FOR interested readers, here are some tidbits Joshua Bell shared in the interview.

    Shenzhen Daily: You have a very tight schedule. Do you have time for other things besides performing?

    Bell: I’m crazy busy. I like to do everything and play in every place — Asia, South America, Europe. I like being busy and do not have much time for teaching. I teach twice a year for a short time at Indiana University Bloomington, where I went to school. Perhaps I will teach more when I’m older. I want to play as much as I can when I am still young. I like recording, but performing is more important for me. I’ve done Beethoven symphonies with the St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Brahms double concerto with Steven Isserlis recently, maybe one record every year.

    Shenzhen Daily: What advice can you give to aspiring violinists?

    Bell: It’s hard to give general advice, but it’s important for young violinists to do many things — composing, conducting, chamber music. Some people want to be soloists and play so many concertos, but in fact they need to seek influence from many people. We have a teacher but we learn from many other things. You have to follow your passion and practice. I never decided to go pro, I just played, and at some point they decided to pay me a little money. It’s good to start as early as possible, at 3 or 4, and get comfortable performing at a young age, find opportunities to play for people. Hopefully a career will come your way.

    Shenzhen Daily: What’s your take on competitions?

    Bell: I didn’t enter any competitions. Competition is fine, but I don’t like competition, which focuses on being very perfect, maybe ordinary. If you are too extreme or unusual, the jury wouldn’t like it. Often people don’t remember who the winner of the Tchaikovsky competition was from eight years ago, but 4th prize, perhaps 5th prize winners have a good career later on. Competitions can be a good way to prepare you to go out there. A manager may hear you play and get interested. First prize winners get the most money and headlines, but people shouldn’t worry if they don’t win the top prize. It’s similar to Harvard. Faced with a choice of 1,000 students with perfect SAT scores, Harvard admits those who can show the interesting things they’re doing.

    Shenzhen Daily: Many musicians are from music families, but some dissuade their children from learning music. What’s your attitude toward your children?

    Bell: I want my children to be happy and do things they are passionate about. It can be music, or helping people cure illnesses, or other things. I never tell them to do something they don’t love. You need to at least try to find your passion somehow, either working in a library or fixing cars, not necessarily being a brain surgeon. It can be difficult because you also have to be practical on some level. So it’s important to be a well-rounded person, read a lot, learn other things and go get a good education. Music is a reflection of many things. Musicians have to understand the world and its people, how people’s emotions work. If you are locked in a room playing music, it doesn’t mean anything. My children, the three of them, play cello, violin and piano. Yeah, they are a piano trio, but they don’t practice enough. This morning at five in Taipei, I practiced on Skype with my 8-year-old who plays cello. It’s a nice way to connect with children, and I’m hoping they will be playing with me some day. I don’t know if they will become professionals, but I’m glad they have music in their life.

    Shenzhen Daily: Will you give your Stradivarius to your child who plays violin in the future?

    Bell: Well, nobody gets it. I am going to play on it until I’m 100 years old.

    (Debra Li)