Tag Archives: students

Juilliard Orchestra performance at Carnegie Hall with New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert. Fedor Ouspensky

Congrats to Fedor Ouspensky on being honored to perform with Fedor with Alan GilbertAlanGilbert as a member of Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall!

Click on this link to see the New York Times article about the concert

Fedor Ouspensky in Juilliard Journal

Second-year violinist Fedor Ouspensky (Pre-College ’12), who holds Bidù Sayão and Michael and Ethel Cohen scholarships, took the Orchestra Orientation class in its inaugural year.

I took the class last year, and it was great—you start right away with the top-notch conductor coming to you. One unique part of it was that it was the first time I’d gone to orchestra rehearsals and not ever performed the piece in concert that we rehearsed, but that kind of took the pressure off of playing under Alan Gilbert and let us concentrate a lot on different aspects of orchestra playing. I also enjoyed when musicians from the New York Philharmonic gave us coachings about playing in a professional orchestra and what their standards are. Juilliard clearly wants the Juilliard Orchestra to stretch and rise to that level by re-creating that environment.

We learned all sorts of things, especially that you can learn a lot from listening. Looking up from your music stand and listening was the motif of the class. We also learned that the musicians in the back have to play a tiny bit earlier or sometimes louder—in the back we deliver the sound and the power. If you’re thinking individually rather than collaboratively, you can do it, but it’s a lot harder.

To see more go to

Juilliard publication

My child is ready to start lessons…or is she? (Topic 1, Part 4. What is involved?)

Prepare to change and adjust. It’s very important to keep up with your child’s progress and not let him stagnate.

You are looking at a starting just the way most people do: take piano lessons once per week for 30 minutes.  You think you can make a commitment to the driving, keeping up with assignments, and help him at home. Initial requirements are not so overwhelming, you need to establish daily routine of practicing for about 30-45 minutes. The total time can be split into two sessions of 15-25 minutes each, not too bad. It’s very important to keep positive attitude, at the same time be very firm that no day goes without practicing. You teacher will guide you through creative approaches

Continue reading My child is ready to start lessons…or is she? (Topic 1, Part 4. What is involved?)