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10 Questions with:
Tom Bertalan
About Tom:
I was born in Moorpark, California, but my parents (and, by necessity, I too) moved to Tustin in the same state at most a month after this fribulous day. I went to preschool in Tustin, but, when we moved to Wyoming around 1996, I skipped kindergarten, went into first grade, repeated first grade for social reasons which I now regard as unwise, and continued in all possible normalcy.
I was in soccer, flag football, and (back in Tustin), tee-ball for short periods each, but they only went to prove that such things were not my ideal extra-curricular activities. Violin was the only after-school enterprise in which I continued for any real length of time. We drove, each Thursday, to the nearby town of Lander (in Wyoming) to take a fairly short lesson from Rebecca Murdock. Much of the first year was spent repairing my position problems left over from my first teacher, a fiddler, as she herself distinguished from a violinist.
At the end of the summer after seventh grade (a summer which I idolize), we moved to Alabama. Here I entered EYSO in sixth chair, first violin, which is the same chair I was assigned at the start of this season, my second. I have also taken private lessons from Kris Handler since I moved.
My life (in Alabama) since this move can be fairly accurately reconstructed by the reader from the responses below. |
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1. How did your musical career begin?
Nine years ago, when I lived in California, I took, as well as I can remember, one to four months of piano lessons, but these were not very focused or progressive, and they were group lessons. However, a few months after we moved to Wyoming from California, I began to take violin lessons, but I cannot remember any specific reason. I first took lessons from a ‘fiddle’ teacher, but, when she moved to Texas in 1997, I started taking lessons from a classical teacher. I continued thus for about seven years.
2. Who are your primary musical influences?
I have played what I have been given by teachers, which has mostly been Suzuki material in Wyoming, although I did attend one camp at the University of Wyoming, and played in the Fremont County Orchestra (conducted by my then private teacher, Rebecca Murdock) one year. I remember playing music from West Side Story, Harry Potter, and other, classical works in that orchestra. I have not been influenced by many people other than my teachers, however, because I do not often watch broadcast TV or radio, other than NPR.
3. What do you like to listen to when you aren't playing your instrument?
I listen to classical music selectively; Dvorak is my favorite. Much of the music I own personally has been assembled for particular tracks, or compiled from sources such as movies and games, in which the composers and titles are not worth finding out. I am also interested in some Phish (mostly studio-done stuff, not live), Counting Crows, Santana, and Bob Marley (although I don’t have a lot). John Williams is good, even though (or maybe because) his themes are oftentimes quasi-plagiarized.
4. What are your hobbies outside of music?
I have remained interested in woodworking, metalworking, and linguistics, and recently I have become interested in writing. I am still unsure of what kind of writing I am best at; I persist at different types of fiction, but have found that my best writing came in essays, and am unsure how to integrate this realization.
5. What has been your greatest opportunity provided to you because of your musical talent?
Membership in the Fremont County and Etowah Youth Symphony orchestras.
6. What are your favorite movies or television shows?
Contact, Galaxy Quest, A Beautiful Mind, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Mr. Bean, Zoolander, The Quest for the Holy Grail, and The Life of Brian. I’m sure I would add the upcoming The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, too. As I have said, I only get PBS on TV, so I do not have any favorite TV shows.
7. You can have dinner with any four people, living
or dead. Who would they be?
Garrison Keillor, Arthur C. Clark, Leonardo DaVinci, and Earostrathenes
8. What are your plans after high school?
I am still unsure of what I want to major in, but hope to decide during high school and, if necessary, my first year of college. However, I plan to take whatever path of education through at least to the level of a doctorate, if possible in that field. My hobbies may provide some clue, but they do not include things hard to conceive as hobbies, such as engineering or teaching.
9. Who is your favorite historical figure?
Leonardo DaVinci
10. Describe yourself in four words.
introverted, methodical, encapsulated, non-creative
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