Every month, we like to spotlight one of our incredible Elemental Music teachers. Some of them have been teaching with us for close to a decade while others might be in their first year of working for our organization, but there is one thing that all of our teachers have in common: their dedication to the young musicians in our programs.
This month, we interviewed Emily Call, our Chamber Music Institute Director and longtime coach, about her many roles with Elemental Music! In addition to Emily’s work with CMI, she coaches for Elemental Strings and teaches Bergmann Program/Encore lessons. She is also our Marketing & Communications Director, and is an integral part of Elemental Music’s core administrative. We are so excited for you to learn a little bit more about her and the many things she does to keep the music happening in our programs!
Elemental Music: You hold so many roles with Elemental Music. Can you talk a little bit about what you do for the organization in all of those various capacities?
Emily Call: My administrative duties have slowly but surely expanded over the years. This season, I’m officially a full-time staff member and responsible for work that falls under the “marketing and communications'' umbrella. That involves a lot of things, including running our social media pages, putting together newsletters and communications for our families, spearheading our recruitment efforts, helping with fundraising, and more. I also help write our grant applications and reports.
I am grateful for the amazing, small but mighty admin team that we have in this organization. We all work really collaboratively, which I credit to the fact that many of us are also musicians!
EM: With so many different responsibilities, what is your favorite role in EM?
EC: Without a doubt, it’s the teaching. I have had so many different teaching opportunities through EM: conducting a string orchestra, coaching sectionals and chamber music groups, and teaching private lessons. Before directing CMI, I spent eight seasons directing many of our youngest students in the Prelude Program. Some of those same students are now returning to play with us as high schoolers, which is really fun (even if it makes me feel very old). It’s truly special to be a part of the lives of so many students for so long.
EM: How did you get started in music?
EC: I started playing violin as a fourth grader through my public school. My parents aren’t musicians and they must have been surprised when I came home asking to sign up for an orchestra which had to meet before the school day even started. In addition to having a dedicated public school teacher who ran the entire string program for our district, I also benefited from private lessons, a great youth orchestra program, and many teachers who recognized me as a musician before I recognized it in myself.
EM: Like many of our teachers, you're a professional musician as well as a teacher. What inspired you to include music education as part of your career rather than only performance?
EC: I have always been interested in teaching and even thought I might be an English teacher at one point in my life! During my undergraduate studies, I went through a bit of a crisis about what it would mean if I pursued a path that was only performance-based. For me, teaching is an essential part of being an artist. The balancing act can get tricky sometimes, but teaching and performing are equally important parts of my life.
EM: What is one of your favorite musical memories?
EC: It’s too difficult to choose just one! I guess one of them would be when one of my pegs totally slipped in the middle of my string quartet’s first big performance. There was no option but for me to stop and tune the instrument up. Luckily, the piece had a lot of different sections, all in totally different characters. The audience actually thought this act of stopping to tune was part of the piece…you can even hear someone laughing in the recording as I take an A again from the cello. This wasn’t a favorite musical memory at that time, but it’s definitely a musical memory that makes me laugh now!
EM: If you could give our students one piece of advice, musical or otherwise, what would it be?
EC: The ways that our self-worth can become entwined with our musical success can often be really damaging! The sooner you can come around to realizing that your worth is not determined by how well you can play your excerpts or your seating placement, the better. Along those same lines, try not to get wrapped up in the competition, and nurture your musical friendships that are supportive. There is room for all of us here.