Before Joshua Bell, 37, became an internationally known violin virtuoso with an Emmy and several Grammy Awards on his mantel, not to mention a starring role in the Oscar-winning score to The Red Violin, he was a bright-eyed teen (albeit a college kid with a rapidly growing resume) schlepping his fiddle around the sprawling Indiana University campus and dreaming about his future. Bell took a few moments to reflect on his own experience there and to offer three suggestions to teens looking to make the most out of their string education. —Editor

Think About the Big Picture
You see students in some of these big music schools who go through their entire tenure without ever thinking about chamber music or orchestral excerpts, choosing instead to think only about playing concertos and being a soloist. It’s always dangerous to offer advice because you don’t want to tone down someone’s enthusiasm for that, but at the same time I’ve heard of famous violinists going into a classroom and saying, “I’ll tell you right now that none of you will ever make it as a soloist.” It may be drastic to say some-thing like that, but it is important to emphasize the need to learn as much as possible about playing in an orchestra and playing chamber music.

Open Yourself up to New Teachers
I’m a big believer in learning from lots of people. The student/teacher relationship is a touchy one—almost sacred. Teachers are so protective of their students that the student can go through ten years or more learning from just one person. I don’t think that’s a good idea. My teacher, Josef Gingold, always encouraged me to play for other people. There was a great student of his and of Heifetz’s who is now a teacher at the University of California at Santa Barbara but who used to teach at IU. His name is Yuval Yaron, and Gingold wanted me to play for him. He wanted me play for several others, including Heifetz, though that never happened. But I think that’s really important in order to broaden your skills.

Take Advantage of Master Classes
It always baffled me that there were students at Indiana University—this amazing university with public master classes with Gingold, Janos Starker, and Menachem Pressler, and so many others—yet they’d go their entire four years without ever having attended a class with one of these great teachers. I think that’s just a shame. You need to be open to learning from a lot of other people and assimilating that information into your own philosophy of music. That’s really crucial.