Masterful touch produces powerful sounds
Concertmistress strings students along

by Brian Shults, se news editor

    Learning music on SE Campus stepped to a different rhythm last week in a master class for violinists.

    "You have to breathe. Take a deep breath and let it out as you start the first note," Rebecca Stern, master class guest violinist, said while instructing student Brian Garrison.

    A master class allows students the opportunity to interact with a professional musician in front of an audience. The student individually plays a piece of music that has been previously practiced, and the master class guest instructor offers specific help from the perspective of an accomplished musician.

    SE Campus' master class was held last Thursday and featured Stern, a member of the Fort Worth Symphony.

    Garrison said a master class offers students many benefits.

    "At a regular recital, you play in front of an audience by yourself without help and have a lot of anxiety. In a master class, you have a small audience and some anxiety, but you have someone who is working with you to help you cope with the anxiety, and you learn to play the music better."

    "The class gave me new ideas I haven't thought of from a technical perspective," he said.

    Stern added to Garrison's analysis by expressing the goals she set for the limited amount of time she would have with students.

    "When you have only 15-30 minutes to teach, it's impossible to teach everything. But what I want to show is that in such a short amount of time you can make changes that improve playing," she said.

    Other students who participated in the master class were Lauren Hall and Suzy McCalley. The violinists were accompanied on piano by John Lewis, SE piano and voice instructor. Mary Nesvadba, SE violin instructor, organized the master class.

    "It's always beneficial for students to experience different musicians and their perspectives," she said.

    Currently, Nesvadba is taking violin lessons from Stern, and Stern is taking lessons from a member of the Dallas Symphony, illustrating the need to continue learning, Nesvadba said.

    Stern agreed by articulating her own teaching approach for the master class.

    "I try to reinforce everything the teacher has told them, because sometimes it's good to hear it from someone else," she said.

    Stern also values the opportunity to teach because it allows her to think about her own playing in an analytical fashion.

    "As a teacher, it forces you to analyze your own playing and think about the fundamentals, so you can explain them to someone else. The creativity involved in playing an instrument yourself is completely different from the creativity involved in getting someone else to understand how it works," she said.

    Stern has been a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra since 1995. Before that, she was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, where she earned her Master of Music degree from the University of Miami.