Comments on: Trying to teach in Germany…

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:30:27 +0000

Hey Alban,

i’m happy, my advice forced you to dance 🙂

By: Alban

Alban — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:24:25 +0000

Dear Thomas, thanks for your honest opinion and I understand your point – still I can only assure you that when I learnt the Kodaly Solosonata about 21 years ago, I did not listen to a single recording nor have I ever heard a performance of the piece (actually until today) – this way my interpretation might not be a very good, not please everybody, but it is really “mine”, authentically mine, and this is what I am trying to express; never mind if it’s Kodaly, Bach or Pintscher (with modern music we obviously often don’t have a recording to get orientation from ), we should try to find out first, what the composer might want to tell us in the score (and maybe through his biography), and even if you really don’t know what to do, then compose yourself 🙂
Best wishes,
Alban

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:19:01 +0000

Dear Alban,
I honestly have listened as well carefully to your recording of Kodaly Cello sonata and I must say, even though I have heard the sonata a few times in concert, I didn’t have any idea how this piece should sound, when I started it. This was, anyway, a period when I had no teacher, I had just left one and the other was about to start two months later. In this space of 2 months, I decided for myself to learn this Sonata, and of course I needed something to lean on, something to be assured I’m not doing a complete nonsense here. For me it would have been impossible to learn this piece from scratch, without any recording or prejudices, it is far too complicated.
As far as I remember, the only piece I ever learned from the scores, without any recordings (because I had none, I was in warsaw at that time) was the 6th Bach Suite, and at that time I first recognised how logically and self-explaining Bach mostly is.
When you say, rule number 1 should be not to listen to any recording, until you know the piece inside out, I think this is much more difficult with the Kodaly sonata, or a Reger Suite and maybe as well with the Dvorak concerto, than with a different type of music, as a Bach Suite or a Haydn concerto for example. I can just remember me, sitting on the 2nd movement of Kodaly with your recording in my ears and sorting all the thousands of wrong notes out I had overlooked. Whatsoever, I also think it is most important to make one’s own interpretation as soon as possible. But something I did: when I barely knew the piece, I bought as many recordings as I could find. And I looked for some fingerings on Youtube as well. This way I got an image from multiple sides, which was of course very helpful. But this is not the point, I’m drifting away. I wanted to point out, you can’t make your own interpretation from a piece, when you’re just about to learn it, this is too risky, as we all are human and need other humans to sort our mistakes out. Interpretation starts, where the learning process stops, I think. And I think as well, this could have been the point, and I might be to sleepy to continue. 🙂
Thanks, anyway, for a very inspiring lesson! I also tried the trick with ohropax, I feel like I have just started listening to myself!
best wishes
thomas
thomas

By: Alban

Alban — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:44:38 +0000

Actually I would be rather opposed to play my students recordings of anybody – I don’t want them to orientate themselves to some preserved interpretation but find their own. Did YoYo Ma become a better musician with the years? Was that even possible? I don’t know, I don’t own any of his recordings – because I don’t own many cellists recordings. He has always been a fine cellist, can’t really tell about his musical journey, because I am not informed enough, but I trust your opinion!
Do we learn from our students? I don’t know, I never had any, except in masterclasses, but that doesn’t count – I think, the people you are referring to are really teachers with real students, students on a regular basis. I know you can always learn, never mind whom you are listening to, may it be to the birds in the forest or to some first class soloist playing in Carnegie Hall – and everything in between; we can always learn from any art form, even from painters, sculpturists or installationists, and if only how not to do it. If the next generation needs me as a teacher, I am not sure – I rather go and play to kids and schools, I think they need it even more urgently – good cello teachers we have plenty 🙂

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:20:34 +0000

Maybe, to help them hear the difference, you could play for your students something from a very early Yo Yo Ma recording and the same piece, or movement, from a much later recording. Then they can hear that although, as a young cellist, Ma played all the right notes, it wasn’t until he was older that he began to play music.

Most of the best teachers who have taught me say that they continue to learn from their students. Keep at it, Alban; you and the next generation need each other.