A Matter of Context I have always been troubled that most students know very little about the rich history and extraordinary culture that surrounds the art of string playing . Few have any context for the lessons, the practicing, the orchestra experience or even the very music that they are playing. Even at a college level, many do not recognize the names of such legendary artists as Jascha Heifetz , Nathan Milstein, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern, or William Primrose. On the basis of my experience, it would seem that the average violin student of high school age knows two names from the current group of concertizing artists, Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell. It is unimaginable that a young aspiring tennis player would not know about Pete Sampras or John McEnroe or that a pitcher on a high school baseball team would not have heard of Sandy Koufax or Tom Seaver. Then why is it that the name of Jascha Heifetz draws a blank from someone who aspires to learn a Mozart violin concerto? The same is true with almost total lack of familiarity with the names of some of the most eminent pedagogues, from Leopold Mozart to Ivan Galamian. Many students use the Flesch Scale System (at least a few pages of it) but few have any idea who Carl Flesch was, when he lived, or his role in the development of violin playing. | |
Fritz Kreisler Yehudi Menuhin - Biography
| Leopold Mozart - Beautifully Illustrated Bio Joseph Joachim Eugene Ysaye Pyotre Stolyarski and His Students Carl Flesch - Biography authorized by C. Flesch
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