Jascha Heifetz Tests Itzhak Perlman's Skills

In this excerpt from "American Masters — Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler" (2015), Itzhak Perlman's first encounter with famous violinist Jascha Heifetz.

Airing April 16th and 17th on PBS / **More info & videos below**

Itzhak Perlman reminisces about his first encounter as a teenager with the world-famous violinist Jascha Heifetz. Perlman was a student at Juilliard and Heifetz stopped in at his class to hear him play. After performing, Perlman and his teacher Ivan Galamian thought Heifetz had heard enough. Instead, Heifetz asked Perlman to play scales for him --- a rudimentary exercise in training.

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[NathanielRobinson]

Great to see my teacher Erick Friedman  playing in this clip.  I remember at my audition for him, in the tradition of Heifetz, he had me play scales in C and D major.

[anekamJ]

lmao: "g flat in tenths, major"

[grantbmilburn]

Heifetz: Can you play a C major scale...
Perlman: (thinks) piece of cake..
Heifetz: ..with left hand and right hand reversed...
Perlman: Dang Ling Ling challenge...

[yve]

Notice how the camera ominously zooms in on the word "scales" at 0:38 😂😂😂

[debrahayes]

Scales, scales, scales. The foundation for all musicians.

[yourguykeikei]

Me before watching this video: I could practice my scales later... *ends up not to*
After this video: OKAY OKAY, IM SORRY HEIFETZ, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR NOT PRACTICING MY SCALES, ILL DO THEM NOW

[nicholasdevizzio]

Now, Now, Let us get thee story straight, Mr. Perlman was shown in a still photo, as well as the late Mr. Galamian. It was then depicted and noted that Eric Friedman, along with others were in the video. The excerpt clips were from the Heifetz Masterclass series. Maestro Perlman was just drawing back from an accounting of his meeting. Besides, if one really wants to disprove that the use and studies of scales are invaluable. Well my first introduction to scales was when I had been asked to play Beethoven's First Symphony in C, when I was in my first year in Junior High, With th Senior High Orchestra. Then I was introduced to studying basic scales, then eventually introduced to the heavy duty studies. So the value of scales is important to develop coordination and a sense of listening.

[owdy]

This video single handedly makes me practice scales
Even if i couldn't do it in tenths or fingered octave and not always in tune, it helped me a lot

[SpaghettiToaster]

Love the bow gesture after the last stroke, like a kenjutsu cut. Looks pretty damn badass.

[glennlopez]

This is a video of reality besides capability as such.
We need real teachers and few are lucky enough to find them.
There are also good teachers and one has to glean as much knowledge as possible from them, regardless of their sometimes demanding attitudes.
After all, it's finally the student who gets what he was seeking or at least some of that!
For me the violin was difficult to appreciate in my early days due to lack of exposure to the best. Later I was fortunate to witness live, some really high standards.
We should be thankful for violins and violin players.

[violaisreallycool]

7th time watching this.... Just appreciating heifetz and perlman together.

[TomBarrister]

Heifetz listened to Perlman perform at Juilliard. The black and white excerpt you see is from his masterclasses, which were recorded at USC in 1962.

[CelloCircle]

i love how he says heifetz was a stickler with scales when his teacher was the literally THE ivan galamian

[Dog-opmk]

Scales are the most important things in music.If you are very very good in scales than you can play any violine piece’s hard part.

[cellokid]

This must've been so epic to watch

[angeloortiz]

Itzhak Perlman seems mad chill, just to talk to

[dominoplay]

scales makes you think and concentrate. if you know scales from your head and be flexible on spot with fingering, you will know everything.

[RWBHere]

2:19 That look. Only given by Heifetz for the best of performances.

[LouisEmery]

10ths. Is that an octave plus a third? Playing in octaves is still a fantasy for me. The finger spacing changes as you go up. Maybe 10th is possible if you stick to high positions.

[prithwirajchatterjee]

Ohh my gosh itzhack perlman is the best