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Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: This is it sak Perlman's exquisite vibrato on Bach's first

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Speaker 1: violin Sonata. He was mature by the time he made

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Speaker 1: this recording, thirty years into a career that started before

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Speaker 1: his bar Mitzvah. Perlman doesn't like the word prodigy, but

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Speaker 1: it's hard to avoid. At three, he was practicing scales

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Speaker 1: on a toy violin. At four, he was studying with

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Speaker 1: a great master. At thirteen, he was whisked away from

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Speaker 1: his native Israel to the United States to be on

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Speaker 1: the Ed Sullivan Show. He won admission to Juilliard that

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Speaker 1: same year. From prodigy to master and finally national treasure.

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Speaker 1: For sixty years, his life was a blur of world

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Speaker 1: tours and TV specials, playing for the Queen and given

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Speaker 1: a place of honor on the program for Obama's inauguration.

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Speaker 1: Yet it's not Perlman had a difficult childhood, stricken by

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Speaker 1: polio in the war torn early days of Israeli statehood.

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Speaker 1: Now he gives back at every opportunity, including through the

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Speaker 1: Perman Music Program founded by his wife Toby. The summer

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Speaker 1: school is located on Idyllic Shelter Island, giving talented kids

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Speaker 1: of every background the chance to study with the world's

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Speaker 1: greatest musicians. You'll meet Toby and a couple of former

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Speaker 1: students at the end of the program. You'll even hear

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Speaker 1: the students play virtuoso movement from Mendelssohn's Octette. The whole

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Speaker 1: crew joined me live on stage at the n y

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Speaker 1: U Screwball Center in Greenwich Village. Ladies and gentlemen, it's

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Speaker 1: not perlment before we get into the the real grist.

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Speaker 1: Here you and I were talking about the grist, you know,

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Speaker 1: the real essence like that the So this is a

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Speaker 1: burning question I have. What's your favorite guilty pleasure? Go

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Speaker 1: to food or snack late at night? Oh? Let it now,

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Speaker 1: now that I'm old, there's no food after at eight o'clock,

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Speaker 1: you know, if if I pay for it, if you

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Speaker 1: can't eat after, I can't eat it. But then in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the night and you give vault. So no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: no food. But you grew up food was everything. Food

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Speaker 1: was everything, very very guiding force in your life because

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Speaker 1: you grew up kind of poor. Correct very no not no.

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Speaker 1: What did your dad do you grew up in Tel Aviv.

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Speaker 1: What was your father? What was his occupition? My father

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Speaker 1: did all sorts of things, you know. He was the

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Speaker 1: immigrated he immigrated from Poland to Israel, you know. And uh,

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Speaker 1: no professional really, so he did He picked oranges in

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Speaker 1: an orchard, he went into construction, anything. He just got

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Speaker 1: any job. He was not you know, he did not

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Speaker 1: have a particular skill, so he just did whatever it

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Speaker 1: is and he learned on the job. And then when

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Speaker 1: he met my mother and they somehow got ahold of

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Speaker 1: a barbershop and she knew how to cut hair, but

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Speaker 1: she taught him how to do that, so he did

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Speaker 1: that as well. So he did like everything that he

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Speaker 1: had to do to make a living. How many siblings

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Speaker 1: did you have? I'm an only child child. Yes. I

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Speaker 1: always ask people who have a career similar to your

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Speaker 1: career if you understood they have a career similar to Mike.

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Speaker 1: Well not really, actually, you know, there aren't many. There

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Speaker 1: aren't many, but anybody, but anybody who was a young

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Speaker 1: person who especially in this world you're in where they

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Speaker 1: cultivate them very young, and in sports too, where they

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Speaker 1: get these kids when they're ten years old and they

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Speaker 1: kind of know that they're heading to the NBA or

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Speaker 1: the NFL or whatever. But you're a very young child,

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Speaker 1: and I'm wondering, do you know what you're going through

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Speaker 1: when you're a young child, or you're too busy doing

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Speaker 1: it to understand what you're inside of when you were

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Speaker 1: getting shot through this rocket to become the famous, well,

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Speaker 1: when I would look when I was young, Uh, my

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Speaker 1: parents thought that I had a good ear because I

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Speaker 1: could repeat everything, you know, by singing it. And then

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Speaker 1: I said I want to play the violin, and I

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Speaker 1: think they told me that I had a nice sound.

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Speaker 1: So that was the, if you want to call it,

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Speaker 1: the unusual thing about the way I played. I had

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Speaker 1: a nice sound. You were playing on what didn't you like?

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Speaker 1: A toy violin or But I just started with a toy,

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Speaker 1: which I didn't like, so I quit that. And then

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Speaker 1: I was playing on something. I don't remember what it was.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't any in spectacular. I started really when I

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Speaker 1: was like almost five four four and three quarters almost?

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Speaker 1: Why what made you do I want it? I want it.

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Speaker 1: I like the sound. I love the sound of the violin.

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Speaker 1: I heard it on the radio and I said, that's

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Speaker 1: what I want to do simple, that's what I want

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Speaker 1: to do, And there's no explanation. You know, everybody has

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Speaker 1: a different thing that they hear and it sort of

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Speaker 1: grabs their imagination. And the violence sound was that and

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Speaker 1: I think it was hyper so it was pretty good

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Speaker 1: for grabbing the imagination. You know. When I was a kid,

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Speaker 1: I saw Butch Cassidy and I said, that's what I

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Speaker 1: want to do. I want to rob trains. Very impressionable

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Speaker 1: when we're young, But when you're five years old. What's

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Speaker 1: the difference between when you teach a five year old

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Speaker 1: and a ten year old. I don't teach that young.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are people who specialize and then you

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Speaker 1: can tell basically, uh something about technique, you know, something

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Speaker 1: about what kind of hands do they have? You know,

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Speaker 1: it reminds me sometimes, you know, you you see young

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Speaker 1: baseball players, you know, and they say they've got soft hands.

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Speaker 1: You know, when they catch the ball, that's soft hands. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's something like this is similar when you when you play,

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Speaker 1: you can see that somebody can get around the violin

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Speaker 1: pretty naturally, even though it's not finished or anything like this.

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Speaker 1: But at an early age you can already see it,

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Speaker 1: so that gives you an inclination as to what's in

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Speaker 1: the future, but of course you don't know what's in

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Speaker 1: the future. You just and and for me, I personally

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Speaker 1: feel that when I hear somebody play at the young age,

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Speaker 1: let's say even ten, eleven, twelve years old, if they

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Speaker 1: play age appropriately, I'm very happy. What I mean by

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Speaker 1: age appropriate is that you can if you close your eyes,

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Speaker 1: you think that that's a young person. You know, there's

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Speaker 1: there's hope, there is you know, there is talent there

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Speaker 1: and and but it's young. You hear it as opposed

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Speaker 1: to listening to sometimes if you put on on the internet,

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Speaker 1: you know, you hear people who are five, six, seven

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Speaker 1: years old who sounds like like the years old. You

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Speaker 1: know that amazing and that I find something times is

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Speaker 1: challenging because if you're twelve and you sound like you're

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Speaker 1: twenty five, what what are you gonna sound like when

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Speaker 1: you're eighteen or nineteen? You know, That's that's and that

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Speaker 1: I worry about, because that's very very difficult exactly you

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Speaker 1: know and what and how do you treach this person?

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Speaker 1: And according to your philosophy, at what age do you've

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Speaker 1: started a little tougher with them? With how old. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's not a question of being tough. It's well, look,

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Speaker 1: everybody has their own sort of schedule of development. You know.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you hear somebody at the age of twelve who

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Speaker 1: just sound basic, not very very good, but you hear

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Speaker 1: something there, and so you have to know what's to

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Speaker 1: say and what not to say. I'd like to just

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Speaker 1: insert that. You know, what's the great secret of a

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Speaker 1: good teacher is not only knowing what to say, but

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Speaker 1: knowing what not to say, and especially what not to say.

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Speaker 1: When somebody that has great gift and great musical musical naturalness,

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Speaker 1: and those that have that great gifts in that natural

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Speaker 1: them alone, do you leave them alone hurt their feelings? No, no,

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Speaker 1: you don't want to hurt them. No, it's not their feelings.

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Speaker 1: It's you don't want to fox around. You know, you

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Speaker 1: don't want to, you know, just let the natural ability

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Speaker 1: to natural talent develop and usually things get better as

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Speaker 1: you grow older, you know, without having to really nitpick

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Speaker 1: with everything. And that's that's I find is a danger

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Speaker 1: because you know, when a teacher has such incredible talent

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Speaker 1: in front of them, you know, they want to give

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Speaker 1: you their old So then they become too picky, leave

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Speaker 1: it alone, Just leave it alone. During what years did

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Speaker 1: you study with gold Guard? I studied with her from

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Speaker 1: the age of five until I was thirteen. You studied

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Speaker 1: with for eight years, eight years, and then you came

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Speaker 1: to the United States to do Sullivan. You were thirteen

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Speaker 1: years old. And when you came to do so I

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Speaker 1: find that unbelievable. When you came to do Sullivan and

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Speaker 1: you're thirteen years old, did you have any idea who Sullivan? Was?

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Speaker 1: That what your first idea, there's some guy was exactly No. No,

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Speaker 1: I didn't know how how you looked or anything. I

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Speaker 1: just I just in Israel they talked about because when

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Speaker 1: we came to to Israel to audition a whole bunch

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Speaker 1: of people to go on his show, they said there

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Speaker 1: they didn't call him Sullivan. They called him Sullivan. That's Sullivan,

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Speaker 1: sat Sullivan. Is that Sullivan? That's Sullivan? Oh, Television, I said, okay, television.

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Speaker 1: At the minute I heard television said I mean so

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Speaker 1: I So I auditioned, you know, and then I was chosen.

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Speaker 1: You know that there was there was sent people over

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Speaker 1: to audition musicians. Yes, yes, because Sullivan he wanted at

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Speaker 1: Sullivan wanted a show only of the isra Eli pard

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Speaker 1: of my accent, only of the isra Eli people. So

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Speaker 1: it was a variety great Jew and was going back

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Speaker 1: to the homeland and the kids. Ever, well, there's some

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Speaker 1: people thought his name was that Solomon, but we changed

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Speaker 1: the two at Sullivan. It might have been, but but

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Speaker 1: you know, so the whole show was an Israeli variety show.

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Speaker 1: You've seen this show, you know. He had everybody had

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Speaker 1: a monkey dancing, and then he had somebody playing the violin.

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Speaker 1: And so in this particular case, it was a pair

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Speaker 1: of folk singers that there was to know that we

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Speaker 1: didn't have topo and we didn't have them, but we

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Speaker 1: had a ballet dancer was fourteen. We had a coloratura

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Speaker 1: soprano from yem And I think I was in the

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Speaker 1: Department of Human Interest story or chubby story. I don't

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Speaker 1: know what I was what I was, but I was cute,

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Speaker 1: I think, sorry, very cute. I was cute. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much, thank you so cute. I know when you

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Speaker 1: come over you've never been to the US before, your

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Speaker 1: mother comes with you. Yes, and you perform on Sullivan. Yes,

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Speaker 1: do you remember what that was like to win the show?

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Speaker 1: It was slightly exciting. Uh, I didn't know, No, it

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Speaker 1: was it was very exciting, you know, and so I

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Speaker 1: I kind of played and it was very It was

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Speaker 1: over very quickly, you know, because I did the last

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Speaker 1: moment of the medlsone concerto and they cut it down

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Speaker 1: to about I think two two minutes and forty five

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Speaker 1: seconds because that was it. And uh, and he introduced me.

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Speaker 1: He was a lovely gentleman, really very very nice. Is

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Speaker 1: that what happened after you did Sullivan? Uh? We went

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Speaker 1: on a tour in the US, the entire group that

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Speaker 1: did Sullivan, we went on a on a tour months. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: about three or three or four months. Yeah. Yeah. And

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Speaker 1: at the end of the at the end of the tour,

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Speaker 1: I went I well, the main thing the challenge was

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Speaker 1: to get into the Juilliard School, and that was one

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Speaker 1: of it was it was it was that a plan

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Speaker 1: for you to go to Juilliard. Yes, when you were

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Speaker 1: back in the issue before Sullivan, before before sa it

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Speaker 1: was a dream to go to Juilliard, but Sullivan made it.

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Speaker 1: But yes, it was a very Julliard And there was

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Speaker 1: a teacher there who taught Julia that I heard about

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Speaker 1: in Israel. By the name of Glamian, and so we said,

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Speaker 1: one of these days, maybe you'll study with Gala and

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Speaker 1: Ivan Galamian yea. His assistant at that time was Dorothy Delay,

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Speaker 1: and she came and heard me play, and she thought

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Speaker 1: that I had a good chance, had a good sound.

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Speaker 1: I had a good sound, you know that that was

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Speaker 1: my forte is the sound. But then you were about

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Speaker 1: fourteen thirteen half fourteen, right around the same sound. So

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Speaker 1: what was it like for you? You never lived in

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Speaker 1: New York. And again this idea of being like shot

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Speaker 1: out of a cannon to have the spectacular career, this

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Speaker 1: big ticket career. You want thirteen years old, you want Sullivan.

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Speaker 1: You're touring the country, You're gonna go to Juilliard. What

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Speaker 1: was your recollection that? Was it intimidating or you don't

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Speaker 1: have time to think about that. I didn't really think

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Speaker 1: about it because it wasn't really look it wasn't like

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Speaker 1: a professional career. It was a specialized career, you know,

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Speaker 1: an other ways to play for It was an Ed

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Speaker 1: Sullivan concert. It wasn't like I was playing a recital someplace,

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Speaker 1: you know, or I was making my debut in Carnegie

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Speaker 1: Hall or any thing. Like that. It was a specialized

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Speaker 1: kind of concert, you know, and it used to play

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Speaker 1: um Also, I used to play for Jewish benefits, you know,

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Speaker 1: for the u J and they knew about me, you know,

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Speaker 1: because the whole organization, the Jewish organization knew about this

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Speaker 1: Sullivan program. So they used some of the people for fundraising.

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Speaker 1: And I was, you know, sometimes I was. I would

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Speaker 1: be called at the telephone. I would be hired to

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Speaker 1: do fifteen minutes or ten minutes at the end of

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Speaker 1: the fundraising, you know, and I would appear probably like

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Speaker 1: eleven o'clock at night, you know, and I would play

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Speaker 1: then gun Bay Block and the Flight of the Bumblebee,

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Speaker 1: and that was it. And then I would leave and

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Speaker 1: and I would get I would get paid, you know,

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Speaker 1: and it was it was great, you know. I played

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Speaker 1: while the people were eating their desserts and of kosher

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Speaker 1: food and things like that. It wasn't the same people

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Speaker 1: like when one night you do fly to the Bumblebee

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Speaker 1: and somebody says he was better at Jerry's bar mitzvah,

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Speaker 1: so much better. I never did bar Mitzvah's. I never

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Speaker 1: did bar mitzvahs. And I didn't and I didn't do Veddings,

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Speaker 1: No Veddings. Absolutely. You know, now, when you leave and

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Speaker 1: you come to to the United States, when you left

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Speaker 1: for the Sullivan trip, was it assumed you were going

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Speaker 1: to go home or did you kind of know you

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Speaker 1: knew you weren't going home. I knew that I was.

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Speaker 1: I was going to stay and did. My dad stayed

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Speaker 1: for about a year in Israel and finished selling the

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Speaker 1: apartment and do us in the business, and then he

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Speaker 1: came and joined us. I even remember, you know, I

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Speaker 1: did not see my dad for a year, and the

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Speaker 1: only way to get in touch was through letters. And

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Speaker 1: then a bit later on, you know, maybe after about five, six, seven,

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Speaker 1: eight months, we actually were able to arrange for a

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Speaker 1: long distance call from New York to Tel Aviv, you know.

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Speaker 1: And at that time, so you're talking about nineteen fifty nine,

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Speaker 1: so it was like ten o'clock the morning, you know,

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Speaker 1: on the phone rings and I had Hello, Hello. That

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Speaker 1: was the connection, you know, that's the connection. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we had absolutely and we had in our street where

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Speaker 1: I lived, we had no phone. So what we had

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Speaker 1: was there was a grocery store that had the telephone.

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Speaker 1: So whoever want to make a long distance called we'll

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Speaker 1: go to the grocery store and we pick up. So

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Speaker 1: that's that's what you knew you were going to stay. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: I learned the language from watching TV and you know,

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Speaker 1: listening to the Yankee baseball. Spoke very little English and

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Speaker 1: now hardly. I took a class of English in Israel.

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Speaker 1: I think I failed. But it's amazing how quickly you learned,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you hear the language around you all

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Speaker 1: the time, and you were you went to Julia with

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Speaker 1: family years. Let's see, until I think nineteen or I

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Speaker 1: was nineteen or twenty. I think as I because I

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Speaker 1: still I remember still uh doing concerts and having to

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Speaker 1: go to class, and you know sometimes I was late

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Speaker 1: to a class and I got hell to pay, you know,

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Speaker 1: because I just took a flight from Los Angeles. Give

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Speaker 1: me a break. You know. I don't know, but you

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Speaker 1: didn't go to an English class, you know, I have

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Speaker 1: to be that. So but I was, you know, So

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Speaker 1: I did both things for a while and then I graduated.

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Speaker 1: And is it literally your hand and your brain the

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Speaker 1: way they connect. Is it a passion and a spirit

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Speaker 1: that you have inside you? Also that helps you play

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Speaker 1: the viol When you talk about having a good sound.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean? Having a good sound? It means

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Speaker 1: that you play the violin and you hear as a

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Speaker 1: particular sound and that's you. It's it's something that's individual,

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Speaker 1: that's all it is. It's not like I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to practice so that I'm going to get a good sound.

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about the tone actually to the tone, which

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Speaker 1: deals with the beauty of the sound. Sound, of course,

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Speaker 1: is tech. My teachers worked on it. You know how

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Speaker 1: you use the bowl, you know where you put the

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Speaker 1: bow between the strings, and you know what's the direction

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Speaker 1: of the bow, the bow speed, etcetera, etcetera. That's the

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Speaker 1: it's a healthy sound. But the beauty of the tone

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Speaker 1: is something that every person has differently. It's an individual. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you cannot teach that. There's certain things you cannot teach.

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Speaker 1: And where do you think your sound comes from? I

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Speaker 1: don't know. I mean I really don't know. It's it's

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Speaker 1: something that I hear you had when I was four

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Speaker 1: and three quarters. So do you find that music become

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Speaker 1: you imbue that with even more of your being in

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Speaker 1: your spirit because you were limited in the things you

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Speaker 1: could do as a child. I don't think so. I'm

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Speaker 1: getting everything wrong with you everything, But that's not it.

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Speaker 1: But but you're batting, that's good. But you're doing good,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean because you know, No, it's no, Seriously,

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Speaker 1: I just I don't think so. I mean, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't say to you. Well, let me see how

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Speaker 1: I'm playing without napolio. Now, let's see how I'm playing

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Speaker 1: with the polio. I can't I can't say what I'm wondering.

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Speaker 1: But I'm wondering if you that Okay, sorry, I mean

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Speaker 1: giving you such a hard time. So I'm so sorry. No,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I knew this was kinding. I've been around

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Speaker 1: you a few times. Always it's always an obstacle. Course,

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Speaker 1: but anyway, the the but but you know, what I'm

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Speaker 1: saying is is that do you think the spirit of

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Speaker 1: the person is that relevant? No, I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: love to watch people who are famously like, whether it's

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Speaker 1: their actors or or people in sports, and sort of

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Speaker 1: try and guess what kind of people they are in private,

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Speaker 1: you know, and uh being good and being a wonderful

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Speaker 1: person and being a sort of an agreeable, sympathic a

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Speaker 1: kind of person. It is not necessarily together, you know.

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Speaker 1: I remember my wife always. You know, sometimes we go

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Speaker 1: to a concert and we hear somebody who's absolutely amazing,

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Speaker 1: and I said, Toby, come on, let's go backstage and

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Speaker 1: say hello, and she said, I'd rather not. You know,

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Speaker 1: I I don't want to be disappointed the way this

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Speaker 1: pression plays. Just let's let's not do it. Let me

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Speaker 1: just relax and just enjoy it. Uh you. Many many

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Speaker 1: people who conduct, and I'd love to get your opinion

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Speaker 1: of this. Many people who conduct are people who have

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Speaker 1: good careers as a soloist. They played typically the violin

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Speaker 1: of the piano, but they don't necessarily have great careers.

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Speaker 1: And then but someone taps them on the shoulders. There

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Speaker 1: are you keep time very well, and they moved them on. No.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, I mean every every one of that

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Speaker 1: I would talk to would say that. To me. I'd say, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, do this one they say. Somebody walked up

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Speaker 1: to me when I was like ten years old and said,

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Speaker 1: you keep time very well. And they moved them into

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Speaker 1: the conducting program whatever. They moved into the viola section.

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Speaker 1: That's our ad for the show. Right, No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: I might study that viola jokes on no longer applicable

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Speaker 1: because the level of viola playing has really risen seriously

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Speaker 1: so that you said we should be that too. No,

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Speaker 1: it's really viola jokes. You know. Used to be that

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Speaker 1: the level was a little bit below, but right now

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Speaker 1: it's brilliant. I mean, so many brilliant viola players. So

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Speaker 1: it's not but it's still funny, you know. Violin legend.

359
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Speaker 1: It's a Pruman has a special place in his heart

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Speaker 1: for the New York Pilharmonic. He and then music director

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Speaker 1: Alan Gilbert teamed up for the Phil's opening Galla a

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Speaker 1: few years ago. Here films our guest soloist It's a Filman,

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Speaker 1: followed by music director has A l film ut Alan Gilbert.

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Speaker 1: Gilbert found out he got the job from the Phil's president,

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Speaker 1: Zarin Meta, after a particularly miserable bedtime for his toddler's

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Speaker 1: We had had a tortuous night and they'd finally fallen asleep,

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Speaker 1: and I got a call from Zarin Meta just after

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Speaker 1: they had fallen asleep, and he said, I'd like to

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Speaker 1: invite you to be our next music director. I said,

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Speaker 1: my kids just fell asleep. I can't talk to you.

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Speaker 1: But then I called him back and we had seen

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Speaker 1: it in a movie where guys like more than being

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Speaker 1: the music director of the Philharmonica, I want my kids

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Speaker 1: to go to sleep. Clink totally, he will. We all

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Speaker 1: know the madness of that moment. The rest of my

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Speaker 1: conversation with conductor Alan Gilbert at Here's the Thing dot

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Speaker 1: Org coming up It sucked Perman on Alan and Gilbert's art,

378
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Speaker 1: what makes a great conductor? Plus his wife Toby Perlman

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Speaker 1: on their music school and the next generation of great

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Speaker 1: masters takes on Mendelssohn and my questions. This is Alec

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Speaker 1: Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. It sacked.

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Speaker 1: Perlman didn't bring his famous strata varius. He says playing

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Speaker 1: takes more effort now than it used to. As you

384
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Speaker 1: get older, everything becomes more difficult and more demanding. Uh oh,

385
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? Uh? But you know, if you

386
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 1: do a great piece, you can do it over and

387
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Speaker 1: over again and no matter how I mean for me,

388
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Speaker 1: I mean a perfect example is debatedpen Violent Concerto, which

389
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 1: is not getting any easier as you get older, because

390
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,120
Speaker 1: but it's not. It's but it's very very difficult when

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Speaker 1: you're young as well. It's I call it when when

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Speaker 1: my students start the piece, I say, welcome to the

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Speaker 1: lifetime journey, because that's what it is. You know, you

394
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 1: start to play and it's pretty good, and then you

395
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,239
Speaker 1: played again, and you played again and you grow up

396
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Speaker 1: with it. So that's that's what music is about. And

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Speaker 1: the minute you think musically like that, especially when you

398
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Speaker 1: repeat something, you're on the right track. Instead of saying, oh,

399
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Speaker 1: I have to do that again, but you know, you

400
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 1: have to look at the music and you have to say,

401
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: this is going to be yet another experience. You know

402
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be one way or one or

403
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,439
Speaker 1: another way, but it's not going to be a repetition

404
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: of what I did a week ago or a month ago.

405
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,600
Speaker 1: When you want to sit down assuming that you do this,

406
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 1: I don't want to assume. But when you want to

407
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,280
Speaker 1: listen to someone else play the violin that you admire

408
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,840
Speaker 1: and you admire their sound, give us an example of

409
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Speaker 1: somebody you listen to for pure tone. The first person

410
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:27,159
Speaker 1: that comes to mind is Friz Chrysler. Uh. You know,

411
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Speaker 1: you you listen to old recordings of him and you think,

412
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Speaker 1: you know those days that you know, there wasn't there

413
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Speaker 1: wasn't the great advancement in technology and so and that

414
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: it's that you you hear scratches, you hear the tone,

415
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: and you say, oh my god, that is something unbelievable,

416
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 1: you know, or you know, Menu and had a fantastic sound.

417
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody had a different kind of sound, but

418
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: sometimes sounds it's apples and orange ice, you know. I mean,

419
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 1: but that the first Christen that I hear of that

420
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,719
Speaker 1: kind of sound is his. But you can say hello,

421
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,879
Speaker 1: it's this is a very dear friend of mine. By

422
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Speaker 1: the way, Yeah, you should be ashamed of yourself. You

423
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 1: know that story about the mall Or nine with Alan

424
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 1: at Lincoln Center and they get down to the end.

425
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 1: I mean they talk about squeezing at the death. I

426
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 1: mean they're squeezing the end of the Maller nine. It's

427
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 1: like it's looks like it's like this cosmic soup. And

428
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 1: the guy's phone goes off and he sitting They're going

429
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:42,679
Speaker 1: and no one in his office told me he had

430
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: a new phone, and you cannot, you cannot and put

431
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: the arm on it and the alarm and finally Alan

432
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:55,440
Speaker 1: stops the performance. They stopped the end of the Mallar nine.

433
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 1: That was a very special Maller nine. That was a memory.

434
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 1: It was. It was like a reason. Yes, it was

435
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: like a sausage. It had it had two endings. Now

436
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 1: you you conduct? Yes? And then when? When did that again?

437
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: And why it began? I tell you it's very funny.

438
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,119
Speaker 1: It began with the Proman Music program. Uh, my wife

439
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,440
Speaker 1: who started this whole thing. She said to me, we're

440
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,919
Speaker 1: gonna have a string orchestra. Could you coach them? So

441
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: I didn't think of myself as a conductor. I thought

442
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: myself as a coach. So I picked up at pencil

443
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 1: and conducted with the pencil, you know, because if you

444
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 1: conduct with the baton, you're a conductor. With a pencil,

445
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: you're more of a teacher. You see that I mean?

446
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: And anyway, so that's actually when it started and I

447
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:50,120
Speaker 1: got some interesting again. I got some nice sounds from

448
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,919
Speaker 1: the orchestra conducting. I find very mysterious, you know, because

449
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,920
Speaker 1: you can have four or five conductors who are absolutely excellent,

450
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: and each one gives you a downbeat and the orchestra

451
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 1: will sound different with each What do you attribute that to?

452
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: I have no idea, Thank god. What do you think

453
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,959
Speaker 1: makes a good conductor? Oh? Well, obviously knowing the score

454
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: and knowing all of this things. But in the final analysis,

455
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: there is a mystery as to what makes somebody conductor

456
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: phrase in the orchestra play a certain way. I don't

457
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: understand that, you know, a great conductor should understand what

458
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: he or she wants to hear from the orchestra. So

459
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 1: if I do, let's say a bit of a Brahms symphony,

460
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 1: what do you say to a great orchestra who have

461
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 1: performed that hundreds of times? How do you get the

462
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: orchestra to hear pop up up and say, hey, that's

463
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: really good stuff as as opposed to I again, you know,

464
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 1: so that's that's that's the difference. Well, it's your it's

465
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 1: my own rendition of what I want what I want

466
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: to hear. So if you say to me, it's high

467
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: Tank doing this smaller piece, he pasces it up, which

468
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,360
Speaker 1: I don't like. And if you show me that it's

469
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: gary if he squeezes every drop out of it, how

470
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: could one movement be almost two minutes longer with someone

471
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,200
Speaker 1: else conducted easily? And it's easily mean they just squeeze it.

472
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: But also, but also if it's too slow, it doesn't

473
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: mean that it's bad. And if it's too fast, it

474
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,960
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's bad. If it works. There is

475
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: no such thing as the right temple. If you hear

476
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 1: that it's too fast, then maybe there's something in your

477
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 1: background that you're not used to it. Now, tell everybody

478
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 1: the idea. How did the school start? It was Toby's idea,

479
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 1: My wife, Toby's idea. It was her dream because we

480
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 1: met in a school in a summer program during during Juliard,

481
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 1: sure of course, and so she started this whole thing,

482
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 1: you know. And it was actually five years ago. So

483
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: this is our anniversary for the program music program and

484
00:27:51,240 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 1: yes and uh and it was it was basically for strings.

485
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: And I think we had kids come to our house

486
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: in Long Island and practice scales and you know, like

487
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: at eight o'clock in the morning, you said, Toby thought

488
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 1: that was the greatest alarm clock. And but we are

489
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: now in Shelter Island. The people, whether whether it's the

490
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 1: young program or the eighteen program, are they is it

491
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 1: free of charge? And you're raising money to pay for

492
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: the whole people? We never we never we never refused.

493
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: We never refused for lack of funds. We give a

494
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: lot of people scholarships and scholarships and some uh some

495
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: more some lessons so on, and some if they want

496
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: to pay, they can pay, but it really doesn't matter because,

497
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: you know, the the expense of the program is so

498
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: that even if we were to charge everybody equally, will

499
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: still be in the in the red severely, severely, believe me,

500
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: so really, but it's great. And the program has not

501
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: grown on purpose. You know, we started with about thirty

502
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: eight thirty nine kids and we still have thirty a

503
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: thirty nine kids for the little program. And it's and

504
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,760
Speaker 1: and it's amazing. It's it's very difficult to describe unless

505
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 1: you go there and just give the experience. We have

506
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: kids playing twice a week works in progress we call

507
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: it whips, you know, where they try new pieces in

508
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 1: front of an audience and so on. It's it's it's

509
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: great and I've been listening during the summers. I don't

510
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 1: play concerts. I just teach there and with with other great,

511
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: great faculty, and we have you know, the philosophy of

512
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: a lack once you're in that program, a lack of

513
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: competition between the kids. You know, they all support each other,

514
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: and for me, that's so important. You know that that

515
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: you know, when somebody plays well, they are truly happy

516
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: for them, and when somebody messes up, they go and

517
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: they console them and they really feel for them. It's

518
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a real Family's so important. It's

519
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: a great father. It's our problem's wife, Toby Proman, please

520
00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: come and join us, Toby, and please welcome Rachel, Lee

521
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: Friday and Randall Gooseby. Thank you, Thank you, Toby. Your

522
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,160
Speaker 1: husband has so kindly dumped the responsibility of explaining to

523
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: all about the school to you. So how did it start?

524
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,440
Speaker 1: I want to say something else first, go right ahead.

525
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: I want to say something about the sound he doesn't know.

526
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: It's like breathing. You don't think about each breath that

527
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 1: you take. You just do it. And I breathe a

528
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 1: little differently than you. The sound that he makes comes

529
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: from I don't know, magic or some something that I

530
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: don't understand, unique to him, and that's the only kind

531
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: of sound he can make. I'm stuck with it, right,

532
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 1: So okay, now ask me a question. I love that

533
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: I believe that I believe in something otherworldly inside you.

534
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: But so the school started when twenty five years ago

535
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 1: the school started It started because I went to a meeting.

536
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 1: I was invited to a meeting out in the Hampton's

537
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 1: people wanted to start a music festival. I wasn't really

538
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 1: interested at all, and I said that up front, but

539
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: I went and there was the talk talk talk, talk talk,

540
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: and somebody said, and we could have a school, and

541
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 1: I said, oh, I could do that. I'd like to

542
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: do that. And that was maybe March, and in August

543
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 1: we ran a two week program. And where did you

544
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: run the program? Initially we ran it at Boys Harbord,

545
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: you know, you know where that is, and they had

546
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 1: snakes in the rooms and there was no hall to

547
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,720
Speaker 1: play in. The dining room was the concert hall, and yeah,

548
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 1: it was very exciting. We also had the food. Should

549
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: we should we talk about the food? Now? What food

550
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 1: did you serve in the early days of the school?

551
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:07,280
Speaker 1: Mystery meets now for Rachel. Now you are not at

552
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 1: the school anymore. You went to the school, correct? Yeah?

553
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,600
Speaker 1: I went to the Proman music program beginning in two

554
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: thousand one. And how many summers were you there? I

555
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 1: was there at the little program for six years, and

556
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: then I went to the Chamber workshop and I also

557
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: attended their Sara Sota Winter Program. How old were you

558
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 1: when you knew you had a little special something in

559
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 1: the musical department? I wonder how old were you? Well,

560
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: so I actually asked for a violin for my fourth birthday.

561
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 1: I saw it on TV on lamp chops play along,

562
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:51,719
Speaker 1: and and then what happened? The day rolled around and

563
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: I had sort of forgotten about it. But in the

564
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,080
Speaker 1: middle of the day, I think in the afternoon or something,

565
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: I suddenly remembered and then I was like, where's my violin?

566
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: And I got really upset and I started crying. And

567
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 1: then I think my mom knew I was really serious

568
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: about it. So when I was about four and a half,

569
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,680
Speaker 1: she finally got me one, what about you? Um? I

570
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: started a little bit older when I was seven, Um,

571
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 1: father time over here. UM. My mother is Korean and

572
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: she grew up in Japan, and um, music education is

573
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: a very big part of their culture, and so she

574
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: wanted me to have music. And for some random reason,

575
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 1: I chose violent, You're you're going to school where now

576
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,960
Speaker 1: at Juilliard? Now you're a Julliard now and you talk

577
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 1: about Pearlman, how nurturing it is. Now it's like a family.

578
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 1: Would you say that Juilliard is the same way. Was

579
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 1: a little is a little more competitive. It's safe to say, yeah,

580
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 1: a little bit, but um, I mean so many. I

581
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: mean most of the people I hang out with the

582
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: Juilliard I met at p MP, so I still have

583
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 1: my my sort of family. Got out of that and

584
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: he said what he said about making a certain sound?

585
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: Do you feel that you have a sound? Are you

586
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,800
Speaker 1: developed by yes? Like Mrs P said, it's kind of

587
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 1: second nature. It's like breathing, so we kind of focus

588
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: on the difficult stuff. I disagree you have to work

589
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 1: on your sound. I mean I think all our video

590
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 1: nights and studio class really you know nailed that in

591
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,759
Speaker 1: my head that you need to work on your goal?

592
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: What do you want to do? What do I want

593
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 1: to do? Well? For me, I love solo playing, I

594
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,799
Speaker 1: love working with recital partners with pianists, and I love

595
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 1: chamber music and I also love teaching. So for me,

596
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,799
Speaker 1: having a variety of activities really is the most satisfying.

597
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: How have would you say for both of you? How

598
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 1: have the students changed and we're coming through the program

599
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,879
Speaker 1: and the twenty years you've been doing it, I can

600
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: tell you then in terms of applicants and admissions. The

601
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 1: level is higher and high and higher and higher. It's

602
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 1: like everything else. The kids throw a ball faster, and

603
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: hit the tennis ball faster, and run faster, and swim

604
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:15,080
Speaker 1: faster and play faster and better. Amazing. No, No, we're

605
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: gonna bring out six other people who've been playing the

606
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 1: violin since they were eighteen months old. Let's get them

607
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 1: out here, and then when we're done performing, we're gonna end.

608
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: We're gonna end with this music. Here they come right.

609
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 1: That was Itsak Proman, his wife and Proman Music program

610
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: founder Toby, and their brilliant violin students, Rachel Lee Priday

611
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,799
Speaker 1: and Randall Gooseby. The artists who made up the octet

612
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 1: were Rachel and Randall, plus Stella Chen and Keneth Renshaw

613
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,440
Speaker 1: also on violin, Chalee Smith and Joshua ma Chale on viola,

614
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:10,560
Speaker 1: Nico Olarte Hayes, and iChon Su on cello. The piece

615
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,440
Speaker 1: was the presto from Mendelssohn's octet Opus twenty in e

616
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:18,560
Speaker 1: flat major, recorded live at n y US Screwball Center

617
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,840
Speaker 1: in Manhattan. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's

618
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:23,239
Speaker 1: the thing,