We are delighted to welcome Katri Patel as a contributor to the Larsen Strings Blog. Katri is a Finnish born cellist and cello teacher based in London.
New Year Promise
We live in an increasingly digitalised world where music, books and films are available at any time online. We can use our mobile phones to control the lighting and heating in our home, pay for the coffee and listen to music on the way to work. These technological advances have brought huge quantities of classical recordings available for all of us with just a few clicks. It is all wonderful but sometimes I worry that in the midst of all this my young pupils might miss the great and wonderful experiences of hearing music performed live.
Unforgettable…
I own many great CD’s but as much as I enjoy listening to them they still have never given me the same kind of spine tingling, hair raising moments of joy that many unforgettable concerts have given me. I still remember when at the age of about 9, I heard Valter Dešpalj play. I was astonished by his marvellous sound and tried later to imitate him on my small cello (unsuccessfully, I might add). Or when my parents took me to hear the great French cellist Paul Tortelier play all the Bach suites. When I was sitting in the old Naantali church it felt like his cello was speaking directly to me.
I have many other great memories of unforgettable performances which still bring me happiness after many years or even decades.
In a live performance we can sense the music with nearly all of our senses. We don’t only hear the music but we can often feel the vibrations of a great instrument, sometimes even feeling them in our own body. And the visual experience can also add to the enjoyable experience. Seeing great musicians perform can teach young musicians more than any number of lessons. I can nag to my pupils week after week about the importance of a good posture and positions but all that is sometimes needed is seeing a truly impressive artist perform. They will want to not only to sound like him or her but look the same as well.
And then there is that magical experience of hundreds of people listening to music in silence sharing the great art together!
Spoilt for choice
I am fortunate to live in one of the greatest cities in the world for classical music. London can offer a choice of world class star performers practically every night. We are truly spoilt for choice. Sometimes it causes us to be lazy as well, as there is always tomorrow or next week with equally great concerts available. When I was growing up in rural Finland we made a special effort to go to concerts of great musicians as they were special occasions. My 86-year old mother still makes a weekly trip to a nearby town 25km away to attend concerts and books opera trips and tickets to many summer festivals. I find myself too often on the sofa watching the tv.
Promises
All this brings me to my New Year promise – I promise to leave the sofa and enjoy the wonderful cultural offerings of London. I have booked tickets to several concerts already. First of them is a concert by Alban Gerhardt and the Aurora Orchestra on Saturday 7th January. This concert is a part of a yearlong cello festival called Cello Unwrapped at King’s Place in London. The festival features many other familiar names to Larsen Strings like Gautier Capuçon and Raphael Wallfisch and offers concerts of numerous styles including cello ensembles, baroque cello, jazz, folk, improvisation, solo cello, chamber groups etc.
I also promise to encourage my pupils to go to concerts by giving them an example of doing so myself, informing their parents about all the wonderful concerts available and speaking to my pupils about my recent concert experiences.
Whether you live in London or elsewhere, please join me in my New Year’s promise of enriching our lives with live music and all the wonderful experiences it can give us!
And if possible, take a child with you!
