Thanks to music teacher Tiny Aerts-Bakker (1935-2024), André Rieu fell in love with the violin NRC newspaper article, by Paul van der Steen February 14, 2025 Translated by Diana D. Le Tiny Aerts-Bakker (1935-2024), violinist, was strict with her students. But they loved her. André Rieu didn't like piano lessons at all, some seven decades ago. The toddler was horrified by the lessons and the teacher. But André Rieu senior, conductor, was determined that his six children should receive a music education. So André junior switched to the violin when he was about five. He had lessons from Tiny Bakker, a violinist from his father's orchestra. They clicked. He fell in love with the instrument and secretly also a little bit with this young, blonde teacher. "She was really strict," says Frank Steijns, violinist in Rieu's orchestra, who had lessons from Tiny Bakker for nine years a generation later. "If I hadn't rehearsed enough, I sometimes literally didn't dare knock on her door. Sometimes I've also come out crying sometimes. Even to children, she could be direct: 'What are you doing? Who taught you that?' You didn't have to try to fake an illness. She saw right through that." It was precisely because of that strictness that Frank Steijns' father, also a musician, had sent his son to Tiny Aerts-Bakker, who was married by then. In retrospect, he is happy about that: "She managed to bring out the best in me, taught me to persevere. I carry her work ethics with me." There is also such a thing as a musical Tiny Aerts stamp, says Steijns. "Her students all play very powerfully with a vibrato as if they were singing on their instrument. The day after I finished my conservatory education, André Rieu asked me to come and play in his orchestra, then a relatively unknown company. When we played together for the first time, despite all the lessons we had received from others afterwards, we heard something in common, the musical legacy of Tiny Aerts." Tiny's daughter, Elise Aerts, recognizes both the described strictness and the way of playing: "Mama had Frisian roots. Those seemed to be strongly reflected in her character. Maybe it also had something to do with being able to hold your own as a woman in an orchestra in her time. Then you had to be there, do your best." Everything for the kids Tiny's father worked as a miller in Heerlen. He and his wife wanted the best for their two daughters. That's why he also tore tickets at the cinema in the evenings. Tiny was allowed to choose between a doll or a violin, and chose the instrument. Her four-year younger sister Annie took piano lessons. Tiny turned out to be so talented that the music education in Heerlen was no longer considered sufficient. She was advised to take lessons in Maastricht. Currently, it takes half an hour to bridge the distance between the two cities, but back then the connections were much worse. That is why the whole family moved to Maastricht. Tiny's father could no longer do his old job as a miller, because he had developed black lungs. At one point, he could no longer speak due to the disease. Even then he made it clear to the nursing staff that his daughter was a violinist, using gestures that he was extremely proud of her. Tiny graduated cum laude from her conservatory education and was still a teenager when she had already secured a place in the Maastricht Municipal Orchestra. She moved out at the age of nineteen and started dating fellow violinist Paul Aerts. The two later married. Daughter Elise: "He was Belgian (Belgium is a multilingual country) and spoke French at home. It took a while for Mom to master that language. They were quite different anyway. Dad was gentler than Mom. But they complemented each other nicely. They also enjoyed the orchestra life and the travelling that came with it. My sister Lucienne and I came relatively late. Mom was over thirty when she had us." Music played a big part in the family. "She was very attached to her violin. It was never far away and was never allowed in the trunk of the car. Much too dangerous in the event of collisions." Both parents played in orchestras and taught at the music school in Maastricht. "But they were good at disconnecting and having a good time after work." Husband Paul and daughter Lucienne died young, at the age of sixty and 43. Her mother expressed her grief only to a limited extent, says Elise: "She mainly took action. 'We are here for the living,' she would say." Alzheimer Nine years ago, Tiny Aerts-Bakker was struck by Alzheimer's. Her memory was failing her often more and more. But the violin and the scores kept a place for a long time. The hunger for performing and applause also remained. Elise: "We were able to arrange for her to take part in a preliminary round of “Belgium's Got Talent”. She played there with great success for two thousand people." Former pupil Frank Steijns would sometimes drop by at that time. “She would ask: 'What are you doing here?' I said that I wanted to play together. She suggested Czardas by Vittorio Monti. I started with three chords on the piano and she would play that flawlessly. When that whole scene had repeated itself five times, I would sometimes try to improvise a bit during the intro. But that party never lasted long. 'That's not there,' she would say. At the same time, I have come to know the sweet sides of Tiny Aerts better in recent years. I am grateful for that.” About four years ago, she became dissatisfied with her own playing. Elise: "She stopped right away. She was that determined." In summer 2023, Tiny Aerts was already doing badly. It was considered whether she needed palliative care, but she recovered and two weeks later she and her daughter attended a Vrijthof concert by André Rieu. Her daughter: “We had been to the Vrijthof concerts before. She was always received with great respect. By the way, she didn’t boast that André Rieu was her student. The first time I heard that, was maybe twenty years ago. At that time, she mentioned it casually.” On Boxing Day last year [December 26, 2024], Aerts died peacefully. At her funeral, she played one more time via a recording from a few years prior, in which she performed John Williams' theme from Schindler's List on violin. Daughter Elise and Frank Steijns accompanied her on flute and piano.