Musician Spotlight: Jules Mastri

Our first Musician Spotlight begins with the promise of the present and the future. We are honored to introduce you to Jules Mastri, a fourteen year old classical celloist and composer in the making. He has music and art in his family genes and his heart. Many of you reading this have first hand knowledge of this most probably without realization.

We met with Jules and his lovely, endearing and artistically gifted mother, Tamelyn Feinstein, on a warm and humid afternoon for a short photo session to accompany his introduction to you. As you will see in his interview below, he is an exceptionally focused and committed musician. We are excited for the beginning of Jules' musical journey, for who he is now and who he is becoming. And he's pretty cool to hang with...

Jules, thank you for leading this series of spotlights. We hope your cello suffered no ill effects of the humidity even though the rest of us probably did... and, we appreciate your attention to detail and the respect you give the art of music.

World, this is Jules Mastri. Jules, meet our part of the world...

MA: We couldn’t help but notice that you are drawn to the stringed instruments. You’ve chosen the cello as your instrument of art, but we’ve seen images of you with guitar and you brought a uke to the photo shoot as well as your cello. What is your first memory of strumming or picking the strings of an instrument?


Jules:  I suppose I don’t have a clear memory, but I’ve always been around stringed instruments. My dad plays guitar and I’ve seen videos from several months after I was born, sitting in his lap, playing his guitar. Granted, I never grew up around classical stringed instruments, but I have definitely been around many others. When I was little, I went through a lot of phases, instrument-wise; I had a guitar, mandolin, violin, and even a sitar. And, I assume, it was through these that I chose to play a stringed instrument.

MA: What is it about a stringed instrument that first drew you to learn to play versus a wind instrument or percussion?


Jules: Believe it or not, I first wanted to play the clarinet. When I was in elementary school, we were in music class the last day of school, and our music teacher asked us if we wanted to play an instrument in middle school.  I had previously been very good at recorder, and I figured transitioning from recorder to clarinet wouldn’t be so hard. My dad even bought me one; but we had always had my sister Brittney’s old school cello sitting around the house. I never actually bothered to play it; I guess you could say I wasn’t very interested at the time. But my mom signed me up for strings instead.

MA: How did you decide the cello was to be your course of formal study?

Jules: In theory, we took a test in our orchestra class at school where we wrote down what instrument we wanted, and then the teacher played some notes and chords on the piano, and we had to write down things like if the note was high or low, or if the chord was major or minor. I was told I did very well, and my teacher let me play the cello; we had one from my sister, when she played cello in school, anyway. I was actually very apathetic about what instrument I wanted to play. I knew all of the instruments, but the method of playing the classical stringed instruments seemed foreign to me.

MA: You attend a school that has a unique structure and is very much dedicated to the arts, but you still have to complete core studies as required by traditional high schools. You basically graduate with more credits. How does the coordination of your traditional study requirements and your arts study requirements flow? Does it seem there is a separation or do both areas of study work rather seamlessly? Are there assignment and/or deadline conflicts between your traditional studies and your arts studies?

Jules: Aside from the arts classes, the core classes are just like a regular high school. Though, I find that most of the teachers seemed to be involved with the arts somehow… and I don’t mean the arts teachers. For instance, the wellness teacher is in a band… but everyone there is cool, and I guess if you want to work at a school of the arts, you have to have at least some sense of the arts.

MA: As your art curriculum is so much a part of your school year, do you perform in concerts for the student body? Family and friends? General public? How do you feel about live performances? Do you have some trepidation or do you feel very comfortable on stage?

Jules: At school, we have scheduled concerts for the general public; but mostly only students and parents of students come. I’ve always loved being on stage -- acting, singing, performing, I love it all. But of course, there is always a little amount of trepidation. Nobody is fearless of performing in front of so many people. Imagine the people who perform on Broadway or in the symphony -- thousands of people every week come to see their shows, and it would be a false statement to say that they are never nervous. I generally am quite comfortable, but I just breathe a bit… and I’m fine.

MA: Are you able to continue your arts studies through the summer with teacher or coach assistance or is it pretty much through personal commitment? How often do you practice cello during the school year and during summer break? Do you also practice other instruments?

Jules: I practice during the summer mostly with my private teacher, Caroline Terranova. She’s a wonderful teacher, and I’ve learned and advanced so much from her. I guess I practice as much as any other time of the year. There are lots of auditions in August for orchestras and such, and with some of the requirements for these orchestras, it’s imperative to practice. I also have recitals during the summer; I think it’s important to keep practicing during the summer, and I know from past experience that it really helps retain knowledge. If you learn something during the summer, you’ll forget it if you don’t practice!

MA: At the age of 14 you are still in the early years of high school. How do you currently think you might apply the knowledge you’re gaining through your arts curriculum to your life after high school? Or college?

Jules: One of the great things about music is that the very first things you learn, you retain for the rest of your career. It’s great to have a head start as well, but sometimes this does not make you better than other musicians. I want to take cello past college; I want for it to be my career. And hopefully, it will take me far --but there’s always the part in my mind that says ‘you’re not going to make it’.  Being a music major is hard -- if you don’t find a career in music that pays well, you’re basically a starving artist. It’s always a good plan to have a fallback degree, but music is my passion and I wish to take it far. I’m going to try my hardest to make it.

MA: Your family is filled with artists. Tell us a little about some of the art you’ve grown up with and how you think each has inspired your own form of artistry.

Jules: For as long as I can remember, I remember knowing my mom was a good artist. Her paintings hung around the house, and she had shown me some of her sketches. And also as long as I could remember, my dad played guitar. This is what I grew up around, so I guess you could say that I grew up in an intellectual and open-minded environment. Unfortunately, I don’t have many early memories of my uncles. When Chris was here in Nashville, I was so young; I wish that I had known him better -- I guess one of the reasons is that everyone says we’re so much alike in a lot of ways.  I remember that I loved going to my Uncle Scott’s house, because he had lots of cool guitars and amplifiers. But I really didn’t grow up in a classical environment -- aside from one thing; my dad works at classical music radio station, WPLN. So every night, my dad would turn on a small radio I had by my bed, and he and I listened to classical music as I fell asleep. I guess that carried over as a good memory, so I decided to go into classical music; also knowing I had many resources for listening and learning.

MA: You brought some of your scored music to the photo shoot. I’ve known a lot of students that are happy to practice and play already written music. Is composing music an assignment in your art studies or is that something you’ve grown to do on your own?

Jules: When you’re a musician, there’s always an aspect of music playing constantly inside your head. When you’re a non-classical musician, it’s easier to get this music out expressively by writing and playing songs in a group or on your own. But, being a classical musician, there is more ‘play this’ rather than ‘write this’. Yes, playing does release a fraction of expressive emotion, but it’s through writing that it really pours out when you make a creation of your own. I guess what I’m saying is, I do it mostly on my own; not as much as a main faction of my music career. This doesn’t mean I’m good at writing music, nor does it mean that it’s playable… but it is a good way of expressing yourself and I think all musicians should pursue trying to write some things.

MA: Composing music for the cello brings to mind classical music. Do you think in the vein of classical / purist composition or do you allow influences of current music to enter your compositions? If you were to allow current influences how might you apply that to music for the cello?

Jules: Oh gosh, I can’t play modern classical, much less write it. When you’re a younger musician as well, you learn more of the ‘literature’, which is old, overplayed classical music. I guess, unfortunately, I have more of a linear view of music; at least writing. If I allowed modern music in my music, I assume that it would take the cello far more than it can go. It’s a very versatile instrument, in that it can play classical and modern, as well as much more. But I prefer the more conservative classical music, but I’m sure as I go along in my career, I will be exposed to much more factions of music.

MA: Many high school musicians create a band to play music outside of the school band or study environment. Are you a member of such a band? If so, do you stick with the cello or play another instrument?

Jules: Heh, no, I’m not in a band. Though I’m not sure if you would consider extracurricular orchestra, such as Music City Youth Orchestra or Repertory Orchestra, for example, a group outside of the study environment. I play other instruments aside from cello for fun, but I wouldn’t take it up as a career. But I enjoy playing music I happen to find or music my friends lend me, just for my own amusement or for the sake of learning.

Pick one:

Peaches or watermelon?

I'd have to say peaches. They remind me of summer in the south, and especially the organic ones you get at the farmer's market; they're the best.

Yellow or red?

I don't discriminate against colors when it comes to art or other things like that, but when it comes to clothes or personal preferences, yellow is evil. Red all the way.

Chucks or Nike?

Chucks, of course! I don't understand why anyone would wear Nike shoes if they weren't running or playing sports (two things I try to avoid doing).

Plaid or stripes?

I think plaid is pretty rockin', but only when it's used well and in the right things. Like, plaid socks? No. No no no. Plaid hat or shirt? I'd be down with wearing that.

Summer or winter?

Summer, without a doubt. I can't stand the winter, everything is cold and dead and gray. It's depressing. Summer is all bright and happy. Plus, I get cold really easily.

MA: If you had a session do-over would you branch out with the hat and the uke, too? We're pretty sure you would have rocked those as well...

Jules: I dunno why I didn't wear the hat! It's a cool hat, even if it's pretty big for my head, which is amazing considering I have the biggest head ever (in a literal sense). But, I didn't use the ukulele because I wanted to portray myself as a classical musician rather than people seeing it and thinking I played ukulele more than cello.

Thank you, Jules! Your answers are indeed very good... ;)

So, that's a wrap for our first Musician Spotlight. Look for our next on 09.14.2011...