Fiddling Around
Peter Contuzzi
When I was in my late 20’s & 30’s, I traveled around the world with my fiddle. I had left behind jobs with large corporate law firms in New York City & San Francisco. Though I had only studied violin for four or five years as a kid and was far from professional quality, I hoped my fiddle would open doors to new experiences and cover the expenses as I went along.
The new experiences were many – studying classical violin at the conservatory in Florence, Italy during the time of virtually open admissions (a late 60’s European social reform of temporary duration); playing folk music clubs and busking my way throughout Europe during the conservatory summer vacations; playing with a traditional music group that began as a throw-together band for a single college concert and serendipitously wound up performing concerts of American folk music under the sponsorship of the Communist city government of Florence (honoring the 1976 American Bicentennial, probably for political reasons), and later for the U.S. State Department. An Italian recording producer attended the Bicentennial concert, and that led to the record album “All the Good Times.”
After Europe, I came home the long way, working as a strolling violinist in the luxury hotels of Africa and Asia in exchange for room & board. Playing with local musicians was an enriching delight everywhere, but especially here, where music was often our only common language. This was the beginning of what developed into the "Musical Conversation," a global communication experiment without words. My fiddle enabled me to play with a classical sitar player in India and a Kenyan playing the orutu (a bowed single-string on a gourd) surrounded by a dozen drummers. It helped me turn a shouting argument between two African tribal women into a festive dance party. Masai warriors who had never seen a violin before reacted enthusiastically to the music of Bach in the plains of Africa.
Back again in the U.S.A., warm memories confronted a cold reality - I was about to turn 40, unemployed and almost broke. I chose the easier road to a more conventional stage of life (family & mortgage) by using the ivy league law degree that I had left in a box. I decided to try something new to the American legal field but ancient & worthy – mediation. I had been able to meet with mediators in Italy, Kenya & India, and was intrigued by the process variations that I saw. An uncertain start gradually developed into a stimulating career as a mediator of complex legal disputes.
But music continues to play a major role in my life. I give talks/performances about these experiences to musicians, students and general audiences at all levels. I donate strolling violin services for fund-raising events sponsored by the United Way, American Heart Association, PTA, and other charities, some of which have auctioned me off (& in the past, the trio I played in with my sons) to provide music at private dinner parties or other events. I am an avid amateur chamber music player, perform a couple of concerts each year with the Smith College Orchestra, and also regularly get together with friends to play/sing folk & pop tunes.
In the fall of 2009 & spring of 2010, I took some sabbatical time, traveling again with my fiddle in the cultures of the Mediterranean. Music opened doors to many extraordinary experiences for a young man in search of adventure & self-definition; I was curious to see what was on the other side of the doors it might open for a seasoned, perhaps overly complacent man in his 60’s. In addition, I have always been intrigued by the concept from some Asian cultures that when a man's primary householder responsibilities are behind him, he should go off in search of deeper spiritual understanding. I learned much from the world and its peoples before undertaking those responsibilities, and I wondered what they might teach me later in life. That led to Autumn Journey, which started out as a travel blog but evolved into an ongoing collection of experiences and reflections, many of them stimulated by my musical wanderings.
And so this site is dedicated to the power of both music (or any art form that moves us) and world travel, their ability to shape us, and the value of integrating them into the more conventional lives that most of us choose to lead.
But music continues to play a major role in my life. I give talks/performances about these experiences to musicians, students and general audiences at all levels. I donate strolling violin services for fund-raising events sponsored by the United Way, American Heart Association, PTA, and other charities, some of which have auctioned me off (& in the past, the trio I played in with my sons) to provide music at private dinner parties or other events. I am an avid amateur chamber music player, perform a couple of concerts each year with the Smith College Orchestra, and also regularly get together with friends to play/sing folk & pop tunes.
In the fall of 2009 & spring of 2010, I took some sabbatical time, traveling again with my fiddle in the cultures of the Mediterranean. Music opened doors to many extraordinary experiences for a young man in search of adventure & self-definition; I was curious to see what was on the other side of the doors it might open for a seasoned, perhaps overly complacent man in his 60’s. In addition, I have always been intrigued by the concept from some Asian cultures that when a man's primary householder responsibilities are behind him, he should go off in search of deeper spiritual understanding. I learned much from the world and its peoples before undertaking those responsibilities, and I wondered what they might teach me later in life. That led to Autumn Journey, which started out as a travel blog but evolved into an ongoing collection of experiences and reflections, many of them stimulated by my musical wanderings.
And so this site is dedicated to the power of both music (or any art form that moves us) and world travel, their ability to shape us, and the value of integrating them into the more conventional lives that most of us choose to lead.