Can you tell us a bit about your career in music?

My name is Josh and I’m a percussionist who played in a number of the WAYO Ensembles over a period of about 5 years from 2005 and went on to study a Masters of Music in Percussion.

In 2014 I started Kaboom Percussion with fellow WAYO-alumni Catherine Betts, and what started as a side project has now become our full-time job! We fill our days with a very fun mixture of school shows, running workshops, creating content, building instruments, presenting at conferences around the world, composing, arranging, and most recently working on a project for a Virtual Reality platform!

After many years of driving our Honda Jazzes across the country presenting our school shows around Australia and New Zealand, we expanded the Kaboom team in 2021 to have duos in Melbourne and Brisbane. Our team of 7 players are now able to play more shows than ever. We’ve worked with more than 200,000 students and we absolutely love being able to inspire kids to get involved in music and share our passion with them.

Cat and I have also been playing with the WASO, the WA Philharmonic, and the Perth Symphony Orchestra.

How or why did you choose your instrument?

I started on piano in primary school and started percussion in high school.  I had wanted to play in the concert band and they needed a percussionist, so I went along and checked it out and the moment I saw the marimba being played with four mallets I was hooked!

What was a highlight of your time in WAYO programs?

I have very fond memories of my WAYO years, from the friendships I made to the concerts I performed in. It was always great to work with wonderful conductors like Tze Law Chan, Peter Moore, and Burhan Güner, and to see how they tackled rehearsing difficult repertoire and pushed the orchestra to work at their best. I also had the pleasure of working as part of the WAYO team for a couple of years and that was great to be on the other side of things – setting up rehearsals and helping to facilitate concerts.

In more recent years I’ve composed a number of pieces for the WAYO Ensembles (a couple just as myself, and a couple as Kaboom), and that’s always been a real buzz being able to write for and perform alongside the current generation of young musicians!

What skills did you take away from your time at WAYO?

My time in WAYO was invaluable, as it provided me with lots of experience playing in many different ensembles at a very formative age.

The one thing that stands out most to me was in 2008 I was awarded a WAYO Scholarship to further my musical studies and I used the money to help buy my first cimbalom – the Hungarian hammered dulcimer. I went to Hungary to study the cimbalom and found an instrument that cost as much as my scholarship, bought it and brought it home. Fast forward to 2024 and I have just returned from a fantastic season with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as guest Principal Cimbalom for a season of Stravinsky as part of the Adelaide Festival. I’ve also played cimbalom with the WASO – for the three Lord Of The Rings concerts.

I’ll always be grateful to Ben and the whole WAYO team for all their support over the past 20 years.

How does music feature now in your life?

It’s pretty much the main part! The older I get, the more I appreciate how truly wonderful it is to be able to live life as a musician. I’m surrounded by an amazing team of my friends, and we get to perform for people who are excited to see us. Our YouTube videos have been viewed more than 100 million times and the feedback we get from the people we work with, and viewers around the world is truly wonderful. I have had incredibly talented and kind music teachers throughout my life for which I’m truly thankful, and I now have the joy of passing that along to the next generation.