Thank Goodness It's Monday #407

FIDDLING AROUND

AND GETTING INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS

In my early childhood our family physician was also a family friend. 

Exactly how that came about I don’t know precisely. But even when I was in grammar school in suburban New Jersey I was encouraged to keep in mind that the man I called “Uncle Max” when he came to “dinner parties” with his wife “Aunt Nina” and other friends of my parents was to be called “Dr. Perlman” in public settings.

Such were the complications of my childhood in the 1950s.
 

What brings this to mind for me now is that this weekend, at our Bergen County (NJ) Performing Arts Center, another Perlman of note from that era – violinist Itzhak – performed with great charm and skill and enthusiasm.

However, although he is my age, the “complications” of his childhood were quite unlike mine. 

Itzhak Perlman was born in Tel Aviv, then in the British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel. His parents were natives of Poland and had independently immigrated in the mid 1930s before they met and married. 

The very young Itzhak first became interested in the violin after hearing a classical music performance on the radio. The story goes that, at age three, being too small to hold a violin, he was denied entrance to the high level musical training that was sought for him. So, instead, he taught himself how to play using a toy fiddle until he was old enough to study at the Shulamit Conservatory and at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, where he gave his first recital at age 10.

Soon thereafter his family moved to the US so he could study at the prestigious Juilliard School, now associated with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. 

Itzhak Perlman was introduced to the wider American public in 1958 when, at 13, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show -- twice. 

(My musical influence at about that same time and age was more along the lines of the Elvis Presley appearances on Sullivan and the like. My musical ability was limited to playing the radio.)

Having studied violin abroad for eight years with a formal Russian teacher, he was not quite prepared for the looser pedagogical methods of the US – or at least, of his earliest teacher here, Juilliard’s Dorothy DeLay.

"Sugar Plum" Perlman
with Ed Sullivan
in 1958

"She was from Kansas," he recalls. "I would play for her, and if she didn't like certain things and thought I could do better, she would say, 'Now Sugar Plum, what do you think about that?' 

“And I would say, 'Don't tell me what to think — tell me what to do, and I'll do it.' 

“But she insisted on asking me, and involving me in the process. And it's very funny, at the time I didn't like it. 

“But today I teach exactly like she does. To this day, when somebody plays something for me, I say, 'What do you think of that? How do you think you can fix that?' Involving the student in the process."

TGIM TAKEAWAY #1: How open are you to learning in a way that more experienced “others” employ but seem disagreeable to you in their unconventional-ness? 

How hard do you fight against what you don’t comprehend easily? Might that effort be better employed, at least in the early going, trying to “get it” and get involved in the process rather than get past it?

TGIM TAKEAWAY #2: How do you teach? Are you aware of the capabilities of your “students” – those coworkers, subordinates, family members, networking friends in your inner circle – and take their capacity and competence into account when you try to help them accomplish more. 

Not everyone has prodigy-level skill sets or drive. Different strokes may be more effective for getting folks of a different mindset involved in the process. 

And speaking of capability, capacity, competence and complications. As you may know, Itzhak Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with crutches. Today, he uses crutches or an electric scooter for mobility and plays the violin while seated.

But that’s not limiting for him: Perlman may get around on crutches or scooter but does he get around: Warsaw, Budapest, Moscow, India, China, South America. His travels began at an early age. 

And as Jim Beckerman, a columnist for our local daily paper observed –

Perlman is not only a great classical virtuoso, he's also a great popularizer. 

Since the Sullivan Show appearance, Beckerman continues, Perlman has been a fellow after Rudyard Kipling's heart: The man who walks with kings without losing the common touch.

In fact he’s played for queens (Elizabeth II) and presidents (the 2009 Obama inauguration). He's appeared on "Sesame Street" and "The Tonight Show." He's played jazz with Oscar Peterson. 

And he played the Oscar winning score to Schindler's List, the multi-award winning Holocaust epic. To this day, it may be the music with which he's most identified.

"I feel so lucky that I was able to do that," Perlman says. 

"It's like I got a present, being involved in that film. I play the theme from Schindler's List and no matter where I go – and I'm talking about, no matter where I go – that's what people want to hear. Last time I was in China and Japan, the first thing they said is, 'Can you play the theme from Schindler's List?' Can you imagine that? It's almost become like my anthem. The people always want to hear it."

Here’s an ironic twist: My family-friend/physician connection “Uncle” Max proudly claimed a true family connection to Chaim and Shoshana, Itzhak’s parents. Maximilian Perlman was also sent to this country from Poland before he could be persecuted. My memory is that his parents did not immigrate and perished as a result. 

TGIM TAKEAWAY: We are all related. We are all connected. Our histories are intertwined in complex and amazing ways and, if we are to successfully move forward in this world we must realize that we all must do it together. 

That’s at the heart of my sharing this “brush with greatness” tale. Being open and sharing our stories and making them personal helps make them more real. Learning from and teaching one another is essential. 

I don’t mean to tell you what to think. But I’m not just fiddlin’ around.

I just wanted to involve you.

 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. So isn’t it a bit embarrassing that maestro Itzhak Perlman was once identified as Sugar Plum? Well, in the spirit of telling our stories to better our understanding, you’ll note that he shared the moniker and he doesn’t mind if we know it. In fact, he adds, “When I was younger, it was more appropriate. Now you can call me Sugar Watermelon.”