The Kronos string quartet has become one of the most prestigious and influential ensembles around, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, collaborating with many of the world's most eclectic composers and performers, commissioning hundreds of works and arrangements for string quartet, and releasing more than 40 innovative recordings. Kronos has featured prominently in film and dance, sponsored commissions for young composers, and won numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and "Musicians of the Year" (2003) from Musical America.

Don Kaplan of The Musical Offering in Berkeley had the opportunity to interview Kronos' founder, David Harrington, just prior to one of David's coaching sessions.

Don Kaplan:
Kronos has always had an unusual approach to string quartet music that incorporates jazz, pop, beat poetry, choreography, non-Western instruments, world music traditions, performing, coaching, commissioning, and working directly with composers. Did that approach come from any place in particular?

David Harrington:
I had my first experience working with a living composer when I was 16. It was such a thrill going over to his house and playing his piano quintet. It wasn't finished yet. Nobody else in the universe had ever heard that piece before. And at age 16 it was such a cool piece, I got hooked. As a teenager, I'd hang out in the summertime at the University of Washington, which had one of the great ethnomusicology departments in the US, and I'd get to hear people who many years later I heard on recordings.

So in the sixties, I tried to take advantage of whatever there was. There was a great record shop right near the high school, and most often I was over there rather than at algebra or geometry or wherever I should have been. And in those days, you could open the records and go into a booth, so it was cool. I heard Edgar Varèse and Ives, Bartok and all the music -- not all the music, but a lot of music that became very inspiring.

Don:
You're involved in a new educational project with Carnegie Hall called Signature Works, a training workshop where you'll be coaching four string quartets on works written for Kronos. Could you tell me how the workshop came about?

David:
When Kronos celebrated its 30th year in 2003, we were trying to figure out how to celebrate that event in a meaningful way. We came upon the idea of commissioning a composer under the age of thirty -- a person whose entire lifespan had been circumscribed by the Kronos career. We were incredibly pleased, surprised and honored so many composers sent their works to us. [The Under 30 Project is now in its fourth year.--DK]

I think the word got out that numerous groups around the world were performing and recording our commissions, and this came to the attention of the people who make decisions at Carnegie Hall. They decided to have Kronos come there and lead a week-long session working with young quartets.

Don:
The application also requires a statement of the ensemble's artistic goals. Could you talk a little about these goals? For example, how do you define "artistic goals" and how important is it for a musician to have them?

David:
I've always thought having some sort of plan was a good idea. When the group was celebrating its 30th year, I just happened upon a list of ideas I had written out in the fall of 1973 when I started Kronos. I was amazed how helpful it had been in verbalizing some ideas—ideas like wanting string quartet music from Africa, South America, Asia, places where the string quartet had traditionally never had any kind of a root system.

I wanted to make concerts that would be fun and stretch the idea of recent music into all kinds of areas that hadn't been covered yet by anyone. So, when we were talking this over, it just seemed like maybe if groups hadn't thought of verbalizing some ideas, it might be a good thing for people to have some sort of a plan. It's almost like a shopping list; it kind of helps you organize how you're going to navigate.

Don:
You just mentioned a couple of your own artistic goals. What are some of your other goals, and have they changed?

David:
Well, my artistic goals are always changing, because for me, music is the result of what I've heard already, and the world of music I carry inside is constantly shifting. This morning, for example, I was listening to a wonderful recording of this young Japanese composer who made pieces of music out of toy sounds and various games, and it's just beautiful. I was also listening to some Russian musician who plays the hurdy gurdy and sings. It's so beautiful, it's just amazing. And who knows how that will affect my own navigating? It will affect things because everything you hear, it's like a gyroscope. You're constantly adjusting.

One of the things I'm interested in doing is filling in as much of the picture of the world of music as I understand it and know it to be as possible. It's a daily task; it's something I'm constantly thinking about. I just came back from Vienna, the heartland of the string quartet. I love to play in Vienna, because I can always get my bearings a little and can see how the form has been changed by our work. In a Terry Riley piece, I play a Peyote rattle in the sand [an American Indian rattle traditionally made from a pebble-filled gourd on a beaded wooden stick], a bass drum with this foot, and conduct the rest of the group with this hand.

I realize that probably no violinist in the last 250 years started a piece playing a Peyote rattle and a bass drum in Vienna. I don't think it's happened. I loved it. And then, in one of the movements, I get to play a little Mexican toy violin, and you could almost hear people gasp, and I was pretty happy with that -- that the form has grown and is more inclusive than it used to be. That was one of my goals. But goals can never be fully realized, because there's so much to do. The world of music is constantly absorbing influences. When musicians hear something they like, they try to add it to their lives, and that's what I've done for 33 years.

Don:
The public is mostly aware of your innovative recordings and performances. Has teaching master classes or coaching musicians been an ongoing part of Kronos' activities, or is this a new direction?

David:
We're very involved in that kind of thing, because we've benefited so often from the advice of other musicians and the composers we've worked with. They've given us tremendous insights into their work. Frequently when we're on tour, we're involved in coaching groups, and I meet with composers from all over the world. Hardly a day has gone by in 33 years I haven't been with a composer -- it's just the way it is, and I just love it. We've worked with many, many different composers, and every one of them has contributed to the vocabulary we have right now. It's been an incredible pleasure so far, and I know it's something we'll continue into the distant future.

Don:
Signature Works gives you an opportunity to work intensively with quartets over a period of a week. But when musicians are coached during only a single meeting, can anything really be accomplished?

David:
I've learned so much from other musicians, and sometimes, it's been during only one conversation. For example in 1975 I wanted to play Shostakovich's 8th quartet. I called a musician who was giving a concert in Seattle and had worked with Shostakovich. He was so nice to me, he didn't know who I was, he had never heard of my group. He couldn't talk with me then, but said if I came to Vancouver the following night, he would find some time to speak with me.

I went to Vancouver, and after his concert, he took three hours, until 3:00 in the morning, to describe what it was like to work with Shostakovich. And that has set a standard for me, for what I expect of myself when I'm dealing with young musicians. So I credit him with showing me the way I feel the best about being towards other musicians. It so happens my teacher Veda Reynolds was exactly the same way.

Don:
Would you say she was your most influential teacher?

David:
Yes, definitely, without any question. She had such care and such thoughtful comments. She thought of one's whole imagination and one's body in making notes and creating one's association with the instrument. She was such a marvelous teacher and huge inspiration. I think about her every day.

There were times when I would have these six-, seven-, eight-hour violin lessons -- in her eighties, she had more energy than I have. I had one lesson that was like four hours long on one note of [Alban Berg's] Lyric Suite. That one note I know was improved during the day I had that lesson. So I've been the beneficiary of some marvelous teaching. And you never know where you're going to find that.

Don:
What makes a good teacher?

David:
I think one of the things that makes a good teacher is sizing up the situation and knowing what can be said that can be helpful in a way that each student can accept and learn from. After Veda died, I was able to meet some of her other students, and every one of them is an entirely different kind of violinist. None of her other students play modern music. I mean, what she taught me about teaching is how important it is to really listen, to really concentrate and how much one can receive from that, and that it's a fantastic opportunity.

A great teacher is a very rare person. There aren't that many, and I think people have to be very careful about who they allow to teach them. You can get really messed up. There's a certain kind of egotistical type of people that aren't really concerned with the student, but who are more concerned with themselves, their image, and that there's only one way to do something.

What I learned from Veda is there are plenty of different ways, and you have to use your own body, you have to teach your body to do what you want. Part of being a great teacher is teaching a student how to practice. Like, here's this stick of wood and horse hair, these strings, how do you learn how to make them do what you want? It's a lifelong kind of endeavor, and I learned that from Veda.

Don:
How long did you study with her?

David:
30 years.

Don:
Do you think she influenced the way Kronos approaches music?

David:
She was fascinated by the music. Not something she did herself, but something she accepted as possible. I would take in recordings of gypsy violinists and say, "How can I make this kind of sound?" I was trying to stretch her, too, so it's like I think we helped each other a bit.

And a lot of what she has told me has ended up in our rehearsals in various ways. It's like, well, if you just put your finger down a little lighter, if you make sure your shoulders are square and when you get to this part of the bow…things like that. I think each one of us in Kronos has brought up things that we've learned from our teachers. Sometimes, we don't even know when we're doing it, probably because it's become so ingrained.

Don:
What's the best advice given to you by a teacher?

David:
The thing that Veda taught so well is that if you really listen, you can find out what you need to do, what correction you need to make. Then I had a teacher in high school, he said one thing to me that I'll never forget. He said practicing is really difficult work. If you're really practicing, not just playing through something, you're changing what you're doing. Practicing is change. And I've thought about that ever since. That if I'm not actually changing, modifying what I'm doing, if I'm trying to relax a certain part of my back, trying to find a way of being more limber, if I'm not really practicing, just kind of playing through. Basically, if it really sounds good, then you're not really practicing. It should sound pretty bad -- bad, getting better. In other words, you should work on those places that need work, not just try to satisfy yourself that everything is going to be okay, and you can already play.

Don:
You should work on places that need work, instead of just entertaining yourself.

David:
Right, right.

Don:
The worst advice given to you by a teacher?

David:
I don't know if I have any worst advice. I've been fairly reluctant to follow advice, having figured that advice is something a person has to learn to give. You know what I mean? Basically, if I don't find it useful, I forget about it pretty quickly, because there are so many things in life and so little time, so little time.

Don:
What's the best advice you've given a student?

David:
I always say I don't trust anybody's advice. You have to find out for yourself. There are a lot of people who say "What should I do? What should I do?" I don't know what you should do. I don't have any idea what a person should do. The thing is for a person to find out what they need to do, and turn their ears inside out and listen inside. What is the sound you're hearing? What is the sound you're not hearing or need to hear? For me, finding balance is what my career has been all about so far. Finding balance in my navigations through the world of music, and through my own life, and through what's happened to me, and how that translates into music.

Don:
Kronos teaches people to think about string quartets in new ways. What does Kronos teach you?

David:
I think of playing in Kronos as having three teachers every day. Every one of them -- Jeff, Hank, John -- they're always teaching me. When we add a composer, we are listening to what he or she says to us, trying to assemble a body of evidence about the music at hand, so that the composer becomes a teacher as well. I'm always trying to figure out how Kronos can extend its experiences and enlarge the palette of what can be done by two violins, a viola and a cello.

Next week, for a performance, we're going to be adding instruments we've never used before, and I love that. I love that and I'm constantly trying to explore what it means to be a group, what it means to be a quartet in 2006 and 2007, what are the responsibilities we have, what are the options, what are the capabilities.

You know, so far, the group has commissioned over 500 pieces. It's interesting when you step back from that a little bit, you begin to realize that music is so vast, it's so incredible, an incredible natural resource that people have created for each other, and no one can know even a fraction of this music. Well, you can know a tiny fraction, but somehow there's a lot to celebrate, a lot to celebrate.

Don:
Which of your recordings should be "basic listening" for young musicians?

David:
If they want to hear the piece that inspired me to start Kronos, play Black Angels, and turn it up loud. If you want to hear one of my goals that I had as a 23 year old when I started Kronos, listen to Pieces of Africa.

Don:
After 30 years with the Kronos Quartet, do you still feel like you have areas to explore?

David:
We are just getting started, as far as I'm concerned. The way I like to describe a note is: A note is an opportunity, and depending on what happens to you in your life and how your imagination is filled by various aspects of the world and other people, you never know what you might be able to put into a note. Basically, you need to use your imagination and your body to find ways of expressing what you hear inside.

After the interview, David coached members of a young string quartet on a new composition with roots in gypsy band music. It was clear that David preaches what he practices, from helping performers discover how to play a phrase ("There's more than one way to do it,") to "Exploring something big that is happening and finding surprises along the way," from encouraging musicians to answer their own questions to teaching them how to navigate a single note.

To help the musicians understand more about the music, he included anecdotes about where and how the original source material was likely to have been played ("wildman violinists" competing with each other to be heard in the taverns of Yugoslavia), and suggestions for achieving the wildman's particular kind of sound. David referred to other composers who had been influenced by gypsy music (e.g., Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn), suggested listening to Flamenco music -- the gypsy music of Spain, and one of Kronos' own recordings, Caravan, in order "to establish a vocabulary."

David encouraged the performers to be less polite ("This isn't nice and gentle music,") and play with more abandonment -- to be loud, passionate, pungent and rude, and push other players out of the way to be heard. He asked the performers to call attention to themselves -- to flirt with the audience, but still understand this was music created by people on the margin of society ("The pain in a musical slide is more than just notes, but an expressed feeling about life.")