#dorothy delay

Also, can I just say how far you've come from like high school/early college where you were like I HATE VIOLIN!!! I'M ���� A ���� WRITER! ���� And I just remember you hating it so much! And look at you now! I just...think about that all lot.

HAH!

I mean... it’s kinda still true lmao. Like... ehhh, I guess I don’t hate violin exactly, but I hate a lot of the culture that tends to be inherent to being a classical musician... which like... honestly a lot of why I felt how I felt was because I didn’t even realize just how disadvantaged I was compared to so many other musicians who were actually lucky enough to receive world-class instruction, and actually be in a position to thrive in a university setting and beyond... like, my old teacher (the fucking crazy ass one who used to be my boss) was literally holding me to a standard that she was NOT CAPABLE of helping me to reach. And it made me so intensely miserable, feeling like I just wasn’t good enough to succeed, when actually, she’s just a mediocre teacher. The gag is, she’s still one of the best teachers in the state. Which is why I was so convinced for so long that she was soooo amazing. But like... I’m the best student she’s ever been able to produce. And that’s not saying much, honestly. 

Chee-Yun came to the United States when she was 12 to study at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, one of the most influential violin teachers of a generation.

DeLay, who died in 2002, worked with violinists from Itzhak Perlman (who now holds DeLay’s teaching post at Juilliard) to Midori and Sarah Chang.

Chee-Yun says she was terrified at their first meeting.

“She’s the greatest teacher in the world, and here’s this little girl from Korea,” the violinist said. “And she was the nicest lady I’ve ever met. So kind. So complimentary.

“Immediately, she gave me so much confidence because she believed in me. I thought, ‘If she believes in me, I can make it happen.’ ”

DeLay told her that music needed to be her entire life.

“I must be willing to sacrifice everything else for it,” Chee-Yun said. “But she did all this through so much kindness and so much love. You never felt like she thought of you as just another talented student.