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Arlette Felberg, born in Antwerp, Belgium, is currently on the
piano faculty of the University of New Mexico, where she
serves as Coordinator of the Keyboard Studies. She attended the Manhattan School of Music
in New York, received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and a
Masters degree from the University of Miami. She completed four years of Doctoral study in
Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Indiana.
She is Founder and Artistic Director of the Albuquerque Chamber
Soloists, a series of chamber music concerts now in its fifth season. She is also a member
of the Galisteo Trio, and performs frequently with violinist Leonard Felberg as the
Felberg Duo. She is past vice-president of the the June Music Festival and currently on
its Board of Directors, past Chairman for College Auditions for the New Mexico Music
Teachers Association, and has performed as soloist and chamber musician with the Fine Arts
Quartet, Miami Symphony, University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony,
San Juan Symphony, Durango Civic Symphony, New Southwest Orchestra, on channel 2 in Miami,
and Opus 22 Educational TV, Taos Festival, Placitas Artists Series, Corrales Artists
Series, Santa Fe Concert Assn., among others.
Arlette Felberg also teaches a course for the University of New Mexico
Division of Continuing Education and Community College entitled, Piano Master Class and
Workshop. |
 PEP: What made you go into music?
I cannot recall one particular event or "Divine Intervention"
from the Creator as being responsible for my choosing music as a profession. I had
literary and artistic interests as well, so I knew whatever I chose, it would be creative.
I think it has been a succession of events and influences that drove me
down this path....education, memorable experiences hearing live performances in the great
halls of New York City where I grew up, experiencing the spontaneity and communication
that playing chamber music brings, being touched by a chord progression or a fragment of
Schubertian melody; it was the sum total of a lifetime of collected reactions and
circumstances forming an immense collage, until it evolved into a life in music, and there
I was in the middle of it. So much for predestination!
One of my earliest recollections of a musical composition was as an
infant, while fleeing the port of Marseilles on a ship bound for Martinique during World
War II. Belgium, the country of my birth, had been occupied by the Nazis the previous
year, and my family was to begin a long and arduous voyage which would culminate in the
U.S. It is not unusual, therefore, to recall in my mind's ear and eye the repetitive
strains of the Brahms Waltz, Op. 39, No. 1 in B Major, played by a French officer at a
small piano. Although I've heard that sunny piece all my life, for me it has always held
an undercurrent of sorrow in its cheerfulness, and it has run like a leitmotif
through my consciousness.
PEP: What do you enjoy the most about performing and teaching music?
I believe the greatest satisfaction that one can have in making music is
the ability to be immersed in a process so completely that it takes you over. You lose the
consciousness of self and methodology and become the transcendent medium through which
something truly great is transmitted. It is a union through which you, the composer, and
the piece are in complete understanding. Nothing can match it.
As for teaching, which is the great love of my life, I derive tremendous
satisfaction from helping a student reach and exceed his limits and expectations to bring
out his inner potential. I sometimes feel like a sculptor, chiseling away at a block of
stone bit by bit to expose the perfection existing within. I have to be both diagnostician
and problem solver, and it becomes an exciting threshold for both of us.
PEP: Who was the most influential person in your years of study and why?
Again, it has been a series of enlightened influences.... a mesmerizing
lecture by a great teacher, Nadia Boulanger, while a student at the University of
Michigan, the razor-sharp evaluating skills of my chamber music professor, Janos Starker,
being exposed for four years to the indescribably beautiful color and phrasing of my piano
teacher, Menahem Pressler, etc. Ultimately, I'm a believer in being one's own most
influential person, by taking what you hear, see, and perceive, and integrating it.
PEP: What do you think is the "best" way to learn to play?
With the greatest accuracy, and the deepest respect and fidelity to the
score.
On a more practical level and as a teacher of advanced pianists, I
nevertheless may sometimes have to work on a remedial level, ridding an individual of
excess tension before we can even begin to work effectively. I have worked out a system of
physical awareness, mental preparation, programming the reflexes for accuracy, and
advocating the importance of good and economical practice habits. I also believe in
positive reinforcement as a confidence builder.
Without a doubt the best way to learn to play is to practice!
PEP: What advice would you give to students of the piano?
Do not dissipate your formative years. Deal with problems and solutions
NOW. Do not take shortcuts. Be scrupulous in your learning of details, especially
fingering and phrasing. Listen to yourself and others. Practice creatively, with joy and
expectation and the fullest brain activity. Be open and flexible. Learn to focus and
concentrate. Build a reliable technique. Do not merely recreate the music, experience it!
Form stylistic understanding by listening to the operas of Mozart, the string quartets of
Beethoven, the symphonies of Brahms, the Schubert lieder, the Brandenburg Concerti
of Bach, etc. It will give you greater insight into their piano works.
PEP: What general advice would you give teachers of the piano?
Teach your students how to practice by practicing with them. Be
inflexible about their rhythm. You are their musical parent, and as such, you have a
responsibility of providing them with knowledge, workable alternatives, and confidence in
themselves. You are both traveling companions in a wonderful journey. Light their way!
PEP: Can you give us your reflections on music as a career?
A career is how you make a living. Ask yourself if you would like to do
this if you didn't have to work. If the answer is yes, you're in the right field. Being a
musician is much more than what you do. It's a way of life, a discipline to an exacting
standard which never deviates. Most of all, it can be the greatest FUN. Life and music
become inextricably intertwined if one is lucky! The ability to live a life in music is a
gift.
PEP: Do you have a favorite pianist? If so, what attracts you to that
person?
I have many.... Rubenstein, Ashkenazy, Richter, Serkin, Watts, Lipatti,
Fleisher, Argerich, Kissin, Pollini, .... the list goes on. A pianist who plays with a
passion for music has my admiration and attention.
PEP: What are your views on competitions?
I'm ambivalent. Some students thrive on the necessity to prepare by a
certain date and believe that it forces them to focus on a goal. They thrive on the
excitement and the challenge and don't mind comparison and competition. If they have the
stamina to risk disappointment and the determination not to let it bother them, more power
to them. For a less secure soul, competitions can be destructive and so, ultimately, the
choice is the student's and not mine!
PEP: What can we do as musicians to interest more people, children
especially, in classical music?
My founding of the Albuquerque Chamber Soloists five years ago was a
response to that question. Our purpose was Community Outreach. We combine, through the
medium of chamber music, music of every sort ...standard beloved repertoire, unknown,
jazz, Native American, local composers, everything that qualifies as good music. We have a
variety of instrumentation, styles, individual musicians, professional musicians,
university students, members of our Symphony, UNM faculty, local musicians, etc. By
appealing to anyone, we appeal to everyone, and the success of the series has proved its
worth.
I feel that as responsible citizens of our community, we should do
several things. First of all, do not allow legislators to abolish music in the public
schools. Vote them out! Secondly, if we all agreed to turn off our television sets at
prescribed times of the day, we would have more time for reading, conversation, and music.
PEP: What attracts you most about teaching college-level piano?
Having gone to four universities and having taught at three (Indiana
University as a graduate assistant and on the faculty of the University of Toledo and the
University of New Mexico), I feel as though I've been to college all my life. I love
academia; the exchange of ideas and viewpoints has always been both an inspiration and a
challenge. And I must say that taking an important role in the maturation of a young
person and his talent is exhilarating.
The University of New Mexico Music Department is a very good place to be
situated. The faculty has a distinguished history of world-class artist-faculty and
academic programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. It numbers many
successful professionals among its graduates and, in the current climate of skyrocketing
University tuition, remains a remarkably affordable alternative for the advancing
musician. We have diverse cultures and breathtaking scenery. What better thing is there
than to look at the mountains and the perpetually blue sky while you practice!
You can comment or ask questions of Professor Felberg by sending e-mail to arlettef@unm.edu or by mail to Arlette Felberg, Asst.
Prof. Of Piano, University of New Mexico, Music Department, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1411.
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Arlette Felberg