Milstein, His Most Important Words

Yesterday afternoon I gave a coaching session to a very accomplished professional violinist. This is a man who, as a former member of a world-class string quartet, has toured around the world many times over.

He has also taught in major universities, in this country and his country of origin, and played in numerous professional orchestras.

He has truly lived a life of music.

Now I’m telling you this to reflect something of an attitude that I greatly admire. This gentleman is currently in his mid-sixties, and he is still seeking guidance and council from people he respects.

I was honored to work with him.

And if in the course of our session there was a central theme, it was to underscore the most valuable insight Milstein imparted to me.

Actually, if you read Milstein’s memoir, ‘From Russia to the West,’ it is there for ANYONE to see.

What he said was, ‘the most important thing in playing violin is how you Think.’

Now, I know I go on quite a bit about this. Yet it is a concept that almost cannot be emphasized too much; mainly because it is frequently understood in only a partial way.

You see, quite often I notice folks CONCEPTUALIZE something fairly clearly about violin playing, they talk a good game; yet when the violin goes under the chin and the action begins, the feedback from the body seems to crowds whatever they were thinking right out the window.

You know, it takes real presence of mind to hold an intention through the distractions presented by the force of habit or, in the case of the novice, the haze of the unfamiliar.

The mind gets easily overwhelmed, it tends to ‘run away,’ as Milstein used to say. And this tendency, in my experience, even grows stronger as we approach the critical point of a breakthrough.

And I think this due to the fact that the closer the unnecessary muscles movements are to those that ARE necessary, the greater the apparent challenge to central control; i.e. our mind.

So necessarily, the final 20% of mastery requires the lion’s share of commitment.

The good news is, and I know you’ve experienced this in one area of your life or another, the more deeply you go into something the deeper the satisfaction and meaning that comes out of it.

This is as true of drawing a long, sustained bow as it is playing a Paganini Caprice.

The important think is to burn completely, without conflict, in any endeavor. To surrender completely to an intention, until it is fulfilled.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. Recently I heard from the oldest sibling in a family of Violin Mastery learners. She had initially begun with Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, yet had moved herself back to the Beginners Circle to properly absorb the new approach to playing fundamentals. This was a mature and courageous move on her part.