ANAM alumna Anna Gould is currently living and working in Berlin, having made a career overseas in healthcare and biotechnology. However, Anna has always kept her love of music, and recently worked on an ambitious new educational series, co-written with Grammy-winner and legendary violinist, teacher and conductor Maxim Vengerov, who is universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians.
With over 100,000 views so far, the series is reaching a plethora of music students, teachers and music-lovers around the world. Released in partnership with The Violin Channel, the series is available via Maxim’s website and official YouTube channel.
We asked Anna about what inspired this project, and her experiences working on it.
Pictured: Anna Gould with Maxim Vengerov backstage at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where in a special concert in April 2023, Maxim Vengerov celebrated 40 years on stage.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about this series?
The series is quite extensive and structured in 8 parts, covering diverse topics, from core left- and right-hand violin technique, to sound, breathing, storytelling and interpretation. Since writing about playing music is about as impossible as dancing about architecture, we decided to pair written articles with curated videos, combining Maxim’s explanations of key concepts during masterclasses with clips of him showing how it looks in real-life performance. This way, the combined written and video materials of the series are as accessible and understandable as possible, for all sorts of music learners around the world.
Q: What drew you to work on this project?
I was drawn to work on this project for two main reasons. Firstly, I think there is value in top artists documenting their legacy, beyond their recordings - there is so much thought and musical heritage behind what they do, as well as incredible physical and psychological ability, which future generations can also learn from and be inspired by. Music teaching is generally an oral tradition, which unfortunately limits access and becomes diluted over time. Additionally, I think Maxim is very unusual in his ability to not only play at the highest possible level, but also to communicate so clearly and engagingly about every detail of what he is doing. There are many brilliant performers, and teachers, but not so many who are both! But with many abilities, alongside the rest of life too, the necessity to carefully prioritise time becomes the limiting factor, and so it was my privilege to be the catalyst to help this series come into being.
Secondly, the spirit of Maxim’s overall project resonated with me, to try and use new online technologies to democratise access to music learning and create new opportunities for musicians. Much of the video footage in the series is taken from online masterclasses Maxim gave for free to students around the world during the pandemic. Growing up in Canberra, I could never have dreamed of seeing an artist like Maxim live in concert, let alone taking a masterclass, and things like YouTube weren’t widely accessible when I was a kid. So I felt strongly about the value of helping create these learning opportunities for others in far parts of the world, who may benefit.
Q: How did you get to work on this project?
In January 2021, I saw via social media the new online platform launched by Maxim and his team. It inspired both my entrepreneurial and musical sides, so in a moment of craziness I wrote an email and offered to help out, not at all expecting anything to come out of it. The rest just somehow happened!
Q: You studied piano at ANAM, how did your time as a student here influence you as a person and musician?
It was a very significant time in my life. I was only 16, had just finished high school, and to come to ANAM I left home and moved on my own to the big city of Melbourne. Sometimes I felt like I had more in common with the kids in the Young ANAM program which existed at that time for school-aged students, than my peers in the fully-fledged Performance Program, who were mostly around 23 and had already finished studying music at university. But even though I was totally intimidated, I was also so inspired to meet other people as serious about music as I was, play chamber music with them, perform for audiences, have lessons with amazing teachers, and learn from the wisdom of wonderful visiting artists like Steven Isserlis, Emmanuel Pahud, John Perry and Pieter Wispelwey. The ANAM staff were also very kind to me, and I am so glad to see some of them (like Phil Lambert and Tim Young) are still there! I grew immensely as a musician and as a person during my time at ANAM, and am forever grateful for the opportunity to study there.
Q: What has your journey been with music since your time at ANAM?
I decided to pursue a different career path when I reached the age of 20, for many reasons. It was the hardest decision I’ve made in my life so far, but I took it on the promise to myself that I would use the opportunities my new path afforded me to explore musical experiences I may never have had as an actual working musician. I was able to travel overseas for the first time, to experience the world and see the art, history, and places I heard about so much in the music I grew up with. I lived and travelled in many different countries, where I was able to go to amazing concerts with incredible artists. I worked backstage at the Verbier Festival for several years during my time studying in Switzerland, and had “worlds colliding” moments looking up from my maths or chemistry exam revision to see artists like Martha Argerich or Alfred Brendel standing in front of me! I was also finally able to get a piano again a few years ago, and have practised as hard as I ever did as a piano student, but with so much more joy and freedom, which has been a total revelation. (I also picked up violin again for a while - everyone did something mad during the pandemic - and quickly remembered why, after having studied both concurrently for ten years growing up, it became impossible to maintain two instruments and full-time school/job!)
I enjoyed all these experiences immensely, and built a different life in the meantime, but certainly never remotely imagined I would ever find myself working with a big artist directly, let alone right at the heart of music technique and interpretation. This project creating this series with Maxim taught me to never underestimate the value that anyone can contribute to the music world with passion and diverse professional skills. Similarly, I also find myself drawing every day in my working environment on the focus, resilience and human values my life in music taught me. I learned these completely different professional universes are not so far apart as I had thought.
It was also a good reminder for me that one’s relationship with music and art should always remain centred around the joy and meaning it brings into one’s life, free of any judgement from others (especially in sports-obsessed Australia) around what kind of music is cool to enjoy, or the stigma which exists in the music world around “quitting”. This is equally true regardless of career choice - I have also seen professional musicians lose their love for it through the burden of earning a living. The decision to pursue a different career path felt irreversible and final at the time, but this experience taught me life does not need to be so black-and-white, and that my journey with music is still far from over.
Find out more about Anna Gould on LinkedIn.
Vengerov’s Views - an 8-part educational series
Part 1: Storytelling in music - Article | Video
Part 2: Developing your own sound - Article | Video
Part 3: Vibrato as a source of colour and expression - Article | Video
Part 4: Shifts and connection with the fingerboard - Article | Video
Part 5: Bowing basics - Article | Video
Part 6: The bow as an extension of the right hand - Article | Video
Part 7: Breathing to make music and stay relaxed - Article | Video
Part 8: Harmonic thinking to discover your own interpretation - Article | Video
Released in partnership with The Violin Channel.