Preheat

Today the wind chops heavy upon light–

and sprinkles in spring, and east, too.

The huge tubs of leaves are left

to sit and rise for two hours,

then the whole pan is sun-smeared

and baked in the field, wistful concoctioning

oven… marked by growing… cilantro.

Feeding the sky is chocolate-covered earth.

Jasmine: You’re on tape right now.

Shmuel: Oh I see, OK. (chuckles) (pause) In that case, I’m nervous.

Ru Pei: Some of the questions might be stupid. So I hope you don’t mind?

Shmuel: Some of the answers may be stupid too.

Ru Pei: OK, so… What do you do when you’re not motivated to practice?

Shmuel: You practice unmotivated-ly.

Ru Pei: OK, so, you’re sitting in front of the TV, and you just turn it off and get yourself–

Shmuel: You know, you know, my feeling is that if you’re a member of a quartet, the most that you can do for the quartet is to study the score and practice your part. There is no shortcut for that. And that has obvious reasons… but the un-obvious reason is that when you know the score, and when you practice you part, you accept criticism better. If you are not prepared musically, knowing the score, or technically, practicing your part, then if somebody tells you, and you know already that you are not prepared, you get defensive. And that wastes a lot of energy and… time.

(pause)

So when you sit in front of the television, and you’re not motivated, just think of your colleagues — that it’s a very selfish act not to practice. Practice artificially — and if you love the piece that you’re playing, that should motivate you to look at the score and get to know it better. And if you don’t love the piece, don’t play it, or don’t play music. Either don’t play the piece or don’t play music.

No one has had more difficulty practicing than I. No one. Really. No one. But because I know I have this problem… when I was a member of the quartet, when we planned the repertoire for the following season, I started practicing already a year in advance. Because I knew that I cannot practice a lot. So I would practice already a year in advance. All my life I’ve done that. I practice in small increments, but very very early. You can rationalize, “Well there is still a year, or there is still 2 months, so I have a lot of time”– but knowing that I’m also not motivated… It’s not actually that you’re not motivated — very often there is a psychological resistance to practicing. It may be because your parents pushed you to practice and you resisted, and now you’re free, and nobody will tell you what to do, and so on… But it’s a very selfish act, not to practice for the quartet.

Ru Pei: What was the most memorable trip you took with the quartet?

Shmuel: Gosh, I’m not prepared for the question… Um… There were so many memorable trips — I — I would say — what comes to my mind is, the very first time we played the Beethoven cycle. I think it was in Geneva… and I was very very excited, very very nervous, very scared, because we existed for 39 years as a quartet, but we didn’t do the cycle until we were 30 years old. So for 30 years (pause)… we played the Beethoven quartets a lot, but never as a cycle. A lot of it had to do with the fact that we had changes in the quartet and so… you know when you have changes you don’t have any repertoire. That was a big part of it, but also, you know — it’s very — it’s very demanding on the other repertoire, because you cannot do only Beethoven. Many many clients don’t want only Beethoven. So you still have to have 3 programs plus the 3 programs of Beethoven. When we did it, we did use a lot of Beethoven in our regular programs, so we didn’t have to do more than necessary. But I think that was the most memorable trip, because I looked with a lot of anticipation and excitement to play the Beethoven cycle.

Ru Pei: What do you find most challenging about quartet playing?

Shmuel: (pause) Um, this may sound — this may sound– a little bit crazy, but I found always to have mutual respect the most difficult thing in the quartet.

Obviously, if you don’t have respect you shouldn’t play with anyone. But even if you have respect, every once in a while, one colleague may say something that is totally stupid, and another colleague may say something that is extremely profound, very prepared, very much related to what you think about the score. And you have to treat both of them equally. And that is artificial and very difficult. That has been very difficult for me over the years. But it’s something that you really need to do. You cannot say to your colleague, “This is just stupid.” So you treat each with as much respect — which is artificial because you don’t respect the idea — here and there, you know — it’s not everything, because if it’s everything, then you shouldn’t play with this member. But that has been the most difficult for me, is to pretend to respect something that you don’t respect. But it’s necessary to do in the quartet; otherwise you will not have… you will not have peace.

(pause) If I gave you 500 guesses, what is the most difficult, you would not have thought of that one, I’m sure!

Cheyen: What is your proudest achievement outside of music?

Shmuel: That’s easy. My proudest achievement is my job as a father. There is no doubt about that. I feel very proud as a father, and with the job that I did with my kids.

Cheyen: If the world is going to end on Dec. 21st, 2012, what is one thing that you would like to experience before its too late?

Shmuel: (pause) Uh, none of your business. (chuckles) (loud laughter from everyone.) Gosh… I can’t answer that because I… you know, it’s hypothetical. You know. Hypothetical… so I don’t know. (pause)

Actually, I know what I would like to do, but it’s very personal, it’s kind of metaphysical, or religious, or something that (pause) — is not easy to share. So if you don’t mind, I will pass.

Wayne:
I’d to hear a little bit about the teachers that you studied with.

Shmuel: I studied with Ilona Feher, the teacher of Zukerman and Shlomo Mintz and many Israeli violinists. She was my second teacher; my first teacher was my uncle. And according to her wish that I never study with him because she had to destroy everything that he taught me and start from new. Then I came to the United States and I studied with Zimbalist, and Eto who was his assistant, and… that’s the only official teachers that I had, but… when I was at Curtis, there was a very big Heifetz craze. Everybody was listening to Heifetz. But I listened to — the two artists that I listened to a lot — were Maria Callas and Fischer-Dieskau. They influenced me more than any teacher or anybody. I listened a lot to them, and when they performed in New York I went to their concerts. Now, looking back, I find that both of them were not as great as I thought at the time. But they were great enough. They– they really influenced me a lot.

Wayne: Can you tell me a little bit more about Zimbalist?

Shmuel: He was quite old, and quite deaf. Not entirely deaf, and not entirely old, but quite. And he was… he had, I think, 3 extraordinary qualities. (pause) One quality that was very unique, was that it was important for him to preserve the student’s individuality. So, by coincidence, three of us, John Dalley, myself, and Hidetaro Suzuki– I don’t know if you know, he was a Japanese student who concertmaster of Indianapolis for a long time — we happened to play, one afternoon, Glazunov concerto, one after the other. It just happened. The pianist was Billy Sokoloff who was Mrs. Sokoloff’s husband (he played for our classes). He told me how amazing it was how different we played, and he [Zimbalist] did not change that. I mean he changed things, but he didn’t change the style, or the approach, or the tempo, or whatever. So that was one of his greatest qualities — because many many teachers — their students sound similar, if not the same. But with Zimbalist it was unique that we — obviously we have something in common, but… so that was a great quality.

Another quality that he had was that he did not listen to the same piece very long. He would listen 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and then would ask you to bring it again in 6 months or in a year. And that had a very very positive effect, because (pause)… you know, if you bring a piece to, let’s say, 75% of your capability, to make it 76, takes so much effort. But if you wait 6 months or a year, not only is the piece more fresh because you haven’t just practiced it for 3 weeks, but you’ve developed, presumably, so — then — to improve on the level that you were, is much easier. So that was very very good.

(pause) The worst thing about Mr. Zimbalist was that he was too nice. You know… I studied with him for almost 6 years, and the meanest thing he ever told me was, “I’d like to hear it again”. When he said “I’d like to hear it again”, it means that it really sucked. That– was very gentle. He could be cynical, and he sometimes hurt my feelings because he made fun of pieces that I loved… or an artist that Ioved — he could be very cynical. But he was very very gentle, and very gentleman-ly. (pause) But he didn’t teach all that much, because most of us played quite well, and he was… fairly deaf when I came to him. So I don’t know how he was, earlier.

Jasmine: Jan 11 is your birthday. What birthday present would you like to receive?

Shmuel: I would like… I would like, uh, that there should be peace in the Middle East. (laughter from all) That’s what I would like. There is an old viola joke about a very bad violist. I don’t know if you know it, so I’ll tell it. It’s apropos. (tells joke)

performing Shih-Hui Chen’s Plum Blossom

We invite you to challenge our violinist Wayne Lee to 3 Boggle and/or Scrabble games.  Whoever surpasses him in this pursuit may claim any of the following gifts:

• Formosa Quartet CD

• Formosa T-shirt and chopsticks made by Taiwanese aborigines

• assorted CDs of authentic aboriginal Taiwanese music

• a gourmet dinner cooked by Wayne

• a salsa-dance or yoga lesson with Ru Pei and Jasmine

• a blown-up poster of Zephyr, Cheyen’s Siberian Husky (pictured below)

Q & A Corner is a collection of interviews with mentors, friends, and family.  Here, Formosa Quartet speaks with Miriam Fried about music and life in general.

FQ: What do you do when you should practice but don’t really feel like it?

MF: It depends- sometimes I just don’t! I think that you can always do some practice that’s practically useful, even if you don’t feel inspired. I find that the more regular your routine, the more you’ll feel like it. I practice before teaching. I just cannot do it after a full day of listening intently. And once I start practicing, I find that my enthusiasm for music makes me feel like it, even if initially I was not in the mood.

FQ: Do you have any strange obsessions or addictions?

MF: I don’t think so… although I’m kind of a fanatic about order. I can’t practice with an unmade bed in the room.

FQ: Is there anything violinistic that didn’t or doesn’t come as easily to you? If so, what?

MF: I can’t staccato to save my life.

FQ: What was your first reaction when they announced you had won 1st prize in Queen Elisabeth?

MF: Total shock. For days afterwards, I couldn’t believe it.

FQ: What are some of your fears or phobias?

MF: I have a fear of heights. I can’t look down over a high railing; I have to close my eyes.

FQ: If you had to choose any book to turn into an opera libretto, which would you choose?

MF: I like books that are kind of the opposite of opera libretto type books. I like books that are philosophical in nature, and operas are about drama and story. I’m less of a story person.

FQ: What do you do when you get home after a long day of teaching?

MF: It depends on what needs to be done… Often I just cook dinner. I try to do something quite different from music. I find that listening all day is a very tiring thing. So I like some silence, actually.

FQ: What were you like as a kid?

MF: I was pretty shy. People said I was serious–I didn’t think I was that serious, but people said I was. I was really very shy. [Pause] I kind of lost that habit…

FQ: What is the secret to a long, happy marriage?

MF: Respect each other. That’s the main ingredient. Respect and trust. Those are the two things I would put first.

FQ: What do you consider the biggest challenge in raising a child?

MF: In my case, it was juggling work with spending time with them. There was some guilt–even though I knew they were with their father and weren’t on their own, but still I felt bad about it. I never expected to not make mistakes. I recognize that you make mistakes, but I always believe that if you love them, and respect them, they’ll know that you have good intentions.

FQ: Please describe one of the funniest performing experiences you’ve had.

MF: Oh, god. If I don’t have to say the name of the conductor, I’ll tell you. It’s a true story. I was playing Sibelius Concerto with a conductor who was clearly not one of the better conductors, and you know how in the 1st page of the 1st movement, the solo violin holds a high “e”? And then the orchestra is supposed to pay “da da”? Well, they didn’t play, and they didn’t play, and I had already changed my bow three times. And then I thought I’d better go on. So I went on, and started the broken-chords passage, and right when I was in the middle of that, they went “DADA!!” And I just lost it. I was laughing so hard, my make-up got all messed up.

FQ: How do you help students become their own teacher, or to become artists in their own right?

MF: I don’t think some of what you’re asking is teachable. It’s an innate thing; you either have it or don’t. Sometimes it’s inside and they have a hard time expressing it, and you can help them find it–help them think about what effect they would like [their music] to have on others, etc. But I don’t think you can make someone into an artist if they’re not. You can teach them the principles of music-making, of theory, harmony, structure, but you can’t make them an artist. Some young teachers, including me before, think they can do anything… but you can’t. Everyone needs to be whoever they are, and whoever they are is fine.

Thank you Miriam for this interview!

FORMOSA QUARTET Interview, Sept ’12

(questions answered independently)

What is the most potentially annoying trait in a quartet colleague?

Wayne: Pontification.

Ru-Pei: Complaining.

Che-Yen: Unwillingness to do some serious work.

Jasmine: Playing in an uninvolved manner, out of spite.

What is the most desired trait in a quartet colleague?

W: Hard to narrow this down. The ability to very visibly and viscerally take joy in sharing music.

R: Fun.

C: It’s the same answer as the “undesired trait,” just take away the “unwillingness” and put “willingness” there.

J: Passion for music.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

W: Coffee.

C: Rum raisin.

J: Pistachio.

R: [giggles] Is this the first day of kindergarten? Sesame.

What is the quirkiest thing about Wayne?

J: He’s always smiling ever so slightly. It’s kind of a condescending smile.

R: He sometimes has this smile. When he has an idea, he has this quirky smile.

C: He has this funny smile when he hears something he thinks is weird or that he might not agree with. He tilts his head to one side and has this weird smile.

What is your favorite non-musical sound?

J: Pebbles clinking.

C: The sound of nature. The wind blowing against the trees in the forest and birds in the morning.

W: Mooooooo. The cow mooing is a very pleasant sound.

R: Laughter.

Which composer would you not mind hugging very tightly?

J: Haydn.

C: Very tightly? That’s weird. I don’t know. I don’t know their personal hygiene. Not someone from long ago, because they haven’t showered.

W: I can tell you it wouldn’t be Wagner, because I’d have to touch that nasty neck beard. It wouldn’t be Zemlinsky, because Zemlinksy was one of the ugliest people that ever lived. It wouldn’t be Beethoven because there’d be rotting food on his face. But perhaps I would hug… Elliott Carter, because he seems like a very sweet man and definitely cleaner than the others I mentioned.

R: Schubert. He just seems… so weak, like he needs a hug. He’s cold, he needs warmth or something.

Franz Schubert

The End!

Feel free to look around, and listen to some of our recordings right here on this site.

We’re looking forward to this year’s series of concerts, and next summer’s chamber music festival.