"When you can hear a violinist, that is better than you, then you learn from him, because if you play with somebody who is worse than you, then you go down"
About this Quote
Ricci is selling a hard, unfashionable idea: excellence is contagious, but so is mediocrity. The line isn’t a polite endorsement of “mentorship” or “community.” It’s a musician’s blunt survival rule, built for a world where your ear is your compass and your standards are constantly under siege by comfort, ego, and routine.
The intent is practical. Ricci is talking about proximity as pedagogy: hearing someone “better than you” recalibrates what you think is possible. The subtext is almost athletic. You don’t improve by protecting your rank; you improve by getting exposed. That tiny phrase “you can hear” matters. He’s not praising résumé prestige or reputation. He’s pointing to the moment your senses register a higher level of intonation, articulation, phrasing - and your own playing suddenly feels too small. That discomfort is the lesson.
His warning about playing with someone “worse” isn’t snobbery so much as an account of drift. In ensemble settings, the strongest gravitational force is usually the shared center, and the center tends to slide toward whatever requires the least adjustment. If you’re always compensating for weaker playing, you start simplifying, smoothing over risk, normalizing slack timing - all the micro-compromises that become a style.
Context matters: Ricci came up in a virtuoso culture where standards were policed by live performance, not edited takes and social-media proof. He’s arguing for an apprenticeship of the ear - choose the rooms that make you feel behind, and stay long enough to catch up.
The intent is practical. Ricci is talking about proximity as pedagogy: hearing someone “better than you” recalibrates what you think is possible. The subtext is almost athletic. You don’t improve by protecting your rank; you improve by getting exposed. That tiny phrase “you can hear” matters. He’s not praising résumé prestige or reputation. He’s pointing to the moment your senses register a higher level of intonation, articulation, phrasing - and your own playing suddenly feels too small. That discomfort is the lesson.
His warning about playing with someone “worse” isn’t snobbery so much as an account of drift. In ensemble settings, the strongest gravitational force is usually the shared center, and the center tends to slide toward whatever requires the least adjustment. If you’re always compensating for weaker playing, you start simplifying, smoothing over risk, normalizing slack timing - all the micro-compromises that become a style.
Context matters: Ricci came up in a virtuoso culture where standards were policed by live performance, not edited takes and social-media proof. He’s arguing for an apprenticeship of the ear - choose the rooms that make you feel behind, and stay long enough to catch up.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
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