'n Aha!-oomblik
'Just go for it. Remember, there’s always a chance you’ll hit the right note, then you’re away.’
Goeie dag! Dis goed om weer te kuier.
Ek het laas belowe dat ek by ‘n volgende keer sou vertel van die eerste keer wat klavierspel werklik vir my mooi en lekker was en dat ek as’t ware tóé eers regtig, en vir altyd, verlief geraak het op die klavier en dit tóé eers werklik begin geniet het om te speel.
Ek het in die middel sewentigerjare na die (destydse) Transvaal vanaf Kaapstad opgetrek (ek het daarna nooit weer permanent in die Kaap gewoon nie) en vir 1975 en 1976 aangesluit as aktrise by TRUK Speelwerk se Teater-in Opvoeding-geselskap onder leiding van die merkwaardige Robin Malan. TRUK Speelwerk was die skolegeselskap van die Transvaalse Raad vir die uitvoerende kunste en ons het na skole gereis en deur middel van teater-in-die-rondte vir die matrieks hulle voorgeskrewe werke gedramatiseer. Die leerders was altyd fisies deel van die opvoerings en so kon hulle die werk beter verstaan en interpreteer. Dit was heerlike tye vir ons groepie jong, onervare akteurs - ons het soveel pret gehad!
Ons het wel soms nader aan die huis opgetree, maar wanneer ek tuisgekom het na ‘n Combi-toer van ‘n paar weke weg na plekke soos Skukuza, Wolmaransstad en Petit, wou ek meer aandag aan my klavierspel gee voordat ons na ses weke se repetisies weer die pad sou vat na volgende bestemmings toe.
Ek het ‘n regop huurkoop-klavier aangeskaf (dit was lank voordat ‘n klawerbord ‘n algemene instrument was) en begin soek vir ‘n onderwyseres wat my speel-spinnerakke kon help afstof. Ek was dankbaar om plek te kry by die bekende mevrou Joyce Cooper van Pretoria.
Vir my eerste les by haar het ek ‘n Schubert Impromptu voorberei.
My Aha!-oomblik het gekom toe ek ‘n akkoord speel en sy my skielik stop - en rustig haar regterhand in dieselfde akkoord-formasie op die klawers neersit - met soveel sensitiwiteit, soveel emosie en musikaliteit, terwyl sy sê: “só moet jy dit voel”. Nie só moet jy maak, of só moet dit klink nie. “Só moet jy dit voel”. Ek sal daardie oomblik nooit vergeet nie. Alles daarna was eintlik vir my anders wanneer ek musiek gemaak het.
Afgesien van my werk as aktrise by Speelwerk, was ek ook soms verantwoordelik vir die musiek-gedeelte van ‘n aanbieding. Ek sou dan die akteurs help om liedjies in te studeer, en hulle ook op die kitaar begelei tydens die vertonings - dit is as ons nie a cappella gesing het nie. Terloops, dit was Robin Malan wat vir my my eerste opdrag gegee het om ‘n toonsetting te doen - vir Bertolt Brecht se ‘The Exception and the Rule’.
Robin het sy outobiografie, getiteld ‘Along the way to where’ in 2020 op 80-jarige ouderdom gepubliseer en daarin was die volgende gedig ondermeer ingesluit. Ek plaas dit hier met spesiale vergunning van Robin self. Ek voel dat dit die atmosfeer van daardie besonderse tye se werk met die leerders die beste weergee - tye wat my gevorm en voorberei het vir wat later sou kom:
Enter Nymphs, they dance - Robin Malan
For Laurika
I’m listening in: ‘You’re all nymphs
And I’m going to teach you a dance.
So take off your shoes and socks.’
Tricky stuff, mid-morning,
In a boys’ high school, in Pretoria.
Still, she’s pleasant, smiling,
and clearly she means business,
so they do as she says.
Like any actors rehearsing,
they joke and fool around,
get the steps all wrong,
and put each other right.
One bruiser calls out to a friend,
‘Hey Barney, I’m a numph!’
Come their part in the performance,
they’re focused, serious, intent.
And Barney’s friend moves with some grace,
and no thought that his mates might laugh.
They don’t. They watch, intent as well.
Twenty years on, her name made
as a singer, I hear her talk
on the telly. Same philosophy:
‘The only thing that matters is the work.
Not how I feel or what I look like.
All that’s important is the work itself,
and how best it can be done.’
I guess it’s that that turns
rugger-buggers into nymphs.
PACT Playwork theatre-in-education company, Pretoria, 1972-78/ A programme devised around The Tempest.
…en in 1994, met die verkiesing, skryf Robin die volgende pragtige gedig (ook hier gepubliseer met sy goedgunstige toestemming):
27 April 1994 - Robin Malan
Hey, today,
all going to cast our votes!
Actually, cast mine yesterday.
Took my aunt to an old-age home to vote,
Got caught up in the queue myself.
Knockout stuff, this, hey!
Never thought I’d live to see
My aged aunt put her X
beside a black man’s face!
Wrong one, but never mind,
all got to start somewhere.
Hey, one day,
during World War One
men in trenches suddenly started singing.
Siegfried Sassoon wrote a poem
called ‘Everyone Sang.’
Hey, another day,
thirty five years ago,
my first paid-actor job.
Mr T leaves his piano.
‘Just all sing that number without me,
I want to wander around onstage …
Ah, it’s you!’ pointing straight at me,
‘You just mouth the words, don’t sing,
because you can’t.’
Hey, then came a day,
eighteen years from then.
Laurika, like Siegfried, says
Everyone can sing.
Just open your throat,
fill yourself with air,
and sing.
I have to start a kids’ show
All on my own, singing
‘Mis-sah Rab-bit, Mis-sah Rab-bit.’
‘But I can’t.’ ‘Yes, you can.
Just go for it. Remember,
there’s always a chance
you’ll hit the right note,
then you’re away.’
And now, Hey, today,
it’s overcast, the beach deserted!
Just me, the wind,
and Robben Island over there.
So, eat your heart out, Mr T,
Laurika, this one’s for you,
‘cos, hey, today,
wet nose and all, wet cheeks,
I stride along the beach
and at the top of my voice
I sing.
‘Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika.’
(Damn’ sure I hit the right note, too.)
Robin Malan has worked in English teaching and theatre-in-education all his life. Worked at the Space Theatre in the early 1970s. Taught at University of Stellenbosch Drama Department in the 1970's and tutored in the English Department at the University of Cape Town. In 1974 Malan became artistic director of PACT Playwork theatre-in-education company. He created a symbiotic unity of theatre and education by making Theatre in Education (TIE) the basis of their work. Instead of presenting dramatized versions of literary texts prescribed to schools, the texts were used to address socio-political issues. He received the Molteno Medal for lifetime service to literature by the Cape 300 Foundation and was awarded the English Academy of Southern Africa's Gold Medal for 2014 for his services to English over a long career in education and theatre. He is also the recipient of the Special Award for Innovation in Theatre, Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards 2020.
Ek in daardie tyd
Volgende keer begin ek jou meer van die agtergrond van sommige van my liedjies vertel. Laat weet vir my op hierdie platform of per epos by laurika@laurikarauch.com as daar ‘n liedjie is waarvan jy meer wil weet. Ek sien uit! Liefde vir jou - Laurika
www.laurikarauch.com
Kopiereg voorbehou
Laurika jy is 'n superster. Dankie vir jou mooi musiek.
Dankie Andries. Hoe lief.