Yeah! Donald was a wise individual. I have had many great times with him....
 

wow- its been a while I guess, but I just read that he passed on. sad to hear this- i think one of the happiest minutes of my whole life was when- after about a YEAR of studying with him, taking classes, and small ensemble workshops and the whole nine yards!- he walked up and said to me real quiet- "that sounded pretty good". and when i was crazy hard on myself, he was suddenly the most gentle and kind-hearted(which of course any non-terrified 22 year old could have told in a second), and gave me a different kind of lecture about believing in myself, not giving up. he worked SO HARD, man, and he never ever let anyone disrepect this music- a serious consideration in a conservatory in those days- for one tiny micro-second! he absolutely no compunction abotu telling some snotty kid "you're from teh suburbs man!" and it made my study time there one hell of alot easier. man, i was lucky to meet this guy and seriously try and learn some stuff from him- hah hah hah, and i remember once he told someone they were going to go "to the lawrence welk school of No Hope!" hah hah hah. . . . high falutin' music schools need more bad-ass honest no apologies folks like him. 'specially nowadays. . . . . RIP, and i hope the music is Better Than.