Coaching with Tim Eddy

On June 12^th, the PSQ drove in Loretta (my graffiti-adorned Chevy) down to New York City for lunch and a coaching with Timothy Eddy, esteemed cellist of the Orion String Quartet. 

We got there about an hour early for our lunch at a noodle house next to Lincoln Center so I headed over to Mecca, a.k.a Tower Records to kill some time. Fifty minutes and 100 dollars later it was time to head to the noodle house. (It’s a good thing I don’t live in Manhattan!) Mr. Eddy was easy to spot–he was the friendly guy with the cello case. Lunch was fascinating as he explained to us how he correlates performing and even practicing with method acting. He won’t start a performance or a practice session before he feels that he “is” whatever emotion or feeling that particular piece is trying to convey. I don’t remember anything about the lunch other than what he was saying, as it was riveting.

After lunch, we strolled over to the rehearsal studios for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for a coaching on Smetana’s “From my Life.” Mr. Eddy sat and listened as we ran the first movement for him, uninterrupted. His response was most humbling. I am paraphrasing, but it went something like this:

“This is a passionate, stormy movement, is it not?” Being the good Boy Scout that I am, I pulled out a copy of Smetana’s letter that explains what the piece is about. I was feeling pretty good about things.

Mr. Eddy quietly scanned the letter and told us calmly, “When I listen to you guys, I get none of the fire and energy!” At this point I felt like crawling into Sara’s cello case and asking Sebastian to latch it up and to throw it out the window. He then recalled the ideas we were discussing at lunch: musical decisions with regards to tempo, articulation, and rubato all are dictated by the emotion and drama of the movement, NOT the other way around.

He urged us to try again, “once more, with feeling” if you will. He encouraged us to “be” stormy and fiery. As a side note, the PSQ has been working a lot this year on our intonation and our ensemble playing, and our first run through for Mr. Eddy had been perhaps too careful. We let it rip the second time and it felt great! Sure, it might not have been as polished as the first time, but it had some guts and some soul. The difference was striking, and both the PSQ and Mr. Eddy were pleased.   

The coaching was amazing. In two hours together, he had helped us to “free the beast” and we were playing true chamber music, not just four people trying to play together with good intonation. We left the coaching on a serious high, ready to try this new paradigm at out next concert. 

What distinguished Mr. Eddy’s coaching from many other excellent coachings I have experienced is that he started from the center and then moved out. What I mean by the “center” is that he started from the emotional core and unique meaning of the piece of music and used this core as the basis for all decisions made about tempo, articulation, tone color, etc. It was an incredible experience that will never be forgotten and certainly will be a guide for the PSQ next season and beyond! 

-Jesse Holstein, Providence String Quartet