Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

As he plans for his life a decade from now, Michael Sean Harris declares, "I hope to be pushing the boundaries of my own creativity in my compositions and performance. I will still be sharing my knowledge. I can't help that."

He has a lot to share. He's a lecturer in pop and jazz voice and jazz harmony at Edna Manley College's (EMC) School of Music, as well as a singer, lyricist, composer, arranger, voice coach and actor. He's also the former acting head of the voice department at the college.

Harris says he has been sharing for decades as he told The Sunday Gleaner he has been performing onstage since he was three or four.

"I have always loved to sing. My father would play country, classical and musical theatre songs all the time. I grew up singing along to those tunes," he says.

Eclectic mix of music

Perhaps it was his childhood exposure to that eclectic mix of music that makes Harris appreciate and work in many varieties of the art form. On one hand, he has done recordings with dancehall's Buju Banton and Assassin. He also sang with several popular European artistes while he was touring Europe as the lead male vocalist for Holiday on Ice - In Concert. The show opened in Paris in August 2000 and toured for three years.

Harris went on tour just months after he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1996, he studied voice and pursued a dual major in music synthesis and contemporary writing and production and he was the convocation speaker at his graduation in May 2000.

The desire to become a musician and performer seized him after his first year at the University of the West Indies, while he was a member of Cathi Levy's Little People and Teen Players Club. While a member, and also later with Ashe Performing Arts Ensemble, Harris - working in a variety of musical and theatrical styles - toured the United States, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.

Coaches selected artistes

As a primary consultant with the popular television series, Digicel's Rising Stars, he coaches selected artistes and assists with song selection and overall creative choices. He has also done quite a bit of work on television in Europe and locally.

The singles he has so far released are Breath of Fresh Air (2004), Moonshine Darlin' (2007) and most recently, Table Top, a dancehall/rock tune featuring TOK's Craig-T.

Asked his views on the relative merits of dancehall and art music, Harris stated, "People need to be brought up on music - classical, folk and popular. Our concept of what is OUR music and what is THEIR music needs to change." All music should be available for enjoyment, use and creativity, he emphasised.

As a composer and songwriter, he gets pleasure, he told The Sunday Gleaner, "from being the conduit through which some new work of art is created - and it is a thrill to create."

His own compositions are the "fuel" for his performances, since he particularly enjoys performing his original work for others. He adds, "I don't think my creations are meant for me alone and I love to inspire joy in others through my performances."

Another outlet

Teaching provides another outlet for his "need to share". In the classroom, he shares what he knows with others in the hope, "that they might take it to another level or that they might create with their own unique spin".

He finds lecturing at the EMC "fairly satisfying", as there is a mix of "brilliant students" as well as the "marginal talented" ones.

But tech-enthusiast that he is, he is excited about one innovation of his at the college.

"Since I have been there," he says "I have helped to introduce some new courses in performance and music technology and I get a thrill seeing the students spark when things connect for them. There are a few excellent performers there and I think many of the students might shine in the area of production and music technology - if only we had adequate facilities."

The absence of adequate facilities at the school and, more generally, what he sees as "a lack of serious financial commitment to the arts" by both the private sector and government disturb Harris.

"With a serious commitment," he says, "we could have exciting music awareness programmes in primary and high schools."

Which is where so many successful musical careers, like Harris', begin.