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Melody McLaren

I underwent a Road-to-Damascus-style transformation (from classical to jazz) back in 2005 at the Global Music Foundation summer school in Certaldo, Italy.

About Me

Having burned out as a classical pianist at age 15, I had resisted a 20-year campaign by my husband (a bass player and jazz aficionado) to convert me to jazz. But in 2005, I underwent a Road-to-Damascus-style transformation at a Global Music Foundation summer school in Certaldo, Italy, and have never looked back.

The GMF experience was all about music as communication--completely different from the more conventional instrumental instruction of my childhood. The sense of aliveness and connection between musicians in jazz which compels me to listen and play the music. I've also developed a parallel interest in photographing musicians and I now have an online library of over 20,000 photographs.

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My Jazz Story

Having burned out as a classical pianist at age 15, I had resisted a 20-year campaign by my husband (a bass player and jazz aficionado) to convert me to jazz. But in 2005, I underwent a Road-to-Damascus-style transformation at a Global Music Foundation (http://www.globalmusicfoundation.org) summer school in Certaldo, Italy, and have never looked back. The GMF experience was all about music as communication – completely different from the more conventional instrumental instruction of my childhood. The sense of aliveness and connection between musicians in jazz which compels me to listen and play the music. I've also developed a parallel interest in photographing musicians and I now have an online library of over 20,000 photographs (see my online jazz collection at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mclarenfamily/collections/72157631752666662/).

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