College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Reflecting on Cuba

Ames Piano Quartet returns from "once-in-a-lifetime" experience.
For a solid week, members of the Ames Piano Quartet, the resident chamber music ensemble at Iowa State, gave concerts and taught gifted students in Havana, Cuba, as part of an American charitable group's efforts.

But for Jonathan Sturm, the defining moment of the trip didn't come in a concert hall or in a teaching session.

Instead it came near the end of the trip when Sturm and the three other members of the Ames Piano Quartet gave their Cuban students the wire music stands they had brought with them.

"We took some traditional American gifts down with us," said Sturm, who plays the viola in the ensemble. "But at the last moment we decided to give our stands instead.

"You can't imagine the type of musical equipment they have in Cuba. It was what you would find in an attic in this country."

Most of the musical instruments and other equipment (such as music stands) are holdovers from Cuba's pre-Castro past or poor Russian versions. Sturm said that the typical black music stand that can be found in any American high school or college band room is vastly superior to anything that the Cuban students have in Havana.

"Their reaction when we gave them the music stands was just awesome," Sturm said. "To receive our little wire stands was unbelievable to them."

The Ames Piano Quartet spent a week in late January in Cuba through the efforts of Send a Piana to Havana. During the past eight years this organization has sent brigades of piano technicians to repair pianos in Cuba that have fallen into disrepair. It has also encouraged numerous major piano manufacturers to donate over 100 new and used instruments to Cuban schools and churches.

Despite the poor equipment, the Ames Piano Quartet found their students to be very gifted.

"They were playing advanced repertoire very well," said William David, the ensemble's pianist. "The teaching was very inspiring. They didn't want us to leave."

In addition to the lack of quality musical instruments, music instructors are in short supply. A majority of the instructors that Sturm and David saw were not professionals, but rather older students.

Throw in practice facilities with no windows allowing the outside traffic noise to come right into the room; it's hard to see how the students could accomplish anything.

"These are the kind of obstacles they have to overcome," Sturm said. "In my life I don't think I have seen anyone do more with less. They figure out how to squeeze water out of a stone."

Both Sturm and David felt the individual practice sessions and other teaching opportunities made a difference to the Cubans. And Sturm knows that the experience made a difference in him.

"They gave me the most wonderful feeling," he said, "that teaching was worthwhile. I get that here (at Iowa State), but I got a huge dose of that in Cuba."

While the Cuban music students may not have up-to-par facilities, the concert halls that the Ames Piano Quartet performed in were "stunning" according to David. The ensemble, which also consists of George Work, cello, and Mahlon Darlington, violin, gave three formal concerts in addition to their teaching load.

The group's research indicates that the Ames Piano Quartet was the first American chamber ensemble to go to Cuba and perform in over 40 years.