Julian Gray and Ronald Pearl first met at Peabody in 1982. Gray had just graduated and Pearl was completing his studies there. Their musical partnership has been constant ever since then, as has a parallel commitment to teaching. Like many musicians, they balance teaching and performing. They're looking at the same thing, but just from a different angle.
Teaching helps performing and performing helps teaching.
Talking about how he works with his students invariably brings Julian back to reminiscing about when he met Ron. As young musicians, they had a sense that their musical collaboration had the makings of a long and happy relationship. I try to let my students at Peabody know that for a young performer it's important to have a vision beyond wanting to play a bunch of concerts. From when Ron and I met in 1982, we found that we always had a similar sense of time, not any sense of tugging and pulling. There was a very congenial sense of how the rhythms scanned and the elasticity of sound.