JEFFREY’S MUSICAL JOURNEY
This is the third in a series of blogs centered around our adult students who offered to share details about their musical journeys. We asked questions to initiate a conversation and our adults gave us sincere and confidence-inspiring responses based on their experiences.
Here are some of the questions we asked…
How long have you been playing? What are some of your favorite songs, works and artists? Any other musical studies? Did you like playing music as a kid, did you take lessons, did that change in adulthood? Was it hard to start with lessons as an adult, -obstacles, challenges? What motivated you and is it what you expected? What keeps you going? What's your favorite thing to play? What would you tell someone who wants to play and take lessons but has hesitations? Any other thoughts?
When I first heard cello music, I remembered it and the sound resonates inside... so I guess I’ve played since my previous life. After years of procrastination, I decided to take up lessons with Joshua in 2019.
Favorite songs: any pieces with cello(s) including cello works by Elgar, Brahms, and Chopin and of course the Bach cello suites…
I love artists such as du Pré, Lloyd Webber, Yo-Yo Ma, Maisky, and the newer ones like Stjepan Hauser (2Cellos), Sol Gabetta, Sheku Kanneh-Mason...
Previous musical studies: Does listening count? I am always learning and trying new genres and have been playing piano on and off since childhood.
I had piano lessons (as a child) and did the grades so I took music theory too.
Was it hard to start with lessons as an adult? -Not at all. We should be learning every day, shouldn't we? I see it as a problem-solving exercise. What is the task in question, what are our advantages/challenges, what resources do we have, and most importantly, when do we need this done by?
Obstacles: If you mean things that prevented me from learning/playing -Time. If I could choose, I'd play every day for an hour without distraction. We spend the same amount of time, eating/exercising/...fill in the blank, but if music is important to us, we need to do that. Another issue may be that your family may or may not be at the same level of interest as you are, so it becomes a competition at that point and you will need to manage to balance. My family has been very supportive, so I don't feel so much that I'm doing this on my own.
I did not expect anything (beginning cello). I brought all of myself and have benefited a great deal from the lessons and meeting others.
Unexpected challenges: Aside from the big elephant in the room (covid-19)… I learnt music mostly in England where musical terms are slightly different. So I had to unlearn some words. Otherwise, it's all part and partial of learning something new!
Knowing/hearing that I'm making progress, being able to discover and play the music that I love, AND meeting like-minded people keeps me going.
I have always played solo, and mostly classical, plus I am a die-hard Chopin devotee, on the piano -when it came to playing with others in the ensemble, it has been a lot fun. Playing pop on the piano solo was something I avoided but when we played a Beatles number in the ensemble last Christmas in our local mini-concert, it was a lot of fun and great experience! Many cellists have recorded tango music, so I'm dying to learn to play some. There are so many different methods of articulation on the cello, so it's very exciting and eye opening to me. Things are not so black and white anymore!
Thoughts for someone thinking of starting: Why not? What are you waiting for? If the passion is there, it will NOT take a long time. Who's the judge for talents, seriously?!