Page 76 - Kieran Ballah Remembers M.J

ISSUE : Issue 48

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/6/1

quartets and producing musical shows and so on, in the old Lyceum. Until he moved in and started a voice studio in Sydney-- that's what he did for a living. I remember as a small boy in Sydney with Dad. Dad taught voice all his life'. That was his life, teaching singing. He was a professor of music. And he had a studio on Charlotte Street--a recording studio there, in the '30s and '40s--right above where Is? land Crafts is--upstairs. He had large stu? dios up there, for--in those days, making records--there were no tapes. There he did recording and taught voice, for a few years. And then, following hard times, he . moved to the house and taught at home. He lost--gave up the studio, couldn't afford to keep it. (Do you have any of the old records?) I've got one record of Dad. It's not bad--it's one he made himself, and he was running back and forth to the (recording) room. 'Cause in those days, you had to watch the record continually, because as you were cutting it there were cuttings coming off of it. And if you didn't clear the cuttings away, in the early stages, it used to foul up the record. So, him being alone with his accompanist, he'd come to a high, loud Museum of Cape Breton Heritage Northeast Margaree on the Cabot Trail Inverness Co., Gape Breton, N. S. OPEN 9 TO 6 DAILY General Merchandise Metropolitan (562-1134) Bi-Way (539-8860) Mark's Work Wearhouse (539-0441) Zellers (539-5600) Electronics Radio Shack (539-4617) Sony Store (562-8811) Recreation Heather Bowling Lanes (562-2695) Fun Villa Arcade (539-2215) Coles Book Store (539-6053) Bill's Pet Centre (539-2243) Sam the Record Man 6YDNEY QlNTRE 10:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. MONDAY to SATURDAY Supeimarket Sobeys (562-1762) n Fast Food Uncle Chow's (564-6487) Mrs. Vanelli's (539-7882) Take-a-Break (539-1908) A&W; (539-7222) Lord Fin (562-6745) Orange Julius (539-0134) Tim Horton (539-4287) Chicken Chalet (564-6322) Red Wagon Jewellery/Gifts Lynn's Gifts (539-7273) Orient Express (539-7968) Candy & Things (562-6292) Carlton Cards (564-6531) Plenty of free parking- and climate-controlled shopping- in downtown Sydney. Shoes Agnew Surpass (562-3129) Belinda & Brother (564-5366) Fashion Reitmans (562-3177) Suzy Shier (539-5538) Super Touch Fashions (539-4454) Personal Service Gals & Guys Hairworks (539-1811) Olympic Shoe Repair (564-8112) Shoppers Drug Mart (562-1144) Munroe's Barber Shop note, and he'd run back into the sound room and clean the record off, and run back out and keep singing! Aw, he made a lot of his own records, but we lost them all over the years. It's a shame. I've got some of his choir. He was well known, also, in this area for choirs. Twen? ty-five years he led the Sacred Heart Church choirs. Directed them. And he had very famous boy choirs. Everyone of 50 years old back would remember Dad's boy choirs. Big boy choirs, you know. He drew them from Sacred Heart School and from St. Joseph's School. So, he would have boy choirs learn sight reading, everything. Go to school once or twice a year to audi? tion boys to sing, in each school. And then take them two afternoons after school for choir practice, and that was learning to sight read, read music, voice training, the whole thing--for at least an hour and a half or two hours after school, two days a week. One day would be St. Joseph's School, one day Sacred Heart. And then, one of those two days, it was combined--the boys choirs would get together. I was in the one from St. Joseph's. We would practice separately in the school for an hour, and then we would combine to sing together under the church, the choir rooms there, for general practice. He was very busy then. See, he'd have the boy choir, which he had to work with. He had a male choir. Now the boy choir would be 40, 45, 50 boys--big choir. And we were all decked out in the red surplice, red soutanes. Dad was very much for ceremony--big on ceremo? ny. You know, he would have us come from the back of the altar at 11 o'clock mass. Welcome To Your Home A'vay From HomeS Our Bed and Breakfast program enables you to stay with Cape Breton families and experience the Island's famous hospitality first hand. Look for our welcoming signs all across the Island: in coastal fishing villages, in the scenic highlands, close to beaches, museums and shopping. We invite you to come and make new fi:lends, explore special places, sleep soundly and enjoy home cooking. A list of Bed and Breakfast homes can be obtained at any Cape Breton Tourist Association Bioreau. The project is supervised by the Cape Breton Development Corporation. Mare information can be obtained by writing: Cape Breton Bed and Breakfast WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME AWAY FROM HOME! 'g?? A project of the Industrial Development Division '* of the Cape Breton Development Corporation Un projet de la Division du developpement industriel de la soddtS de developpement du Gap-Breton 76

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