For the love of music: Performer turned teacher puts the emphasis on fun
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Karen Iglitzin remembers it well — that gut-wrenching, stomach-turning feeling you get in music contests and competitions, as you grip your instrument and begin that sonata in front of the judges.
That's why she has organized the Anti-Contest, a fun-loving event that brings in high-school chamber-music groups from around the Northwest in a spoof of the traditional white-knuckle music contests. No stone-faced judges; just a chance to perform in an atmosphere of freedom and humor, with young players who suddenly aren't afraid to let loose and experience a little joy in music-making.
That joy is Iglitzin's long suit, and that's a major reason she was named national winner of Chamber Music America's Award for Excellence in Chamber Music Teaching for 2002. The award, which she accepted in New York in January, will be locally celebrated at Friday's Anti-Contest.
A passionate teacher who galvanizes students with her energy and her love of music, Iglitzin has the unmistakable authority of one who has been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, given it away and redesigned a new T-shirt that fits a lot better.
Iglitzin's career trajectory is an eye-popping one. Born into a musically gifted family; degrees from Indiana and Yale universities; first violinist of the Philadelphia String Quartet; associate professor of music at Western Washington University; a year teaching in Qufu, China.
And in the middle of all that, 12 long years when she withdrew almost completely from public performance. What happened — and how did Iglitzin get back her joy in making music?
Growing up in an intensely musical family — her father is violist Alan Iglitzin, an inspiring and hard-charging player who was a founder of the Philadelphia Quartet and the highly successful Olympic Music Festival — Karen always felt what she calls "a bit anti-authority" as she proceeded down the classical fast track. No sooner had she gotten her master's degree from Yale (1981) than the invitation came to audition for the Philadelphia first-violin spot — where she would not only play alongside her father, but also essentially lead his quartet as first among the four equals.
That wasn't an easy position, especially for a young player who also had to learn reams of string-quartet repertoire immediately.
"I was catapulted right away to an extremely high level, and I was so aware of being 'the daughter,' " Iglitzin remembers.
"The stresses were very high. We toured India, Chile, Colombia, Brazil; we played Boston and Los Angeles and Honolulu, and summer festivals. After four years I just hit the wall, and I knew I needed to take time off from playing."
In 1986 she left the Philadelphia and went to Western Washington University for 12 years, where she founded the preparatory music program for pre-college players, won several awards — and retired almost completely from performing.
"I taught but I didn't play," she remembers.
"Just the sight of the violin, the mere idea of having to practice, made me nauseated. I loved music and loved teaching — but just get me away from that violin, please."
Instead, Iglitzin concentrated on teaching. She married Cornish College faculty member and pianist Roger Nelson, and in 1993 the couple had a daughter, Ariana. Then the couple received an offer, through Nelson's erhu-playing friend Warren Chang, to teach for a year in Qufu — 10 hours by train from both Beijing and Shanghai. They were the only foreigners at the university, and none of them spoke Chinese (though 4-year-old Ariana was quick to learn).
"That year, 1997-98, had a huge effect on me," remembers Iglitzin.
"In China, I played all the time, mainly because of the very intense human desire to communicate. I couldn't talk to people, explain who we were; even with a translator, we needed a meeting ground. That meeting ground was music."
At first, Iglitzin struggled with the violin, because her fingers were out of shape. She and Nelson hadn't even played music together, except for some jam sessions and some fiddling gigs at Northwest Folklife Festival — a musical style and venue that were safely removed from the strictures of classical music. Iglitzin plucked up her courage and played "five or six major recitals" for Chinese audiences.
If it hadn't been for the year in China, Iglitzin's return to the violin might never have happened.
"It took the most extreme circumstances to make me reconnect as a performer. I've come light-years ahead in the ability to express myself. I'm not doing a lot of performing, because my energies are now drawn so much toward teaching kids, but I don't rule it out. I did a recital a year ago with Roger, and it was a blast."
Teaching is clearly a passion for Iglitzin; just talking about it fires up her brown eyes and poises her on the edge of the chair. High-schoolers have been her major focus; she has a long and deep collaboration with public and private high-school string programs all over the state. At Shorewood High School, she works with orchestra director Daniel Wing to add a chamber-music component to his orchestral program. She is an unorthodox coach who hosts all-night sight-reading slumber parties at her house, urges kids to throw themselves into the music, and has been known to exhort, "This piece is supposed to be sexy!"
Through her umbrella organization, "Expression Enterprises," she leads three major programs. The first, "Chamber Music Madness," is a series of monthly coached workshops that bring together kids 8-20 from several Northwest states. Three times a year, Iglitzin presents all-day Northwest Chamber Music Festivals, each with five high-school ensembles (from duos to large chamber orchestras) in master classes, fiddling, dance and anything else that occurs to her (and her faculty, including violinist Irwin Eisenberg and cellist Leslie Hart Marckx).
Finally, there is "Camp Nirvana," the former instructional wing of the Olympic Music Festival, now moved to Bastyr University (July 14-27 this year). Twenty advanced string-playing teenagers are selected from around the country, and placed into five string quartets who study chamber music, stage-fright management, improvisation and folk music.
"I feel like I'm really helping kids," says Iglitzin, "and sometimes their parents, too, who are glad to see there's another adult mentor who is really into their kids and their accomplishments. I feel so powerfully that we have to put some joy back into music, which requires so much hard work in order to achieve results."
Check out Friday's Anti-Contest, which will draw around 50 high-schoolers in all kinds of groups, to hear and see that joy in action with costumes, props and an attitude of general hilarity. There are judges at the Anti-Contest, but they give out what Iglitzin calls "silly awards" (e.g., "best costume"). The 7 p.m. event is scheduled at Lake City Presbyterian Church, 3841 N.E. 123rd St., and a donation gets you in. You can find out more by contacting Iglitzin at 206-366-1211 or e-mail at expressionenterprises@hotmail.com.
"We all need to remember the power of music, and the inherent value of what we do," says Iglitzin, now fully into her music-evangelist mode; "look where people turned after Sept. 11. Music expresses what is beyond words. Sometimes, in our teaching and performing, we forget that the real goal is not just great technique, but to feel and express the music. That's something I've pledged always to remember."
Melinda Bargreen can be reached at mbargreen@seattletimes.com.