Young hands in Tarpon Springs to take up bouzouki

For the first time in 10 years, donations make instruction in the Greek instrument available to students.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 26, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- The three students picked up the strange-looking instruments for the first time, and they weren't sure what to do.

One strummed rapidly, up and down, up and down, and the sound wasn't pretty. Another tentatively picked a few notes on the bouzouki. The third just tried to figure out how to hold the awkward, bowl-backed instrument.

Then the instructors took charge and taught the students at the Boys & Girls Club to play a few notes, independently at first, then in succession.

"They're making music!" instructor Emmanuel Gonatos said to a group of onlookers.

It was a small moment, really just a few strums on some battered old instruments. But it was also a significant moment in the city's cultural life. Tarpon Springs prides itself on preserving Greek folk life, and on this day, two teachers and three students did their part to keep alive the tradition of bouzouki playing.

"I love Greek music," Gonatos said. "We just want to hang on to it."

The bouzouki, a banjolike instrument with eight strings, is commonly played in Greek bands. But there are few opportunities for young people in Tarpon Springs to learn the art.

The classes were made possible through $1,000 in contributions to the Boys & Girls Club from local business people, said Chuck Ferrell, senior director of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast. The six spots in the current class have been filled, but if enough people are interested, classes may be offered in the summer and fall.

Years ago, bouzouki lessons were offered at Tarpon Springs Middle School through a state grant, said Kathy Monahan, cultural affairs director for the city. But the grant ran out, and the classes haven't been offered in more than 10 years, she said.

Still, the effects of those lessons still are being felt. Both of the instructors at the Boys & Girls Club classes, Gonatos and George Tsongranis, learned the craft through the middle school classes.

They later took additional lessons and formed a band, in which Gonatos still performs.

At the Boys & Girls Club recently, Tsongranis looked closely at the instruments the students were using. One had only seven strings instead of the usual eight, and all showed signs of age.

"Those are the very same bouzoukis we learned on," he said of the seven instruments the city is lending the Boys & Girls Club.

Gonatos inspected one of the instruments, which had a big tear in it.

"I remember when a kid ripped that," he said.

The two instructors stepped back in time and recalled their days of learning the instrument. They are skilled bouzouki players now, but when they first played, they didn't know what to think of the strange instrument.

Those memories helped them relate to their students.

"We were telling ourselves, think of the first time we picked up the bouzouki," Tsongranis said.

The instructors showed the students how to sit and hold the bouzoukis in their laps. Even when the students did everything right, the bouzouki didn't always cooperate.

"Come forward in the edge of the chair. There," Gonatos said to student Alec Konstantin, 9. "It's going to keep slipping on you."

The students practiced the few notes they had learned for the rest of the class. After a while, they noticed their fingers were hurting. Get used to it, Gonatos said.

"If you practice enough, which you should, you'll probably have cuts on your fingers," Gonatos said.

"So you probably shouldn't have your nails done," said Amber Bledsoe, 13.

By the end of the first class, the three students -- Bledsoe, Konstantin and 12-year-old Sean Gerstmann -- had made big strides.

"You guys are doing much better than when we first started," Gonatos said. "Huge improvement already."

The students asked Gonatos to play a song, and he performed Frangosiriani. He told the students, who are still learning how to hold the instruments, that they will learn to play the complicated song by the end of five months of classes.

They couldn't believe it.

"It's going to be hard," Konstantin said.

"Sure," Gonatos said. "But you're going to do it."

-- Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright