The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 061 Violaine Melançon: Becoming a Well-Rounded Artist
Episode Date: February 21, 2020I'm really honored to have violinist Violaine Melançon on the show this week to discuss her views on the skills young musicians need to develop to become well-rounded artists. As you'll get to hear, ...Violaine is an artist of great depth and a dedicated pedagogue with wonderful wisdom and empathy. I'm certain that you will resonate with her message and walk away inspired and motivated In our conversation, Violaine expands on: The importance of choosing a teacher that will be a good fit The wonderful teaching philosophies of Isadore Tinkleman, which created "searching musicians" and fostered thinking and creativity in his students The importance of learning to listen and trust your ear Becoming a "Searching Musician" The importance of being versatile How and how long we should practice What summer festivals can bring to a young musician's development How much we learn when we teach The importance of having a good balance between routine, consistency, and variety Listening to yourself as if you were your own best student (which will help you listen better and assess what is objectively) Her main "engines:" curiosity, creativity in problem-solving, and yoga Her wise advice to students Her beautiful actionable tip: find a way to be inspired every day Don't forget to visit the Mind Over Finger Resources' page to check out amazing books recommended by my podcast guests, as well as my favorite websites, cds, the podcasts I like to listen to, and the practice and podcasting tools I use every day! Find it here: www.mindoverfinger.com/resources! And join the Mind Over Finger Book Club in the Tribe! We meet HERE, and we'll begin 2020 with The Inner Game of Golf by Tim Gallwey! Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get your free guide to a super productive practice using the metronome! This guide is the perfect entry point to help you bring more mindfulness and efficiency into your practice and it's filled with tips and tricks on how to use that wonderful tool to take your practicing and your playing to new heights! TURN THE METRONOME ON AND START PRACTICING BETTER AND LEARNING FASTER RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR FREE METRONOME GUIDE TODAY AT www.mindoverfinger.com!!!! MORE ABOUT VIOLAINE MELANÇON: Website: https://www.violaineMelançon.com/ An artist deeply dedicated to the range of violin and chamber music repertoire, violinist Violaine Melançon is Associate Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, and serves on the violin and chamber music faculties of the Peabody Conservatory. She was for thirty years the founding violinist of the Peabody Trio which was ensemble-in-residence at the Peabody Conservatory from 1987 to 2016. After winning the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1989, the Peabody Trio established itself as an important presence in the chamber music world as vivid interpreters of the classics of the repertoire, advocates for new music, and dedicated teachers and mentors to a generation of young musicians. As a member of the Peabody Trio, Ms. Melançon gave a New York debut in 1990 at Alice Tully Hall and has performed in the most important chamber music series in North America, including New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Denver, Vancouver, Montreal, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Indianapolis, Dallas, Honolulu, Memphis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Portland, St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia. With them, Ms. Melançon toured internationally, frequently performing in England, making repeat appearances at London's Wigmore Hall, and in Japan and Israel. She has a special affection for the music of today and is a serious interpreter of works of Gyorgy Kurtag, Mauricio Kagel and Zhou Long. The Israeli composer Shulamit Ran wrote a violin concerto for her and she has premiered several works by other leading composers. Among the artists with whom she enjoys collaborating are pianists Leon Fleisher, Gilbert Kalish and Peter Frankl, soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and violist Roger Tapping. During the spring of 2012, she presented the complete works for solo violin by J.S. Bach. She performs recitals annually, exploring unusual gems of the solo and violin-piano duo repertoire. Ms. Melançon is from Québec, Canada. After receiving First Prize in violin at the Conservatoire de Musique, she continued her studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music, with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory and with Arthur Grumiaux in Belgium. While at Curtis, she was a member of the Nisaika Quartet, prize winner of the 8th International String Quartet competition in Evian, France. Ms. Melançon is also the recipient of many awards for solo performance including the 1984 Prix d'Europe. In 1983, she formed the Knopp-Melançon Duo, an artistic collaboration which would eventually expand to become the Peabody Trio. In 1987, as a result of having been appointed USIA Artistic Ambassadors, the duo toured abroad extensively and made their Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center. Since then, her activities as a chamber musician, soloist with orchestras, and teacher have taken her to major music centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan. She has participated in many summer festivals as violinist, teacher and guest artists, including those of Tanglewood, Ravinia, Skaneateles, Rockport, Orford, and Domaine Forget. She gives yearly masterclasses at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and teaches regularly at NOI, the National Orchestral Institute and Festival. For many years, she has served on the faculty of Yellow Barn If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review on iTunes! I truly appreciate your support! Visit www.mindoverfinger.com for information about past and future podcasts, and for more resources on mindful practice. Join the Mind Over Finger Tribe here! https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfingertribe/ THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme! Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly! MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/
Transcript
Discussion (0)
You're listening to the Mind Over Finger Podcast, Episode Number 61.
Welcome to the Mind Over Finger Podcast, discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice,
and building a purposeful career.
And now, your host, Dr. Renée Paul Gaultier.
Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing great. I'm really honored to have violinist Violenne Melançon on the show this week.
Violenne is Associate Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada,
and serves on the violin and chamber music faculties of the Peabody Conservatory.
For 30 years, Violenne was the founding violinist of the Peabody Trio, which was ensemble in residence at the Peabody Conservatory,
and performed extensively around the globe.
After receiving first prize in violin at the Conservatoire de Musique of Quebec in Canada,
Violaine continued her studies with Ivan Gelamin at the Curtis Institute of Music,
with Isidore Tenkoman at the San Francisco Conservatory,
and with Arthur Grumiau in Belgium.
She's the recipient of many awards, and her activities as a chamber musician,
soloist with orchestras, and teacher have taken her to major music centers
in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.
Violin has participated in many summer festivals as violinists, teacher, and guest artists,
including those of Tanglewood, Ravigna, Skenetilis, Rockport, Orford, and Domaine Forget.
She gives yearly master classes at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival
and teaches regularly at the National Orchestral Institute and Festival
and has served on the faculty of Yellow Barn.
Violin maintains an active solo career, and her performances can be heard on the Naxos,
Artec, CRI, and New World Records labels.
She has a special affection for the music of today, and is a serious interpreter of
works of Georgi Kortag, Mauricio Kegel, and Zoolang.
The Israeli composer Shlomit Ron wrote a violin concerto for her, and she has premiered several
works by other leading composers.
In this episode, Violen helps me answer your questions about the skills young musicians
need to develop to become well-rounded artists.
We discuss Violen's views on the importance of fostering curiosity and creativity in the
learning experience, why we should learn to develop and trust our ear, how versatility
enhances our playing and opens doors in the career, how and how long to practice, the
importance of having a good balance between routine, consistency, and variety, why we should
find a way to be inspired every day, and much more. I think this will go down as one of my
favorite episodes. As you'll get to hear, Violin is an artist of great depth and a dedicated pedagogue
with wonderful wisdom and empathy. I think you'll resonate strongly with her message, and I know
that you'll walk away from this interview inspired and motivated. Let's go to the show.
Violaine Melançon, it's such a great honor to have you on the show today.
Oh, thank you. The honor is mine. Very happy to speak with you.
You have such a rich career performing and teaching at the university level, teaching in many summer camps.
And when I was getting so many questions from listeners about succeeding in college and what they would need to learn and the skills they would need to acquire to be successful in the music career, I was thinking about you right away.
So I am so glad that you accepted my invitation and that we're chatting together today.
Great.
So I'd love to hear a little bit about your musical journey.
So would you please begin by telling us a little bit about you and how you got to where you are today?
Oh, that's a long story.
I'm French-Canadian and I did my course at the Conservatoire in Quebec City.
and after I got my prize I went to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where I did my
undergrad degree and then I decided I wanted to go very far away from the east coast I wanted a
completely different experience so I was either going to go to Europe to study with Sandra Vague
or moved to San Francisco to study with Isidore Tenkelman.
And I was drawn to him because my two favorite players at Curtis,
my colleague, classmates, were students of his.
And they had the creativity and the freedom in their playing
that really attracted me.
So I went for a trial lesson.
And to tell you the truth, I fell in love with the city first.
i really i really love the city and you know in the late 80s san francisco was just
just marvelous and still not very polluted i had never seen colors like that and it took me
only two or three lessons to fall equally in love with izzy tinkleman and it was a wonderful place
to do graduate work and that sort of was the end of my formal studies although i continued to coach
in my piano violin duo and in my trio with marvelous musicians,
especially pianists like Gilbert Kellisch and Leon Fleischer.
So my studies and professional life coexisted for a number of transitional years
until I was, I guess, weaned, although we were never really weaned.
We learned from each other all the time.
Yes, that's for sure.
I love that you're talking about this creativity and the freedom of your colleagues that kind of led you to this teacher, because that's definitely an aspect of, you know, one of the first career choice we make, who we're going to study with.
Right. Yeah, it's very important. I mean, it's everything.
When I was in Philadelphia, there was a lot that I got from being there.
I would say mostly wonderful music and great orchestra experience.
In terms of lessons, I had had such a superlative teacher in Quebec and a very close personal relationship.
So I felt a little bit lost in that regard when I was in Philadelphia.
And I felt that I very much reconnected with that in San Francisco.
And many people said when I left, oh, how can you go from Curtis to the San Francisco Conservatory?
And it was one of the best decisions I've ever made because, as you said, the teacher, who your mentor is, and the sort of growth that you'll do is your first passport to success in school and beyond.
And to me, it was a perfect transition to being a professional.
It was just a perfect fit.
And that's what people should look for is what fits with them and where they will grow the most.
Yes. As a violinist, I'm a little personally curious about what in his teaching was a quality that was able to bring out this creativity and freedom you were talking about.
Well, he was a very direct person. And his expectations, I guess, his expectations were that we would be searching musicians. And if we did not bring things with a lot of creative ideas, you know, he wouldn't do the work for us.
He would send us back home and tell us to bring it back when we had something to say about it.
He was also somebody who taught violin in a way that centers around the ear.
It may seem obvious, especially for non-musicians, like what does that mean?
But we get often as instrumentalists so concerned about the very complex task of playing a musical instrument.
I mean, there is so much to think about at the same time, so much to master in the way we move, in the way we understand music, that sometimes we actually forget to listen.
We start playing by repetitions, by physical memory, by recipe, you know, applying concepts to the music rather than really entering in a conversation with the music and letting that dictate the technique.
So he sort of, you know, turned the whole experience of performing music on its head for me.
And I became much more in the moment when I played, more spontaneous, more honest, more able to take risks.
One of the techniques he used, for instance, would be to ask out of the blue at the end of a lesson,
okay, so now play, you know, X, Y, Z concerto, play the first movement.
And I would freeze in panic and say, well, we last worked on that six months ago or a year ago or whatever it was.
And he said, well, can you hear it?
If you can hear it, then you can play it.
So go.
So I realized doing that, that actually, if you trust your ear, you can do so much more.
I mean, it might not feel familiar to the hand at that moment.
But if you can hum everything and your ear knows how to tell your finger
to go a certain place, then you can play it.
And you would say, you know, it's all great to practice a thousand hours
before a concert, but that's not really realistic in the professional life.
You might be asked to replace somebody in a concert, somebody who's sick,
And you might have just a dress rehearsal or, you know, you want to be able to say yes to to opportunities that come.
And that simple exercise went a long way to make me believe that I that I could.
He would also give, for instance, an extremely complex curriculum of technique, you know, like specific scales and exercises, a huge list.
And then he would say, okay, well, 30 minutes a day, no more.
And I would look at him like, how am I supposed to do that?
He said, well, you know, if you can't get it all done the first day,
you'll concentrate and listen better the next.
So he taught me that if we really aim in the ear, if you imagine and you aim,
and then you give yourself not a thousand chances,
but you have to really concentrate to really try to do it the first time.
If you're successful, then don't repeat it until it actually fails.
Leave it while it's successful and go to something you actually cannot do.
So much of practicing has wasted time doing needless repetitions of things that we do well.
If you concentrate only on what you cannot do, you'll be a lot more efficient in your practicing.
So he was just very supportive. He had great belief in the power of listening. And he was also a genius at solving physical problems. So that allowed us to do better listening, more direct listening as well.
Wow, there's so much wisdom in what you just said. And he sounds like an incredible teacher. And I'm sure his legacy lives through you. This is so incredible. And I absolutely love what you said about him wanting you and his other pupils to become searching musician. I love that term so much. I'm going to have to start using it because it's at the root of everything.
It really is. I mean, speaking of, you know, we're trying to talk about things you need to learn in college that would help you become a successful musician.
This is it. Become a searching musician.
That's right. You know, curious. But I would say I was thinking about the topic a little bit today.
I would say it's not so different from any other field.
In other words, if you're a curious person, and you give yourself a chance to experience every aspect of music, I mean, in the old days, you know, there was this pecking order. If you're great, you become a soloist. If you are a little less good, but still pretty good, then you can do chamber music. And if you're, you know, not quite as good as that, then you can teach. And then after that, sort of forget it.
And it's sort of silly model, I mean, for any era, but certainly in ours where we need to be able to do many things. Economically, it's not possible to be, for instance, a long-term chamber group without a residency.
So without a component of teaching, it's not really possible or very rarely possible, I would say very rarely possible to do only, you know, a solo career.
I mean, most soloists also do chamber music, even if it's, you know, a secondary thing.
It's certainly and it'll make them better musicians if there are also great chamber musicians.
But it's, you know, it's great to be able to do contemporary music.
It's good to have a Baroque bow and to know the ABC of performance practice.
It's good to be able to be a leader in a large ensemble and a small ensemble to have, you know, chamber music experience.
Teaching is one of the best way to learn yourself because you're constantly confronted with new problems and recipes don't work for everybody.
So you have to try to understand people in their context.
and you know so so in college is the same thing the most skills you can gather the more
interesting you'll be and you know as a byproduct the most employable also but you know if you're
playing is is shines in all these ways if you're interested in in music history and theory and how
to apply that to your playing then you know you'll be busy you'll have interesting projects and you'll
be busy yes absolutely it's as i often say that each student needs to take ownership of their
learning experience because there's so much that they can experience in college if they have this
curiosity and this interest that you're talking about yeah and you can really shape your own
experience regardless of where you are. Yeah, absolutely. One thing worries me a little bit
about the college experience nowadays. I mean, there's a lot of pressure economically on the
youngest generation right now. And people feel, how can I put it, they're bombarded with words
about being it's important to be an entrepreneur and to be relevant and i wholeheartedly agree with
this except that it's important to keep a sense of proportions in other words you can be a good
entrepreneur if you have something to sell and you know you're you're playing is your first asset
So, yes, play music that's relevant. Yes. You know, speak to the audience when you go. Yes. Be involved in a community. But let's not forget the practice part.
You know, the part that's experimenting in the practice room, in the lesson, in front of your peers in studio class, places where it's safe to take risks and to try ideas and to try new ways of playing in performance.
so sometimes i feel like um people get so anxious about making a living that there is no time left
for the the contemplative process which is to how to be creative with your instrument
i apologize for the dogs
somebody's coming home i tried to go as far away as i could in the house but not far enough
i love everything that you're saying and i agree with you this is very prevalent nowadays and
yes exactly like you say you have if you want to sell a product you need to have something that's
very high quality to sell and you know it's i mean it's human nature right to swing from one
extreme to the other i mean the days where you know people um i would say the culture where
it was encouraged to practice five to eight hours a day and not have a social life and and to do
big competitions and then maybe you deserve a career i mean that's that's an extreme and that's
silly and that's not very that doesn't promise you a life in music and certainly not a happy one
But to be swinging on the other side and to be so anxious about the entrepreneur and marketing end of things, that's sort of going too far the other way also.
So, I mean, it's interesting about the, I heard myself say, practicing eight hours a day.
That was one of the things that drew me to Mr. Tuchman.
He asked me in my first lesson, Mr. Tuchman was my teacher in San Francisco.
He asked me in my first lesson, so how much do you practice every day?
and you know i had been to curtis and there was this myth that oh yeah we all practice five hours
i'm already pretended i think even the teachers pretended that they used to do that but you know
so there was this this this uh fake news that everybody was practicing five to eight hours a
so of course I lied so my answer was oh uh you know five hours a day and I couldn't do more on
the weekend and he looked at me just saying are you for real I mean what is this so he said well
if this is what you do you're gonna stop and three hours three hours every day if it's a very bad day
where you have a lot of classes and papers to work two hours you plan it in your schedule and you
if you need to put the hours 7 30 to 9 30 in the morning that's what you do you stay up that day
that's what you do but never less than two and when you have tons of material to learn maybe
four hours but if you do much more than that you know you won't be practicing efficiently you won't
be concentrating creatively said you can play more hours but individual practice three hours
I'd be happy. So that was a real challenge for me to be actually, um, three hours is actually
a long time. If you really practice, you can get, you can get a lot done. And he was so clear in
what he wanted us to do. You know, there was this half hour technique of technique. Um, I had to
learn two etudes perfectly every day, every week. So I had to bring two perfect etudes in the lesson.
we only had an hour so you couldn't waste a lot of time on going over these things and then the
rest on repertoire so um two hours on repertoire half hour on technique and half hour on etudes
and it just really taught me to listen and maybe the moment where it became the most important
was when I became a parent because however busy we think we are in school it's nothing compared
to trying to have a professional life and to be a parent so being able to listen and trust
my ear and the work that I've done and be really present mentally is what carried me through
my career. Yeah, this is, this is the essence of it all. As I've already said, I'm using that
expression a lot. Yes, absolutely. And it's so true that three hours goes by very quickly when
you're focused. And I'm sure you're not talking about three hours from the moment you enter the
room and start putting around and three hours of intense work. And you know, you should give your
brain you know a break or two in there but uh yeah three hours of concentrated one of my students
once decided to put it to the test and she would put a stopwatch and stop the watch every time she
went for water went to the bathroom or you know said hi to a friend she realized how much work
it was to do three hours every day you know but then it's honest you don't pretend that you're
doing six hours and you don't you know and if you want to mr dickman used to say and then go have
fun go learn something else so then you'll have something to say in your playing and you won't
be sick of it you know you won't uh you won't start hating it it's important to love it
it's demanding and to have this balance where we're being nourished by other things and culture
yes friendships yes yes all of these things what else do you think is is an important part of
growing as a young artist um well i think serious ensemble playing is absolutely necessary because
that's where your skills are really put to the test and your colleagues in ensembles will
teach you i mean together you'll be exploring such a vast and endlessly interesting and inspiring
repertoire and you will be confronted with ideas and sounds and ways of phrasings and
just approaches that you would never have dreamt of i mean however deep and wide we try to be
we're sort of trapped with who we are and if we can um encounter other ways
that's the surest way to remain inspired and alive in your music making this is really great
i know how important for me summer festivals were and i know that you teach in summer festivals can
you speak to that a little bit yes certainly and actually summer festivals are equally inspiring
for your colleagues as the you know your mentors and on the other side to be a mentor and you also
become a student during the summer there um i've taught in several wonderful festivals one where i
was for 30 years was the yellow barn music school and festival in vermont and there like in several
other places but it's one of many festivals that has a model of faculty and participants
performing together in groups i would say the half to a little more are our mixed group and
you know it's one thing to talk about things but to have to make sure that you put it in your
playing you have to put yourself on the line and it makes you a more compassionate teacher
if you only teach and don't play i mean sometimes you don't have an option but for those who can
play and decide not to i find it for myself it's easy if i don't play enough to um lose that
empathy to start becoming not too demanding, but not sympathetic enough at the difficulty of what
we're asking the students to do. But if there's too much playing and not enough teaching, then
somehow you may be not present enough to your students' needs. But let me come back to the
Chairman's Week Festival issue. It's just that it gives such a, you know, it's like the genetic pool
gets stirred up a little bit even if you have a you know an ensemble that's your life you know
being in a trio or in a quartet that's serious it's important to go out and play with other people
to meet other students to be in a place where actually you can be contemplative because
they're not this demands of everyday life you don't have to commute you don't have to cook
meals the responsibilities are basically to be creative and helpful musician and mentor and
performer and that is so inspiring it's like putting um you know like boosting yourself for
the rest of the year you can sort of ride on that high and you know if you look at the experience
that the students have it's often life-changing people can make as much progress in one summer
session as they do in an entire year and then carry with them treasures that will you know
propel them forward in ways that they had not thought of and even if they hear things they've
heard hearing it from different mouths sometimes does the trick that's so true yeah so very well
Well spoken. You know, something you just said made me think because I was discussing today about that very same topic about how much I learn when I teach. And I was advising my college students to actually start teaching themselves if they have the opportunity to start mentoring younger students.
And I love that you brought it up because I strongly believe that I think the words that I use is that for sure you don't want to represent yourself as more of a teacher than you are.
But even if you're just a few steps ahead of someone that you're trying to help, you can bring value to them and in the process, help them and also learn so much yourself.
Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny because when you're teaching, you're, I would say, supposedly or often in a position of having a greater experience, let's say, a bigger, longer, deeper experience than the students.
But when you play music with others, that is true also, maybe to a lesser degree, but there are always people that are better at this and that musical aspect than others within a group, always.
and so you'll be sometimes in the mentoring situation in the chamber group you know a more
leadership position and within the same group you'll switch hats and you'll be in the more
receiving observing learning being inspired position so it's really rehearsing and teaching
are not so different, and learning to teach will make you a better
rehearser, and being a good rehearsal will make you a better teacher.
It's just to be able to listen and articulate what you hear
and to problem-solve, you know, how to be helpful.
If you're a generous chamber musician, you want to play in a way
that makes the group sound its best, not yourself.
I mean, you want to sound good too, but sometimes we have different musical choices where, let's see, my part as first violinist in a Haydn quartet could sound great in many different tempi.
But if I take a tempo that's a little slower, it might completely sabotage the cello part.
So that's not empathetic, and empathy is the essence of teaching also.
So it's really sort of different manifestations of the same necessary qualities, I think.
I love that.
Violaine, do you have a favorite tool in the practice room?
A favorite tool?
I like being able to practice every day, which I can't always right now because of, you know, the other demands of my professional life.
So regularity is a great tool, I would say.
not falling too much into routine i would say to try to approach the same work different ways on
different days so you're not going into a road situation and trying to almost practice as if
you were your own most talented student you know so you're you sort of you're listening and you
really want to help this person but you happen to be the person but it's it's i guess to to have
that little cushion of objectivity where you you try to inspire yourself but you try to also be
very honest about what is actually coming out not what you wish to come out but what is
truly coming out and listening is difficult it is difficult yes that's for sure yes
and is there a habit that you have that you think contributed to your success
no no i don't think about my success
i don't think in those terms i mean i would say that maybe what is my main engine my main motor
is curiosity so curiosity in new ways of solving issues curiosity in anything physical that will
help um you know if it's good for health it's good for your body which then is good for your playing
um so i i stay very active physically and i'm currently incredibly in love with yangar yoga
and that certainly has taught me so much about posture and I um you know when I started doing
yoga seriously in my mid-40s I had always been told that I had a good posture so I actually
believed it until I did yoga then I realized how that also is an endless path it's you know you
You just go in many directions and you try to just keep going forward.
And there's always a way of doing posture better and doing quiet better
and to do awareness better.
And all of these things are helpful in the playing.
I'm curious about repertoire.
I'm interested in music of all periods.
I just bought last month my first Baroque bow.
and um i'm i'm giving my well my first let's say duo performance at with baroque violin at
4 15 i know it's not a you know anything heroic but for me it is it's it's a completely new
experience so um i'm presently working on all the bach keyboard and violin works with uh my
colleague at McGill, Ilya Politaev, who's a pianist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. And
we're doing half of them on piano, modern violin and baroque bow, and the other half on harpsichord,
baroque violin and baroque bow. So that's extremely exciting for me. It's completely new
and I'm learning a lot. That sounds wonderful.
Violaine, you've already given us so much wisdom,
but what are some maybe additional pieces of advice
that you'd like to transmit to your students?
Diversify, be curious,
find out if there's a contemporary ensemble,
try it out, try things that you think you will not like,
take a pedagogy course, try teaching,
go visit the performance practice area,
you know challenge yourself do competitions and auditions as investment for your own future
not for um winning as the only worthwhile goal but as a way of of learning how to do these things
and how to get better at them and um in terms of i'm going to talk about marketing a little bit
i like to think about everything in a more human way otherwise it just depresses me
so um you know we're we're members of a large community first of all realize that the people
that you're in school with are going to be your colleagues 20 years 30 years hence so
work with people get to know people be kind to people when you rehearse as you want to be
treated because it circles around I mean you're going to encounter the same people
again and it's good to have positive feelings you just never know when doors will open simply
because people remember having a you know fondly having a musical experience with you and keep
in touch with your mentors people I mean first of all we like to excel and know how our students
are doing but also because um you know memory is a funny things and and if you don't know the
wonderful great things that your students are doing presently and people tend to go to
what they've last heard so we think of the people that have been in touch with us you know not like
oh you know 25 years ago she was really talented wonder what she's doing it's harder to recommend
people for opportunities if you're not in touch with them so not in a crass way but in a wonderful
human way let people know of the good things you're doing you know stay in touch stay interested
and people will think of you and i would say um also on the flip side of marketing do things
to do them to gain the experience because you never know what things that are more tied to
making a living will come out as a result of that one example when my trio the Peabody trio was
just started we were asked we lived in Baltimore Maryland we were asked to give a noontime free
concert in Boston and that concert had been offered to students who had rejected it and
You know, we were young faculty, but we were more living like students than professionals.
And we got into our old Datsun and we drove all the way to Boston and we played our concert.
And that concert happened to be recorded.
And that recording was played, deemed good enough to be played on public radio.
And then some guy heard it and his brother happened to be manager of a well-respected agency in San Francisco.
And they contacted us. And that's how we got our first manager, by saying yes to free time, free noontime concerts in the city very far away from our own.
You know, that's sort of an extreme situation. But sometimes I see young people thinking, well, I don't know, I can't afford to do something for free. And, you know, define free. You just never know who you'll meet and who will hear you.
And it had an interest artistically in that it was a decent hall, and it was a full program, and we needed experience in performing our music. So it was worth it for that, certainly not for the finances, but then it gave us a path to actually making living as a trio. So it's important to remember.
Absolutely. Before I let you go, do you have a quick actionable tip that the listeners could implement today in their practice room?
find a way of being inspired every day if it means that you're really um you have a
blank head and you're not feeling like practicing go listen to a beautiful recording
and then you'll be excited go to concerts go to concerts many musicians don't go to concerts
anymore don't don't forget why why you're doing what you're doing what got that fire going in the
first place and keep it alive.
Violaine Melançon, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me today
and sharing your wisdom and your enthusiasm with us.
You're very welcome.
Thank you for contacting me.
Thank you guys so much for listening.
I really hope you enjoyed this conversation with Violenne Melançon.
To find more information about her, visit ViolenneMelançon.com.
Like I said in the intro, I think this is one of my favorite episodes on the podcast.
What a thoughtful, wise, eloquent, and kind person.
Over the last 18 months since the show started, so many of you who are entering the professional
life have asked me about the many skills needed to become a musician and what one should do to
acquire them. And I think Violin covered that topic beautifully. I really resonated with the
concept of being a searching musician. I think that sums up pretty well the attitude we need
to have to keep growing as an artist. And it's something we should always aspire to in our
practice, to be inquisitive, curious, to keep exploring, learning, digging deeper, and to keep
nurturing the thirst for knowledge and the enthusiasm for meaningful music making. I also
think that what she said about empathy is extremely important because the music making experience can
be so much more rewarding when we are kind and respectful colleagues and teachers and when we're
surrounded by them. I would love to know what your favorite takeaways from today's conversation was.
So please get in touch with me. I am Mind Over Finger on both Instagram and Facebook. And of
course, you can find me at mindoverfinger.com, where you can read the show notes, find more
information about mindful and efficient practice and performance preparation, and sign up for my
newsletter to be the first to know about special trainings on practicing that are coming up this
spring and to receive your free guide to a super productive practice using the metronome. Also make
sure to visit my resources page at mindoverfinger.com slash resources, where I've put links to all my
favorite tools and the books mentioned by my guests here on the podcast. And if you're looking
for a community of mindful practice enthusiasts, join the Mind Over Finger tribe. That's my private
Facebook group where I pop in once a week to talk about mindful practice and answer your questions
and where you can exchange with fellow musicians about practicing and music making.
So join the tribe at facebook.com slash groups slash mindoverfingertribe.
And as always, I'll have all those links for you in the show notes.
That's it for today.
Remember Violin's advice to find a way to be inspired every day.
Again, thank you and à bientôt.
Thank you.
