Friday, January 23, 1998
Teachers succeed in class, on road
CAMPUS: Professors juggle a dual role as teachers and
performers.
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
Able to leap whole octaves in a second or trill their fingers
(almost) faster than a speeding bullet. It’s a professor of music
… a professional musician … no, it’s both!
Juliana Gondek, assistant voice professor in the music
department, and Walter Ponce, music professor and head of the piano
category both divide their time between teaching and
performing.
In a major that trains future musicians, they are hardly
exceptions on staff. Some may question whether students suffer as
their instructors pursue their own art.
"I don’t feel at all as if my teaching profession is secondary
to my performing, but by the same token I certainly do not consider
myself as having retired from performing in any way," Gondek says.
"To me, those two aspects of my career are equal."
However, finding the balance between touring and teaching is a
bit more difficult. Both Gondek and Ponce privately teach about 13
students. Since they still perform throughout the year, they are
likely to miss one or two weeks a quarter.
"I always make up the lessons. If I get sick, I still have to
make them up because the students don’t forgive you," Ponce laughs.
"I don’t mind the extra time or effort because I appreciate the
fact that (the students) care."
So, like students in an ASUCLA job, Gondek and Ponce arrange
their work schedules around their classes, juggling private lessons
with performances, trying to make everyone happy.
"I’ve heard horror stories of teachers you only see twice a
year, but thankfully, Professor Ponce doesn’t travel much during
the (school) year; most of the time he travels during the breaks,"
says Johanna Chen, a seventh-year doctoral candidate for piano who
studies with Ponce.
Besides arranging her longer performances during summer breaks
or near the ends of quarters, Gondek offers two-hour "master
classes" to replace missed lessons. During these classes, Gondek
lectures to all of her students on some technique or aspect of
being a singer.
"Maybe (the master classes) are not as personal, but sometimes
it can be very valuable to work in a group," says Gondek’s student,
Sharon Chang, a second-year music performance student.
Gondek also arranges for a pianist to still be there for the
regular lesson time while she is away. Valerie Crolotte, a
fourth-year voice and education student who studies with Gondek, is
pleased with the arrangement because she says it’s like having
extra lessons. In addition, Gondek invites students over to her
home for missed lessons and lectures.
"Sometimes that’s what must be done when you have performance
faculty," Gondek says. "In that way, we’re able to stay
consistent."
First year-music student Elizabeth Bruch can vouch for her
violin professor, Mark Kaplan, a visiting professional
violinist.
"I get all the lessons I’m supposed to get and they’re very good
lessons," Bruch says. "I don’t think I’m missing out on
anything."
Krissy Gee, also a first-year music student, says her percussion
professor, Mitch Peters, also consistently makes up the lessons he
misses when he’s busy playing timpani for the Los Angeles
Philharmonic.
Gee says instructor knowledge of the professional world is one
of the reasons she came to UCLA. In fact, most students seem to be
thrilled to have such famous teachers.
"I think it’s important to have somebody who’s actively
performing as a teacher," says Ponce’s student, Sarah Lynch, a
second-year master’s student majoring in piano. "That way you know
they’re not just speaking from out of their head, but from their
experience."
Experience is something Gondek and Ponce both have in abundance.
They both started their professional careers around the age of 15.
South America, Asia and Europe are just some of the places where
Ponce has performed. He has appeared with George Solti and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was chair of the piano department of
SUNY for 24 years before coming to UCLA.
Gondek in turn has won two gold medals in international
competitions, sung in Carnegie Hall and also performed with major
orchestras. She is also a skilled violinist and manages to do all
these things while raising a daughter and her students’ confidence
in themselves.
"When I first started, I was kind of intimidated because I’m so
young in terms of voice. But the closer I get to (Gondek), the more
appreciative I am," Chang says. "It’s almost like having a parent
you really admire and you’re kind of afraid of, but you’re really
glad to know them."