Helida

No sooner had I become situated as string performance major than I began private piano lesson in conjunction with cello and composition lessons. 

Helida was an extremely gifted Russian pianist who met with me weekly, on Saturdays, at Cleveland State University located in the heart of downtown Cleveland. A typical Saturday lesson took place in any one of CSU's practice rooms, within the music building, and ran just over an hour. Helida was thrilled when she discovered my background in music composition. She was nothing more then patient with me as I would often divert the lesson to inquire about composition techniques for the stringed instrument. We would leave on a note of her reiterating, several times, to me the necessity of practice. It eventually became evident to her that my heart had been won over by composition and that a compromise should be made. From that point on, Helida began to conduct my private lessons in a different manner, teaching me both performance techniques as well and critiquing my compositions. She would tell me if passages were playable and then offer suggestions for alternative phrasing. 

Although Helida was not very successful in making me a virtuosic pianist, she was successful in helping me become a better composer relative to the piano. I will always be grateful for her patience and guidance.