Activities Unit 1, exercise 3d Interviewer: Hi, Natalie; thanks for taking the time to see me in your cool backyard music room. I have to say, it looks fantastic with all the wood panels and self-made, rustic1 stools and the colourful cushions … Natalie: Well, thanks. I love this room. It’s an ongoing project. Right now I’m working on a new stool for playing my piano. And over there you can see the fabric I want to use for the new cushion that I need when I play the handpan. I just keep coming up with new ideas for in here. Somehow playing music also inspires me to keep improving this little kingdom of mine here … Interviewer: Yeah, I can see how much love for detail you are putting into this room. I could talk to you about it for another hour, but, actually, I came here to find out about your favourite music and what instruments you already play, etc. Shall we get started then? Natalie: Yeah, sure. Interviewer: OK, Natalie, first of all, did you experience a lot of music when you were little? Natalie: I think I was very lucky, in that I came from Trinidad and Tobago, so when I was younger there was a lot of music around me all the time. Lots of different types of music. We did have music from the rest of the world but our local music is very special. Interviewer: Was that in your home, or just generally in the streets and … ? Natalie: It’s everywhere. You cannot get away from music in Trinidad. We have … we’ve created our own instrument called the steel drum. What you do is take an oil drum and hammer it and you get notes out of it. They make huge orchestras … and I learned how to play the steel drum when I was a little girl. Interviewer: Do you have one? Natalie: I have one in Trinidad, but they’re very difficult to travel with. Interviewer: Oh, OK; how big is it? Natalie: Erm, I would say it’s about – what’s this? – half a metre wide, maybe, and probably a metre high. Interviewer: Right. Natalie: And you play it with sticks, so I couldn’t really travel with it. But Trinidad definitely has a lot of variety. We have a local music called calypso, which is similar to music from Latin America, er, sort of a merengue beat. And we have a lot of reggae, which probably you would have heard of, from Jamaica. Interviewer: Yes, I know reggae music. What’s your personal favourite? Natalie: Erm, well I play classical piano. I was brought up to play classical piano, but nowadays I play more Cuban music on the piano. Son, salsa, things like that, rumba. Interviewer: And do you still play the steel drum? Natalie: I have forgotten some. I would love to be able to play it again because I think it’s very original and it has a lovely sound, but unfortunately I don’t have it with me. Interviewer: And this metal piece that looks like a UFO? What is this? Natalie: Ah, this is my handpan. It is made out of steel; you tap the round fields with your hands and it produces many layers of sound. It is difficult to play but very relaxing as well. My friends and me are organising a workshop right now. In two weeks an instructor is coming in for a day to teach us a few basic tricks on sound and rhythm. It’ll be cool. Interviewer: Wow, that sounds fantastic! I’d love to join in … Natalie: Sure, just pop round. I can send you the details if you like. Interviewer: Really? That’s great. I’ll definitely do that! Well, thanks so much. See you again soon. 1 rustic: rustikal, urig 138 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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