Oscar and Daisy playing a duet © Canadian Pacific Archives

From early on, Oscar Peterson was devoted to the piano, often practising as much as 12 or 14 hours a day. Studious and unusually talented, his hard work soon bore results as he worked with a number of accomplished music teachers. The first of these was his sister, Daisy. When he was 11, he studied with Louis Hooper, a classically trained Canadian veteran of the Harlem jazz scene of the 1920s. While a student at Montreal High School, he studied with Paul de Marky, a Hungarian concert pianist in the tradition of Franz Liszt. Oscar Peterson's growing command of the keyboard reflected his classical background, but his future was to be in jazz.

Oscar Peterson and his father at the piano © Canadian Pacific Archives

Daniel Peterson had hoped that his son would become a classical pianist, and was not supportive of his son's jazz aspirations. His mother was much more accepting. Meanwhile, Daisy (who had also been a pupil of Paul de Marky) actively helped to promote his career as a jazz pianist. When Oscar Peterson was 14, she persuaded him to audition for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's nationwide amateur piano contest. Ken Soble, the audition conductor, was so impressed with him that he immediately scheduled Oscar Peterson for performance in the competitiion. The young pianist won the prestigious competition with its $250 prize.

This win led to a weekly broadcast on Montreal's CKAC Fifteen Minutes' Piano Rambling. During the 1940s, Oscar Peterson also played regularly for CBC, broadcasting on CBM, the Corporation's Montreal English-language station, and the national network show, The Happy Gang.

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