Casals' father was the organist at the local church. He gave Casals his first music lessons, teaching him piano, violin and organ. When Casals was eleven, he heard a group of travelling musicians playing music codice_1. One of the instruments was the cello. He had never heard one and he decided that was what he wanted to play. His mother took him to Barcelona, where he went to a music school: the "Escola Municipal de Música". There he studied the cello, music theory and piano.