It is possible to be thankful every moment, every
day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,
every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi,
and welcome to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast
that features real people talking about real
events from their childhood and how those events
impacted their lives. I'm your host, Jay Rehack.
And I love listening to stories from people's
childhoods, which also help me understand who
those people are. Tell Me What Happened is sponsored
by Sideline Ink Publishing, publishers of quality
books, including Susan Salador's children's book,
I've Got Peace in My Fingers, available worldwide
wherever quality books are sold. Tell Me What
Happened is also sponsored by laughsaver .com.
Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter.
LaughSaver .com will keep it for you, now and
forever. Your family will appreciate it. It's
free and it's easy to use. That's LaughSaver
.com. All right, it's time for our interview.
I have as my guest today a very good friend of
mine, a concert cellist, a woman who has been
playing music for more than 50 years. teaching
it, and having played everything from chamber
music to early music to Broadway. My good friend
who lives in Nantucket, the island my wife calls
paradise, Molly Glazier. How you doing, Molly?
I'm doing well, thank you. Are you ready to tell
your story? I am. All right, well, Molly, the
way I try to do this is I try to stay out of
the way. One of the things that I've learned
is the less I speak, the better things are. So
I'm going to just let you tell your story. At
the end, I'm going to ask you one question, which
is, how has what happened to you as a child in
this particular instance, how is that something
that you've carried and impacted your adult life?
OK? Okay, thank you. Thank you for asking me.
I wanted to tell this story because it is really
my hope that it could help other people, too.
When you learn a musical instrument, it takes
a village to teach somebody. It's a lifelong
journey on many, many levels. And I was part
of this music program in a school district in
Springfield, Pennsylvania. And I am just astounded
how much funding went into that program and produced
just dozens and dozens of professional musicians.
And I was there at a golden time. And this is
particularly relevant right now because the orchestra
teacher and band teacher from our high school
just died two days ago. So it's all been on my
mind a lot in the past few days, and I've really
enjoyed reading testimonials on Facebook from
other people that were a year older than me,
two years older than me, you know, a year younger
than me, and in my class, that we all had that
band room as a sanctuary. It was a place where
we belonged. I remember sitting around the table
in that band room, and I just, I, it, It formed
for me like how much I love being with musicians.
And even though I was not the player I am now,
I was not then. And that's actually the story
I'm about to tell was why I was not. I mean,
you know, a lot of things go into making a musician,
but the foremost thing is really nurturing teacher
when you're young. And I started, I'll just give
a little backstory here is that In the elementary
school, I referenced the high school time, which
was so rich. And I actually, this man who just
died, I don't know how he had the time and the
focus to do everything he did. He just gave so
much in that program. But the elementary school
part of that program introduced instruments in
the third grade. Everybody had to play recorder.
And in that recorder class, it was like, honest
to God, I'm sure the teacher had earplugs in
her head. I don't know how. anybody could hear
that because the recorder certainly like rearranges
cells in people's brains especially when children
are playing them all together but anyway we learned
some music theory we learned how to read a little
bit and then after that we had to take an aptitude
test and I remember doing really well on that
aptitude test and I was told I was allowed to
take an instrument and I could pick anyone I
wanted. And I remember having the conversation
with my mother. I wanted to play the cello. She
says, it's too big. And so I chose the violin
because my friend Sue Lazovic chose the violin.
That's the reason I did. And we were going to
practice together, et cetera, et cetera. And
I took violin lessons for years and boy did I
hate it. I had that really high sound really
close to my ears. because I had to hold that
thing up under my chin and it just wasn't for
me so I started to play violin between my knees
like a cello because it was more comfortable
and that wonderful well he was kind of a tyrant
but he at least let me play the violin in the
orchestra in sixth grade with the thing between
my knees. I played that whole year and then that
summer he let me switch to the cello. So this
is between sixth and seventh grade. Okay, I had
one teacher for that for like a year. And after
that, someone suggested you should really study.
I don't think I'm gonna say his name because
he's passed away and I don't want to speak ill
of the dead, but I'm gonna say he was a cellist
in the Philadelphia Orchestra. And I couldn't
believe that I was gonna get to study with someone.
who was in the Philadelphia Orchestra and I thought
that I had arrived and I was somebody now because
somebody there was another cellist in the in
the school who already studied with him and and
she and I with our parents obviously our parents
drove us and they used the carpool and I would
wait for her lesson she would wait for mine and
I just thought that I was going through what
I was supposed to go through. I cried a lot in
those lessons and I think that he shamed me a
lot and I just thought that that's what was supposed
to happen and my mother, I'm not saying I'm blaming
my mother, well maybe I am a little bit, but
my mother just was so impressed with him and
she kept saying that he was a professional. That
was her word. I could learn so much from, you
know, and I just kind of kept going and kept
crying and I wasn't getting a whole lot. and
I still would glaze badly in the orchestra auditions
and stuff at school and whatever. So I'm gonna
fast forward to, I'm gonna say it was my fifth
or 10th high school reunion. And I ran into this
woman who was the cellist I used to carpool with.
And she wanted to reminisce about all of those
years studying with this. cellist from the Philadelphia
Orchestra. And she says, remember when he used
to take us to all of the orchestra rehearsals
and we used to be able to listen in the audience
at the Academy of Music to all those open rehearsals?
I said, no. And she said, remember all the recitals
at his house where he got to play our pieces?
I said, no. He actually never invited me to a
recital. And then I went, dear God, Why would
you ever do that to a student? So fast forward
to my takeaway. That experience taught me that
you would never, ever, ever do that to a student.
I've been teaching since I was 18. So that's
a lot of years of teaching now. I'm 62. If I
have somebody who learns eight bars of something,
or it's gonna get up on stage and just play a
piece with just open strings. and with a piano
accompaniment or me sitting there accompanying
on the cello and that kid gets to stand up and
take a bow and be like proud that there was a
small accomplishment that's what I have done
and would I have been such a patient teacher
and inclusive teacher if I had not had that experience
with that teacher in high school I don't know
but that really cemented it for me So that is
the crux of my story here, but I will tell you
that I did go on to undergrad and I had a very
nurturing teacher for two years of undergrad.
I mean, she is the one, this was at University
of Connecticut, and I will say her name. Her
name is Mary Lou Rylans. She's retired, lives
in Vermont now and still remains my friend. And
I just could not thank her enough for being that
nurturing teacher who taught me to untie my hands.
That's what she said she did for me. She taught
me a balanced approach to the instrument. How
to have a foundation of tension -free playing
so that you can do anything. You can progress
forevermore on that. So, you know, I still have
her voice in my head when I'm teaching and when
I'm practicing. And, you know, forever grateful
for that. So I tell my students that music making
is the bonus of learning an instrument. But the
real work is your personal journey of can you
focus too long enough? I have a lot of gray hair
from students that I've tried to teach this to
that it's been like, huh, what are you talking
about? Can you focus for how many seconds or
minutes here? on just those eight measures. Can
you focus on all the tasks that are required
for you to get through those eight measures,
right? To think about your bow. You have to think
about balance in your left hand. Are you in tune?
Are you playing the right rhythm? Et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. So I feel like that is
one of the most important lessons that people
can have. The perseverance, the discipline, the
being really easy on yourself that you did that,
you know, and I'm going to build from that now
instead of what, I'm sorry, go back to something
negative, but the way that I was trained in junior
high school and most of high school of like,
you did that very badly, instead of showing me
how to fix it, how to be satisfied with the small
accomplishments, because the small accomplishments
that build on each other and then all of a sudden
you can play. And it's like, oh, and then you
can play with other people and there's the bonus,
right? So my takeaway is one of gratitude and
it's not easy to be grateful when someone is
really mean to you, but it's the only way to
go so that you don't hold onto anything bad.
That's kind of like my motto. I'm not always
successful at it, but I really make an effort
to hang with that. I think that's the crux of
the story. Well, thank you very much. I know
you, Molly, as beyond a professional cellist
for all these years, but also as a great teacher.
And you've always been very kind to just about
everybody I've ever met in terms of people that
you've taught or the people that have played.
I try to play ukulele. You're always very kind
to me about it as an example. So I do know that
as a school teacher myself, I value a teacher
who is nurturing rather than abusive. I don't
know what else is how else to call it. So in
your own practice, you've spent a large part
of your life teaching and playing, of course,
when you look back, you think you nurtured more
than you gave people the forget about it. And
you're a terrible language that you heard yourself.
So I think that's the impact. Yep, for sure.
Well, thank you. I'm sorry that that happened
to you. I'm sorry you had this terrible teacher
early on who didn't nurture. It's great having
you. It's great seeing you. This recording will
not see your fabulous face, but I really do appreciate
you coming on the show. As I said, as a person
who's always wanted to play music, I always like
listening to real musicians explain it to me,
what their journey was. Because, yeah, I just
don't have that background and I don't have that
perseverance and all that. And the idea that
after a while you say, if I get eight bars and
somebody stands up and applauds that, that's
enough. I think that is the way to go, the way
to keep people energized. Otherwise, if you're
just waiting for perfection to happen, you always
wind up dissatisfied with the songs coming out
of your instrument. You know, another one of
the things I like to say is that music making
is normal. It's not just for the elite. It's
not just something in an ivory tower, right?
It's like, just have instruments laying around
your house, just like clay all the time. I like
it. I like it. So that's our show. Thank you
so much, Molly Glazer, for telling us your story.
I'd like to invite everybody who listens in to
consider coming on to tell me what happened and
telling us your story, your childhood memory,
your formative event. Also, just want you to
know that Sidelining Publishing will be publishing
these stories, some of these stories, in a book.
tell me what happened in the spring of 2021.
And I invite all the listeners to send us a copy
of their story if they would prefer not to speak
it out loud. You can send it to sideliningpublishing
at gmail .com. We're going to end the show with
the full version of Susan Saladon's Every Moment,
Every Day, available on Spotify, BTW. Until next
time, this is Jay Rehaq asking you all to stay
safe out there and try not to hurt anybody. It
is possible to be thankful every moment every
day practice and humility it takes vision and
civility it takes beauty and the wisdom to see
it everywhere it takes practice and humility
to see it everywhere it takes beauty and the
wisdom to see it everywhere it is possible to
be thankful every moment every day