JAVS Summer 1997

57

humorous. She reminded me that music is emotion and that you must "feel." I will explain, recounting and using quotes. "To become a performer you must have passion." "You can't move an audience without feeling it yourself." "What, are you unhappy yourself?" There were several small conversations that also portrayed the need to be more emo tionally involved with our music and to forget about being nervous. One of my favorite ex amples occurred as a young man finished playing. Ms. Tuttle told him that he looked unhappy and asked him what his dream was. He said that it was to play better viola and she immediately asked him if he also wanted to play better quartet and chamber music, to which he responded affirmatively. She quickly told him in a very loving and cheerful way, "Okay, I would lighten up. I don't think you breathed throughout the whole thing." This helped me understand that we need to be relaxed as we perform so that our emotions have room to operate. When many of us pre pare for competitions or performances, we experience nervousness, which is natural. What I learned from Ms. Tuttle was that music itself has a greater purpose, a greater function, and if all that we focus on is getting through the piece flawlessly, we miss the big picture. The music becomes nothing more

than a combination of notes in rhythm. I specifically remember feeling something dif ferent etched in my soul when I left that mas ter class. I wanted to access my emotions much more than I ever had before so as to perform the music from my heart and make it possible for others to feel it. I think that when we successfully do this, music becomes a living, breathing entity in our lives that we literally cannot live without it. I also enjoyed the presentations by Jeff Irvine and Tom Heimberg on practicing. They helped me realize that practicing doesn't have to hurt or be mentally painful if one pre pares correctly and goes into it with a good attitude. Sound practice, mental preparation, and a passion for the music enable us to play confidently and to reach into the rich sea of emotions that lie in the heart. Music then begins to breathe, dance, weep, charm, and console and becomes a wonderful showcase of all that the human heart can feel. This, I have taken with me from the Viola Congress. I express my gratitude to the organizers, performers, lecturers, and all who made it possible. My concept of and motiva tion towards music and performance was changed and my heart was opened a little more.

Chris Lewis, sophomore viola major, Brigham Young University

I enjoyed reading the recent issue of JAVS and the interview with Joseph de Pasquale. How ever, his memory of Rebecca Clarke as "a frail little English woman" is inaccuarate. She was nearly five feet ten inches tall with large hands that must have been well suited to

playing the viola. She retained a passionate interest in people and music until she died at the age of ninety-three.

Veronica Jacobs New York, New York