Content area
Full text
NEAL CONAN, host:
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington.
At about the same time he learned A, B, C, D, Victor Wooten also learned E, A, D, G, the open notes on the four-string bass. The youngest of five, in a musical family, Wooten absorbed music the way other kids master a second language.
He started touring with the Wooten Brother Band at the age of five, later made a name for himself as the bass player in the bluegrass-jazz fusion group, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and with countless collaborations and solo projects.
Now established as a virtuoso, the five-time Grammy winner passes his knowledge on to hundreds of students at his own Victor Wooten Bass Nature Camp. He believes they can learn music the way he did, like any other language, and that the best way to learn is through performance and not practice.
So music teachers, what's the best way to make your students better musicians? 800-989-8255. Email us, [email protected]. You can also join the conversation on our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
Victor Wooten just released an audio-book version of "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music." That book came out in 2006, and he's taken time out from his nationwide tour to join us today in Studio 4B, along with drummer J.D. Blair, and thanks to you both very much for coming in.
(Soundbite of applause)
CONAN: And I know we want to get calls in from music teachers, but how about a tune?
Mr. VICTOR WOOTEN (Musician): Sure, yeah. Start right off with something. This one's called "You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket."
(Soundbite of song, "You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket")
Mr. WOOTEN and Mr. J.D. BLAIR: (Singing) You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket. You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket. Hold it, hold it. You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket. You Can't Hold No Groove if You Ain't Got No Pocket. (Unintelligible) whatever you do, I want you to remember this here. Wah. Well, well, well, everybody's got to (unintelligible)...