Cellist ‘tells is like it was’ in the music business
In his ‘lightly fictionalized’ account of real events, veteran musician tells it ‘like it was’
One of Vancouver’s musical treasures — cellist, teacher, and administrator Ian Hampton — is about to reveal a new side to his creative persona.
In late June, Ian Hampton, author, will release Jan in 35 Pieces: A Memoir in Music, an unorthodox book addressing the profession of music from the perspective of an ultimate insider.
Hampton came to town in the mid-1960s as principal cellist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, then under the baton of music director Meredith Davies. He moved on to similar positions with the CBC Radio Orchestra and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, and was a founder of the renowned Purcell String Quartet and the force behind the creation of the Langley Community Music School.
And those lucky enough to be on his Christmas card list know of his gift for savage visual caricature. But author?
When did this new aspect of Hampton’s broad range of interests start?
“This book took quite a long time to gestate,” he explained to Postmedia last week.
Hampton traces its genesis back to his experiences talking with young audiences.
“In the days when the Purcell did children’s concerts, we had to explain quite a lot, trying to get their ears to listen critically to something as unfamiliar as a string quartet.”
“There’s always a big problem in describing music,” he says.
“So in the book I’ve put myself into the third person, as ‘Jan,’ and tried to describe a musician’s life and his preoccupations. I thought it would be fun to write a comedic book about the music industry from the inside out, and the outside in.”
The book is definitely drawn from life and is certainly not fiction, but it’s not quite standard autobiography fare, either.
“It’s autobiographical but lightly fictionalized,” Hampton says.
“It’s mostly true. I got dragged into more autobiography than I would really have liked. And you’ve got to combine incidents and shunt the chronology around a bit.”
Even so, Hampton insists “I’m basically saying it like it was,” and that extends to the occasional bit of colourful dialogue and situations.
One of the major players (pun intended) is the late Norman Nelson, VSO concertmaster and first violinist of the Purcell Quartet.
“Norman is, in a way, the hero. His character is so outrageous, so Irish, and a lot of the incidents so improbable.”
Plenty of raw material is all well and good, but getting down to writing a book is another story altogether.
“I was very fortunate to have poet Barbra Nickel as my editor. She took enormous trouble reconciling When: June 22, 7 p.m., Langley Community Music School;, June 23, 4 p.m., Canadian Music Centre Tickets and info: porcupinesquill.ca
the tenses, because the book jumps forward and backwards, and includes stories within stories. In the process I was quite humbled, because there is so much about English tenses that I really didn’t know.”
In the convoluted choreography between author, editor, and publisher, there was the expected back-and-forth.
“Barbra wanted to expand the anecdotes a little. And then the publisher said, ‘We can only bind 300 physical pages, so you are going to have to cut 200 pages!’”
Now the book is ready for a double launch at the Langley Community Music School and the Canadian Music Centre.
“Both launches are open to the public, and I will be signing copies. The books is quite beautifully presented, with good paper and some of my drawings.”
Also, departing VSO music director Bramwell Tovey has contributed what Hampton calls “A very nice long foreword.”