Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: and more books like this one. The author lets us in for an inside look at a very special woman's life, and matches Ms. Delay's ability to communicate with her students with a writer's rare ability to communicate with her readers. Especially interesting to learn about the teaching of the younger, up and coming set of violinists .. and comforting to know that the music will live on, with the help of Dorothy Delay and her students!! Reading this book was, for me, like attending an evening of perfect chamber music: a story told in parts, the voices coming in and out, but always in harmony. A must for any classical music fan!!
Rating: 
Summary: Wish There Were More Like Ms. Delay ....
Review: and more books like this one. The author lets us in for an inside look at a very special woman's life, and matches Ms. Delay's ability to communicate with her students with a writer's rare ability to communicate with her readers. Especially interesting to learn about the teaching of the younger, up and coming set of violinists .. and comforting to know that the music will live on, with the help of Dorothy Delay and her students!! Reading this book was, for me, like attending an evening of perfect chamber music: a story told in parts, the voices coming in and out, but always in harmony. A must for any classical music fan!!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but pulls too many punches
Review: Barbara Lourie Sand's book about Dorothy DeLay is written by a polished journalist who knows how to tell a good story. The early part of the book is thus the most interesting, tracing DeLay's life and development, first as a moderately successful concert violinist and chamber musician, next as longtime assistant to the great pedagogue Ivan Galamian, and finally as legendary teacher and mentor of many of the most successful classical violinists of the 20th century. Sand mentions in a preface that she shaped this book during the course of a ten-year association with DeLay during which she was also writing articles about some of her well-known students. She obviously had a warm and close relationship with DeLay, her husband Edward Newhouse, and her students, and while this gave her an enviable access it probably hurt her journalistic acumen in the end. Too often, troubling questions are raised and treated dismissively, or quickly dropped--the hardships of raising and nurturing exceptionally gifted children, or outright abuse in the name of discipline and training, for example. Sand treats DeLay's rupture with Galamian in a fair amount of detail, but does not mention that some of DeLay's students have broken very publicly with her as well. Criticisms of DeLay and her style are mostly confined to one chapter and are largely made by unnamed sources. Though DeLay's approach to teaching is discussed in detail, important issues, such as the pros and cons of learning from a teacher who herself never demonstrates, are left untouched. In short, this book is a good read and intriguing glimpse into the arcane and competitive world of top classical music-making. Because of her unwillingness to "go for the jugular," as she admits at one point, Barbara Lourie Sand loses a chance to make it even more. Minor quibble: The Accolay Concerto is _not_ part of the Suzuki violin literature.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Being a violinist, I found it utterly foolish to not read a book about one of the best teachers of the instrument in the 20th Century. The first day I purchased it I read almost 200 pages, literally unable to put it down.
The relationships Ms. Delay had with her students were not only educational ones, but personal friendships. How unreal that despite the graduation of many students, they still went back to her for lessons after landing their professional solo careers! Many times a violinist is too hard-headed and full of himself to get advice from another person, but such is not the case with the students of Ms. Delay.
I felt, as I read the book, that I could not only relate to some of the technical issues the students had, but that I was actually receiving a private lesson from Delay without ever touching my violin.
I definitely intend on reading this book again, and again, and again, with highlighter in hand. I have a completely different outlook on how I not only listen to the phrasing of music but in creating my own phrasing as well.
The world has lost a teacher, but more importantly a wonderful woman, which many could call a friend and mother-figure.
This was a fabulous book and I recommend it to every musician, no matter what instrument you play.
Rating:
Summary: Just a gushing hagiography
Review: I was so looking forward to reading the book about the great teacher Dorothy DeLay.Being a professional violinist myself and having read just about every book concerning violins and violinists,I was hoping to get some insights into for example what studies Miss DeLay put her pupils through,did she use the scale system of her former colleague Galamian or the older Carl Flesch. Who are her violinistic "idols" Heifetz,Milstein,Oistrakh?Who are her favourites among the younger generation of soloists even from outside her own studio I was treated instead to a gushing hagiography which did credit neither to the subject nor the writer.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book!
Review: Music is my avocation, but I teach on the high school level. Not only did this book fill me in on the inner workings of the clasical music business (lots of juicy stories that made me feel "in the know"), but I feel inspired by Dorothy Delay's masterful teaching style. I feel I'm a better teacher myself now when I enter the classroom and approach my students' difficulties and strengths. The book is so clearly written and I kept wondering how the author, Barbara Lourie Sand, got all this information. She must have spent a great deal of time with her fascinating subject because Ms. Delay came alive, her gifted students came alive, and so did all the mavens and greats in the music world. I'm telling all my colleagues and friends about the book. I'm urging them to give it a read because it is a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Great subject and some remarkable insights, but...
Review: My love of the violin came late -- only a year ago, in fact. Since then, I have busied myself aquiring CDs of wonderful violinists and reading everything I can about their lives and their work. I have even attempted to learn this intricate instrument (but am realizing that I would be happier if I stuck to my recordings and reading!). In any event, I really enjoyed this book -- the stories of DeLay's talented (and not so talented) students, their parents, her teaching "style," etc. My only criticism is that the writing is weak. It struck me as the work of someone who is not entirely comfortable as a writer -- that is, Sand seems to be an able researcher with a wonderful grasp of the import of her material, but she has no real tools or passion to communicate her findings. Remarkably, however, the subject carries the text and the reader really can get around the writer's awkwardness. If you like music, teaching, and descriptions of how the truly gifted "make it," don't let the less than inspired writing keep you away from this neat book.
Rating:
Summary: Teaching with Respect
Review: The most important problem in the U.S. today is education and teaching. Ms. Sand's book is about a very special teacher teaching very special students. If you have ever studied music or are interested in music you will love this book. But Ms. Sand's book about Ms. Delay is much more. It is about communicating ideas and about different ways of treating people so that teaching is effective. As such this book is must reading for those interested in either teaching or child development. Anyone who is interested in education in any field will devour Ms. Sand's book for the insights that it gives about teaching. Ms. Delay's approach is based on respect for the individual. From the outside this respectful approach may seem insufficently directive for some people, especially when compared to the previous generation of teachers, such as Galamian, with approaches that were often prescriptive and authoritarian. But in Ms. Sand's book, the effectiveness and success of Ms. Delay's respectful approach is amply demonstrated. Fortunately Ms. Sand observed Ms. Delay for almost a decade so that the process and effectiveness of Ms. Delay's approach can be clearly seen through the success and individuality of her students. The remarkable number of successful students she has taught is a measure of her extraordinary effectiveness. Interestingly, Ms. Sand writes about Ms Delay and her students in her own respectful style, which combines insight with wit. Read "Teaching Genius" and be inspired.
Rating:
Summary: Teaching with Respect
Review: The most important problem in the U.S. today is education and teaching. Ms. Sand's book is about a very special teacher teaching very special students. If you have ever studied music or are interested in music you will love this book. But Ms. Sand's book about Ms. Delay is much more. It is about communicating ideas and about different ways of treating people so that teaching is effective. As such this book is must reading for those interested in either teaching or child development. Anyone who is interested in education in any field will devour Ms. Sand's book for the insights that it gives about teaching. Ms. Delay's approach is based on respect for the individual. From the outside this respectful approach may seem insufficently directive for some people, especially when compared to the previous generation of teachers, such as Galamian, with approaches that were often prescriptive and authoritarian. But in Ms. Sand's book, the effectiveness and success of Ms. Delay's respectful approach is amply demonstrated. Fortunately Ms. Sand observed Ms. Delay for almost a decade so that the process and effectiveness of Ms. Delay's approach can be clearly seen through the success and individuality of her students. The remarkable number of successful students she has taught is a measure of her extraordinary effectiveness. Interestingly, Ms. Sand writes about Ms Delay and her students in her own respectful style, which combines insight with wit. Read "Teaching Genius" and be inspired.
Rating:
Summary: Teaching Geniuses and All the Others, Too
Review: Through Mrs. Sand's warm, informed voice the reader can enter the veiled world of Julliard: its politics, its students, and its famous teachers. Her subject is Dorothy Delay, a woman, we learn, who from the '40s and 50's on had the brillant talent and requisite nerve to break through the traditional male world of classical, dictatorial music teaching, and assert her own humanistic beliefs and style. This is a book also for people, musical and otherwise, who want to learn how to overcome professional barriers. It is inspiring. Some may think that Delay's skill in building successful young careers lies in having the ear to choose the most talented applicants to her studio. However, this book is true to its title: anyone can find clues here for becoming a great teacher. Sand's miraculous feat was to extract both subtle and bold methods of teaching from years of observing Mrs. Delay. Anyone who teaches another, no matter what the subject, no matter what the level, will learn from this book. It is emotionally rich and informative.
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