JAVS Spring 2011

times. Marcel Tabuteau, the great oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra who taught at Curtis, was also a great influence; Karen loved describing his method of rhythmic grouping to all of her students. She per formed with members of the Budapest Quartet and many other famous musicians of that era, and for her students she was a link to so many of these great musicians. As a teacher, Karen was the guiding light for scores of students from around the world, many of whom are currently performing and recording as soloists, cham ber musicians, and orchestral musicians (including many principals) and many who are teaching at numerous conservatories, college/university music schools, and community music schools. She taught at Curtis, Juilliard, Peabody, and at the Aspen Music Festival and the Banff Centre for the Arts. The American String Teachers Association honored her by naming her Artist Teacher of the Year in 1994, and the American Viola Society selected her as the inaugu ral winner of the AVS Career Achievement Award in 1997. Karen had an uncanny ability to draw the best playing from her students. One always felt that she

believed in you so strongly, and that belief gave you the strength to give it everything you had. Her inborn courage to stay vulnerable both in her music-making and in her person was the quality that gave us the courage to become more than we might have been. There was always a twinkle in her eye, and she pushed you and cajoled you to find that same twinkle within yourself. She believed strongly that we all could play, and play beautifully, if we could just get back to the freedom and carefree spirit that we had as children, without the worries and self-doubts that seemed to possess so many of us. She taught us how to release the tension in our bodies so that the music could flow from our souls. She taught us to find the joy, the sad ness, the anger, the love, and the fear within the music and ourselves and to express it with every fiber of our being. She loved life, she loved music, and she loved her students. She had a rare magic touch that allowed her to be surrogate mother, great friend, and your biggest fan, as well as a teacher inspiring full respect. And she got mad at us! If you weren’t living up to her expectations, she let you know—but you knew it was because she cared so much about you.

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