...I have to share this story...I don't know why...
I am a very good cellist, I had a scholarship to a Conservatory, and sat Principal in several orchestras. I also have a degree in accounting, like my brother...and of course when I entered a community, I would be elected Treasurer of the Womens music Club.
I was sitting, judging scholarships for grammer age kids. Our club would pay for private lessons. I watched a young black girl enter, and she played a Bach partita. I stopped her, and took her cello from her, and sat and said. "This is a dance, your fingers need to dance over the strings." I played, and said..."Look, she is happy...now, she is uncertain...maybe her boyfriend is with another girl...but now, she is happy again." I handed the cello back to her, and watched...She played it much better...
I told her, "you won a scholarship."
Years later, I was judging for college scholarships. A young black woman entered, and played the Brahms. She offered me the score before she started, but I waved it away and said, "I know the piece." I stopped her before the end, and took her cello from her. I said, "You have the notes down, but you are showing NO emotion of the work." I started playing, and said, "The woman is very pensive right now..." I then called out a measure number to the pianist...we got into it. I said, as I played..."She is getting angry now..." I hit the hard part, and said..."She is REALLY pissed"...my eyes were closed as I hammered the bow across the strings...I shouted, "Now she is yelling at the Gods." I got into the calmer part and stopped.
I handed the cello back to her, and said, "Music isn't just about placing your fingers in the right place." She nodded and started again...and I smiled with pleasure as she expressed the mood of the piece. I told her, "You have a scholarship" when she finished. She smiled at me, and said, "This is the second lesson you have given me."
I looked at her more carefully, and smiled...she was the young girl that I had met years earlier...but she played much better...
