Klarinet Archive - Posting 000489.txt from 1995/06

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Precise nomenclature and art
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:05:33 -0400

A few days ago, Larry Liberson (FIOD) wrote:

> It might be interesting to hear the thoughts of those who studied with
> Leon Russianoff (I am not among them, however).

I was a student of Leon's for three years (1973-76), and I've waited
several days to give a somewhat careful reply to this request/post. Leon
gave me the tools to do the job I have today, and the confidence to do it
as well.

Leon was a little like I imagine Dan to be (Dan and I have never met face
to face) - thoughtful, brash in manner, and willing to take the opposite
side of any question at a moments notice (and "argue" it passionately) to
make one *think* about the subject at hand more fully. We students joked
about the "fad of the week", but the long and short of it was that Leon
would try anything, sometimes for an extended period, if he thought it
could help us improve our playing. We were not often so open minded.

Leon hated the BS of clarinet playing, and (Dan, are you still there?)
the idea that a dark sound was a better sound. In those days, that
concept was an anathema to me - I wanted to "have a dark sound like
Marcellus." In an article for one of the early editions for "The
Clarinet", Leon said he could always recognize a former student -"one
dirty old chipped reed and a metronome" in his case.

> To quote from his method:
>
> "In my experience the sensory approach (feeling, seeing, touching) is
> the most efficient way to master a basic skill. Such sensory messages
> are more easily understood and reacted to than are such verbal
> directives as "The fingers should be firm, but not taut or stiff."
>
> "In the same way, this imprinting process--looking, listening, doing,
> repeating, touching, and so on--will affect all aspects of your playing.
> It is during the time before you play that you may deal with thinking,
> analyzing, reading, concentrating, and understanding. But then, by the
> time you perform, the messages evoked by these preplaying activities
> must be fully absorbed into your subconscious.
>
> "The act of playing involves total immersion in the music: doing,
> seeing, reacting, feeling. Once you are performing, it is too late for
> thinking. Indeed, thinking while playing generally takes the form of
> concern for past mistakes or of anticipation of future disasters.
> Avoid this distraction. Keep yourself in the here-and-now."

This was Leon to a "T". I was a real "analyzer" and I fought tooth and
nail against this concept. But Leon kept working on the "doing" part of
playing, teaching the mechanical concepts of mastering the instrument,
and teaching us how to efficiently practice and learn material. In an
orchestra where we wear many "hats" (Large orchestra, chamber orchestra,
Pops, Ballet, small ensemble for schools) and turn over as many as three
folders in a particularly awful week, this method of learning music has
been extremely useful, and preserved my confidence in the face of
"mountains" of music.

Until Larry quoted the above passages, I'd forgotten just *how* strong an
influence he had on my life. Leon didn't Play very well, didn't know much
about reeds, or much
about "musicianship" . But he knew how to focus your energy on the task
at hand in the lesson, and he was a very committed teacher to each and
every student in his incredible weekly schedule. Even those of us who
didn't fully appreciate it at the time got his energetic, undivided
attention for each lesson, and in spite of ourselves, our playing improved.

Required reading for Leon was "The Inner Game of Tennis", and I still
recommend it to students. The message of judgemental "overthink" and
"overtry" and how to avoid it (essentially, keep your eye on the ball,
and don't be so judgemental while you're playing) is valuable to us all,
easy to say and hard to do even with loads of experience. The parallels
to playing music are incredibly clear to me, and students seem to grasp
the concept pretty well too.

Steve Clark (now a prof at Austin Peay University in Tennessee) wrote his
dissertation on Leon, and it includes interviews with many of Leon's
prominent students. Available from University Microfilms, it's worth
reading.

Leon was married to a prominent psychologist, Penelope Russianoff, who
appeared in the film "An Unmarried Woman" with Jill Clayburgh. Penny was
the source of much of Leon's psychological approach as reflected in the
paragraphs quoted above.

Just one last anecdote about analysis/practice and performing on the
"next level". In one of the Stravinsky books, there's the story of IS
seeing Nijinsky in a rehearsal of one of the early ballets (perhaps
Petrouchka). IS was amazed at the technical competence Nijinsky
displayed, but disappointed by the lack of "emotion" or drama that N
brought to the part. Throughout each rehearsal, N concentrated on the
steps, and making them exactly fit the music - making a technically
perfect performance. Stravinsky was amazed to see in the performance that
there was indeed spontaneous and compelling acting (drama, however you'd
describe it) from Nijinsky. N had obviously used the rehearsals to
perfect his craft, so that it would be subconscious, and so that his
performance would attain the next level of artistry.

Enough rambling.

=========================
David Niethamer
niethamer@-----.edu
dbnclar1@-----.com
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