Walking one step at a time majestically, he reached his wheelchair at the door.

He had just finished conducting the students' orchestra, passing onto his students his passion and love for music, his masterful techniques and his optimistic attitude to life.

When the one-hour class had come to an end, Perlman grimaced like a pampered boy and said: "I would like to have an ice cream now."

Perlman, who turns 57 on August 31, was stricken with polio at the age of four. He has braces on both legs.

But this never interferes with his career as one of the best violinists of our time and now his priorities are increasingly shifting to conducting and teaching.

This does not mean that Perlman wants to give up playing the violin, which he loves most. After more than 36 years of exhaustive globe-trotting as a soloist, Perlman is falling in love with music's other possibilities.

Perlman has taught since 1999 at the Juilliard School in New York City and now devotes considerable energy to the Perlman Music Programme founded in 1994 by Toby Perlman, his wife of 36 years.

Musicians' Marriage

There is a storybook quality to the Perlmans' marriage. The couple met in 1963 at the famed Meadowmount summer camp in New York State's Adirondack Mountains. Toby, then surnamed Friedlander, was also a promising violinist.

One night, she heard Perlman playing Ravel's "Tzigane." Captivated, Toby was quoted as saying: "I cannot live without that sound." She ran backstage to declare: "I want to marry you!"

She was 20 and he was not quite 18. They married on New Year's Eve in 1966.

In 1994, Toby founded the Perlman Music Programme to realize her dream: "Thou shalt learn to play music without being tortured." The programme offers gifted pre-college students (aged 11 to 18) from around the world a unique educational and recreational experience.

"Our goal is to help talented young soloists mature as artists and as well-rounded individuals in a creative and supportive environment. They develop social skills and learn to share the spotlight in the camp," said Toby Perlman.

Ever since, Itzhak Perlman has discovered there is more to life than playing the same Tchaikovsky or Sibelius concerto with the same orchestras in the same cities for the zillionth time. There are musically gifted young people to nurture.

"I love my work with these students and seeing their progress and growth," he said.

Now in its eighth year, the Perlman musical summer camp has moved for three weeks this month to Shanghai with the help of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Committee of 100 Cultural Institute. There are 35 Chinese students and 28 students from overseas, who applied for the camp by sending the programme a video of themselves playing.

Shanghai Home

During the three weeks, the students practice their instruments alone for four hours every morning, take private lessons and group classes, play in chamber orchestras and an orchestra and sing in a choir.

The first class of the camp was open to the public and to the press from Shanghai and Beijing.

In the class, Perlman first told the two students seated in the back row to his left not to sit too close to each other so that he would be able to see everybody's face.

The rehearsal then started in a delightful and humorous atmosphere. Perlman soon learned to say "rhythm," "accent" and "vibration" in Chinese with the help of the Chinese students.

Occasionally, he hummed the tune with the grimaces, whistled or made sounds with his tongue to explain the music they were playing.

His words were always vivid and easy to understand for the students with different cultural backgrounds. For instance, "I want to have some rich ice cream but you give me skim milk."

Sometimes, he stopped conducting and took the violin from a girl seated nearest to him to give a demonstration. When he was satisfied with one movement, he stretched out his two strong arms and his energy-commanding upper body to lead the whole orchestra to applaud.

During the break of a movement, he asked students to judge their playing as if they were music critics. Yet he encouraged the students to comment in a supportive and constructive way instead of being too critical.

"You should find out what they did that was good before you say something critical. When you criticize others, you should do it in a way so that you do not make them feel bad but make them feel 'You are right and maybe I could do better or do something like that,'" said Perlman.

There was no star system in the class. The students were initially seated by height. In the back row sat Chen Xi, a 17-year-old violin student from the high school attached to the China Central Conservatory of Music who had won the silver medal in the 12th Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in Moscow in late June.

From time to time, Perlman reshuffled the students for each new movement and Chen was moved to a middle row.

"I changed every student's seat so as to let them understand my philosophy that you are not seated at the concert because you are the best," explained Perlman after the class.

"Everybody should have experience of playing from every place in the orchestra. That ensures that nobody can be absentminded.

"It is also a way to nurture gifted students with kindness and respect in a non-competitive environment."

Tong Yina, a 14-year-old cello student from the high school attached to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, said with evident relief: "You know who's better and who's worse but there's not a lot of competition."

Sometimes Perlman asked the students to play in small groups of three or four to feel each other's colour, nuances, passion, subtlety and personality.

With the baton in his right hand, his left hand moved as if he was vibrating the violin string while conducting.

Ning Zizai, a 14-year-old viola student from the high school Attached to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, said: "As a string master, he really knows how to pull different sounds out of us."

Student Response

The teenagers in the camp obviously loved Perlman.

"He gives the right recipe to the right person," said Zheng Xiaodan, an 18-year-old cello student who has graduated from the high school attached to Juilliard and is now a first-year student at Southern California University.

It was the fifth time Zheng had taken part in the programme since 1998. She said of Perlman: "He always makes me comfortable and relaxed and inspires me to express myself naturally."

Becca Albers, an 18-year-old viola student from Ohio University, said of the teacher: "He is a natural showman. His personality beams with a unique combination of charisma, humour and sincerity."

Violin student Chen Xi said: "I have heard his playing on CDs since I was eight years old, and I only hear the final product there. But, during this camp, I get to learn from him and sort of see virtuosity behind the scenes."

Perlman also said he appreciated his students' work. "The rehearsal sounds wonderful. Their sound is fantastic," he said after the class.

Talking about Edvard Grieg's "Aus Holberg's Zeit," he said: "This piece is not easy. Once they have the idea of what they are doing, the basic sound is wonderful."

He said he was happy because "these kids are so talented and they are now finding their sound in the orchestra."

Other pre-college programmes focus on solo playing, but Perlman pays great attention to developing the students' ability to play in an orchestra.

"A good soloist breathes with music and he also should listen to what goes on in the orchestra. Without the experience of playing in the orchestra, you cannot make yourself a complete musician," said Perlman.

Critics' Review

Yang Liqing, president of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, said: "Perlman's camp provides a constructive style for Chinese conservatories to develop an all-round musician through practicing in a full orchestra, chamber orchestra and choir. It's a comprehensive nurturing process, not simply training a soloist."

Lin Yaoji - a professor of music from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, who has a number of award-winning violin students - said: "Perlman not only teaches you how to play the violin but creates a healthy and relaxed atmosphere for young players.

"Many young Chinese violinists have won competitions throughout the world but it's far from enough for a real violinist. The camp offers the right way to maintain and improve your level."

The Perlmans are also very proud of the personal attention they give to each student. Toby Perlman said: "We believe in first-rate faculty, top-flight lecturers."

Itzhak Perlman also pointed out: "The reason why the camp is so small is that my wife wants to ensure the quality. The ratio of talented faculty to students is fantastic."

Asked after the rehearsal whether he had found any prodigy, Perlman answered resolutely: "Here we don't talk about prodigies."

"For the child prodigies, at least 50 per cent get burned out before you even hear about them," he said.

In the couple's view, teachers should give students confidence, a sense of enjoyment and the ability to listen to music and say, "This is so wonderful."

Itzhak Perlman said: "One thing in our programme is that we try to nurture the students, give them the knowledge and make it their own. Ask them, 'What do you want to do with the music? It is your own thing.'"

What he does not tell his students directly is how to play.

"For me, one of the great things about teaching is not so much what to say but to know what not to say," Perlman said.

Besides giving classes at the camp, the virtuoso will also give a solo concert at Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday and then move on to Beijing to perform Beethoven's "Violin Concerto in D Major" accompanied by the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday next week.

(China Daily August 20, 2002)