WorkshopLive interview with Donald Sosin
Education: University of Michigan School of Music, B.M. with honors, 1973
Columbia University Graduate School of Arts And Sciences, M.A. 1976, music composition
When did you start to play? When I was around 5 (1956)
When did you start to notice that your playing was different from everyone else's?
When I was in 6th grade and afterwards, I began playing a lot by ear and it seemed that not everyone could do that. But I don't know if my
playing is really different from other people's.
When did you find your voice as a player? Still trying. Watch this space... actually my composing and
playing took a major turn in that direction after my junior year in college, when I learned how to meditate. Before then, I had a hard time concentrating
when I practiced, and my music and playing was kind of scattered. Things came into focus quickly after that, and my playing improved greatly.
How do you keep your playing fresh? Listening to lots of different kinds of music and trying to imitate it,
then being really quiet and listening to the silence. The more rested I am, the better my playing is. Once I didn't play for two months and the music
that came out afterwards was very different.
What do you do when you get stuck? Different things: go for a walk, listen to some music, take a nap,
read the paper, scream, meditate, breathe, laugh about how silly the whole thing is. Think: why am I stuck? What can I learn from this experience?
Who created the sticky situation anyway? Powdered graphite is good for sticky pedals.
What do you still find hard to do? Stay serious. Practice as slowly as I ought to for maximum results.
It's so much fun to play fast, but real progress comes more often from slow, repetitive work.
How often are you surprised by your playing, or what you're listening to, or music in general?
Every other Tuesday at a quarter past 3. Seriously, folks, I never know when inspiration is going to strike. I played accompaniments for five Westerns
recently over a weekend. One of the films I had seen before, the others I had to play at sight. I thought I did a decent job on the one I knew, and OK
on three of the others, and very well both technically and creatively on the final one, which really surprised me. It depends on what I have been doing,
listening to, eating, how much rest and exercise I have had, how much practicing. (see below)
Do you have a regular practice regimen? Warm-ups (Hanon, Liszt, Tausig, scales, arpeggios)
Do you have a practice "tool-kit" - metronome, tuner, recorder, etc.? Sometimes with a metronome.
Often I play into a recorder and listen back to evaluate.
Do you have a special place for practice set aside in your home? The Steinway is in the living room; the
Roland is in my office downstairs.
How do you practice on the road or when you travel? I do Nazarov finger exercises in the car or on the
plane to keep limber (see my lessons!) and try to grab some warm-up time before gigs when possible.
Is there a piece of gear you just can't live without? My Roland has been really indispensable to me over
the past few years. I bought the new RD-700SX shortly after it came out and am very happy with it.
Are there one or two core ideas that are central to your teaching that you make sure every student learns?
One: breathe. Two: Only do the absolute minimum of physical effort (i.e., work smart, not hard) Three: Rest and activity are the steps of progress.
I highly recommend the Transcendental Meditation program for maximum rest, release of stress, creativity and efficiency in action. It has been a
constant source of rejuvenation and delight to me over the past 35 years.
Do you find yourself returning to listen to the artists who inspired you when you first started to play? Who are they?
Yes, great pianists like Horowitz, Richter, Tatum, Bill Evans, as well as many others I've encountered over the years. I learn from everyone I listen to.
Does your playing change when you switch instruments? Some pianos like to play different kinds of music.
No kidding, I think some just like to play classical, and others like to play jazz or rock or folk or whatever. So I wind up having a better time when I go with the flow.
How often, when you're playing, do you find those moments of pure music, when your head is clear, your fingers are working, there are no distractions, and it’s just you and the music?
I am happy to say that after many years of practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and TM-Sidhi program, there are many, many moments of
great happiness and freedom while I am playing, usually improvising, in which I have no sense of doing anything, that the music is just happening by itself,
and I'm just a silent witness to the proceedings. Listening back to recordings I have no sense that I created the music, it came from somewhere else.
We have a feature called "Big Ears", where we suggest interesting music to our members that they might
not have heard before. What would you suggest for them?
Indian music, if you're not familiar with it. Find some Gandharva-Veda recordings. They do good things to your physiology and the environment. Listen
to the birds outside. Go to a concert of some live performer you've heard about but never saw. Browse online radio stations and listen to some of everything.
When you find something that grabs you, investigate it. I listen to more jazz now than I did growing up, partly because I have a friend who keeps giving
me great suggestions for stuff he likes. Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, etc.
What are you listening to these days? Do you search out music that's new and unfamiliar to you?
There is such an astounding variety of music available these days. I like listening to a wide variety of music, particularly by great composers and
performers. Most of what's on commercial radio doesn't interest me. I prefer Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Adams, Zappa,
Beatles, Verdi, Richard Rodgers, Sondheim, Gershwin, Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Monteverdi, Renaissance music, Indian music, most traditional folk
music from all over the world, particularly Indian instrumental and Vedic chanting, Celtic, Balkan, South American, and African. Jazz: Coltrane, Miles,
Louis Armstrong, Brubeck and assorted others. I love sacred music from medieval times up to gospel. And music that's funny: PDQ Bach, for example.
Do you have a musical wish list - other instruments to learn, people to play with, artists or styles to explore?
Always wanted to play a woodwind or a string instrument well. Played clarinet for a month in 4th grade but broke my front teeth, so switched to string bass,
which I played for 4 years. But it was too heavy to carry around. If I had one thing that I wanted to do, it would be to learn Gandharva-Veda, the traditional
Vedic music of India.
Have you ever had a really great teacher? What made him/her so good?
My first piano teacher, Ted Cylkowski, was an enormous influence. He introduced us to all kinds of classical music, operas, chamber music, concertos, as
well as piano music. My school music teacher, Mary Louise Campbell, taught us folk songs and show tunes that I still play all the time, and I owe her a
great deal of my interest in that type of music. My great teacher, Kyriena Siloti, whose father studied with Liszt and taught Rachmaninoff, is responsible
for my technical ability, and I return again and again to what she taught me. In a sense, she is still teaching me. I also studied with Olga Barabini, who
was a pupil of Claudio Arrau, and taught Garrick Ohlsson. I learned a lot from her that I also use today. I think if you're attentive, you learn from everyone,
teachers, students, whomever.
How do you learn best? Keeping an open mind. Listening to other people's interpretations. Reading through a
piece slowly first to get the general idea, and analyzing it to see where the problems are and focusing on those. Going back to basics all the time. Recently
I found a book online that, together with watching some Glen Gould videos on Youtube, solved a long-standing problem with left-hand facility. Again, I stay
fresh by meditating daily and using the deep rest as a springboard for dynamic activity. Listening to live music is always an inspiration. I often come home
after a concert, energized, and play for an hour.
Do you have any practice tips we can share with our subscribers? I always tell my students to play slowly, play
hands separately if necessary, break the music down into manageable bits, even a measure at a time, and play 4-16 times at a tempo where there are no
mistakes. Relaxation is extremely important. Tension will hamper your playing. Take breaks if you get tired. My teacher, Kyriena, said that the great Russian
pianist Sviatislav Richter used to say he practiced slow, then slower. Singing is very important for pianists so that you feel a sense of the line and breathe.
Listening is so important. To yourself, to others. Really listening deeply. Having an internal idea of what the music sounds like, and then producing that
effect. Decide what you want to accomplish in a practice session and then go for it. Also, close your eyes and listen to the music inside. Learn how to read
really well and do it every day if possible. And breathe. And smile.
Visit Donald at www.oldmoviemusic.com
