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Bela Fleck Rocks Rollins

October 27, 2008

Rollins values the importance of scholarly figures and also realizes how their personal stories can inspire its students. I could not believe when Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate, came to Rollins to share his poems and inspire the students. I was even more fascinated to see Bela Fleck performing a live concert at the Tiedtke Concert Hall. That is not all; we still have Linda Wagner-Martin, a prominent author and editor of more than 50 books, and Natalie Krasnostein, a psychodramatist, writer and author, yet to come to Rollins this November.
Bela Fleck, the jazz banjo player who is a 20 time (yes, that’s right!) nominee for the Grammy’s and an eight time winner, came to Rollins this September and spent a few days with us. One of the things he did was to talk and discuss his latest documentary “Throw Down your Heart” with us. The documentary is about the Banjo and its roots in Africa. Then the next day he spent some time in the physics department with our “outstanding” Dr. Thomas Moore and his physics students. An electronic speckle pattern interferometer, which is a device to measure the frequency of the chords of the banjo, was put into test with Fleck strumming a few sweet banjo cords. To no surprise the results showed that the banjo was perfectly tuned and the amazing part was that Fleck had the tuning done only with the help of his ears!

From R Journal

Pic: Ian with the other students playing solo with Bela Fleck.

He gave a live concert the next day. The turnout for the show in the Tiedtke Hall was so high that they had to set up a huge screen with live coverage of the show in the next hall. I could not believe the ease with which he maneuvered his deft fingers over his Gibson Flathead banjo from the 1930s. It was more of an interactive performance since he stopped every once in a while and answered questions to the audience. He also shared many of his experiences with the crowd. He talked about being drawn to the Banjo when he first heard the theme song of “Beverly Hillbillies”. He also spoke about growing up in New York. He entertained the crowd with some bluegrass, jazz-fusion and several other types of banjo music. Along with being a world-class Jazz banjo player I found him to be a very likeable man with a great sense of humor. It was a special moment for one lucky birthday girl for whom Bela played the “happy birthday” tunes in his own effortless way, jazz style. In spite of a very hectic and busy schedule it was very nice of him to come to our college.

From R Journal

Pic:Bela Fleck, live in concert.

Winter Park Institution (WPI), a recently launched institution by Rollins College, helps bring the scholars to Rollins. We have many scholars visiting Rollins like Bela Fleck coming and interacting with the students and the best part is that all the concerts, plays, presentations and events is free for all students and members of the Rollins Community!

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