Turtle Island String Quartet Archives

Conversation with Mark Summer (1997)

Interview by Chris White Mark Summer grew up in Reseda, California in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. He studied with the Geber family - first with Edwin Geber of the LA Philharmonic, and then with Edwin's wife Gretchen. During high school he played in a Youth Symphony in LA and went to the Congress of Strings two years in a row. After high school he went to Mt. St. Mary's College (near LA) for a year and then transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Music where he received his B.A. in music, studying with Stephen Geber. He then went on to play as a cellist with the Winnipeg Symphony for three years. He has been the cellist of the Turtle Island String Quartet since its inception in 1986. [...]

By Chris White|2023-02-17T11:21:56-05:00July 11th, 2021|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Beyond the Traditional, Interviews, Performance, Repertoire|Tags: Mark Summer, Jazz String Quartet, Arranging, jazz, improvisation, Turtle Island String Quartet|

A New Year’s Goal-Setting Session — by Mark Summer

As the New Year dawns bright and full of possibilities, (the financial cliff not withstanding), this is a useful time to contemplate where we stand on our path of development as musicians, and to think thoughtfully about where we’d like to be in the coming year. My wife and I make it a priority to take turns, voicing our goals, and writing down each other’s dreams and aspirations for the coming year. It gives us a supportive place to dream big and to begin to put into practice what we are imagining for ourselves. Even if you don’t put much credence in books like “The Secret”, which posits that positive thinking brings us what we think about, I think that we can all agree that it’s useful to know what [...]

By Mark Summer|2024-01-07T22:40:36-05:00February 6th, 2013|Categories: Beyond the Traditional, Performance, Self Discovery|Tags: cellobello, mindfulness meditation, possibility, Utah, contemplate, goals, musical hero, respect, Zion National Park, decisive action, musical journey, dreams, educator, musicians, New Year, Summer, embarrassment, practicing, New Year's Goals, string quartets, gauge progress, recording artists, aspirations, gifts, adventures, sessions, trips, hero, specific dreams, travel with instruments, improvising, recording, taking advantage of opportunities, Mark, meditation, jazz, The Secret, action, cello, mentors, Development, Turtle Island String Quartet, Berklee School of Music|