This morning was the cello concert of about twelve students of Lieven Baert.  There he is on the left, cheering on Hercule and Leonore as they play their duet, accompanied by Frederick on the piano.

I played pretty well.  I was proud of one note.  After a period of “piano” (quiet) tones, and a slight pause, a note was to be played further down the neck of the cello, in a different hand position.  Plus it needed to be “forte” (loud)!

I nailed it!

Sadly there were some other parts of the piece that nailed me, but overall … I done good.  The passion was there, the head was up, no grimaces when the mistakes came … and my smile at the end.

I was the first to perform.  Gudrun, a friend from my Music Theory class, planned on being there but I hadn’t seen her.  And then, in the last few seconds before bow met string, there she was!  Two big smiles.

The cellists were young and old, experienced and less so, accomplished and not so much.  None of that mattered.  We were drawn together by the majesty of the cello.  And the applause was rich for each of us.

Here’s a question:

What was I most proud of during the concert?

I bet it’s not what you expect.  At the end, Lieven thanked us students, Frederick the accompanist, and Vincent, his fellow teacher.  I sat there missing another name.  I stood up.

And congratulations to Lieven, our excellent teacher

Well said and needed, Bruce

We play on …