This is an excerpt from a video about the great cellist, Janos Starker. Here he is working with a young cellist in front of a group in master class. He listens carefully, then gives her one simple thing to change in how she produce her vibrato. Immediately we hear an improvement. You can actually see her face light up as she has one of those “aha!” moments that we musicians cherish and always remember.

I love when Starker says (giving advice about how she should use her thumb to anchor her vibrato), “Don’t press it. Feel it.”  This invites her to be more kinesthetically receptive (not working too hard to find the sound), and more expansive with both her sound and her expression.

The maestro goes on to speak about what is necessary for musical growth. One of the most significant points he makes is that to improve as a musician, you must constantly edify yourself. (Specifically, you must change your beliefs about what works and what doesn’t) Advancement, as he says, means that you realize that you were wrong about doing some of the things you’d been doing to try to improve. (I’m paraphrasing and interpreting here, but I think you’ll agree.)

At the end of the video we get to see and hear Starker in performance. Notice how open and free he is as he plays. His arms appear so free, as if they were gracefully soaring away from his back. It’s important to keep in mind that no matter how well he played in that moment, that he was still open to the possibility that he wasn’t doing everything “right”.

F.M. Alexander said, “To know when we are wrong is all that we shall ever know in this world.” As a musician, you might find this to be true only in hindsight (still, true nonetheless). But it does allow the possibility that you can do what you do in a better way. I think Mr. Starker would agree, too.