Day named after celebrated Jacobs professor

When Menahem Pressler bowed his first notes on a violin as a child in Germany, he had no idea that nearly 80 years later he would be awarded with his own day in Bloomington. \nHe’s now a distinguished professor of piano at the IU Jacobs School of Music and Bloomington will honor Pressler by declaring Dec. 5, 2007 Menahem Pressler Day at 7:30 p.m. today at City Hall.\n“To have people like Menahem Pressler in our midst all the time is a great reminder of how special Bloomington is,” said Miah Michaelsen, Bloomington’s assistant economic development director for the arts. “Clearly he’s a person that gets great joy out of teaching and mentoring students, as well as performing.”\nBut, if it weren’t for his brother and a stroke of luck, Pressler may never have even begun to take piano lessons. \nPressler originally played the violin. His brother always said he was too tired to go to piano lessons, so Pressler said he started going in his place. To keep up with his school work, his parents made him choose between the violin and piano. \n“So, I selected the piano,” Pressler said. “And I’m not sorry.”\nA founding member of the more than 50-year-old Beaux Arts Trio, Pressler has been nominated for six Grammys and continues to tour the world to the awe of critics and fans alike. In October, Indiana presented Pressler with a Governor’s Arts Award.\n“It’s time for the city to recognize what he’s done for the music world,” Michaelsen said. “Obviously he’s a treasure that we have in our own community … but also nationally and internationally as well.”\nMichaelsen said “such a giving spirit and such a gifted and engaged instructor” merited the award. And although Pressler appreciates the gift, he said its major importance is that it is from the Bloomington community.\n“I love to be honored, of course, like everybody loves to be honored,” Pressler said. “But especially because it’s here, because it’s here where I live.” \nPressler moved to Blooming-ton to teach for only one semester, but 52 years later, the world traveler admits he fell in love with the “finest music school this side of heaven,” the campus and the town’s atmosphere. \n“(The award is) a recognition that my being here is not just noticed but appreciated,” he said. “And it’s not that I needed it because I loved every minute in this little town, which seems like an island of peace in a world of turmoil.”\nPressler said he considers his position as distinguished professor a privilege, and he hopes he has taught each student professionalism and technical skill. But he said he most hopes to infuse each student with a love of music that is “not just important, but the mainstay of our culture.” \nThough Pressler said he owes Bloomington much, he is in an even greater debt to music.\n“What music did to me? It not only refined me, sensitized me,” Pressler said. “(Music) is partner to air, partner to sun, partner to food, partner to family and something very much my own.”