Transcendent Musical Vision feat. Concert Pianist/Educator, Dr. Sara Davis Buechner

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This episode is brought to you by Keys to Success,
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Let's hit those keys.
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Welcome back to the Piano Pod, everyone.
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It's the first episode of our new season, Season 5.
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I hope you all had a fantastic summer.
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I've really missed connecting with you.
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Before diving in, I encourage you to check out
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our introductory episode for this season,
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which came out last week.
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There you'll discover what's in store,
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exciting guests, inspiring topics,
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and our special focus on authenticity and joy
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throughout Season 5, including why we chose these themes.
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You can find a link to the intro episode in the description.
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I am thrilled to kick off this season
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by introducing our first guest,
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who truly embodies the essence of authenticity and joy,
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Dr. Sara Davis Buechner.
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Dr. Buechner is celebrated for her musical command,
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cosmopolitan artistry and visionary independence,
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making her one of the most original
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concert pianists of our time.
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Celebrated for her intelligence, integrity,
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and technical prowess, and thoughtful artistry,
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she has won top prizes
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at prestigious international piano competitions,
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including the Queen Elizabeth and Tchaikovsky competitions.
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Dr. Buchner has performed as a soloist
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and chamber musician across North America,
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Latin America, Europe, and Asia,
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with renowned orchestras like the New York Philharmonic
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and in iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall
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and the Kennedy Center.
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Her versatile repertoire includes collaborations
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with film and dance, and she has premiered works
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by contemporary composers like John Corigliano
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and Yukiko Nishimura.
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A dedicated educator, Dr. Buechner joined
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Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance
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in 2016 after teaching at institutions
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like the Manhattan School of Music.
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As a proud transgender woman,
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she also advocates for LGBTQ plus visibility and inclusion,
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contributing her voice to media outlets
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and events worldwide.
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So dear friends, today we explore Dr. Sara Davis Buechner's
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incredible journey as a trailblazing concert pianist
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and educator, focusing on her visionary artistry,
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mastery in piano technique, and her advocacy
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for both lesser known composers
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and the LGBTQ plus community.
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Please stay with me until the end of the episode
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as our conversation will lead
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to a more philosophical discussion later.
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So let's begin the Piano Pod's first episode
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of this new season with our guest, Dr. Sarah Davis Buchner.
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Please enjoy the show.
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["Piano Pod"]
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You are listening to the Piano Pod,
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where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
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about how they are bringing the piano into the future
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and thriving in a complex, ever evolving world.
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["Piano Pod"]
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Welcome to the Piano Pod, Dr. Buchner.
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Thank you so much for joining us today.
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My pleasure to be here.
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A great honor, thank you.
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It's really an absolute honor and pleasure
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to have you as our first guest of the season,
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and especially with our focus on authenticity
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and joy this year.
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And I couldn't imagine a more fitting guest
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to kick off the season.
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You truly embody the spirit of joy and authenticity.
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And first of all, I just wanna congratulate you
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for your special recital at Merkin Hall last spring.
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Thank you.
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Yeah, and it was the celebration
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of your incredible 40 years since your New York City debut.
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And I bought a ticket,
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and unfortunately I got very sick for two days.
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I couldn't go out nowhere.
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So unfortunately I had to miss,
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but I heard it was an spectacular recital.
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Could you share some highlights from that night
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and what it meant to you to celebrate
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such a huge, huge milestone in your career?
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How did it feel to perform at such a significant event?
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Well, the recital came about a little bit
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of a surprise for me because just my manager said,
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oh, they wanna present you at Merkin,
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which had never really happened before.
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So it was just, you know,
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going to be another recital on the concert slate.
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But I realized that the date was going to coincide generally
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with the 40th anniversary of my New York debut,
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which was back in 1984.
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And I wanted to mark it by playing something special.
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As it happens, I had been studying a lot of piano music
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by a Hungarian composer named Petr Volf,
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a set of pieces that he calls the Volf tempered clavier,
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rather cleverly.
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Jazz inspired, very, very fun, somewhat demanding,
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but fun pieces for piano.
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And this music had come to me through Petr's cousin,
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Veronica Volf, who was my very first piano teacher
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when I was four and five years old.
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It's a wonderful connection.
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She had sent me a few copies of some of the pieces
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that he had written during the COVID time saying,
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I think you might be interested in playing some of these.
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And I was so touched.
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I remember getting into tears
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when I played that Adagio in E major,
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which I recorded on YouTube shortly after getting that music.
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So around that time, I got in touch with Petr by Zoom,
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and I played most of those pieces for him
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on Zoom calls during the time of COVID.
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It was sort of my project to undertake
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while I was at home mostly.
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I mean, I was teaching, but concerts were dry enough.
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So I used that time to study a lot of that music.
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And then here was this special recital.
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So I made that the second half of the program
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was the American premiere of 14 of these pieces
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from the Wolf Temperate Clavier.
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Petr came from Budapest,
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and we had sort of a grand celebration of that.
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Really? To the concert? That's amazing.
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["14 of These Piano Concerts from the Volf Temperate Clavier"]
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Wonderful.
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And then also you performed besides the Wolf Temperate Clavier,
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is it 14 out of 24, correct?
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14 out of 48, actually.
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48.
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About one quarter of it, yep.
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Wonderful.
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And then you also performed pieces by Mozart.
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And then also another Hungarian composer, Miklós Rószá?
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Miklós Rószá, yes.
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Yes, that's right.
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Well, you know, the thing about Mozart for me,
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also this is the composer that I've loved most
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since my childhood, since I was four.
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I mean, that's when I would walk to the radio
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in our living room whenever Mozart's
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Marriage of Figaro overture came on.
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It was every afternoon at 4.30,
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it came on as the tagline for this show.
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My mother noticed me walking to the radio,
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kind of fixated at that time.
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I've always loved Mozart's music,
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and it always feels, oh, I don't know,
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comforting or foundational to start my recitals
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with Mozart's music.
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So that sort of felt like a given.
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And then, you know, so there's something
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about foundations there, about Miss Wolf and Mozart.
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And Miklós Rószá was one of the great Hollywood composers
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in the 1940s and 50s.
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That's what he's most remembered for now.
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His scores to Ben Hur, Double Indemnity, Spellbound,
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quite a few of these film noir classics that he scored.
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But he was also a very thoroughly trained composer,
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a great composer, in my estimation.
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He wrote some piano music.
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His variations were premiered by Clara Haskell in Paris.
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A lot of string music, a lot of orchestral scores,
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and this daunting piano sonata,
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which in my estimation is one of the greatest
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of the 20th century.
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It's a formidable kind of piece of work,
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quite virtuosic and difficult to play.
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I always loved movie music.
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I watched movies a lot when I was a teenager
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in my early 20s, et cetera.
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And you'd see that name come up on the screen
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for a lot of great movies, you know,
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music by Miklós Rószá.
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So I did a lot of reading and research, you know,
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and found a lot of the concert pieces.
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Also, fortunately, I played that sonata as a student
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and I had a cassette recording of it.
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And someone gave me Miklós Rószá's home address
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in Hollywood, so I mailed it out there.
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And I got a phone call from his daughter
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who said how much he had loved it and he liked it.
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And a couple of years later, I went to Los Angeles
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and I played in the Hollywood Bowl.
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It was a Pops concert.
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And I played Miklós Rószá's so-called spellbound concerto,
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which is sort of a Pops 15-minute piano concerto
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made of themes from that motion picture.
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And as I was rehearsing with the orchestra,
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I suddenly heard the musicians sort of talking,
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this kind of whizz whizz whizz whizz whizz whizz whizz.
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And behind me to my astonishment was Miklós Rószá's daughter,
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Juliet, was pushing him in his wheelchair up the path,
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put him right next to the piano.
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He had several strokes and it was hard to communicate with him,
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but he wanted very much to hear me play.
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And they brought him to that dress rehearsal.
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It was, I think, one of his last public outings.
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So I had a chance to meet him and talk to him a bit
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about his music, which was a superb honor, of course.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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And what was it like to be in the venue?
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And what was the reaction from the audience
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by listening to all these contemporary composers?
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Well, I think the recital itself in Merkin was a big hit.
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It was a nice, generously sustained hand.
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And standing ovation and all the rest of it.
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Times have changed.
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I mean, I hoped that Peter's music would elicit a review
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in the New York Times or something like that.
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But they don't review so many concerts these days.
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So unfortunately, that didn't happen.
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But there was a grand party afterwards.
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And actually, quite a few celebrities came as well.
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Really?
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Oh, yes.
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Like who?
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Well, that's between me and my gods.
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OK.
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OK.
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Yeah.
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Well, you deserve all the attention, of course.
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Yes.
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Well, thank you very much.
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Yeah.
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That's wonderful.
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But do you plan to play all the Wolf tempered
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clavier eventually?
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I think it's possible.
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I mean, it depends on the venue.
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I tend to think that a concert of any one particular composer
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has to be particularly perfectly done.
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Because it's a lot to digest.
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I myself, I've gotten bored at concerts of all Bach.
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I mean, I love Bach's music.
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At a certain point, if that's all you're listening to
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for a program, it can get a little tedious.
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But it depends what it is.
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I think like the last three Schubert sonatas
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are a divine evening of music if they're played to perfection.
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I think anytime you play all Mozart,
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it's fantastic, of course.
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Lots of pianists have essayed all the Beethoven piano sonatas.
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But you have to be prepared to do it to about sheer perfection,
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to really bring it off.
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So Peter's complete Wolf tempered clavier
262
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would probably be run to about two and a half to three hours.
263
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And that would be a devoted audience indeed.
264
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And I might get a little tired doing it too.
265
00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:09,860
Reflecting on 40 years since your New York City debut,
266
00:14:09,860 --> 00:14:13,580
how do you feel your artistry and choices in music
267
00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:15,940
have evolved over the years, over the decades?
268
00:14:15,940 --> 00:14:18,900
And are there elements from your early performances
269
00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:22,980
that you continue to embrace or have your taste and technique
270
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transformed significantly?
271
00:14:26,020 --> 00:14:30,060
Wow, Yukimi, that is like the question of the decade there.
272
00:14:30,060 --> 00:14:35,020
It's going to take a long, long time to answer that.
273
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I think that an artistic journey is a kind of evolution,
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of course.
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If I think back to my taste in music when I was a child,
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it was rather Catholic because it
277
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was shaped by my parents' desire to see
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that I had good piano lessons and studied good music.
279
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And I think the first crack in that armor
280
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was probably when I was about 12 or 13 years old
281
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and then the movie The Sting came out
282
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and it had music of Scott Joplin.
283
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And I went down to the music store
284
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,580
and I got a lot of rags of Scott Joplin
285
00:15:10,580 --> 00:15:12,980
because I liked Joplin's rags.
286
00:15:12,980 --> 00:15:16,060
And I remember asking my piano teacher
287
00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:19,660
about playing some of those and also the Gershwin
288
00:15:19,660 --> 00:15:20,820
Preludes for piano.
289
00:15:20,820 --> 00:15:22,460
And he told me, well, that's fun to play,
290
00:15:22,460 --> 00:15:24,820
but you can't play that on serious recitals.
291
00:15:24,820 --> 00:15:26,860
That's just for your own amusement.
292
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And that was just where it was.
293
00:15:28,980 --> 00:15:32,940
And I accepted that as common wisdom
294
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for a good portion of my life, frankly,
295
00:15:35,940 --> 00:15:39,460
until I had the courage to break out and say, I like this.
296
00:15:39,460 --> 00:15:41,060
I think this is really good.
297
00:15:41,060 --> 00:15:43,940
And I can play it well and I'm going to play it.
298
00:15:43,940 --> 00:15:46,500
You have to get to the point where you're not worried
299
00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:48,980
that people will criticize you for your choices.
300
00:15:48,980 --> 00:15:51,780
Or if they do, who cares?
301
00:15:51,780 --> 00:15:53,740
That's their problem.
302
00:15:53,740 --> 00:15:56,140
Speaking of Miklos Rojas' piano sonata,
303
00:15:56,140 --> 00:15:57,540
the very first time I did play it,
304
00:15:57,540 --> 00:16:00,300
I was getting my graduate degree.
305
00:16:00,300 --> 00:16:03,900
And one of my professors, he was in a musicology class,
306
00:16:03,900 --> 00:16:05,340
stopped me and always says, I saw
307
00:16:05,340 --> 00:16:07,140
you're playing some Miklos Rojas.
308
00:16:07,140 --> 00:16:08,340
And I said, yes.
309
00:16:08,340 --> 00:16:12,220
And he said, why are you playing that trash?
310
00:16:12,220 --> 00:16:14,900
And I just said, I like it.
311
00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:19,140
That was the best answer I could give him.
312
00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:21,060
Later, I thought I should have said, well, I
313
00:16:21,060 --> 00:16:22,740
like that trash better than your trash.
314
00:16:22,740 --> 00:16:26,500
But that wasn't the best answer.
315
00:16:26,500 --> 00:16:29,620
But you have to have great belief in your artistic choices
316
00:16:29,620 --> 00:16:31,340
to do something like that.
317
00:16:31,340 --> 00:16:33,740
And you can't fault anyone, myself
318
00:16:33,740 --> 00:16:36,820
or any other young pianist, for playing
319
00:16:36,820 --> 00:16:39,140
the traditional repertoire when you feel like, well,
320
00:16:39,140 --> 00:16:42,340
that's what you have to play to be judged.
321
00:16:42,340 --> 00:16:46,460
So when I left my hometown of Baltimore at the age of 16
322
00:16:46,460 --> 00:16:50,060
to go to Juilliard, I remember I was practicing this B minor
323
00:16:50,060 --> 00:16:54,500
sonata, Ballet Kerefs Islamé, the Tchaikovsky Piano
324
00:16:54,500 --> 00:16:59,460
Concerto, trying to think what else I was practicing.
325
00:16:59,460 --> 00:17:01,700
A whole pile of Chopin etudes, almost all of them.
326
00:17:01,700 --> 00:17:03,500
It's 25.
327
00:17:03,500 --> 00:17:06,980
All of which is music I've played in concert,
328
00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:09,340
and none of which I've played in concert for probably
329
00:17:09,340 --> 00:17:11,500
the last 25 or 30 years.
330
00:17:11,500 --> 00:17:13,020
Not that I don't like that music,
331
00:17:13,020 --> 00:17:18,660
but it doesn't say something unique and really vital to me
332
00:17:18,660 --> 00:17:21,700
that I feel like I have to transmit.
333
00:17:21,700 --> 00:17:24,460
If I go to Carnegie Hall and I hear Christian Zimmerman
334
00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:27,700
play the Liszt Sonata in B minor,
335
00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:30,820
I am sure he's going to give that an incredibly committed
336
00:17:30,820 --> 00:17:33,140
and personal interpretation because he's playing it,
337
00:17:33,140 --> 00:17:36,580
because he feels something very powerful about it.
338
00:17:36,580 --> 00:17:39,500
And I think it's possible I would play that piece again
339
00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:42,260
in the future, but it has to be at a time when I feel like,
340
00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:44,340
oh, there's something in that piece that I have yet
341
00:17:44,340 --> 00:17:49,620
to really say in public.
342
00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:52,660
And ironically, it's the music that's
343
00:17:52,660 --> 00:17:57,180
much lesser played that I found so much richness in,
344
00:17:57,180 --> 00:18:00,260
in terms of music that it's so fresh to my ears,
345
00:18:00,260 --> 00:18:01,740
so fresh to a lot of people's ears,
346
00:18:01,740 --> 00:18:04,020
because it's not played very often.
347
00:18:04,020 --> 00:18:08,500
And there's much more to discover in great music
348
00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:11,180
that hasn't been, frankly, overplayed,
349
00:18:11,180 --> 00:18:15,340
like the Beethoven sonatas, the Prokofiev sonatas.
350
00:18:15,340 --> 00:18:17,540
I'm not saying those pieces shouldn't be overplayed.
351
00:18:17,540 --> 00:18:20,820
That's great, great music, of course.
352
00:18:20,820 --> 00:18:25,100
But when I start to make my own list of music
353
00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:28,020
that you almost never encounter in the concert hall,
354
00:18:28,020 --> 00:18:31,420
you can quickly make a list of very, very fine composers,
355
00:18:31,420 --> 00:18:35,020
starting with Anthony Dvorak and then Gabriel Pirnay
356
00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:38,900
and Joaquin Trina, Gabriel Fauré.
357
00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:44,700
Even works of Cesar Franck are almost never played in recitals.
358
00:18:44,700 --> 00:18:46,900
Make a very, very long list of stuff.
359
00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:51,060
Even if you want to take on Bach, think how much Bach wrote,
360
00:18:51,060 --> 00:18:54,060
and think really how much of his keyboard literature
361
00:18:54,060 --> 00:18:58,100
is played, a very small portion of it.
362
00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:00,620
Tons of things that Bach wrote that you just never
363
00:19:00,620 --> 00:19:02,220
experienced in the concert hall.
364
00:19:02,220 --> 00:19:04,220
Say, for example, the Art of Fugue.
365
00:19:04,220 --> 00:19:07,740
How often do you hear someone take on some project like that?
366
00:19:07,740 --> 00:19:11,180
So in terms of going back to your original question,
367
00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:14,980
my artistic journey, my evolution, and so forth,
368
00:19:14,980 --> 00:19:19,220
I feel like I would describe it as kind of an ongoing circle that
369
00:19:19,220 --> 00:19:23,540
just seems to expand and expand and expand.
370
00:19:23,540 --> 00:19:27,300
I feel sometimes a little scared that I can't control that circle
371
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:28,100
a little bit better.
372
00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:31,900
I'd like to feel like there's a proscribed journey that one
373
00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:32,540
is taking.
374
00:19:32,540 --> 00:19:34,860
Like you're going from here, you're going to this spot,
375
00:19:34,860 --> 00:19:35,780
this spot, this spot.
376
00:19:35,780 --> 00:19:38,460
And then at the end, when your life is finishing,
377
00:19:38,460 --> 00:19:40,860
you're in your deathbed, and God appears.
378
00:19:40,860 --> 00:19:44,100
It says, you've done the right thing.
379
00:19:44,100 --> 00:19:47,460
Then you pick the music that you exit with perfectly.
380
00:19:47,460 --> 00:19:50,700
But it's more like just this unending maze
381
00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:53,420
where you open this door, and then that door leads to this,
382
00:19:53,420 --> 00:19:56,580
and this, and this, and this, and there's endless other things.
383
00:19:56,580 --> 00:19:59,820
The world of music is just enormous.
384
00:19:59,820 --> 00:20:04,060
I knew it was big when I first went to New York to study,
385
00:20:04,060 --> 00:20:10,540
but I had no idea just how big it really could become.
386
00:20:10,540 --> 00:20:13,460
And of course, it's not just investigating the past.
387
00:20:13,460 --> 00:20:16,500
Music is created every single day.
388
00:20:16,500 --> 00:20:19,580
So in addition to expanding in terms of what you don't know
389
00:20:19,580 --> 00:20:22,380
from the past, what you don't know about today,
390
00:20:22,380 --> 00:20:27,740
and what you don't know is going to be composed tomorrow,
391
00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:31,340
there's just endless possibilities.
392
00:20:31,340 --> 00:20:34,420
So not only looking into all those possibilities,
393
00:20:34,420 --> 00:20:37,140
but then also deciding which possibilities are really
394
00:20:37,140 --> 00:20:39,980
of interest to you and which are not.
395
00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:44,900
And I think after my birthday this year,
396
00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:46,580
I'm tempted not to say the number,
397
00:20:46,580 --> 00:20:48,820
but what the heck, I'll go for it.
398
00:20:48,820 --> 00:20:51,300
I'll soon be turning 65.
399
00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:55,820
There's something that's saying, it's time to say it's all right
400
00:20:55,820 --> 00:20:57,740
if you don't want to play that anymore,
401
00:20:57,740 --> 00:21:03,220
you know, the rest of my life without playing that piece.
402
00:21:03,220 --> 00:21:05,420
Actually, I recently moved to this lovely apartment
403
00:21:05,420 --> 00:21:06,460
you see me in.
404
00:21:06,460 --> 00:21:10,940
And moving for a musician always involves countless,
405
00:21:10,940 --> 00:21:13,820
probably 200 boxes of scores.
406
00:21:13,820 --> 00:21:17,300
And there I was sifting through a lot of those scores.
407
00:21:17,300 --> 00:21:19,180
And some of them I looked at and I thought,
408
00:21:19,180 --> 00:21:21,220
I'm not going to play that.
409
00:21:21,220 --> 00:21:22,980
I'm probably not even going to teach it.
410
00:21:22,980 --> 00:21:25,220
But I don't need it at my home.
411
00:21:25,220 --> 00:21:27,580
I'll put it in my studio at Temple University
412
00:21:27,580 --> 00:21:29,300
in case a student's interested in it.
413
00:21:29,300 --> 00:21:33,140
I'm starting to think about when I'm not here,
414
00:21:33,140 --> 00:21:35,780
maybe somebody can use it.
415
00:21:35,780 --> 00:21:37,660
So, and I'm not sure.
416
00:21:37,660 --> 00:21:38,380
Not yet.
417
00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:39,900
Not yet.
418
00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:41,460
You're very young.
419
00:21:41,460 --> 00:21:44,220
No, I don't want to get too morbid about any of that.
420
00:21:44,220 --> 00:21:46,460
But there's something a little bit comforting in a way
421
00:21:46,460 --> 00:21:50,860
that, you know, I recall the first time I walked
422
00:21:50,860 --> 00:21:55,140
into the Juilliard Library and I saw a student, as I said,
423
00:21:55,140 --> 00:21:57,900
I just turned 16 or 17.
424
00:21:57,900 --> 00:22:00,700
And I see these aisles and aisles and aisles of scores
425
00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:01,700
and so much music.
426
00:22:01,700 --> 00:22:04,220
I had no knowledge of what it was.
427
00:22:04,220 --> 00:22:05,780
I was terrified.
428
00:22:05,780 --> 00:22:07,500
You know, my God, I'm going to learn all this.
429
00:22:07,500 --> 00:22:08,660
How am I going to do this?
430
00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:10,460
How am I going to do this?
431
00:22:10,460 --> 00:22:13,180
So now it doesn't terrify me so much
432
00:22:13,180 --> 00:22:18,580
that that stuff is actually kind of endless.
433
00:22:18,580 --> 00:22:26,140
And are you still learning new repertoire on a regular basis?
434
00:22:26,140 --> 00:22:28,140
Yes, it's kind of.
435
00:22:28,140 --> 00:22:29,980
I often tell people that planning, say,
436
00:22:29,980 --> 00:22:33,580
planning a recital program is a little bit like plotting out
437
00:22:33,580 --> 00:22:35,060
a gourmet meal, right?
438
00:22:35,060 --> 00:22:36,500
You're going to have a dinner party
439
00:22:36,500 --> 00:22:38,380
and you want everybody to have something that they like.
440
00:22:38,380 --> 00:22:40,540
You know, there's got to be some salad.
441
00:22:40,540 --> 00:22:42,940
There has to be some side dishes,
442
00:22:42,940 --> 00:22:46,140
a couple of main courses, maybe some desserts,
443
00:22:46,140 --> 00:22:48,700
maybe some side snacks, some candy here and there,
444
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:51,660
you know, or something sweet to drink and so forth.
445
00:22:51,660 --> 00:22:55,420
And in terms of either recital programming
446
00:22:55,420 --> 00:22:57,700
or what I feel like if I'm studying
447
00:22:57,700 --> 00:23:01,260
and I have a good balanced program to work on,
448
00:23:01,260 --> 00:23:04,340
well, there's things to study that are of technical interest
449
00:23:04,340 --> 00:23:07,820
that help me maintain just my ability to play.
450
00:23:07,820 --> 00:23:11,260
And there's never any shortage of challenging etudes
451
00:23:11,260 --> 00:23:14,140
to look at, of course.
452
00:23:14,140 --> 00:23:16,580
Then, of course, there's Baroque music.
453
00:23:16,580 --> 00:23:18,900
And if I'm not really so much in the mood for Bach,
454
00:23:18,900 --> 00:23:21,420
actually, these days I'm finally sitting down.
455
00:23:21,420 --> 00:23:25,740
I'm trying to read about 10 to 15 Scarlatti sonatas every day
456
00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:29,940
so that at some point I can say, yes, I played through them all.
457
00:23:29,940 --> 00:23:31,260
It's really important.
458
00:23:31,260 --> 00:23:35,100
I think of him as one of the very, very great composers,
459
00:23:35,100 --> 00:23:36,980
a composer I dearly love.
460
00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:38,940
And I don't want to climb into the casket
461
00:23:38,940 --> 00:23:40,700
without knowing, yeah, I did.
462
00:23:40,700 --> 00:23:43,820
I don't want to feel like, oh, there was volume 10 and 11.
463
00:23:43,820 --> 00:23:45,260
I didn't get to.
464
00:23:45,260 --> 00:23:47,540
That'll be sort of disappointing.
465
00:23:47,540 --> 00:23:50,860
What's, of course, intriguing about Scarlatti is
466
00:23:50,860 --> 00:23:53,140
that in his writing he seems to have thought
467
00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:57,140
of every possible technical device used by composers
468
00:23:57,140 --> 00:23:58,460
from much later centuries.
469
00:23:58,460 --> 00:24:01,540
Think about double notes and octaves and crossed hands
470
00:24:01,540 --> 00:24:05,700
and different articulations and registrations and speeds.
471
00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:10,060
I mean, the variety is simply astonishing.
472
00:24:10,060 --> 00:24:12,340
Then there's classical sonatas.
473
00:24:12,340 --> 00:24:15,420
And these days I always find myself catching up on the ones
474
00:24:15,420 --> 00:24:17,580
that I don't know quite as well.
475
00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:19,740
These days it could probably be Schubert.
476
00:24:19,740 --> 00:24:23,820
And the romantic repertoire has been pretty much covered.
477
00:24:23,820 --> 00:24:27,900
I'm much more of a Chopin and Brahms personnel
478
00:24:27,900 --> 00:24:30,340
than I used to be.
479
00:24:30,340 --> 00:24:34,700
You know, Liszt has had his run in my life.
480
00:24:34,700 --> 00:24:37,060
Youngsters with the fast hands would play all the Liszt.
481
00:24:37,060 --> 00:24:38,620
That would be just fine.
482
00:24:38,620 --> 00:24:41,620
I'm sort of getting into Dvorak all over again.
483
00:24:41,620 --> 00:24:44,660
People don't generally know that he wrote a lot of piano music.
484
00:24:44,660 --> 00:24:48,580
And although some of it is a little unwieldy in terms
485
00:24:48,580 --> 00:24:51,020
of his keyboard writing, it's quite beautiful
486
00:24:51,020 --> 00:24:55,340
and very refreshing in a way.
487
00:24:55,340 --> 00:24:58,260
Then at the 20th century there's just always more Pizzoni
488
00:24:58,260 --> 00:25:01,780
and Martinu and yes, even some more Miklos Rocha.
489
00:25:01,780 --> 00:25:03,820
And then new things.
490
00:25:03,820 --> 00:25:04,940
I mean, Peter Wolf.
491
00:25:04,940 --> 00:25:08,700
I'm always looking for new Japanese composers to play.
492
00:25:08,700 --> 00:25:12,620
I'm very intrigued by that country and its music as well.
493
00:25:12,620 --> 00:25:15,780
And, you know, composers do send me scores.
494
00:25:15,780 --> 00:25:17,860
And I tend to be kind of picky.
495
00:25:17,860 --> 00:25:20,020
I'll read through things.
496
00:25:20,020 --> 00:25:22,340
And in general, if I'm not interested,
497
00:25:22,340 --> 00:25:24,820
I'll just lay them aside.
498
00:25:24,820 --> 00:25:28,100
But I do make it kind of a commitment
499
00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:29,980
that I don't just play old music.
500
00:25:29,980 --> 00:25:33,180
That I do act to try to premiere things,
501
00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:37,380
not just by a famous composer, but by generally a lesser known
502
00:25:37,380 --> 00:25:39,940
composer who I happen to have met.
503
00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:41,420
Someone who needs a champion.
504
00:25:41,420 --> 00:25:45,100
You know, I think that's part of the process for me.
505
00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:47,420
Wow. That's quite amazing.
506
00:25:47,420 --> 00:25:53,180
You know, lately a lot of young musicians started performing more,
507
00:25:53,180 --> 00:25:58,820
you know, lesser known compositions or lesser known composers,
508
00:25:58,820 --> 00:26:01,620
compositions by lesser known composers or what not.
509
00:26:01,620 --> 00:26:05,580
But you've been doing this for decades and you're way ahead of everybody else.
510
00:26:05,580 --> 00:26:07,460
And then, yes.
511
00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:12,540
And then, you know, to do this, my podcast, I actually get to learn
512
00:26:12,540 --> 00:26:18,140
about each guest, but also I get to learn so much about different piano literature.
513
00:26:18,140 --> 00:26:22,060
And then as I was learning about you and listening to all sorts of, you know,
514
00:26:22,060 --> 00:26:27,580
your recordings on Spotify or YouTube, I came across so many interesting pieces.
515
00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:30,140
So, for example, this morning I was watching a performance of
516
00:26:30,140 --> 00:26:34,700
Kulank Variations by Koji Taku.
517
00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:36,820
Koji Taku, yes.
518
00:26:36,820 --> 00:26:40,220
That's a fantastic transcription.
519
00:26:40,220 --> 00:26:43,140
It's a very great piece and that's a wonderful story to tell,
520
00:26:43,140 --> 00:26:46,220
which links into all of all of this.
521
00:26:46,220 --> 00:26:50,060
You know, there are basically, I would say, two central characters in my life
522
00:26:50,060 --> 00:26:56,620
who really inspired me to think about music on a very cosmopolitan basis.
523
00:26:56,620 --> 00:27:01,300
The first was my Baltimore main piano teacher after Miss Wolf.
524
00:27:01,300 --> 00:27:05,020
She took me to play for her teacher who was a brilliant Filipino pianist
525
00:27:05,020 --> 00:27:06,660
named Reynaldo Reyes.
526
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:10,140
And Reynaldo was a graduate of the Paris Conservatory.
527
00:27:10,140 --> 00:27:15,460
He got second prize in the Puzoni competition and a few other notable things.
528
00:27:15,460 --> 00:27:21,300
But he settled in Baltimore around the time when I was a kid to teach piano.
529
00:27:21,300 --> 00:27:26,260
And of course, every American dollar he earned doing that went back to the
530
00:27:26,260 --> 00:27:31,220
Philippines to support a family of about 2,700 cousins.
531
00:27:31,220 --> 00:27:33,740
The tradition of that place.
532
00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:39,340
But he inspired me so much because he spoke seven or eight languages.
533
00:27:39,340 --> 00:27:43,340
And I remember as a child to go to his house or his studio,
534
00:27:43,340 --> 00:27:46,500
I loved it when the phone would ring because my brother and I would look at
535
00:27:46,500 --> 00:27:48,620
each other and we'd play a little game.
536
00:27:48,620 --> 00:27:53,620
Guess what language we're about to hear because we could never tell who he was
537
00:27:53,620 --> 00:27:54,980
going to talk to on that phone.
538
00:27:54,980 --> 00:27:58,300
Now, this is in like 1965, 66.
539
00:27:58,300 --> 00:28:01,540
And international phone calls themselves were a huge, huge deal.
540
00:28:01,540 --> 00:28:04,540
So this man would pick up the phone and we'd hear French, we'd hear German,
541
00:28:04,540 --> 00:28:09,580
we'd hear Italian, we'd hear Tagalog, we'd hear Greek, you know, for God's sake.
542
00:28:09,580 --> 00:28:11,580
He spoke so many languages.
543
00:28:11,580 --> 00:28:16,220
And he loved to opine that language was the key to the world, that you could,
544
00:28:16,220 --> 00:28:19,940
if you spoke languages, you could go anywhere and do anything.
545
00:28:19,940 --> 00:28:23,340
It left a very serious imprint upon my brain.
546
00:28:23,340 --> 00:28:26,020
I didn't even study any foreign language until I got to high school.
547
00:28:26,020 --> 00:28:28,100
I studied French and I studied some Russian.
548
00:28:28,100 --> 00:28:34,140
Only later in life I studied a bit of Spanish and Japanese as well.
549
00:28:34,140 --> 00:28:39,620
But that cosmopolitan outlook made its impression upon me for sure.
550
00:28:39,620 --> 00:28:44,620
And then shortly after I got to Juilliard, we had the most marvelous teacher
551
00:28:44,620 --> 00:28:45,620
of piano literature.
552
00:28:45,620 --> 00:28:48,700
He was a great pianist named Joseph Bloch.
553
00:28:48,700 --> 00:28:53,140
And Jimmy Bloch became a very, very dear friend.
554
00:28:53,140 --> 00:28:55,340
He was a very witty man.
555
00:28:55,340 --> 00:28:57,620
He was also a very well-traveled man.
556
00:28:57,620 --> 00:29:02,540
He didn't have the gift of language per se, but he was someone who reveled
557
00:29:02,540 --> 00:29:04,260
in the exotic.
558
00:29:04,260 --> 00:29:08,820
And he brought this kind of zest and joy about that into the classroom
559
00:29:08,820 --> 00:29:10,860
in the most wonderful ways.
560
00:29:10,860 --> 00:29:15,380
You know, he would wax eloquently about composers who were never played
561
00:29:15,380 --> 00:29:18,140
at that time in the 1970s, like Alcom.
562
00:29:18,140 --> 00:29:22,220
And he had this very theatrical way of speaking with his hand held high,
563
00:29:22,220 --> 00:29:26,540
like this, Alcom, the etudes and the minor keys.
564
00:29:26,540 --> 00:29:31,780
You poor little boys and girls don't know what you're missing.
565
00:29:31,780 --> 00:29:36,020
Say this kind of stuff, you know.
566
00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:39,620
So I remember his very first lecture giving him the whole history
567
00:29:39,620 --> 00:29:41,900
of the piano literature, which he knew, you know,
568
00:29:41,900 --> 00:29:44,460
encyclopedically he just reveled in this.
569
00:29:44,460 --> 00:29:48,540
The very first class was about the Elizabethan Virginals book.
570
00:29:48,540 --> 00:29:52,860
You know, he has this music for these instruments I didn't even know existed
571
00:29:52,860 --> 00:29:59,300
and composers like John Bull and William Blow and Giles Farnaby.
572
00:29:59,300 --> 00:30:01,700
And it was amazing to me.
573
00:30:01,700 --> 00:30:04,500
And I went and I started learning some of that and I brought it
574
00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:06,380
to the class the next week.
575
00:30:06,380 --> 00:30:09,260
And I think it was a piece by Farnaby.
576
00:30:09,260 --> 00:30:13,540
He stood over me and he said, wonderful, you were born to play Farnaby,
577
00:30:13,540 --> 00:30:19,580
which is not necessarily a compliment.
578
00:30:19,580 --> 00:30:26,380
But I just loved this adventurous and funny spirit that he had.
579
00:30:26,380 --> 00:30:28,860
Mr. Block also loves the country of Japan.
580
00:30:28,860 --> 00:30:33,300
He had been in the army and served in the army during the occupation of Japan.
581
00:30:33,300 --> 00:30:36,500
And I think during that time he had met artists and musicians.
582
00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:41,940
He was sort of an esthet, you know, part of his personality.
583
00:30:41,940 --> 00:30:46,420
And I became interested in Japanese culture and we sort of bonded over that
584
00:30:46,420 --> 00:30:48,260
and also other things.
585
00:30:48,260 --> 00:30:52,300
We both liked silent movie music and things like this.
586
00:30:52,300 --> 00:30:57,620
But it was Joseph Block who really particularly inspired me in terms
587
00:30:57,620 --> 00:31:02,940
of he would make the students come up to sight read scores in the class.
588
00:31:02,940 --> 00:31:08,060
And I quickly learned how poor most musicians are at sight reading.
589
00:31:08,060 --> 00:31:10,340
It was sort of a bad skill.
590
00:31:10,340 --> 00:31:12,260
As it so happens, my very first teacher,
591
00:31:12,260 --> 00:31:15,820
Juilliard was not a bad teacher but certainly not a good one.
592
00:31:15,820 --> 00:31:17,140
He was mostly a non-teacher.
593
00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:21,980
He slept through a lot of my lessons and had a nice nap.
594
00:31:21,980 --> 00:31:24,420
And I was rather distraught about it at the time.
595
00:31:24,420 --> 00:31:28,820
And I remember thinking, well, what am I going to do about this?
596
00:31:28,820 --> 00:31:33,140
And, you know, it was not a time when people ever dreamed thinking about
597
00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:35,260
change your piano teacher.
598
00:31:35,260 --> 00:31:39,620
But in that state of mind, I went into the Juilliard Library one day
599
00:31:39,620 --> 00:31:41,140
and I thought I'm in New York City.
600
00:31:41,140 --> 00:31:45,220
This is Juilliard and I'm looking at this wall of things that I don't know.
601
00:31:45,220 --> 00:31:49,900
And basically, what if I just start playing through things?
602
00:31:49,900 --> 00:31:52,940
And I embarked on a two-year project.
603
00:31:52,940 --> 00:31:56,860
It took me pretty much exactly two years to read through every volume
604
00:31:56,860 --> 00:31:59,060
of piano music on those shelves.
605
00:31:59,060 --> 00:32:01,980
Now, I skipped some that I didn't like so much, like Prokofiev.
606
00:32:01,980 --> 00:32:03,620
It's pretty hard to sight read Prokofiev.
607
00:32:03,620 --> 00:32:05,980
It's not my favorite composer, frankly.
608
00:32:05,980 --> 00:32:11,180
But I started with Isidor Atron's Rhapsody Number Two one morning.
609
00:32:11,180 --> 00:32:13,700
And then two years later, I remember finishing
610
00:32:13,700 --> 00:32:16,860
up with the Piano Concerto of Ephraim's Zimbalist.
611
00:32:16,860 --> 00:32:22,380
So it took me from A to Z. And, of course, what happens when you do that,
612
00:32:22,380 --> 00:32:26,740
you know, okay, you get to A, you have to deal with, yeah,
613
00:32:26,740 --> 00:32:31,700
Alcon, who I wasn't too crazy about, but Albanus was pretty interesting.
614
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:36,900
And just fudged my way through, through Iberia was rather a challenge.
615
00:32:36,900 --> 00:32:37,700
Oh, so good.
616
00:32:37,700 --> 00:32:39,020
Oh, so good.
617
00:32:39,020 --> 00:32:41,220
And then you get to see you suddenly hit someone like Clementi.
618
00:32:41,220 --> 00:32:43,860
You realize, oh my God, there's four volumes of Clementi sonatas
619
00:32:43,860 --> 00:32:45,740
that nobody ever plays.
620
00:32:45,740 --> 00:32:47,300
And then there's Chabrier.
621
00:32:47,300 --> 00:32:49,380
He's a marvelous composer, you know.
622
00:32:49,380 --> 00:32:54,380
And then I hit the four big volumes of sonatas by Jan Sladislav Dushek.
623
00:32:54,380 --> 00:32:56,060
Some of them are very, very beautiful.
624
00:32:56,060 --> 00:32:59,260
And then when I got to F, there was Pharre waiting for me, well,
625
00:32:59,260 --> 00:33:02,140
to play through all the barter roles of Pharre.
626
00:33:02,140 --> 00:33:05,180
Over the course of those two years, I became a very good sight reader.
627
00:33:05,180 --> 00:33:08,660
And I was accompanying a lot of friends on string instruments as well.
628
00:33:08,660 --> 00:33:12,300
So I became a kind of a sought after accompanist for recitals.
629
00:33:12,300 --> 00:33:16,140
And my skill sets improved, you know, quite a bit.
630
00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:19,580
Sight reading will improve your technique, it'll improve everything.
631
00:33:19,580 --> 00:33:21,700
And that was kind of like my thing.
632
00:33:21,700 --> 00:33:24,740
I would spend at least an hour, sometimes two, in the practice room
633
00:33:24,740 --> 00:33:27,180
in the beginning of the day, the very first sandwich,
634
00:33:27,180 --> 00:33:29,740
just read, read, read, read, read.
635
00:33:29,740 --> 00:33:35,620
I really had no idea how much I was helping myself out in terms of being able
636
00:33:35,620 --> 00:33:40,500
to speed up my learning process and learning repertoire.
637
00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:43,300
But I gained such an appreciation for those composers
638
00:33:43,300 --> 00:33:46,580
who you just didn't hear in the concert hall.
639
00:33:46,580 --> 00:33:49,540
And then I wanted to play those composers.
640
00:33:49,540 --> 00:33:52,060
You know, I heard my classmates up and down the halls
641
00:33:52,060 --> 00:33:56,180
of Juilliard playing all the Beethoven sonatas brilliantly.
642
00:33:56,180 --> 00:34:03,060
Chopin etudes like Nobody's Business, Liszt etudes, works of Chopin.
643
00:34:03,060 --> 00:34:05,260
These were the, you know, the stock and trade.
644
00:34:05,260 --> 00:34:08,140
And I had to study those things also as well.
645
00:34:08,140 --> 00:34:12,100
But nobody was playing Mujeres Espagnolos or Joaquín Torina.
646
00:34:12,100 --> 00:34:14,260
And it's so beautiful.
647
00:34:14,260 --> 00:34:16,540
I'm so happy I recorded that.
648
00:34:16,540 --> 00:34:19,140
I love, actually I love the album.
649
00:34:19,140 --> 00:34:20,700
And I see the painting in the back.
650
00:34:20,700 --> 00:34:22,020
Is that the painting?
651
00:34:22,020 --> 00:34:23,500
I don't know if you can see it.
652
00:34:23,500 --> 00:34:24,540
I noticed.
653
00:34:24,540 --> 00:34:25,620
Yes, yes.
654
00:34:25,620 --> 00:34:26,900
I love the album.
655
00:34:26,900 --> 00:34:31,980
I mean, so many genres you tackle in recordings and concert venues, right?
656
00:34:31,980 --> 00:34:36,340
And then, oh, I also love the album called Jazz Nocturne.
657
00:34:36,340 --> 00:34:36,980
Oh, yes.
658
00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:41,460
And you know, I had to go to Amazon and buy the score
659
00:34:41,460 --> 00:34:46,740
because I absolutely fell in love with all the pieces in that album.
660
00:34:46,740 --> 00:34:49,420
Oh, well, Dana Sui is one marvelous composer.
661
00:34:49,420 --> 00:34:52,580
I realized I skipped, I started that long dive traveling.
662
00:34:52,580 --> 00:34:58,380
I totally skipped over, you had mentioned the Poulenc variations of Koji Taku
663
00:34:58,380 --> 00:35:01,300
because I wanted to bring this full circle.
664
00:35:01,300 --> 00:35:08,100
It was many years after I was out of school and I was living in Western Canada.
665
00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:11,380
But when I came to New York, I would always visit Joseph Block at his home
666
00:35:11,380 --> 00:35:18,660
in Larchmont when he was becoming rather elderly in the early 2000s.
667
00:35:18,660 --> 00:35:22,780
And he had these two volumes of collected Japanese piano music
668
00:35:22,780 --> 00:35:24,580
from his occupation days.
669
00:35:24,580 --> 00:35:27,780
It had been published by Zenon, I think, or whatever.
670
00:35:27,780 --> 00:35:31,260
And I asked him if I could borrow those and he said, oh, sure.
671
00:35:31,260 --> 00:35:32,900
And I took those home.
672
00:35:32,900 --> 00:35:36,540
And in the middle of those, that collection of music by composers
673
00:35:36,540 --> 00:35:40,100
who I'd never heard of, here was this piece by Koji Taku
674
00:35:40,100 --> 00:35:42,020
who I'd never heard of either.
675
00:35:42,020 --> 00:35:43,060
And it amazed me.
676
00:35:43,060 --> 00:35:45,940
And I went back to Jimmy's house, I don't know, a few weeks later,
677
00:35:45,940 --> 00:35:49,300
and I played the piece through for him and he loved it and so did I.
678
00:35:49,300 --> 00:35:53,820
And I started to put that onto my concert programs.
679
00:35:53,820 --> 00:35:55,580
I didn't know much about Koji Taku.
680
00:35:55,580 --> 00:36:00,180
I just knew that he had been trained in Paris, studied with Corteau
681
00:36:00,180 --> 00:36:06,420
and Boulanger and then become kind of a jazz pianist later in life.
682
00:36:06,420 --> 00:36:08,900
But at some point, his daughter contacted me.
683
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:09,700
I had no idea.
684
00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:13,500
His daughter, who was still alive, and she's sort of a pop musician.
685
00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:16,340
And she was delighted that I was playing the piece.
686
00:36:16,340 --> 00:36:18,540
And then a Japanese publishing company asked me
687
00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:21,300
about preparing a new edition of the piece because it had a lot
688
00:36:21,300 --> 00:36:23,060
of problems in the score.
689
00:36:23,060 --> 00:36:25,340
And I did that.
690
00:36:25,340 --> 00:36:29,460
I prepared a rather thorough edition of that piece.
691
00:36:29,460 --> 00:36:33,740
And then another edition has come out since that time and the editor
692
00:36:33,740 --> 00:36:37,340
of that edition pays homage to me and thanks to me
693
00:36:37,340 --> 00:36:39,700
for doing such a wonderful job with the thing.
694
00:36:39,700 --> 00:36:41,180
I'm very, very proud of that.
695
00:36:41,180 --> 00:36:44,420
In a way, I plucked something of total obscurity
696
00:36:44,420 --> 00:36:49,780
that no Japanese musician remembered at all and brought it back to life.
697
00:36:49,780 --> 00:36:54,220
I can go into my grave knowing I did something good in my life.
698
00:36:54,220 --> 00:36:56,820
It's a good feeling.
699
00:36:56,820 --> 00:36:58,380
I think it's a great set of variations.
700
00:36:58,380 --> 00:37:00,340
And I've played it a bunch of places.
701
00:37:00,340 --> 00:37:04,340
And I'm so proud that it's back in print because of me.
702
00:37:04,340 --> 00:37:06,860
Oh, that's beautiful.
703
00:37:06,860 --> 00:37:35,180
Honestly, as I was listening, your performances are actually really
704
00:37:35,180 --> 00:37:39,900
distinguished by a deep intimacy and profound understanding
705
00:37:39,900 --> 00:37:45,180
of each composer's roots, history, and culture, language,
706
00:37:45,180 --> 00:37:48,300
and allowing you to connect with their stories
707
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:51,420
and convey the compassion in their works really.
708
00:37:51,420 --> 00:37:54,660
So can you share how you personally approach the process
709
00:37:54,660 --> 00:37:58,900
of understanding a composer's intentions, especially you perform
710
00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:03,500
so many different works by various composers from the dead
711
00:38:03,500 --> 00:38:04,860
to the living, you know?
712
00:38:04,860 --> 00:38:11,420
So well, that's boy, you keep me you brought the heavy artillery.
713
00:38:11,420 --> 00:38:13,900
It's it's all right.
714
00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:16,220
That's fair enough.
715
00:38:16,220 --> 00:38:21,180
I'm thinking back again to a very big influence upon my life,
716
00:38:21,180 --> 00:38:25,380
particularly in my teen years, was the world of paintings
717
00:38:25,380 --> 00:38:32,740
and visual art, probably starting just from class field trips to museums.
718
00:38:32,740 --> 00:38:37,220
We lived in Baltimore, but we would not my dad would either drive
719
00:38:37,220 --> 00:38:39,060
or take us on the train down to Washington
720
00:38:39,060 --> 00:38:42,300
and see museums for cultural betterment.
721
00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:46,980
But particularly, I guess it was the impressionist composers always left a
722
00:38:46,980 --> 00:38:49,220
very, very big influence on me.
723
00:38:49,220 --> 00:38:53,900
I just loved, you know, a lot of people do love the canvases of Renoir
724
00:38:53,900 --> 00:38:55,660
and Monet and so forth.
725
00:38:55,660 --> 00:39:03,460
But it it it fascinated me that these canvases were like a portal to a totally
726
00:39:03,460 --> 00:39:04,700
different world.
727
00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:07,900
And if you stand transfixed into one of these places,
728
00:39:07,900 --> 00:39:10,620
you can absolutely smell the breeze.
729
00:39:10,620 --> 00:39:12,860
You can feel the air in those things.
730
00:39:12,860 --> 00:39:17,860
You know, it's just enables you to relive something that in a sense is gone.
731
00:39:17,860 --> 00:39:20,980
But it's immortal there in front of your eyes.
732
00:39:20,980 --> 00:39:24,820
Even as a child, I was kind of dazzled by portraits of Rembrandt, you know,
733
00:39:24,820 --> 00:39:28,780
because I would look at them and guess they were beautiful.
734
00:39:28,780 --> 00:39:32,180
But what stunned me was that the people were alive to me.
735
00:39:32,180 --> 00:39:33,220
They weren't dead.
736
00:39:33,220 --> 00:39:38,500
You know, their eyes, their hands, everything telling me their stories.
737
00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:43,620
And I think that I had this connection between what art truly is.
738
00:39:43,620 --> 00:39:46,340
It is a kind of an immortality.
739
00:39:46,340 --> 00:39:52,460
It's this portal to someone's story, somebody's existence.
740
00:39:52,460 --> 00:39:54,340
And I mean, this is what humanity is.
741
00:39:54,340 --> 00:39:55,660
It's a series of stories.
742
00:39:55,660 --> 00:39:58,300
We all have our story to tell.
743
00:39:58,300 --> 00:40:04,780
So that's the part that maybe fascinates me the most about the music I hear that
744
00:40:04,780 --> 00:40:07,820
really intrigues me is where is it bringing me to?
745
00:40:07,820 --> 00:40:10,940
What kind of story is it telling?
746
00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:15,700
Say, when I'm playing Rachmaninoff's variations on a theme of Paganini for piano
747
00:40:15,700 --> 00:40:21,340
orchestra, you know, it's such a strong, rhythmically absorbing piece.
748
00:40:21,340 --> 00:40:24,180
And the minute you get into, I don't know, it's variation seven or eight.
749
00:40:24,180 --> 00:40:26,820
And the Dies Irae is her.
750
00:40:26,820 --> 00:40:31,980
Now you realize that the composer is telling you something about the devil, the violin,
751
00:40:31,980 --> 00:40:38,900
the power of the A minor tonality and the inevitability of death.
752
00:40:38,900 --> 00:40:41,820
You know, he wrote this piece towards the end of his life.
753
00:40:41,820 --> 00:40:46,460
He wrote it around the same time as the symphonic dances, which also use the Dies Irae
754
00:40:46,460 --> 00:40:48,580
and the Isle of the Dead and so forth.
755
00:40:48,580 --> 00:40:51,540
And you want to climb into Rachmaninoff's head.
756
00:40:51,540 --> 00:40:53,820
I mean, what was he thinking about?
757
00:40:53,820 --> 00:41:00,140
What were his thoughts about the meaning of life, about the brevity of life or his own
758
00:41:00,140 --> 00:41:02,860
contribution as a creative artist?
759
00:41:02,860 --> 00:41:10,060
I find that so completely absorbing, you know, and it's probably one of my favorite concertos
760
00:41:10,060 --> 00:41:15,780
to play because it just sucks you from the very, very first notes.
761
00:41:15,780 --> 00:41:16,980
It's a perfect piece of music.
762
00:41:16,980 --> 00:41:22,060
I can't say that about a whole lot of scores actually, that, you know, even if Beethoven
763
00:41:22,060 --> 00:41:26,660
or Mendelssohn, Schumann, et cetera, et cetera, we can hear things that are great.
764
00:41:26,660 --> 00:41:30,740
It's a great piece of music, but to say something is absolute sheer perfection.
765
00:41:30,740 --> 00:41:36,340
You could not change a single note dynamic, anything in that score.
766
00:41:36,340 --> 00:41:42,060
I do think of that piece that way, the same way as Mozart's Jupiter Symphony perhaps,
767
00:41:42,060 --> 00:41:48,620
or the Requiem of Gabriel Farré.
768
00:41:48,620 --> 00:41:56,900
In any case, you know, this idea of studying the music from the musical outside of it,
769
00:41:56,900 --> 00:42:03,580
like it's a great tableau, it's a story, it's an autobiography, it's someone's life, it's
770
00:42:03,580 --> 00:42:05,220
so totally absorbing to me.
771
00:42:05,220 --> 00:42:10,180
I mean, I can't imagine starting the study of a piece from the aspect of, okay, let's
772
00:42:10,180 --> 00:42:14,180
see, I want to win a piano competition, so this part I want to play fast and then this
773
00:42:14,180 --> 00:42:15,620
has to be accurate.
774
00:42:15,620 --> 00:42:22,300
I mean, those technical details will come in when you analyze the piece, pick it apart,
775
00:42:22,300 --> 00:42:27,880
have to practice it, you know, like the master watchmaker take all the mechanism apart and
776
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:29,720
study it.
777
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:30,900
But I think that comes later.
778
00:42:30,900 --> 00:42:35,220
The very first thing is, does it excite your passion?
779
00:42:35,220 --> 00:42:36,740
Does the piece excite your passion?
780
00:42:36,740 --> 00:42:40,380
Does it pull you into that composer's world?
781
00:42:40,380 --> 00:42:45,860
And that's what a great composer does, you know, pulls you into their story, not your
782
00:42:45,860 --> 00:42:49,820
story, but their story.
783
00:42:49,820 --> 00:42:54,900
Before continuing this fun episode with Dr. Sarah Davis-Buechner, let's take a moment
784
00:42:54,900 --> 00:43:01,260
to hear from our valued sponsor, Keys to Success, whose support helps make this podcast possible.
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00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:08,020
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Let's make those keys sing and inspire the next generation together.
808
00:44:36,340 --> 00:44:37,740
You mentioned a little bit about technique.
809
00:44:37,740 --> 00:44:43,300
So how do you balance the need for technical precision with the expressive demands of the
810
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:44,300
piece?
811
00:44:44,300 --> 00:44:48,620
Do you find that one often informs the other?
812
00:44:48,620 --> 00:44:53,660
I think ultimately they do, although like I just said about the watchmaker, there's
813
00:44:53,660 --> 00:44:56,820
this aspect of study.
814
00:44:56,820 --> 00:45:01,980
If you start from the top of Mount Olympus, imagining, well, let's pick a piece.
815
00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:08,580
Actually, I think I'm going to restudy the Mendelssohn Rondo Papriccioso because I played
816
00:45:08,580 --> 00:45:12,820
it when I was 12 and I think I can do it a little bit better now.
817
00:45:12,820 --> 00:45:19,820
So from the Mount Olympus of, oh, that's going to be light and frothy and the opening will
818
00:45:19,820 --> 00:45:25,660
be incredibly beautiful and moving and then there'll be sprites and elves dancing and
819
00:45:25,660 --> 00:45:28,100
it's over in the thunder sock at the end.
820
00:45:28,100 --> 00:45:29,980
What a great dramatic piece.
821
00:45:29,980 --> 00:45:31,220
That's my mindset.
822
00:45:31,220 --> 00:45:33,460
That's where I want to end up.
823
00:45:33,460 --> 00:45:37,140
To get there means lots of slow practice.
824
00:45:37,140 --> 00:45:44,220
The opening has to be perfectly calibrated and voiced with taste and style and then a
825
00:45:44,220 --> 00:45:45,780
lot of question about tempos.
826
00:45:45,780 --> 00:45:51,020
Is it going to be a very slow, somewhat slow?
827
00:45:51,020 --> 00:45:52,740
How are you going to approach that?
828
00:45:52,740 --> 00:45:54,820
Then what about the speed of the scherzo?
829
00:45:54,820 --> 00:45:58,620
As a kid, I used to just womp it out and play it as fast as I could.
830
00:45:58,620 --> 00:46:00,300
Well, that's not going to happen now.
831
00:46:00,300 --> 00:46:02,620
That doesn't make a lot of sense.
832
00:46:02,620 --> 00:46:08,140
Then the octaves, you don't want those just to be show off bangy octaves like when I was
833
00:46:08,140 --> 00:46:09,620
12, that's what I did.
834
00:46:09,620 --> 00:46:10,620
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
835
00:46:10,620 --> 00:46:11,620
Well, no.
836
00:46:11,620 --> 00:46:12,620
It's a storm.
837
00:46:12,620 --> 00:46:16,180
It has to have some evocative picture and so forth.
838
00:46:16,180 --> 00:46:19,860
So now you have to break it down into, okay, technically, what are the things I have to
839
00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:25,420
be in complete control of so that I don't have to think about the technique?
840
00:46:25,420 --> 00:46:33,100
My favorite definition of piano technique is by pianist Beryl Rubinstein.
841
00:46:33,100 --> 00:46:35,140
Not many people realize there's so many Rubinstein.
842
00:46:35,140 --> 00:46:36,620
There's Anton and Art.
843
00:46:36,620 --> 00:46:41,580
Beryl Rubinstein was, I think he was the head of the Cleveland Institute, but he wrote a
844
00:46:41,580 --> 00:46:43,820
couple of short books on piano technique.
845
00:46:43,820 --> 00:46:48,220
And I love his definition where he says that technique for pianists is like money in the
846
00:46:48,220 --> 00:46:49,220
bank.
847
00:46:49,220 --> 00:46:52,700
The more you have, the easier your life will be.
848
00:46:52,700 --> 00:46:58,300
However, to show it off for its own sake is very bad taste, perfectly said.
849
00:46:58,300 --> 00:47:01,420
It is, of course, the means to the end.
850
00:47:01,420 --> 00:47:06,700
And if you have a prodigious technique you can rely on, then you can set about to controlling
851
00:47:06,700 --> 00:47:13,140
the sounds and the speed and the tempo and the message of what it is that you're doing.
852
00:47:13,140 --> 00:47:20,820
I was really surprised when my teacher, Mr. Reyes, passed away.
853
00:47:20,820 --> 00:47:27,220
I think shortly after that, my dad dug up out of the basement all of my old assignment
854
00:47:27,220 --> 00:47:32,300
books that I had had since studying with him starting around age seven or so until I went
855
00:47:32,300 --> 00:47:33,740
to Juilliard.
856
00:47:33,740 --> 00:47:35,940
And he mailed them to me and he sent them to me.
857
00:47:35,940 --> 00:47:36,940
And I was looking through them.
858
00:47:36,940 --> 00:47:42,620
And my remembrance of Reynaldo Reyes when I was a child was that he danced around the
859
00:47:42,620 --> 00:47:43,620
room.
860
00:47:43,620 --> 00:47:51,740
He explained the difference between words like vivace and living and animato and talked
861
00:47:51,740 --> 00:47:57,660
about French sculpture and paint the colors in French paintings and what is the real meaning
862
00:47:57,660 --> 00:48:03,820
of Impressionism and how do you half pedal and quarter pedal, blah, blah, these things,
863
00:48:03,820 --> 00:48:10,020
because these are the intellectual things that so absorbed me about his brilliant conversation.
864
00:48:10,020 --> 00:48:14,780
I was not ready to open those assignment books and see week after week after week after week
865
00:48:14,780 --> 00:48:20,380
specific assignments, this scale, this scale, this scale, this scale, contrary, parallel,
866
00:48:20,380 --> 00:48:29,140
staccato, legato at the third, at the sixth, the octave, the Czerny, the Kulak, the Pishna,
867
00:48:29,140 --> 00:48:35,580
all the Bach inventions, Bach's symphonias, just piles of that stuff.
868
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:41,100
I do remember kind of hating the Bach three-part inventions and him getting mad at me once
869
00:48:41,100 --> 00:48:43,340
and he said, you have to practice.
870
00:48:43,340 --> 00:48:46,420
He didn't like to practice those things.
871
00:48:46,420 --> 00:48:54,420
But he had schooled me in these kind of fundamentals as well as having a weekly solfège class,
872
00:48:54,420 --> 00:48:56,580
also for all his students.
873
00:48:56,580 --> 00:49:00,380
The college students and the kids, I mean, the whole range, the whole panoply we do in
874
00:49:00,380 --> 00:49:02,100
front of each other.
875
00:49:02,100 --> 00:49:09,100
But it's sort of reinforced to me that you really can't be a virtuoso unless you attend
876
00:49:09,100 --> 00:49:10,100
to your equipment.
877
00:49:10,100 --> 00:49:14,180
It's like you can't be a race car driver if you don't open up the hood and see if all
878
00:49:14,180 --> 00:49:17,340
the parts are working inside.
879
00:49:17,340 --> 00:49:23,880
So at some point, well, let's see, we're leading into a discussion perhaps of my own approach
880
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:31,200
to teaching the technique of the piano, which kind of opened up for me shortly after I moved
881
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:37,540
to Canada in 2003 when I started to teach at the University of British Columbia.
882
00:49:37,540 --> 00:49:41,380
It was a colleague of mine who mentioned to me, he said, did you ever see those technique
883
00:49:41,380 --> 00:49:43,500
books with the big red covers on them?
884
00:49:43,500 --> 00:49:48,580
And I thought, yeah, I remember in the old Juilliard book sale, they used to throw those
885
00:49:48,580 --> 00:49:49,580
things out.
886
00:49:49,580 --> 00:49:52,020
What was in those things?
887
00:49:52,020 --> 00:49:59,060
And then by chance, I was approached by Dover Publications about doing some editing and
888
00:49:59,060 --> 00:50:03,260
eventually I actually became the chief editor there for a little while.
889
00:50:03,260 --> 00:50:07,500
But I thought about those books and I thought, you know, I don't really even teach much technique
890
00:50:07,500 --> 00:50:10,240
to my students and that's not very bright.
891
00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:13,060
Maybe I should give those books a look again.
892
00:50:13,060 --> 00:50:17,580
They were, of course, the seven volumes of the Master School of Piano Playing and Virtuosity
893
00:50:17,580 --> 00:50:26,060
by Alberto Honas, which are still a very, very unique and incredible resource.
894
00:50:26,060 --> 00:50:31,100
I found a couple of those volumes somehow and looked through them and they're just fantastic
895
00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:36,700
documents because, of course, they have this very, very scientific, really intelligent
896
00:50:36,700 --> 00:50:44,180
approach to studying keyboard technique from many different angles, butt rests by many
897
00:50:44,180 --> 00:50:50,060
exercises by Honas himself, as well as these exercises by 20 or so of the world's greatest
898
00:50:50,060 --> 00:50:54,740
virtuosos at the time because they were friends of Honas.
899
00:50:54,740 --> 00:50:57,500
So I brought the idea of republishing these.
900
00:50:57,500 --> 00:51:03,020
They hadn't been in print in decades to the powers that be at Dover and they were keen
901
00:51:03,020 --> 00:51:07,080
for the first two volumes, which they didn't have to pay any royalties on.
902
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:12,280
So I said, well, I've got to write something about the, you know, just put them out there.
903
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:13,500
Like they're just, you know, whatever.
904
00:51:13,500 --> 00:51:19,020
I need to know more about the person who did these and make something kind of special about
905
00:51:19,020 --> 00:51:20,020
this repubblication.
906
00:51:20,020 --> 00:51:25,420
So I started to research the life and work of Alberto Honas, who was a very important
907
00:51:25,420 --> 00:51:30,340
pianist, a good friend of Ignatz Paderewski and he happened to be the premier of Paderewski's
908
00:51:30,340 --> 00:51:35,420
piano concerto in New York and also in Boston.
909
00:51:35,420 --> 00:51:38,820
And he had taught in Berlin for a while and then come to the United States, taught in
910
00:51:38,820 --> 00:51:40,900
Philadelphia and New York primarily.
911
00:51:40,900 --> 00:51:46,780
But he taught some rather prominent people and it's sort of, I had this bingo moment,
912
00:51:46,780 --> 00:51:53,020
this recollection of talking about Alberto Honas decades before with the composer Vincent
913
00:51:53,020 --> 00:51:56,820
Persichetti, who was a teacher at Juilliard during my time there.
914
00:51:56,820 --> 00:52:04,340
Because Persichetti had studied this kind of mirror writing with Honas, who proposes
915
00:52:04,340 --> 00:52:06,460
it in his study of scales.
916
00:52:06,460 --> 00:52:12,580
That is that an E major scale playing in ascending with the right hand, E, F sharp, G sharp and
917
00:52:12,580 --> 00:52:14,140
so forth.
918
00:52:14,140 --> 00:52:20,500
In mirror pattern, the opposite direction will be C, B flat, A flat in the left hand
919
00:52:20,500 --> 00:52:26,500
and with the two hands doing the same patterns of white and black notes in opposite directions.
920
00:52:26,500 --> 00:52:30,140
And it's a very, very good way to practice things so that you develop the same facility
921
00:52:30,140 --> 00:52:31,820
for both hands.
922
00:52:31,820 --> 00:52:35,820
I guess I'd seen that somewhere, I think Ernest Bacon also mentions it.
923
00:52:35,820 --> 00:52:39,500
And I saw Mr. Persichetti in the hallway one day and I said something about his mirror
924
00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:46,540
etudes and I said, is that something similar to, I saw those exercises by Alberto Honas
925
00:52:46,540 --> 00:52:47,540
and he got very animated.
926
00:52:47,540 --> 00:52:50,460
He was a short, very wiry Italian man.
927
00:52:50,460 --> 00:52:54,860
And he said, oh, oh yes, yes, mirror writing is a very exciting way to write for the red
928
00:52:54,860 --> 00:52:55,860
day.
929
00:52:55,860 --> 00:52:56,860
Incredible, hard, yes, yes.
930
00:52:56,860 --> 00:52:58,180
Honas showed me, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
931
00:52:58,180 --> 00:53:02,060
I just sort of like forgotten about that and said, oh yeah, right, Alberto Honas and all
932
00:53:02,060 --> 00:53:04,060
that kind of stuff.
933
00:53:04,060 --> 00:53:08,980
Anyway, so one of the things I wanted to write a kind of short biography of Mr. Honas to
934
00:53:08,980 --> 00:53:11,700
put into the preface for these volumes.
935
00:53:11,700 --> 00:53:16,260
And I started to look up all the students he had taught and some of those names are
936
00:53:16,260 --> 00:53:21,020
a little obscure to us now, but some rather prominent pianists at the time, primarily
937
00:53:21,020 --> 00:53:26,140
Ellen Ballon was a very famous French Quebecois pianist.
938
00:53:26,140 --> 00:53:28,780
But this one name came up, Rhea Sadowski.
939
00:53:28,780 --> 00:53:34,060
And I was going crazy trying to find her biography and particularly her obituary because I just
940
00:53:34,060 --> 00:53:36,140
couldn't find it.
941
00:53:36,140 --> 00:53:40,020
And then I saw there was an address in Ann Arbor and then there was another address in
942
00:53:40,020 --> 00:53:42,460
Berkeley and I said, no.
943
00:53:42,460 --> 00:53:45,460
Could it?
944
00:53:45,460 --> 00:53:48,020
Anyway, the address in Berkeley also had a phone number.
945
00:53:48,020 --> 00:53:49,900
So I doubted.
946
00:53:49,900 --> 00:53:50,900
And this voice answered.
947
00:53:50,900 --> 00:53:54,580
It was a voice out of 1935.
948
00:53:54,580 --> 00:53:55,580
Hello.
949
00:53:55,580 --> 00:54:03,100
The New York 1935 voice.
950
00:54:03,100 --> 00:54:08,740
Is it possible that I could speak with Mrs. Rhea Sadowski?
951
00:54:08,740 --> 00:54:10,620
This is she speaking.
952
00:54:10,620 --> 00:54:16,740
May I please have the honor of knowing whom I am speaking with?
953
00:54:16,740 --> 00:54:18,140
And I was so stunned.
954
00:54:18,140 --> 00:54:19,660
I said the rudest thing imaginable.
955
00:54:19,660 --> 00:54:21,940
I said, my name is Sarah Davis Buchanan.
956
00:54:21,940 --> 00:54:28,660
I'm a pianist and I'm doing some research on the life and work of your teacher, Alberto
957
00:54:28,660 --> 00:54:29,660
Honas.
958
00:54:29,660 --> 00:54:30,660
And I'm astonished.
959
00:54:30,660 --> 00:54:34,580
I said, I'm very, very happy to find that you're alive.
960
00:54:34,580 --> 00:54:39,300
And she said, well, I'm very happy that I'm alive also.
961
00:54:39,300 --> 00:54:44,260
Fair enough.
962
00:54:44,260 --> 00:54:50,740
So I bought a ticket to San Francisco two days later and I bought a mini cam that I
963
00:54:50,740 --> 00:54:51,740
filmed.
964
00:54:51,740 --> 00:54:56,220
My first thing I did with Rhea was film a three hour personal interview with her because
965
00:54:56,220 --> 00:55:00,240
she had an incredible, absolutely incredible life story.
966
00:55:00,240 --> 00:55:05,660
And it's one of the shocking and disheartening things in a way to be a concert pianist, to
967
00:55:05,660 --> 00:55:09,060
realize that our work is playing the music of others and so forth.
968
00:55:09,060 --> 00:55:15,180
And we may have a career for a while, but after we died, you're not going to be up there
969
00:55:15,180 --> 00:55:17,620
like Bach and Mozart.
970
00:55:17,620 --> 00:55:20,980
How much are you really going to be remembered?
971
00:55:20,980 --> 00:55:26,540
She was originally born in Canada, had immigrated to the Bay Area, was a Greek prodigy, studied
972
00:55:26,540 --> 00:55:32,260
with Honas in Los Angeles, also with both Josephine and Rosina Levine in New York.
973
00:55:32,260 --> 00:55:37,620
Gone to Europe, was a good friend of Misha Levitsky and Egon Patri and people like this.
974
00:55:37,620 --> 00:55:41,200
Her husband was a Hispanic scholar.
975
00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:46,980
So they lived in the 1940s in South America, where she premiered a lot of really important
976
00:55:46,980 --> 00:55:54,180
piano music by some of the greatest composers in that continent, in Chile, Brazil, Argentina,
977
00:55:54,180 --> 00:55:55,620
you name it.
978
00:55:55,620 --> 00:56:00,540
And in 1931, she gave a New York recital where she played the American premiere of Prokofiev's
979
00:56:00,540 --> 00:56:02,540
third piano set up.
980
00:56:02,540 --> 00:56:07,020
It was an amazing life and an amazing pianist.
981
00:56:07,020 --> 00:56:11,080
And at the time I met her, she was 92 years old with a mind as sharp as a tack and she
982
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:14,300
still practiced every day.
983
00:56:14,300 --> 00:56:19,380
And at the age of 95 to celebrate her birthday, she learned and memorized the album for the
984
00:56:19,380 --> 00:56:23,180
young of Tchaikovsky and played it live on Canadian radio.
985
00:56:23,180 --> 00:56:24,980
Oh my goodness.
986
00:56:24,980 --> 00:56:31,620
I had made some connections there for her with the CBC up in Vancouver.
987
00:56:31,620 --> 00:56:36,100
She just had a mind that was just incredible and great.
988
00:56:36,100 --> 00:56:40,500
I should say also, by the way, after doing that little radio broadcast, that then when
989
00:56:40,500 --> 00:56:45,740
the cake and candles came out, she said, I feel like a little bit of Bach and walked
990
00:56:45,740 --> 00:56:49,500
to the piano and played the second movement of the Italian concerto more beautifully than
991
00:56:49,500 --> 00:56:51,940
I ever will hear it in my entire life.
992
00:56:51,940 --> 00:56:57,660
It was just incredible pianism and great, great music.
993
00:56:57,660 --> 00:57:03,300
Anyway, so when those two volumes came out, when Dover republished them, they have a sort
994
00:57:03,300 --> 00:57:09,300
of a one page little testimony by Rhea and then a couple of photos of the two of us hanging
995
00:57:09,300 --> 00:57:10,860
out in her house at the time.
996
00:57:10,860 --> 00:57:14,500
She's of course passed on since then.
997
00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:18,820
But she told me quite a bit about Honas's teaching.
998
00:57:18,820 --> 00:57:22,780
What a master teacher that he was.
999
00:57:22,780 --> 00:57:27,660
In the pre-internet age, he wanted to put something out that would have incredible universal
1000
00:57:27,660 --> 00:57:29,980
application.
1001
00:57:29,980 --> 00:57:35,580
So the seven volumes, which divide the aspects of piano technique into various important
1002
00:57:35,580 --> 00:57:38,300
areas, also have text in four languages.
1003
00:57:38,300 --> 00:57:43,260
I believe let's see English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
1004
00:57:43,260 --> 00:57:47,120
So that they can be used pretty universally around the world.
1005
00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:50,900
They came out in 1929, shortly before the Great Depression hit.
1006
00:57:50,900 --> 00:57:52,460
They were expensive books.
1007
00:57:52,460 --> 00:57:57,220
I think they were priced at $10 a volume, which is well beyond the range of most people's
1008
00:57:57,220 --> 00:58:00,300
ability at that time.
1009
00:58:00,300 --> 00:58:04,260
After the depression hit, they just went out of print pretty quickly, which is a great
1010
00:58:04,260 --> 00:58:09,580
chain because it's the work of a master pedagogue.
1011
00:58:09,580 --> 00:58:17,140
Volume one starts from, or I guess I should say that series of those books basically takes
1012
00:58:17,140 --> 00:58:20,280
the approach of from small to large.
1013
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:23,620
From the smallest aspects of piano technique to the largest.
1014
00:58:23,620 --> 00:58:28,980
So starting with volume one is mostly devoted to exercises that help extend the reach of
1015
00:58:28,980 --> 00:58:33,700
the hands and the flexibility of the muscles.
1016
00:58:33,700 --> 00:58:38,620
And it has all kinds of intriguing exercises by Honas himself, by Alfred Courtauld, by
1017
00:58:38,620 --> 00:58:45,220
Busoni, by Joseph Levine, an incredible stretching exercise by Joseph Levine.
1018
00:58:45,220 --> 00:58:50,220
These are great, great exercises by great, great thinkers on the pianistic art.
1019
00:58:50,220 --> 00:58:55,940
Volume two devotes itself to the study of scales and all sorts of permutations.
1020
00:58:55,940 --> 00:58:57,300
Volume three is arpeggios.
1021
00:58:57,300 --> 00:59:03,540
Volume four is about the art of playing double notes, whether it's double seconds, thirds,
1022
00:59:03,540 --> 00:59:05,860
fourths, sixths.
1023
00:59:05,860 --> 00:59:11,860
And volume five is to go to chords and octaves and volume six about other musical concepts
1024
00:59:11,860 --> 00:59:16,900
associated with the piano, including the longest, most useful chapter ever written on the art
1025
00:59:16,900 --> 00:59:19,740
of pedaling the piano that I've ever seen.
1026
00:59:19,740 --> 00:59:22,580
They're sort of like must haves.
1027
00:59:22,580 --> 00:59:29,060
And at the time those first two volumes were republished, none of it was available on IMSLP.
1028
00:59:29,060 --> 00:59:31,260
Now the whole thing is on IMSLP.
1029
00:59:31,260 --> 00:59:32,620
See it for free.
1030
00:59:32,620 --> 00:59:37,660
So I send it to my students all the time and I try to grill them on this and that.
1031
00:59:37,660 --> 00:59:39,420
But it's not just the exercises.
1032
00:59:39,420 --> 00:59:46,780
It's also after these exercises and suggestions for practice, then Honas puts examples from
1033
00:59:46,780 --> 00:59:51,020
the classical piano repertoire, where it's used.
1034
00:59:51,020 --> 00:59:56,420
So talking about playing double thirds, he's got a lot of scales with various fingerings
1035
00:59:56,420 --> 00:59:58,180
and so forth in double thirds.
1036
00:59:58,180 --> 01:00:03,460
And then he's got a few excerpts from of course the Chopin etude, but also other parts of
1037
01:00:03,460 --> 01:00:10,300
other pieces, say concertos or sans-sans where there's passage work like that, or music of
1038
01:00:10,300 --> 01:00:15,900
Brahms or Mendelssohn might have this aspect or that aspect or that aspect.
1039
01:00:15,900 --> 01:00:19,900
And it helps integrate your understanding of you know, you're not just practicing exercise
1040
01:00:19,900 --> 01:00:21,100
just to do an exercise.
1041
01:00:21,100 --> 01:00:26,100
You're acquiring the skill to be able to play that kind of piece.
1042
01:00:26,100 --> 01:00:33,140
So it's fantastically useful stuff.
1043
01:00:33,140 --> 01:00:39,020
That influenced my own pedagogy to a great degree because I thought, well, here's one
1044
01:00:39,020 --> 01:00:43,980
of the greatest teachers of the 20th century who left behind this great, great record of
1045
01:00:43,980 --> 01:00:46,820
just what he thought was important.
1046
01:00:46,820 --> 01:00:50,380
And it was kind of amazing to be in Reyes' house and she opened up her old vimes that
1047
01:00:50,380 --> 01:00:55,900
she used when she was 13 years old and studying with a man in New York City and showing me
1048
01:00:55,900 --> 01:00:57,100
the circles that he made.
1049
01:00:57,100 --> 01:00:59,620
Well, this one is not for small hands.
1050
01:00:59,620 --> 01:01:02,420
This one will help extend this, you know, whatever.
1051
01:01:02,420 --> 01:01:06,060
And I saw that, you know, these books are very, very large.
1052
01:01:06,060 --> 01:01:09,180
She didn't intend for anybody to go through every single part of it.
1053
01:01:09,180 --> 01:01:12,180
He just pick and choose, you know, this one, this one, this one, this one.
1054
01:01:12,180 --> 01:01:15,900
He wanted to have a great resource as a teacher.
1055
01:01:15,900 --> 01:01:17,080
And that's what it is for me.
1056
01:01:17,080 --> 01:01:20,780
It's a great, great resource for me as a teacher as well.
1057
01:01:20,780 --> 01:01:27,940
You have the series of School of Virtuosity titled School of Virtuosity on Tone Bass explaining
1058
01:01:27,940 --> 01:01:30,180
Honest technique, right?
1059
01:01:30,180 --> 01:01:35,420
Or rather, it's not just a technique, it's really book itself with like a really the
1060
01:01:35,420 --> 01:01:37,380
resource for pianists.
1061
01:01:37,380 --> 01:01:42,180
And then I'm not part of Tone Bass, so I'm not promoting anything.
1062
01:01:42,180 --> 01:01:45,300
But yeah.
1063
01:01:45,300 --> 01:01:54,060
So, so these seven courses, seven video series, you are explaining about his book, basically.
1064
01:01:54,060 --> 01:01:59,220
That's sort of explaining about his organization of all that material, but then demonstrating
1065
01:01:59,220 --> 01:02:03,020
as well, you know, so it's it's good to have somebody showing, you know, because a Tone
1066
01:02:03,020 --> 01:02:05,140
Bass has the camera like above the keyboard.
1067
01:02:05,140 --> 01:02:09,420
So you can see my hands, you know, showing, say, for example, the stretch marks, this
1068
01:02:09,420 --> 01:02:13,900
is one where you play octaves is one three and then silently substitute the second finger
1069
01:02:13,900 --> 01:02:18,740
so you can stretch this particular muscle or something like that.
1070
01:02:18,740 --> 01:02:22,180
So just sort of demonstrating a good or proper way to do it.
1071
01:02:22,180 --> 01:02:26,760
But then those excerpts that I mentioned, you know, some of those show that, you know,
1072
01:02:26,760 --> 01:02:28,780
why would you want to do that?
1073
01:02:28,780 --> 01:02:32,420
And what's the idea behind all of this?
1074
01:02:32,420 --> 01:02:33,420
There's so much to it.
1075
01:02:33,420 --> 01:02:41,780
I mean, you know, say to play an octave passage from, let's say, Liszt's B minor sonata,
1076
01:02:41,780 --> 01:02:49,100
you know, to discuss all of that would be first to practice the passage with the thumb
1077
01:02:49,100 --> 01:02:53,860
alone with a very loose wrist to promote the relaxation of the hand.
1078
01:02:53,860 --> 01:02:58,300
Then for accuracy, you probably want to make sure are using just fifth finger, fourth finger,
1079
01:02:58,300 --> 01:02:59,300
third finger.
1080
01:02:59,300 --> 01:03:03,100
What is the fingerings of some of the outer parts, the aspect of up and down with the
1081
01:03:03,100 --> 01:03:07,420
wrist moving in and out of the keyboard, all this.
1082
01:03:07,420 --> 01:03:12,980
Would you want to transpose that exercise, for example, to get maximum impact out of
1083
01:03:12,980 --> 01:03:13,980
it?
1084
01:03:13,980 --> 01:03:18,100
Do you want to practice legato, staccato?
1085
01:03:18,100 --> 01:03:19,100
I don't know.
1086
01:03:19,100 --> 01:03:23,780
Just all sorts of variation possibilities there which are going to improve your piano
1087
01:03:23,780 --> 01:03:25,020
technique.
1088
01:03:25,020 --> 01:03:29,540
And tone bass is designed for both professionals and amateurs.
1089
01:03:29,540 --> 01:03:34,460
I mean, amateur players, I think, like having this kind of like inside scoop on how do professional
1090
01:03:34,460 --> 01:03:36,220
pianists really prepare something.
1091
01:03:36,220 --> 01:03:38,780
And they learn a lot from that.
1092
01:03:38,780 --> 01:03:44,340
But I've heard some awfully good amateur players also who benefit from this kind of thing.
1093
01:03:44,340 --> 01:03:49,740
And I think all of it helps to promote the art of piano playing, which frankly, these
1094
01:03:49,740 --> 01:03:56,840
days, you know, we've come down from the great high long ago of the 1920s, 30s, 40s when
1095
01:03:56,840 --> 01:04:07,660
everybody took piano lessons to a time now when everybody takes guitar.
1096
01:04:07,660 --> 01:04:08,660
That's a shame.
1097
01:04:08,660 --> 01:04:14,420
I mean, the piano is a marvelous, magical instrument with not only affords us many,
1098
01:04:14,420 --> 01:04:20,420
many hours of sonic joy, but there's still something so wonderfully gathering about a
1099
01:04:20,420 --> 01:04:25,340
piano that everyone can stand around and admire and talk and contribute.
1100
01:04:25,340 --> 01:04:32,300
And that's how it was in my home, particularly at holiday time, you know, really around the
1101
01:04:32,300 --> 01:04:36,540
piano and sing things, you know, it's a very American thing to do.
1102
01:04:36,540 --> 01:04:41,420
Well, but that's actually the start of anyone's journey.
1103
01:04:41,420 --> 01:04:47,180
So I think these days because I'm teaching young children to sometimes that's something
1104
01:04:47,180 --> 01:04:53,100
missing from home because, you know, anyway, but I'm just curious.
1105
01:04:53,100 --> 01:04:57,420
So I think you mentioned probably in tone based video because I watched a little bit
1106
01:04:57,420 --> 01:05:03,260
because I was so curious about Alberto Hones work and I really want to check out the book.
1107
01:05:03,260 --> 01:05:07,780
I'm glad because I was about to buy the book on Amazon, but you can do it.
1108
01:05:07,780 --> 01:05:11,660
You can get it for free on IMSLP.
1109
01:05:11,660 --> 01:05:16,580
You know, before it was on IMSLP, of course, I wanted to I'm working on that edition of
1110
01:05:16,580 --> 01:05:17,580
it.
1111
01:05:17,580 --> 01:05:23,300
I wanted to acquire a set and it took took about a year and a half and about a thousand
1112
01:05:23,300 --> 01:05:25,300
dollars to get to get a set together.
1113
01:05:25,300 --> 01:05:26,300
It's not easy.
1114
01:05:26,300 --> 01:05:27,300
Yeah.
1115
01:05:27,300 --> 01:05:28,300
Yeah.
1116
01:05:28,300 --> 01:05:31,980
But anyway, in the video, you said, you know, you emphasize the importance of building a
1117
01:05:31,980 --> 01:05:38,500
solid technique foundation that is developing piano technique is not just a phase, but ongoing
1118
01:05:38,500 --> 01:05:39,500
lifelong process.
1119
01:05:39,500 --> 01:05:40,500
Right.
1120
01:05:40,500 --> 01:05:45,420
And how do you see this continuous development of strong technical foundation continuing
1121
01:05:45,420 --> 01:05:48,700
to a pianist's growth and evolution as an artist?
1122
01:05:48,700 --> 01:05:52,820
Well, I mean, there's there's always something new under the sun.
1123
01:05:52,820 --> 01:05:53,820
Right.
1124
01:05:53,820 --> 01:05:59,220
So if I really want to drive myself crazy, I'll open up my volume of those Ligeti etudes
1125
01:05:59,220 --> 01:06:06,580
and start practicing some of those because I still recall the first time someone came,
1126
01:06:06,580 --> 01:06:09,220
a student came to my apartment to play some of those for me.
1127
01:06:09,220 --> 01:06:14,340
And I recalled thinking, thank God, I'm not under the age of 30 and I have to learn these
1128
01:06:14,340 --> 01:06:15,340
for competitions.
1129
01:06:15,340 --> 01:06:20,980
It would be just flabbergasted, you know, by then.
1130
01:06:20,980 --> 01:06:29,420
You know, I had one specific experience which sort of told me that piano technique never
1131
01:06:29,420 --> 01:06:30,420
really stops.
1132
01:06:30,420 --> 01:06:33,900
And that was a recital in Japan.
1133
01:06:33,900 --> 01:06:40,100
I think and I was I really had to play some Scarlatti and I love Scarlatti, you know,
1134
01:06:40,100 --> 01:06:43,100
but there was one sonata I thought, oh, I really want to play this thing.
1135
01:06:43,100 --> 01:06:44,980
It's nice, nice opening.
1136
01:06:44,980 --> 01:06:49,740
And I started practicing it and I realized it had extended passages of repeated notes,
1137
01:06:49,740 --> 01:06:52,420
fast repeated notes in the left hand.
1138
01:06:52,420 --> 01:06:54,080
I had never done that.
1139
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:56,620
I had never played repeated notes in my left hand.
1140
01:06:56,620 --> 01:07:00,140
And I had to spend weeks developing the technique to be able to play it.
1141
01:07:00,140 --> 01:07:03,340
I still don't really have that technique to play it.
1142
01:07:03,340 --> 01:07:09,820
But if I was going to play that piece, I just had to train my fingers to be able to do that.
1143
01:07:09,820 --> 01:07:13,740
And I remember that was like the first time in maybe a few decades that I thought, here's
1144
01:07:13,740 --> 01:07:17,540
something I really don't know how to do.
1145
01:07:17,540 --> 01:07:20,260
And I have to teach myself how to do it.
1146
01:07:20,260 --> 01:07:25,260
There's always going to be something.
1147
01:07:25,260 --> 01:07:44,580
I think.
1148
01:07:44,580 --> 01:08:08,420
Another amazing gift you have is improvisation.
1149
01:08:08,420 --> 01:08:14,860
And you sent me the link of Meet the Mets, Rhapsody in Orange and Blue.
1150
01:08:14,860 --> 01:08:16,780
Are you a Mets fan?
1151
01:08:16,780 --> 01:08:17,780
I am a Mets fan.
1152
01:08:17,780 --> 01:08:19,260
Yes, I've been a Mets fan.
1153
01:08:19,260 --> 01:08:22,220
Well, I'm a lifelong baseball fan.
1154
01:08:22,220 --> 01:08:25,900
To grow up in Baltimore was to be a Baltimore Orioles fan.
1155
01:08:25,900 --> 01:08:31,940
And then when I went to college, I was a very huge Yankees fan for many, many years.
1156
01:08:31,940 --> 01:08:37,420
But that came to an end when I moved to Canada and I started to spend a lot more time in
1157
01:08:37,420 --> 01:08:38,420
Japan.
1158
01:08:38,420 --> 01:08:43,420
I became crazy about the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka.
1159
01:08:43,420 --> 01:08:45,420
In fact, you're my enemy.
1160
01:08:45,420 --> 01:08:47,420
I'm a Giants fan.
1161
01:08:47,420 --> 01:08:55,260
Oh, Japan, they say anti-anti-anti-giants, you know, anti-giant.
1162
01:08:55,260 --> 01:09:02,740
Your friend of mine, my friend, sent me this is a Kanji, Hanshin Tigers Kanji drill, Kanji
1163
01:09:02,740 --> 01:09:04,060
drill.
1164
01:09:04,060 --> 01:09:07,900
And the exercises are based on baseball scenarios.
1165
01:09:07,900 --> 01:09:10,740
Oh my goodness, how adorable.
1166
01:09:10,740 --> 01:09:11,740
How adorable.
1167
01:09:11,740 --> 01:09:12,740
It is rather adorable.
1168
01:09:12,740 --> 01:09:14,380
I've got to work on that.
1169
01:09:14,380 --> 01:09:16,940
So that became the baseball thing for a long, long time.
1170
01:09:16,940 --> 01:09:24,260
But then when I joined the faculty at Temple, I was living in Philadelphia and I have to,
1171
01:09:24,260 --> 01:09:28,180
to be honest, I just don't have any affection for the Philadelphia Phillies.
1172
01:09:28,180 --> 01:09:30,040
But I always loved New York.
1173
01:09:30,040 --> 01:09:35,580
I'm not crazy about the Yankees having moved to a new Yankee stadium.
1174
01:09:35,580 --> 01:09:40,020
And anyway, I started rooting for the Mets.
1175
01:09:40,020 --> 01:09:43,740
And at some point, a friend of my challenge me says, you know, they have that theme song
1176
01:09:43,740 --> 01:09:44,740
is really catchy.
1177
01:09:44,740 --> 01:09:45,740
You should do something with that.
1178
01:09:45,740 --> 01:09:46,740
I said, oh, come on.
1179
01:09:46,740 --> 01:09:49,660
You know, but at some point, I don't know, I did it as a joke.
1180
01:09:49,660 --> 01:09:54,740
You know, I started to write this, this, this crazy arrangement of meet the Mets.
1181
01:09:54,740 --> 01:09:56,040
And then, okay.
1182
01:09:56,040 --> 01:10:01,500
So I made a video of it and the thing went kind of viral and I ended up playing it at
1183
01:10:01,500 --> 01:10:05,500
Citi Field a couple of times for their, when they had the pride night.
1184
01:10:05,500 --> 01:10:12,180
I played the big Yamaha under the Jumbotron, which is great fun.
1185
01:10:12,180 --> 01:10:15,900
I mean, I love baseball and I always have, it was always in our house.
1186
01:10:15,900 --> 01:10:16,980
Everybody loved baseball.
1187
01:10:16,980 --> 01:10:20,980
My grandmother particularly was the big baseball nut.
1188
01:10:20,980 --> 01:10:24,860
So it's kind of, kind of fun, but that's not an improvisation.
1189
01:10:24,860 --> 01:10:26,740
I'm really not able to improvise.
1190
01:10:26,740 --> 01:10:28,460
That's a jazz skill.
1191
01:10:28,460 --> 01:10:30,420
But I have composed a bit.
1192
01:10:30,420 --> 01:10:35,540
When I was getting my doctoral degree, I wrote, I wrote a song cycle and a set of variations
1193
01:10:35,540 --> 01:10:38,140
for violin and some piano pieces.
1194
01:10:38,140 --> 01:10:42,820
And I've lost my interest in composing, unfortunately.
1195
01:10:42,820 --> 01:10:43,820
It's hard to do.
1196
01:10:43,820 --> 01:10:46,980
It takes up a lot of time and you have to be really inspired.
1197
01:10:46,980 --> 01:10:49,460
But I'm glad I wrote those pieces.
1198
01:10:49,460 --> 01:10:53,620
And sometimes I do play my own music from time to time.
1199
01:10:53,620 --> 01:10:58,260
And I know several very accomplished pianists who really admire that meet the mess thing.
1200
01:10:58,260 --> 01:11:00,260
I think I'm going to have to, I didn't write it down.
1201
01:11:00,260 --> 01:11:02,140
I'm going to have to notate it down.
1202
01:11:02,140 --> 01:11:03,140
Yeah.
1203
01:11:03,140 --> 01:11:07,660
Transcription or arrangement are always fun because it's somewhere between the composition
1204
01:11:07,660 --> 01:11:08,660
and improvisation.
1205
01:11:08,660 --> 01:11:11,180
Right, right, right.
1206
01:11:11,180 --> 01:11:12,180
It's a very catchy tune.
1207
01:11:12,180 --> 01:11:13,180
You know, what can I say?
1208
01:11:13,180 --> 01:11:18,180
And you get to, it's got that part where you have to, you hear the sound of the crack of
1209
01:11:18,180 --> 01:11:19,180
the bat.
1210
01:11:19,180 --> 01:11:20,300
So you get to hit the piano too.
1211
01:11:20,300 --> 01:11:21,300
I know.
1212
01:11:21,300 --> 01:11:22,300
I saw it.
1213
01:11:22,300 --> 01:11:23,300
It's a brilliant arrangement.
1214
01:11:23,300 --> 01:11:25,060
I enjoyed it so much.
1215
01:11:25,060 --> 01:11:30,700
And then some of the octaves and chords and oh, they are really, really difficult to do.
1216
01:11:30,700 --> 01:11:33,340
Brilliant, brilliant arrangement.
1217
01:11:33,340 --> 01:11:34,660
I love it.
1218
01:11:34,660 --> 01:11:39,660
You have been teaching for as long as you have been a performing artist, I'm sure.
1219
01:11:39,660 --> 01:11:45,100
And then, you know, as someone who has taught at prestigious institutions like the Manhattan
1220
01:11:45,100 --> 01:11:51,020
School of Music, the University of British Columbia and Temple University currently,
1221
01:11:51,020 --> 01:11:57,220
what have you found to be the most rewarding aspect of shaping the next generation of pianists?
1222
01:11:57,220 --> 01:12:04,900
I think the best reward that you get from doing that kind of teaching is you acquire
1223
01:12:04,900 --> 01:12:14,660
a kind of perspective, which includes hope because you're touching people.
1224
01:12:14,660 --> 01:12:20,820
And it's funny in the fullness of time, how many years I've now taught, I certainly had
1225
01:12:20,820 --> 01:12:26,780
students who I thought were just about to just embark on huge major important careers
1226
01:12:26,780 --> 01:12:27,780
and didn't.
1227
01:12:27,780 --> 01:12:33,420
I also had students that I really didn't really assess their talent levels very high and they
1228
01:12:33,420 --> 01:12:36,540
went on to do significant things in music.
1229
01:12:36,540 --> 01:12:39,940
You're always surprised by what the end result of things is.
1230
01:12:39,940 --> 01:12:46,980
And you sort of learn that the human soul or the creative spirit takes an awfully long
1231
01:12:46,980 --> 01:12:47,980
time to gestate.
1232
01:12:47,980 --> 01:12:51,340
It doesn't happen quickly by any means.
1233
01:12:51,340 --> 01:12:55,900
And maybe I should have intuited that earlier because I certainly when I was finishing up
1234
01:12:55,900 --> 01:13:02,700
Juilliard, I was studying with Rudolf Frickushny, a very great teacher, a wonderful man.
1235
01:13:02,700 --> 01:13:07,660
And at the time I got out of school and I was entering piano competitions, I played
1236
01:13:07,660 --> 01:13:12,620
repertoire that I had studied with him, including Czech music of Martinu and Janáček that
1237
01:13:12,620 --> 01:13:14,220
he played a lot.
1238
01:13:14,220 --> 01:13:17,300
And people complimented me and said, oh, you play just like Frickushny.
1239
01:13:17,300 --> 01:13:18,740
That's a great compliment.
1240
01:13:18,740 --> 01:13:22,060
But the problem is I'm not Rudolf Frickushny.
1241
01:13:22,060 --> 01:13:23,260
I'm Sarah Davis Pugner.
1242
01:13:23,260 --> 01:13:24,860
I wasn't playing even that.
1243
01:13:24,860 --> 01:13:28,420
I was playing the music well, but I wasn't playing it like me.
1244
01:13:28,420 --> 01:13:32,020
It takes an awfully long time to play like yourself.
1245
01:13:32,020 --> 01:13:35,180
And at a certain point I stopped playing that repertoire and just later decided that I'm
1246
01:13:35,180 --> 01:13:39,020
going to pick that up later when I know what I want to do with it.
1247
01:13:39,020 --> 01:13:42,100
And I'm sure Rudy would have said that to me.
1248
01:13:42,100 --> 01:13:46,540
Actually he had a famous quote he used to say that you walk in your own way, you play
1249
01:13:46,540 --> 01:13:48,460
the piano in your own way.
1250
01:13:48,460 --> 01:13:51,060
It's very, very true.
1251
01:13:51,060 --> 01:14:00,760
But in any case, as a teacher, I think I always wanted zealously to give my students all these
1252
01:14:00,760 --> 01:14:06,960
things that Mr. Reyes and Mr. Frickushny and several others had given me in terms of nurturing.
1253
01:14:06,960 --> 01:14:10,320
Those teachers were like parents to me.
1254
01:14:10,320 --> 01:14:11,320
They really took me in hand.
1255
01:14:11,320 --> 01:14:18,620
And as long as I was devoted and worked hard, they would give me as good as I gave also.
1256
01:14:18,620 --> 01:14:25,460
And so that was my sense of what the teacher-student relationship is really like.
1257
01:14:25,460 --> 01:14:29,940
I was a little surprised in my first teaching position that it turned out not necessarily
1258
01:14:29,940 --> 01:14:30,940
be the case.
1259
01:14:30,940 --> 01:14:35,460
There were some students who were very close to me and we forged quick bonds and others
1260
01:14:35,460 --> 01:14:40,820
who were just casual and not much came of it.
1261
01:14:40,820 --> 01:14:43,860
And in a sense, they're not family.
1262
01:14:43,860 --> 01:14:46,960
We are people who sort of ships passing in the night.
1263
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:54,060
But some of it is destined to be life changing and some of it, it's not.
1264
01:14:54,060 --> 01:14:59,220
You learn to sort of give up the control in that situation.
1265
01:14:59,220 --> 01:15:01,380
The other party is responsible with themselves.
1266
01:15:01,380 --> 01:15:05,900
The best thing you can do is give them the tools.
1267
01:15:05,900 --> 01:15:11,260
And if they take the tools and you know there are good tools, they can do something with it.
1268
01:15:11,260 --> 01:15:16,020
And I certainly have plenty of students tell me years later how grateful they were to me
1269
01:15:16,020 --> 01:15:19,860
for this lesson or that lesson.
1270
01:15:19,860 --> 01:15:27,060
Having said that, I remember one summer, I think it was 1978, I was having kind of a
1271
01:15:27,060 --> 01:15:29,420
technical crisis in my playing.
1272
01:15:29,420 --> 01:15:31,540
I was 18 at the time.
1273
01:15:31,540 --> 01:15:37,980
And I went for a summer class in Victoria, British Columbia, where one of the teachers
1274
01:15:37,980 --> 01:15:44,060
was a man named William Aide, who was the head of piano at University of Toronto.
1275
01:15:44,060 --> 01:15:50,580
But more importantly, he was a co-student with Glenn Gould of a great pedagogue named
1276
01:15:50,580 --> 01:15:53,060
Alberto Guerrero.
1277
01:15:53,060 --> 01:16:00,100
And Bill Aide just looks, he's still around, Bill Aide looks like a piano prof.
1278
01:16:00,100 --> 01:16:04,660
If you have piano prof in the Webster's Dictionary, there's a picture of Bill with his bald head
1279
01:16:04,660 --> 01:16:06,060
and his thick glasses.
1280
01:16:06,060 --> 01:16:08,820
And he looks like a piano professor.
1281
01:16:08,820 --> 01:16:13,940
Bill Aide walked on stage as the piano prof, and we weren't really expecting one night,
1282
01:16:13,940 --> 01:16:17,420
expecting very much from him the night he walked on stage and played Campanella faster
1283
01:16:17,420 --> 01:16:20,220
than any human being had ever done it.
1284
01:16:20,220 --> 01:16:23,800
I couldn't quite believe it, what I was seeing and hearing at that time.
1285
01:16:23,800 --> 01:16:27,020
He was a great, great teacher of technique.
1286
01:16:27,020 --> 01:16:31,540
And he helped me reshape even the way that I held my fingers so that I could move quickly
1287
01:16:31,540 --> 01:16:33,540
and acquire great, great dexterity.
1288
01:16:33,540 --> 01:16:35,900
He was a great, great teacher.
1289
01:16:35,900 --> 01:16:40,100
And for those six weeks that I worked with him that summer, I spent many, many hours
1290
01:16:40,100 --> 01:16:44,980
actually sometimes even sitting on the floor with my hands elevated to force my fingers
1291
01:16:44,980 --> 01:16:53,140
to exaggerate and stretch, you know, sort of get them to be more dexterous, doing these
1292
01:16:53,140 --> 01:16:59,380
sometimes slow, sometimes fast kind of exercises, and I didn't just do exercises he wrote out,
1293
01:16:59,380 --> 01:17:03,620
I fashioned my own out of them and I made a kind of a catalog of what was a good way
1294
01:17:03,620 --> 01:17:05,500
to practice this way.
1295
01:17:05,500 --> 01:17:09,460
You know, decades later I said to Bill something about how grateful I was for all that work
1296
01:17:09,460 --> 01:17:15,740
that summer, and I said, you must have influenced so many hundreds of pianists who did those
1297
01:17:15,740 --> 01:17:16,740
exercises.
1298
01:17:16,740 --> 01:17:22,060
And he says, no, he says, you were the only one who really did it that much.
1299
01:17:22,060 --> 01:17:26,420
I was stunned, you know, to hear him say that.
1300
01:17:26,420 --> 01:17:32,260
But I had that experience myself of spending time with students and showing them meticulously
1301
01:17:32,260 --> 01:17:36,780
all kinds of ways to practice and then a week or two later asking them how to work out and
1302
01:17:36,780 --> 01:17:39,060
say, I didn't like it too much.
1303
01:17:39,060 --> 01:17:47,540
You know, you have to let people go on their own journey of life and realize that some
1304
01:17:47,540 --> 01:17:54,780
will place great value on your wisdom and advice and others have a different way.
1305
01:17:54,780 --> 01:17:59,140
They just either they don't see it, they don't want to see it or they don't really quite
1306
01:17:59,140 --> 01:18:03,620
understand the value of what it is that you're giving them or frankly, or it doesn't work
1307
01:18:03,620 --> 01:18:04,620
for them.
1308
01:18:04,620 --> 01:18:09,300
So anyway, you asked me for sort of a positive statement about all the teaching and it sounds
1309
01:18:09,300 --> 01:18:13,580
like I'm making a negative statement, but not at all.
1310
01:18:13,580 --> 01:18:19,460
It's more like as a young teacher, I really felt like, well, I know all this stuff and
1311
01:18:19,460 --> 01:18:23,700
I tell people this stuff that I'm going to have this incredible class of brilliant pianists
1312
01:18:23,700 --> 01:18:27,460
like Liszt or Busoni and they're going to transform the world.
1313
01:18:27,460 --> 01:18:31,300
Well, you learn to give up controlling other human beings.
1314
01:18:31,300 --> 01:18:36,180
And you know, and that's an important lesson to learn for sure.
1315
01:18:36,180 --> 01:18:41,580
But then how much more pride do you take in the accomplishments of students who do take
1316
01:18:41,580 --> 01:18:44,660
what you give them and go their own way with it?
1317
01:18:44,660 --> 01:18:49,820
And I'm thinking of three in particular who none of whom is a professional pianist.
1318
01:18:49,820 --> 01:18:50,820
They're all composers.
1319
01:18:50,820 --> 01:18:57,980
Well, tremendous composers and I play their works in concert because they're great composers.
1320
01:18:57,980 --> 01:19:06,180
I remember one of them is a Canadian composer, young fellow and called me up one day says,
1321
01:19:06,180 --> 01:19:11,940
Dr. B, can I stop practicing Hohenhausen?
1322
01:19:11,940 --> 01:19:14,100
Well, I was so impressed by what you showed me.
1323
01:19:14,100 --> 01:19:15,780
I was doing that for like 12 hours.
1324
01:19:15,780 --> 01:19:17,820
My hands really hurt now.
1325
01:19:17,820 --> 01:19:23,020
Well, that's some dedication there.
1326
01:19:23,020 --> 01:19:25,820
I said to him, you're a composer.
1327
01:19:25,820 --> 01:19:26,820
Stop practicing.
1328
01:19:26,820 --> 01:19:36,860
I guess the point being, you know, I mean, there was there was those who became composers.
1329
01:19:36,860 --> 01:19:38,660
It was one that went into music technology.
1330
01:19:38,660 --> 01:19:42,460
There was one who became the director of the US Marine Corps Band.
1331
01:19:42,460 --> 01:19:50,220
You know, people have their own artistic muses and it might not be aligned with yours, but
1332
01:19:50,220 --> 01:19:52,460
it's wonderful to see them follow it.
1333
01:19:52,460 --> 01:19:57,140
So well, sounds like you are raising creative, innovative people.
1334
01:19:57,140 --> 01:20:04,500
Well, in a way, I don't know that's that's necessarily such a totally positive thing
1335
01:20:04,500 --> 01:20:05,900
to say.
1336
01:20:05,900 --> 01:20:10,860
This has happened so many times to me that some student I've been teaching for a few
1337
01:20:10,860 --> 01:20:15,020
years, whether it's two years or even four years, undergrad student, it's usually in
1338
01:20:15,020 --> 01:20:22,020
the last or the next to last piano lesson that they say, Dr. B, what do I do now?
1339
01:20:22,020 --> 01:20:29,380
We start by saying, find time to ask me.
1340
01:20:29,380 --> 01:20:33,940
And I the first few times that happened, I was really, really buffaloed and I felt inadequate
1341
01:20:33,940 --> 01:20:37,100
because it's like I should be able to tell them, well, see, you enter this competition
1342
01:20:37,100 --> 01:20:41,900
that you write to this person, you do this, this like directed micromanage their life
1343
01:20:41,900 --> 01:20:43,500
and career.
1344
01:20:43,500 --> 01:20:49,060
But it was when I gave up on that that I came up with far, far better advice, you know,
1345
01:20:49,060 --> 01:20:52,860
because a few of them had said to me, a few students from time to time said to me, you
1346
01:20:52,860 --> 01:20:57,220
know, I think I'm going to teach some kids for a little while and just put some money
1347
01:20:57,220 --> 01:21:00,580
away and then maybe I'll go to business school or something like that.
1348
01:21:00,580 --> 01:21:03,180
Is there concerned about supporting themselves?
1349
01:21:03,180 --> 01:21:07,940
I mean, OK, reasonable enough.
1350
01:21:07,940 --> 01:21:13,260
But in general, when those students ask me about what do I do in the future, I say to
1351
01:21:13,260 --> 01:21:16,820
them, please look at this world around you.
1352
01:21:16,820 --> 01:21:25,740
Are we in need of more dentists, more accountants, more lawyers, more bankers, investment Wall
1353
01:21:25,740 --> 01:21:37,340
Street types, you know, delivery men, I don't know, shopkeepers, blah, blah, blah.
1354
01:21:37,340 --> 01:21:47,340
In this world, if even just 10 percent more human beings pursued creative arts as their
1355
01:21:47,340 --> 01:21:57,980
work, if they were painters, dancers, comedians, skateboarders, jugglers, storytellers, fabric
1356
01:21:57,980 --> 01:22:04,200
makers, think about just any way in which the human spirit can create something of beauty
1357
01:22:04,200 --> 01:22:06,060
and of intrigue.
1358
01:22:06,060 --> 01:22:12,900
What would this world be like if instead of the coin of money, we measured things in terms
1359
01:22:12,900 --> 01:22:17,580
of the coin of creative donation?
1360
01:22:17,580 --> 01:22:22,100
That is, that we're giving something to the world that makes it a better and happier and
1361
01:22:22,100 --> 01:22:24,460
more delightful place in which to live.
1362
01:22:24,460 --> 01:22:27,020
It really wouldn't take so many people.
1363
01:22:27,020 --> 01:22:31,260
I often say to people also, you know, in a baseball game, typically you'll have 40 to
1364
01:22:31,260 --> 01:22:33,540
50 thousand people cheering.
1365
01:22:33,540 --> 01:22:38,780
If you could get 500 of those people start going to classical concerts once in a while,
1366
01:22:38,780 --> 01:22:41,500
the music business would be in incredible shape.
1367
01:22:41,500 --> 01:22:48,700
Anyway, that's my way to try to tell them that you might have a hard life pursuing,
1368
01:22:48,700 --> 01:22:54,180
you know, a life as a musician, of course, but you're giving something so important and
1369
01:22:54,180 --> 01:22:59,940
so valuable and so self perpetuating that it means so much more than if you just say,
1370
01:22:59,940 --> 01:23:04,300
OK, that was fun, but now I'll get serious.
1371
01:23:04,300 --> 01:23:07,540
The world is not a better place when everybody gets too serious.
1372
01:23:07,540 --> 01:23:10,300
At least that's how I feel.
1373
01:23:10,300 --> 01:23:14,180
Well, you're a wonderful mentor and wonderful teacher.
1374
01:23:14,180 --> 01:23:19,780
I recently watched the promotional video for your autobiographical theater show of pigs
1375
01:23:19,780 --> 01:23:20,780
and pianos.
1376
01:23:20,780 --> 01:23:21,780
Yes.
1377
01:23:21,780 --> 01:23:22,780
Yes.
1378
01:23:22,780 --> 01:23:27,260
So as a transgender artist and advocate, your unique position in the classical music world
1379
01:23:27,260 --> 01:23:32,180
is beautifully portrayed in the show, I'm sure, and which details your coming of age
1380
01:23:32,180 --> 01:23:33,180
story in New York.
1381
01:23:33,180 --> 01:23:34,180
Yes, right.
1382
01:23:34,180 --> 01:23:35,180
Yes.
1383
01:23:35,180 --> 01:23:36,180
Yes.
1384
01:23:36,180 --> 01:23:43,780
So how has do you believe the classical music community has evolved in terms of acceptance
1385
01:23:43,780 --> 01:23:47,700
and visibility for transgender artists?
1386
01:23:47,700 --> 01:23:51,100
I would have to say no, I don't think it's really evolved so very much.
1387
01:23:51,100 --> 01:23:58,980
I'm routinely frustrated by the words of various sponsors and presenters and certainly my dedicated
1388
01:23:58,980 --> 01:24:06,700
agent has put in more than 20 years of hard effort trying to get doors to break open.
1389
01:24:06,700 --> 01:24:14,620
There certainly is some change in view of transgender people, particularly in northern
1390
01:24:14,620 --> 01:24:21,500
sophisticated cities, but if you see the horrific laws being passed that specifically target
1391
01:24:21,500 --> 01:24:28,300
LGBTQ folks all over, particularly the South and the Midwest, in many ways, culturally,
1392
01:24:28,300 --> 01:24:31,260
this country is fighting the Civil War.
1393
01:24:31,260 --> 01:24:38,860
It seems to be dedicated to fighting the Civil War forever and that's just rather maddening.
1394
01:24:38,860 --> 01:24:43,940
That extends into the music business for sure because presenters are afraid of something
1395
01:24:43,940 --> 01:24:50,580
that donors see as either off-putting or as they'll use it as an insult, DEI.
1396
01:24:50,580 --> 01:24:56,420
Right now that's something bad about DEI.
1397
01:24:56,420 --> 01:25:02,420
I was hardened to see Michelle Obama refer to that in her speech last week and say that
1398
01:25:02,420 --> 01:25:08,380
about affirmative action as if there hasn't been affirmative action for people in power
1399
01:25:08,380 --> 01:25:14,180
for the last two to three decades that's been around.
1400
01:25:14,180 --> 01:25:20,220
Now having said all of that, I'm well aware of my position in classical music and that
1401
01:25:20,220 --> 01:25:26,460
to date there's really nobody else doing what I do as a transgender artist.
1402
01:25:26,460 --> 01:25:30,580
Things will probably get better when there are a few more and I think there are more
1403
01:25:30,580 --> 01:25:37,540
pretty much on the horizon at the moment because you just can't keep burying people forever.
1404
01:25:37,540 --> 01:25:39,580
I know that I stand for something.
1405
01:25:39,580 --> 01:25:44,620
I know that when I walk into a concert stage that itself makes a statement.
1406
01:25:44,620 --> 01:25:47,300
I was aware of that when I transitioned as well.
1407
01:25:47,300 --> 01:25:54,020
I didn't realize how direly it would just stop my career cold when I was 37 years old
1408
01:25:54,020 --> 01:25:58,020
that everything would just sort of come to a halt and I would have to go to Canada just
1409
01:25:58,020 --> 01:26:02,100
to get a teaching job.
1410
01:26:02,100 --> 01:26:10,420
But I'm proud that I survived it and I'm aware that I have a kind of a social responsibility
1411
01:26:10,420 --> 01:26:16,020
not to be silent about it but to be very out about it, to be very proud about it, to be
1412
01:26:16,020 --> 01:26:20,340
as tasteful as I can about it, but also to challenge people.
1413
01:26:20,340 --> 01:26:26,460
In the last year particularly when these sort of bathroom bills are going around, I have
1414
01:26:26,460 --> 01:26:29,260
made speeches from the stage.
1415
01:26:29,260 --> 01:26:36,100
Especially after playing a concerto I'll say something to the audience that if they value
1416
01:26:36,100 --> 01:26:40,300
the worth of the music that they've just heard to please value the worth of the musicians
1417
01:26:40,300 --> 01:26:47,260
making it which include people like me and I appreciate your applause.
1418
01:26:47,260 --> 01:26:50,820
Since you like me so much please don't go into the voting booth and strip my civil rights
1419
01:26:50,820 --> 01:26:51,820
away.
1420
01:26:51,820 --> 01:26:54,960
It usually gets a big hand when I say that.
1421
01:26:54,960 --> 01:27:00,460
Of course what people will say publicly and do publicly is often very different than what
1422
01:27:00,460 --> 01:27:04,020
they'll say privately.
1423
01:27:04,020 --> 01:27:10,180
One sad prediction I had at the time of the George Floyd riots and sort of the birth of
1424
01:27:10,180 --> 01:27:15,500
Black Lives Matter when I saw the arts sort of responding to okay well we have to have
1425
01:27:15,500 --> 01:27:18,060
more black representation in the arts.
1426
01:27:18,060 --> 01:27:22,020
I sort of predicted, I said I thought I had bet for two or three seasons they'll have
1427
01:27:22,020 --> 01:27:26,060
lots of black artists and then it'll go right back to the same old thing.
1428
01:27:26,060 --> 01:27:28,940
I sort of feel like I'm seeing that happening.
1429
01:27:28,940 --> 01:27:36,100
There were these Florence Price things, lots of Florence Price.
1430
01:27:36,100 --> 01:27:42,740
The true diversity that could be presented in the concert hall is far larger than what
1431
01:27:42,740 --> 01:27:46,700
these concert presenters can conceive of.
1432
01:27:46,700 --> 01:27:55,460
I realize that I've been doing DEI myself for decades just because I love the diversity
1433
01:27:55,460 --> 01:27:58,260
of art.
1434
01:27:58,260 --> 01:28:02,740
Classical music, if it's just Bach, Mozart and Beethoven you're going to might be tired
1435
01:28:02,740 --> 01:28:09,460
of that after a while.
1436
01:28:09,460 --> 01:28:12,260
The fly in that ointment is always economics.
1437
01:28:12,260 --> 01:28:17,140
What they think is going to sell, what's going to sell a ticket, what's going to sell out
1438
01:28:17,140 --> 01:28:18,140
of house.
1439
01:28:18,140 --> 01:28:23,620
Ironically, what I've learned myself over so many years of playing concerts is that
1440
01:28:23,620 --> 01:28:29,140
you could walk on stage and play an entire program of really hard to listen atonal stuff
1441
01:28:29,140 --> 01:28:34,140
but if you present it in a charming and enlightened and interesting and passionate way and talk
1442
01:28:34,140 --> 01:28:38,660
about the music and what it means and how come you love it so much and listen for this
1443
01:28:38,660 --> 01:28:45,340
and this and this and make it kind of an adventure, everybody will love it.
1444
01:28:45,340 --> 01:28:48,460
I remember this wonderful quote in an obituary.
1445
01:28:48,460 --> 01:28:50,220
I have a bad habit.
1446
01:28:50,220 --> 01:28:53,380
I like to read the obituaries first thing in the morning.
1447
01:28:53,380 --> 01:28:55,900
First of all, to see if anybody I don't like is gone.
1448
01:28:55,900 --> 01:28:57,900
So that's a good day.
1449
01:28:57,900 --> 01:29:06,580
What a way to start a new day.
1450
01:29:06,580 --> 01:29:12,460
But addition by subtraction.
1451
01:29:12,460 --> 01:29:15,100
But no, you see the interesting lives that have been lived.
1452
01:29:15,100 --> 01:29:16,820
So there was a conductor I hadn't heard of.
1453
01:29:16,820 --> 01:29:22,420
His name was Franz Ahlers, A-L-L-E-R-S, and he had a pretty big obit there.
1454
01:29:22,420 --> 01:29:27,020
And he was a major conductor in Europe before the World War, before the Second World War.
1455
01:29:27,020 --> 01:29:33,100
And then of course, like so many European Jews, he fled to the United States.
1456
01:29:33,100 --> 01:29:38,460
And he found his employment primarily conducting in the Broadway pit orchestras, primarily the
1457
01:29:38,460 --> 01:29:41,020
Lerner and Lowe musicals, which he had done.
1458
01:29:41,020 --> 01:29:43,540
And this is great, great music, of course.
1459
01:29:43,540 --> 01:29:50,020
And he was asked, you know, since he had been doing Beethoven and Strauss in Austria, and
1460
01:29:50,020 --> 01:29:55,860
now he's doing Lerner and Lowe in New York City, he had been asked about it.
1461
01:29:55,860 --> 01:29:57,940
Did he feel bad about it or whatever?
1462
01:29:57,940 --> 01:30:01,780
And he said, simply said, there is no first or second rate music.
1463
01:30:01,780 --> 01:30:04,700
There are only first or second rate performances.
1464
01:30:04,700 --> 01:30:07,980
There's so much truth in that statement.
1465
01:30:07,980 --> 01:30:12,020
If you have pride in what you do, if you're convinced of the excellence of what it is
1466
01:30:12,020 --> 01:30:20,660
that you're doing, then you can do a great job or you fail and you don't do a great job.
1467
01:30:20,660 --> 01:30:24,980
So this kind of informs my thinking about so many concerts.
1468
01:30:24,980 --> 01:30:27,600
It hardly even matters really what it is that you're doing.
1469
01:30:27,600 --> 01:30:28,600
Are you doing it well?
1470
01:30:28,600 --> 01:30:31,180
Are you doing it in a way that connects with people?
1471
01:30:31,180 --> 01:30:39,100
Are you doing it in a way that ignites people's creative spark, awakens their passion?
1472
01:30:39,100 --> 01:30:43,460
That's really where the big money is.
1473
01:30:43,460 --> 01:30:47,820
Wow.
1474
01:30:47,820 --> 01:30:57,420
So what advice would you give to young LGBTQ plus musicians who are navigating their own
1475
01:30:57,420 --> 01:31:07,060
journeys in an industry that has historically been less inclusive, although we're trying?
1476
01:31:07,060 --> 01:31:10,260
Well there's always been those folks in the industry, of course.
1477
01:31:10,260 --> 01:31:14,860
Music creative, the creative arts are just full of wonderful LGBTQ folks.
1478
01:31:14,860 --> 01:31:20,540
It's just in the past that it was sort of like it was shielded, it wasn't talked about.
1479
01:31:20,540 --> 01:31:27,140
As one of my ex-managers said to me after he met me, after I'd come out, he said, well,
1480
01:31:27,140 --> 01:31:28,140
it just wasn't done.
1481
01:31:28,140 --> 01:31:34,980
So it was like it was an Emily Post rule or something like that.
1482
01:31:34,980 --> 01:31:41,220
I think there are good and bad aspects to the technological age, of course, as we all
1483
01:31:41,220 --> 01:31:42,880
know with cell phones and so forth.
1484
01:31:42,880 --> 01:31:48,120
But I think young people are just much more connected than ever before and their knowledge
1485
01:31:48,120 --> 01:31:54,440
of the world and acceptance of things that are very different than their understanding
1486
01:31:54,440 --> 01:31:55,980
is huge.
1487
01:31:55,980 --> 01:32:00,700
I mean, I can walk into a classroom pretty much anywhere.
1488
01:32:00,700 --> 01:32:06,180
Nobody's going to give me a second look or a second thought or anything about who I am
1489
01:32:06,180 --> 01:32:07,620
or the fact that I'm trans.
1490
01:32:07,620 --> 01:32:11,820
It just doesn't mean anything to these young people, which is I think it's a very, very
1491
01:32:11,820 --> 01:32:13,900
wonderful thing.
1492
01:32:13,900 --> 01:32:20,260
I guess my tack has been that patience is my best friend in terms of if you live long
1493
01:32:20,260 --> 01:32:25,540
enough the old fuddy-duddies do die off the vine eventually and then they're replaced
1494
01:32:25,540 --> 01:32:32,340
by people who have a very different experience of the world and fresher appreciation of reality.
1495
01:32:32,340 --> 01:32:36,420
I mean, even politically, I would say I think it's the young people who are going to bring
1496
01:32:36,420 --> 01:32:43,020
us into a better era, hopefully at the end of this year.
1497
01:32:43,020 --> 01:32:45,780
So we need our young people.
1498
01:32:45,780 --> 01:32:46,780
We rely on them.
1499
01:32:46,780 --> 01:32:48,160
We need their fresh blood.
1500
01:32:48,160 --> 01:32:49,860
We need their fresh ideas.
1501
01:32:49,860 --> 01:32:53,620
We need their energy and we need their enthusiasm.
1502
01:32:53,620 --> 01:32:55,660
And that's all there.
1503
01:32:55,660 --> 01:33:01,860
The young people that I meet, young musicians I meet, I don't even think they think there's
1504
01:33:01,860 --> 01:33:04,380
a separation between straight and LGBTQ.
1505
01:33:04,380 --> 01:33:07,260
It's all the human race.
1506
01:33:07,260 --> 01:33:11,660
We're all humans, so what's the issue?
1507
01:33:11,660 --> 01:33:14,780
It's sort of like the old stick in the mud.
1508
01:33:14,780 --> 01:33:19,620
I don't want to insult my own dad, but well, poor dad.
1509
01:33:19,620 --> 01:33:24,700
He's a good man, but I'll tell that story.
1510
01:33:24,700 --> 01:33:25,700
I think it was in Vancouver.
1511
01:33:25,700 --> 01:33:28,380
He came for a visit and we walked into a Starbucks.
1512
01:33:28,380 --> 01:33:35,620
Now, my dad was born in, gee, probably 1933 and worked on the railroad as a young man
1513
01:33:35,620 --> 01:33:41,500
and he was a blue collar white guy.
1514
01:33:41,500 --> 01:33:44,900
So I don't know how much he had ever been into Starbucks, but we walked into Starbucks.
1515
01:33:44,900 --> 01:33:46,580
I said, Dad, you want to get some coffee?
1516
01:33:46,580 --> 01:33:47,580
He said, sure.
1517
01:33:47,580 --> 01:33:50,220
We took him into Starbucks and he started shaking.
1518
01:33:50,220 --> 01:33:55,220
He looked up on the board there and he saw these things, these frappuccino things, cappuccino
1519
01:33:55,220 --> 01:34:01,140
things, half whip, no whip, decaf, half calf, whatever.
1520
01:34:01,140 --> 01:34:02,140
He just started shaking.
1521
01:34:02,140 --> 01:34:07,940
He literally was shaking and the baristas, yes, sir, can I help you?
1522
01:34:07,940 --> 01:34:13,340
And he got mad and he said, I want a cup of coffee.
1523
01:34:13,340 --> 01:34:17,180
And I said, Dad, she'll make you a cup of coffee.
1524
01:34:17,180 --> 01:34:18,180
It's OK.
1525
01:34:18,180 --> 01:34:19,180
You don't have to pay attention.
1526
01:34:19,180 --> 01:34:20,180
What's all that stuff?
1527
01:34:20,180 --> 01:34:21,180
He was sort of upset.
1528
01:34:21,180 --> 01:34:30,140
And I tried to talk him down to, you know, you could have what you want and those people
1529
01:34:30,140 --> 01:34:31,780
can have what they want, too.
1530
01:34:31,780 --> 01:34:32,780
It's all good.
1531
01:34:32,780 --> 01:34:33,780
It's OK.
1532
01:34:33,780 --> 01:34:38,100
You don't have to get upset and challenged by that.
1533
01:34:38,100 --> 01:34:41,020
I think that's kind of like the problem.
1534
01:34:41,020 --> 01:34:45,020
The problem folks are the ones looking at the board and just wondering, why has the
1535
01:34:45,020 --> 01:34:47,100
world changed like that?
1536
01:34:47,100 --> 01:34:48,100
It's too much.
1537
01:34:48,100 --> 01:34:49,100
It's too confusing.
1538
01:34:49,100 --> 01:34:50,100
It's too much.
1539
01:34:50,100 --> 01:34:51,100
They can't deal with it.
1540
01:34:51,100 --> 01:34:52,100
No.
1541
01:34:52,100 --> 01:34:54,380
And I don't want to even critique that.
1542
01:34:54,380 --> 01:34:57,260
I mean, like I said, I started this interview mentioning my age.
1543
01:34:57,260 --> 01:34:59,580
I mean, I don't feel old.
1544
01:34:59,580 --> 01:35:04,060
I don't want to think none of us really.
1545
01:35:04,060 --> 01:35:07,580
I think we like the idea of old as revered.
1546
01:35:07,580 --> 01:35:08,580
Wiser.
1547
01:35:08,580 --> 01:35:09,580
Yes, wiser.
1548
01:35:09,580 --> 01:35:10,580
Yes, there we go.
1549
01:35:10,580 --> 01:35:15,260
But old as fuddy duddy and stuck in the mud.
1550
01:35:15,260 --> 01:35:20,100
That's not particularly all that attractive.
1551
01:35:20,100 --> 01:35:26,460
And yet, you know, the world changes with incredible speed and it's very, very hard
1552
01:35:26,460 --> 01:35:27,860
to keep up with things.
1553
01:35:27,860 --> 01:35:33,340
And I know any time I have to use my cell phone, I mean, you know, you see people, right?
1554
01:35:33,340 --> 01:35:35,220
I'm not one of them.
1555
01:35:35,220 --> 01:35:38,540
I'm the person doing it.
1556
01:35:38,540 --> 01:35:43,060
And I'm fine with that.
1557
01:35:43,060 --> 01:35:45,300
I don't want to miss out so much.
1558
01:35:45,300 --> 01:35:48,860
So I hope not.
1559
01:35:48,860 --> 01:35:53,780
Anyway, so that's my diversity story.
1560
01:35:53,780 --> 01:35:54,780
Wow.
1561
01:35:54,780 --> 01:35:55,780
Well, thank you.
1562
01:35:55,780 --> 01:36:00,100
Well, you know, living authentically, especially in the face of challenges, it requires such
1563
01:36:00,100 --> 01:36:08,260
immense energy and courage and can be also but in the end can be the source of joy in
1564
01:36:08,260 --> 01:36:09,260
life.
1565
01:36:09,260 --> 01:36:13,980
So from your performances to your advocacy, I think it really shows.
1566
01:36:13,980 --> 01:36:16,100
So I appreciate you for being here today.
1567
01:36:16,100 --> 01:36:17,100
Really.
1568
01:36:17,100 --> 01:36:18,100
Thank you, Yukimi.
1569
01:36:18,100 --> 01:36:19,100
Thank you so much.
1570
01:36:19,100 --> 01:36:20,100
You're so kind.
1571
01:36:20,100 --> 01:36:22,300
Such a lovely interview.
1572
01:36:22,300 --> 01:36:23,460
What is your next step?
1573
01:36:23,460 --> 01:36:31,940
I believe you are Greenwich House School Music School's inaugural German Dias Memorial Piano
1574
01:36:31,940 --> 01:36:32,940
Chair.
1575
01:36:32,940 --> 01:36:38,780
Yes, this was offered to me, I guess it's going back about eight or nine months ago,
1576
01:36:38,780 --> 01:36:40,740
just right out of the blue.
1577
01:36:40,740 --> 01:36:45,340
Rachel Black, who is the head of Greenwich House Music School in New York City, yes,
1578
01:36:45,340 --> 01:36:54,140
in New York City, yes, sent me an email and Herman Diaz was a very fine pianist, a great
1579
01:36:54,140 --> 01:37:00,420
pedagogue, and he had been the chair of that music department for about 60 years.
1580
01:37:00,420 --> 01:37:02,180
He was a good friend of mine.
1581
01:37:02,180 --> 01:37:09,420
He was a teaching assistant to Claudio Arrao, a good friend of Arrao's also.
1582
01:37:09,420 --> 01:37:16,300
His brother, his older brother, was a very prominent Cuban composer as well.
1583
01:37:16,300 --> 01:37:19,260
Herman was kind of like the royalty of Greenwich House for many, many years.
1584
01:37:19,260 --> 01:37:25,060
He taught a lot of really gifted pianists who went on to find careers and went to, after
1585
01:37:25,060 --> 01:37:31,740
that school, they went to Juilliard and Manass and Boston Conservatory and places like this.
1586
01:37:31,740 --> 01:37:35,780
Anyway, Herman died, I guess, about 10 years ago.
1587
01:37:35,780 --> 01:37:39,860
And Rachel sent me this email and she said, you know, we had this meeting at the piano
1588
01:37:39,860 --> 01:37:46,140
faculty and she said, it's been 10 years since Herman left us and we all agree we need sort
1589
01:37:46,140 --> 01:37:51,620
of a flagship person to be our head of our department and put a face on our department.
1590
01:37:51,620 --> 01:37:55,820
She said, and your name was brought up in Ubersian animals, everybody wanted you.
1591
01:37:55,820 --> 01:37:59,260
I was so touched by that.
1592
01:37:59,260 --> 01:38:05,060
And I thought to myself, I mean, I'm very happy to be teaching at Temple University.
1593
01:38:05,060 --> 01:38:11,420
It's a full-time job, although, you know, I have to be there basically about two days
1594
01:38:11,420 --> 01:38:12,420
a week.
1595
01:38:12,420 --> 01:38:18,580
And I thought, well, you know, I had left New York many, many years before and missed
1596
01:38:18,580 --> 01:38:25,300
it and I said, you know, Alberto Honos used to commute between Philly and New York.
1597
01:38:25,300 --> 01:38:26,900
Is there any reason I can't also?
1598
01:38:26,900 --> 01:38:29,660
And of course, well, first of all, I can't afford Manhattan.
1599
01:38:29,660 --> 01:38:30,660
Nobody can.
1600
01:38:30,660 --> 01:38:35,580
But I found this lovely place in Newark, New Jersey, which is 20 minutes out of Manhattan
1601
01:38:35,580 --> 01:38:38,500
and about 50 minutes north of Philadelphia.
1602
01:38:38,500 --> 01:38:41,940
So it seemed like it was sort of like meant to be.
1603
01:38:41,940 --> 01:38:46,820
And particularly, you know, for the last time, I'm going to mention my age because it sounds
1604
01:38:46,820 --> 01:38:48,220
like I'm consumed with that.
1605
01:38:48,220 --> 01:38:54,820
But I did think to myself, in terms of my pedagogy, what is it that I want to leave
1606
01:38:54,820 --> 01:38:56,860
when it's my time to go?
1607
01:38:56,860 --> 01:38:59,820
And I think Gredish House has this great history.
1608
01:38:59,820 --> 01:39:02,700
Of course, amateur pianists can go there, but professionals as well.
1609
01:39:02,700 --> 01:39:04,260
They have a beautiful concert hall.
1610
01:39:04,260 --> 01:39:05,660
It's a lot of advantages.
1611
01:39:05,660 --> 01:39:09,060
The piano department is probably one of the finest in New York City.
1612
01:39:09,060 --> 01:39:12,380
I mean, some fantastic pianists teaching.
1613
01:39:12,380 --> 01:39:13,380
It's a great environment.
1614
01:39:13,380 --> 01:39:17,460
And I thought, well, this will be a chance to work with very young people again.
1615
01:39:17,460 --> 01:39:21,780
And that's maybe a challenge and that's a little unusual for someone like me to do.
1616
01:39:21,780 --> 01:39:22,780
But why not?
1617
01:39:22,780 --> 01:39:27,900
So, you know, I can see in the future that Gredish House would be, especially since I
1618
01:39:27,900 --> 01:39:32,420
would be not just a teacher, but the head of that department, have a lot of say in what
1619
01:39:32,420 --> 01:39:34,940
is the future of that school.
1620
01:39:34,940 --> 01:39:39,380
The future of that place is terribly important to the city of New York, obviously.
1621
01:39:39,380 --> 01:39:42,780
It's kind of a flagship neighborhood music school.
1622
01:39:42,780 --> 01:39:49,060
So it will affect an awful lot of people and their relationship with great music if I'm
1623
01:39:49,060 --> 01:39:51,340
helping to direct how things go.
1624
01:39:51,340 --> 01:39:53,260
I'm a little scared to do it.
1625
01:39:53,260 --> 01:39:54,500
I've never really hit at anything.
1626
01:39:54,500 --> 01:40:01,380
I'm not particularly a good organizer or a well proportioned person in terms of paperwork.
1627
01:40:01,380 --> 01:40:03,940
But okay, let me try it.
1628
01:40:03,940 --> 01:40:04,940
Let me try this.
1629
01:40:04,940 --> 01:40:05,940
This is kind of important.
1630
01:40:05,940 --> 01:40:10,580
You know, it's one thing to feel that your teaching is important, but this is sort of
1631
01:40:10,580 --> 01:40:17,140
on a whole different level in a sense, like to running something, sort of like dictating
1632
01:40:17,140 --> 01:40:18,780
the course of things.
1633
01:40:18,780 --> 01:40:22,060
I hope I can do something good with it.
1634
01:40:22,060 --> 01:40:23,060
Oh my goodness.
1635
01:40:23,060 --> 01:40:31,580
It would be such an amazing thing in such a neighborhood-y place in New York City, West
1636
01:40:31,580 --> 01:40:32,580
Village.
1637
01:40:32,580 --> 01:40:33,580
Oh, yeah.
1638
01:40:33,580 --> 01:40:35,380
Well, it's connected, of course.
1639
01:40:35,380 --> 01:40:38,660
The Gredish House is a much larger social service organization.
1640
01:40:38,660 --> 01:40:44,940
They have a dance school and they have social services for the LGBTQ community.
1641
01:40:44,940 --> 01:40:49,540
So there's a lot of personal reasons why it makes sense someone like me would be involved
1642
01:40:49,540 --> 01:40:51,340
with that.
1643
01:40:51,340 --> 01:40:54,540
So I hope I bring some knowledge and expertise to bear there.
1644
01:40:54,540 --> 01:40:56,540
Oh, I'm sure.
1645
01:40:56,540 --> 01:41:00,060
So you have all the concerts lined up, I'm sure.
1646
01:41:00,060 --> 01:41:08,260
So if my viewers and listeners can check out your website, sarahdavisbuechner.com, and
1647
01:41:08,260 --> 01:41:12,420
they get the latest news about your concerts, upcoming events.
1648
01:41:12,420 --> 01:41:13,420
Concerts are all listed there.
1649
01:41:13,420 --> 01:41:15,660
I have to update some other things on that website.
1650
01:41:15,660 --> 01:41:17,860
I'm not so good with that technology.
1651
01:41:17,860 --> 01:41:20,820
There's like recent articles and there's stuff from 2019.
1652
01:41:20,820 --> 01:41:23,820
I've got to do something about that.
1653
01:41:23,820 --> 01:41:29,300
But you have to take care of that ASAP and the schedule is all up there, yes.
1654
01:41:29,300 --> 01:41:33,140
So that will tell people where I am and what I'm playing.
1655
01:41:33,140 --> 01:41:34,540
Wonderful.
1656
01:41:34,540 --> 01:41:35,540
Thank you.
1657
01:41:35,540 --> 01:41:39,340
So this has been a really great fun, inspirational conversation.
1658
01:41:39,340 --> 01:41:43,740
And thank you so much for really staying here with me for this long time and before I let
1659
01:41:43,740 --> 01:41:45,380
you go, we have one more thing to do.
1660
01:41:45,380 --> 01:41:48,220
It's called the piano part rapid fire questions.
1661
01:41:48,220 --> 01:41:53,580
So each question may sound really silly, but your answers may reveal who you truly are.
1662
01:41:53,580 --> 01:41:54,580
Oh, okay.
1663
01:41:54,580 --> 01:41:57,900
Now you got me terrified.
1664
01:41:57,900 --> 01:42:01,660
So ready or not, please answer them with the shortest responses possible.
1665
01:42:01,660 --> 01:42:03,380
No explanation is necessary.
1666
01:42:03,380 --> 01:42:06,740
Okay, let's start with the easy ones.
1667
01:42:06,740 --> 01:42:07,740
Question number one.
1668
01:42:07,740 --> 01:42:08,740
What is your comfort food?
1669
01:42:08,740 --> 01:42:11,420
Mac and cheese.
1670
01:42:11,420 --> 01:42:14,140
How do you like your coffee in the morning?
1671
01:42:14,140 --> 01:42:19,980
Absolutely hot, black, steaming direct three cups.
1672
01:42:19,980 --> 01:42:22,820
Oh, great.
1673
01:42:22,820 --> 01:42:23,820
Cattle dogs.
1674
01:42:23,820 --> 01:42:24,820
Oh, cats.
1675
01:42:24,820 --> 01:42:25,820
Sunrise or sunset.
1676
01:42:25,820 --> 01:42:26,820
Oh, both.
1677
01:42:26,820 --> 01:42:27,820
I'm going to cheat on that one.
1678
01:42:27,820 --> 01:42:28,820
I love both.
1679
01:42:28,820 --> 01:42:29,820
Summer or winter.
1680
01:42:29,820 --> 01:42:30,820
Winter for sure.
1681
01:42:30,820 --> 01:42:31,820
Now level two.
1682
01:42:31,820 --> 01:42:32,820
What, what is your favorite food?
1683
01:42:32,820 --> 01:42:33,820
I love both.
1684
01:42:33,820 --> 01:42:34,820
I love both.
1685
01:42:34,820 --> 01:42:40,780
Oh, great.
1686
01:42:40,780 --> 01:42:51,940
Easy one.
1687
01:42:51,940 --> 01:42:59,700
by? To thine own self be true, Shakespeare. Beautiful. What is the most important quality
1688
01:42:59,700 --> 01:43:10,720
you look for in other people? Sincerity. Now, level three. Name three people who inspire
1689
01:43:10,720 --> 01:43:27,140
you, living or dead. Malcolm X, Leon Trotsky, and Albert Einstein. Oh, wow. Great. Thank
1690
01:43:27,140 --> 01:43:36,100
you. Now, name one piece in your current playlist. MacDowell to a Wild Rose. Oh, beautiful. Such
1691
01:43:36,100 --> 01:43:44,860
a sweet piece. Yes. Perfection. Last one. Fill in the blank. Please fill in the blank.
1692
01:43:44,860 --> 01:43:54,100
Music is blank. Life. Music is life. Beautiful. Ding, ding. That was easy. Yeah. Oh, great.
1693
01:43:54,100 --> 01:43:58,220
So that wraps up this episode of The Piano Fall. Thank you, Dr. Buchner, for joining
1694
01:43:58,220 --> 01:44:04,660
us today and sharing your beautiful stories and insights and expertise and your authenticity
1695
01:44:04,660 --> 01:44:10,540
and joyous energy have truly inspired our conversation. You can learn more about Dr.
1696
01:44:10,540 --> 01:44:17,340
Sarah Davis Buchner and her amazing work through her website at sarahdavisbuchner.com. You
1697
01:44:17,340 --> 01:44:24,300
can also listen to her recordings on all major streaming services and you can watch her past
1698
01:44:24,300 --> 01:44:30,700
presentations and performances on her YouTube channel at Sarah Davis Buchner. All the links
1699
01:44:30,700 --> 01:44:34,340
are listed in the show notes. Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning
1700
01:44:34,340 --> 01:44:38,420
in. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it on whatever podcasting
1701
01:44:38,420 --> 01:44:43,460
platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
1702
01:44:43,460 --> 01:44:48,740
If you're watching this episode on YouTube, follow TPP on social media to get the latest
1703
01:44:48,740 --> 01:44:54,020
piano news. I will see you for the next episode of Piano Pod. Thank you. And thank you, Dr.
1704
01:44:54,020 --> 01:45:12,820
Buchner. Appreciate it. Thank you, Yukimi. Thank you so much.