' It was my teacher in Indiana, when I was aged between 9 and 14, that gave me the building blocks of who I am as a player today.
If I had to sum up his approach it would be: get all of it done and don’t leave any stone unturned. I remember him once telling me, ‘You are too young to play out of tune!’ He also showed me the amount of dedication this craft takes, and he demonstrated it in his own approach while also requiring it of his students. I then began studying at Indiana University with Franco Gulli.
He was a great teacher and a very special human being. One of the things I took from him was the importance of score study. It’s not good enough just to know your part; you really have to know everything that’s going on around you.