No, That’s Not a Giant Guitar: Video

Often when Jory Herman walks around downtown, maybe on his way to a rehearsal at Symphony Hall, people remark, “Wow, that’s a big guitar.”

Uh, no.

It’s a double bass, and Herman’s loved it his whole life, he told us. He played Bach and even sang, all while staying in the pecha-kucha model — 20 images, displayed for 20 seconds each — to describe what it’s like to learn to play the giant instrument. Herman’s a bassist in the San Diego Symphony and a volunteer for the San Diego Youth Symphony’s Community Opus Project, which is teaching young students in Chula Vista to play strings and other orchestral instruments.

He joined us as one of six speakers at our “Meeting of the Minds” event last week. With help from the Media Arts Center San Diego, we filmed the presentations so you could watch them again or share them with friends who weren’t there. Our first three are up, too: Lauren Popp on artist-invented exhibition spaces, Javier Velasco on women’s contributions in local dance and theater, and Anna Daniels on the mix of old and new at the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.

Watch Herman’s presentation below:

Here’s more information from our recent story on that scientific effort to trace music’s mark on the brain.

And here’s more information on the Youth Symphony’s Community Opus Project. The organization is kicking off its new season of Opus with a free family event this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chula Vista Middle School. Find more details here.

I’m Kelly Bennett, Voice of San Diego arts editor. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.

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