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Time Travel to NostalgiaSince I left Los Angeles in summer 1989 I've lived a life on the road. I'm quite aware that to many, perhaps most people, the very thought of that kind of existence is extremely unattractive. Not me! For seventeen years I've been on the move and with the exception of a few weeks on the Greek island of Lesvos, all my travels were destinations of concerts or masterclasses.In those 17 years I lived and worked in Firenze and Riva del Garda in Italy, two years in Amsterdam, 8 years in Lausanne, and a job in Manchester, but rarely was I in any of those places more than a couple of weeks at a time and usually not that long. My life in Japan for the last year and a half has changed that and I've learned the many advantages of staying in one place. First of all I've learned that teaching works better when you frequently and regularly spend time with your students! That's quite a change from the way I was doing it while in Europe. Another big advantage is the absence of the chronic checking in process at airports. I don't look forward to doing that again even this one time next week. This is the end of the school year in Japan and now we're on a two-month break. Although I may do a small masterclass in Amsterdam and one in Italy, this trip is primarily one of nostalgic curiosity; it will be a visit to a time passed. What I'll see I don't know yet but I do know I will write about it. What ever happens on the trip, for the next week before I leave I have little time to think about, there's a lot of things to take care of for five weeks on the road. Time travel can be scary, it can be sad, it can be turbulent but it can also be exhilarating and in any circumstance it will be enlightening. Tokyo, February 8, 2007 |
