Volume 16 Issue 5 - February 2011

ervatory grade 10 piano,” you maypossibly note the fact in passing.But if you read that Performer Xswitched to violin at age eight after10 piano, you stop and take notice.Reading these seven musician’sresumes I found myself stopping tonotice, over and over again.“I began learning to play pianolyafter, I began participating in concertsand competitions.”“I started piano at age four…played as a soloist with the CathedralBluffs Symphony at age tenand later in Carnegie Hall in NewYork, at ‘Assisi in the World’ international ionalmusicfestivalinItalyin Italy,and on CBC Radio One and Classical 96.3 FM.”“I began studying cello at the age of 4½, at the ages of eight,nine and ten, performed as solo cellist with the Ashdod ChamberOrchestra”.“I have performed several times as a soloist with the JVL SSPAOrchestra, and the Kindred Spirits Orchestra and as concertmasterof these orchestras.”“When I was 8 my grandmother thought that perhaps clarinetwould be a good instrument for me and taught me the fundamentalbasics. I loved it!” on stage at age 5… and was the Grand Prize winner of the CMCNational Finals in 2010.”“I began playing the violin when I was three years old, andbegan competing at an early age. I have won many competitions,the Canadian Music Competition in the Strings category.”“My long term goal is to attend Juilliard and become an internationallyacclaimed solo violinist.” “I have played in masterclasseswith various artists, including Leila Josefowicz, James Ehnes, AaronRosand, and Renaud Capuçon.”Equally interesting to observe from the resumes is the portraitthey paint of the intricately interwoven musical support system thatour community provides. There are the teachers, many of whosenames are familiar to readers of the WholeNote as the performerswho regularly grace our pages. There are the music schools andcolleges, astonishing in scope and variety. And there are the competitions,little and large in which, as one of the seven put it, “eitherplace, or you learn that the real spirit of competition is to show whatyou can do and how easily you can do it, and just have a good timeperforming the piece that you have worked on for such a long time.”Taken together, these are the cauldron in which the complex ingredientsof attitude, emotions, dazzling technique and sheer bloodydetermination needed to succeed in this milieu, are mixed andstirred. These are the traits that will need to kick in when labels like“prodigy” and “teen sensation” are no longer a draw.IV.HERE’S MY SECOND, rather more allegorical, reason for beingglad we did the Bader photo detour. On the path to honours athallowed conservatories, or triumphing at competitions withprizes of staggering magnitude, there are going to be all kinds ofunexpected detours. so you might as well get used to it. It’s calledpaying your dues. You shiver in the cold for what may, after all,turn out to be nothing more than a small photo and mere mentionin a local “rag.” You learn how, in an interview, to give moreinteresting answers than the questions you were asked. Don’t scoff atthe latter, by the way. As you will see, it’s a skill important enoughfor the soon-to-be biggest piano competition in the world to havechanged its rules and practices.continued on page 70February 1 - March 7, 2011 thewholenote.com 9