Portrait of an artist: Daniel Davies - Cellist, music professor
Age: 47
Hometown: Turlock
Modesto Symphony Orchestra position: Section cello
Daily job: Associate professor of cello at California State University, Stanislaus
Family: Married with six children. We have four boys and two girls. We recently adopted a girl from China.
Background: I grew up in El Centro. I started the cello at age 9. I received my bachelor's degree from State University of New York, Purchase, my master's from Juilliard and doctorate from Northwestern University. Originally, I didn't plan on being a professional musician. I had plans to be a marine biologist! I taught scuba diving for a year after high school and then through a series of events got lured back into music.
Music experience: I have performed in virtually every type of group imaginable. I perform regular solo and chamber music recitals at Cal State Stanislaus. I have a wealth of performance experience in different orchestras in New York, Chicago, and California, as well as studio recording, rock concert orchestras, musical theater shows and opera.
Advice for young musicians: Practice well! Don't let the "little things" slip by! Remember, practice DOES NOT make perfect, it makes PERMANENT; if you practice badly, you will play badly. Perfect practice makes perfect. Learn the basics -- that means scales, arpeggios and etudes -- all the things we don't like to practice! Record yourself practicing -- there's nothing more humbling than to hear what you ACTUALLY sound like instead of what you THINK you sound like. Practice like an athlete. We train muscles, just like any athlete -- it's just that they are very small muscles and our product is musical instead of a gymnastics or ice skating routine.
Favorite music: Mainly classical, but I also like jazz, bluegrass, zydeco, and '70s rock.
Favorite musician, composer, etc: It's impossible to pick just one! Musicians: Pablo Casals, Leonard Rose, Yo Yo Ma, Jascha Heifitz, to name but a few. Composer: Too many to list, certainly all the greats -- Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schumann. I tend to lean toward whatever music I'm working on at the time.
Life Plans: To be the best husband and father I can be, to raise my children to be upstanding American citizens, to develop my skills on the cello to the highest level, to help train the next generation of musicians.
How do you reach people unfamiliar with the symphony: We need to get classroom music back into the schools -- not just band, orchestra and choir, but an actual music class as part of the regular curriculum, especially in the elementary schools. If all you hear when you're young is pop music, it's hard to understand what classical music can offer. I teach a general education music class at the university, and many of the students have never been to a classical concert. As part of the class, they are required to attend several concerts. Most of them report that they never knew how incredible a live symphony concert could be. So, I think exposure and education. It's like reading a Dickens novel, it takes some effort (and maybe a dictionary!), but the rewards are incredibly deep and lasting.
What would surprise people about your job: I don't know if it would be a surprise, but it's not always fun! There is a lot of hard work involved in learning music. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating. There are times when you want to smash the instrument against the wall! But, after you daydream about it for a bit, you sit back down and get back to work. It's all worth it when you get up on stage and give birth to the music.
This story was originally published August 31, 2008 at 7:56 AM with the headline "Portrait of an artist: Daniel Davies - Cellist, music professor."