Daniel Heifetz, the father of Baltimore’s internationally renowned singer and voice teacher, Elena Tal, is not your average violinist. Famous in five continents for his extraordinary virtuosity, he has won national and international violin competitions; performed on stages around the world, including the Lincoln Center; and served as a professor of violin at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, among other fine institutions. Yet he is as humble and unassuming as they come.
I was honored to be invited by Mrs. Tal to attend the after-school duet performance by her and her father, to which she recently treated her Bais Yaakov seniors.
The Power of the Voice
Mrs. Tal teaches voice twice a week to Bais Yaakov high school seniors and once a week to Bnos Yisroel middle schoolers, in addition to teaching women and girls, one-on-one, at her voice studio.
“The girls learn a tremendous amount from taking voice,” notes Mrs. Tal, who teaches the proper techniques based on her classical training. “First of all, they learn the correct and healthy way to produce their voices for singing and speaking – free of any tension – so they end up making the biggest and most beautiful sounds with the voices that Hashem has given them. Singing should always be fun and easy, never effortful.”
Mrs. Tal’s classes focus on confidence, expression, and stage presence. “I tell my students that even if you don’t have a passion for singing, learning my techniques can help with public speaking, teaching a class, giving a shiur, and even speaking to your friends and to children with confidence. Walking onto a stage with confidence can be applied to all these settings.
“Anyone can just open her mouth and sing,” elaborates Mrs. Tal, “but to be a good singer, one must reach the audience, and be able to convey what the song is about, the emotion behind it. This, too, is an integral part of singing. By the end of the school year, I hope to have helped my students find their own voices – that which is individual and unique to them – and feel the magic of communicating through music. I encourage the girls to be fulfilled musically and utilize their talents in a halachic way, filled with inspiration, kedusha and tznius.”
Bais Yaakov senior Meira Strauss confirms the effect of the classes on her: “I love the voice class because it gives me the opportunity to develop my talents outside of the classroom. Taking the class has caused me to sing with more confidence and with a stronger voice! Mrs. Tal is always patient and friendly. She makes the class fun and exciting.” Penina Majeski shares her enthusiasm: “The class was so much fun and we learned so much. I now know the correct way to use my voice. Singing is such a gift.”
Mrs. Tal asked her father to address her Bais Yaakov class, with the hope that her students will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of emotion and expression. “My father believes musical expression is as important as technical skills,” remarks Mrs. Tal. “I wanted my students to hear the first-hand stories and amazing experiences of a world-class concert violinist who has spent his life devoted to music and playing from his neshama, as well as how Yiddishkeit helped shape his career. I also wanted to show them something many of them had never been exposed to before: hearing a famous classical violinist perform right in front of them!”
Playing from the Neshama
Daniel Heifetz started playing violin at the age of five after seeing someone play violin on TV. He cried and cried until his parents bought him a violin. The moment they brought the tiny violin into the house, he opened the front door of the house, put the violin under his chin and yelled to the people across the street, “Hey, look at me!” His parents said, “Gevalt! We have a little performer on our hands!” When it became obvious that young Daniel was a natural at the violin, his parents did not listen to their friends, who advised that they take their violin prodigy out of school to perform. They wanted him to have a normal childhood. So he attended public school until the age of 16, when, as a high school junior, he auditioned at the Curtis Institute of Music, the most respected conservatory in the country – and the only all-scholarship one. His acceptance, by the director himself, changed his life.
Leaving home as a teenager, Daniel had no social life, no friends. He would practice the violin eight hours a day. “I would just walk around the hallway singing my Yiddish songs, because my mother always played Jan Peerce’s Yiddish songs on the record player. Jan Peerce was a Metropolitan opera singer when I started my career. I had the same manager as he did, and we became good friends. For me, it was a blessing to go to Jan Peerce’s home for Shabbos together with my parents, and having my mother sit right next to Jan Peerce, who would stand up at the Shabbos table and bentch in the most glorious voice. To be able to give that gift to my parents was one of the greatest joys of my life.”
After attending the conservatory, Mr. Heifetz won a national competition at the age of 20 and made his debut at Lincoln Center at 21. He was immediately signed by the most important manager in the world, who lived in New York, Sol Hurok, of “S. Hurok Presents,” and started performing. Hurok was also the manager for Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and other well-known performers. Mr. Heifetz was one of the top prize-winners in the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, securing his international career. He was in Moscow during the Ginsburg-Sharansky trials and, unbeknownst to the watchful eyes of the KGB, donated his prize money to the Ginsburg and Sharansky families. He also performed a Jewish piece at the Gala Winners’ Concert, which inspired an anti-Soviet government demonstration in the concert hall.
Enveloped in Light
What does playing the violin do for Mr. Heifetz?
“The closest moment I’ve ever felt to Hashem was when I was performing on that violin and feeling that I was someplace else,” describes Mr. Heifetz. “I remember playing a concert where I felt enveloped in light; I didn’t even feel my feet on the stage. When I started my career, I didn’t realize what music could do for people. I didn’t realize this power from Hashem inherent in music to touch people’s lives.”
Mr. Heifetz was the first American to take classical music into a prison. “The prisoners laughed at me, at first, when I told them I wanted to play Jewish soul music for them. But then I told them about myself – how my mother was a refugee from Hitler, how my relatives went to the gas chambers, and how the music of one persecuted minority group can be of comfort to another persecuted minority group. An African-American raised his fist and shouted, ‘Right on, brother,’ and I played a Jewish piece at the prison. The prisoners were so touched that they were crying. The focus for me, with the violin, was to communicate emotion that could touch people.”
A New Door
The height of Mr. Heifetz’s concert career was in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2001, Mr. Heifetz gave his farewell concert and retired from the concert stage, due to numbness in his fingers sustained from surgery on his elbows.
“In life, you never know what Hashem has in store, so you have to be flexible,” says Mr. Heifetz, who admits that as he has grown in his Yiddishkeit the depth of his musical expression has grown deeper. “One door closes, and you look to see if another door opens up. When I realized that I couldn’t continue performing, I decided to redirect my creative energies. Since the hallmark of my artistry was emotional communication, I thought about the fact that no one was teaching that in any of the conservatories. I created Heifetz Performance and Communication Training©, part of the Heifetz International Music Institute, in Staunton, Virginia. It has become one of the most sought-after summer programs in the classical music world. This is where string players can take lessons in singing, public speaking, movement, drama, health and wellness, and freedom of expression.”
Mr. Heifetz is presently dedicating his life to the art of communication to develop the expressive potential of every performer. “No one should take voice or an instrument with the goal that you are going to make it big,” continues Mr. Heifetz. “I studied the violin because I felt a need to play the violin. I wasn’t thinking about becoming a famous violinist.” When a student comes to Mr. Heifetz with the goal of being famous, he won’t teach him. “I tell that student, you must love it so much that you simply want to fulfill your G-d-given potential, wherever it takes you.
“To be able to make music in one’s life is one of the great joys and blessings. To be able to sing, to be able to play an instrument, to be able to make music with your children and your family – just for enjoyment – is a great thing, one that people often don’t realize when they are young.
“I told the Bais Yaakov students that each of them is perfect in who she is and that she should believe in herself – not to try to compare herself to others or copy the way someone else does something,” concludes Mr. Heifetz. “I also encouraged them to be willing to open up and reveal who they are when speaking to someone – not to speak at people. It’s important to connect with your eyes, not look around. And when you sing, you need to be willing to communicate what you feel about the music. Finally, you need to find something inside yourself that I call the ‘sacred fire,’ your passion in life. The goal is to feel that you are living a life that ignites that sacred fire inside of you.”
Meira says, “I learned from Mr. Heifetz that when a person acts with confidence and feeling, a message comes across as so much more powerful and meaningful. This applies to both musical performances and ordinary activities, like speaking in front of a class.”
And according to Penina, “Mrs. Tal’s father told us amazing stories about his past, and we learned things about music that we wouldn’t hear anywhere else. The best was witnessing Mrs. Tal and her father perform together. They are both so talented. It was beautiful.”
ã Margie Pensak-2016
