In modern life, the winner is the one who is able to change while remaining himself. And, unfortunately, not everyone can do this. The most attractive thing in the world is talent. Every person is potentially talented, but not everyone is able to fully reveal their talent.
Everyone, to one degree or another, faces difficult physical challenges. You have to go through fire without burning, through water without drowning, and finally, with dignity endure the most difficult test - a moral one, metaphorically called copper pipes. My hero today has been dealing with copper pipes every day for many years in a row, literally and figuratively. We will talk about a creative person, since creative people themselves are charged with high-quality energy and charge others with this energy, thereby helping as many people as possible to overcome fire, water and copper pipes.
Let me introduce you to a professional musician and teacher with many years of experience, Ottawa resident Joseph Borisovich Margulis. In fact, he became an Ottawa resident only in 2001, and was born and raised in Soviet Kyiv, where he graduated from a music school and the Glier Music College. ‘’Music inspires the whole world, gives wings to the soul, promotes the flight of imagination; music gives life and joy to everything that exists... It can be called the embodiment of everything beautiful and everything sublime.’’ It is impossible to disagree with such a capacious definition of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
Little Joseph loved music from early childhood and carried this love with dignity throughout his life. An interesting detail: a sociable boy with a pronounced ear for music was attracted to wind instruments! To this day, in small details and with great warmth, he remembers the regional pioneer orchestra, in which he started with the button accordion.
But the final choice fell on the wind instruments, since it is impossible to play them alone - a team is required. That is why he studied trumpet at the music school, although he also had to learn to play the piano. The mixed orchestra of the music school took part in numerous competitions between district Pioneer Houses, and was repeatedly invited to concerts at the Supreme Council, which was considered a great privilege. It was easy and interesting to study music. The question of choosing a profession did not even arise. At the music school, Joseph's teacher was an opera theater artist - an orchestra soloist, so the young student clearly formed a goal - he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his beloved mentor. After graduating from the music school, he served in the army for two years, in the song and dance ensemble of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and Moldova. The young musician dreamed of connecting his future with the orchestra. That is why he went to study at the conservatory in the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in the orchestral department. During the war, the Moscow Conservatory was evacuated to Gorky, so in the post-war years, the Gorky Conservatory became a branch of the Moscow Conservatory. All the students worked somewhere. Joseph worked at the opera and ballet theater, the symphony orchestra of the Gorky Philharmonic, and at the cinema, where it was customary to “treat” the audience to live music before the sessions. While still a student at the conservatory, he won the Russian Interregional Competition of Wind Instrument Performers. Having received a higher musical education, he returned to his native Kyiv, but not alone, but with his beautiful wife (also a certified musician): Valentina studied with him at the conservatory. In Kyiv, Joseph became a soloist of the symphony orchestra of the opera studio at the Kyiv Conservatory, a soloist of the stage orchestra of the National Opera of the Ukrainian SSR, a member of the Guild of Professional Trumpeters. For five years, he was the director and conductor of the amateur orchestra of the Bolshevik plant. On a voluntary basis, in the society of the blind, he taught blind people to play musical instruments. He worked in the operetta theater for almost thirty years (!) He played not only in repertory theatre performances, but also often accompanied at various competitions, festivals, and on national television. He was a trumpet teacher at music schools. May Day and November parades could not do without an orchestra, of which I. Margulis was always a member... In a word, a musician to the core.
The life of the Margulis family for many years has not only been surrounded and imbued with music, but has celebrated the triumph of music as a means of communication between people, generating a sense of community, uniting people. Was it a coincidence that Joseph was drawn to wind instruments since childhood? Of course not! It is akin to team sports, where one is for all, and all are for one. Playing in an orchestra requires musicians to have certain skills - this is the ability to hear others in the literal and figurative sense, to know their place, to fit harmoniously into the team, to feel responsibility for a common cause... and much more. Isn't that why school orchestras are so popular in many countries, including Canada!
Once in Canada, Iosif Borisovich delved into teaching. For twenty years of work at the Manotick Music School he had more than a hundred students. Unlike Soviet music schools, in Canada the same teacher teaches both theory (solfeggio) and specialty (specifically playing a musical instrument). The training programs consist of several levels. The seventh level corresponds to a music school, and the eighth gives an additional credit (pass) when entering a university. However, not all students of music schools dream of large orchestras. It is very useful to play wind instruments, at least because, among other things, it develops muscle memory, strengthens the respiratory system. Usually, mastering musical literacy begins with the keyboard, because all the sounds are ready-made on them. On wind instruments, sounds must be learned to extract. The trumpet is called the voice of God, accordingly, it is not surprising that the trumpet is an important instrument in the Catholic religion. There are a lot of trumpet players in Canada. One of the best, I am sure, can be considered my hero today. I do not think that many Canadian trumpeters have even come close to such a long, eventful path of a musician, faithful to his chosen life's work.
A copper trumpet is durable, since copper is a wear-resistant material, not subject to corrosion. I. B. Margulis is also resilient, generously conveying emotions and ideas, tirelessly transmitting cultural values to others, while strengthening the human sense of involvement, stimulating his listeners and students to creative self-expression. The main thing is to appreciate art in yourself, and not yourself in art!
MARINA KOCHETOVA