Eastman Master Class

Not being a real musician myself, the closest I’ve ever been to a Master Class is the Terrence McNally play about Maria Callas.  I would never have thought to attend one if my musician niece, Alison, weren’t visiting, and as luck would have it, the Eastman Master Class on offer was in her instrument – viola – voila!  It was held in the Ciminelli Formal Lounge in the Eastman dorm building.  Like most Rochesterians, I suspect, I had never had occasion to be inside of this building (security is pretty tight), and it’s larger than I assumed, with a lovely courtyard, which on this evening was hosting an impromptu soccer game.

The lounge was the perfect intimate setting for a master class, and Alison and I comprised almost half of the “audience” for the 11 students!  My expectations were set by the play – would there be crying?  Histrionics? Would the students be “victims”?  They seemed to be mostly high school age, and their abilities varied.  George Taylor, Associate Professor of Viola at Eastman, ran the class, and was joined by Kathryn Dey, on the faculty of South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, who mostly took notes and kept time.

Mr. Taylor explained that this class was the culmination of a viola skills workshop that brought together students at different levels, and what we would be hearing was not a performance, as such, but rather works in progress.  He humorously called for his “first victim,” Angela, and Alison immediately identified the unnamed piece for me.  Mr. Taylor politely asked the slightly stiff Angela how she felt about her performance, and had her repeat a section, thinking about balance, imagining she was on a bosu ball.  In another section, he asked her to reconsider her hand placement.  Alison nodded enthusiastically throughout, and indeed Angela’s performance improved with Mr. Taylor’s insights.

The second student, Tim, seemed more at ease.  Mr. Taylor was very complimentary on Tim’s progress, and his suggestions were less about technique than about performance.  He explained that “music lives in the realm of exaggeration… the audience doesn’t hear what you feel, we hear what you play.”  He urged Tim to forge an interpretation, and to smile during a particular passage to get a looser sound.  His second playing displayed a marked improvement, and I was impressed by the ability of these young musicians to incorporate the comments so quickly into their playing, and not be intimidated by public criticism. 

Mr. Taylor was gentle with the third student, who seemed younger and more fragile, and his input for the fourth student, who would be entering Eastman in the fall, was that “practice has to be informed by the performance desired,” and this seemed like good advice for any endeavor!  He was harsher with the fifth student, perhaps because she was more advanced, as he admonished her with a “no, no! too slow – no niceness!  Get the notes out there!”  He acknowledged that she had lots of good ideas, but cautioned her to “pick a few and stick with them, don’t make it up as you go along.”  Again, advice that could be applied more widely, whether in music or politics or sports…

A break to change the CD for recording was our cue to duck out for a late dinner, but not before Mr. Taylor and Ms. Dey expressed their disappointment at our departure.  Alison, who lives and teaches music in South Caroliona, took this opportunity to introduce herself to Ms. Dey and discuss the possibility of a field trip to the Governor’s School.  I am still hoping that she'll keep Eastman on her radar when thinking about graduate school.  I think it could be good for both of us!