Lost Secrets of Master Musicians: A Window Into Genius - Softcover

Jacobson, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 099695791X ISBN 13: 9780996957915

Publisher: Sfim Books, 2016

Synopsis

Can Talent be Explained? 

In this groundbreaking look into the world of "classical" music, David Jacobson interweaves his educative experiences at the Curtis Institute of Music with his quest to understand how performers such as Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, and Glenn Gould achieved such unsurpassed levels of musical expression and technical skill. What were their "secret" techniques and musical insights? Can students learn the principles of musical expression the greatest players used?
Jacobson, founder and director of the San Francisco Institute of Music, has spent many years analyzing the approach of these and other master players uncovering their "secrets" which he reveals in clear, precise, non-technical language, supplemented by diagrams, photographs and annotated musical examples. His conclusion: the methods, paradigmatic shifts and musical approach of these masters are fundamentally the same, yet diametrically opposed to what is taught by contemporary music teaching systems (such as those of Ivan Galamian and Shinichi Suzuki, which are both critically examined) for string playing, orchestral instruments, piano and voice. (YouTube videos can now be played at 1/4 and 1/2 speed at pitch.)

 Jacobson's dissatisfaction with contemporary pedagogical methods, which tend to be based on the personal beliefs of particular teachers, led him to search for a more rigorously researched pedagogical platform (by studying the methods of great masters) that could serve as a fundamental paradigmatic model for the teaching of all instruments and voice. His exploration of the "secret" techniques and musical insights of great performers aims to revitalize the art of classical music in general. The rediscovery of these techniques and concepts will:

• Provide a paradigmatic pedagogical model for the teaching of all instruments and voice
• Make playing easier and more expressive 
• Improve the effectiveness of teaching; the principles of expert playing are clear
• Develop talent naturally, without impediment
• Create many more outstanding performers and composers
• End the need for a conductor's presence in orchestral performance
• Change our ideas about the nature of genius, talent and our own potential

About this title

About the Author

Violinist, performer, writer and lecturer, David Jacobson has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and other orchestras throughout the United States and performed in recital in the major capitals of Europe. He is the founder and director of the San Francisco Institute of Music where he created a unique system of teaching, employing what he terms the theory of "bel canto instrumental technique," now known as the SFIM (San Francisco Institute of Music) Method. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Ivan Galamian, and has a Master of Music Performance degree from Boston University. He writes a blog at Melonaissance.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Sfim Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 099695791X
• ISBN 13: 9780996957915
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 470