- VYOMA LAL
The corridor decorated with planters, shrubs and vines leading down to a small board beautifully illustrated with the workshop’s topic..
Today was CUBAN MUSIC. As I walked in everyone was seated so comfortably on the floor with pillows underneath.
I felt at home. Mr Roberto and Mr Jeremy were here all the way from Cuba to hold this workshop. I quickly settled down and before we all realised, the workshop had already started. Mr Jeremy on the piano and Mr Roberto on the bass were jamming.
Once they were done most of us were awestruck. “How did you play that? That too on the spot”, asked once of the amazed audience member, and with a small chuckle Mr Jeremy started talking to us about impromptu performances, how to signal changes and how to cue solos. We then talked about Jazz for a while. All of the students were quite at the beginning but slowly Mr Jeremy’s cheery mood broke our shell. Finally, we started talking about Cuban music.
They told us about the confusing time signatures in Cuban music and we emphasized on the Caracasa beat. We all clapped it out while the instrumentalists amongst us tried their hand out with playing with the beat. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks and a handover of a token of appreciation. This was surely a wholesome experience.