Back Up and Push - The O'Connor Method 6 Years In

Written by Pamela Wiley
Published: November 30, 2014 at 10:16 PM [UTC]

December 1st of this year marks the sixth anniversary of Mark O’Connor’s original recording of the CDs for Books I & II of The O’Connor Method. The world of string education has certainly felt the impact and I don’t think anyone can deny that there has indeed been change. Two weeks ago at the South Carolina All-State/Regional Orchestra Festival, the guest conductor asked who in the orchestra knew how to improvise. Three of my teenage students were the only ones who raised their hands. Of course, I am very proud of this but what is remarkable about it is that the question was even asked. Things are changing.

Many of you have contacted me recently expressing concern about Mark’s recent personal behavior and how it might be impacting the image and spread of the method. This might be a very good time to back up a little and remember the original spirit of The O’Connor Method. An early motto of the movement was “everyone playing music under the same tent.” Not only is this inclusiveness born of American music itself but also of the larger American spirit of embracing diversity and working together at a grass roots level to improve our circumstances and make a positive difference for future generations.

In 2009, when I was developing the teaching points for the first two books of the method, Mark commented often to me about how important it was for the training sessions to empower teachers from all backgrounds who would then use the method to empower the creativity of their students. This spirit of inclusiveness and empowerment is a powerful force embedded in the music and method itself and I believe it will outweigh and survive all of our personal human limitations and foibles.

Early on in the development and spread of the movement, many of us were amazed and grateful that a great artist of Mark O’Connor’s renown would even bother to be interested in string education. We must never forget the incredible gift he has given us by channeling, organizing and championing this effort. The modern craze of social media – especially Facebook – has served to elevate some aspects of Mark’s personal life far beyond their relative importance when compared to the impact of the method itself. His personal need to discredit Shinichi Suzuki and to showcase his own current love affair have attracted much attention and controversy. There is no doubt that these things are important to Mark himself but they are very small concerns when compared with the great gift that he has given us by steering string education in the right direction. This is a timeless gift and comes from the very best part of his genius. I think we should all back up from the sparks that are emanating from Mark’s personal life and push forward with the incredible force set in motion by The O’Connor Method.

A couple of weeks ago Amanda Roberts, a prominent violin teacher in Boston, phoned me to discuss plans for the new O’Connor Method Camp to be held at the Southshore Conservatory in June 2015. We also began discussing Mark’s latest comments about Suzuki. At one point she said, “When I was interviewing Mark for my DMA thesis on his solo caprices just three years ago, Mark was very positive about the Suzuki Method and even mentioned ‘paralleling’ it in the development of his own method. What happened anyway?” I answered her by saying that I agreed that Mark was initially very supportive of the Suzuki Method and was merely trying to improve on its limitations and old-fashioned aspects. After a couple of years of experiencing some resistance to his method being credited as anything more than “supplemental” by the Suzuki establishment, Mark became fascinated and disturbed by the fact that a man from a foreign culture who didn’t play the violin well had had such a tremendous effect on string education in America. At that point he started to research Suzuki’s life and uncovered some facts and inconsistencies that he felt needed to be brought forward. The resulting controversy has been well-documented.

Early on, I welcomed the debate as a vehicle for a necessary and long overdue hard look at the state of string education in America. I was uncomfortable with the nastiness but Mark insisted that it was necessary to wake folks up a bit. Early last summer, Mark assured me that he had said all he needed to say about Suzuki and that he would not be pursuing his efforts in this regard any further. This turned out to not be true as evidenced by his recent posts on the subject. Over the past 6 months, I have passed on his assurance to me that the controversy would die down. Let me take this opportunity to publically apologize to those of you who gave credit to my assurances. I should not have promised something that I had no control over.

Nobody can really know the sum total of what effect Mark’s comments about Suzuki have had on either method. Many of you have claimed that the O’Connor Method would be even more popular than it already is if Mark’s blogs hadn’t been so negative, heavy-handed and repetitive. Many of you agree with Mark that exposing Suzuki’s personal life and claims will benefit the O’Connor Method and string education in general in the long run. Personally, I agree with the conclusion of the recent NPR story on Weekend Edition that the children don’t really care about the lives of either Suzuki or O’Connor but know only that they either enjoy their experience learning to play the violin or not. Too much has been made of these details of personality. We need to focus on the methods and not the men.

I have received several hundred inquiries over the past six weeks about Mark’s new romantic relationship and how it may be affecting me and my role in continuing to develop and promote The O’Connor Method. I think it is fair to say that successful personal relationships are difficult at best and most of us believe that they are even harder for famous artists, acknowledged geniuses and public figures. My daughter Sadie and Mark had a 7-year long relationship from March 2007 to October 2013. During the first part of this relationship, Sadie lived with Mark in New York and was very helpful to him in the development of the sequence of tunes in Books I & II. Sadie had grown up in my Suzuki program in Central PA and has gone on to a successful career as a professional violist. It was during this time that Mark and Sadie asked me to help and I became involved with the method as well. After their daughter Autumn was born, Sadie moved to my old house along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania where Sadie was raised. Mark spent as much time there as he could given his busy performing and composing schedule. I still smile at all the water images in Book III. Sadie and Mark’s relationship came apart in 2013 for many all-too-human reasons. They continue to co-parent their daughter Autumn who lives with Sadie in the River House. Mark has formed a new relationship. A pretty common scenario.

What is a bit uncommon is the extent to which Mark has chosen to exhibit his new relationship via Facebook and other public venues. Whether Mark’s current relationship is an epic love story or convenient publicity opportunity is not for me to judge. Many folks have welcomed his very public handling of this relationship as a lovely modern fairy tale. Many think it is in poor taste. I am probably too close to the situation to be able to make a fair judgment. The abiding truth is that Mark is the father of one of my grandchildren and all of our relationships will play out over time. But here again, I think it is time to separate Mark’s current personal life from the wonderful method that resulted from his experiences over an entire lifetime and his willingness to share those experiences with us.

I think it is very fitting that the anniversary of the birth of the method comes so close to Thanksgiving. Mark’s new school of string playing is the incredible gift of a great genius to the teachers and children of the world. It has already empowered the teaching of thousands of string teachers and helped to develop the natural creativity of tens of thousands of string students in this country and beyond. Not a day goes by that I am not incredibly thankful to Mark for the presence of The O’Connor Method in my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t personally experience the results of this wonderful gift.

Without exception, every one of my students is owning their violin playing differently than in the past. They are truly proud of their own creativity and not just trying to please their parents or me. I am especially excited to see some of the first “O’Connor Method kids” who started with the method 4-5 years ago, improvising with ease and sophistication on Minor Swing in Book IV. One of my newest students was a transfer from a Suzuki program. He had played about 3 years in a public school program and was “stuck” on the Bach minuets. He said he wanted to keep trying to play Minuet 3 but he just felt blocked and felt that it was “too hard.” We “backed up” and learned Bonaparte’s Retreat, Old Joe Clark, Soldier’s Joy and most of the rest of Book I and then I asked him to try to play Minuet 3. It came flying out with ease and musicality. He was amazed and asked me if Minuet 3 was a fiddle tune! It is this kind of thing – witnessed daily – that makes me not so concerned about what Mark is posting on Facebook from day to day.

I’m sure many of you relate to the story above and are experiencing the same joy that the O’Connor Method has infused into my own teaching. Both Shinichi Suzuki and Mark O’Connor have given wonderful gifts to the world through their efforts to spread and improve string education. Suzuki’s brilliant idea of teaching string playing through a series of carefully sequenced pieces of real music and his championing of playing strings in groups have changed the world for the better despite his credentials and playing ability. Mark O’Connor’s brilliant idea of replacing Suzuki’s sequence with a more diverse, relevant and modern sequence of American music and the resulting creativity that this sequence engenders has the potential to further change the world for the better despite how he appears on Facebook and sounds in his blogs. At this season of forgiveness, thanksgiving and gift-giving and on the 6th anniversary of the birth of The O’Connor Method, I would like to call upon string teachers everywhere to join me in “backing up” to the original spirit of inclusiveness at the heart of the O’Connor Method and in “pushing forward” into a better future of music-making for all children. Both Shinichi Suzuki and Mark O’Connor have given us wonderful gifts. These gifts are ours now to cherish and use in our own individual ways. Let’s be thankful!

Pamela Wiley
November 30, 2014

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