Top American violinist Kathryn Lucktenberg would know.
The University of Oregon associate professor is also concertmaster of the Eugene Symphony (US) and has taught for almost 30 years.
Ms Lucktenberg serves on adjudicating panels and regularly sends her own students to major competitions.
Last year, 500 people auditioned for renowned concert violinist Midori's class at the University of Southern California and her student was the only undergraduate to be selected.
Ms Lucktenberg and nine other international staff have been giving 25 young musicians the benefits of their experience this month in Queenstown.
She taught six students last week and four this week, who hailed from New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
"I teach the students every day, one-on-one, and I also teach a workshop on specific topics, such as audition skills: how to put your life on the line and do your best in three minutes or less.
"It's the job interview from hell, incredible pressure.
"I do masterclasses each afternoon and the students do recitals every night and we debrief them the next morning."
"Very often a young violinist will come to me and you can see the music is in the heart and the intellect is there, but sometimes there is something missing and it's my job to figure out what that might be."
Ms Lucktenberg said there was an unhealthy competitiveness between students and teachers sometimes in other schools.
However, "one of the things I've enjoyed the most with this programme is learning and sharing ideas with my colleagues".
A fourth-generation violinist ("No choice in the matter - fortunately, I love it"), Ms Lucktenberg entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia aged 15 and won national and international competitions.
She was concertmaster of the Honolulu Symphony for 11 seasons and performed extensively in the western United States and Asia.
She has played in concerts in Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, New Zealand and Hawaii and recorded for the CRI and Koch labels.
She said the city of Eugene, in Oregon, was "very much like Dunedin", where she and husband Steven Pologe taught for a semester at the University of Otago seven years ago.
Ms Lucktenberg and fellow staff members played in a public chamber music concert in St Peter's Church last night.
Her violin, "a good American box", was made in Chicago in 1973 from 100-year-old wood.
Her repertoire consisted of a suite in G minor by romantic composer Moszkowski, with QVSS artistic director Kevin Lefohn on violin, and Brahms' piano trio in C minor Opus 101, with Mr Pologe on cello and Sarah Watkins on the piano.
"It's very exciting to play with colleagues, and to play with a beloved former student [Mr Lefohn] is a blast. I think it helps the students to see the teachers model what they are learning.
"It's my first time teaching here and I'll do everything I can to get asked back."
