Senior Music Students Showcase Final ISP Projects
From learning a new instrument to producing and recording an original song, Grade 12 St. Michael’s College School (SMCS) music students showcased their incredible talent through their final music projects, capping off their SMCS journey.
“The Grade 12 ISP (individual study project) assignment is a way to allow our graduating music students to embark on a journey of discovery in an area of interest, such as enhanced performance on an instrument they already play, composition/arranging, research, or new musical skills such as learning a new instrument,” says Jamie Oatt, Department Head of Music. “This year we once again had some incredible projects representing months of preparation and dedication.”
Check out some of the projects that were featured at this year’s Spring Concert Series in May 2026.
Marco Boci
Instruments: Trombone, Piano, Euphonium, Tenors
Fall 2026: McMaster University – Life Sciences
Marco Boci performed the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 for his music ISP project.
“This concerto is considered one of Mozart’s most celebrated works and requires a high level of technical precision, musicality, and stylistic understanding to perform effectively,” he says. “This project was especially meaningful to me because piano has been a major part of my life for many years. I am currently studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Level 10, and hope to eventually earn my ARCT diploma, the second-highest certification awarded by the RCM. Performing this concerto represented an important milestone in my musical journey and gave me the opportunity to apply years of training to a challenging and rewarding experience.”
Boci began learning the piece in November 2025, totalling six months of preparation to learn the notes, refine technique, develop musical expression, and build consistency throughout the piece.
“I hope listeners noticed the smaller musical details that are easy to overlook, such as the ornaments, trills, and subtle phrasing throughout the performance. While these moments may seem minor, they are incredibly important in Mozart’s music and require a great deal of precision and control to execute properly.”
He adds, “This project reinforced the importance of consistent, long-term practice. I learned that difficult music cannot simply be mastered in large bursts of work; many passages require days or even weeks of focused repetition before they can be performed confidently and musically. The experience also taught me the value of pursuing excellence rather than settling for ‘good enough.’ In many academic subjects, a score of 90 per cent is considered outstanding. In music, however, missing even a small percentage of notes or musical details can significantly affect the overall performance. As a result, music demands a unique level of precision, discipline, and attention to detail. Through this project, I became a more patient, focused, and dedicated musician.”
Jacob DaCambra
Instruments: Tenor Sax, French Horn
Fall 2026: University of British Columbia – Engineering
Jacob DaCambra opted to learn a completely new instrument for his ISP project. At the Spring Concert, he sang Dos Oruguitas by Lin-Manuel Miranda, along with his own guitar accompaniment.
“I learned this song specifically because it was a song I really enjoyed, and it allowed me to connect to my language more,” says DaCambra, who practiced a little bit every day from October until the performance in May. “My mom is from Spain, and I have been learning Spanish recently. This song was sung in Spanish, and it was really fun learning the meaning of the words behind it.”
Watching videos of guitar covers, looking up chords, and using other online resources were incredibly useful to DaCambra as he learned how to perform the song.
“I feel that being able to sing while seamlessly playing the chords as an accompaniment was the hardest part of the learning process, and I hope that people notice the quality of the accompaniment for the singing,” he says.
“This assignment helped me realize the full value of discipline as a musician. Practicing for three hours in one day is good, but not as good as practicing 15 minutes a day for 12 days. Consistency is the key to success.”
Leo Favero
Instruments: Trombone, Tuba, Tenors
Fall 2026: Western University – Medical Sciences
For Leo Favero’s ISP, he wrote ‘Half For You’, created the digital accompaniment for the piece, and performed it as a duet at the Spring Concert. The piece has a showstopper feel with two verses and four choruses. It features solo violins, violin, and cello sections, mallet percussion, pitched percussion, guitar, and trumpet that combine to create a symphonic atmosphere while still bringing pop-style energy.
“The creation and performance of ‘Half For You’ is a meaningful piece to me, as it marks a point in many lives where one will feel as if they finally belong and have that one special person,” says Favero. “For me, this was many times in my high school career, where many special but false words were said to each other in plenty of different forms, inspiring me enough to write my feelings down in the form that I know best, a song.”
Favero began writing the song in February 2025, working on the foundation, including the primary piano, string melodies, lyrics, and chords. Then in the fall, he completed the bulk of what remained, including the percussion, harmonies, and violin trio.
“This song was certainly a turning point in my life. The idea for such particularly sprouted from my desire to develop my music theory knowledge, to express myself in a deeper, truer way, and to become more familiar with music. I have always been stuck between my passion for the sciences and arts, having to work diligently to catch up with both to keep my options open. Because of this, ‘Half For You’ had taken a while due to the development of my abilities, my knowledge of each instrument, what felt comfortable and real, and what my capabilities were as a person at the time.”
He adds, “As someone who has always enjoyed playing and writing music but has spent years developing my understanding of music theory, composition, and instrumentation, this piece represents how far I have come as a musician and as a person. If there is one thing I want others to take away from my ISP, it is the idea that improvement comes through patience, effort, and believing in yourself even when progress feels slow.”
Paul Karras
Instrument: Trumpet
Fall 2026: McGill University – Music Composition
Paul Karras created an EP consisting of two songs that he orchestrated and professionally recorded, then uploaded to Spotify and other streaming services. He performed one of the songs during our Spring Concert Series.
“This project means a lot to me as one of the songs, ‘City of your Dreams’, is one of my earliest songs I ever wrote”, he says. “To see it come together in such a polished way really helped me see this ISP through to the end.”
From start to finish, his ISP took around five months to complete, which included countless hours of preparation, writing, polishing, and recording.
“It was my first time in a recording setting, and I learned a lot from it, from preparation for next time as well as how things in general work in the studio. I am also more comfortable in my songwriting abilities, as the positive and critical feedback from my peers and teachers helped me grow and learn from this experience.”
For Karras, starting the project was the hardest part because writing requires inspiration—from his surroundings, situations, and feelings—and it can’t be forced. Once he starts, he’s not satisfied until it’s complete, followed by rewriting and polishing until he has the final product that he’s proud of.
“I hope that people can clearly see how much of my soul I poured into these songs. Both of them come from a really special place in my heart, and being able to share that most vulnerable spot with the world is something I can’t describe. It’s what makes me so interested in music.”
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