My NHL Musical Adventure
I’m Alex Straus-Fausto, a 14-year-old, grade 8 student at Rockway. My hobby is studying soundtracks from sporting events, arranging orchestral music, and playing organs.
I am currently the Kitchener Rangers’ organist, providing music and hockey chants for some of the home games. My next games will be February 4, 9, 17, 23, and March 4—Go Rangers!
I have been playing the piano for a number of years, but I taught myself to play the organ by watching videos on the internet. I also went to organ camp last summer for one week. I have been fortunate to have played the largest and most expensive organ in the world, the Wannamaker, at Macy’s in Philadelphia; the largest outdoor organ, in the Chautauqua Institute in New York; the Wurlitzer organ at Casa Loma in Toronto; the largest organ in Canada, at Metropolitan United in Toronto; the Wurlitzer organ at the Fox Theatre in Detroit; and the Wurlitzer organ at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda. Every organ is completely different to play. Playing an organ is like conducting a symphony and playing all the instruments in one big monster instrument.
The best days of my life occurred over the Christmas holidays when I played the organ for the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. On December 28, my parents and I got a tour of the building, and I was able to spend several hours with the organist, Krystof Srebakowski. During the second intermission, the producer gave me permission to play a song for two minutes, in front of the crowd of 20,500 people, and I chose “Bennie and the Jets”. I was invited to to return the following night where I played “March Militaire” after their game against the New York Rangers.
On December 31, on my way back to Kitchener, I went to a North Carolina Hurricane game. Larry the organist invited me to play at the end of the game, and this time I played Ozzy Osborne’s “Crazy Train”
There are currently 2 organists for the OHL and 22 organists for the NHL; it would be wonderful if all OHL and NHL teams would add live organ playing to the “good old hockey game”. I hope that this experience was a look inside my future.
Click here to view Alex playing at the Forum: http://youtu.be/PX3V1h68KV0
Alex Straus-Fausto, grade 8 student
