David Garrett has published his autobiography. In the FOCUS online interview, he gives a glimpse behind the scenes of his book project. The star violinist explains why discipline and networked thinking were important for his career.
FOCUS Online: How did the book title “If you knew” come about? What’s the idea?
David Garrett: The title of the book came to me spontaneously as I was writing. I had two ideas. One title was “Behind the Scenes” and the other “If You Knew”.
“Behind the scenes” was more of the 1B variant. I found “If you knew” very exciting because I’ve been asked about the same things in interviews for about ten years. And I think if you’ve been in the business as long as I have and give so many interviews, then every interview gets boring after a certain time… Because it keeps saying how I started playing the violin? Or what instrument I would play. You can look it all up on Wikipedia.
For me it was important to create many new topics of conversation from my life with this book for all the interviews. Accordingly, I found the title “If you knew” very appealing because I tell many stories that mean a lot to me. And usually all these stories would never otherwise be brought up in a normal interview.
What was the craziest experience when you were writing your book?
David Garrett: There are actually really big concerts that I didn’t remember. Because they took place at a time when I was doing so much. A great example of this is this: I played in Hyde Park in London in front of 150,000 to 200,000 people. And I just couldn’t remember the concert!
I first had to watch the TV clip via YouTube. At that moment I realized what absolute madness it was back then! Being able to play in front of a crowd like that. And yet I had no memory of it at all. I found that absolutely insane! So there were various moments in my life that I first had to recall visually for the research.
In your autobiography you reveal that throughout your life you have always avoided paved roads and consciously sought unpaved paths. What triggered the attraction for this?
David Garrett: Because I find it exciting to do things that nobody has done before. I’m sort of looking for things that never existed before. The best example of this are the QR codes in my book. I used to see these QR codes in restaurants where you could look at the menu. My first thought was that it’s a pity there aren’t any videos of the food…
When I was writing the book, I noticed that my parents made so many videos and Super 8 recordings of me as a child. I can have them all digitized and sort them into the chapters in the book. How amazing it is when you read a chapter and then not only have a visual sense of the story, but actually see video of me live and in color from the time. Videos you won’t find anywhere else. A premiere, so to speak, of things that would actually gather dust at home.
This has never happened before?
David Garrett: Not in any autobiography anywhere in the world, at least, and I guarantee many autobiographies will be exactly that in the future! That’s actually the creative work – the striving for innovation.
Let’s delve into that. To what extent would you say that looking back, networked thinking, i.e. thinking outside the box, was a success factor in your career?
David Garrett: That was one hundred percent! The plate itself is quite beautiful and nice. But: It takes “eggs” in good German to think outside the box, because there is a risk of free fall! This can work wonderfully if you have ideas and stand behind these ideas – regardless of whether they are initially successful or not.
But it also means a lot of headwind when you think outside the box. It can take years for people around you to understand that you are someone who is going further. Above all, there is a great danger that these people will close the door immediately as soon as you tell them things that are outside the box. This journey takes a long time and is very, very exhausting! However, if you make the journey and you are good thanks to your assertiveness, this is of course the most successful way. Because repeating, copying or imitating something is never as exciting as reinventing something.
When do you think the term “success” should be used?
David Garrett: My definition of “success” is when at some point you close your eyes to leave this world and then you feel good because you didn’t miss anything… I think that’s when you really have had a successful life.
I’m a fan of taking things easy and doing them! And don’t hesitate. I think you think about it a lot afterwards. Should have, should have… Of course I think about a lot of decisions, but the tendency is very clear to me: “Let’s do it, let’s try it out!”
In your autobiography you describe that indiscipline is one of the deadly sins when it comes to work. Can you illustrate that?
David Garrett: Well, when it comes to art, indiscipline is really a mortal sin, because art comes from within you. You are, so to speak, your own boss. That means art suffers when there is no one to motivate you.
If you have a normal job now, then of course you have the weekends, public holidays and family celebrations off. I never allowed myself any of these days off because I always put art above everything else… But in a normal job you never get anyone on the line on Saturdays, for example. For me it is completely normal to answer the phone on a Saturday or Sunday, even for work calls.
Tell me how you do your job.
David Garrett: I live my job! And that twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The reason is not the music, but the creative behind the music. Always thinking about whether something is good enough or whether there is a better idea. Questioning whether the thoughts are really maxed out. It keeps you busy a lot more than the actual practice.
Practicing is quick and there are definitely people who practice as much as I do. But those 10 or 12 hours that I’m awake in addition to practicing, I’m thinking fully about how I can make something creative even better. In addition, of course, there are also other projects and ideas. In this respect, my free time is always about business, creative ideas, new developments, writing or arranging. It’s very, very difficult to pull the plug once in a while so that I can really switch off my mind and have my peace.
Be honest: isn’t the pursuit of perfection sometimes frustrating?
David Garrett: It’s always frustrating! You really need a really thick skin because you work with yourself. You have to improve and you’re always a tough critic. This is incredibly exhausting and also very grueling.
You have to find the balance between criticizing yourself and not beating yourself up. You have to learn this balance, because it doesn’t help if you deal with your own criticism and suffer from yourself as a result.
So you’ve made discipline your rule. What impact did that have on your career?
David Garrett: The best! Without discipline there is no career! At least not a long-term career. Basically, I would say that there is no career without discipline. And if you lose discipline, there is no long-term career.
How can you keep such a discipline? Looking at our readers: What three tips do you have for taming your weaker self?
David Garrett: First: Live healthy! That means eating healthy and even if you don’t exercise, at least get out in the fresh air and go for a walk. I believe that if you have a body that feels healthy, you are also more efficient in the second instance. Both in the body and in the head.
Second: You should get motivation from people you think are great. I don’t just mean motivational speeches. But in my case, for example, artists that I think are great. That’s why I go to concerts. The experience and the emotions in the audience motivate you to keep working and to set yourself new goals.
Third: Don’t lose your joie de vivre! With all the work, it must not happen that it becomes too obsessive. This is my most difficult construction site. I’m too obsessive at work sometimes. The task of the people around me is, among other things, to take me aside and encourage them to take a five-minute break. Despite all the work, that means pulling the plug again and again! Success means nothing if it’s just financial success.
To end on the subject of discipline, how many hours of practice do you think it takes to master something like a virtuoso?
David Garrett: I can only start with the violin. I started when I was five and I’ve probably practiced an average of four and a half hours every day of my life. Let’s say a flat rate of four hours. A year has 365 days and I was able to play really well when I was eighteen. So let’s say thirteen years. That’s almost 20,000 hours.
And do you think this estimate is universal and works outside of music?
David Garrett: If you think about it…physics and math, if you really want to be world class at that, you’re definitely going to get those lessons. The minimum is what you learn in school. The maximum, on the other hand, has no level. That has no limit!
