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Volume I
Issue 5
8 September 1999 |
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The Soul of Classical Music by Suzanne Peterson For most of my weekly piano lessons at college, I did not continuously play through more than six measures of music. To this day, I haven't a clue as to what my professor wanted me to do. One of us was clearly not being successful. Sometimes, after I played only the four opening measures of my assigned piece, he would angrily shout, "What ARE you doing?" A lashing and lecturing then ensued, which after four years served to stifle not only my musical soul but my soul in general. My professor's piano studio sat high above the trees inside the spire of a Gothic building housing the music school I attended. As I struggled at the keyboard for his approval, he'd pace impatiently behind me, a stern figure against the canvas of natural light from windows at my back. He'd sigh in disgust, shout startling, humiliating criticism, and cut me with what I felt were embarrassingly personal verbal assaults. At 22, disabled by the music I had played and loved since childhood, I left him. I also stopped listening to classical music altogether, because it stirred such painful memories and overwhelming feelings of failure. Today, almost thirty years later, classical music is charging fully back into my life in the form of Daniel Heifetz, world-class violinist, colorful storyteller, entrepreneur, free-flowing fountain of creative energy and passionate, extraordinarily skilled musician. Daniel Heifetz shares a very famous name in the history of musical experience. But unlike his cousin, Jascha, Daniel wears a Heifetz "coat of many colors" and pursues a road much less traveled by Jascha. Daniel tells a story about a concert he once played behind bars to an audience of prison inmates as part of his mission of community outreach. Most had never listened to classical music, and none had even seen the likes of Heifetz. Daniel explained to the restless group that he was going to be playing for them what he called "Jewish Soul Music." He told them that his mother's family was murdered in the Nazi death camps. He went on to say that music can speak to all persecuted people across all ethnic barriers. At this, a single clenched fist was raised in the audience and a voice cried out, "Right on, brother!" As he began to play, Heifetz's unusual audience was stunned to silence, but moments into his performance they were screaming and crying out to one another their approval. Daniel takes pride in having been the vehicle for their connection to classical music that day. After all, the pain, passion, and joy of a composer who lived hundreds of years ago is the same pain, passion and joy we feel today. Although our external worlds are so different, our internal and interpersonal worlds haven't changed at all.
Traditionally, classical music is presented as an exercise in straight-backed observation. Silent audiences sit and stare as starched, gowned and tuxedoed musicians demonstrate their art. Afterwards, we may discuss or read reviews that offer analysis of technical virtuosity. Comparisons are made between stylistic approaches. Critics attack heavyhandedness, choppy performances, quality or range of a voice, pitch of an instrument or tempo of an interpretation. Perhaps there will always be an audience who prefers to experience classical music in this way. However, there is a necessary alternative for the rest of us. When a person sits in the audience at a Daniel Heifetz solo concert or a Daniel Heifetz with The Classical Band concert or a Daniel Heifetz with guest artist, soprano Carmen Balthrop concert, it's impossible to be still or silent or to suppress the multitude of sensations being lit like candles in a dark room. A connection is made between the artist and the audience. This connection is the heart and soul of the life work of Daniel Heifetz. Imagine openly laughing because a violinist has you listening for barking dogs in spring and chattering teeth in winter during a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Imagine having a lump in your throat throughout a performance of Chausson's Concerto in D major for Violin, Piano and String Quartet because you have just heard the sad tale of the composer's short life and overwhelming self-doubt. Understanding the composer's story and then hearing the performance that follows encourages the audience to travel deep into the heart of the music. Often, we discover ourselves at the center of the journey. Six years ago, Heifetz founded a summer international music institute designed to teach advanced students of the violin how to develop their musical souls. The Institute's curriculum centers on the performer's responsibility to communicate with his or her audience, to "jump over the footlights," grab them in their chairs and engage them in a musical experience. As part of its interdisciplinary approach, the Institute has offered master classes with dancer Patrick Swayze, who worked with students to enhance musical expression through a personal understanding of dance and movement; with director Jim Petosa, who challenged students with theatrical exercises; with renowned jazz trumpet player Arturo Sandoval, who sight-read the violin part in Lalo's Symphonie espagnole on his trumpet to illustrate what a trumpet player can teach a violinist; with violinist Pinchas Zukerman; and with ballet dancer Edward Villella. The goal is for the students to have a "sense of cross-fertilization: We're all artists. The broader you are as a person, the more you bring to your art," says Heifetz. "Whether it's Balinese drums, monkey chants or Ohashiatsu, the Asian art of healing, it's all part of life." When musicians know themselves as well as they know their instruments, the music they make will create connections with the audience. The soul of music doesn't live in an idle instrument. No matter how long and hard the practice, it doesn't live in virtuoso technique. Rather, it lives in the heart and soul of the musician who picks up the instrument, whose human experience is masterfully conveyed in tandem with commitment, virtuosity, beauty of instrument and composition. After laughing, crying, learning and meditating in a Daniel Heifetz audience, it's difficult to imagine a classical concert delivered any other way. My piano professor would never have spoken to his audience, shared a sad tale that inspired a composition or appreciated the laughter of his audience. As a result, I'm not sure that I, for one, ever felt the soul of his music. Heifetz' expert violin playing coupled with his compassionate and often lively musical storytelling is healing the damage done to one sensitive young piano student years ago by a very accomplished and very harsh professor. If Mr. Heifetz can do this for one, I have hope that across all generations, he will begin to turn the whole world back on to the vast riches and healing power of classical music. Those chattering teeth in winter can be heard here with RealPlayer version 5 or higher. Not sure you have RealPlayer? About the Author: Suzanne Peterson is a former staff member of Walter Mondale's Senate Subcommittee on Children and Youth. She currently is a singer and songwriter. Who is the best teacher you ever had? Why? See Arts4All Discussions The Newsletter regrets that its music playback capabilities are temporarly disabled, effective 10 November 1999. |
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