Cheetahs, Clarens, and Durban Beach

CHEETAHS
On Friday morning, our trusty clan donned hiking shoes and jeans, and made our way (including a few wrong turns) to see wild cats in person.  I was very nervous (of course) because not only would we be seeing these animals - we would be basically hanging out with them, touching them, talking to them...I assumed they'd be mostly babies (what harm can a baby lion do?) - but I was quite wrong on both assumptions. 

An amazing woman named Suzette ushered us into the sanctuary, and explained to us that no matter how comfortable we felt around the cats (I guess she wasn't talking to me) we should never let our guards down because a wild cat is a wild cat.  The main purpose of the sanctuary is to help repopulate the world with the endangered cheetah, but also raises other species for game parks in order to deflect cost.  I simply couldn't believe it as we entered the park, and sneaked closer and closer to two 1-year old sleeping lions.  They seemed docile enough, but we were reminded time and again that one must never turn her back on a lion - it will jump up on your shoulders, and grasp you with 2 inch long curved nails, which Suzette showed us by pulling back the lion's fur around his paws.  We were encouraged to come up on the animal quietly, two at a time, and stroke his downy fur, which was at the same time smooth but strong, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't breathe throughout the entire thing.  But then we crossed the yard and approached the cheetahs.

I assumed that there was a fence between us and the two cheetahs - Fila and Bibi.  We got closer and closer, and the cheetahs started to become leaner, clearer and more defined as they paced up and back along the fence.  There was no fence between us.  I froze for a few seconds...Fila had been teased by some children and had therefore developed an aggressive character - we were warned by Suzette not to look Fila in the eye, or touch her.  Bibi, on the other hand was more passive, lying in the sun and unaffectedly looking up at her visitors.  The sheer beauty of these cats was astounding.  Extremely lean and fit, the cheetah has a silky spotted skin and golden eyes.  The long curved tail is used for turning while running without losing a second, since the cheetah can maintain an enormous speed.  Most terrifying, the shoulder blades ooze up and down as the cheetah slinks around the yard; slowly, Fila started walking back toward us as she saw us approach her friend, and we were told to back up, don't look her in the eye.  We couldn't touch Bibi at all then because Fila was just too close.  Pretty sure I didn't breathe during that one either.  I thought Suzette must be slightly mad...

We proceeded to see a plethora of new species - wolves, leopards, grown lions, and smaller cats that apparently can be very nasty. No matter how hard you try, it seems one cannot tame a wild cat, but Suzette pours everything she has into caring for these beautiful creatures, and the experience was quite exceptional.  Four string players repeatedly putting their fingers inches from razor sharp jaws is something I don't think I'll ever see again. 

CLARENS and DURBAN BEACH
On Saturday, we made our way half way to Durban from Bloemfontein, traveling over the top of another tiny sovereign country in the middle of South Africa: Losotho.  It's very complicated to pass through the country so travelers mainly avoid it if possible, especially foreign nationals.  After about three hours, our troupe arrived in a miniature mountain town called Clarens, which at once conjured images of mountainous villiages we'd all remembered in the States - Santa Fe, Aspen, Taos...it was a breathtaking chalet village, and as threw on our sweaters and coats, we meandered to a wood burning cafe that could have been in Germany - we drank beers and ate steaks and schnitzel, and finished with a delicious desert called a milk tart.  Red checkered table clothes covered the wooden tables and from each chair hung a cozy Aztec looking wool blanket to  warm our legs.  Everywhere arose the aroma of wood burning and I couldn't figure out where I was - with frosty fingers in mid June, smelling smells I only usually remember from Christmastime.

Finally the next day, Sunday, we arrived in Durban Beach, and checked into our Art Deco beach palace right on the water.  I mean - I'd call it something else but that's really the only way to describe it.  Interestingly, I was just in Miami Beach, and most of the buildings look exactly the same.  Wiseman, our guide, driver, friend, and choirmaster, said that the beach front was actually modeled on Miami Beach.  Markets of crafts and clothing line the beach, and each of our white rooms are filled with glass, porcelain, mirrors, and a huge window that frames the sea.  I swear - there are palm trees here...

Now I am going for a walk on the beach.

More Photos: Bloemfontein

Tuning at St. Mary's - June 7, 2011

Performing Bartok for the students- June 9, 2011

Composing a piece with the students - June 9, 2011

Mangaun Strings and Ensemble ACJW - June 9, 2011

Teaching in Bloemfontein

June 10, 2011 - The Week with Mangaun Strings

Greetings from Bloemfontein!  Here the locals call it simply "Bloem," which is nice because it means just "flower."  The students in the Mangaun String Program directed by Peter Guy continue to amaze us.  This week we have been teaching private lessons, hosting Interactive Performances, holding masterclasses, and running sectionals.  It's fascinating to see such an ambitious and self-sustaining music program, and I have to say that it rivals many that I've seen in any country.  The most unique part of this string program is its model of learning.  In Mangaun, students that have become advanced players, namely the students who are finishing high school and entering college, actually are hired to teach the young beginners.  This happens because there are just not enough teachers, and Peter told us that it is staggeringly effective for the students to learn from someone who grew up in the Mangaun program, and have probably grown up in the same neighborhood as their own as well.  We saw a spectacular example of a group beginner violin class at St. Mary's school one morning. 

We arrived early, and saw the sprawling low buildings that form St. Mary's; it was raining so we did our best to avoid the bug mud puddles that had collected around every entrance.  In South Africa, schools seem to be open air - that is, the schools are a collection of connected classrooms, one story only, with outdoor sidewalks that allow passage from one room to the next.  It is strange to see children sprinting around from class to class outside, with their violins held firmly in a tiny little fists, and I wondered how many violin casualties had been encountered this way.  But no matter - older students in the program also step up and learn how to fix instruments as well, so it's not rare that I saw an older violinist or cellist carting around four bows and several violins while fixing them up, or for a student to ask to leave a lesson because he heard that a cello endpin wound up in the body of the cello...and he must at that moment go take care of it...all I could think of was how firmly I insisted that my students at NYC Queens' PS 63 never even move without putting their violins in "rest position," and how adept these youngsters were at maneuvering at such lightning fast speeds so as not to break anything at all.  Usually you just see streaks of maroon or green uniforms tumbling about the quad.

The little ones stood in a circle and waited expectantly as their teacher made sure each violin was correctly lodged underneath each tiny chin, and then counted off (in Sotho, of course, not English or even Afrikaans) to begin the lesson.  These children plucked the strings only, for it seemed that the bow technique was taught after knowledge of all the strings.  I was amazed at watching a lesson in such an extraordinarily foreign language.  When a student made a mistake, you could feel the energy and silliness in the room, as the tiny eyes sparkled and darted to whomever had made a misstep, but always the children helped each other, somehow intrinsically knowing that the further the group could go together, the more everyone would learn.  This supportive and communal nature seemed apparent with all the students, grade 2 through college, and Peter explained that he found it a cultural norm in this area of Bloem.  It was very beautiful to watch. 

As our time with the students came to a close today, there were frantic photos being taken left and right, and one girl even took my camera for awhile, and I had no idea where she'd gone with it.  When I got it back there were photos on it of possibly every child in the school yard, grinning ear to ear and striking poses.  The older kids shook or hands and told us they'd see us in Durban, and the younger ones gathered for numerous hugs and group shots, trying to delay the departure before they climbed aboard the brightly painted bus that would take them all home tonight.  As we left, I hoped only that they would continue this culture of community and music, and that they would find that it leads them to many, many possibilities.

P.S.  Today we petted cheetahs.  (Real ones.)  More in the next post...

June 6, 2011 - Getting to know the Students in Bloemfontein

On Saturday the string quartet met the oldest group of string players, the Bochabela Strings.  They'll travel with us to Durban next week to perform with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.  The first day we played for each other - and this group of players has the best rhythm I've ever heard. They danced when they played, cued each other, and grinned ear to ear.  I couldn't believe it!  All with no conductor.  Peter Guy, the group's founder and a bass player himself said, "I used to conduct them but they never paid me any attention so now I let them play without me!"  I was really fascinated by the instinctual rhythm and creativity of the boy playing the congas during the performance - he really seemed to be the pulse of the traditional music the group was playing.  Needless to say, I was shocked then to see this young man sitting in my violin sectional - he said that his name was Morena, "But you can call me Renzo."  He is also an excellent violinist, but right now he is getting a degree in engineering.  When I asked him if he would keep playing after he finds an engineering job, he said, "Of course!"

It seems a daunting task that Peter's pulled off - moving halfway around the world and setting up a complicated network of musical instruction, hundreds of children involved in private lessons, orchestra, and for the most advanced, touring Europe for concerts.  Peter used to have a bus driver to pick up all the children and bring them to the school, but after the driver quit, he took on the job himself.  We saw first hand today just what that means - he does an hour long loop of all the schools in the area, piling instruments and children into the huge painted stick-shift bus, navigating tiny dirt roads around neighborhoods and schools and somehow always managing to get everyone back and forth safe and sound.  The bus jolted and shook, vibrating with children speaking at least five different languages, and jumping back and forth so easily it makes my head spin.  At least four children crowd in around him on a platform in the front of the bus and think nothing of it, their violins serving as places to temporarily rest their heads for the trip to the music school.  Peter has to wear a lot of hats in this program, but he seems not to mind, as he's very content to do simply what needs to be done.

Today we taught some lessons to the younger children and I even got some to start improvising.  Then they really wanted to hear me say something in another language, so I taught them the Latin phrase "Ave Caesar.  Moreturi te salutant," which I explained to them means "Hail Caesar.  Those who are about to die salute you."  It was the necessary greeting of the gladiators in ancient Rome.  It was a hit, and then we talked about how to say hello on Sotho, but there are simply sounds in Sotho that I cannot pronounce.  The kids have been very kind to tell me nicknames that I can call them, which are easier for an American...

When I told the girls that I was from New York, one said, "Can you put me in your luggage and take me back with you?"

Bochabela Strings Hard at Work

Rehearsal of 'The Planets,' Holst, which the students will perform with the KZN Philharmonic in Durban next week.