{"id":7057,"date":"2011-11-09T15:09:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T23:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7057"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:57:43","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:57:43","slug":"why-teachers-matter-and-a-great-quote-on-making-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/11\/09\/why-teachers-matter-and-a-great-quote-on-making-music\/","title":{"rendered":"why teachers matter – and a great quote on making music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Head on over to Plos Blogs<\/a> and read this article<\/a> – it’s entitled “What’s the Most Important Lesson You Learned from a Teacher”. Of course, the music student’s anecdote (written by the writer and journalist David Dobbs) was what caught my eye – here’s what I think is some great advice to think about making music, and to bear in mind when listening to any performance.<\/p>\n

I started studying the violin in my 30s, working with a warm, intense teacher named Malone. After 5 years he put Bach\u2019s\u00a0D minor partita<\/a> in front of me. \u201cWe\u2019ll start with the\u00a0Allemande<\/a>,\u201d he said. He put the music on the stand and talked me through the first movement,\u00a0pencilling in\u00a0bowings and fingerings, occasionally demonstrating how to get through some rhythmic puzzle, and sent me home. I practiced hard all week and came in ready to play about half the first page.<\/p>\n

He stopped me on the second note. \u201cPlease put down the violin,\u201d he said. I did.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re skipping through that first D. I know it\u2019s just a fucking little sixteenth note, but you have to play the whole thing. I don\u2019t even mean the time. You\u2019re actually giving it enough time. But you\u2019re playing over it instead of through it. You have to play\u00a0right through the center of it. <\/em>It\u2019s a leading note, but it\u2019s not just a step into the room. It\u00a0is<\/em> the room, and you have to put us there. Play it. Play\u00a0through <\/em>every single note in the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

I started to reach for the violin. He held up a hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is Bach. And Bach, more than any other music, and these pieces, more than any other Bach, is music complete. This doesn\u2019t just mean it\u2019s beautiful. This means you can play this music all your life, even just this Allemande, and no matter what you do, it will expose you. It will expose everything you are and everything you\u2019re not. It will expose everything you can do and everything you can\u2019t. It will expose everything you\u2019ve mastered and everything you\u2019re scared of. And I don\u2019t mean just about the violin. I mean about everything. It\u2019ll show all that today and it\u2019ll show all that when you play it again in 10 years. And people who know music, who\u2019ve seen you play it both times, they will see you play it and know who you were and who you\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing you can do about this. Or actually there is only one thing you can do about it. And that\u2019s to\u00a0play the fucking music.<\/em> To not play scared, even if you\u2019re terrified. To not rush. To not short anything. Inhabit this thing. Play it full.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a deep breath, let it out slow, and gave me the tiniest hint of a smile. \u201cOkay,\u201d he said, and nodded at my violin. \u201cPlay.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head on over to Plos Blogs and read this article – it’s entitled “What’s the Most Important Lesson You Learned from a Teacher”. Of course, the music student’s anecdote (written by the writer and journalist David Dobbs) was what caught my eye – here’s what I think is some great advice to think about making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[148,1057,21],"tags":[2396,2406,2851,2852,2853,3659],"class_list":["post-7057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-teaching-music","category-violin","tag-bach","tag-blog","tag-david-dobbs","tag-malone","tag-sixteenth-note","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1PP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2874,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/17\/david-beckham-of-the-violin\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":0},"title":"david beckham of the violin?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not quite sure what being the David Beckham of the violin means, but I guess it can't be all that bad! Embedded video from CNN Video","rel":"","context":"In "popular music"","block_context":{"text":"popular music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/popular-music-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1955,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/18\/more-proof-that-teaching-is-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":1},"title":"more proof that teaching is hard","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"An Italian violin teacher (Fabbio Paggioro, aged 36) was stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife by a 15 year-old student after the teacher said ''See how you manage to do well when you put the effort in?\"\u00c2\u00a0 Yikes! Read the whole story here.","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"knife","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/knife-400x91.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":771,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/12\/oh-crap\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":2},"title":"oh, crap!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Theremina It's every string player's nightmare - tripping, falling, and destroying your instrument. Now imagine that you own a rare Guadagnini priceless Stradivarius violin. Yeah, you get the picture! I wince, but also appreciate the wicked glee with which this story is written: As a former child prodigy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"131506997_2f8360d2ea.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/131506997_2f8360d2ea.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4291,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/30\/brahms-double-concerto\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":3},"title":"brahms double concerto","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming up after the orchestra's extended spring hiatus is a concert conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. In addition to conducting a work by Malcom Forsyth and Beethoven's First Symphony, he'll be playing the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello with his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth (and leading the orchestra from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cello"","block_context":{"text":"cello","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/instruments\/cello\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1332,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/24\/rachel-barton-pine-on-strad-cover-this-month\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":4},"title":"rachel barton pine on strad cover this month","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, who has appeared twice with the Sunriver Music Festival - making a huge positive impression both times - is the featured artist in this month's issue of The Strad - a leading stringed instrument magazine. You can find copies of The Strad at some Borders or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/5616113c.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7671,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/18\/classical-mystery-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":7057,"position":5},"title":"classical mystery tour","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have always steered well clear of fiction books that have to do with the subject of classical music and its performers. They are usually written by non-professional musicians, and as a result, they tend to fawn over the process of making art. Performers are starving, beautiful, and possessed of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gerald Elias. 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