Joshua Bell on Jewish Violin Virtuosos

Joshua Bell is there something about Jewish teaching methods the use of questioning rather than pure memorization that has led to creativity and while we're at it why do you think there were so many Jewish violin virtuosos in the 18th through 20th century and is that changing is that petering out now well yeah I was trying to think of what what it is that Jews have in common that leads to them being successful in the creative creative world and I thought of one thing that we all have in common that's a Jewish mother and at least I don't know about your Jewish mothers but I'm only half Jewish by the way but I got the mother I got the mother and that's Anna and you need them that that's a big I think it's an important ingredient that is certainly for practicing and and maybe it's one thing to have a creative you know jeans or whatever and having the brightness to be creative but you do need that that push and and and in my case it was it was from my mother having said that my father was very creative himself actually one of those creative people I knew so I guess this blows everything but and he was a Freudian psychologist to stay on point okay sorry sorry that's right but it's true it's true about the violinist it's it's almost uncanny if you look back at all the violinists for the Heifetz and and Elman and and hooper man and and menuhin and then going back easily and Vinnie offski you know I mean pretty much I mean 95% of them were Jewish I mean certainly when you're a kid you need role models you know and you need to I think if you're a young african-american kid and you you think of the you look at the role models for a lot of them it's athletics in sports and now even golf where you we didn't have that before and there were no black golfers now there's a lot of them because of the role models and for a young Jewish kid and they see heifetz I think that's I think that's a big inspiration that and so when it comes to violinist there's been that that sort of continuing series of role models and and and and succession of you know continuing in that way as far as today you asked if it's if it's it's still I mean but now there are Chinese Mother's which is another story and and I'm gonna get am I gonna get into trouble by saying you but it's it's it's we have a lot of competition now in the in the work ethic Department but yeah what was it about your teacher well my teacher was Jewish Joseph Gingold he came over from from from from Russia right around the Revolution actually me when you were saying that the Jews had the books and that's all they had was books and words another thing they had were instruments and if you think of the Holocaust even in the concentration camps they some how many of them managed to have instruments and and and and that was one little respite of joy that they might have salvaged was to play my teacher told a story Gingold when he was five years old he was rounded up his family's rounded up in a camp in Russia by the German army during World War Wilbur one and they were in some sort of camp and but somehow there was one they were all pretty much starving and and and somehow one of the German soldiers saw my teacher as a five year old practicing his violin and one night they apparently knocked at the they don't know at the at the camp where where his family was and they said where's little Joseph and they were they were they were very scared you know they didn't know what they were gonna do they wanted they were gonna take the five-year-old kid and they said we want little Joseph and they took him and took him into the camp and they asked him to play for the soldiers and he they went crazy over this little five-year-old kid and he came back home with two huge sacks full of food for his family and it was like it was an amazing amazing thing and that's something that you know having the violin was something that using creativity was something that kind of saved their family in some way you'd also mentioned to me about how he taught you that there was something unique about how well yeah his approach to teaching one of the things I treasure most about mr. Gingold Joseph Gingles teaching was the fact that he did not spoon feed me telling he did not tell me how to play the violin everything started with questions I guess that is a Jewish a Jewish thing the asking of questions even in religious ceremonies is always asking questions unless it was all questions he'd asked me well what do you think about this how do you think it should be played and he made me think for myself and think of solutions to problems and and made me ask the right questions and I think that's a sign of a great of a great teacher and now I he's gone he's died many years ago and but I don't feel like oh my god I don't have a teacher to tell me how to play anymore because he gave me the tools you know how to ask the right questions thank you

Channel: MomentMag

Views: 17,418

Rating: 4.949367 out of 5

Keywords: Joshua Bell, Moment Magazine, Violin

Id: WDmiWbX1-JE

Length: 5min 38sec (338 seconds)

Published: Mon May 20 2013