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“Music is life”, and from the height of her 108 years, pianist Colette Maze is proof of this. She still practices her instrument daily… which she discovered when she was very young and immediately preferred to her dolls. On March 30, 2023, “Special Envoy” portrays a centenarian juvenile, of which here is an excerpt.
“Agefor her, it doesn’t matter much.” At 108 springs, the pianist Colette Maze remained “young in his head and in his heart”, “always alive, with the piano”. The look sparkles, the hand twirls above the keyboard… The instrument has accompanied her since childhood – rather than playing with dolls, she had fun reproducing the melodies interpreted by her neighbors upstairs.
As an adult, she makes it her job. A graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, Colette Maze took lessons from Alfred Cortot and Nadia Boulanger, then became a piano teacher and practiced all her life. Today, the fingers still run on the keys four to five hours daily, even deformed by a little osteoarthritis.
Four hours of piano a day, and a few glasses of wine
That day, the pianist and her son Fabrice are visited by the doctor. His last centenarian patient (facetiously, Colette accuses him of having killed the others) will “really good”, he reassures her. Even if she has a bird’s appetite and doesn’t drink enough water. She prefers wine, teases her son, but the doctor allows it (in moderation): she won’t stop drinking it at her age… “At my age? What does that mean?” Mischievous, Colette pretends to be offended. Humor also makes fun of years…
Excerpt from “Qui va piano va lontano”, a report broadcast in “Special Envoy” on March 30, 2023.
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