Nick Coventry

Professor Callus wasn’t the first teacher to see that I had potential but she was the first to do anything about it. My viola career up to the moment I played for her in a UCSB masterclass was a series of frustrating barriers and unrealized musical ideas. After three years I feel like a new musician and a different person. When you can communicate freely and openly with a teacher who truly understands the artistry of music you will become whatever kind of performer you want. Helen will help you get there..

Nick Coventry graduated from UCSB in 2005 but still studies viola with Helen Callus. He is a native of Goleta who grew up as half surf rat half music geek. He cut his teeth surfing Campus point since 1994 all the while maintaining music geek status. Listening to and copying the various musical influences surrounding him were as much a part of Nick’s upbringing as his music lessons. This led to a fascination with the Hot Club of France and the music of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Playing jazz violin finally manifested within a group last spring when Nick teamed up with fellow students Gary Williams and Rami Gabriel to form “Les Gendarmes du Swing” a hot jazz quintet. They play at the James Joyce every Monday. Nick plays in an electronic rock-based band called Oso with whom he is planning several short tours around the U.S.

Despite his musical wanderings Nick relies on a cornerstone of weekly lessons with Helen to grow as a musician and violist. Helen knows how to cultivate strengths and fortify weaknesses in his playing and never conforms to the old “destroy and rebuild” teaching techniques. She was the first to actually make Nick believe he could succeed despite not coming from a solid foundation of instruction. Thanks to Helen, he now believes in the music of the Classical world too and will never stop studying the viola he loves and pushing his own musical consciousness beyond its limits. [www.gendarmesduswing.com]