De gustibus non est disputandum[1]

The subject of quality is a reoccurring motif in the discussions. You hear about quality everywhere and it seems a subject which has become fashionable – bon ton[2].
Surprisingly enough, there is hardly a disagreement about quality. Once it is there, we identify it immediately, even if it is not exactly in our area of expertise. I was wondering if just as with quality, there are other grey areas where people have similar opinions about certain things although they do not have a clear definition for them. I asked various people some questions about the same piece of classical music. For example, I asked them if a piece was subjective or objective. On other occasions I asked if a piece was introverted or extroverted. I even dared ask people which tense was a piece composed in: past, present, future, or maybe in the conditional?

Chess

I am not a great chess player, but I like the game. People like to play chess with me because I usually lose. Once, in the middle of a game, my friend, who is a scientist, called out in despair: “what kind of game are you playing? All your pieces are hanging in the air.” I smiled and asked him if this is not what games were for. Aren’t they the place for us to take the risks we do not dare take in real life?

Yes/No Questions

As I was suggesting a new exercise the other day, one of the students asked: Why do we need to do it? We know it already. ”I was confused for a moment. Usually I encourage my students to ask questions, I want my student to explore things, I want them to be open minded. Still, I felt uncomfortable. On the way home, as I was reflecting on this, I suddenly remembered the film Karate Kid. In the film, Mr. Miyagi finally agrees to teach Daniel karate, with one condition: “no questions asked. I say, you do.”

Yield

In our last lesson, we watched the film Tous les matins du monde (All the mornings in the world) starring Gerard Depardieu and his son Guillaume. The film is about the Viola da Gamba virtuoso Marain Marrais and his relationship with his teacher, Monsieur de Sainte- Colombe. The teacher, a rather harsh person, tells Marrais that he is a good player but would never become a musician. He explains that although his fingers move fast and his bow moves elegantly, He plays no music.

Four Pillars

To Leland Means

Early in my career I was teaching a high school student whose main interest was visual art. One day, her mother told me her daughter was worried that I was upset with her or frustrated because she didn’t practice enough and did not advance as fast as my other students. She was also afraid that I may not want to teach her the following year. I immediately replied that I understood that music was not her main interest but I still enjoyed teaching her and there was nothing to worry about. Just before she left, she said:

The Fish, the Frog, the Bird and the Bear

The workshop on Creativities in Practice at the Musiclearninglive conference was one of my favorite events. In this workshop, Pamela Burnard, Anna Houmann and Eva Saether challenged us with questions about our own creativity. It was an experience, an event. Pamela ended the workshop by introducing a children story called Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni. In the story, a fish hears the stories of his friend the frog and imagines what all things outside the pond look like.
Maybe it was because Pamela opened the workshop with a Tai Chi exercise or maybe it was just my own association, but it reminded me

What Next

Many years ago, as I was about to graduate from Yale School of Music, I was facing the big dilemma of what I should do next. One option was to stay in school and to try and get a doctoral degree. I knew by then, that this is something I would be interested in pursuing in the future. I also knew already that I loved teaching. I asked myself if I should try and get a teaching position. In the end I realized that after being so many years in school I was more interested in playing and in performing. Finally, I decided to