Lesson of a Lifetime
Photo/Courtesy of Make-A-Wish Foundation
“Well, I do take one 15-minute break,” he admitted.
The 17-year-old from Detroit says he’s seeking perfection in his music, especially since his diagnosis two years ago with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that forms tumors in soft tissue.
So when he was approached by the local Michigan chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Grasl eschewed a Disney-themed wish – the most popular request the foundation receives – for a master class with a different type of marquee idol, USC Thornton School of Music professor Yehuda Gilad.
A charismatic musician and conductor, Gilad is widely considered the best clarinet teacher in the country. Gilad’s students occupy the top chairs in highly regarded orchestras around the world – including the New York, Stockholm and Seoul Philharmonics – and include Bradley’s teacher, Shannon Orme, a USC Thornton graduate who is now a bass clarinetist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
“I was honored and humbled,” said Gilad of being tapped by Grasl to fulfill his wish. “It is a pleasure and privilege to do something for the right reason, with a lot of depth and feeling.”
On Sept. 8, Grasl took his first trip to Los Angeles, attending a master class with about 15 current USC Thornton clarinet students the next morning. In the afternoon: his first private lesson with Gilad. “He’s a genius. He’s hilarious,” Grasl said.
“(Bradley) responded to what I said and what I tried to get out of him,” Gilad said of the lesson. “We talked about finding his own voice that belongs to him and only to him.”
While in Los Angeles, Grasl will have three private lessons with Gilad, during which he plans to play Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1.
“I mean, if there’s nothing to improve, then it wasn’t a good lesson. There are definitely things for me to work on, and no one works as hard as me,” said Grasl, who hopes to someday be a professional classical clarinetist with a symphony orchestra.
On Sept. 9, he also attended rehearsals for the USC Trojan Marching Band and the USC Thornton Symphony.
The high school senior is now preparing for college auditions, an extremely competitive process. On his very short list of dream schools: the USC Thornton School of Music.
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USC in the News
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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