The Manhattan School of Music pedagogue offered the following guidance to violinist Ariane Todes when she attended his Magic Mountain Music Farm Practice Marathon Retreat in upstate New York this summer
‘Music isn’t about right pitches. Pitch is more like
impressionist painting marks – you can’t look too close up, you
have to look from a distance. The trick is to play patterns of
notes so that the notes that matter are in tune enough’
‘Live in the moment with a sense of what you’re capable of, but
accept reality’
‘If you can’t define the problem you can’t fix it’
‘To make great music you need to be able to feel and think at the
same time. To guide yourself well you need to know about
yourself’
‘We have to train ourselves by how we speak. We don’t think about
breath or how we move our mouth when we talk. The connection from
what you want to hear has to govern all your actions so you don’t
think about the actions: hearing it makes it happen’
‘The classical player who repeats what they played yesterday is a
dead player’
‘Any intention is better than no intention’
‘Most people see pitch and hook on to it, with the rhythm in the
background, which makes no musical sense. When we’re taught rhythm,
we’re taught around the barline – we’re not taught to perceive
patterns’
‘If you want to explore you have to be willing to go past the
boundary, otherwise you’ll never know where the boundary is’
‘This is not music theory: this is performance reality – your
heart, your body and a sense of wholeness. When it comes together
it feels wonderful and if it doesn’t feel wonderful it’s not good
enough’
‘Without a decision you don’t have intention and without intention
you don’t get money. Don’t think that the audience doesn’t
know’
‘Dynamics is a great term as long as you don’t think it means loud
and soft. It means every variation in sound you make to create
meaning. Loud and soft is the most trivial element, just part of
the picture’
Photo: Noralee Walker
Ariane Todes writes about the Magic Mountain Music Farm in The Strad's education focus September issue, out now.
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