This is a picture of Barbara Butler and me just a few days ago at a masterclass she gave for my school. It was fantastic! (For more about Barbara’s class stay tuned for some new information in my “Studio Corner” where there should be a review posted soon.)
What to say about Ms. Butler? There are certainly a lot of memories and lessons that come to mind.
One of the greatest things about Ms. Butler is that she is able to change her approach depending on the student. I was the kind of student who needed thrashings on a weekly basis, so that is what I got. She was hard on me, but no harder than I needed. I can clearly remember showing up to a lesson and playing the opening to Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony. Needless to say it didn’t go well for a variety of reasons, a brutal hangover being among the top three. After I finished destroying it she looked at me and said, “You certainly aren’t going to win any auditions playing like that are you?”
It would be easy for me to go through all the stories that involved ass kicking a snide comments, but that wouldn’t really do Ms. Butler justice. At the end of the day what sets her apart in addition to her excellent teaching is that Ms. Butler loves her students. She spends more time thinking and worrying about what is going on in every part of their lives than you can imagine. Now that I’m older and a teacher myself I can understand a little better the amount of energy that she puts into teaching.
So let me take a moment to say thanks to Ms. Barbara Butler, truly a great teacher and a good friend. I’ll always remember her special words of encouragement:
“Now get out of my studio and don’t come back until you can play without sounding like you are squeezing the last bit of tooth paste out of the tube!!!!!”
Andrew
Ps. Check out my teeth. You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that they don’t really look that color in person. I swear it!
