And it all began with Potter's, a teacher, & the would-be cellist named Ben.

And so it began with a simple e-mail message to Levine. Well, actually, it started when I signed up to the email list at a Levine School Concert given by one Mr. Peh, quite an accomplished pianist to be sure. But my aspirations this time around were not singing or piano this time, but cello. Yes, I will be commencing cello lessons shortly. With whom I am not quite sure, but the good news is that I have procured a cello and that is all well and good. But to speak truly, I have never played before. Yes, I could not resist getting it out the other day and having a go, but let me relate my trip to Potter's.

Like a scene from a movie, I drove to Bethesda without telling a soul, save my would-be cello teacher named Vasily, who is obviously from Russia. Well, that is good, is it not? In any case, after our meeting at the Levine School at which point Vasily dumped a poor Asian mother and child out of his room, I played some Rachmaninoff for him, as he was asking me the question: "Why cello?" Well, get up I did and played him a little of the Prelude. Then, he says to me, "Ok, Benjamin, I get it. You play piano." I thanked him heartily and went on my way, waving to the friendly Hispanic leaf blowing men as I went. Then it was on to Wisconsin Avenue for to find a cello and soon and very soon I was there at the place: Potter's Violin Co. Yes, like Harry and Ron and all the rest. But that was not the point. the point was that I was there and I had found it finally. Then it was into the rental shop for to rent the deal. I had already called in to speak with one Melanie about putting an instrument on hold. And that was that. A nice man caught me ogling over the cello and violin music, noting the music to the movie 'Harry Potter' was indeed on the shelf. But pick it up I did not. Instead, I turned to the nice man who rather resembled in person and voice a certain Mr. Rogers from PBS fame. He was quite cordial and soft-spoken and asked me if I had indeed ever played the cello before. "No," I admitted, "I have never played before." And then I told my story. Well, the important parts, that is, and that was all well and good. I signed on the dotted line and that was that: I had my cello. Well, for the time-being, at least. Huzzah! Well, it's like my supportive parental unit said, "It's sometimes better to journey with a cello, then to actually journey at all." And that is my sentiment at the moment myself, although my good friends from Bulgaria are in town. Too bad I cannot play for them.. yet! The sky's the limit, however, with this cello and a hope beyond hope is to be able to play it but I'm already watching the Youtube videos on how to play and I was able to manage some sounds out of it so far. It is quite a novelty and I'm looking forward to playing some actual pieces, including those of my own composition (!). So stay tuned!