Editor’s note: As the Juno Awards 2013 prepare to celebrate the best of Canadian music this weekend, Western Journalism students help us celebrate the best in Western Music. Read the full Music Issue.
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Not every great musician has what it takes to be a great music teacher. Imparting the inner workings of a craft takes experience, a certain level of mastery and unyielding perseverance. “One has to be patient,” Thomas Wiebe said. “A young player has to be patient; a parent has to be patient; a teacher has to be patient.”
Wiebe should know. He’s been helping aspiring musicians hone their skills for the past 12 years as an professor at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western. His specialty is the violoncello or – as it’s more commonly known – the cello.
Wiebe grew up in Winnipeg and started studying the instrument as a child with cellist Julie Banton.
“Her tutelage was essential in helping me establish the foundations of cello playing,” Wiebe said of the gift he increasingly appreciates now that he’s a teacher. “To learn what it feels like to pull a pleasing sound out of an instrument takes practice and a lot of guidance.”
Wiebe’s initial interest in the cello was sparked many years ago when he observed a family member playing it. “I had a cousin when I was 6 or 7, and I looked up to him in many ways. I heard him play the cello once and I simply wanted to be like him.” His cousin – Peter Wiebe – is now a cellist, conductor and composer with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
Today, Wiebe mentors 12 cello students one-on-one every week for up to 90 minutes each. “Playing a string instrument is a very intricate business,” he said. “The two hands are doing very different things so one has to learn the myriad tasks that both hands have to do. I think [it’s] complicated for a brain to absorb that.”
But as a teacher, it’s Wiebe’s job to help his students do just that. “He’s incredibly good at the thing that he’s teaching,” says pianist Peter Longworth from Toronto. Longworth has performed alongside Wiebe for the past 17 years. “A lot of great players don’t necessarily have a clear picture of how they do what they do, but Tom’s a real scientist of the instrument.”
Wiebe received his undergraduate degree at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in 1989. He also studied at the renowned Juilliard School before receiving his doctor of musical arts degree at Yale University in 1998. Throughout his schooling Wiebe worked with several prominent musicians who left an indelible mark on his musicianship including cellists Aldo Parisot and Steven Doane. “Professor Parisot taught me how to be fearless as a performer and as an interpreter,” Wiebe said. “Mr. Doane taught me how to be physically comfortable with the cello.”
Wiebe is grateful that his teaching schedule affords him the opportunity to continue his own development and training. “I’m lucky that I have my associate professorship here, and that I have the time to practice.” Wiebe rehearses for several hours each day often starting with scales, arpeggios, and octaves.
Although he is a well-known musician in Canada, Wiebe continues to remain grounded says his close friend and colleague. “One of the interesting things about Tom is that despite everything he’s accomplished and how far he’s risen up, there’s a kind of humility he brings,” Longworth said. “Certain instrumentalists rise up out of the crowd and become unique. He’s one of those.”