Mark Gould is one of the most interesting, controversial, and hilarious musicians on the classical (and jazz) musical scene today. His new book, Gould on Music, is a fascinating look into many aspects of music, especially teaching. So it was interesting to hear Mark’s thoughts on so many different aspects of music and the music business.

In Part 1 of our conversation, I ask Mark about a number of his ideas about teaching, how he approaches each individual student differently, and how using humor can be a help in teaching, including ways to make concepts memorable. I ask him how he would teach me as a young student, he talks about the sound and approach of Adolph Herseth, and we end with a few funny stories of his time with the Metropolitan Opera.