Lessons about life
by Phumelelo Ndlovu
Before I started lessons on double bass with
Sonja Bass at Buskaid in 2011, my life was in a downward spiral. Buskaid saved me. It was the best string teaching I’ve ever experienced. It was strict. Lessons were not just about the double bass, but about life.
The orchestral training at Buskaid with Rosemary Nalden was fantastic. She wouldn’t let us get away with anything. Once we’d learnt a piece, we really knew it, every detail, and from memory. It was a big achievement for me to join the Johannesburg Philharmonic in 2017, but I knew there was more. Being selected recently to join the bass section of the newly formed Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra was incredible. For me, it represents really making it in the bass world. To be among South Africa’s top musicians is an honour.
In terms of the future, I want to keep getting better at the double bass, but I am also a composer and music producer. And I’d love to have my own production company. I’ve travelled to the UK, Colombia, Brazil and Italy with Buskaid, and have discovered that there is much more to the world than I knew growing up in Soweto. Music has changed my life.