‘Only give it as much as you need’ - Thomas Demenga’s life lessons

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The strict French system defined my early years as a cellist. Although I don’t enforce it in my teaching today, I am very grateful to have had it as a student. Walter Grimmer, with whom I studied from the age of 13 until the end of my degree in Bern, was a perfect example of this. I had to copy him exactly and would often have to learn difficult etudes by memory in just one week. Playing by heart is something still integral to my playing today. When I’m a soloist, I must play by heart. I can listen to the music and myself, and communicate with others. In the same way that I don’t impose such a strict system on my students, I appreciate that learning by memory is not for everyone, so I take it on a case-to-case basis with my students.

Following my time in Bern, I moved to Stuttgart to study with Antonio Janigro. What struck me with him was how well he integrated musicality and technique, whether that was fingerings informed by expression, or concentrating on musicality when first learning a piece. To be expressive with a phrase is something underestimated these days. Playing forcefully and overdoing it has become popular. You only have to give it as much as you need…