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Re: Leon Russianoff Masterclass!!!

Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2014-10-30 12:53

Interesting thread. I think many are missing the gold to be mined.

Russianoff was always a controversial figure esp with his contemporaries who were successful teachers (Marcellus and Gigliotti) since he was not a performer.

A few things to consider:

> He had an amazing track success and his top students credited their time with Leon as being the most important part of their development.

> None of his students played in the same way. So there was true individuality of his approach and he was able put musicianship above just winning a job.

> All his students that I have met told me that he instilled a real sense of confidence in their abilities and value as individuals. So they felt good about their playing and their musical choices. No dogma.

His joy of teaching in his own style seems to come out of these videos. I personally believe that a teacher has to demonstrate often. Just talking is not enough. But talking worked for Leon, Dorothy DeLay, and even (from what I understand) Gilad (in the current generation).

By the way, I know that there was an informal competition between Russianoff and Marcellus on what they charged for lessons. Both would ask students what the other was charging and set their rates to match the other.

But I do not recall Marcellus charging $400 a lesson. His private lesson rate was high but it was because the bulk of his teaching was done through his affiliated institutions (NU and CMI) and he did not want outside destractions unless someone really wanted to play for him.

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Leon Russianoff Masterclass!!! new

DavidBlumberg

2014-10-29 22:20