Pavel Levin from Uzbekistan Pavel Levin from Uzbekistan knew at an early age that he wanted to play the guitar. When I was nine years old, our family went to Gudareba for a vacation. There we met a fellow, a sixteen-year old, who played guitar and sang. From that moment I wanted to play the guitar. We bought our first guitar a year later, and at the age of eleven I went to music school. My first teacher was quite lazy. He didn't care much about how I was playing. I played one work after another, and at the end of a year, I could play a lot of things, but all of them sounded terrible. I met my second teacher at a concert where pupils performed one of their works. When I was twelve years old, I already had two teachers at the same time. That year, I took second place in a competition. Unlike my first teacher, the second one paid close attention to manner of playing, expressing composer's ideas, and musical phrases. Also, he made me improve my technique by playing exercises and etudes. The next four years I participated in all three of the competitions that were held in my city, and I won first prizes at each of them. From the very first moment I played the guitar, I worked very hard and spent about three to four hours a day playing exercises. Therefore, I moved forward quickly; and every new achievement increased my desire to play. However, there were moments when I didn't play. My last competition was in April, 1997. During the last year and a half I played quite seldom, but now I am beginning to play again.
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