Richard Killmer Quotes
Thursday July 05 2007
Surfing around the net, I came across Jacqueline Leclair’s Website, which specifically has a PDF… entitled “Famous Quotes Richard Killmer“.
Reading some of these quotes, they almost bring tears to my eyes. (good tears, not bad ones.) When I was a kid, all I ever wanted was to study with Richard Killmer. When I first applied from the Interlochen Arts Academy, I was an arrogant kid and he put me in my place. I didn’t get in, but he told me to keep trying. My Freshman year while at NEC…, I applied again, but I got put on the waiting list, and eventually was turned down. After this drastic rejection, I attempted suicide assuming my lifelong goal was over, but wasn’t too good as tying nooses and was unsuccessful. (that’s another story.)
Anyways, it will still be a dream of mine to study with him, and perhaps for a Ph.D. I might apply to Yale to study with him. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get in?
The final quote listed on the paper is probably the most profound, and could have saved me a lot of heartache years ago. It goes like this:
“Today you are my student. You will always be my student, no matter where you go or what you do. I will always be proud of you for what you want to do, as long as it is something you love doing.”
If I had been able to believe this myself, perhaps I could have overcome my own insecurities as a struggling oboe student. In this day and age, it’s often hard to find fine oboists who are also fine communicators who have compassion and nurturing of young students who are still growing both musically and personally. As long as I am an oboist and a teacher, I will strive to show the same caring and compassion that Richard Killmer showed for others, and showed for me in those few lessons I took with him.
One quote on this website
