[Leica] RETROSPECT 116

[Bill Clough]

   In 1980, on a cultural exchange assignment to Guatemala, I was paired
one evening with the first-chair cellist of the Guatamala City, Mr. Manuel
Alvarado. In high school, I held first chair cello in the orchestra, but I
never learned how to read music. My mother was a trained concert pianist,
so I had her play the music and then I played it mostly by ear. At the
start of my senior year, I was hit with a sight-reading challenge and I
went from first to fourth chair in 20 minutes. I looked at the class
schedule and discovered the same time period for orchestra was a journalism
class. The rest is history. I told Mr. Alvarado the story. After dinner, he
asked me to play his cello. It had been 21 years since I had held a cello.
It took me 15 minutes just to get the fingering for scales. “You have music
in your soul,” he said. “Let me show you something.” He got a flashlight
and illuminated the inside. I had been playing scales on a Stradivarius.


http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Bill1941/RETROSPECT/Manuel+Alvarado_+Guatamala+City_+1980+___+02107.jpg.html


–Bill