Saturday, November 19, 2011

Inspiration!

I just received the following email from Annie Harris regarding her daughter Aubrey.



Dear Mr. Sadowsky
 
I just wanted to say thank you for providing inspiration to my daughter, Aubrey, who decided 2 years ago to play bass when she learned about Tal Wilkenfeld.  At the age of 12 she fell in love with the instrument, but she didn't think girls played the bass.  A quick internet search fixed that.  She saw/heard Tal with one of your basses and it became her goal then and there to become a bass player.
 
Last week was the very first time she was able to play a Sadowsky (A MIM Fender Jazz is her current bass, but she changed the pick guard to black so it looked like Tal's).  We went to our first Talk Bass Get-Together in Rhode Island.  One of the guys had, I believe, a Will Lee model.  It was love at first sight for her!  She tried just about every bass at the event, but kept going back to the Sadowsky.  Someone even had an EBS amp, so she had her "Disney" moment and hooked up to that so she could be "just like Tal" - even though it wasn't the same model, it was close enough!

Some of the guys were trying to talk her out of wanting one so as not to be a "Tal clone".  You should have seen her go at them, defending her choice like a lion - talking about the tone and feel and how nothing else, for her, seemed to compare.  Besides me, she was the only female there but she was not intimidated one bit.  I was really proud of her. 
 
Aubrey posted her "Just Like Tal" picture on Twitter and your team re-tweeted it and now follow her.  I can't tell you how much that means to her - she was thrilled!!! 

She's BassGirl5809 there and on YouTube.  She started by emulating Tal, but is really starting to develop her own style.   Aubrey has a condition called Synesthesia which means she can literally "hear colors", and she's just learning how to use this to help her with her music.  Tal's playing on your bass really helps trigger those colors. 
 
Great things have happened over the past year, she's been so grateful to have such amazing support from the bass community.  She's had two #1 videos of the month (Feb/Sept) on NoTreble.com (Tal and Jaco covers), her YouTube channel has really taken off with over 200,000 hits and over 900 subscribers, she's had some opportunities to sit in with world-class players and she just received a grant from the state of NH to study the history of jazz and blues as an apprentice.
The project is called "Playing it Forward" and the site is http://bassgirl5809.weebly.com.  

One of the planned features of the project will be for her to interview some people in the music business in a segment she's calling "2,5,1- 2 people, 5 questions, 1 goal - To Play it Forward"  Maybe she could interview you :) 
 
All these great things go back to the beginning, so again, I thank you for helping to inspire my little girl.  At 14 she has big dreams of going to Berklee like her father and grandfather (both jazz drummers) and carrying on the family business.  We're saving up for her to have her dream Sadowsky by then!! 
 
All the Best to you and your team!!
Annie Harris

2 comments:

  1. Inspiration can be found in many forms. This is a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing this.

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  2. When I was her age I wanted to be "just like Stanley." But then I wanted to be "just like Jaco." And then "just like Rocco." Then Bunny Brunel. And on and on. 30 years of professional playing later, I want to be "just like Nathan" but I by now I play pretty much "like me." :-)

    Don't let anyone talk her out of wanting to be "just like Tal." It's good to emulate excellent players. Trust me, she'll develop her own style :-)

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