Encores for Mr Scotts: Patrick Savage Interview

Recording the album, Encores For Mr Scotts – a tribute to my teacher

For violinist Patrick Savage, Encores for Mr Scotts is more than a collection of short violin pieces. Recorded with pianist Martin Cousin, the album pays tribute to Donald Scotts (1927–2024), the Australian violinist who taught Savage for twelve years. A former Associate Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, leader of the Melbourne String Quartet, and accomplished soloist, Scotts was a respected figure in Australian classical music. To Savage, however, he was simply “Mr Scotts,” the beloved teacher who shaped his love of the violin.

Patrick Savage © Edward Webb

Although every lesson involved a two-hour train journey to Melbourne, Savage remembers looking forward to those visits. Scotts would welcome him with enormous enthusiasm, often greeting him with an affectionate “My boy!” His lessons were filled with stories, jokes, and encouragement.

“He had enormous warmth and positivity,” Savage recalled. “It was very difficult to make him cross.”

Scotts had little interest in examinations or competitions. Instead, he wanted his students to develop a natural and comfortable relationship with music. When Savage played particularly well, Scotts would enthusiastically declare, “BEST YET!”, a phrase that became familiar in the Savage household. He often sang musical phrases during lessons, turning passages by Handel or Tchaikovsky into playful vocal improvisations. Yet when he picked up his own violin to demonstrate, Savage was captivated by the warmth of his tone and the effortless charm of his playing.

Savage believes that Scotts possessed a particularly valuable quality as a teacher: the ability to understand how a student develops over many years. Guiding a child from the age of six to eighteen requires more than offering musical advice. It demands an understanding of how the student’s personality, abilities, and needs change over time.

Don Scotts in rehearsal in Melbourne

“I think having the skill to be inside someone’s head and understanding the way they learn as they change so much, and as their needs change so much as a student, is a very special quality in a teacher,” he explained.

Scotts also used humour to ease performance anxiety. Savage recalled a story his teacher told about his first radio broadcast in Sydney. As Scotts began performing, his violin became increasingly difficult to play in tune. Eventually, the fingerboard broke away from the instrument altogether. Scotts later used the incident to remind his students that even the worst performance disasters could become amusing memories.

“I think in my experience the best is to teach young people to really love music and love what they do,” Savage said. “I felt like that’s what he did.”

The idea for Encores for Mr Scotts developed gradually over several years. Although Savage had moved to the United Kingdom to continue his career, he renewed regular contact with Scotts toward the end of his teacher’s life. During one visit, Savage gave a small concert at Scotts’ retirement home. Afterwards, Scotts gave him a box containing his personal collection of sheet music, which his family had carefully organised.

Don Scotts and Patrick Savage after a concert at a care home, 2023

Savage knew that he wanted to create a recording from this collection, but deciding what form it should take required considerable thought. Eventually, he settled on an album of encores, a format he felt suited Scotts’ personality and musical tastes.

“An album of encores felt like something that he might have done himself and something I think he would have enjoyed,” Savage explained.

Almost every piece on the album comes from Scotts’ personal music library. Savage was particularly drawn to scores containing his teacher’s handwritten fingerings and other markings. Although he did not necessarily follow those indications, the annotations offered a personal connection to the musician who had once performed the same works.

The selection also reflects Scotts’ musical character. He particularly admired Fritz Kreisler and enjoyed the charm and Spanish flavour of Kreisler’s arrangements. Savage wanted the album to capture that spirit, choosing music that conveyed his teacher’s warmth, elegance, and sense of humour.

“The idea was to try and give a listener a sense of his personality from the pieces, his sense of humour, and how he was as a player and as a man,” he said.

Savage recorded the album with pianist Martin Cousin, a longtime musical partner with whom he had previously performed and recorded. “Martin is an incredibly sensitive musician and so easy to work with,” Savage said. Their familiarity with each other’s playing, along with Cousin’s calm approach in the recording studio, let them work together naturally without overanalysing the music.

Unlike the other selections, the album’s final track was not from Scotts’ personal collection. Instead, Savage chose a piece by the Irish composer Ernest John Moeran, whose music his teacher greatly admired.

Scotts enthusiastically advocated British and Irish music, introducing Australian audiences to repertoire they might not otherwise have encountered. One of his few commercially available recordings features Moeran’s Violin Sonata and String Quartet. By ending the album with Moeran, Savage acknowledges this lesser-known aspect of his teacher’s career.

Don Scotts and Mary Nemet playing Ernest John Moeran’s Sonata for Two Violins

Although Scotts enjoyed a distinguished career, much of his recorded work remains unavailable to the public. Many of his performances are held in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) archives. With the centenary of Scotts’ birth approaching in 2027, Savage hopes to encourage the release of these recordings. “I feel like it’s time for people to hear some of the really extraordinary playing that he did,” he said.

For Savage, Encores for Mr Scotts is also a tribute to the many influential teachers who work outside the spotlight. “I think many of the truly great teachers are behind the scenes,” he reflected. While the album has not changed his own relationship with Scotts, he hopes it will introduce others to the musician and mentor who shaped his love of the violin.