Itzhak Perlman
Trust your ability!Collection: Trust
When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.Collection: Trust
It is good medicine to go to a concert hall and forget the harshness of what's going on. It can be a very positive thing.Collection: Positive
I always find that there is a real communication between voice and violin.Collection: Communication
Every person with a disability is an individual.
Only one of my grandchildren is serious about a musical instrument. The others dabble in it.
I have a very simple philosophy. One has to separate the abilities from the disabilities. The fact I cannot walk, that I need crutches or a scooter or whatever it is, has nothing to do with my playing the violin.
For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.
To bring a large audience to a piece of serious music and make it accessible does not mean reducing it in any way. And I've learned that if something is good, even if it is a little difficult, people will get that it is good.
If you put your hand on the piano, you play a note. It's in tune. But if you put it on the violin, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You have to figure it out.
I'm now doing three things: concerts, conducting, and teaching, and they each support each other. I learn to see things from different perspectives and listen with different ears. The most important thing that you need to do is really listen.
I always find Bach to be an expression of a love of life. There's an enthusiasm that's absolutely contagious.
I am playing the violin, that's all I know, nothing else, no education, no nothing. You just practice every day.
There is no such thing as getting rid of nervousness.
I actually wanted to play the violin before I had polio, and then afterwards, there was no reason not to.
Life is always full of challenges. I believe you're never happy unless you're consistently making challenges for yourself.
Teaching is really very, very important. I always tell my students that you should find an opportunity to teach. When you teach others, you teach yourself.
When I was growing up in Israel, Cantorial music was something I heard over and over on the radio, so it wasn't at all strange to me. I was very familiar with the music.
I am humbled and honored to receive the Genesis Prize, recognizing not just my professional achievements and my desire to improve the world, but also my commitment to my Jewish identity, Jewish values, and Jewish culture.
Israel is the country of my birth. When I come here, I feel I'm coming home.
I have just one fiddle. It works, and that's it. It has been an old friend.
Any gifted child can potentially get in real trouble because of the way they are handled.
I have always been very proud of my Jewish heritage, which has greatly influenced my music, my world view, and my work as an advocate for individuals whom society often leaves behind.
A lot of society tries to put people with disabilities into one cube, and when you think about it, many, many people have different types of disabilities, and you cannot put a code that applies to towards everyone - generally, they can be guidelines, but in the long run, interior designers and architects need more education on the subject.
The most important thing to do is really listen.
My message is that giving is very important. Giving is a Jewish thing, and I like to talk about that. There's nothing more important, personally, for anybody than being able to give.
I am an eternal optimist. I always say 'Yihyeh Tov' or 'It'll get better.'
I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.
So many things can drive you mad as a child, not only music.
I feel that you always pay when you are a child.
That's the goal, to survive your gift.
I listen to kids play a lot.
There are people who are uncanny, who are finished products at a young age. I wasn't, thank God.
A sponge has that much absorbent capability and after a while you can pour water over it and nothing stays.
Competition can be the most nerve-racking experience. Some people just thrive on it.
In Paris they have special wheelchairs that go through every doorway. They don't change the doorways, they change the wheelchairs. To hell with the people! If someone weighs a couple more pounds, that's it!
Sometimes you get from the mouth of kids wonderful things.
Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities.
That makes classical music work, the ability to improvise.
I look at raising funds for The Perlman Music Program as a challenge and as a way to provide opportunities for people who care about the future of classical music.
Preparing for a future in music is an expensive proposition.
I don't feel that the conductor has real power. The orchestra has the power, and every member of it knows instantaneously if you're just beating time.
You get more nervous in front of a lot of people. That's why, when you play a concerto, you play with a small orchestra, in some place where you don't feel that it is as important as Carnegie Hall.
This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in five or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development.
One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening.
I love to work with young kids.
For people who are really talented, what you don't say becomes extremely important. You have to judge what to say and what to leave alone so you can let the talent develop.
Another thing that I don't like to do is show too much how it goes. I do it once in a blue moon. Sometimes there are lessons when I don't pick up a violin at all.
When you are 8 or 9, you should have a childhood. You should have adolescence. You should go through everything in a normal way.
When I came to the United States, I appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show as a 13-year-old, and I played a Mendelssohn Concerto, and it sounded like a talented 13-year-old with a lot of promise. But it did not sound like a finished product.