Sometimes I just randomly think of a person from my past and you go to Facebook to see if they are on that scary networking site.
I was putting Nigel's cello away in the closet since his brother and family are coming for the week. As I cleared the sheet music I remembered back to when I was just starting to play and living in Calgary. A couple people I knew were connected with Czech cellist, Jozef Luptak, who was coming to give a concert.
"Should we try to get you a class with him?" they asked knowing I was limited with my violin player who was teaching me.
"Yes, please! That would be great!"
They spoke with him and told him I could afford $40 and would he be able to do it. Yes, he would.
Leading up to the day I was very nervous. I was so jittery by the time I arrived that I could barely play when he asked me to (so that he could assess what level I was at). My playing was very shaky. I started some beginner song in my beginner book. He told me to relax.
When I had finished there was a silence. Or perhaps that is just what I remember looking back now in embarassment. He looked at me and said, "Okay. Let's start from the beginning. Put down the cello. I need to teach you how to sit."
Great! I was so bad, I wasn't even sitting right. He thought that might have something to do with having a violin teacher. For them it was less about sitting properly than for a cellist. He then spent a great deal of time showing me how to properly hold my bow and place it on the strings. Then before I knew it my time was up.
I thought the whole exerience was inspiring and really saw myself getting into the whole cello thing. In fact, I knew he was part of a thriving arts community in the Czech Republic and perhaps I could go and live there and be his pupil. I asked in a very round about way how much he might charge for something like that.
It must have been the round about way he answered me in combination with seeing him in concert a day later that makes me cringe even now. He is absolutely amazing! He has a whole technique of improvization and sounds from his mouth that is brilliant alongside playing the more traditional stuff. Indirectly he told me that he charged quite a bit more than $40 and that it was usually just very advanced students he tutored. Yeesh!
YouTube: Via Affirmativa Improvisation: Cello and Dance
Sometimes I just randomly think of a person from my past and you go to Facebook to see if they are on that scary networking site.
I was putting Nigel's cello away in the closet since his brother and family are coming for the week. As I cleared the sheet music I remembered back to when I was just starting to play and living in Calgary. A couple people I knew were connected with Czech cellist, Jozef Luptak, who was coming to give a concert.
"Should we try to get you a class with him?" they asked knowing I was limited with my violin player who was teaching me.
"Yes, please! That would be great!"
They spoke with him and told him I could afford $40 and would he be able to do it. Yes, he would.
Leading up to the day I was very nervous. I was so jittery by the time I arrived that I could barely play when he asked me to (so that he could assess what level I was at). My playing was very shaky. I started some beginner song in my beginner book. He told me to relax.
When I had finished there was a silence. Or perhaps that is just what I remember looking back now in embarassment. He looked at me and said, "Okay. Let's start from the beginning. Put down the cello. I need to teach you how to sit."
Great! I was so bad, I wasn't even sitting right. He thought that might have something to do with having a violin teacher. For them it was less about sitting properly than for a cellist. He then spent a great deal of time showing me how to properly hold my bow and place it on the strings. Then before I knew it my time was up.
I thought the whole exerience was inspiring and really saw myself getting into the whole cello thing. In fact, I knew he was part of a thriving arts community in the Czech Republic and perhaps I could go and live there and be his pupil. I asked in a very round about way how much he might charge for something like that.
It must have been the round about way he answered me in combination with seeing him in concert a day later that makes me cringe even now. He is absolutely amazing! He has a whole technique of improvization and sounds from his mouth that is brilliant alongside playing the more traditional stuff. Indirectly he told me that he charged quite a bit more than $40 and that it was usually just very advanced students he tutored. Yeesh!
YouTube: Via Affirmativa Improvisation: Cello and Dance
3 comments:
that video was really cool, and hilarious, and very entertaining!
Yeah, it wasn't the most impressionable improv I have heard him do, but the dancer added all sorts of entertainment, I thought!
Yeah, it wasn't the most impressionable improv I have heard him do, but the dancer added all sorts of entertainment, I thought!
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