John Williams didn´t practice piano too much!

[Petr Potter 40]

Hery there i am looking for the source of interview i saw once in past, i think it was video on youtube or some article, where JW says that they were just young guys who didnt practice piano too much while studying and that he decided to be composer instead. I think he also talked about Leonard Bernstain. 

Anybody knows what is the source?

[artguy360 1,843]

He may have been joking as he trained a lot and was a highly regarded studio musician, jazz pianist, and a well-respected pianist overall.

[Petr Potter 40]

no it wasnt a joke, yes he was excelent but in his own words he sayed that he was just a boy doing some other stuff rather than exercising and that he was meeting lots of other pianists around Julliard and he realised that he is too weak to be a pianist so he tought he would rather be composer.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

Realizing he wasn't on the same level as John Browning or Van Cliburn, fellow Julliard students doesn't means he was lazy in his practicing habits.

Actually, Donald Williams recently remembered how his older brother would be always late for the meals as he wouldn't leave the piano mid way his exercises.

33 minutes ago, Pierre said:

no it wasnt a joke, yes he was excelent but in his own words he sayed that he was just a boy doing some other stuff rather than exercising and that he was meeting lots of other pianists around Julliard and he realised that he is too weak to be a pianist so he tought he would rather be composer.

 

He was good enough to be a student of the most sought after piano pedagoge in the US, Rhosina Levine.

His interest in arranging and composing started in his teens, even though he still had an eye on a concert pianist carreer. That's what changed while at Julliard.

Yet, when we returned to LA he become one of the two top studio pianists in town, the other being Jimmy Rowells. 

There is this story of Johnny Mandel working on a recording with a singer I can't recall the name right now, and for the final session, Rowells wasn't available, so they called for young Williams, who Mandel described to the singer, as a more classical oriented pianist.

Marty Paich also praised Williams for his hability to play exclently both classical and jazz music. 

I recall a story, though I have no real details, that he got fed up with that work, during the West Side Story sessions, and from then on he concentrated more as a studio conductor and in composing.

[Thor 7,493]

5 hours ago, Pierre said:

Hery there i am looking for the source of interview i saw once in past, i think it was video on youtube or some article, where JW says that they were just young guys who didnt practice piano too much while studying and that he decided to be composer instead. I think he also talked about Leonard Bernstain. 

Anybody knows what is the source?

 

Well, he's talked about it (briefly) in several interviews, usually the same tidbits. Like this, for example:

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/11/10/164615420/john-williams-inevitable-themes

 

There's also an earlier one where he "mimics" Lhevinne's accent, but I forgot where I heard/read it.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

11 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

Actually, Donald Williams recently remembered how his older brother would be always late for the meals as he wouldn't leave the piano mid way his exercises.

 

So the rest of the family thought he did practice too much.

[karelm 2,912]

He probably still practices today.  He was obsessive so the title of this thread is at best, misleading.  Conrad and Johnny's brother both said he spent an entire year in high school playing with his left hand only.  Generally, right hand plays melody and left hand plays harmony which is more static (like accompaniment).  Young pianists struggle with music like JS Bach where right and left are treated equally and have to switch during a canon or fugue who has the lead line (or the primary voice) and who is the accompaniment.  You basically have to train yourself to be somewhat ambidextrous.  When I was a piano student, I recall when a melodic line switches from the dominant hand to the other hand, you have to slow the tempo way down to play the right notes because it is so unnatural to use your less dominant hand that way.  Teachers will tell you to play the tempo consistently so you have to play the right hand much slower than you want so the left-hand tempo can keep up.  So, what JW did as a teen is spent an entire year playing everything only with the left hand to fix this issue at the start.   This shows a phenomenal level of practice and self-discipline.  He didn't have to do that, he chose to do it the harder way to get better with the weaker hand.   All indications including his attitude to this day is he was disciplined and obsessive about practice.  

On 16/04/2022 at 3:55 AM, Miguel Andrade said:

Realizing he wasn't on the same level as John Browning or Van Cliburn, fellow Julliard students doesn't means he was lazy in his practicing habits.

Actually, Donald Williams recently remembered how his older brother would be always late for the meals as he wouldn't leave the piano mid way his exercises.

 

He was good enough to be a student of the most sought after piano pedagoge in the US, Rhosina Levine.

His interest in arranging and composing started in his teens, even though he still had an eye on a concert pianist carreer. That's what changed while at Julliard.

Yet, when we returned to LA he become one of the two top studio pianists in town, the other being Jimmy Rowells. 

There is this story of Johnny Mandel working on a recording with a singer I can't recall the name right now, and for the final session, Rowells wasn't available, so they called for young Williams, who Mandel described to the singer, as a more classical oriented pianist.

Marty Paich also praised Williams for his hability to play exclently both classical and jazz music. 

I recall a story, though I have no real details, that he got fed up with that work, during the West Side Story sessions, and from then on he concentrated more as a studio conductor and in composing.

Totally agree with this post.  Don said even to this day, Johnny studies and works at his craft and Don doesn't even understand where that urge in him comes from.  One other comment from Conrad, he once said he's "never seen anyone work on a problem harder than John".  I'm sure that applies to his practice too.  I also would add, JW might have *thought* he was a slacker but he might define hard worker as someone spending more time than he did in practice.  His work ethic is legendary.     

[Tom 4,651]

Of course he didn't practice too much; that, by definition, would be too much.  

[Loert 2,511]

On 17/04/2022 at 1:09 AM, karelm said:

Conrad and Johnny's brother both said he spent an entire year in high school playing with his left hand only.

 

That's a lot of held beers...

[Ben Rice 2]

On 16/04/2022 at 6:55 AM, Miguel Andrade said:

 

There is this story of Johnny Mandel working on a recording with a singer I can't recall the name right now, and for the final session, Rowells wasn't available, so they called for young Williams, who Mandel described to the singer, as a more classical oriented pianist.

 

Hi @Miguel Andrade, do you remember the source for the Mandel story by any chance?

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

I'll try to dig it out.

[Ben Rice 2]

On 19/04/2022 at 2:44 AM, Miguel Andrade said:

I'll try to dig it out.

@Miguel Andrademuch appreciated

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

From https://www.jazzwax.com/2009/10/interview-david-allyn-part-2.html

Quote

David Allyn: Dick had the idea to do an album in tribute to Jerome Kern. Johnny [Mandel] and I spent weeks choosing offbeat Kern tunes and arranging. I went over to Johnny's house every day, and we shut everything out and just worked on it. At his house, Johnny would work out things on the piano and say to me, “How do you like this?”

Jazz on Wax: How did it go?
DA: We worked perfectly together. Boy, I’ll tell ya. We worked for weeks, nonstop. Johnny still calls me to talk about that record. For the session, Johnny brought in pianist Jimmy Rowles. But for one date [November 26, 1957], Johnny couldn’t get Jimmy so he hired pianist John Williams.

JW: Which track?
DA: In Love in Vain. Johnny said, “Let’s start cold. No piano, no introduction, nothing.” John Williams played in octaves, two in his left hand and two in his right. I didn't like that. It was too simple. I said, “Come on, don’t palm it out like that." So John Williams did it the way you hear it on the album, and it sounded much better.