Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Here is an excerpt of her article on David Popper at Interlude.
David Popper
Composer and cellist David Popper is well known among cellists. His High School of Cello Playing is our Bible—40 Études comprising every acrobatic feat of cello pyrotechnics.
Popper was born among the narrow streets of the Jewish ghetto of Prague, Czechoslovakia June 16, 1843. David was five years old when in 1848 the Hapsburg emperor granted civil equality to the Jews and their isolation in the ghetto ended. The gloomy, unhealthy homes of the ghetto made a lasting impression on Popper despite the fact that most of his music is cheery and uplifting. The family was able to move out of the area when Popper was eight years old. By then employment restrictions had been lifted and some trades were permitted, as was being a musician.
Popper’s father was a Cantor—the religious leader who sings the prayers in the Synagogue. At a very young age Popper began to imitate his father’s singing. Popper’s talent was such that he was allowed to study with the famed cello pedagogue Julius Goltermann, (a name cellists are familiar with due to his cello compositions.)
In December of 1862 Popper was bestowed the coveted title of “Kammervirtuoso” by Prince Constantine Hohenzollern-Hechingen. In appreciation, Popper composed a series of pieces that are among his most cherished works Arlequin and Papillon from the Six Character Pieces. Conductor Hans von Bülow, heard Popper perform and was so impressed with the young man that he helped arrange a concert tour for Popper, his first, in 1863. As a solo cellist Popper had the opportunity to try his own compositions as well as to perform the major works for cello and orchestra. He was always dedicated to the music of his time, premiering several new cello concertos.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt (Hal Leonard Books). Below is an excerpt from her blog on Interlude. Please visit her blog to read the whole article.
It is said that Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is the Bach of our century. An unassuming man with furrowed brow, a big bushy salt and pepper beard, and serious contemplative demeanor, this contemporary composer, does not tend to make people want to run the other way. Even non-classical music fans know and love his music. Transcendent, spiritual, otherworldly and soothing are words that jump to mind when describing Part’s accessible music.
The Concert and Opera League tabulates the composers who were featured the most during a year. Beethoven and Mozart of course are ensconced at the top. Not surprisingly, due to Debussy’s birthday this year, he is in the top 10.
Arvo Pärt for the second year in a row, is the most performed living composer at number 54.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them. Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath, the author of Playing Less Hurt, poses a few questions to classical fans at her blog on Interlude.
Holst called the piece “a series of mood pictures.” The piece The Planets — a seven movement orchestral suite, is an example of brilliant and imaginative orchestral writing. The term orchestration includes the choice of instruments, the exploitation of each instrument’s possibilities of range, color, and dynamics and the combinations of instruments that might be unique. This contributes to the richness and uniqueness of the sounds you hear. Holst uses some unusual and more rarely used instruments in this piece — the alto flute, bass oboe, organ, celeste, two harps, and several timpani.
I. Mars – The Bringer of War
Notice at the beginning of the piece there is a clicking or percussive sound and it is not coming from the percussion section. That is a string technique called “col legno.” The string players hit the string with the stick of the bow for this sound. Now try to guess the meter. Hint: it’s irregular.)
1. _______________________________ Later this unrelenting rhythm is played by the trumpet and strings with their bows.
Which instruments are featured in the theme: the threatening bringers of war? Which section?
2. _____________________ and name the instruments
five of them___________________________________
Advanced question: which instruments play this rhythm over and over
(Hint: It’s a brass and a percussion instrument)
3. _______________________ and _____________/___________ then another percussion instrument __________________________
(the second instrument is two words. This is very unusual scoring.)
The rhythm is menacing and mounts in tension. Soon there is an all out fanfare symbolizing war. Listen for the Euphonium solo about a third of the way through seemingly representing the “other side” which is crushed. The decisive unison chords at the end of the movement leave no doubt!
II Venus – The Bringer of Peace
This movement is markedly contrasting. First it is adagio or very slow. Note the very high horn playing virtually alone. It feels lonely. There is another instrument with extensive solos. (Hint: it’s a woodwind instrument)
4. __________________________
Listen for the solos, (i.e. one player), in the violin and the cello section. The concertmaster and the principal cello are responsible to play these solos — a requirement of the position of a principal player. Composers frequently utilize the choice of one instrument. Notice also that the writing is very high in pitch and sparsely scored. Perhaps this makes the listener feel more peaceful or pensive. It certainly has an air of calmness. The string writing is lovely. Listen about 14 minutes in for a bell like sound. What instrument is this? (Hint it’s keyboard instrument)
5. ____________________________
III Mercury – The Winged Messenger
This short movement is marked “vivace” or light and in a fast 6/8 meter. Notice the conductor. What does he/she conduct it in? (i.e. the beat patter?)
6. ___________________________
Near the beginning of the movement you will hear again the bell -like keyboard instrument. In the middle of the movement the tempo gets faster, The conductor will most likely conduct one beat per bar but the orchestra plays 6 notes per bar. It has a light feel as the musicians play “staccato” notes of very short duration with space before and after them. You will hear the piccolo play with the bell-like keyboard instrument playing in the same range toward the end.
IV Jupiter – The Bringer of Jolity
This movement begins in a fast “allegro” 2/4 meter. Soon it will change to a slow 3/4 with the horns playing the melody loudly. Notice that the orchestra makes an ”accelerando” (to get faster.) It is conducted in one beat to a bar. Later a lovely stately melody occurs in all the strings. It sounds so British! It’s in unison i.e. all the strings are playing the melody together at the same pitch. All the bows are moving as if in a ballet. The musical signs to do this are coordinated, planned and marked in the parts ahead of time by the concertmaster and principal players, often in consultation with the conductor who may have a special phrasing or articulation in mind. Even if the various string sections do not play a particular melody simultaneously, the bowing must be consistent throughout to maintain the right phrasing and mood. An orchestral librarian will mark the bowings into all of the parts. Listen also as Holst adds more percussion including the tambourine and xylophone.
V Saturn – The Bringer of Old Age
Saturn begins with three flutes. The alto flute plays the lowest notes. The first 26 bars consist of chords in a syncopated rhythm (irregular rhythm) in the flute and harps. A beautiful low double bass melody accompanies the flutes — quite unusual scoring. Very near the beginning after the cellos play their long note you’ll hear the bass oboe. (29 min) This instrument is very unusual. It sounds a little like an English horn. Also notice that the cellos and basses are plucking their strings. This is called pizzicato. Notice the beautiful and stately melody played by three players of the brass section. Which instrument is this? (Hint: they sound different than they usually do)
7.___________________________________
You’ll hear the alto flute at 31 min, and long suspended bells at about 32 minutes. This movement has a march-like feel but more labored as if older people are marching.
Near the end, when the solo basses return, you will hear them accompanied by a very interesting sound. They are harp harmonics. All strings can produce harmonics. This is the effect produced by lightly touching the string. The result is the sounding of the fundamental pitch with no overtones and hence it sounds a little like a whistle sound. The movement ends without resolution via long notes suspended in the violins. Holst attains a certain calm, or perhaps acceptance?
VI Uranus – The Magician
This movement utilizes the interesting meter 6/4. It is conducted in two (six quarter notes per bar, two beats of three quarter notes each similar to the 6/8 rhythm.) The bassoons introduce the rhythm. It begins with a huge trumpet/trombone part with a staccato, creeping bassoon/xylophone/tuba melody, which creates the sense of a crafty sorcerer. Listen also for the two timpani players who play five drums each. There’s a huge chordal climax, which fools us into thinking the movement, and even the piece is ending. But no! Suddenly Holst take us by surprise. We hear long held string notes and harp interjections as Holst ends the movement quite abruptly.
VII – Neptune – The Mystic
Here’s another chance to hear the alto flute accompanied by or very fast repeated notes in the harp called tremolo. The movement begins with the principal flute, the alto flute and the harp. This movement sounds Debussy-like and impressionistic with vague washes of sound and the mysterious alternation of two unrelated chords E minor and G# minor. Here’s the same irregular meter as the first movement but in this case it is slow,
8. ___________________________
Once again Holst has the higher pitches dominate. At about 45 minutes we get a chance to hear the whole clarinet section—the two oboes, bass oboe, and English horn. Soon thereafter, suddenly a women’s chorus enters seemingly from nowhere. Where has the composer chosen to place them?
9. _______________________________
Note that they sing wordlessly. What mood do you think Holst is trying to convey by doing this?
10. _________________
This movement is eerie and distant — very delicately scored and performed “pianissimo” (extremely quietly.) It leaves the listener unsettled — not the bombastic ending one might have expected after the flashy and brilliant opening we heard at the beginning of the piece.
Although this piece is a very popular orchestral work and frequently performed, Holst didn’t especially care for it. There’s no accounting for taste! Ravel disliked his Bolero too!
Visit Janet Horvath’s blog at Interlude for the answers to the quiz!
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is a post she did for her blog on Interlude.
We professionals rarely, if ever read through music for fun. We are too busy preparing music. I avoid sight-reading, if I can. I am a professional musician after all! I take pride in preparation, precision and perfection. I delve beyond the mere notes on the page to reach the heady heights of interpretation with the ultimate goal of a thoughtful, insightful performance. Besides, we judgmental professionals only play in front of others, especially other colleagues, when we are certain that our playing will be impeccable.
My colleagues and I go through mountains of music. Our concentration, our emotions and our physiological abilities are taxed to the limit and we push our bodies physically sometimes to the breaking point. We agonize over every note and every phrase. We analyze each nuance to attain the ultimate interpretation of the music at hand. I’ve always thought this was essential for music-making, that is until I had the privilege of experiencing the Magic of Amateurs.
Each year for the last sixty years, hundreds of avid chamber music aficionados from far and wide have gathered for intensive chamber music playing at the Chamber Music Conference and Composer’s Forum of the East in Bennington, Vermont. These are amateur musicians, many of whom are quite accomplished players, who ultimately chose other careers and whose great passion in life is to make music.
Not a moment is wasted. They eagerly race from building to building and room to room, instruments in hand, choosing from the vast library of chamber music on hand arranged alphabetically, in large Tupperware containers spread across a huge hallway organized by size and instrumentation of the group—virtually everything for two to 10 players. The musicians read music from morning until night with nary a breath taken.
As guest faculty and lecturer I was invited to present my injury prevention seminar—Playing (Less) Hurt, coaching individuals who may have technical issues or issues of discomfort. I also was to post my “dance card” allowing the attendees to sign up to play chamber music with me. “Sure,” I’d said, “I’d be happy to play a few things.…” after all I too am passionate about chamber music. Little did I know what was in store for me.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is a post she did for her blog on Interlude.
I was sixteen years old when I was first asked to turn pages. A fabulous young violinist was making his Toronto recital debut. I was thrilled to be allowed to purchase my first long gown for the occasion— it was lime green. I was an accomplished pianist. I could follow the music –no problem, I thought! The violinist turned out to be Pinchas Zuckerman and little did I know when I was recruited, that every time there was a red star in the piano music, I would have to gracefully and quietly get up from the piano to turn Zuckerman’s violin page and hurry back to the piano to (hopefully) find my place in the fast moving piano part. It didn’t help that I am quite petite. I donned the highest heeled shoes that I could find. Each turn, I nervously stretched across, teetering to the far right of the page, trying hard not to end up in the pianist’s lap.
Christine Newland, a cellist friend of mine, has a similar story. Her first page- turning experience was for Daniel Barenboim at the request of his wife, the great cellist Jacqueline du Pré, for a recital. Christine was not confident that she could read the piano part well enough. She decided to follow the cello part, which is typically written above the piano score. Christine paid close attention to the instructions from Barenboim, to turn early, as most pianists read far ahead. Christine followed orders. Turn early…. As she flipped the first page, she was stunned when one of Barenboim’s hands flew forward. He noisily slapped the page back all the while playing multitudes of notes. After several more seconds Barenboim hastily turned the page himself. Much later Christine was told that Barenboim could be brutal with his page-turners.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is a blog post she did on her blog at Interlude.
The legendary violinist and peace activist Bronislaw Huberman was born in Poland December 19, 1882 of Jewish parents. His prodigious talent was manifest at a very early age and it soon became evident that he needed the best teacher in Europe. In 1892 his parents took him to Berlin to study with the pre-eminent and irascible violin teacher Joseph Joachim. Even though the ten-year-old child dazzled Joachim, the teacher and student didn’t get along. When Huberman turned fourteen he left his teacher to begin touring as a virtuoso, never returning to study.
Huberman’s extraordinary career took him all over Europe including in Palestine in 1929. The land mesmerized him and his hope was to establish culture and classical music there. As the dark days of the Nazi party loomed in the 1930’s Huberman presaged the horrific fate of the Jewish people. Hitler’s agenda made itself more and more evident between 1933 -1936. Huberman made extreme efforts to save Jewish musicians and get them out of Europe. He declined invitations to perform in Germany with the prominent conductor Wilhelm Furwängler and he dared speak out to the German intelligentsia in an open letter pleading for adherence to the essential values of empathy and humanity.
Foreseeing the immense tragedy unfolding before his eyes, Huberman attempted to raise funds and awareness for an orchestra in Palestine.
Huberman performed countless concerts all over the world and in October of 1934, he traveled to America to play an amazing forty-two concerts in sixty days. He performed with the New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter conducting and chamber music with famed pianist Arthur Schnabel. After recording, one day, Huberman met John Royal from NBC for lunch. Huberman waxed eloquent about his dream for the Palestine Orchestra. When he asked Royal who he thought should conduct the first performance of the orchestra Royal replied, “Why not ask Toscanini to conduct for you?” Huberman had not expected an enthusiastic response from the great maestro. But Toscanini was a pre-eminent figure in the anti-fascist movement. Due to his firm beliefs he had refused to conduct at the Wagner festival in Bayreuth in 1933. Toscanini thought that the performance of an “orchestra of émigrés” would be a powerful anti-Nazi statement.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is a blog post she write for Interlude.
Fans come in all shapes and sizes. They can be famous actors, artists themselves, and family members. We musicians tend to love our fans. Sometimes, their love of us can be requited.
My husband, a huge music devotee, has always fantasized about walking onstage and sitting in the midst of the orchestra, rubbing shoulders with the performers and engulfing himself in the sound. Hearing my stories was the closest he could come until the year that the Minnesota Orchestra’s annual Symphony Ball, a major fund-raising event, included an item in the silent auction, an opportunity to sit onstage during a performance. During the dinner the evening of the ball I excused myself time after time to run to the room where the bidding took place. My husband was confused by my frequent disappearances but he is always discrete so he politely kept silent. I was determined to win this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. What a memorable birthday gift it would be. By the end of the evening after upping the ante several times, I had out-bid the other people vying for this auction item.
My husband was giddy when he discovered that he would be able to choose the concert he would participate in. Of course it had to be Beethoven Symphony #9. He fantasized about humming along with the chorus! He proudly donned the requisite tails and white cummerbund. The orchestra was bemused, as he made his entrance head held high. My husband was seated onstage wedged in between the trumpet section and the chorus. He certainly looked the part. Lucky for us and for Beethoven, my husband had a sore throat that evening so he couldn’t regale us with his slightly off-key singing!
Alec Baldwin is a lover of the New York Philharmonic and like every other ordinary enthusiast he was a frequent ticket buyer. In a 2008 interview for New Yorker Magazine he confessed that he had a secret desire to appear on radio as a classical music host. Dreams sometimes come true. The New York Philharmonic now has Baldwin announce on the air and even at concerts. He is the one who reminds audience members to turn off their cell phones before a performance, in a friendly voice of course.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Milstein and Heifetz are but two violinists comprising the golden age of violinists. A discussion would not be complete without including David Oistrakh, Fritz Kreisler, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern.
Heifetz and his teacher Leopold Auer were viewed as traitors by their home country for immigrating to the United States. David Oistrakh, on the other hand, who stayed in the Soviet Union, was seen as a patriot. Born in 1908, Oistrakh played with virtually every major orchestra in Europe, in Russia and in the U.S. Numerous works are dedicated to him including the two Shostakovich concertos, the Khachaturian concerto and he premiered Prokofiev’s two violin sonatas.
When the Nazi army invaded the Soviet Union during World War II, Oistrakh traveled to the front lines. Oistrakh courageously performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto during the battle of Stalingrad in 1942 while the city was brutally bombed.
Oistrakh’s rich tone is memorable to anyone who was lucky enough to hear him live as I was. Austrian violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler was born in 1875. He studied in Vienna and Paris and had the benefit of illustrious teachers such as composers Anton Bruckner, Léo Delibes, and Jules Massenet. After his American debut in New York in 1888, he made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the Vienna Philharmonic. Overcome by disappointment, he decided to abandon his career in music to try his hand at medicine. Lucky for us, Kreisler returned to the violin in 1899, performing with the Berlin Philharmonic. His U.S. tours of 1901-1903 finally lead to acclaim as a virtuoso soloist. Sir Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto was commissioned and premiered by Kreisler.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is a blog post she did for Interlude.
The turn of the 20th century was the golden age for violinists. Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Mischa Elman, Fritz Kreisler, David Oistrach and Yehudi Menuhin, considered the greatest violinists of all time, graced us with their presence.
At least in part, in the cases of Heifetz, Elman and Milstein, this outstanding confluence can be attributed to the legendary teacher Leopold Auer. Auer, born in Hungary in 1845, was an outstanding violinist in his own right. Auer’s playing was transformed after studying with Joseph Joachim in Germany (the violinist to whom the Brahms Double Concerto is dedicated), and Joachim’s instruction formed the basis of his own teaching later in his life.
“Joachim was an inspiration for me and opened before my eyes horizons of that greater art of which until then I had lived in ignorance. With him I worked not only with my hands but with my head, studying the scores of the great masters and endeavoring to penetrate the very heart of their works”
Auer taught at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory for an astonishing forty-nine years. He also held positions at the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute in this country.
Auer is remembered as one of the most sought-after teachers for gifted pupils although he was feared for his grueling lessons. Auer demanded discipline and technical perfection. During lessons he would walk around scolding, observing, oftentimes harshly criticizing the poor young person playing for him. He was unrelenting, especially regarding lifeless playing, demanding more “krov.” (blood) in this case used to mean fire or passion. Many a student was poked in the ribs by Auer’s bow. Despite his exactitude, he was nonetheless devoted to his students. One of them was Nathan Milstein.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Below is an excerpt she wrote for the blog Interlude.
The music of Claude Debussy is evocative. One cannot help but be transported by his subtle shadings of tone color, delicate instrumentations and shimmering melodies. A master at the piano and of orchestration, his name is linked with Impressionism although Debussy himself didn’t like the term. Music, like painting, moved from realism to the depiction of the transitory impressions of nature, and like the brushstrokes of the paintings of Monet, Pissaro and Cézanne, Debussy’s music is full of sensuality, beauty and innovative techniques. Debussy used non-traditional scales and musical structures for his distinctive and groundbreaking style.
Debussy lived during a particularly stimulating environment in Paris in the 1890’s developing friendships with the crème de la crème of Parisian artists including composers Satie, and Chausson, pianist Harold Bauer and writers and poets such as Mallarmé. Other artists we associate with this fecund time include Renoir, Dégas, Sisley and the writer Émile Zola. The 1890’s were also significant for it’s political upheaval. The Dreyfus Affair, the infamous scandal that divided all of France, occurred at the time when Debussy was emerging as a force that changed the course of music.
Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath’s coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better.
Guest Blogger: Janet Horvath is the author of Playing Less Hurt. Here is an excerpt of her article on David Popper at Interlude.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them.
Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them. 
