Eliot Fisk Remembers Bruce Holzman 

Of all the masterclasses I participated/performed in back in the day, the ones with Bruce Holzman were BY FAR the most beneficial, rewarding, and encouraging. Like you guys said in this video, his listening was razor-sharp and his #1 goal in the masterclass was to benefit the student, not to merely show everyone "how I do it". He took the time to consider many more aspects of who we were as individual players, and our personal concerns based on our individual strengths and weaknesses, much more than most other teachers. I always walked away from his masterclasses anxious to immediately apply what he recommended (usually right outside the building.....he would even join me outside and continue offering his kind advice after the classes were over). A truly marvelous teacher.

Bruce Holzman was such an amazing teacher. He didn't just teach his students guitar... he taught them life. I was a graduate student at Florida State University, studying guitar with Bruce and struggling every step of the way. I mean, here I was, a graduate student, and Bruce had me doing finger exercises instead of repertoire. I was freaking out with worry, here I was, a graduate guitar major and my teacher is having me doing finger exercises. I was so despondent that one week I skipped my lesson... I just couldn't take it anymore... I was itching to play music. Finally, I show up later in the day... I tell Bruce that the finger exercises were driving me crazy. He tells me, "You shouldn't have missed your lesson... I was going to tell you that you were done with the finger exercises!" Well, I lived through this awful period and eventually played my graduate guitar recital (in spite of the fact that Bruce didn't think I was ready). I mean, the guy challenged me every step of the way... When I struggled with a huge case of nerves, Bruce calls me aside and tells me: "You don't do this (play guitar) for yourself... you do this for others!" That was just what I needed to hear! (I was so wrapped up in my own head at the time, it had never occurred to me that I wasn't playing guitar for myself! At any rate, I got through my graduate guitar recital and lived to tell the tale. What did Bruce tell me afterward? Did he congratulate me? Of course not... that was not his way! "I don't EVER want to hear you play so out-of-tune ever again! That was Bruce... relentless in his quest to make his students the best that they could be. He will be missed.

Bruce was like a father to me. He changed my life forever and made me the guitarist I am today. He accepted me into the graduate program at Florida State University and later made me a teaching assistant for my doctorate degree. He was always trying to make his students work and be the best they could be. I was thankful to see him and talk to him one last time back in October for his celebration at FSU.

Brilliant conversation. Thank you

Great stuff Steve and Eliot! BTW I think I got that picture of Bruce and Eliot on the couch from Bruce's office at FSU, a photo of a photo I think it was.

❤

Eliot looks like Ed Wynn

Bruce was Eliot's clandestine homosexual lover?