~A Typical Saturday~

Every Saturday morning I get up at 4:30 AM and get ready to go to my music lessons in Old San Juan. I live on the Island of Puerto Rico. My friend Margarita Claudio picks me up at 5:30 AM. It's still dark when we head for San Juan, but Spring is practically here and pretty soon it will be much lighter at that hour.

On our way sometimes we discuss weekly current events since I don't usually see Margarita all week. At other times I just look at the dark sky observing the stars that are visible. Sometimes we get into a discussion on the correct way of certain Spanish words which most people tend to use incorrectly. Being a teacher for so many years, I guess that's one of my specialties, LOL.

It's still dark when we arrive at Old San Juan and there isn't much traffic at that hour. Since it's by the ocean, it's rather cool and very windy, so we wear jackets. We are practically always the first two students in our group to arrive. Right now we're studying level 5 and there are ten levels in the study of our typical string instrument which is the "cuatro". As soon as we get there we start practicing. It's only around 6:30 AM and class starts at 8:00 AM and lasts until 10:00 AM. You're probably wondering why we get there so early. It's a matter of being able to find a parking space where one won't get fined $50.00. The later you get there, the least possibility of finding a nearby parking.

Our teacher for this semester is very different from the one we had last semester (Myrna Perez). Her name is Violeta. I compare her with a busy bee who goes from flower to flower sucking the flower's nectar. Why? Because she doesn't stay in one place like last semester's teacher. One moment she's here, another she's there and everywhere. She goes all around the area from student to student standing by each one to listen and see who's out of tune. Last semester's teacher could distinguish who was out of tune without even moving from the center. She really had a fine ear for music. It's not that Violeta doesn't have a fine ear for music. It's just that she can't stand still for long. She has to be on the move. She has a happy go lucky spirit that can't stand still. She's full of fire. I think she's a wonderful teacher and always tries to make us understand in the easiest way possible. For Violeta there are always short cuts. She doesn't like long definitions in the theory of music. She likes to be precise. She likes to teach us the tricks of the trade. With tricks that aren't easy to forget, one remembers her lessons.

Last Saturday I learned something that last semester's teacher had explained. But I hadn't really captured the essence. But Violeta taught us a trick we would never forget about how to play all the scales without memorizing them. All one has to do is put finger number 2 of the left hand on any note on the 5th string and if you keep the correct order of the rest of the fingers on the rest of the strings, one would play each scale without even knowing it. For example, if someone tells you to play the F major scale, all one does is put finger number 2 on F in the 5th string and you can automatically play the complete scale without knowing it. It's just a matter of always putting the correct fingers. And it's true. I can do it now. I can now play any scale. Last semester I tried to memorize them. This semester's little tricks are making learning much easier.

Another thing is that Myrna Perez didn't give us any breaks. We played through for two hours without stopping. Violeta is the first one who likes to take a coffee break. At 9:00 AM she gives us ten minutes. We could either go to the ladies or buy some coffee and drink it. We enjoy the class so much, that the two hours go by really fast.

Another particularity of Violeta is that our group has been together for five semesters now and she discovered we know our faces, but not our names. So she said she was going to give us a quiz next Saturday. Our group is divided in two sides: half the group on the left side and the other half on the right side. Margarita and I are on the left side. By next Saturday we must know the names of all the students on the right side. And they must know the names of the students on the left side (our side). I think this is a great idea because, how can one be together for such a long time and not even know our names. It's an excellent exercise which will make us really get acquainted with our fellow students. We've always greeted each other, but we don't know our names. I only know a few of the names of those who sit near me.

I wish to clarify that last semester's teacher and Violeta are both excellent music teachers each in their particular ways. As a matter of fact all the teachers we have had in each level have been excellent. In level 2 we had Violeta's daughter as our teacher. She and her mother are different as night and day. Violeta is more fun. Our first level teacher, Karla, was very young and very sweet. Our third level teacher was Ivan, son of the Francisco Lopez Cruz who instituted the school of "cuatros" when he lived. So, as you can see, we've had excellent teachers.

When we leave, it's no longer cool so we must remove our jackets. Besides, the locked up car has gotten excessively hot with the shining sun and until the car's air conditioning cools it down, we must suffer the heat wave. So off with our jackets.

There's usually more traffic in Old San Juan at the time we leave, so it takes us quite a while to get out of the cobbled streets. We get to see tourists all around the streets who are visiting this beautiful Island and who are fascinated with Old San Juan. They wish to stay, but we are anxious to leave, LOL. But once we're out, the going is good.

Mind you, a lot of the tourists enter the area where all the groups are taking their music lessons because it's a historic bulding. So they stop to listen to all of us play. They are fascinated by the instruments and the music and they start taking photos of us while we play.

We always return home through a different route from the one we came. We arrive at my house between ll:00 AM and 11:30 AM. Sometimes we don't go straight home. We stop at Plaza Las Americas Shopping Center to get some things we might need.

Photo 1: Myrna Perez last semester
Photo 2: Fort El Morro in the background, taken from the front of "Cuartel de Ballajá."
Photo 3: Front view of "Cuartel de Ballajá"
Photo 4: Old San Juan Street
Photo 5: Inside view of "Cuartel de Ballajá"

Note: The double "L" in Ballajá is pronounced like a "J". The English name would be "Ballajá Headquarters."