Weeds Grow Faster Than Trees!

It’s amazing how easily weeds grow, and how much time it takes to remove them from gardens and flower beds. Trees, perennials, roses, vegetables, fruits, and herbs require months and years to cultivate. The old adage that most things worth doing take time rings true, not just with gardens, but with mastering an instrument, a language, gaining technique and skills as a performer, a teacher, a student who can direct their own learning, in training dogs and horses, and in cultivating relationships.
At age 27, after a lifetime of practicing many hours each day and juggling a professional career and odd jobs, I suddenly found my career taking off, with a full time orchestra job, a part time orchestra job, freelance work performing and recording with jazz, pop, rock, and country musicians, Broadway shows, a private teaching studio, and more. I had to find a way to make my practice more efficient, and realized, that after playing the violin since I was two years old, I needed my technique to serve me, not to be at the mercy of compensating for technical issues I had never addressed, with time and will power, as I had done in the past. My wonderful teachers probably had not addressed them simply because I put in the hours to “muscle my way” to very polished lessons, rehearsals, and performances.
So, to get back on track, at age 27, I spoke to Glen Dicterow, who was at the time the concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic, and who had played a solo with the Syracuse Symphony that impressed me so much because I knew he had exactly what I needed. I asked if he would consider giving me a few lessons, and he told me he only taught a very few students, was flattered, but didn’t have time. An understandable response, however, I was nothing if not persistent. I wrote what must have been a fairly compelling letter explaining exactly why I wanted to study with him, that I would drive to his home, outside of NYC, and pay whatever fee he asked. I got a call back.
I spent the next three years taking lessons from Glen, and from his teaching assistant Lisa Kim, the Assistant Principle Second in the NY Philharmonic. Glen asked me if I knew how hard I was going to have to work to make the major changes that I wanted to in left hand technique and bow technique, and Lisa flat out said that she didn’t believe I could do it “at my age”. I asked them both to trust me for the work (I later found out that Glen thought I was nineteen, probably why he was more optimistic, and that Lisa expected I would quit after a lesson or two, which is why she agreed).
Nonetheless, I started a three year process that paved the foundation for not only far more efficient technique and a much higher level of playing for myself, but also transformed my teaching so that no time was wasted, from the time a student was only two or three until they were in college or professional musicians. It was life altering, and it was very hard work.
Every two weeks I would leave after a concert or teaching on Saturday or Sunday, around 8:30-10:30 pm, stay at a cheap motel in New Jersey, just by the GW Bridge where I would arrive between 2:30 and 4:30 am, sleep a few hours, wake up get going and practice a couple of hours to shake off the drive, go to a lesson, usually two-three hours which I recorded on minidisc (cutting edge tech at the time), and then back to the motel, check out, and drive six hours home in time to unpack, listen to the disc, and write notes and observations from listening to the lesson, and then prepare for either teaching or rehearsal the next day. This went on for about three years, and my playing got worse before it got better. Making so many changes was difficult, and I had an “old way” and a “new way” of practicing in order to pull off what I had to perform in the short term, and to make changes that I would keep for life in the long term.
This life altering experience exhausted, exhilarated, and challenged me. It changed not only my technique, but my perspective on learning and teaching. I have been blessed during and since this project consistently with a few students who are willing to work this hard, many who have gone on to careers in music, some in tech fields, medicine, law, business, and more. I can proudly say, that nearly all of them play as adults, even if not professionally, and they are avid supporters of the arts in their own communities. The ones who are professionals are not only excellent performers, but also excellent teachers of young children, in pre-college music programs, and at the university level. I truly believe that even though they may not know how much work went into playing the violin, the viola, conducting, composing, arts administration, and teaching, on a deeper level I believe that my commitment did make an impression on them because I see it in their professional lives.
Growing as an artist, and helping students to learn and grow, is a lot like caring for trees, perennials, and roses… important to keep pulling the weeds out, and important to know that all things worth doing take a lot of time and work, and that you must keep the ultimate vision clearly in mind! Climbing a mountain is more difficult than rolling down a hill, but the view from the top is worth it!
The photo included shows a performance in my Rochester home with my former student, now colleague, Matt Owens. We performed a number of duo recitals and chamber music concerts together, and he now teaches in my first home, purchased by a woman who home-schools her children. Other home-schoolers take lessons there as well, and Matt has a wonderful tech job by day, and teaches and performs by night and on weekends. He expressed to me fairly recently how much he loves teaching in the home where he learned.
It truly brings tears to my eyes when I think of what a wonderful musician and person he has become! I could go on and on about many students, but in the end, it’s already long for a blog if you’ve hung in there to read the whole thing!