AFTER major budget cuts all but decimated arts education programmes in the US, a transplanted American music teacher says the resources that Bermuda makes available for cultural initiatives presents a very pleasant contrast.

Dave (Crazy Dave) Talkovic is over the moon with the raw talent that he has found on the island since taking up his position as the director of education at the Bermuda Bass Institute.

The San Diego native began playing accordion at the age of six before switching to clarinet, which he played for the next decade with stints in his school orchestra and small band ensemble. His next instrument of choice was the harmonica and as a young adult he honed his skills playing in blues and rock bands around California.

But while he was gaining invaluable practical experience by performing, Dave did not neglect his education and enrolled at the University of California, Riverside to study music composition and theory before moving to Florida.

"I decided I wanted to play bass after picking one up at a gig. My first bass was a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass which I played for the next 22 years," he said.

Under the guidance of a friend who was an accomplished guitarist, Crazy Dave learned how to play the bass properly and after just eight months another friend suggested he should audition for a full-time rock band that was losing its bassist.

"I got the gig which led to playing full-time. I learned fast and how to play right. It was like on the job training. When your income depends on your playing ability, you get good fast or you don't eat!" said Dave matter-of-factly.

Dave eventually added "songwriter" to his impressive resum? as he continued to tour the club circuit before moving back to Florida.

"I had hooked up with a promising guitarist and we still work together after 20 years. We had just finished a recording project in Florida with the former singer of the '80s band Crimson Glory and the guitarist flew down from New York for it.

"We met Nick Wadson from the Bermuda Music Institute when we needed a drummer and this led to a 16-year musical and personal friendship. We clicked as a rhythm section and having played and toured together for years, Nick moved back to Bermuda to teach drumming at BMI and that's how I ended up teaching at the school.

"My students are all different ages, genders and skill levels and some just want to learn for fun. It is satisfying to work with such enthusiastic musical talent," he said as another student made his way through the door of BMI, located in the Cedarparkade, Hamilton.

A staunch advocate of the performing arts, Dave believes in teaching practical methods of learning how to play the bass and composing original bass lines and applying those skills in a band situation.

"Reading, theory, dexterity, timing and feeling the groove, it all works together so I teach bass students to think the whole aspect of the bass players role and to have fun.

"People in Bermuda respect musicians and I get to play with some fine musicians; this place has some world-class musicians and everybody is cool! It is so refreshing coming from the vast, intellectually destitute wasteland of the US to a country of intelligent, friendly, well-travelled and connected people."

Dave said if the performing arts and music continued to stay in the local school curriculum, the more focused students would be and they would grow up into lifelong aficionados of culture.

"The arts gives them a creative outlook," he said. "When I went to school, music and arts was stressed. It gives you a well-rounded background. You find that all through history the first thing to be banned when you want to control the populace was the arts!"

He describes music as the universal language and the younger the student is exposed to music and the performing arts, the better his focus will be.