Notes from Jesse's Sabbatical

Our Senior Resident Musician Jesse Holstein checks in from his three month sabbatical:

I was lucky enough to spend last week at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, a new initiative led by Deb Sherr, director of Greenwood Music Camp, and Alfred Tauber, Professor Emeritus of both Philosophy and Medicine at Boston University and an Avaloch Farm resident.

The Avaloch Farm Music Institute is a retreat center for professional chamber music groups. Located in Boscawen, New Hampshire (about 20 minutes outside of Concord), Avaloch is a brand new facility boasting hotel-quality rooms (sans TV), gorgeous rehearsal studios, running trails, canoeing, and an amazing staff that takes care of everything so that your group only has to worry about how to play in tune with a blended sound. On top of all that, the food is ridiculously good. Five-star stuff. I'm a little ashamed to say that I put on about seven pounds that week. Call it a complete break of self-control. But aside from this temporary loss of self-respect, my experience at Avaloch was incredible and I can't do it justice in words. I'll include a link to their site so you can find out more about it:

http://www.avalochfarmmusic.org/

Ealaín [McMullin], Emmy [Holmes-Hicks], and my old pal Heath [Marlow] went to Avaloch to prepare a program we played this past weekend in Boston and Newport. The concerts benefited Ealaín and Emmy's new initiative, the Newport String Project. We rehearsed three works: a sweet arrangement of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine," Haydn's D major quartet op. 20 no. 4, and Beethoven's E-flat major quartet op. 127 (the first of his great late-period quartets). Here is a link to Ealaín and Emmy's new program:

http://www.newportstringproject.org/

I decided to take a slightly different tack in rehearsals: I tried to pay as little attention to my own part as possible and to simply listen to my colleagues. As a classical player, I am so accustomed to making sure my intonation is pure, my rhythm is accurate, and my sound is beautiful, that there's often not much room left to listen to anything else. While those basic building blocks are always important to address, paying too much attention to them can get in the way of connecting with your partners and can take you out of the experience of making music.

This was a difficult approach for me. Anytime I would hear myself make a sound I didn't like, my attention would be drawn back inward. However, when I was able to keep my ears focused outward on Ealaín, Emmy, and Heath—while allowing my own playing to flow freely, trusting that I had already put in enough work on my individual part—the music making was very satisfying and uplifting. To stop thinking, even for a few lines, was wonderful.

I was less successful in the concerts maintaining this state of mind, as nerves and the underlying desire for accuracy became more of a factor. But there were some stretches of liberation from the Ears of Sauron (if I may be permitted one Lord of the Rings reference), and I have to say it felt pretty wonderful.

Comments

[Indy Shome]

Totally agree, Jesse, listening to others is the key. Your fingers know what to do, so long as you let them focus on the music they're responding to, clear of distractions of ego and misdirected perfectionism.

Glad your time off is going well!

Indy