Teaching Our Teachers...

Leone Buyse

Thinking about some of the most influential flute educators of the current day, Leone Buyse has made a lasting mark on the landscape of flute teaching.  In 2010, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association and has enjoyed an illustrious career performing and teaching around the globe.  Ms. Buyse paid tribute to her first major teacher, David Berman, in a wonderful post on her blog.  Below is an excerpt, highlighting his pedagogical style and memorable advice she noted in lessons...

David Berman had taught at Ithaca College for only three years when I met him as a 12-year-old flute student.  In the three decades that followed he made immense contributions to the Ithaca College School of Music and also to the greater Ithaca community through his annual solo recitals and numerous faculty chamber music concerts each year.  He played in the Ithaca Chamber Orchestra and the Ithaca Woodwind Quintet, and was both a conductor and member of the Ithaca Opera Orchestra. At Ithaca College he built a vital flute studio and while teaching flute, music theory, and music history mentored untold numbers of students who now serve our profession as performers and teachers.  As a faculty leader he developed and headed the chamber music program and chaired the committee that instigated such major changes in the music curriculum as making chamber music a requirement, requiring diction classes for all singers, and offering a 4.5-year program that combines music education and performance.  In addition, during the three years that Berman served as Assistant Dean he instituted many improvements to the physical plant of the music school. He justifiably takes pride in those accomplishments, but above all, he is most proud of all his students, saying, “Students are your teachers.”  How true!

How exactly did Dave Berman’s teaching make such a difference to me and the many students whom he mentored during the course of his professional life?  In re-reading notebooks that contain his comments from lessons more than four decades ago, I’m continually struck by the life wisdom that was shared in those hours—lessons that always included a balanced diet of scales, etudes, solos, and assigned duets.  As an example, here’s my entry for July 24, 1962:

Start competing with unseen competitors.  
Aim for Carnegie Hall.  
The USA is only one country in a huge world…
Plan to practice 3-4 hours daily.  
Budget your time.

Immediately following those motivational words comes the practical, technical advice that I clearly must have needed:

While playing Taffanel Gaubert exercises, stop on a note and listen to your tone.Try to maintain brilliance in the upper middle register when going down.Don’t make the embouchure hole too wide for your lowest notes because too much air will escape.Try to get a good low tone before vibrating; vibrato is a camouflage.

Here are just a few other sample comments from other lesson entries:

Practice without stopping before hard passages in an etude.
Don’t think about your teacher’s possible reaction—Just play!
View criticisms in proportion.
Point the tongue for a clear staccato.
Practicing whistle tones requires a relaxed embouchure and good support.  This will help develop tonal placement and embouchure strength. 
In exploring tone and articulation there are never-ending complexities, deeper and deeper shades and details.

These quotes offer only a small glimpse of the spirit that made David Berman’s pedagogy so meaningful.  He was demanding and he was honest; he was able to get to the heart of a technical or musical problem and help a student improve.  How often he tried to help me achieve a sense of musical freedom, especially in music that had an ethnic quality, such as Bartok.  At those times he would often ask me to sing, which I dreaded. (Not any more—I now sing all the time while teaching!) Most important, he possessed a well-honed sense of how and when to push or encourage, and he understood how each student’s background might affect his or her ability to approach and solve an issue.  He was intuitive, kind, and effective—a winning combination of attributes for anyone in the teaching profession.

*The full text of Ms. Buyse's post, titled "Honoring David Berman," may be found on her website at http://www.leonebuyse.com/advice-inspiration/.

Inspiring Forces - Leone Buyse

The 2013 NFA Convention may seem far away in terms of time, but we are busy preparing already.  We always enjoy meeting flute students, teachers, performers, and of course, many of the great "giants" in our field.  As we prepare for this year's convention, we thought it fitting to take a look back with Powell Artist Leone Buyse.  Ms. Buyse was the recipient of the 2010 NFA Lifetime Achievement award, and in this excerpt from her acceptance speech, we learn more about those who have inspired her -- which in turn continues to inspire us... 

Leone Buyse - NFA Limetime Achievement Award Acceptance Speech (Except)
Anaheim - August 14, 2010

Leone Buyse

Who have been some of the most strongly influential forces on my landscape?  My teachers, of course.  I owe and immeasurable debt of gratitude to David Berman, Joseph Mariano, Michel Debost, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Marcel Moyse, and Gaston Crunelle.   And I owe a tremendous amount to my students. I am absolutely convinced that they are largely responsible for making me the person I have become, and that they will play a vital role in my personal evolution during the years ahead.  The legendary French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger said

The teacher is but the humus in the soil.  It is the product that counts. The more you teach, the more you keep in contact with life and its positive results. All things considered, I wonder if the teacher is not the real student and the beneficiary.

I couldn’t agree more, and remain thankful daily for the privilege of teaching.

Another extremely influential force in my life is Fenwick, and I am so delighted to be receiving this honor with such a close friend. Everyone knows that we were students of Joseph Mariano at Eastman during the same era and colleagues for a decade in the Boston Symphony. Together we performed and recorded chamber music, organized the Greater Boston Flute Association in preparation for the 1993 NFA convention, videotaped interviews with Mariano at his Cape Cod home, and organized Mariano’s 90th birthday celebration and Dallas NFA tribute in 2001—perhaps our best collaboration ever! And I might add that Fenwick played Bach – beautifully – just before I walked down the aisle to marry Michael 23 years ago.   But what you might not realize is how much I’ve learned from Fenwick.

When Fenwick was building his home near Tanglewood  25 years ago I worked a bit at the construction site and learned how to lay a vapor barrier. When we played together in the orchestra I observed how the best second flutist imaginable consistently supported his colleagues.  In professional meetings and social situations I learned from Fenwick the value of speaking only when it’s appropriate, and then choosing only the words necessary to make one’s point.  And from Fenwick I’ve learned the importance of accepting and dealing gracefully with life’s challenges. Thank you, Fenwick.

Our former NFA president Kathy Borst Jones has influenced and inspired me through the decades by her unswerving commitment to both the NFA and her students. Throughout her current health challenge she has remained a major inspiration to all who know her, and I would like to share with you a paragraph she wrote in the spring. Her words serve as a powerful mantra to me, daily.

Carpe Diem.  Live in the moment.  Appreciate the little things. Throw away the bad and the stuff you can’t change.  Do work on the things you can change, and don’t wait until tomorrow. Each and every day is a unique gift and can never be repeated. Laugh. Cry. Be merry. Say you love someone.  Tell people what they mean to you, now. Don’t wait.

Touching words -- truly.  Thank you, Leone, for sharing this with us!  For the complete transcript of this speech, visit http://www.leonebuyse.com/advice-inspiration/.

Interview with Leone Buyse

Leone Buyse

Who was your most influential teacher?  Why?

It's really impossible to say who my most influential teacher was because each of my major teachers (David Berman, Joseph Mariano, Michel Debost, and Jean-Pierre Rampal) encouraged my musical development in his own unique and very inspiring way.  My one summer master class with Marcel Moyse in Boswil, Switzerland, was also pivotal in my growth, even though it was only three weeks.

Do you have any “pre-concert” preparations or traditions that you follow?

On the day of a concert I follow a fairly careful dietary regimen, avoiding caffeine and sugar. If my performance is in the evening I'll eat a fairly substantial meal in the early afternoon and then have scrambled eggs a couple of hours before playing. I also try to do a few minutes of yoga, and (if I have the time) to power walk and take a refreshing shower in the late afternoon.

Is there a concert or teaching experience that most stands out to you in your career? 

Being summoned from a Symphony Hall audience and asked to sub on piccolo during a Boston Symphony concert in February of 1995 was an unexpected highlight of my professional life.  

At the time I was teaching at the University of Michigan and visiting Boston after having just performed a concert and master class at the Hartt School. Leon Fleisher was soloist in a new Lukas Foss concerto that evening, and remembered the location of my comp "retiree" seat so that an usher could contact me while Ozawa was conducting a work for string orchestra. The repertoire that night also included Dukas' "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe," and piccoloist Geralyn Coticone had been stricken with stomach flu at 7:20 PM.  Apparently every freelance flutist whom the personnel office contacted had declined the opportunity to perform those challenging works without rehearsal for a Symphony Hall audience, so I was the orchestra's last hope...

I had exactly 40 minutes to practice on a borrowed piccolo after changing from street clothes into the black suit Ozawa's personal assistant happened to be wearing.  (Fortunately we wore the same size!). When I arrived onstage during intermission Fenwick oriented me to various tempi and then Ozawa made his entrance. The concert ended with Daphnis, and I'm sure the audience wondered why Ozawa saved the final bow for the piccolo player, and also why the orchestra then began applauding wildly. I received a special review by Richard Dyer in the Boston Globe and a generous check from my former employer for helping out in an unexpected crisis. It was a delight to be back onstage with my friends playing such thrilling symphonic repertoire, and it was also proof that music learned really well can remain in one's fingers and retrieved at a moment's notice when necessary!

What piece of advice would you give flutists who are trying to establish a career in music?

Discover your own strengths and devise ways to share them and your passion for music. There is no one else with your unique contribution of attributes, and you must believe that that you can truly make a difference in our world.

What CD is in your CD player right now? (Or what playlist is your favorite on your iPod?)

This may sound strange, but I tend not to listen a lot to music on a regular basis.  Much of each day is spent hearing others play in lessons or masterclasses or listening to myself practice, and my ears need a break in order to stay fresh. I do listen to classical repertoire that I'm curious about, and my taste in music runs from classical to ethnic (Tuvan thorat singing, for example) to jazz and country (I live in Texas, after all!). I even enjoy some of my stepson's heavy metal and guitar virtuosos, such as Steve Vai.