The Marcus Roberts Trio, at Centenary
This week was a pretty musically exciting week.
Being a Music Ed. Major, I am required to observe music classes. This week was my elementary school observation. I got to observe the 2nd graders, and one thing I learned is that little kids are funny to watch. Every time the teacher asked a question, it was like a race to see who got their hand up first…but sometimes the answers were something like, “Um…um, this weekend my friend might spend the night…” I did learn a lot about elementary music teaching, and I know it’s not for me. I wouldn’t have the patience to teach little kids. And I’d probably laugh a little too much at them.
The other thing that happened this week was…THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO!!! Marcus Roberts, for those of you who don’t know, has a pretty big name in the jazz world today. He’s been blind since he was five, and started playing piano not long after that. I’ve been playing piano for 15 years (and jazz piano for the last 6), but I’m nowhere near his level of playing. He’s like the Ray Charles of today.
The Marcus Roberts trio, Courtesy of the Cornell Concert Series.
Anyway, he played at Centenary during recital hour on Thursday, and it was amazing. The crazy thing was that after his little concert, I got to play for him and, even better, he gave me a lesson. A lesson from Marcus Roberts himself. I must say, it was pretty cool.
This is Marcus Roberts and I after my lesson.
I’ll get to see the Marcus Roberts trio perform with the Shreveport Symphony tonight at the Gershwin on Fire concert. They’ll be playing arrangements of one of my favorite composers…Gershwin. I can’t wait to see them again!
