Before even attending SUNY Potsdam, you may have heard Joshua Barkley ’21 playing the accordion for his high school production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” the saxophone in his high school marching band, electric bass in a local country music group, or the organ at church on Sunday. A man of many talents, Barkley is most known as a jazz pianist who plays the piano on the fly and improvises his music more than sticking strictly to sheet music.
During his senior year at Madrid-Waddington Central School, he was selected to perform with both the All-State Jazz Ensemble in Rochester and the prestigious All-Eastern Jazz Ensemble in Atlantic City. And every year since the eighth grade, he had performed with the All-County Jazz Ensemble on stage at the Crane School of Music’s Hosmer Hall. He had also attended the Crane Youth Orchestra’s annual band camp—a unique experience that set him on a path to attend SUNY Potsdam.
“One of the biggest reasons why I came to SUNY Potsdam, was because of Julie Miller, she’s the piano accompanist here at Crane,” he said.
Barkley first met Miller at the CYO band camp where she gave him personalized piano lessons. Later, he reached out to her for support as he was going through the rigorous application process of applying to Crane, where prospective students have to perform several classical music pieces on stage. She gave him some music to rehearse and then met him on campus to fine-tune his performance.
“Being a jazz musician, I didn’t know very much about classical repertoire. I don’t think I would have been able to do it without her guidance,” Barkley said.
Although he admits that he didn’t like jazz in his youth, his perspective completely changed through high school and into college, so much so that it’s now his favorite genre of music. “In classical music, you have to play it exactly how it’s written, you can take liberties every now and then, but not like you could with jazz. With one chord, I could do it 20 different ways. It’s much more free than classical, it gives you a little more wiggle room when you’re put on the spot,” Barkley said.
He’s been put on the spot more than once as a piano accompanist. Back in high school, he recalls one time where he was accompanying a classmate on stage where her reed dried up and she had to stop playing momentarily to deal with the issue. He quickly improvised and kept playing the piano while he waited for her to return to action.
“One of the biggest parts of being an accompanist is being able to follow. What I’ve learned is that there are people who can follow and people who cannot. I’ve been in situations where people forget lyrics, forget how it goes, or just get lost in general. So, they kind of pick a spot and start there. My job is to fill in, or find where they are,” Barkley said.
After mastering his craft at The Crane School of Music, Barley has aspirations of playing the piano on Broadway. “Playing in the pit orchestras, that would be a dream come true,” he said.
To learn more about The Crane School of Music, visit: https://www.potsdam.edu/academics/crane-school-music