“You always hear of the ‘delicate, sensitive violinist’” says Heifetz. “Well, I assure you that it takes the nerves of a bullfighter, the digestion of a peasant, the vitality of a nightclub hostess, the tact of a diplomat and the concentration of a Tibetan monk to lead the strenuous life of a concert violinist.”
Jascha Heifetz
"50% of something is better than 100% of nothing."
Joel Strote, Entertainment Attorney
"Art," said Picasso, "is a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange hostile world and us."
Pablo Picasso
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."
Woody Allen
"Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Bob Covino
"Do one thing well."
"Many people claim to know me."
"We practice for perfection so our mistakes are not as bad."
- Robert Lipsett (Professor of Violin at The Colburn School, and USC Thornton School of Music)
(Ms. Pitcairn's former teacher)
"The Three Ingredients of Success according to Joseph Joachim: 1/3 Talent, 1/3 Character, and 1/3 Health."
Contributed by Eleonore Schoenfeld, beloved late Professor of Cello and third holder of the Gregor Piatagorsky Chair in Cello Performance at USC Thornton School of Music
"I'm conducting slowly because I don't know the tempo."
"Who's sitting in that empty chair?"
- Maestro Eugene Ormandy
(While conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra)
A reporter once asked the question of the great violinist Jascha Heifetz:
"Mr. Heifetz, how much does luck have to do with the perfection of your performance?"
Heifetz: "You know, it's funny, the more I practice, the luckier I get."
- Jascha Heifetz (The greatest violinist who ever lived)
"A mediocre ski vacation is better than a decent day at work."
- Micah Black, (Big Mountain Free Rider Movie Star)
"It's like deja-vu all over again." "That restaurant's no good, nobody goes there anymore, you can't get a seat."
After attending an opera for the first time: "Even the music was nice..."
- Yogi Berra
"Life is short, but a short attention span will make it even shorter."
-Robert Wayne Padgett
It doesn't matter how you learned, all that counts is that you play.
Arthur W. Haule, III
www.ViolinStudent.com
Remember to have fun with your instrument. We don't work the violin, gripe the violin, or wrestle the violin. The verb we use is PLAY the violin.
-Arthur W. Haule, III
www.ViolinStudent.com
"Do not waste your life with what you do not feel."
Feodor Pitcairn, Uncle
"The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys."
Laren Pitcairn
Joke: "What's the definition of an honest politician?" Answer: "When you buy him, he stays bought."
Laren Pitcairn
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge
"Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so."
John Stuart Mill
(Submitted By Salta, Whidbey Island, WA)
"It's not hard to tell professional musicians from the amateurs.
The amateurs live in larger houses."
M. Aumann
Submitted by Don Malpass
"What's the difference between a musician and a large pizza?
The pizza can feed a family of four."
Oboist Blair Tindall, who makes no claim to having originated it.
Submitted by Don Malpass
"It's good to have a lot of money, it allows you to suffer in comfort."
"There is no happiness in life without discipline."
"The two hardest things in life are success and failure."
- Reverend Theodore Pitcairn (Grandfather)
"All success is based on failure, so if you are successful, you've just failed more than the next person."
"No good deed goes unpunished."
"Money isn't everything, but it's way ahead of whatever's in second place."
"A woman's work is never done; a man's work is never done if he has a woman to tell him what to do."
- Laren Pitcairn (Father)
"Never, never, never quit."
- Winston Churchill (Contributed by Barbara Stankova, Ms. Pitcairn's Assistant
"Only trust in yourself and your horse" (...or violin)
- Serbian Proverb (Contributed by Vladimir and Robert Stefanovich, Fans)
"Wagner's music is better than it sounds."
- Edgar Wilson Nye, quoted in Mark Twain's Autobiography, 1924
"Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing."
- John Erskine (1879 - 1951)
"My music is best understood by children and animals."
- Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
"Hell is full of musical amateurs."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
(Contributed by Stephen Landry, Fan)
"Never complain, never explain."
- Henry Ford
(Contributed by Robert Lipsett)
"We have the best politicians money can buy."
"That person was being economical with the truth."
- Mark Twain (Contributed by Laren Pitcairn, Father)
