The DVD, Greenhouse at Wigmore Hall, was released in September 2005. To mark this event, Bernard Greenhouse was interviewed on 30th July at ‘Casa Verdi’, his home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a picturesque New England town overlooking the ocean.

SG (Selma Gokcen): Bernard, you gave us an extraordinary day of master classes at the Wigmore Hall in February of this year. What are your recollections of the day?

BG (Bernard Greenhouse): I remember being completely involved with the students and able to ignore the fact that I was being filmed. I was pleased when I heard results from my teaching and a little bit frustrated by not always finding the right words to get immediate results. For the most part I felt it was a normal day of teaching and I was able to go through the day without being aware of the cameras.

I was, however, aware of the fact that we had a large audience. One has to be extremely careful in making suggestions which can be misunderstood and bring about the wrong results. Wording becomes so important.

SG: How do you establish that immediate rapport with the pupils?

BG: My goal is to put myself into the body of the student, to realize what they are doing to produce what comes out, and then to make the correction.

SG: That requires a great deal of empathy.

BG: The student does not realise what they are doing to produce the error. When you make the correction, they are surprised because they can finally hear themselves and make the change.

SG: So you become their eyes and ears?

BG: Yes.

SG: During your teaching of Bach, you often used the expression ‘musical speech’. Would you explain this idea for our readers?

BG: There is a fluctuation in speech. Usually there is a rise to the important part of the sentence, and a receding from that point to the end of the sentence. That can be reflected in music as well. There are words, invisible words in the formation of a beautiful phrase. I simulate a verbal sentence in building phrases.

All art forms are involved with inflection—writing, painting, dance, and of course, music.