have any musicians in the congregation? Our organist has not turned up. So, me being me, I went up and said I could play with one finger as I had had brass band experience for 6 years and I knew the notes. Later on, we all got invited to a BBQ and I noticed a Yamaha AR100 sitting in the corner. So naturally I wanted to practice to get ready for next Sunday. Did I start at grade one and work on basic musical fundamentals? No, I went straight to “Nuns Chorus” and started working out chords.

The following week on a Sunday, we later found out that the organist had passed away. So now, I was the new director of music for St. Stephens Otumoetai, Tauranga, New Zealand. So everyone was expecting that one finger moment again, but I started with full chords to a lot of hymns and familiar pieces, including matching the right pedal to the route note of the chord. It was a true ‘Sister Act’ moment.

Over the years I have developed myself into being an eclectic musician. With my autism, this is a struggle but as the hymn says: “We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome. Some day, deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome some day!”