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June 19, 2009
For the love of music
Goldman Quartet celebrates 50 years of playing.
ELIZABETH NIDER
The scrupulous and decisive movements of the hands of a surgeon are fundamental to a successful surgery. A surgeon must have exceptional dexterity of the hands and fingers. Perhaps this is why Dr. Bill Goldman, a general surgeon for more than 46 years, is also an excellent cello player; because a musician requires the same adroitness as a surgeon.
Goldman's first instrument was his brother's saxophone, although he soon realized that he preferred to play the clarinet. He became a member of the Musician's Union, and played the saxophone and clarinet for the CBC music program that aired every Saturday night. It was well after graduating medical school that Goldman began to play the cello and he took lessons for two years, making very rapid progress. When he felt that he played well enough, he created the Goldman Quartet, an amateur string quartet, in 1959.
The original group was comprised of past players from the Beth Israel Community Orchestra but players, most of them Jewish and some of them also doctors, have come and gone over the years, leaving Goldman the only original member.
The quartet would meet at Goldman's home to practise, but in all these years, they have never performed. "An amateur quartet really doesn't perform to an audience. The practice is the performance," said Goldman. He did make the odd tape, but in 50 years of playing, Goldman never wanted to perform to an audience. The object of the quartet was simply to play beautiful music. "There is nothing like a bold string instrument when you get down to it: some people claim that it's the closest [sound] to the human voice."
Growing up, there was always music in his home and Goldman remembers listening to his father's records, mostly opera. What truly got him hooked on classical music was an experience he had while he was in medical school. As part of an internship, Goldman had to spend time in a psychiatric hospital. He was in a hospital in Alberta with about 2,000 psychiatric patients and one Sunday afternoon, he wanted to have a few minutes of peace. He found a quiet room and turned on the radio. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra was, at that moment, playing Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony Number Four. Goldman was captivated by the composition and, since then, has had a passion for classical music.
In medical school, Goldman's classmates were quite certain that he would sabotage his medical studies, because he spent so much time practising music, but Goldman found a perfect balance between studying and playing. Now his colleagues prefer to call him a living legend.
Goldman graduated medical school in 1938, and has since operated on more than 6,000 patients, primarily in Vancouver. Although music has been a tremendous part of Goldman's life, he wants to be remembered as a surgeon, not a musician. One can truly see that Goldman plays just for the sake of playing. While the world will never hear the talent that Goldman has to offer, his story provides a valuable lesson: not all great abilities need to be broadcast for the world to see or hear. Sometimes, one possesses a talent solely for the purpose of personal satisfaction.
Elizabeth Nider is a freelance writer living in Richmond.
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