Fernando Vazquez    Sat, 15 Jan 2000 11:17:43 -0800
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Hello all,

I've been on vacation for the last month and was surprised to see all the
autobios that were posted.  What a great idea!

I'm Fernando Vazquez, a 20 year old, third year music student at the
University of California at Berkeley.  I've been playing the lute for a year
and a half and been on this list for almost that long.

I started my musical life playing the piano at the age of five, taking
lessons on and off until my senior year of high school.  In addition to
classical piano, I spent a few years playing the alto sax in a jazz band,
and have spent several years struggling to teach myself blues guitar (on my
beloved Fender Strat).

Upon graduating from high school, I decided to take a break from all the
bands and rehersals and focus on my engineering studies at Berkeley
(Materials Science and Engineering).  After a year of ignoring my love of
music (maybe not so much ignoring...just not giving it all the attention it
needed and wanted) I put down my calculator and periodic table and
transferred into the music department.  After all, there's only so much
heartache a guy can take!

At the orientation for new music majors, one of the musicology professors
mentioned that Berkeley had a collection of early instruments available for
use.  As my knowledge of early music was almost non-existant at the time, I
thought it would be worth my while to speak with the professor and take a
look at the instruments.  I felt like a little kid in a toy store when I
finally went into the early music room.  I looked through the harpsichords,
shawms, sackbuts, etc., trying to find the perfect instrument.  As if by
fate, I looked up to see a ray of light shine through the window and
illuminate a black Harptone case in the corner of the room.  I could hear
the faint sound of angels singing, getting louder and louder as I approached
the case (melodramatic, I know, but I was really excited).  I opened the
case to find a 7-course ren lute by Dan Larson.  I didn't feel the need to
look at anything else.  I had found my instrument.

Since that time I've been playing with the UC Berkeley Collegium Musicum as
a continuo guy and take infrequent lessons with David Taylor.  I'm still
progressing fairly slowly, but I hope to be good enough before graduation
that I can pursue graduate degree in lute performance.

I get a kick out of reading some of the mail that gets posted to the list.
I'm glad I have this resource for education, for comic relief, and to answer
my silly questions.

Thanks,