As scheduling director, I try to ensure that every participant at Marlboro has the most musically fulfilling summer they could imagine and even to get them beyond that to learn things they couldn’t have anticipated. This includes keeping them busy, but not too busy, playing music from varied different musical periods with as many different people as possible in as many different combinations as we can arrange, for as long as they like during the seven weeks of the season. During that time, my hope is that they will learn the lessons of working together in lots of different ways, speaking up for what they believe in but deferring when appropriate to the experience of senior musicians. I want people to leave Marlboro feeling that they had a once in a lifetime experience filled with learning, not only about the music they studied and listened to at concerts, but also about professionalism, and even about being a good human being.
Working in the background to make something really special happen has taught me a kind of humility where I can appreciate the importance of my role without taking any credit for the wonderful learning and performance outcomes that occur. I have also had the honor of forming lifelong friendships, learning so much about music, other cultures, the professional life of musicians, how to talk people off the ledge, how to encourage people to speak up and how to listen, and how to respond empathetically to genuine, deeply-felt hurt and confusion that sometimes comes with the territory. These skills have helped me not just to be a better scheduling director but also a better person in every aspect of my life.
Young musicians who come to Marlboro are already beyond exceptional at playing their instruments. Many have considerable experience with chamber music, but few have worked on it with the intensity of study and loyalty to the composer and the composition that Marlboro values so deeply. To do this, they must learn how to have the patience and persistence to stick with the music, their colleagues, and the process so they can go well beyond playing through the music proficiently. They have to slow down in a way that may be very different and very difficult for our current young generation. They are given something rare to help them do this: the gift of time and the opportunity to learn how to use it.
