Gib Singleton
Stradivarius
Bronze
22h x 13w x 9d
Edition of 25
This piece is a really personal one, and it's from a peak moment in my life. I was living in Santa Fe, and I'd just had both hips replaced so...
This piece is a really personal one, and it's from a peak moment in my life.
I was living in Santa Fe, and I'd just had both hips replaced so I couldn't walk or even get around the house much. So one day my buddy Tom from the Morgan Club calls up and says. 'I'm going to send a present over for you.'
Well, the doorbell rings and I answer it, and it's a guy with long hair, wearing red tennis shoes and carrying a big case. He says, 'I'm your present." Turns out he's Felix Fan, who is one of the top cellists in the world!
He gives me a big hug and, man, we're bonded. As artists, we kind of live in our own world, right? And it doesn't matter whether you're a painter talking to a sculptor or a sculptor talking to a musician. You share the experience of that art just kind of welling up in you.
So we go in the living room and he opens the case, and inside is what looks like a regular cello, only kind of beat up. But then he shows it to me, and it's a Stradivarius! It's like a five million dollar instrument. It belongs to a bank in New York and they let Felix take it when he's playing a major concert.
The first thing he pulls out of the case is the bow. The tip and the frog you tune with are gold, and it's strung with white horsehair, and it's like $400,000 by itself At first, Felix just played with his fingers - no bow - and man, it was magical!
That's the only word I can use to describe it, because it was way beyond words. His fingers just danced across those strings. And he danced with the music. I mean, it wasn't like he was playing it. It was like he and the Stradivarius and the music were all one thing. Like they were all one being. It was amazing!
Then he picked up the bow and it was even more incredible. Music at that level isn't something you listen to. It's something you feel. It's like a powerful painting or sculpture. It isn't just something you look at. You feel it in your body. You feel it in your mind. You feel it in your soul!
You know, when people would ask me about music before I met Felix, I'd always say my guys are Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and Johnny Bush. But I'll tell you what, that day I became a Stradivarius fan.
After Felix played that cello, I realized that if I had died without experiencing that, I would have really felt like I'd missed something.
-GIB SINGLETON
I was living in Santa Fe, and I'd just had both hips replaced so I couldn't walk or even get around the house much. So one day my buddy Tom from the Morgan Club calls up and says. 'I'm going to send a present over for you.'
Well, the doorbell rings and I answer it, and it's a guy with long hair, wearing red tennis shoes and carrying a big case. He says, 'I'm your present." Turns out he's Felix Fan, who is one of the top cellists in the world!
He gives me a big hug and, man, we're bonded. As artists, we kind of live in our own world, right? And it doesn't matter whether you're a painter talking to a sculptor or a sculptor talking to a musician. You share the experience of that art just kind of welling up in you.
So we go in the living room and he opens the case, and inside is what looks like a regular cello, only kind of beat up. But then he shows it to me, and it's a Stradivarius! It's like a five million dollar instrument. It belongs to a bank in New York and they let Felix take it when he's playing a major concert.
The first thing he pulls out of the case is the bow. The tip and the frog you tune with are gold, and it's strung with white horsehair, and it's like $400,000 by itself At first, Felix just played with his fingers - no bow - and man, it was magical!
That's the only word I can use to describe it, because it was way beyond words. His fingers just danced across those strings. And he danced with the music. I mean, it wasn't like he was playing it. It was like he and the Stradivarius and the music were all one thing. Like they were all one being. It was amazing!
Then he picked up the bow and it was even more incredible. Music at that level isn't something you listen to. It's something you feel. It's like a powerful painting or sculpture. It isn't just something you look at. You feel it in your body. You feel it in your mind. You feel it in your soul!
You know, when people would ask me about music before I met Felix, I'd always say my guys are Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and Johnny Bush. But I'll tell you what, that day I became a Stradivarius fan.
After Felix played that cello, I realized that if I had died without experiencing that, I would have really felt like I'd missed something.
-GIB SINGLETON
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