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Shoshannah - News & Reviews

Tribute to the late, great Leonid Hambro, Z"L.

TRIBUTE TO MY PIANO TEACHER, THE LATE, GREAT LEONID HAMBRO, Z"L

by Shoshannah (Saráh)

Editor's note: In the following dedication, composer-pianist/ recording artist Shoshannah shares how her college piano professor, a brilliant performer, Leonid Hambro, deeply touched and influenced her life. Top solo pianist for the New York Philharmonic for 17 years, Leonid Hambro released innumerable piano recordings, and toured with three other pianists in a group called the Hambro Quartet of Pianos. Classical music connoisseurs may remember his two-hour radio show on WQXR. Hambro showcased his phenomenal memory in a series entitled "Command Performances", in which he would give the audience a choice of one hundred classical pieces to chose from, and then on the spot create his entire performance for the evening based on their choice. Americans adored his decade of performances with comedian pianist Victor Borge in the 1960s. This moving piece can be appreciated by music students everywhere. -DG

I walked into the room of Leonid Hambro to take my first piano lesson at Music College. I looked in wonder at the two Rolls-Royce 9 ft Bosendorfer pianos, situated side by side, in front of a gorgeous top to bottom window view. I couldn't believe that this was the room I would be learning piano in for the next several years. Leonid Hambro directed me to sit at the large Bosendorfer on the right, while he sat at the other piano on the left.

Although I had arrived with my classical music repertoire in hand ready to play one of my classical pieces, Leonid already had something very special he wanted to teach me. By the end of one hour, I had memorably learned the five elements of musical expression, in a very enjoyable and understandable manner. Lee's teaching was so acutely crystallized and inspiring, that I immediately dropped everything I was supposed to do for the rest of the day, and closed myself in a piano room to deeply understand and apply the principles I had learned.

I arrived for my lesson the following week. This time, I took out a piece by Maurice Ravel and played it. After Lee's positive feedback about my playing, we got to work. One full hour went by, and we never even got past the first measure! It seemed that all there was to know had been condensed into one musical phrase. Every possible musical nuance and expression, every possible way of playing a passage, was available in just one bar of music. Yet it wasn't the measure itself that revealed all; it was the great mind of Leonid Hambro.

After the lesson was over, I said to Lee, "But Lee, we never got to the other pieces I wanted to play for you or even the second measure for that matter". His kind answer was, "Just pen yourself in the appointment book wherever it's convenient for you." I was absolutely floored.

That lesson was on a Monday, and so I returned just two days later for my third piano lesson. We started on a new piece, and we actually got to the second measure this time! Not much further though. Lee had the uncanny ability and depth of drawing out the different aspects of playing a single theme or passage, and then applying each idea as a general musical concept. He thought it was important to fully understand the general principles that lay behind the technical and musical expression of a single piece of music. That way one can automatically apply the concepts to any piece of music they would learn in the future. In time, I not only learned how to best utilize the tools and elements of musical expression and technical command, but I applied these principles by teaching it to others.

Within a month's time, I was spending two to four hours a day with the greatest piano teacher in the universe. The truth is, Lee was known as the best piano teacher to be found anywhere in the world. But even if I had not known his grand and renowned reputation, I would have come to this conclusion in a minute's time. Great is great and Leonid Hambro was the best. The average amount of time a piano college student takes piano lessons is one hour a week. Due to my piano teacher's effervescent and openly generous manner, I spent 8 to 15 hours a week with two magnificent expensive pianos worth $300,000 dollars, while learning with a priceless teacher. A teacher who had the capacity to turn me into the best musician and teacher I could possibly be.

Learning with Leonid Hambro was not only interesting and inspiring, but also a barrel of laughs. Lee had a natural flair and intuitive insight into the paradoxes of life. He knew how to reveal the poignant moments of humor to any situation at hand. Leonid Hambro had been the musical sidekick/straight man to comedian pianist Victor Borge for a decade. Quite a few ideas from Mr. Borges' comedy piano routines had been conceived by Leonid. Bringing the element of joy and humor to "top of the line" piano lessons was indeed, a rare and special treat. Leonid loved life and he knew how to find laughter in life's stark realities. His style was to be fully present in the moment, and to judge life's many idiosyncrasies in the most favorable light.

Many times I would come in with a piece of music by a particular classical composer, and Lee told me that if I really wanted to know how to play the music, I had to get into the composer's head. Lee was not only a renowned classical pianist and teacher; he was a charming performer, eloquent speaker and highly skilled improviser. Lee would take a classical composer, and choose a simple melody that everyone knew. In no time at all, he was playing the simple melody completely in the style of that composer. Two well-known examples he took to the stage were "Happy Birthday Ludwig" in the style of Beethoven, and "Anchors Away." Lee's assignments were often very creative, like asking me to find a melody close to my heart, and then playing it in the style of the composer I was currently learning. Lee gave me courage and permission to laugh at myself when I made a mistake or when I didn't know what to do next with the music. Leonid Hambro was a most perfect model of graceful virtuosity, while courageously revealing the humble state of imperfect humanness. As a concert performer, this was one of his greatest gifts.

At least once a week, for several hours, Lee would ask me to sit and critique a performance he was planning to give. He would hand me a long list of classical pieces he knew, and he would have me check list 10 pieces I wanted him to play. He would then quickly proceed to pull together a performance of the very pieces I chose, together with a funny act that integrated my choices for the audience's enjoyment. I would often take the brilliant concepts that Lee taught me at our piano lessons, and then use the same information to feedback my comments to him. Not only was I inspired by Lee's virtuoso pianism, but also his ability to memorize one hundred pieces of music simply astounded me. If Lee temporarily forgot a section in the music, he would stop to practice the part while explaining his process of memorizing it. Although it seemed that I was just helping him out by being an active listener, I was actually becoming a very knowledgeable musician while at the same time, learning some of life's most important lessons.

One of Lee's effects on my success:
I grew up as a child prodigy, and gave my first public concert performance at eight years old. I had begun teaching piano at the age of twelve… and so I began formulating creative teaching ideas and philosophies of my own at a very early age. Learning piano in such an intense and profound manner from such a piano master as Leonid Hambro was a truly revealed gift from Heaven's gates. And so it followed that I found myself confidently walking into a piano class for non-music majors, and simply stating to the teacher that I was his new piano teaching assistant.

This college professor I had just introduced myself to, decided to accept the "job title" I had made up for myself. And so I was present at all his classes, assisting individual students each day. By the end of that semester, the college professor decided to go on a sabbatical, and asked me to temporarily take over his piano classes for the rest of the school year. I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity, and immediately said yes.

In no time at all, I had re-defined the purpose and meaning of what a piano class was all about, combining my creative and therapeutic ideas with Leonid Hambro's sound inspiration. Within the month, I invited the dean of the music school to view my piano classes. Nick England was not only the Dean; he was the person who first auditioned me to get into the university. Nick decided to place me on the work-study program and enter me at the level of faculty, even though I was still a bachelor's student in the primary piano program. Nick (every teacher was on a first name basis) conferred with Lee, and they decided to put me in charge of the secondary piano program for all non-music majors taking piano classes and individual lessons. The piano professor who went on a sabbatical never returned again. Opportunity was knocking at the door. I was given a key and unlimited access to a room that had three large Bosendorfer grand pianos, across the hall from Leonid Hambro's magical piano room.

I began to realize that I had been given an awesome gift from Above, and so I tried to make the most out of this amazing opportunity. I put together a uniquely creative therapeutic monthly workshop for all my students. In this $400,000 piano room, I congregated my piano classes and lessons, and opened the pathways to creative and therapeutic exploration in a multi-media type fashion. It was an experience not to forget. By the end of that year, word got around the school, and an extraordinary amount of students begged to attend my creative-therapeutic improvisational program. After word got around, Nick England called me into his office and set up an appointment with several of the music professors present, including my piano teacher Leonid Hambro. I didn't quite understand why the meeting was taking place, but I arrived at the appointed time. The teachers informed me that they had decided I was "over-qualified" for the music bachelor's program while I was simultaneously working in a college teacher's capacity. And so they gave me an automatic full scholarship and "unconventionally" switched me into the master's program before I even graduated with my bachelor's degree. Normally, something like this is unheard of and simply cannot be done due to basic school politics and hard-set rules. Fortunately, my music college was not into red tape or politics, but rather focused its energies on the benefit of its students and fellow teachers. I was fortunate enough to be in such an environment. My creativity had flourished, as if I was on the peak of a mountaintop, and yet there was nowhere to go but up!

If it weren't for my honorable famous teacher Leonid Hambro, I wouldn't be half the composer/pianist, and teacher/therapist I am today. Lee opened up my life to the inner workings of music, with a deeply humanistic and introspective perspective. He taught me the deepest inner secrets to music and gave me practical insights into the nature of people. He was able to remember over one hundred pieces of music to perform at any given moment, and yet he was able to instantly forgive and forget other people's misgivings. Lee had the combination of musical genius, a brilliant and organized mind, and a profoundly open, accepting and generous heart. He had great depth in his teaching philosophies together with the ability to present his concepts with lightness, joy and humor.

Leonid ben Simeon, Z"L, died October 23, 2006, almost 6 weeks before I wrote this tribute, at the age of 86. Although I knew him in his latter years, Leonid had continually come across as a youthful, healthy and vibrant man, always willing to bring joyful elevation to others. I have eternal thanks for the divine honor in asking someone to say eleven months of Kaddish for him three times a day, to elevate his soul to the next world as he elevated so many people's lives in this world. The Kaddish prayers are taking place at the Jerusalem Holy Wall/Kotel. A final blessing to my unforgettable piano teacher and friend, Leonid Hambro /Leonid ben Simeon, Z"L: May your brilliance and soul goodness reveal itself through Heaven's gates, and may your profound teachings and piano music be passed on to many receptive ears for the ultimate purpose of experiencing holy inspirational joy.

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