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diff --git a/28026-h/28026-h.htm b/28026-h/28026-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97e1ecc --- /dev/null +++ b/28026-h/28026-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9890 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Great Pianists on Piano Playing, by James Francis Cooke</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em;} + .frontend {text-align: center; font-size: 80%;} + .transnote {margin: 2em 5% 1em 5%; font-size: 90%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; + border: solid 1px silver;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + img {border: 0;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + td {vertical-align: top;} + td.bb {border-bottom: solid 1px; text-align: right;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 70%; + text-align: right;} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .caption {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + + </style> +</head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Great Pianists on Piano Playing, by James Francis Cooke</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Great Pianists on Piano Playing</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Francis Cooke</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 8, 2009 [eBook #28026]<br /> +[Most recently updated: May 25, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING ***</div> + +<div class='transnote'> +<h3>Transcriber's Note</h3> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in +this text. For a complete list, please see <a href="#transnote">the bottom of +this document</a>.</p> + +<p>Quotation marks have been left in this text as they were +in the original. Some are unmatched.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>GREAT PIANISTS ON<br /> +PIANO PLAYING</h1> + +<h2>STUDY TALKS WITH<br /> +FOREMOST VIRTUOSOS</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JAMES FRANCIS COOKE</h2> + + +<h4>A SERIES OF PERSONAL EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES<br /> +WITH RENOWNED MASTERS<br /> +OF THE KEYBOARD, PRESENTING THE<br /> +MOST MODERN IDEAS UPON THE<br /> +SUBJECTS OF TECHNIC,<br /> +INTERPRETATION,<br /> +STYLE AND<br /> +EXPRESSION</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="80" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center'>THEO. PRESSER CO.<br /> +PHILADELPHIA, PA.</p> + + + +<p class='frontend'><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1913, by Theo. Presser Co.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">International Copyright Secured</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="TOC"> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><span class='smcap'>page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Artist's Life</span></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Are Pianists Born or Made?</span></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Story of a Wonder-Child</span></td><td align='left'><i>Pepito Arriola</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Pianist of To-morrow</span></td><td align='left'><i>Wilhelm Bachaus</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Artistic Aspects of Piano Study</span></td><td align='left'><i>Harold Bauer</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Appearing in Public</span></td><td align='left'><i>Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Important Details in Piano Study</span></td><td align='left'><i>Ferruccio Busoni</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Distinctive Piano Playing</span></td><td align='left'><i>Teresa Carreño</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Essentials of Touch</span></td><td align='left'><i>Ossip Gabrilowitsch</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Real Significance of Technic</span></td><td align='left'><i>Leopold Godowsky</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>11.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Analyzing Masterpieces</span></td><td align='left'><i>Katharine Goodson</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>12.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Progress in Piano Study</span></td><td align='left'><i>Josef Hofmann</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>13.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Piano Study in Russia</span></td><td align='left'><i>Josef Lhévinne</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>14.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Seeking Originality</span></td><td align='left'><i>Vladimir de Pachmann</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>15.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Modern Pianistic Problems</span></td><td align='left'><i>Max Pauer</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>16.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Essentials of Artistic Playing</span></td><td align='left'><i>S. V. Rachmaninoff</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>17.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Systematic Musical Training</span></td><td align='left'><i>A. Reisenauer</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>18.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Training of the Virtuoso</span></td><td align='left'><i>E. Sauer</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>19.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Economy in Music Study</span></td><td align='left'><i>X. Scharwenka</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>20.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Learning a New Piece</span></td><td align='left'><i>E. Schelling</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>21.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What Interpretation Really Is</span></td><td align='left'><i>S. Stojowski</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> +<h2>I</h2> + +<h3>THE ARTIST'S LIFE</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Virtuoso's Career as It Really Is</span></h3> + + +<p>The father of a young woman who was preparing +to become a virtuoso once applied to a famous musical +educator for advice regarding the future career of his +daughter. "I want her to become one of the greatest +pianists America has ever produced," he said. "She has +talent, good health, unlimited ambition, a good general +education, and she is industrious." The educator +thought for awhile, and then said, "It is very likely +that your daughter will be successful in her chosen field, +but the amount of grinding study she will be obliged +to undergo to meet the towering standards of modern +pianism is awful to contemplate. In the end she will +have the flattery of the multitude, and, let us hope, +some of their dollars as well. In return, she may have +to sacrifice many of the comforts and pleasures which +women covet. The more successful she is, the more of +a nomad she must become. She will know but few days +for years when she will not be compelled to practice +for hours. She becomes a kind of chattel of the musical +public. She will be harassed by ignorant critics +and perhaps annoyed by unreliable managers. In return +she has money and fame, but, in fact, far less of +the great joy and purpose of life than if she followed +the customary domestic career with some splendid man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +as her husband. When I was younger I used to preach +quite an opposite sermon, but the more I see of the +hardships of the artist's life the less I think of the dollars +and the fame it brings. It is hard enough for a +man, but it is twice as hard for a woman."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Golden Bait</span></h3> + +<p>Some cynic has contended that the much-despised +"Almighty Dollar" has been the greatest incentive +to the struggling virtuoso in European music centers. +Although this may be true in a number of cases, it is +certainly unjust in others. Many of the virtuosos find +travel in America so distasteful that notwithstanding +the huge golden bait, the managers have the greatest +difficulty in inducing the pianists to come back. Indeed, +there are many artists of great renown whom the +managers would be glad to coax to our country but +who have withheld tempting offers for years. One of +these is Moritz Moszkowski, probably the most popular +of modern pianoforte composers of high-class music. +Grieg, when he finally consented to make the voyage +to America, placed his price at two thousand five hundred +dollars for every concert—a sum which any manager +would regard prohibitive, except in the case of +one world-famous pianist. Grieg's intent was obvious.</p> + +<p>The inconveniences of travel in America have been +ridiculously exaggerated in Europe, and many virtuosos +dread the thought of an American trip, with +the great ocean yawning between the two continents,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +and red-skinned savages just beyond New York or +certainly not far from Chicago. De Pachmann detests +the ocean, and when he comes over in his favorite +month of June he does not dare return until the following +June. Others who have never visited America +must get their idea of American travel from some such +account as that of Charles Dickens in his unforgivable +<i>American Notes</i> (1842), in which he said, in describing +one of our railroads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is a great deal of jolting, a great deal of noise, a great deal +of wall, not much window, a locomotive engine, a shriek and a bell. +The cars are like shabby omnibuses holding thirty, forty, fifty people. +In the centre of the carriage there is usually a stove, fed with charcoal +or anthracite coal, which is for the most part red hot. It is insufferably +close, and you see the hot air fluttering between yourself and +any other object you may happen to look at."</p></div> + +<p>There could have been but little improvement in our +railroads in 1872 when Rubinstein came to America, +for although he accepted $40,000 for 215 concerts during +his first trip, he refused an offer of $125,000 for only +50 concerts when a manager tried to persuade him to +return.</p> + +<p>American railroads now present the acme of comfort, +convenience, and even luxury in travel, yet the +European artist has difficulty in adjusting himself to +journeys of thousands of miles crowded in a short +winter season when he has been accustomed to little +trips of a few hundred kilometers. He comes to dread +the trains as we might a prison van. Paderewski resorts +to a private car, but even this luxurious mode of +travel may be very monotonous and exhausting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>The great distances must certainly account for some +of the evidences of strain which deform the faces and +exhaust the minds of so many virtuosos. The traveling +salesman seems to thrive upon miles of railroad +travel as do the crews of the trains, but the virtuoso, +dragged from concert to concert by his showman, +grows tired—oh, so tired, pale, wan, listless and indifferent! +At the beginning of the season he is quite +another person. The magnetism that has done so much +to win him fame shines in his eyes and seems to emanate +from his finger-tips, but the difference in his physical +being at the end of the season is sickening. Like +a bedraggled, worn-out circus coming in from the wear +and tear of a hard season, he crawls wearily back to +New York with a cinematographic recollection of +countless telegraph poles flying past the windows, audience +after audience, sleeping cars, budding geniuses, +the inevitable receptions with their equally inevitable +chicken salad or lukewarm oysters, and the "sweet +young things," who, like Heine's mythical tribe of +<i>Asra</i>, must love or perish. Some virtuosos have the +physical strength to endure all this, even enjoy it, but +many have confessed to me that their American tours +have been literal nightmares.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest pianists was obliged to stay in +New York for a while before attempting the voyage +homeward. At the time he was so weak from the rigors +of the tour that he could scarcely write his name. His +haggard face suggested the tortures of a Torquamada +rather than Buffalo, Kansas City, Denver and Pitts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>burgh. +His voice was tired and faltering, and his chief +interest was that of the invalid—getting home as soon +as possible. To have talked with him upon music at +that time would have been an injustice. Accordingly, +I led him away from the subject and dwelt +upon the woes of his native Poland, and, much to his +surprise, left him without the educational material +of which I had been in quest. He asked the reason, +and I told him that a musical conference at that time +could serve no purpose.</p> + +<p>As men and women, aside from the attainments +which have made them illustrious, virtuosos are for +the most part very much like ordinary mortals who +have to content themselves at the foot of Parnassus. +It has been my privilege to know thirty or more of +the most eminent artists, and some have become +good personal friends. It is interesting to observe +how several very different types of individuals may +succeed in winning public favor as virtuosos. Indeed, +except for the long-haired caricature which the +public accepts as the conventional virtuoso there is +no "virtuoso type." Here is a business man, here +an artist, here an engineer, here a jurist, here an actor, +here a poet and here a freak, all of them distinguished +performers. Perhaps the enthusiastic music-lover +will resent the idea of a freak becoming famous as a +pianist, but I have known no less than three men who +could not possibly be otherwise described, but who +have nevertheless made both fame and fortune as +virtuosos.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Freak Pianists</span></h3> + +<p>The anthropologist who chooses to conduct special +investigations of freaks can find no more entertaining +field than that of the remarkable freaks of the brain, +shown in the cases of some astonishing performers +whose intelligence and mental capacity in other ways +has been negligible. The classic case of Blind Tom, +for instance, was that of a freak not so very far removed +in kind from the Siamese Twins, or General +Tom Thumb. Born a slave in Georgia, and wholly +without what teachers would term a musical education, +Blind Tom amazed many of the most conservative +musicians of his time. It was possible for him to repeat +difficult compositions after hearing them played +only once. I conversed with him a number of years +ago in New York, only to find that intellectually and +physically he was allied to the <i>cretin</i>.</p> + +<p>Blind Tom's peculiar ability has led many hasty +commentators to conclude that music is a wholly +separate mental faculty to be found particularly in a +more or less shiftless and irresponsible class of gifted +but intellectually limited human beings. The few +cases of men and women whose musical talent seems +to eclipse their minds so that they remain in utter +darkness to everything else in life, should not be taken +as a basis for judging other artists of real genius and +undisputed mental breadth. I have in mind, however, +the case of one pianist who is very widely known and +highly lauded, but who is very slightly removed from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +the class of Blind Tom. A trained alienist, one +acquainted with the difference between the eccentricities +which frequently accompany greatness and +the unconscious physical and psychical evidences of +idiocy which so clearly agree with the antics of the +chimpanzee or the droll Capuchin monkeys, might +find in the performer to whom I refer a subject for +some very interesting, not to say startling reflections. +Few have ever been successful in inducing this pianist +to talk upon any other subject than music for more +than a few minutes at a time. Another pianist, who +was distinguished as a Liszt pupil, and who toured +America repeatedly, seemed to have a hatred for the +piano that amounted to an obsession. "Look," +he exclaimed, "I am its slave. It has sent me round +and round the world, night after night, year after +year. It has cursed me like a wandering Jew. No +rest, no home, no liberty. Do you wonder that I +drink to forget it?"</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Pathetic Example</span></h3> + +<p>And drink he did in Bacchanalian measure! One +time he gave an unconscious exhibition of his technical +ability that, while regrettable, would have been of immense +interest to psychologists who are seeking to +prove that music depends upon a separate operation +of a special "faculty." During his American tours I +called frequently upon this virtuoso for the purpose of +investigating his method of playing. He was rarely +free from the influence of alcohol for more than a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +hours at a time. One morning it was necessary for +me to see him professionally, and when I found him +at his hotel he was in a truly disgraceful condition. I +remember that he was unable to stand, from the fact +that he fell upon me while I was sitting in a Morris +chair. He was barely able to talk, and just prior to +my leaving he insisted upon scrawling upon his visiting +card, "Zur freundlichen Errinerung, auf einen +sehr späten Abend." (Friendly remembrances of a +very late evening.) Since it was still very early in the +morning, it may be realized that he had lost all idea of +his whereabouts. Nevertheless, he sat at the piano +keyboard and played tremendously difficult compositions +by Liszt and Brahms—compositions which compelled +his hands to leap from one part of the keyboard +to the other as in the case of the Liszt <i>Campanella</i>. +He never missed a note until he lost his balance upon +the piano stool and fell to the floor. Disgusting and +pathetic as the exhibition was, I could not help feeling +that I was witnessing a marvelous instance of automatism, +that wonderful power of the mind working +through the body to reproduce, apparently without +effort or thought, operations which have been repeated +so many times that they have become "second nature." +More than this, it indicated clearly that while the +better part of the man's body was "dead to the +world," the faculty he had cultivated to the highest +extent still remained alive. Some years later this +man succumbed to alcoholism.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Pianist of To-day</span></h3> + +<p>Contrasted with a type of this kind may be mentioned +such men as Sauer, Rachmaninov, d'Albert, +Paderewski, Godowsky, Bachaus, Rosenthal, Pauer, +Joseffy, Stojowski, Scharwenka, Gabrilowitsch, Hofmann, +Bauer, Lhévinne, to say nothing of the ladies, +Bloomfield-Zeisler, Carreño, Goodson, <i>et al.</i>, many of +whom are intellectual giants. Most all are exceedingly +regular in their habits, and at least two are strong +temperance advocates. Intellectually, pianists of +this class represent a very remarkable kind of mentality. +One is impressed with the surprising quickness +with which their brains operate even in ordinary +conversation. Speaking in alien languages, they +find comparatively little difficulty in expressing themselves +with rapidity and fluency. Very few great +singers ever acquire a similar ease. These pianists +are wonderfully well read, many being acquainted +with the literature of three or more tongues in the +original. Indeed, it is not unusual to find them skipping +through several languages during ordinary conversation +without realizing that they are performing +linguistic feats that would put the average college +graduate to shame. They are familiar with art, +science, politics, manufactures, even in their most +recent developments. "What is your favorite type +of aëroplane?" asked one some years ago in the +kindergarten days of cloud navigation. I told him +that I had made no choice, since I had never seen a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +flying machine, despite the fact that I was a native +of the country that gave it birth. He then vouchsafed +his opinions and entered into a physical and +mechanical discussion of the matter, indicating that +he had spent hours in getting the whole subject +straightened out in his mind. This same man, a +German, knew whole cantos of the <i>Inferno</i> by heart, +and could repeat long scenes from <i>King Lear</i> with a +very creditable English accent.</p> + +<p>The average American "tired business man" who is +inclined to look upon the touring virtuoso as "only a +pianist" would be immensely surprised if he were +called upon to compare his store of "universal" +information with that of the performer. He would +soon see that his long close confinement behind the +bars of the dollar sign had made him the intellectual +inferior of the musician he almost ignores. But it is +hardly fair to compare these famous interpreters +with the average "tired business man." They are +the Cecil Rhodes, the Thomas Edisons, the Maurice +Maeterlincks of their fields. It is easy enough to find +musicians of smaller life opportunities basking in their +ignorance and conceit.</p> + +<p>While the virtuoso may be described as intellectual +in the broader sense of the term, he usually has a +great fear of becoming academic. He aspires to be +artistic rather than scholarly. He strives to elevate +rather than to teach—in the strictly pedagogical +sense. Some of the greatest performers have been +notoriously weak as teachers. They do not seek the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +walls of the college, neither do they long for the cheap +<i>Bohemianism</i> that so many of the French feuilletonists +delight in describing. (Why should the immorality +of the artist's life be laid at the doors of fair Bohemia?) +The artist's life is wrapped up in making his readings +of master works more significant, more eloquent, +more beautiful. He is interested in everything that +contributes to his artistry, whether it be literature, +science, history, art or the technic of his own interpretative +development. He penetrates the various +mystic problems which surround piano playing by the +infallible process of persistent study and reflection. +The psychical phase of his work interests him immensely, +particularly the phenomena of personal attraction—often +called magnetism.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Magic of Magnetism</span></h3> + +<p>Magnetism is surely one of the most enviable possessions +of the successful pianist. Just what magnetism +is and how it comes to be, few psychologists +attempt to relate. We all have our theories, just +why one pianist who often blunders as readily as a +Rubinstein, or who displays his many shortcomings at +every concert can invariably draw larger audiences +and arouse more applause than his confrère with +weaker vital forces, although he be admittedly a better +technician, a more highly educated gentleman +and perhaps a more sensitive musician.</p> + +<p>Charles Frohman, keenest of theatrical producers, +attributed the actor's success to "vitality," and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +doing this he merely chose one of the weaker synonyms +of magnetism. Vitality in this sense does not imply +great bodily strength. It is rather soul-strength, +mind-strength, life-strength. Professor John D. Quackenbos, +A.M., M.D., formerly of Columbia University, +essays the following definition of magnetism +in his excellent <i>Hypnotic Therapeutics</i>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Magnetism is nothing more than earnestness and sincerity, +coupled with insight, sympathy, patience and tact. These essentials +cannot be bought and cannot be taught. They are 'born by nature,' +they are dyed with 'the red ripe of the heart.'"</p></div> + +<p>But Dr. Quackenbos is a physician and a philosopher. +Had he been a lexicographer he would have +found the term magnetism far more inclusive. He +would at least have admitted the phenomenon which +we have witnessed so often when one possessed with +volcanic vitality overwhelms a great audience.</p> + +<p>The old idea that magnetism is a kind of invisible +form of intellectual or psychic electricity has gone +down the grotesque phrenological vagaries of Gall as +well as some of the pseudoscientific theories of that +very unusual man, Mesmer. We all possess what is +known as magnetism. Some have it in an unusual +degree, as did Edwin Booth, Franz Liszt, Phillips +Brooks and Bismarck. It was surely neither the +art nor the ability of Daniel Webster that made his +audiences accept some of his fatuous platitudes as +great utterances, nor was it the histrionic talent +alone of Richard Mansfield that enabled him to wring +success from such an obvious theatrical contraption<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +as <i>Prince Karl</i>. Both Webster, with his fathomless +eyes and his ponderous voice, and Mansfield, with his +compelling personality, were exceptional examples of +magnetism.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Notable Example</span></h3> + +<p>Among virtuosos Paderewski is peculiarly forceful +in the personal spell he casts over his audience. +Someone has said that it cost one hundred thousand +dollars to exploit his hair before he made his first +American tour. But it was by no means curiosity +to see his hair which kept on filling auditorium after +auditorium. I attended his first concert in New +York, and was amazed to see a comparatively small +gathering of musical zealots. His command of the +audience was at once imperial. The critics, some of +whom would have found Paderewski's hirsute crown +a delightful rack upon which to hang their ridicule, +went into ecstasies instead. His art and his striking +personality, entirely apart from his appearance, soon +made him the greatest concert attraction in the musical +world. Anyone who has conversed with him for +more than a few moments realizes what the meaning +of the word magnetism is. His entire bearing—his +lofty attitude of mind, his personal dignity all contribute +to the inexplicable attraction that the arch +hypnotist Mesmer first described as animal magnetism.</p> + +<p>That magnetism of the pianist must be considered +wholly apart from personal beauty and great physical +strength is obvious to anyone who has given the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +subject a moment's thought. Many of the artists +already mentioned (in this book) who possess magnetism +similar to that of Paderewski could surely never +make claim for personal beauty. Neither is magnetism +akin to that attraction we all experience when +we see a powerful, well-groomed horse, a sleek hound, +a handsome tiger—that is, it is not mere admiration +for a beautiful animal. Whether it has any similarity +to the mysterious charm which makes the doomed +bird lose control of its wings upon the approach of a +snake is difficult to estimate. Certainly, in the +paraphernalia of the modern recital with its lowered +lights and its solitary figure playing away at a polished +instrument one may find something of the physical +apparatus employed by the professional hypnotist +to insure concentration—but even this can not +account for the pianist's real attractiveness. If +Mr. Frohman's "vitality" means the "vital spark," +the "life element," it comes very close to a true +definition of magnetism, for success without this +precious Promethean force is inconceivable. It may +be only a smouldering ember in the soul of a dying +Chopin, but if it is there it is irresistible until it becomes +extinct. Facial beauty and physical prowess +all made way for the kind of magnetism that Socrates, +George Sand, Julius Cæsar, Henry VIII, Paganini, +Emerson, Dean Swift or Richard Wagner possessed.</p> + +<p>More wonderful still is the fact that magnetism is +by no means confined to those who have finely trained +intellects or who have achieved great reputations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +Some vaudeville buffoon or some gypsy fiddler may +have more attractive power than the virtuoso who had +spent years in developing his mind and his technic. +The average virtuoso thinks far more of his "geist," +his "talent" (or as Emerson would have it, "the +shadow of the soul—the otherwise") than he does of +his technic, or his cadenzas. By what mystic means +magnetism may be developed, the writer does not +pretend to know. Possibly by placing one's deeper +self (shall we say "subconscious self") in closer +communion with the great throbbing problems of the +invisible though perpetually evident forces of nature +which surround us we may become more alive, more +sensitively vivified. What would it mean to the +young virtuoso if he could go to some occult master, +some seer of a higher thought, and acquire that lode-stone* +which has drawn fame and fortune to the blessed +few? Hundreds have spent fortunes upon charlatans +in the attempt.</p> + +<p>All artists know the part that the audience itself +plays in falling under the magnetic spell of the performer. +Its connection with the phenomena of autosuggestion +is very clear. Dr. Wundt, the famous +German psychologist, showed a class of students how +superstitions unconsciously acquired in early life +affect sensible adults who have long since passed the +stage at which they might put any credence in omens. +At a concert given by a famous player, the audience +has been well schooled in anticipation. The artist +always appears under a halo his reputation has made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +for him. This very reputation makes his conquest far +easier than that of the novice who has to prove his +ability before he can win the sympathy of the audience. +He is far more likely to find the audience <i>en rapport</i> +than indifferent. Sometime, at the play in a theater, +watch how the audience will unconsciously mirror the +facial expressions of the forceful actor. In some similar +manner, the virtuoso on the concert platform +sensitizes the minds and emotions of the sympathetic +audience. If the effect is deep and lasting, the artist +is said to possess that Kohinoor of virtuosodom—magnetism.</p> + +<p>Some widely read critics have made the very +natural error of confounding magnetism with personality. +These words have quite different connotations—personality +comprehending the more subtle +force of magnetism. An artist's individual worth is +very closely allied with his personality—that is, his +whole extrinsic attitude toward the thought and action +of the world about him. How important personality +is may be judged by the widely advertised efforts of +the manufacturers of piano-playing machines to +convince the public that their products, often astonishingly +fine, do actually reproduce the individual +effects which come from the playing of the living +artist. Piano-playing machines have their place, +and it is an important one. However, wonderful +as they may be, they can never be anything but +machines. They bring unquestioned joy to thousands, +and they act as missionaries for both music and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +music-teacher by taking the art into countless homes +where it might otherwise never have penetrated, thus +creating the foundation for a strong desire for a +thorough study of music. The piano-playing machine +may easily boast of a mechanism as wonderful as +that of a Liszt, a d'Albert or a Bachaus, but it can no +more claim personality than the typewriter upon +which this article is being written can claim to reproduce +the individuality which characterizes the handwriting +of myriads of different persons. Personality, +then, is the virtuoso's one great unassailable stronghold. +It is personality that makes us want to hear a +half dozen different renderings of a single Beethoven +sonata by a half dozen different pianists. Each has +the charm and flavor of the interpreter.</p> + +<p>But personality in its relation to art has been so +exquisitely defined by the inimitable British essayist, +A. C. Benson, that we can do no better than to quote +his words:</p> + +<p>"I have lately come to perceive that the one thing +which gives value to any piece of art, whether it be +book, or picture, or music, is that subtle and evasive +thing which is called personality. No amount of labor, +of zest, even of accomplishment, can make up for the +absence of this quality. It must be an almost instinctive +thing, I believe. Of course, the mere presence +of personality in a work of art is not sufficient, +because the personality revealed may be lacking in +charm; and charm, again, is an instinctive thing. +No artist can set out to capture charm; he will toil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +all the night and take nothing; but what every artist +can and must aim at is to have a perfectly sincere +point of view. He must take his chance as to whether +his point of view is an attractive one; but sincerity +is the one indispensable thing. It is useless to take +opinions on trust, to retail them, to adopt them; +they must be formed, created, felt. The work of a +sincere artist is almost certain to have some value; +the work of an insincere artist is of its very nature +worthless."</p> + +<p>Mr. Benson's "charm" is what the virtuoso feels +as magnetism. It puts something into the artist's +playing that he cannot define. For a moment the +vital spark flares into a bewildering flame, and all his +world is peopled with moths hovering around the +"divine fire."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Greatest Thing of All</span></h3> + +<p>If we have dwelt too long upon magnetism, those +who know its importance in the artist's life will readily +perceive the reason. But do not let us be led away +into thinking that magnetism can take the place of +hard work. Even the tiny prodigy has a career of +work behind him, and the master pianist has often +climbed to his position over <i>Matterhorns</i> and <i>Mt. +Blancs</i> of industry. Days of practice, months of +study, years of struggle are part of the biography of +almost every one who has attained real greatness. +What a pity to destroy time-old illusions! Some +prefer to think of their artist heroes dreaming their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +lives away in the hectic cafés of Pesth or buried in the +melancholy, absinthe and paresis of some morbid +cabaret of Paris. As a matter of fact, the best +known pianists live a totally different life—a life of +grind, grind, grind—incessant study, endless practice +and ceaseless search for means to raise their artistic +standing. In some quiet country villa, miles away +from the center of unlicensed Bacchanalian revels, +the virtuoso may be found working hard upon next +season's repertoire.</p> + +<p>After all, the greatest thing in the artist's life is +W-O-R-K.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> +<h2>II</h2> + +<h3>ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE?</h3> + + +<p>Some years ago the Director of the Leipsic Conservatorium +gave the writer a complete record of the +number of graduates of the conservatory from the +founding to the late nineties. Of the thousands of +students who had passed through the institution only +a few had gained wide prominence. Hardly one student +in one hundred had won his way into the most +voluminous of the musical biographical dictionaries. +The proportion of distinguished graduates to those +who fail to gain renown is very high at Leipsic compared +with many other institutions. What becomes +of the thousands of students all working frantically +with the hope of becoming famous pianists? Surely, +so much earnest effort can not be wasted even though +all can not win the race? Those who often convince +themselves that they have failed go on to perform +a more useful service to society than the laurel-crowned +virtuoso. Unheralded and unapplauded, +they become the teachers, the true missionaries of +<i>Frau Musik</i> to the people.</p> + +<p>What is it then, which promotes a few "fortunate" +ones from the armies of students all over America and +Europe and makes of them great virtuosos? What +must one do to become a virtuoso? How long must +one study before one may make a <i>début</i>? What does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +a great virtuoso receive for his performances? How +long does the virtuoso practice each day? What +exercises does he use? All these and many more +similar questions crop up regularly in the offices of +music critics and in the studios of teachers. Unfortunately, +a definite answer can be given to none, +although a great deal may be learned by reviewing +some of the experiences of one who became great.</p> + +<p>Some virtuosos actually seem to be born with the +heavenly gift. Many indeed are sons and daughters +of parents who see their own demolished dreams realized +in the triumphs of their children. When little +Nathan creeps to the piano and quite without the +help of his elders picks out the song he has heard his +mother sing,—all the neighbors in Odessa know it +the next day. "A wonder child perhaps!" Oh +happy augury of fame and fortune! Little Nathan +shall have the best of instruction. His mother will +teach him at first, of course. She will shape his little +fingers to the keyboard. She will sing sweet folk melodies +in his ear,—songs of labor, struggle, exile. She +will count laboriously day after day until he "plays in +time." All the while the little mother sees far beyond +the Ghetto,—out into the great world,—grand auditoriums, +breathless crowds, countless lights, nobles +granting trinkets, bravos from a thousand throats, +Nathan surrounded by endless wreaths of laurel,—Oh, +it is all too much,—"Nathan! Nathan! you are playing +far too fast. One, two, three, four,—one, two, three, +four,—there, that is the tempo Clementi would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +had it. Fine! Some day, Nathan, you will be a great +pianist and—" etc., etc.</p> + +<p>Nathan next goes to the great teacher. He is +already eight years old and fairly leaping out of his +mother's arms. Two years with the teacher and +Nathan is probably ready for a <i>début</i> as a wonder +child. The critics are kind. If his parents are very +poor Nathan may go from town to town for awhile +being exhibited like a trained poodle or a tiny acrobat. +The further he gets from home the more severe +his critics become, and Nathan and his mother hurry +back to the old teachers, who tell them that Nathan +must still practice long and hard as well as do something +to build up his general education. The world +in these days looks askance at the musician who aside +from his keyboard accomplishments is a numskull. +More sacrifice for Nathan's mother and father,—but +what are poverty and deprivation with such a +goal in sight? Nathan studies for some years in the +schools and in the high schools as well as at the conservatory. +In the music school he will doubtless +spend six years in all,—two years in the post-graduate +or master classes, following the regular four-year +course. When sufficiently capable he will take a +few pupils at a kopeck or so per lesson to help out with +the family expenses.</p> + +<p>Nathan graduates from the conservatory with +high honors. Will the public now receive him as a +great pianist? A concert is planned and Nathan +plays. Day and night for years his whole family<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +have been looking forward to that concert. Let us +concede that the concert is a triumph. Does he +find fame and fortune waiting for him next morning? +No indeed,—there are a thousand Nathans all equally +accomplished. Again he must work and again he +must concertize. Perhaps after years of strife a +manager may approach him some day with a contract. +Lucky Nathan,—have you not a thousand brothers +who may never see a contract? Then,—"Can it be +possible Nathan,—is it really America,—America +the virtuoso's Golconda!" Nathan makes a glorious +<i>tournée</i>. Perhaps the little mother goes with him. +More likely she stays at home in Odessa waiting with +glistening eyes for each incoming mail. Pupils come +to Nathan and he charges for each lesson a sum equaling +his father's former weekly wage. Away with the +Ghetto! Away with poverty! Away with oblivion! +Nathan is a real virtuoso,—a veritable <i>Meister</i>!</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The American Virtuoso of To-day</span></h3> + +<p>How does the American aspirant compete with +Nathan? Are there not as fine teachers here in +America as in Europe? Is it really necessary to go +to Europe to "finish" one's musical education? +Can one not become a virtuoso in America?—more +questions with which editors and teachers are constantly +plied. Can one who for years has waged a +battle for the American teacher and American musical +education answer this question without bias? Can +we who trace the roots of our lineage back to barren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +Plymouth or stolid New Netherland judge the question +fairly and honestly?</p> + +<p>One case suffices to show the road which the American +virtuoso is likely to travel. She is still a young +woman, in her twenties. Among her teachers was +one who ranks among the very best in America. Her +general education was excellent,—in fact far superior +to that of the average young lady of good family in +continental Europe. While in her early teens she +became the leading feature at conservatory concerts. +Her teacher won many a profitable pupil through her +brilliant playing. She studies, as do so many American +pupils, without making a regular business of it. +Compared with the six year all day, week in and week +out course which Nathan pursued in Odessa our little +compatriot was at a decided disadvantage. But +who ever heard of a music student making a regular +business of learning the profession as would a doctor +or a lawyer? Have not students contented themselves +with two lessons a week since time immemorial? +Need we go further to discover one of the flaws in +our own educational system,—a flaw that is not due to +the teacher or to the methods of instruction, but +rather to our time-old custom. Two lessons a +week are adequate for the student who does not +aspire to become a professional, but altogether insufficient +for the student who must accomplish a vast +amount of work in a comparatively small number of +years. She requires constant advice, regular daily +instruction and careful attention under experienced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +instructors. Teachers are not to be blamed if she +does not receive this kind of attention, as there are +abundant opportunities now in America to receive +systematic training under teachers as thorough, as +able and as inspiring as may be found in Europe. +The excuse that the expense is greater in America +falls when we learn the very high prices charged by +leading teachers in Germany, Austria and France.</p> + +<p>To go back to our particular case, the young lady +is informed at the end of a course of two or three +lessons a week during two or three years, that she is +a full-fledged virtuoso and may now enter the concert +field to compete with Carreño, Bloomfield-Zeisler +or Goodson. Her playing is obviously superior +to that of her contemporary students. Someone +insists upon a short course of study abroad,—not +because it is necessary, but because it might add to her +reputation and make her first flights in the American +concert field more spectacular. Accordingly she +goes to Europe, only to find that she is literally surrounded +by budding virtuosos,—an army of Nathans, +any one of whom might easily eclipse her. Against +her personal charm, her new-world vigor, her Yankee +smartness, Nathan places his years of systematic +training, his soul saturated in the music and art of +past centuries of European endeavor and perhaps his +youth of poverty which makes success imperative. +The young lady's European teacher frankly tells her +that while her playing is delightful for the salon or +parlor she will never do for the great concert hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +She must learn to play with more power, more virility, +more character. Accordingly he sets her at work +along special muscle-building, tone-cultivating, speed-making +lines of technic in order to make up for the +lack of the training which the young lady might +easily have had at home had her parents been schooled +to systematic daily study as a necessity. Her first +technical exercises with the new teacher are so simple +that the young woman is on the verge of despair +until she realizes that her playing is really taking on a +new and more mature character. She has been lifting +fifty pound weights occasionally. Her teacher +is training her to lift one hundred pound weights every +day. She has been sketching in pastels,—her teacher +is now teaching her how to make Velasquez-like +strokes in oils. Her gain is not a mere matter of +loudness. She could play quite as loud before she went +to Europe. There is something mature in this new +style of playing, something that resembles the playing +of the other virtuosos she has heard. Who is the +great European master who is working such great +wonders for her? None other than a celebrated +teacher who taught for years in America,—a master +no better than dozens of others in America right +now. Can the teachers in America be blamed if the +parents and the pupils fail to make as serious and +continued an effort here? Atmosphere,—bosh! Work, +long, hard and unrelenting,—that is the salvation of +the student who would become a virtuoso. With our +increasing wealth and advancing culture American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +parents are beginning to discover that given the +same work and the same amount of instruction musical +education in America differs very slightly from +musical education abroad.</p> + +<p>But we are deserting our young virtuoso most +ungallantly. In Berlin she hears so many concerts +and recitals, so many different styles of playing, that +she begins to think for herself and her sense of artistic +discrimination—interpretation, if you will—becomes +more and more acute. Provided with funds for attending +concerts, she does regularly, whereas in +America she neglected opportunities equally good. +She never realized before that there could be so much +to a Brahms <i>Intermezzo</i> or a Chopin <i>Ballade</i>. At the +end of her first year her American common-sense +tells her that a plunge into the concert field is still +dangerous. Accordingly she remains two, or possibly +three, more years and at the end if she has worked hard +she is convinced that with proper management she +may stand some chance of winning that fickle treasure, +public favor.</p> + +<p>"But," persists the reader, "it would have been +possible for her to have accomplished the same work +at home in America." Most certainly, if she had +had any one of the hundred or more virtuoso teachers +now resident in the United States all of whom are +capable of bringing a highly talented pupil to virtuoso +heights,—and if in their teaching they had exerted +sufficient will-power to demand from the pupil and +the pupil's parents the same conditions which would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +govern the work of the same pupil studying in Europe. +Through long tradition and by means of endless +experiences the conditions have been established in +Europe. The student who aspires to become a professional +is given a distinctively professional course. +In America the need for such a training is but scantily +appreciated. Only a very few of us are able to appraise +the real importance of music in the advancement +of human civilization, nor is this unusual, since +most of us have but to go back but a very few generations +to encounter our blessed Puritan and Quaker +ancestors to whom all music, barring the lugubrious +Psalm singing, was the inspiration of the devil. The +teachers, as has been said before, are fully ready and +more than anxious to give the kind of training required. +Very frequently parents are themselves to +blame for the slender <i>dilettante</i> style of playing which +their well-instructed children present. They measure +the needs of the concert hall by the dimensions of the +parlor. The teacher of the would-be professional +pupil aspires to produce a quantity of tone that will +fill an auditorium seating at least one thousand people. +The pupil at home is enjoined not to "bang" or +"pound." The result is a feeble, characterless tone +which rarely fills an auditorium as it should. The +actor can not forever rehearse in whispers if he is to +fill a huge theater, and the concert pianist must have a +strong, sure, resilient touch in order to bring about +climaxes and make the range of his dynamic power +all-comprehensive. Indeed, the separation from home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +ties, or shall we call them home interferences, is often +more responsible for the results achieved abroad than +superior instruction.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the number of virtuosos who have +been taught exclusively in America is really very +small. It is not a question of ability upon the +part of the teacher or talent upon the part of the +pupil. It is entirely a matter of the attitudes of +the teacher, the pupil and the pupil's home advisers. +Success demands strong-willed discipline and the most +lofty standards imaginable. Teachers who have +taught for years in America have returned to Europe, +doubled and quadrupled their fees, and, under old-world +surroundings and with more rigid standards of +artistic work, have produced results they declare +would have been impossible in America. The author +contends that these results would have been readily +forthcoming if we in America assumed the same +earnest, persistent attitude toward the work itself. +If these words do no more than reach the eyes of some +of those who are advising students wrongly in this +matter they will not have been written in vain. The +European concert triumphs of Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, +whose training was received wholly in the United +States, is an indication of what may be achieved in +America if the right course is pursued. Conditions +are changing rapidly in our country, particularly in +the wonderful West and Middle-West. It seems +likely that many pianists without foreign instruction +of any kind will have as great success in our concert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +field as have many of our best opera singers who have +never had a lesson "on the other side."</p> + +<p>Our little pianist has again been playing truant +from our manuscript. Let us see what happens to +her when she finished her work with the famous +teacher abroad. Surely the making of a virtuoso is +an expensive matter. Let us take the estimate of +the young pianist's father, who practically mortgaged +his financial existence to give his daughter the right +musical training.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="costs"> + +<tr><td align='left'>Lessons with first teacher at $1.00 a lesson. +Eighty lessons a year for four years</td><td align='right'>$240.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Lessons with second American teacher for two +years at $2.00 a lesson</td><td align='right'>320.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Lessons with third American teacher at $4.00 a +lesson for one year and six months</td><td align='right'>480.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Music, books, etc.</td><td align='right'>160.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Piano</td><td align='right'>750.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Maintenance for eight years at $200.00 a year +(minimum estimate)</td><td align='right'>1600.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Four years in Europe, travel, board, instruction, +advertising, etc.</td><td class='bb'>6000.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><b>TOTAL </b></td><td align='right'>$9550.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>But the expense has only begun, if you please. +The harvest is still a long way off. According to the +fine traditions established by the late P. T. Barnum, +there must be a European furore to precede the +American advent of the musical star. The journalistic +astronomers must point their telescopes long and +steadily at the European firmament and proclaim +their discovery in the columns of their papers. Again, +furores are expensive. One must hire an auditorium, +hire an orchestra, and, according to some very frank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +and disgusted young virtuosos who have failed to +succeed, hire a critic or so like the amusing Trotter in +<i>Fanny's First Play</i>. What with three and four +concerts a night why should not the critics have a +<i>pourboire</i> for extra critical attention? Fortunately +the best papers hold their criticisms above price. +Bought criticisms are very rare, and if the young +pianist or any representative approaches certain +critics with any such suggestion, she may count upon +faring very badly in cold type on the following day.</p> + +<p>If Miss Virtuoso makes a success, her press notices +are sent to her American concert managers, who +purchase space in some American musical newspapers +and reprint these notices. Publicity of this +kind is legitimate, as the American public knows that +in most cases these press notices are reprinted solely +as advertising. It is simply the commercial process of +"acquainting the trade" and if done right may prove +one of the most fortunate investments for the young +artist. Do not imagine, however, that the pianist's +American manager speculates in the problematical +success of the coming virtuoso. On the contrary, his +fee for putting the artist on his "list" and promoting +her interests may range from five hundred dollars to +two thousand dollars in advance. After that the +manager usually requires a commission on all engagements +"booked." Graft? Spoils? Plunder? Not +a bit of it. If the manager is a good one—that is, +if he is an upright business man well schooled in his +work—the investment should prove a good one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +Exploiting a new artist is a matter demanding brains, +energy, ingenuity and experience. A manufacturing +firm attempting to put some new product upon an +already crowded market would spend not $2000.00 +a year in advertising, but $100,000.00. The manager +must maintain an organization, he must travel, he +must advertise and he too must live. If he succeeds +in marketing the services of the young virtuoso at one +or two hundred dollars a concert, the returns soon +begin to overtake the incessant expenses. However, +only the most persistent and talented artists survive +to reap these rewards. The late Henry Wolfsohn, +one of the greatest managers America has ever produced, +told the writer frequently that the task of +introducing a new artist was one of the most thankless +and uncertain undertakings imaginable.</p> + +<p>Does the work, the time, the expense frighten you, +little miss at the keyboard? Do you fear the grind, +the grueling disappoints, the unceasing sacrifices? +Then abandon your great career and join the army of +useful music workers who are teaching the young +people of the land to love music as it should be loved,—not +in hysterical outbursts in the concert hall but in +the home circle. If you have the unextinguishable +fire within your soul, if you have the talent from on +high, if you have health, energy, system, vitality, +nothing can stop you from becoming great. Advice, +interferences, obstacles will be nothing to you. You +will work day and night to reach your goal. What +better guide could you possibly have than the words<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +of the great pianists themselves? While the ensuing +pages were compiled with the view of helping the +amateur performer quite as much as the student who +would become a professional pianist, you will nevertheless +find in the expressions of the really great +virtuosos a wealth of information and practical advice.</p> + +<p>Most of the following chapters are the results of +many different conferences with the greatest living +pianists. All have had the revision of the artists in +person before publication was undertaken. In order +to indicate how carefully and willingly this was done +by the pianists it is interesting to note the case of the +great Russian composer-virtuoso Rachmaninoff. The +original conference was conducted in German and in +French. The material was arranged in manuscript +form in English. M. Rachmaninoff then requested +a second conference. In the mean time he had had the +better part of the manuscript translated into his +native Russian. However, in order to insure accuracy +in the use of words, the writer translated the +entire matter back into German in the pianist's presence. +M. Rachmaninoff did not speak English and +the writer did not speak Russian.</p> + +<p>The chapter relating to Harold Bauer is the result +of a conference conducted in English. Mr. Bauer's +use of his native tongue is as fluent and eloquent as a +poet or an orator. In order that his ideas might have +the best possible expression the entire chapter was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +written several times in manuscript and carefully +rearranged and rephrased by Mr. Bauer in person.</p> + +<p>Some of the conferences lasted well on through the +night. The writer's twenty years' experience in +teaching was constantly needed to grasp different +shadings of meaning that some pianists found difficult +to phrase. Many indeed have felt their weakness in +the art of verbal expression and have rejoiced to have +their ideas clothed with fitting words. Complete +frankness and sincerity were encouraged in every +case. The results of the conference with Wilhelm +Bachaus, conceded by many other pianists to be the +foremost "technicalist" of the day, are, it will be +observed, altogether different in the statement of +teaching principles from those of Harold Bauer. +Each is a sincere expression of individual opinion and +the thoughtful student by weighing the ideas of both +may reach conclusions immensely to his personal +advantage.</p> + +<p>No wider range of views upon the subject of +pianoforte playing could possibly come between the +covers of a book. The student, the teacher, and the +music lover who acquaints himself with the opinions +of the different masters of the keyboard can not fail +to have a very clear insight into the best contemporary +ideas upon technic, interpretation, style and expression. +The author—or shall he call himself a collector?—believes +that the use of the questions following each +chapter will be found practical and useful in the work +of both clubs and classes. Practice, however, is still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +more important than precept. The student might +easily learn this book "by heart" and yet be unable +to play a perfect scale. Let him remember the words +of Locke:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +"Men of much reading are greatly learned: but may be +little knowing." +</div> + +<p>After all, the virtuoso is great because he really +knows and W-O-R-K-S.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<h2>PEPITO ARRIOLA</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Pepito Arriola was born on the 14th of December, +1897. A careful investigation of his ancestry reveals +that no less than twelve of his forefathers and relations +have been pronouncedly musical. His father was a +physician, but his mother was a musician. His early +musical training was given to him exclusively by his +mother. The following was prepared when he was +twelve years old and at that time he was apparently +a perfectly healthy child, with the normal activity +of a boy of his age and with a little more general education +in addition to his music than the average +child at fifteen or sixteen possesses. He spoke French, +German (fluently) and Spanish, but little English. +Despite the fact that he had received numerous honors +from European monarchs and famous musicians, he +was exceptionally modest. In his playing he seemed +never to miss a note in even very complicated compositions +and his musical maturity and point of view +were truly astonishing. The following is particularly +valuable from an educational standpoint, because of +the absolute unaffectedness of the child's narrative of +his own training.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in German +and French.)</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<a href="images/002.jpg"><img src="images/002th.jpg" width="250" height="400" alt="pepito arriola" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">pepito arriola</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h2>III</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY OF A WONDER CHILD</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>pepito arriola</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">My Earliest Recollections</span></h3> + +<p>So much that was of interest to me was continually +occurring while I was a child that it all seems like a +kind of haze to me. I cannot remember when I +first commenced to play, for my mother tells me that +I wanted to reach out for the keyboard before I was +out of her arms. I have also learned that when I was +about two and one-half years of age, I could quite +readily play after my mother anything that the size +of my hand would permit me to play.</p> + +<p>I loved music so dearly, and it was such fun to run +over the keyboard and make the pretty sounds, that +the piano was really my first and best toy. I loved to +hear my mother play, and continually begged her to +play for me so that I could play the same pieces after +her. I knew nothing of musical notation and played +entirely by ear, which seemed to me the most natural +way to play. At that time, word was sent to the +King of Spain that I showed talent, and he became +interested in me, and I played before him.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">My Friendship With Arthur Nikisch</span></h3> + +<p>A short time afterward, Herr Arthur Nikisch, conductor +of the <i>Gewandhaus</i> Orchestra at Leipsic, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +at one time conductor of the Boston Symphony +Orchestra in America, came to Madrid to conduct the +Philharmonic Orchestra for a special concert. Some +one told him about my playing and I was permitted to +play for him. He became so interested that he insisted +upon my being taken to Leipsic for further +study. I was then four years of age, and although +musical advantages in Spain are continually increasing, +my mother thought it best at the time that she +should follow the great musician's advice and that I +should be taken to the German city.</p> + +<p>I want to say that in my earliest work, my mother +made no effort to push me or urge me to go ahead. +I loved to play for the sake of playing, and needed no +coaxing to spend time at the keyboard. In my very +early years I was permitted to play in public very +little, although there were constant demands made +to engage me. I was looked upon as a kind of curiosity +and my mother wanted me to study in the +regular way with good masters, and also to acquire +more strength before I played in public very much.</p> + +<p>I did, however, play at the great Albert Hall, in +London. The big building holds 8000 people, but +that was so long ago that I have almost forgotten all +about it, except that they all seemed pleased to see a +little boy of four playing in so very big a place. I +also played for royal personages, including the +Kaiser of Germany, who was very good to me and +gave me a beautiful pin. I like the Kaiser very much. +He seems like a fine man.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">My First Regular Instruction</span></h3> + +<p>My first teacher, aside from my mother, was a +Herr Dreckendorf, of Leipsic. He was very kind to +me and took the greatest pains, but the idea of learning +the notes was very distasteful to me. I was terribly +bored with the technical exercises he gave me, +but have since learned that one can save much time +by practicing scales and exercises. Although I do +not like them, I practice them every day now, for a +little while, so as to get my fingers in good working +order.</p> + +<p>In about six weeks I knew all that was expected +of me in the way of scales in octaves, sixths, thirds, +double thirds, etc., and my teacher commenced to +turn his attention to studies and pieces. For the +first time I found musical notation interesting, for +then I realized that it was not necessary for me to +wait until some one else played a piece before I could +begin to explore its beauties. Ah! it was wonderful, +those first days with the pieces. I was in a new +country and could hardly wait to master one at a +time, so eager was I to reach the next one and see +just what it was like.</p> + +<p>Herr Dreckendorf gave me some studies by Dussek, +Cramer, the <i>Inventions</i> of Bach, etc., but before long +the fascination of playing beautiful pieces was so +great that he found it hard to keep me away from them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Early Repertory</span></h3> + +<p>So hungry was I to find new musical works that +when I was eight and a half years old I could play +from memory such pieces as the B flat minor Scherzo, +the A flat major Polonaise, and most of the Valses +and Études of Chopin. I also played the Sixth +Rhapsody of Liszt and the C minor Concerto of Beethoven.</p> + +<p>In the mean time we moved to Berlin and this has +been our home ever since, so you see I have seen +far more of Germany than of my native country, +Spain. In fact, it seems more natural for me to speak +German than Spanish. At the age of seven it was +my good fortune to come under the instruction of +Alberto Jonas, the Spanish virtuoso, who for many +years was at the head of a large music school in +America. I can never be grateful enough to him, for +he has taught me without remuneration and not +even a father could be kinder to me. When I left +Berlin for my present tour, tears came to our eyes, +because I knew I was leaving my best friend. Most +of my present repertory has been acquired under +Jonas and he has been so, so exacting.</p> + +<p>He also saw to it that my training was broad, and +not confined to those composers whose works appealed +most to me. The result is that I now appreciate +the works of all the composers for the piano. +Beethoven I found very absorbing. I learned the +<i>Appassionata Sonata</i> in one week's time, and longed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +for more. My teacher, however, insisted upon my +going slowly, and mastering all the little details.</p> + +<p>I have also developed a great fondness for Bach, +because I like to find how he winds his melodies in +and out, and makes such beautiful things of them. I +play a great deal of Bach, including the G minor +organ Fugue, which Liszt played the devil with in +arranging it for the piano. Goodness knows, it was +difficult enough for the organ in its original form! +I don't see why Liszt wanted to make it more difficult.</p> + +<p>Liszt is, of course, considered a great master for +the piano, and I play his works with great delight, +especially the <i>Campanella</i> with its beautiful bell +effect, but I cannot look upon Liszt as a pianistic +composer in the same way that one thinks of Chopin +as a pianistic composer. The piano was Chopin's +natural tongue. Liszt's tongue, like that of Beethoven, +was the orchestra. He knew no difficulties, +according to the manner in which he wrote his own +works. Consequently one must think of the orchestra +in playing Liszt's works, while the works of Chopin +suggest only the piano.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">My Daily Practice</span></h3> + +<p>During most of my life my practice has never +exceeded two hours a day. In this country, while +on tour, I never practice more than one and one-half +hours. This is not necessary, because of the concerts +themselves, which keep up my technical work. I +never worry about my fingers. If I can think the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +pieces right, my fingers will always play the notes. +My mother insists upon my being out in the open +air all the time I am not studying and practicing, +and I am out the better part of the day.</p> + +<p>At my practice periods, I devote at least fifteen +or twenty minutes to technical exercises, and strive +to play all the scales, in the different forms, in all +the keys, once each day. I then play some of my +concert numbers, continually trying to note if there +is any place that requires attention. If there is, I +at once spend a little time trying to improve the +passage.</p> + +<p>It is very largely a matter of thinking the musical +thought right, and then saying it in the right way. +If you think it right, and your aim at the keyboard is +good, you are not likely to hit the wrong notes, even +in skips such as one finds in the Rubinstein Valse +in E flat. I do not ever remember of hitting the +upper note wrong. It all seems so easy to me that +I am sure that if other children in America would +look upon other examples in the same way, they +could not find their work so very difficult. I love to +practice Chopin. One cannot be so intimate with +Bach; he is a little cold and unfriendly until one +knows him very well.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">General Education</span></h3> + +<p>I have said that we play as we think. The mind +must be continually improved or the fingers will +grow dull. In order to see the beauties in music<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +we must see the beauties in other studies. I have +a private teacher who comes to me in Berlin and +teaches me different studies. I have studied some +Latin, French, and the regular school studies. Electricity +interests me more than I can tell you and I +like to learn about it, but my greatest interest is in +the study of astronomy. Surely nothing could be +finer than to look at the stars. I have friends among +the astronomers of Berlin who let me look through +their telescopes and tell me all about the different +constellations and the worlds that look like moons +when you see them enlarged. It is all so wonderful +that it makes one never cease thinking.</p> + +<p>I also like to go to factories and learn how different +things are made. I think that there are so many +things that one can learn outside of a school-room. +For instance, I went to a wire factory recently, and +I am sure that I found out a great many things I +might never have found out in books. One also +learns by traveling, and when I am on my tours +I feel that I learn more of the different people and the +way they live than I ever could from geographies. +Don't you think I am a lucky boy? One must study +geography, however, to learn about maps and the +way in which countries are formed. I have toured in +Germany, Russia, and England, and now in America. +America interests me wonderfully. Everything seems +so much alive and I like the climate very much.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Theoretical Studies</span></h3> + +<p>Musical theory bores me now, almost as much as +my first technical studies did. Richard Strauss, the +great German composer, has very kindly offered to +teach me. I like him very much and he is so kind, but +his thundering musical effects sometimes seems very +noisy to me. I know many of the rules of harmony, +but they are very uncomfortable and disagreeable to +me.</p> + +<p>I would far rather write my music as it comes to +me. Herr Nikisch says that when I do it that way, I +make very few blunders, but I know I can never be a +composer until I have mastered all the branches of +musical theory. I am now writing a symphony. I +played some parts for Herr Nikisch and he has agreed +to produce it. Of course, the orchestral parts will have +to be written for me, but I know what instruments I +want to express certain ideas.</p> + +<p>Putting down the notes upon paper is so tiresome. +Why can't one think the musical thoughts and have +them preserved without the tedious work of writing +them out! Sometimes before I can get them on paper +they are gone—no one knows where, and the worst of +all is that they never come back. It is far greater +fun to play the piano, or play football, or go rowing.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Reading and Study</span></h3> + +<p>I love to read, and my favorite of all books is <i>The +Three Musketeers</i>. I have also read something of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, and many other writers. +I like parts of the great Spanish novel <i>Don Quixote</i>, +but I find it hard to read as a whole. I think that +music students ought to read a great deal. It makes +them think, and it gives them poetical thoughts.</p> + +<p>Music is, after all, only another kind of poetry, and +if we get poetical ideas from books we become more +poetical, and our music becomes more beautiful. The +student who thinks only of hammering down keys at +the piano cannot play in a manner in which people +will take pleasure. Piano playing is so much more +than merely pressing down keys. One has to tell +people things that cannot be told in words—that is +what music is.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">At the Concert</span></h3> + +<p>I do not know what it is to be nervous at concerts. +I have played so much and I am always so sure of +what I am going to play that nervousness is out of the +question. Of course, I am anxious about the way in +which audiences will receive my playing. I want to +please them so much and don't want them to applaud +me because I am a boy, but would rather have them +come as real music-lovers to enjoy the music itself. +If I cannot bring pleasure to them in that way I do +not deserve to be before the public.</p> + +<p>My concerts are usually about one hour in length, +although I sometimes play encores for some time after +the concert. I make it a practice not to eat for a few +hours before the concert, as doctors have told my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +mother that my mind will be in better shape. I want +to thank the many friends I have made among the +students who have come to my concerts, and I hope +that I may have told them some things which will +help them in their work.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES I</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">pepito arriola</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series1"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Should the talented child be urged or pushed ahead?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>In what period of time should a very talented child master the elementary outlines of technic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Can Liszt be regarded as a pianistic composer in the same sense as that in which Chopin is considered pianistic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>How should a very talented child's practice time be divided?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What part does right thinking play in execution?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>How should the child's general education be conducted?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Should the education be confined to the classroom?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Should the musical child be encouraged to read fiction?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Does music resemble poetry?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Should one be careful about the body before concerts?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 246px;"> +<a href="images/003.jpg"><img src="images/003th.jpg" width="246" height="400" alt="wilhelm bachaus" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">wilhelm bachaus</span> +</div> + + +<h2>WILHELM BACHAUS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Wilhelm Bachaus was born at Leipsic, March +24, 1884, two years before the death of Franz Liszt. +Nine years younger than Josef Hofmann and a trifle +more than one-half the age of Paderewski he represents +a different decade from that of other pianists +included in this work. Bachaus studied for nine +years with Alois Reckendorf, a Moravian teacher +who was connected with the Leipsic Conservatory for +more than thirty years. Reckendorf had been a student +of science and philosophy at the Vienna and the +Heidelberg Universities and was an earnest musician +and teacher with theories of his own. He took an +especial interest in Bachaus and was his only teacher +with the exception of one year spent with d'Albert +and "three lessons with Siloti." Although Bachaus +commenced playing when he was eight years old he +feels that his professional <i>début</i> was made in London +in June, 1901, when he played the tremendously difficult +Brahms-Paganini Variations. In 1905, when Bachaus +was only twenty-one, he won the famous Rubinstein +Prize at Paris. This consists of 5000 francs offered +every five years to young men between the ages of +twenty and twenty-six.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in English +and German.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE PIANIST OF TO-MORROW</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>wilhelm bachaus</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">To-day, Yesterday and To-morrow</span></h3> + +<p>"It is somewhat surprising how very little difference +exists between the material used in piano teaching +to-day and that employed forty or fifty years ago. +Of course, there has been a remarkable amount of +new technical material, exercises, studies, etc., devised, +written and published, and some of this presents the +advantage of being an improvement upon the old—an +improvement which may be termed an advance—but, +taken all in all, the advance has been very slight +when compared with the astonishing advances made +in other sciences and other phases of human progress +in this time.</p> + +<p>"It would seem that the science of music (for the +processes of studying the art are undoubtedly scientific) +left little territory for new explorers and inventors. +Despite the great number of études that +have been written, imagine for one moment what a +desert the technic of music would be without Czerny, +Clementi, Tausig, Pischna—to say nothing of the +great works of Scarlatti and Bach, which have an +effect upon the technic, but are really great works of +musical art.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Wonderful Efficacy of Scales</span></h3> + +<p>"Personally, I practice scales in preference to all +other forms of technical exercises when I am preparing +for a concert. Add to this arpeggios and Bach, +and you have the basis upon which my technical +work stands. Pianists who have been curious about +my technical accomplishments have apparently been +amazed when I have told them that scales are my great +technical mainstay—that is, scales plus hard work. +They evidently have thought that I had some kind of +alchemic secret, like the philosopher's stone which was +designed to turn the baser metals into gold. I possess +no secrets which any earnest student may not acquire +if he will work in the laboratory of music long enough. +There are certain artistic points which only come with +long-continued experiment.</p> + +<p>"As the chemist finds the desired result by interminable +heart-breaking eliminations, so the artist +must weigh and test his means until he finds the one +most likely to produce the most beautiful or the most +appropriate result. But this seeking for the right +effect has little to do with the kind of technic which +necessitates one to keep every muscle employed in +piano-playing properly exercised, and I may reiterate +with all possible emphasis that the source of my +technical equipment is scales, scales, scales. I find +their continued daily practice not only beneficial, but +necessary. I still find it desirable to practice scales +for half an hour a day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Bach Musically Omnipotent</span></h3> + +<p>"It seems almost foolish to repeat what has been +said so many times about the wonderful old cantor +of Leipsic, Johann Sebastian Bach. However, there +may still be some who have not yet become acquainted +with the indisputable fact that the practice of Bach is +the shortest, quickest road to technical finish. Busoni +has enlarged upon Bach, impossible as that may seem; +but as a modern bridge is sometimes built upon wonderful +old foundations, Busoni has taken the idea of +Bach and, with his penetrative and interpretative +ability, has been able to make the meaning more clear +and more effective. Any young pianist who aspires +to have his hands in condition to respond to the subtle +suggestions of his brain may acquire a marvelous +foundation by the use of scales, Bach and arpeggios.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Old That Is Ever New</span></h3> + +<p>"I have seen many ways and means tried out. Some +seem like an attempt to save time at the expense of +thoroughness. Furthermore, the means which have +produced the great pianists of the past are likely to +differ but little from those which will produce the +pianists of the future.</p> + +<p>"The ultra-modern teacher who is inclined to think +scales old-fashioned should go to hear de Pachmann, +who practices scales every day. De Pachmann, who +has been a virtuoso for a great many years, still finds +daily practice necessary, and, in addition to scales,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +he plays a great deal of Bach. To-day his technic is +more powerful and more comprehensive than ever, +and he attributes it in a large measure to the simplest +of means.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Difficulties in New Pianoforte Compositions</span></h3> + +<p>"I have often been asked if the future of pianoforte +composition seemed destined to alter the technic of the +instrument, as did the compositions of Liszt, for +instance. This is a difficult question, but it would +seem that the borderland of pianistic difficulty had +been reached in the compositions and transcriptions +of Busoni and Godowsky. The new French school of +Debussy, Ravel and others is different in type, but +does not make any more severe technical demands.</p> + +<p>"However, it is hard for one to imagine anything +more complicated or more difficult than the Godowsky +arrangements of the Chopin studies. I fail to see +how pianoforte technic can go much beyond these, +unless one gets more fingers or more hands. Godowsky's +treatment of these studies is marvelous not +only from a technical standpoint, but from a musical +standpoint as well. He has added a new flavor to the +individual masterpieces of Chopin. He has made +them wonderfully clever and really very interesting +studies in harmony and counterpoint, so that one +forgets their technical intricacies in the beauty of the +compositions. One cannot say that their original +beauty has been enhanced, but he has made them +wonderfully fascinating compositions despite their +aggravating complications for the student.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Mere Difficulty No Longer Astounds</span></h3> + +<p>"The day when the show of startling technical +skill was sufficient to make a reputation for a pianist +is, fortunately, past. The mechanical playing devices +have possibly been responsible for this. The public +refuses to admire anything that can be done by a +machine, and longs for something finer, more subtle, +more closely allied to the soul of the artist. This does +not mean, however, that the necessity for a comprehensive +technic is depreciated. Quite the contrary +is true. The need for an all-comprehensive technic +is greater than ever before. But the public demand +for the purely musical, the purely artistic, is being +continually manifested.</p> + +<p>"Modern composers are writing with this in view +rather than huge technical combinations. The giant +of to-day, to my mind, is indisputably Rachmaninoff. +He is writing the greatest original music for piano +of any living composer. All of his compositions are +pianistic and he does not condescend to pander to a +trifling public taste. He is a man with a great mind, +and, in addition to this, he has a delightful sense of +proportion and a feeling for the beautiful, all of which +makes him a composer of the master mould. His +compositions will endure as long as music.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Modern Compositions</span></h3> + +<p>"For others of the type of Scriabine I care less, +although I am sensible to the beauty of many of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +compositions. They have not, however, the splendid +mould of Rachmaninoff, nor have they his vigorous +originality. Doubtless some of these men will produce +great original compositions in the future. Compositions +that are simply not bad are hardly worth the +paper they are written upon, for they will not last as +long. The composition that will last is a great, new, +original thought, inspired, noble and elemental, but +worked out with the distinctive craftsmanship of the +great master.</p> + +<p>"I am very partial to Debussy. He has an extraordinary +atmosphere, and, after one has formed a taste +for him, his compositions are alluring, particularly +his <i>Homage à Rameau</i>, <i>Jardins sous la pluie</i> and <i>D'un +cahier d'esquisses</i>, which I have been playing upon my +American tour.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Most Difficult Compositions</span></h3> + +<p>"I have continually been asked, 'What is the most +difficult composition?' The question always amuses +me, but I suppose it is very human and in line with +the desire to measure the highest building, the tallest +mountain, the longest river or the oldest castle. Why +is such a premium put upon mere difficulty? Strange +to say, no one ever seems to think it necessary to +inquire, 'What is the most beautiful piece?'</p> + +<p>"Difficulty in music should by no means be estimated +by technical complications. To play a Mozart +concerto well is a colossally difficult undertaking. +The pianist who has worked for hours to get such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +composition as near as possible to his conception of +perfection is never given the credit for his work, except +by a few connoisseurs, many of whom have been +through a similarly exacting experience. Months +may be spent upon comparatively simple compositions, +such as the Haydn Sonatas or the Mozart Sonatas, +and the musical public is blind to the additional +finish or polish so evident to the virtuoso.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Praise That Irritates</span></h3> + +<p>"The opposite of this is also true. A little show of +bravura, possibly in a passage which has not cost the +pianist more than ten minutes of frivolous practice, +will turn many of the unthinking auditors into a +roaring mob. This is, of course, very distressing to +the sincere artist who strives to establish himself by +his real worth.</p> + +<p>"Of course, there are some compositions which +present difficulties which few work hard enough to +surmount. Among these might be mentioned the +Godowsky-Chopin <i>études</i> (particularly the <i>étude</i> in +A flat, Opus 25, No. 1, which is always especially +exasperating for the student sufficiently advanced to +approach it); the <i>Don Juan Fantasie</i> of Liszt; the +Brahms-Paganini <i>variations</i> and the Beethoven, Opus +106, which, when properly played, demands enormous +technical skill. One certainly saves a lot of bother +when one discards it from one's repertoire. If these +four pieces are not the most difficult pieces, they are +certainly among the most difficult.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Why Not Seek the Beautiful?</span></h3> + +<p>"But why seek difficulty when there is so much that +is quite as beautiful and yet not difficult? Why try +to make a bouquet of oak trees when the ground is +covered with exquisite flowers? The piano is a solo +instrument and has its limitations. Some piano +music is said to sound orchestral. As a matter of +fact, a great deal of it would sound better with the +orchestra.</p> + +<p>"Real piano music is rare. The piano appears to be +too small for some of our modern Titans among the +composers. When they write for the piano they seem +to be exhibiting a concealed longing for the one +hundred or more men of the modern orchestra. One +of the reasons why the works of Debussy appeal to +me is that he manages to put so much color into his +piano pieces without suggesting the orchestra. Much +of his music is wonderful in this respect, and, moreover, +the musicians of the future will appreciate this fact +more and more.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Exercises That Give Immediate Help</span></h3> + +<p>"No one exercise can be depended upon to meet all +the varied conditions which arise in the practice of the +day, but I have frequently employed a simple exercise +which seems to 'coax' the hand into muscular activity +in a very short time. It is so simple that I am diffident +about suggesting it. However, elemental processes +lead to large structures sometimes. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +Egyptian pyramids were built ages before the age of +steam and electricity, and scientists are still wondering +how those massive stones were ever put in place.</p> + +<p>"The exercise I use most, apart from scales, is really +based upon a principle which is constantly employed +in all scale playing and in all piano playing, that of +putting the thumb over and under the fingers. Did +you ever stop to think how continually this is employed? +One hardly goes one step beyond the +elemental grades before one encounters it. It demands +a muscular action entirely different from that +of pressing down the keys either with the finger, forearm +or arm motion.</p> + +<p>"Starting with the above-named principle and +devising new exercises to meet the very human need +for variety, I play something like this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/004a.jpg" width="600" height="112" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"The next form would employ another fingering—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/004b.jpg" width="000" height="115" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"The next form might be—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/004c.jpg" width="600" height="120" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"These I transpose through several keys, for instance—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/005.jpg" width="600" height="218" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Note that I am not giving an arbitrary exercise, +but simply suggesting the plan upon which the student +may work. There is a great deal of fun in devising +new exercises. It assists in helping the student to +concentrate. Of course, these exercises are only attempted +after all the standard exercises found in +books have been exhausted.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Avoid Too Complicated Exercises</span></h3> + +<p>"I often think that teachers make a great mistake +by giving too complicated exercises. A complicated +exercise leads away from clear thinking and concentration. +The simple exercise will never seem dull or +dry if the pupil's ambition is right. After all, it is +not so much what is done as how it is done. Give +less thought to the material and more to the correction +of the means with which one plays. There +should be unceasing variety in studies. A change at +every practice period is advisable, as it gives the pupil +new material for thought. There are hundreds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +different exercises in the different books, and the student +has no reason for suffering for want of variety."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES II</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">wilhelm bachaus</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series2"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Does the technical material of to-day differ greatly from that of forty or fifty years ago?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>State something of the efficacy of scales.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>State three sources of technical material sure to interest the student.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Do celebrated virtuosos use scales regularly?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>State what else besides technical skill is required in these days to gain recognition as a virtuoso pianist.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Why does Rachmaninoff excel as a composer for pianoforte?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>State what may be considered the most difficult of piano compositions.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Wherein does the appeal of Debussy lie?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Give some simple exercises suitable for daily practice.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Why are too complicated exercises undesirable?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;"> +<a href="images/006.jpg"><img src="images/006th.jpg" width="259" height="400" alt="harold bauer" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">harold bauer</span> +</div> + + +<h2>HAROLD BAUER</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Harold Bauer was born in London, England, April +28, 1875. His father was an accomplished amateur +violinist. Through him, the future virtuoso was +enabled to gain an excellent idea of the beautiful +literature of chamber music. When a boy Mr. +Bauer studied privately with the celebrated violin +teacher, Politzer. At the age of ten he became so +proficient that he made his <i>début</i> as a violinist in +London. Thereafter in his tours of England he met +with great success everywhere.</p> + +<p>In the artistic circles of London Mr. Bauer met a +musician named Graham Moore, who gave him some +idea upon the details of the technic of pianoforte +playing, which Mr. Bauer had studied or rather +"picked up" by himself, without any thought of ever +abandoning his career as a violinist. Mr. Moore had +expected to rehearse some orchestral accompaniments +on a second piano with Paderewski, who was then +preparing some concertos for public performance. +Mr. Moore was taken ill and sent his talented musical +friend, Mr. Bauer, in his place. Paderewski immediately +took an interest in his talented accompanist and +advised him to go to Paris to continue his studies with +Gorski.</p> + +<p>After many privations in Paris Mr. Bauer, unable +to secure engagements as a violinist, went on a tour +of Russia as an accompanist of a singer. In some of +the smaller towns Bauer played an occasional piano +solo. Returning to Paris, he found that he was still +unable to secure engagements as a violinist. His +pianistic opportunity came when a celebrated virtuoso +who was to play at a concert was taken ill and Bauer +was asked to substitute. He gradually gave more +attention to the piano and rose to a very high position +in the tone world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> +<h2>V</h2> + +<h3>ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>harold bauer</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Immediate Relation of Technic To Music</span></h3> + +<p>"While it gives me great pleasure to talk to the +great number of students studying the piano, I +can assure you that it is with no little diffidence that +I venture to approach these very subjects about +which they are probably most anxious to learn. In +the first place, words tell very little, and in the second +place, my whole career has been so different from the +orthodox methods that I have been constantly compelled +to contrive means of my own to meet the +myriads of artistic contingencies as they have arisen +in my work. It is largely for this reason that I felt +compelled recently to refuse a very flattering offer +to write a book on piano playing. My whole life +experience makes me incapable of perceiving what the +normal methods of pianistic study should be. As a +result of this I am obliged with my own pupils to +invent continually new means and new plans for work +with each student.</p> + +<p>"Without the conventional technical basis to work +upon, this has necessarily resulted in several aspects +of pianoforte study which are naturally somewhat +different from the commonly accepted ideas of the +technicians. In the first place, the only technical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +study of any kind I have ever done has been that +technic which has had an immediate relation to the +musical message of the piece I have been studying. +In other words, I have never studied technic independently +of music. I do not condemn the ordinary +technical methods for those who desire to use them and +see good in them. I fear, however, that I am unable +to discuss them adequately, as they are outside of +my personal experience.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Aim of Technic</span></h3> + +<p>"When, as a result of circumstances entirely beyond +my control, I abandoned the study of the violin in +order to become a pianist, I was forced to realize, in +view of my very imperfect technical equipment, that +in order to take advantage of the opportunities that +offered for public performance it would be necessary +for me to find some means of making my playing +acceptable without spending months and probably +years in acquiring mechanical proficiency. The only +way of overcoming the difficulty seemed to be to +devote myself entirely to the musical essentials of +the composition I was interpreting in the hope that +the purely technical deficiencies which I had neither +time nor knowledge to enable me to correct would +pass comparatively unnoticed, provided I was able to +give sufficient interest and compel sufficient attention +to the emotional values of the work. This kind of +study, forced upon me in the first instance through +reasons of expediency, became a habit, and gradually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +grew into a conviction that it was a mistake to practice +technic at all unless such practice should conduce +to some definite, specific and immediate musical result.</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to be misunderstood in making this +statement, containing, as it does, an expression of +opinion that was formed in early years of study, but +which, nevertheless, I have never since felt any reason +to change. It is not my intention to imply that +technical study is unnecessary, or that purely muscular +training is to be neglected. I mean simply to say that +in every detail of technical work the germ of musical +expression must be discovered and cultivated, and that +in muscular training for force and independence the +simplest possible forms of physical exercises are all +that is necessary.</p> + +<p>"The singer and the violinist are always studying +<i>music</i>, even when they practice a succession of single +notes. Not so with the pianist, however, for an +isolated note on the piano, whether played by the most +accomplished artist or the man in the street, means +nothing, absolutely nothing.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Seeking Individual Expression</span></h3> + +<p>"At the time of which I speak, my greatest difficulty +was naturally to give a constant and definite direction +to my work and in my efforts to obtain a suitable +muscular training which should enable me to produce +expressive sounds, while I neglected no opportunity of +closely observing the work of pianoforte teachers and +students around me. I found that most of the techni<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>cal +work which was being done with infinite pains and +a vast expenditure of time was not only non-productive +of expressive sounds, but actually harmful and misleading +as regards the development of the musical +sense. I could see no object in practicing evenness in +scales, considering that a perfectly even scale is essentially +devoid of emotional (musical) significance. I +could see no reason for limiting tone production to a +certain kind of sound that was called 'a good tone,' +since the expression of feeling necessarily demands in +many cases the use of relatively harsh sounds. Moreover, +I could see no reason for trying to overcome +what are generally called natural defects, such as the +comparative weakness of the fourth finger for example, +as it seemed to me rather a good thing than otherwise +that each finger should naturally and normally possess +a characteristic motion of its own.</p> + +<p>"It is <i>differences</i> that count in art, not similarities. +Every individual expression is a form of art; why not, +then, make an artist of each finger by cultivating its +special aptitudes instead of adapting a system of training +deliberately calculated to destroy these individual +characteristics in bringing <i>all</i> the fingers to a common +level of lifeless machines?</p> + +<p>"These and similar reflections, I discovered, were +carrying me continually farther away from the ideals +of most of the pianists, students and teachers with +whom I was in contact, and it was not long before I +definitely abandoned all hope of obtaining, by any +of the means I found in use, the results for which I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +striving. Consequently, from that time to the present +my work has necessarily been more or less independent +and empirical in its nature, and, while I trust I am +neither prejudiced nor intolerant in my attitude towards +pianoforte education in its general aspect, I +cannot help feeling that a great deal of natural taste +is stifled and a great deal of mediocrity created by the +persistent and unintelligent study of such things as an +'even scale' or a 'good tone.'</p> + +<p>"Lastly, it is quite incomprehensible to me why any +one method of technic should be superior to any other, +considering that as far as I was able to judge, no +teacher or pupil ever claimed more for any technical +system than that it gave more technical ability than +some other technical system. I have never been able +to convince myself, as a matter of fact, that one system +does give more ability than another; but even if there +were one infinitely superior to all the rest, it would +still fail to satisfy me unless its whole aim and object +were to facilitate musical expression.</p> + +<p>"Naturally, studying in this way required my +powers of concentration to be trained to the very +highest point. This matter of concentration is far +more important than most teachers imagine, and the +perusal of some standard work on psychology will +reveal things which should help the student greatly. +Many pupils make the mistake of thinking that only a +certain kind of music demands concentration, whereas +it is quite as necessary to concentrate the mind upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +the playing of a simple scale as for the study of a +Beethoven sonata.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Resistance of the Medium</span></h3> + +<p>"In every form of art the medium that is employed +offers a certain resistance to perfect freedom of expression, +and the nature of this resistance must be +fully understood before it can be overcome. The +poet, the painter, the sculptor and the musician each +has his own problem to solve, and the pianist in particular +is frequently brought to the verge of despair +through the fact that the instrument, in requiring the +expenditure of physical and nervous energy, absorbs, +so to speak, a large proportion of the intensity which +the music demands.</p> + +<p>"With many students the piano is only a barrier—a +wall between them and music. Their thoughts +never seem to penetrate farther than the keys. They +plod along for years apparently striving to make +piano-playing machines of themselves, and in the end +result in becoming something rather inferior.</p> + +<p>"Conditions are doubtless better now than in former +years. Teachers give studies with some musical value, +and the months, even years, of keyboard grind without +the least suggestion of anything musical or gratifying +to the natural sense of the beautiful are very probably +a thing of the past. But here again I fear the teachers +in many cases make a perverted use of studies and +pieces for technical purposes. If we practice a piece +of real music with no other idea than that of develop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>ing +some technical point it often ceases to become a +piece of music and results in being a kind of technical +machinery. Once a piece is mechanical it is difficult +to make it otherwise. All the cogs, wheels, bolts and +screws which an overzealous ambition to become perfect +technically has built up are made so evident that +only the most patient and enduring kind of an audience +can tolerate them.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Perversion of Studies</span></h3> + +<p>"People talk about 'using the music of Bach' to +accomplish some technical purpose in a perfectly +heart-breaking manner. They never seem to think +of interpreting Bach, but, rather, make of him a kind +of technical elevator by means of which they hope to +reach some marvelous musical heights. We even hear +of the studies of Chopin being perverted in a similarly +vicious manner, but Bach, the master of masters, is +the greatest sufferer.</p> + +<p>"It has become a truism to say that technic is only +a means to an end, but I very much doubt if this +assertion should be accepted without question, +suggesting as it does the advisability of studying something +that is not music and which is believed at some +future time to be capable of being marvelously transformed +into an artistic expression. Properly understood, +<i>technic is art</i>, and must be studied as such. +There should be no technic in music which is not music +<i>in itself</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Unit of Musical Expression</span></h3> + +<p>"The piano is, of all instruments, the least expressive +naturally, and it is of the greatest importance that the +student should realize the nature of its resistance. +The action of a piano is purely a piece of machinery +where the individual note has no meaning. When the +key is once struck and the note sounded there is a +completed action and the note cannot then be modified +nor changed in the least. The only thing over which +the pianist has any control is the length of the tone, +and this again may not last any longer than the natural +vibrations of the strings, although it may be shortened +by relinquishing the keys. It makes no difference +whether the individual note is struck by a child or by +Paderewski—it has in itself no expressive value. In +the case of the violin, the voice and all other instruments +except the organ, the individual note may be +modified after it is emitted or struck, and in this modification +is contained the possibility of a whole world +of emotional expression.</p> + +<p>"Our sole means of expression, then, in piano playing +lies in the relation of one note to the other notes in +a series or in a chord. Herein lies the difficulty, the +resistance to perfect freedom of which I have spoken +before, the principal subject for intelligence and careful +study, and yet so few students appear to understand +it. Their great effort seems to be to make all +the noise in a given series as much alike as coins from +a mint. They come to the piano as their only instru<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>ment, +and never seek to take a lesson from the voice +or from the other instruments which have expressive +resources infinitely superior to those possessed by the +piano. The principal charm of the piano lies in the +command which the player has over many voices +singing together. But until the pianist has a regard +for the individual voice in its relation to the ensemble +he has no means with which to make his work really +beautiful.</p> + +<p>"There is a great need for more breadth in music +study. This, as I know, has been said very often, but +it does not hurt to say it again. The more a man +knows, the more he has experienced, the wider his +mental vision in all branches of human information, +the more he will have to say. We need men in music +with big minds, wide grasp and definite aims. Musicians +are far too prone to become overspecialized. +They seem to have an unquenchable thirst to master +the jargon and the infinite variety of methods which +are thrust upon us in these days rather than a genuine +desire to develop their musical aims. Music is +acquiring a technology as confusing and as extensive +as bacteriology. There seems to be no end to the new +kinds of methods in the minds of furtive and fertile +inventors. Each new method in turn seems to breed +another, and so on <i>ad nauseam</i>.</p> + +<p>"Among other things I would suggest the advisability +for pianists to cultivate some knowledge of the +construction of their instrument. Strange as it may +seem, it is nevertheless a fact that the average pianist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +knows practically nothing of a piano, being in many +cases entirely unaware of such simple things as how +the tone is produced. The function of the pedals is +as unknown to them as geology is to the coal heaver. +This ignorance leads frequently to the employment +of motions and methods that can only be characterized +as ridiculous in the extreme.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Music First, the Instrument Afterwards</span></h3> + +<p>"From the manner in which many ambitious and +earnest students play, it would seem that they had +their minds fixed upon something which could not be +conveyed to the world in any other form than that of +the sounds which come from the piano. Of course, the +piano has an idiom peculiarly its own, and some composers +have employed this idiom with such natural +freedom that their music suffers when transposed for +any other instrument. The music of Chopin is peculiarly +pianistic, but it is, first of all, music, and any one +of the wonderful melodies which came from the fertile +brain of the Polish-French genius could be played +upon one of many different instruments besides the +piano. The duty of the interpreter should surely be to +think of the composition as such, and to interpret it +primarily as music, irrespective of the instrument. +Some students sit down before the keyboard to 'play' +the piano precisely as though they were going to play +a game of cards. They have learned certain rules +governing the game, and they do not dare disobey +these rules. They think of rules rather than of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +ultimate result—the music itself. The idiom of the +Italian language is appropriate here. The Italians do +not say 'I play the piano,' but rather 'I sound the +piano.' (<i>Suono il pianoforte.</i>) If we had a little +more 'sounding' of the piano, that is, producing +real musical effects, and a little less playing on ivory +keys, the playing of our students would be more +interesting.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Variety the Spice of Art</span></h3> + +<p>"It can hardly be questioned that the genesis of all +musical art is to be found in song, the most natural, +the most fluent and the most beautiful form of musical +expression. How much every instrumentalist can +learn from the art of singing!</p> + +<p>"It is a physical impossibility for the voice to produce +two notes in succession exactly alike. They +may sound very similar, but there is a difference quite +perceptible to the highly trained ear. When a singer +starts a phrase a certain amount of motive power is +required to set the vocal apparatus in vibration. After +the first note has been attacked with the full force of +the breath, there is naturally not so much weight or +pressure left for the following notes. It is, however, +possible for the second note to be as loud, or even +louder, than the first note. But in order to obtain +the additional force on the second note, it is necessary +to compensate for the lack of force due to the loss +of the original weight or pressure by increasing what +might be called the nervous energy; that is to say,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +by expelling the breath with proportionately greater +speed.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Muscular and Nervous Energy</span></h3> + +<p>"The manifestation of nervous energy in this manner +is quite different from the manifestation of muscular +energy, although both are, of course, intimately +connected. Muscular energy begins at its maximum +and gradually diminishes to the point of exhaustion, +whereas nervous energy rises in an inconceivably +short space of time to its climax, and then drops +immediately to nothing. Nervous energy may be +said to be represented by an increased rapidity of +emission. It is what the athlete would call a 'spurt.'</p> + +<p>"What I have said about the voice applies equally +to all other instruments, the piano and the organ alone +excepted. It is obvious that the playing of the wind +instruments must be subjected to the limitations of the +breath, and in the case of the violin and the other +stringed instruments, where the bow supplies the +motive power, it is impossible for two notes played in +succession to sound absolutely alike. If the first +note of a phrase is attacked with the weight of the +whole bow behind it, the second note will follow with +just so much less weight, and if the violinist desires to +intensify any of the succeeding tones, he must do so +by the employment of the nervous energy I have mentioned, +when a difference in the quality of tone is +bound to result. The pianist should closely observe +and endeavor to imitate these characteristics, which so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +vividly convey the idea of organic life in all its infinite +variety, and which are inherent in every medium for +artistic expression.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Phrasing and Breathing</span></h3> + +<p>"It would take a book, and by no means a small one, +to go into this matter of phrasing which I am now +discussing. Even in such a book there would doubtless +be many points which would be open to assaults for +sticklers in psychological technology. I am not +issuing a propaganda or writing a thesis for the purpose +of having something to defend, but merely giving a +few offhand facts that have benefited me in my +work. However, it is my conviction that it is the +duty of the pianist to try to understand the analogy +to the physical limitations which surround the more +natural mediums of musical expression—the voice +and the violin—and to apply the result of his observations +to his piano playing.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Natural Effect of Emotions</span></h3> + +<p>"There is another relation between phrasing and +breathing which the student may investigate to +advantage. The emotions have a direct and immediate +effect upon the breath, and as the brain informs +the nervous system of new emotional impressions +the visible evidences may be first observed in the +breathing. It is quite unnecessary to go into the +physiology or psychology of this, but a little reflection +will immediately indicate what I mean.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is impossible to witness a disastrous accident +without showing mental agitation and excitement in +hurried breathing. Joy, anger, fear, love, tranquillity +and grief—all are characterized by different modes of +breathing, and a trained actor must study this with +great closeness.</p> + +<p>"The artist at the piano may be said to breathe +his phrases. A phrase that is purely contemplative +in character is breathed in a tranquil fashion without +any suggestion of nervous agitation. If we go +through the scale of expression, starting with contemplative +tranquillity, to the climax of dramatic +intensity, the breath will be emitted progressively +quicker and quicker. Every musical phrase has +some kind of expressive message to deliver. If a +perfectly tranquil phrase is given out in a succession +of short breaths, indicating, as they would, agitation, +it would be a contradiction, just as it would be perfectly +inhuman to suppose that in expressing dramatic +intensity it would be possible to breathe slowly.</p> + +<p>"In conclusion, I would urge students to cultivate +a very definite mental attitude as to what they really +desire to accomplish. Do you wish to make music? +If so, <i>think</i> music, and nothing but music, all the +time, down to the smallest detail even in technic. +Is your ambition to play scales, octaves, double notes +and trills? Then by all means concentrate your mind +on them to the exclusion of everything else, but do +not be surprised if, when, later on, you want to communicate +a semblance of life to your mechanical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +motions, you succeed in obtaining no more than the +jerky movements of a clock-work puppet."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES III</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">harold bauer</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series3"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What is the nature of the technical study done by Harold Bauer?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Should immediate musical results be sought in technical study?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Upon what principle is expression in art based?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Is the utmost concentration necessary in all piano playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How may the piano become a barrier between the student and musical expression?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>In what spirit should all studies be played?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Is the piano an expressive instrument?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Should pianists acquire a knowledge of the main feature in the construction of their instrument?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>How may variety in piano playing be achieved?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>How is phrasing related to breathing?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 277px;"> +<a href="images/007.jpg"><img src="images/007th.jpg" width="277" height="400" alt="f. bloomfield-zeisler" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">f. bloomfield-zeisler</span> +</div> + + + +<h2>FANNY BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler was born at Beilitz, +Austrian Silesia, July 16, 1866. Two years later +her parents took her to Chicago. Her first teachers +in Chicago were Bernhard Ziehn and Carl Wolfsohn. +At the age of ten she made a profound impression at a +public concert in Chicago. Two years later she had +the good fortune to meet Mme. Essipoff, who advised +her to go to Vienna to study with Theodore Leschetizky. +Accordingly she was taken to the Austrian +capital and remained under the instruction of the noted +pedagogue for five years. Starting with the year 1883, +she commenced a series of annual recitals and concerts +in different American cities which made her very +famous. In 1893 she toured Europe, attracting even +more attention than in the homeland. Since then she +made several tours of Europe and America, arousing +great enthusiasm wherever she appeared. Her emotional +force, her personal magnetism and her keen +processes of analysis compelled critics everywhere to +rank her with the foremost pianists of the day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> +<h2>VI</h2> + +<h3>APPEARING IN PUBLIC</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>fanny bloomfield-zeisler</span></h3> + + +<p>"The secret of success in the career of a virtuoso +is not easily defined. Many elements have to be considered. +Given great talent, success is not by any +means assured. Many seemingly extraneous qualities +must be cultivated; many mistakes must be +avoided.</p> + +<p>"Let me start out with a caution. No greater mistake +could possibly be made than to assume that +frequent public appearances or extended concert +touring in early youth is essential to a great career +as a virtuoso. On the contrary, I would say that +such a course is positively harmful. The 'experience' +of frequent playing in public is essential if one +would get rid of stage fright or undue nervousness +and would gain that repose and self-confidence without +which success is impossible. But such experience +should be had only after the attainment of +physical and mental maturity. A young boy or girl, +though ever so much of a prodigy, if taken on an extensive +concert tour, not only becomes unduly self-conscious, +conceited, vain and easily satisfied with his +or her work, but—and this is the all-important point—runs +the risk of undermining his or her health. The +precious days of youth should be devoted primarily to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +the storing up of health, without which lasting success is +impossible. Nothing is more harmful to sound physical +development and mental growth than the strain of +extensive tours. It is true that one great virtuoso +now before the public played frequently before large +audiences as an infant prodigy. But, happily, wise +and efficient influences served to check this mad +career. The young artist was placed in the hands of a +great teacher and given a chance to reach full physical +maturity and artistic stature before resuming public +appearances. Had it been otherwise, it is a matter +of common belief that this great talent would have +fizzled out.</p> + +<p>"By this I do not mean that the pupil should be +prevented from playing at recitals in the home city. +Playing of this kind gives the pupil confidence and +smooths the way for his work as a mature artist. +These performances should be rare, except in the +case of performances given in the home of the pupil +or at the teacher's home. What I object to is the +exploitation on a large scale of the infant prodigy.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Thorough Preparation Necessary</span></h3> + +<p>"One of the real secrets of success in public appearance +is thorough preparation. In fact there is no +talisman, no secret that one can pass over to another +and say, 'Here is my secret, go thou and do +likewise.' What a valuable secret it would be—the +mysterious secret processes of the Krupp Gun Works +in Germany would be trifling in comparison. Genu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>ine +worth is, after all, the great essential, and thorough +preparation leads to genuine worth. For instance, +I have long felt that the mental technic that the study +of Bach's inventions and fugues afford could not be +supplied by any other means. The peculiar polyphonic +character of these works trains the mind to +recognize the separate themes so ingeniously and +beautifully interwoven and at the same time the +fingers receive a kind of discipline which hardly any +other study can secure.</p> + +<p>"The layman can hardly conceive how difficult it +is to play at the same time two themes different in +character and running in opposite directions. The +student fully realizes this difficulty when he finds that +it takes years to master it. These separate themes +must be individualized; they must be conceived as +separate, but their bearing upon the work as a whole +must never be overlooked.</p> + +<p>"The purity of style to be found in Bach, in connection +with his marvelous contrapuntal designs, +should be expounded to the student at as early an +age as his intellectual development will permit. It +may take some time to create a taste for Bach, but +the teacher will be rewarded with results so substantial +and permanent that all the trouble and time +will seem well worth while.</p> + +<p>"There is also a refining influence about which I +would like to speak. The practice of Bach seems +to fairly grind off the rough edges, and instead of +a raw, bungling technic the student acquires a kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +of finish from the study of the old master of Eisenach +that nothing else can give him.</p> + +<p>"I do not mean to be understood that the study of +Bach, even if it be ever so thorough, suffices in itself +to give one a perfect technic. Vastly more is +necessary. The student who would fit himself for +a concert career must have the advice of a great +teacher and must work incessantly and conscientiously +under his guidance. I emphasize the study of Bach +merely because I find it is not pursued as much as it +deserves. That technical finish is of the very essence +of success in public appearance, goes without saying. +It is not only indispensable for a creditable performance, +but the consciousness of possessing it contributes +to that confidence of the player without which +he cannot hope to make an impression upon his +audience.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Leschetizky and 'Method'</span></h3> + +<p>"Speaking about teachers reminds me to put forth +this caution: Do not pin your faith to a method. +There is good and, alas! some bad in most methods. +We hear a great deal these days about the Leschetizky +method. During the five years I was with +Leschetizky, he made it very plain that he had no +fixed method in the ordinary sense of the word. Like +every good teacher, he studied the individuality of +each pupil and taught him according to that individuality. +It might almost be said that he had a +different method for each pupil, and I have often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +said that Leschetizky's method is to have no fixed +method. Of course, there are certain preparatory +exercises which with slight variations he wants all his +pupils to go through. But it is not so much the +exercises in themselves as the patience and painful +persistence in executing them to which they owe their +virtue. Of course, Leschetizky has his preference +for certain works for their great educational value. +He has his convictions as to the true interpretation to +be given to the various compositions, but those do not +form what may properly be called a method. Personally, +I am rather skeptical when anybody announces +that he teaches any particular method. Leschetizky, +without any particular method, is a great force by +virtue of his tremendously interesting personality +and his great qualities as an artist. He is himself a +never-ending source of inspiration. At eighty he +was still a youth, full of vitality and enthusiasm. +Some student, diffident but worthy, was always +encouraged; another was incited by sarcasm; still +another was scolded outright. Practical illustration +on the piano, showing 'how not to do it,' telling of +pertinent stories to elucidate a point, are among the +means which he constantly employed to bring out the +best that was in his pupils. A good teacher cannot insure +success and Leschetizky has naturally had +many pupils who will never become great virtuosos. +It was never in the pupils and, no matter how great +the teacher, he cannot create talent that does not exist.</p> + +<p>"The many books published upon the Leschetiz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>ky +system by his assistants have merit, but they by +no means constitute a Leschetizky system. They +simply give some very rational preparatory exercise +that the assistants give in preparing pupils for the +master. Leschetizky himself laughs when one speaks +of his 'method' or 'system.'</p> + +<p>"Success in public appearance will never come +through any system or method except that which +works toward the end of making a mature and genuine +artist.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Well-selected Programs</span></h3> + +<p>"Skill in the arrangement of an artist's programs +has much to do with his success. This matter has +two distinct aspects. Firstly, the program must +<i>look</i> attractive, and secondly, it must <i>sound</i> well in +the rendition. When I say the program must look +attractive, I mean that it must contain works which +interest concert-goers. It should be neither entirely +conventional, nor should it contain novelties exclusively. +The classics should be represented, because +the large army of students expect to be especially +benefited by hearing these performed by a great artist. +Novelties must be placed on the program to make +it attractive to the maturer habitués of the concert +room.</p> + +<p>"But more important, to my mind, is the other +aspect of program making which I have mentioned. +There must be contrasts in the character and tonal +nature of the compositions played. They must be so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +grouped that the interest of the hearers will be not +only sustained to the end, but will gradually increase. +It goes without saying that each composition +should have merit and worth as musical literature. +But beyond that, there should be variety in the character +of the different compositions: the classic, the +romantic, and the modern compositions should all be +given representation. To play several slow movements +or several vivacious movements in succession would +tend to tire the listener. Anti-climaxes should be +avoided.</p> + +<p>"It may truly be said that program making is in +itself a high art. It is difficult to give advice on this +subject by any general statement. Generalizations +are too often misleading. I would advise the young +artist to study carefully the programs of the most +successful artists and to attempt to discover the principle +underlying their arrangement.</p> + +<p>"One thing which should never be forgotten is that +the object of a concert is not merely to show off +the skill of the performer, but to instruct, entertain +and elevate the audience. The bulk of the program +should be composed of standard works, but novelties +of genuine worth should be given a place on the program.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Personality</span></h3> + +<p>"The player's personality is of inestimable importance +in winning the approval of the public. I do +not refer particularly to personal beauty, although it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +cannot be doubted that a pleasing appearance is helpful +in conquering an audience. What I mean is +sincerity, individuality, temperament. What we +vaguely describe as magnetism is often possessed by +players who can lay no particular claim to personal +beauty. Some players seem fairly to hypnotize their +audiences—yes, hypnotize them. This is not done by +practicing any species of black art, or by consciously +following any psychological formula, but by the sheer +intensity of feeling of the artist at the moment of +performance.</p> + +<p>"The great performer in such moments of passion +forgets himself entirely. He is in a sort of artistic +trance. Technical mastery of the composition being +presupposed, the artist need not and does not give +thought to the matter of playing the notes correctly, +but, re-creating in himself what he feels to have been +the mood of the composer, re-creates the composition +itself. It is this kind of playing which establishes +an invisible cord, connecting the player's and the +hearers' hearts, and, swayed himself by the feelings of +the moment, he sways his audience. He makes the +music he draws from the instrument supreme in every +soul in the audience; his feeling and passion are contagious +and carry the audience away. These are the +moments, not only of the greatest triumph, but of +the greatest exultation for the artist. He who cannot +thus sway audiences will never rise above mediocrity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Do Not Attempt the Impossible</span></h3> + +<p>"To those who are still in the preparatory stage +of development I am glad to give one word of advice. +<i>Do not play pieces that are away beyond your grasp.</i> +This is the greatest fault in our American musical +educational systems of to-day. Pupils are permitted +to play works that are technically impossible for +them to hope to execute without years of preparation. +What a huge blunder this is!</p> + +<p>"The pupil comes to the teacher, let us say, with +the <i>Second Hungarian Rhapsody</i> of Liszt. It takes +some fortitude for the conscientious teacher to tell the +pupil that she should work with the <i>C Major Sonata</i> +of Haydn instead. The pupil, with a kind of confidence +that is, to say the least, dangerous, imagines that +the teacher is trying to keep her back, and often goes +to another teacher who will gratify her whim.</p> + +<p>"American girls think that they can do everything. +Nothing is beyond them. This is a country of great +accomplishment, and they do not realize that in music +'Art is long.' The virtuoso comes to a great metropolis +and plays a Moszkowski concerto of great difficulty. +The next day the music stores exhaust their stocks +of this work, and a dozen misses, who might with +difficulty play a Mendelssohn <i>Song With Words</i>, +are buried in the avalanche of technical impossibilities +that the alluring concerto provides.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Foreign Débuts</span></h3> + +<p>"Unfortunately, a foreign <i>début</i> seems to be necessary +for the artist who would court the favor of +the American public. Foreign pianists get engagements +long before their managers in America ever +hear them. In the present state of affairs, if an +American pianist were to have the ability of three +Liszts and three Rubinsteins in one person, he could +only hope for meager reward if he did not have a +great European reputation behind him.</p> + +<p>"The condition is absurd and regrettable, but nevertheless +true. We have many splendid teachers in +America—as fine as there are in the world.</p> + +<p>"We have in our larger cities musical audiences +whose judgment is as discriminating as that of the best +European audiences. Many an artist with a great +European reputation has come to this country, and, +failing 'to make good' in the judgment of our critics +and audiences, went back with his reputation seriously +impaired. Nevertheless, as I have stated, the +American artist without a European reputation, +has no drawing power and therefore does not interest +the managers and the piano manufacturers, who nowadays +have largely supplanted the managers. This +being so, I can only advise the American artist to do +as others had to do. Go to Europe; give a few +concerts in Berlin, London, Vienna or Paris. Let +the concert director who arranges your concerts +paper the house, but be sure you get a few critics in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +the audience. Have your criticisms translated, and +get them republished in American papers. Then, if +you have real merit, you may get a chance.</p> + +<p>"The interest in music in the United States at the +present time is phenomenal. European peoples +have no conception of it. Nowhere in the world can +such interest be found. Audiences in different parts +of the country do not differ very greatly from the +standpoint of intelligent appreciation. When we +consider the great uncultured masses of peasants in +Europe and the conditions of our own farmers, +especially in the West, there is no basis of comparison. +America is already a musical country, a very musical +country. It is only in its failure to properly support +native musicians that we are subject to criticism.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Practical Suggestions</span></h3> + +<p>"To the young man or woman who would learn +'The Secret of Public Appearance' I would say:</p> + +<p>"1. Look deeply into your natural qualifications. +Use every morsel of judgment you possess to endeavor +to determine whether you are talented or +simply 'clever' at music. Court the advice of unbiased +professional musicians and meditate upon the +difficulties leading to a successful career, and do not +decide to add one more musician to the world until +you are confident of your suitability for the work. +Remember that this moment of decision is a very +important time and that you may be upon the threshold +of a dangerous mistake. Remember that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +are thousands of successful and happy teachers for +one successful virtuoso.</p> + +<p>"2. After you have determined to undertake the +career of the concert performer let nothing stand +in the way of study, except the consideration of +your health. Success with a broken-down body +and a shattered mind is a worthless conquest. Remember +that if you wish a permanent position you +must be thoroughly trained in all branches of your +art.</p> + +<p>"3. Avoid charlatanism and the kind of advertisement +that will bring you notoriety at the sacrifice of +your self-respect and the respect of your best friends. +Remember that real worth is, after all, the thing that +brings enduring fame.</p> + +<p>"4. Study the public. Seek to find out what +pleases it, but never lower the standards of your art. +Read the best literature. Study pictures. Travel. +Broaden your mind. Acquire general culture.</p> + +<p>"5. Be careful of your stage deportment. Endeavor +to do nothing at the keyboard that will emphasize +any personal eccentricity. Always be sincere +and true to your own nature, but within these +limits try to make a pleasing impression.</p> + +<p>"6. Always be your own severest critic. Be not +easily satisfied with yourself. Hitch your wagon to +a star. Let your standard of perfection be the very +highest. Always strive to reach that standard. +Never play in public a piece that you have not +thoroughly mastered. There is nothing more valuable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +than public confidence. Once secured, it is the greatest +asset an artist can possess.</p> + +<p>"I have repeatedly been asked to give ten rules for +practice.</p> + +<p>"It is not possible to formulate ten all-comprehensive +rules that could be applied in every case, but the +following suggestions will be found valuable to many +students:</p> + +<p>"1. Concentrate during every second of your practice. +To concentrate means to bring all your thinking +powers to bear upon one central point with the +greatest possible intensity. Without such concentration +nothing can be accomplished during the practice +period. One hour of concentrated thinking is worth +weeks of thoughtless practice. It is safe to say that +years are being wasted by students in this country +who fail to get the most out of their practice because +they do not know how to concentrate. A famous +thinker has said: 'The evidence of superior genius +is the power of intellectual concentration.'</p> + +<p>"2. Divide your practice time into periods of not +more than two hours. You will find it impossible to +concentrate properly if you attempt to practice more +than two hours at a time. Do not have an arbitrary +program of practice work, for this course is liable to +make your work monotonous. For one who practices +four hours (and that is enough for almost any student), +one hour for purely technical work, one hour for Bach, +and two hours for pieces is to be recommended.</p> + +<p>"3. In commencing your practice, play over your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +piece once or twice before beginning to memorize. +Then, after working through the entire composition, +pick out the more difficult passages for special attention +and reiteration.</p> + +<p>"4. Always practice slowly at first. This is +simply another way of telling the pupil to concentrate. +Even after you have played your piece at the required +speed and with reasonable confidence that it +is correct, never fail to go back now and then and +play it at the speed at which you learned it. This +is a practice which many virtuosos follow. Pieces +that they have played time and time again before +enthusiastic audiences are re-studied by playing them +very slowly. This is the only real way to undo mistakes +that are bound to creep into one's performance +when pieces are constantly played in a rapid tempo.</p> + +<p>"5. Do not attempt to practice your whole piece +at first. Take a small section or even a phrase. If +you take a longer section than say sixteen bars, you +will find it difficult to avoid mistakes. Of course, when +the piece is mastered you should have all these sections +so unified that you can play the entire composition +smoothly and without a break.</p> + +<p>"6. First memorize <i>mentally</i> the section you have +selected for study, and then practice it. If you do +not know it well enough to practice it from memory, +you have not grasped its musical content, but are +playing mechanically.</p> + +<p>"7. Occasionally memorize backwards, that is, +take the last few measures and learn them thoroughly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +then take the preceding measures and continue in +this way until the whole is mastered. Even after +you have played the piece many times, this process +often compels a concentration that is beneficial.</p> + +<p>"8. When studying, remember that practice is +simply a means of cultivating habits. If you play +correctly from the start you will form good habits; +if you play carelessly and faultily your playing +will grow continually worse. Consequently, play so +slowly and correctly from the start that you may +insure the right fingering, phrasing, tone, touch +(staccato, legato, portamento, etc.), pedaling and +dynamic effects. If you postpone the attainment of +any of these qualities to a later date they are much +more difficult to acquire.</p> + +<p>"9. Always listen while you are playing. Music is +intended to be heard. If you do not listen to your +own playing it is very probable that other people +will not care to listen to it either.</p> + +<p>"10. Never attempt to play anything in public +that you have just finished studying. When you are +through working upon a piece, put it away to be +musically digested, then after some time repeat the +same process, and again the third time, when your +piece will, have become a part of yourself."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES IV</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">fanny bloomfield-zeisler</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series4"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>How should the public appearances of talented children be controlled?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>What is the best material for the development of a mental technic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Should one pin one's faith to any one method?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>What combines to make a program attractive?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What should be artist's main object in giving a concert?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>What part does personality play in the performer's success?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>What is one of the greatest faults in musical educational work in America?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How should practice time be divided?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>May one memorize "backwards"?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Why should one listen while playing?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> +<h2>FERRUCCIO BENVENUTO BUSONI</h2> + +<h3>Biographical</h3> + + +<p>Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni was born at Empoli, +near Florence, Italy, April 1, 1866. His father was a +clarinetist and his mother whose maiden name was +Weiss, indicating her German ancestry was an excellent +pianist. His first teachers were his parents. +So pronounced was his talent that he made his début +at the age of eight in Vienna, Austria. He then studied +in the Austrian city of Graz with W. A. Remy, +whose right name was Dr. Wilhelm Mayer. This +able teacher aside from being a learned jurist was also +devoted to music and had among his other pupils +no less a person than Felix Weingartner.</p> + +<p>In 1881 Busoni toured Italy and was made a member +of the Reale Accademia Filharmonica at Bologna. +In 1886 he went to reside at Leipsic. Two years +later he became teacher of pianoforte at the Helsingfors +Conservatory in the Finnish capital. In 1890 +he captured the famous Rubinstein prizes for both +pianoforte and composition. In the same year he +became Professor of pianoforte playing at the Moscow +Imperial Conservatory. The next year he accepted +a similar position in the New England Conservatory +at Boston,—returning to Europe for another tour in +1893. After many successful tours he accepted the +position of director of the Meisterschule at the +Imperial Conservatory in Vienna. His compositions +include over one hundred published opus numbers, +the most pretentious probably being his <i>Choral +Concerto</i>. His editions of Bach are masterpieces of +technical and artistic erudition.</p> + +<p>(The following Conference was conducted in +English.)</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;"> +<a href="images/008.jpg"><img src="images/008th.jpg" width="262" height="400" alt="ferruccio b. busoni" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">ferruccio b. busoni</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> +<h2>VII</h2> + +<h3>IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>ferruccio benvenuto busoni</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Significance of the Detail</span></h3> + +<p>"Some years ago I met a very famous artist whose +celebrity rested upon the wonderful colored glass windows +that he had produced. He was considered by +most of his contemporaries the greatest of all makers +of high-art windows. His fame had extended throughout +the artistic circles of all Europe. A little remark +he made to me illustrates the importance of detail +better than anything of which I can think at present.</p> + +<p>"He said, 'If a truly great work of art in the form +of a stained glass window should be accidentally +shattered to little bits, one should be able to estimate +the greatness of the whole window by examining one +of the fragments even though all the other pieces were +missing.'</p> + +<p>"In fine piano playing all of the details are important. +I do not mean to say that if one were in +another room that one could invariably tell the +ability of an artist by hearing him strike one note, +but if the note is heard in relation to the other notes +in a composition, its proportionate value should be +so delicately and artistically estimated by the highly +trained performer, that it forms part of the artistic +whole.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"For instance, it is quite easy to conceive of compositions +demanding a very smooth running performance +in which one jarring or harsh note indicating +faulty artistic calculation upon the part of +the player would ruin the entire interpretation. As +examples of this one might cite the Bach <i>Choral Vorspiel</i>, +<i>Nun Freut euch</i>, of which I have made an arrangement, +and such a composition as the Chopin +Prelude Opus 28, No. 3, with its running accompaniment +in the left hand.</p> + +<p>"It is often perfection in little things which distinguishes +the performance of the great pianist from +that of the novice. The novice usually manages to +get the so-called main points, but he does not work +for the little niceties of interpretation which are +almost invariably the defining characteristic of the +interpretations of the real artist—that is, the performer +who has formed the habit of stopping at nothing +short of his highest ideal of perfection.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Learning To Listen</span></h3> + +<p>"There is a detail which few students observe which +is of such vast importance that one is tempted to say +that the main part of successful musical progress +depends upon it. This is the detail of learning to +listen. Every sound that is produced during the +practice period should be heard. That is, it should +be heard with ears open to give that sound the intelligent +analysis which it deserves.</p> + +<p>"Anyone who has observed closely and taught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +extensively must have noticed that hours and hours +are wasted by students strumming away on keyboards +and giving no more attention to the sounds +they produce than would the inmates of a deaf and +dumb asylum. These students all expect to become +fine performers even though they may not aim to +become virtuosos. To them the piano keyboard is +a kind of gymnasium attached to a musical instrument. +They may of course acquire strong fingers, +but they will have to learn to listen before they can +hope to become even passable performers.</p> + +<p>"At my own recitals no one in the audience listens +more attentively than I do. I strive to hear every +note and while I am playing my attention is so concentrated +upon the one purpose of delivering the +work in the most artistic manner dictated by the +composer's demands and my conception of the piece, +that I am little conscious of anything else. I have +also learned that I must continually have my mind +alert to opportunities for improvement. I am always +in quest of new beauties and even while playing in +public it is possible to conceive of new details that +come like revelations.</p> + +<p>"The artist who has reached the period when he +fails to be on the outlook for details of this kind and +is convinced that in no possible way could his performances +be improved, has reached a very dangerous +stage of artistic stagnation which will result in the +ruin of his career. There is always room for improvement, +that is the development of new details, and it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +this which gives zest and intellectual interest to the +work of the artist. Without it his public efforts would +become very tame and unattractive.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Self Development</span></h3> + +<p>"In my own development as an artist it has been +made evident to me, time and time again, that success +comes from the careful observance of details. +All students should strive to estimate their own +artistic ability very accurately. A wrong estimate +always leads to a dangerous condition. If I had +failed to attend to certain details many years ago, I +would have stopped very far short of anything like +success.</p> + +<p>"I remember that when I concluded my term as +professor of piano at the New England Conservatory +of Music I was very conscious of certain deficiencies +in my style. Notwithstanding the fact that I had +been accepted as a virtuoso in Europe and in America +and had toured with great orchestras such as the +Boston Symphony Orchestra, I knew better than +anyone else that there were certain details in my playing +that I could not afford to neglect.</p> + +<p>"For instance, I knew that my method of playing +the trill could be greatly improved and I also knew +that I lacked force and endurance in certain passages. +Fortunately, although a comparatively young +man, I was not deceived by the flattery of well-meaning, +but incapable critics, who were quite willing +to convince me that my playing was as perfect as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +it was possible to make it. Every seeker of artistic +truth is more widely awake to his own deficiencies +than any of his critics could possibly be.</p> + +<p>"In order to rectify the details I have mentioned +as well as some I have not mentioned, I have come +to the conclusion that I must devise an entirely new +technical system. Technical systems are best when +they are individual. Speaking theoretically, every +individual needs a different technical system. Every +hand, every arm, every set of ten fingers, every body +and, what is of greatest importance, every intellect +is different from every other. I consequently endeavored +to get down to the basic laws underlying +the subject of technic and make a system of my own.</p> + +<p>"After much study, I discovered what I believed to +be the technical cause of my defects and then I returned +to Europe and for two years I devoted myself +almost exclusively to technical study along the individual +lines I had devised. To my great delight +details that had always defied me, the rebellious +trills, the faltering bravura passages, the uneven +runs, all came into beautiful submission and with them +came a new delight in playing.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Finding Individual Faults</span></h3> + +<p>"I trust that my experience will set some ambitious +piano students to thinking and that they may +be benefited by it. There is always a way of correcting +deficiencies if the way can only be found. +The first thing, however, is to recognize the detail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +itself and then to realize that instead of being a detail +it is a matter of vast importance until it has +been conquered and brought into submission. In +playing, always note where your difficulties seem to +lie. Then, when advisable, isolate those difficulties +and practice them separately. This is the manner in +which all good technical exercises are devised.</p> + +<p>"Your own difficulty is the difficulty which you +should practice most. Why waste time in practicing +passages which you can play perfectly well? One +player may have difficulty in playing trills, while to +another player of equal general musical ability trills +may be perfectly easy. In playing arpeggios, however, +the difficulties which prove obstacles to the +players may be entirely reversed. The one who +could play the trill perfectly might not be able, under +any circumstance, to play an arpeggio with the requisite +smoothness and true legato demanded, while +the student who found the trill impossible possesses +the ability to run arpeggios and cadenzas with the +fluency of a forest rivulet.</p> + +<p>"All technical exercises must be given to the pupil +with great discretion and judgment just as poisonous +medicines must be administered to the patient with +great care. The indiscriminate giving of technical +exercises may impede progress rather than advance +the pupil. Simply because an exercise happens to +come in a certain position in a book of technical exercises +is no reason why the particular pupil being +taught needs that exercise at that particular time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +Some exercises which are not feasible and others +which are inexpedient at a certain time, may prove +invaluable later in the pupil's progress.</p> + +<p>"Take the famous Tausig exercises, for instance. +Tausig was a master of technic who had few, if any, +equals in his time. His exercises are for the most +part very ingenious and useful to advanced players, +but when some of them are transposed into other +keys as their composer demands they become practically +impossible to play with the proper touch, etc. +Furthermore, one would be very unlikely to find +a passage demanding such a technical feat in the +compositions of any of the great masters of the +piano. Consequently, such exercises are of no practical +value and would only be demanded by a teacher +with more respect for tradition than common sense.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Details of Phrasing and Accentuation</span></h3> + +<p>"Some students look upon phrasing as a detail +that can be postponed until other supposedly more +important things are accomplished. The very musical +meaning of any composition depends upon the +correct understanding and delivery of the phrases +which make that composition. To neglect the +phrases would be about as sensible as it would be +for the great actor to neglect the proper thought +division in the interpretation of his lines. The +greatest masterpiece of dramatic literature whether +it be <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, <i>Antigone</i>, <i>La Malade Imaginaire</i> +or <i>The Doll's House</i> becomes nonsense if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +thought divisions indicated by the verbal phrases are +not carefully determined and expressed.</p> + +<p>"Great actors spend hours and hours seeking for +the best method of expressing the author's meaning. +No pianist of ability would think of giving less careful +attention to phrasing. How stupid it would be +for the actor to add a word that concluded one sentence +to the beginning of the next sentence. How +erroneous then is it for the pupil to add the last note +of one phrase to the beginning of the next phrase. +Phrasing is anything but a detail.</p> + +<p>"Fine phrasing depends first upon a knowledge of +music which enables one to define the limitations of +the phrase and then upon a knowledge of pianoforte +playing which enables one to execute it properly. +Phrasing is closely allied to the subject of accentuation +and both subjects are intimately connected with +that of fingering. Without the proper fingers it is +often impossible to execute certain phrases correctly. +Generally, the accents are considered of importance +because they are supposed to fall in certain set parts +of given measures, thus indicating the meter.</p> + +<p>"In instructing very young pupils it may be necessary +to lead them to believe that the time must be +marked in a definite manner by such accents, but as +the pupil advances he must understand that the +measure divisions are inserted principally for the +purpose of enabling him to read easily. He should +learn to look upon each piece of music as a beautiful +tapestry in which the main consideration is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +the principal design of the work as a whole and not +the invisible marking threads which the manufacturer +is obliged to put in the loom in order to have +a structure upon which the tapestry may be woven.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Bach, Bach, Bach</span></h3> + +<p>"In the study of the subject of accentuation and +phrasing it would not be possible for anyone to +recommend anything more instructive than the +works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The immortal +Thüringian composer was the master-weaver of all. +His tapestries have never been equalled in refinement, +color, breadth and general beauty. Why is +Bach so valuable for the student? This is an easy +question to answer. It is because his works are +so constructed that they compel one to study these +details. Even if the student has only mastered the +intricacies of the <i>Two Voice Inventions</i>, it is safe to +say that he has become a better player. More than +this, Bach forces the student to think.</p> + +<p>"If the student has never thought before during +his practice periods, he will soon find that it is quite +impossible for him to encompass the difficulties of +Bach without the closest mental application. In fact, +he may also discover that it is possible for him to +work out some of his musical problems while away +from the keyboard. Many of the most perplexing +musical questions and difficulties that have ever +confronted me have been solved mentally while I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +have been walking upon the street or lying in bed at +night.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes the solution of difficult details comes +in the twinkling of an eye. I remember that when +I was a very young man I was engaged to play a +concerto with a large symphony orchestra. One +part of the concerto had always troubled me, and I +was somewhat apprehensive about it. During one +of the pauses, while the orchestra was playing, the +correct interpretation came to me like a flash. I +waited until the orchestra was playing very loud +and made an opportunity to run over the difficult +passage. Of course, my playing could not be heard +under the <i>tutti</i> of the orchestra, and when the time +came for the proper delivery of the passage it was +vastly better than it would have been otherwise.</p> + +<p>"I never neglect an opportunity to improve, no +matter how perfect a previous interpretation may +have seemed to me. In fact, I often go directly home +from the concert and practice for hours upon the +very pieces that I have been playing, because during +the concert certain new ideas have come to me. These +ideas are very precious, and to neglect them or to +consider them details to be postponed for future development +would be ridiculous in the extreme."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions on Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Piano Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES V</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">ferruccio benvenuto busoni</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series5"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What is it which distinguishes the performance of the great pianist from that of the novice?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Upon what detail of interpretation does musical performance most depend?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Should the student continually estimate his own ability?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Which difficulty should you practice most?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What was the principle which made the Tausig exercises valuable?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Upon what does fine phrasing depend?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Why is it that the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach are so useful in piano study?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How may complex musical problems be solved mentally?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Is it advisable to isolate difficulties and practice them separately?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>How should one seize opportunities to improve?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> +<h2>TERESA CARREÑO</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Teresa Carreño was born at Caracas, Venezuela, +December 22, 1853. She descended from one of the +foremost families of Spanish America, which boasted +of Simon Bolivar "the Washington of South America" +as one of its members. Artists have been known +among her ancestors as far back as the fourteenth +century when the famous painter Carreño lived in +Spain.</p> + +<p>Mme. Carreño's first teacher was her father. +Later she studied with a German teacher in her +native country. At seven she played the <i>Rondo +Capriccio</i> of Mendelssohn with great <i>éclat</i>. A revolution +obliged the Carreño family to move to New York. +The death of a friend to whom funds had been entrusted +placed the party of eighteen refugees in dire +straits and a concert was arranged at which the tiny +Teresa came to the front and secured sufficient means +for their existence.</p> + +<p>Gottschalk, then in the height of his fame in New +York, became the child's next teacher. She remained +with him for two years. Then she went to Paris +and became a pupil of Georges Mathias, the famous +disciple of Chopin. Her success as a virtuoso pianist +in Europe excited the attention of Rubinstein who +devoted a great deal of time to giving her invaluable +advice and instruction in interpretation. Indeed +Rubinstein was so proud of her that he repeatedly +introduced her as his daughter in art and would +jokingly say "Are not our hands exactly alike?"</p> + +<p>Mme. Carreño's brilliance, force, breadth of thought +and almost sensuous love for the beautiful made her +numerous tours through all of the music-loving countries +remarkably successful.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 247px;"> +<a href="images/009.jpg"><img src="images/009th.jpg" width="247" height="400" alt="TERESA CARREÑO" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">teresa carreño</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> +<h2>VIII</h2> + +<h3>DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>teresa carreño</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Early Evidences of Individuality</span></h3> + +<p>It is difficult for me to discuss the subject of individuality +without recollecting one of the most impressive +and significant events of my entire career. +When I was taken to Europe as a child, for further +study, it was my good fortune to meet and play for +the immortal Franz Liszt. He seemed deeply interested +in my playing, and with the kindliness for which +he was always noted he gave me his blessing, a kind of +artistic sacrament that has had a tremendous influence +upon all my work as an artist. He laid his hand upon +my head and among other things said: "Little girl, +with time you will be one of us. Don't imitate anyone. +Keep yourself true to yourself. Cultivate your +individuality and do not follow blindly in the paths +of others."</p> + +<p>In this one thought Liszt embodied a kind of a +pedagogical sermon which should be preached every +day in all the schools, conservatories and music +studios of the world. Nothing is so pitiful as the +evidences of a strong individuality crushed out by an +artificial educational system which makes the system +itself of paramount importance and the individual of +microbic significance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>The signs of individuality may be observed in little +folks at a very early age. With some children they +are not very pronounced, and the child seems like +hundreds of others without any particular inclination, +artistic or otherwise. It is then that the teacher's +powers of divination should be brought into play. +Before any real progress can be made the nature of +the child must be studied carefully. In the case of +other children, the individuality is very marked at an +early age. As a rule, the child with the marked individuality +is the one from whom the most may be +expected later in life. Sometimes this very individuality +is mistaken for precocity. This is particularly +the case with musicians. In a few instances the +individuality of the master has been developed late +in life, as was the case of Richard Wagner, whose +early individual tendencies were toward the drama +rather than music.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">New Problems at Every Step</span></h3> + +<p>The teacher in accepting a new pupil should realize +that there at once arises new problems at every step. +The pupil's hand, mind, body and soul may be in +reality different from those of every other pupil the +teacher has taught. The individual peculiarities of +the hand should be carefully considered. If the hand +has long, tapering fingers, with the fingers widely +separated, it will need quite different treatment from +that of the pupil with a short, compact, muscular +hand. If the pupil's mind indicates mental lethargy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +or a lack of the proper early educational training, this +must be carefully considered by the teacher.</p> + +<p>If the pupil's body is frail and the health uncertain, +surely the teacher will not think of prescribing the +same work she would prescribe for a robust, energetic +pupil who appears never to have had a sick day. One +pupil might be able to practice comfortably for four +and five hours a day, while another would find her +energy and interest exhausted in two hours. In fact, I +would consider the study of individuality the principal +care or study of the teacher.</p> + +<p>The individuality of different virtuoso performers +is very marked. Although the virtuoso aspires to +encompass all styles—that is, to be what you would +call an "all-around" player—it is, nevertheless, the +individuality of the player that adds the additional +charm to the piano-recital. You hear a great masterpiece +executed by one virtuoso, and when you hear +the same composition played by another you will +detect a difference, not of technical ability or of artistic +comprehension, but rather of individuality. Rembrandt, +Rubens and Vandyke might have all painted +from the same model, but the finished portrait would +have been different, and that difference would have +been a reflection of the individuality of the artist.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Teacher's Responsibility</span></h3> + +<p>Again let me emphasize the necessity for the correct +"diagnosis" of the pupil's individuality upon the part +of the teacher. Unless the right work is prescribed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +by the teacher, the pupil will rarely ever survive +artistically. It is much the same as with the doctor. +If the doctor gives the wrong medicine and the patient +dies, surely the doctor is to blame. It makes no difference +whether the doctor had good intentions or not. +The patient is dead and that is the end of all. I have +little patience with these people who have such +wonderful intentions, but who have neither the ability, +courage nor willingness to carry out these intentions. +Many teachers would like to accomplish a very great +deal for their pupils, but alas! they are either not able +or they neglect those very things which make the +teacher's work a mission. One of the teacher's greatest +responsibilities lies in determining at first upon a +rational educational course by divining the pupil's +individuality. Remember that pupils are not all +like sheep to be shorn in the same identical fashion +with the same identical shears.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Edward MacDowell's Individuality</span></h3> + +<p>One of the most remarkable cases of a pronounced +musical individuality was that of the late Edward +MacDowell, who came to me for instruction for a +considerable time. He was then quite youthful, +and his motives from the very first were of the highest +and noblest. His ideals were so lofty that he required +little stimulation or urging of any kind. Here it was +necessary to study the pupil's nature very carefully, +and provide work that would develop his keenly artistic +individuality. I remember that he was extremely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +fond of Grieg, and the marked and original character +of the Norwegian tone-poet made a deep impression +upon him. He was poetical, and loved to study and +read poetry. To have repressed MacDowell in a +harsh or didactic manner would have been to have +demolished those very characteristics which, in later +years, developed in such astonishing fashion that his +compositions have a distinctiveness and a style all +their own.</p> + +<p>It gives me great pleasure to place his compositions +upon my programs abroad, and I find that they are +keenly appreciated by music lovers in the old world. +If MacDowell had not had a strong individuality, and +if he had not permitted this individuality to be developed +along normal lines, his compositions would +not be the treasures to our art that they are.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Developing Individuality Through Poetry</span></h3> + +<p>If the teacher discovers a pupil with apparent musical +talent, but whose nature has not been developed +to appreciate the beautiful and romantic in this +wonderful world of ours, he will find it quite impossible +to alter the pupil's individuality in this respect by work +at the keyboard alone. The mundane, prosaic individual +who believes that the sole aim of musical +study is the acquisition of technic, or the magic of +digital speed, must be brought to realize that this is +a fault of individuality which will mar his entire career +unless it is intelligently corrected. Years and years +spent in practice will not make either a musician or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +virtuoso out of one who can conceive of nothing more +than how many times he can play a series of notes +within the beats of the metronome, beating 208 times +a minute.</p> + +<p>Speed does not constitute virtuosity, nor does the +ability to unravel the somewhat intricate keyboard +puzzles of Bach and Brahms make in itself fine piano +playing. The mind of the artist must be cultured; +in fact, quite as cultured as that of the composer who +conceived the music. Culture comes from the observation +of many things: Nature, architecture, +science, machinery, sculpture, history, men and +women, and poetry. I advise aspiring music students +to read a great deal of poetry.</p> + +<p>I find great inspiration in Shakespeare, inspiration +which I know is communicated to my interpretations +of musical masterpieces at my concerts. Who can +remain unmoved by the mystery and psychology of +<i>Hamlet</i>, the keen suffering and misery of <i>King Lear</i>, +the bitter hate and revenge of <i>Othello</i>, the sweet devotion +of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, the majesty of <i>Richard +III</i>, and the fairy beauty of <i>A Midsummer Night's +Dream</i>? In this wonderful kaleidoscope of all the +human passions one can find a world of inspiration. +I am also intensely fond of Goethe, Heine, and Alfred +de Musset. It gives me pleasure to compare them to +the great masters of music. Shakespeare I compare +to Brahms, Goethe to Bach and Beethoven, and Heine +and Musset to Chopin and Liszt.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Cultivating Vivacity and Brilliancy</span></h3> + +<p>Vivacity and brilliancy in playing are largely matters +of temperament and a fluent technic. I owe +a great deal in this respect to Gottschalk. When +he came back to America fresh from the hands of +the inimitable Chopin, he took the most minute +pains to cultivate this characteristic in my playing. +Chopin's own playing was marked by delicacy and +an intensity that was apart from the bravura playing +of most of the artists of his time. Gottschalk was a +keen observer, and he did everything possible to +impart this style to me. I have used the studies of +Czerny, Liszt, Henselt and Clementi to develop +brilliancy with pupils.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered that the root of all brilliant +playing lies in one thing—accuracy. Without accuracy +any attempt at brilliancy must result in "mussiness." +It is impossible to explain these things by +means of books and theories. Remember what +Goethe says: "Alle Theorie is grau, mein Freund" +(all theory is foggy or hard to comprehend). One +can say fifty times as much in twenty minutes as one +can put in a book. Books are necessary, but by no +means depend entirely upon books for technical +instruction.</p> + +<p>Individuals who are careless possess a trait that +will seriously mar their individuality as musicians +and artists. Carelessness is so often taken for +"abandon" in playing. "Abandon" is something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +quite different and pertains to that unconsciousness +of technical effort which only comes to the artist +after years of practice. To play with "abandon" +and miss a few notes in this run, play a few false notes +in the next, strike the wrong bass note here and +there, mumble trills and overlook the correct phrasing +entirely, with the idea that you are doing the same +thing you have seen some great virtuoso do, is simply +the superlative degree of carelessness.</p> + +<p>To one whose individuality is marred by carelessness +let me recommend very slow playing, with the +most minute attention to detail. Technically speaking, +Czerny and Bach are of great value in correcting +carelessness. In Czerny the musical structure of +the compositions is so clearly and openly outlined +that any error is easily detected, while in Bach the +structure is so close and compact that it is difficult +to make an error without interrupting the movement +of some other voice that will reveal the error. The +main consideration, however, is personal carefulness, +and it makes little difference what the study is, so +long as the student himself takes great pains to see +that he is right, and exactly right, before he attempts +to go ahead. Most musicians, however, would say +that Bach was the one great stone upon which our +higher technical structure must firmly stand.</p> + +<p>Some individuals are so superficial and so "frothy" +that it is difficult to conceive of their doing anything +serious or really worth while. It is very hard +for the teacher to work with such a pupil, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +they have not realized themselves as yet. They +have not looked into their lives and discerned those +things which make life of most importance. Life +is not all play, nor is it all sorrow. But sorrow +often does much to develop the musician's character, +to make him look into himself and discover his more +serious purposes. This might also be accomplished +by some such means of self-introspection as "Christian +Science." Although I am not a "Christian +Scientist," I am a great believer in its wonderful +principles.</p> + +<p>The greatest care must be taken in developing +the individualities of the superficial pupils. To give +them Bach or Brahms at the outstart would be to +irritate them. They must be led to a fondness for +music of a deeper or more worthy character by +gradual steps in that direction. In my own case +I was fortunate in having the advice of mature and +famous musicians, and as a child was given music +of a serious order only. I have always been grateful +for this experience. At one of my first New York +concerts I had the honor of having Theodore Thomas +as first violinist, and I well remember his natural +bent for music of a serious order, which was in a +decided contrast to the popular musical taste of the +times.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Importance of Studying Musical History</span></h3> + +<p>Every composer has a pronounced individuality. +To the experienced musician this individuality be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>comes +so marked that he can often detect the composer's +style in a composition which he has never +heard. The artist studies the individuality of the +composer through the study of his biography, through +the study of musical history in general and through +the analysis of individual compositions.</p> + +<p>Every music student should be familiar with the +intensely necessary and extremely valuable subject +of musical history. How else can he become familiar +with the personal individualities of the great composers? +The more I know of Chopin, Beethoven, +Scarlatti or Mendelssohn as men, and the more I +know of the times in which they lived, the closer I +feel to the manner in which they would have wished +their compositions interpreted. Consider how markedly +different are the individualities of Wagner and +Haydn, and how different the interpretations of the +works of these masters should be.</p> + +<p>Strauss and Debussy are also very different in +their methods of composition. Strauss seems to +me a tremendous genius who is inventing a new +musical language as he goes. Debussy does not +appeal to me in the same manner. He always seems +to be groping for musical ideas, while with Strauss +the greatness of his ideas is always evident and all-compelling.</p> + +<p>In closing, let me say that <i>Time</i>, <i>Experience</i> and +<i>Work</i> are the moulders of all individuality. Few of +us close our days with the same individualities which +become evident in our youth. We are either grow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>ing +better or worse all the time. We rarely stand +still. To the musician work is the great sculptor +of individuality. As you work and as you think, so +will you be. No deed, no thought, no hope is too +insignificant to fail to influence your nature. As +through work we become better men and women, +so through work do we become better musicians. +Carlyle has beautifully expressed this thought in +"Past and Present" thus: "The latest Gospel in this +world is, 'Know thy work and do it.' Blessed is he +who has found his work; let him ask no other +blessedness. He has a WORK, a life purpose; he +has found it and will follow it."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions on Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Piano Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES VI</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">teresa carreño</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series6"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Why should imitation be avoided?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Should individuality in playing be developed at an early age?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Should individual physical peculiarities be taken into consideration?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>In what way was Edward MacDowell's individuality marked?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How may individuality be developed through poetry?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>What studies are particularly useful in the cultivation of brilliant playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>What is the best remedy for careless playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How must superficial pupils be treated?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Why is the study of musical history so important?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What may be called the sculptor of individuality in music?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 247px;"> +<a href="images/010.jpg"><img src="images/010th.jpg" width="247" height="400" alt="o. gabrilowitsch" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">o. gabrilowitsch</span> +</div> + + +<h2>OSSIP GABRILOWITSCH</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born in St. Petersburg, +February 8, 1878. His father was a well-known +jurist of the Russian capital. His brothers were +musical and his first teacher was one of his brothers. +Later, he was taken to Anton Rubinstein who earnestly +advocated a career as a virtuoso. Accordingly he +entered the classes of Victor Tolstoff at the St. Petersburg +Conservatory, then under the supervision of +Rubinstein himself. His frequent personal conferences +with the latter were of immense value to +him. Thereafter he went to Vienna and studied +with Leschetizky for two years. He has made many +tours of Europe and America as a piano virtuoso +and has also appeared as an orchestral conductor +with pronounced success. He was a great friend of +the late Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) and +married one of his daughters.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in English.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> +<h2>IX</h2> + +<h3>ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>ossip gabrilowitsch</span></h3> + + +<p>"Modern pianoforte teachers in many instances +seem to make deliberate attempts to complicate the +very simple matter of touch. In the final analyses +the whole study of touch may be resolved into two +means of administering force to the keyboard, <i>i. e.</i>, +weight and muscular activity. The amount of pressure +brought to bear upon the keys depends upon +the amount of arm weight and upon the quickness +with which the muscles of the hand, forearm, full-arm +and back permit the key to be struck. Upon +these two means of administering force must depend +whatever differentiation in dynamic power and +tonal quality the player desires to produce. The +various gradations of tone which the virtuoso's hand +and arm are trained to execute are so minute that +it is impossible for me to conceive of a scientific +instrument or scale to measure them. Physiologists +have attempted to construct instruments to do this, +but little of value has come from such experiments.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Rigid Arm Undesirable</span></h3> + +<p>"Only a comparatively few years ago thousands +of teachers were insisting upon having their pupils +keep the arms in a still, even rigid, condition during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +practice. This naturally resulted in the stiffest +imaginable kind of a touch, and likewise in a mechanical +style of playing that made what has come to be +known in later days as 'tone color' impossible.</p> + +<p>"At this day the finger touch as it was formerly +known has almost gone out of existence. By finger +touch I refer to the old custom of holding the hand +and forearm almost rigid and depending upon the +muscular strength of the fingers for all tonal effects. +In fact, I so rarely employ the finger touch, except +in combination with the arm touch, that it is almost +an insignificant factor as far as my own playing is +concerned. By this the reader must not think that +the training of the fingers, and particularly the finger +tips, is to be neglected. But this training, to my +mind, is not so much a matter of acquiring digital +strength to produce force as to accustom the fingers +to strike the notes with the greatest possible accuracy +and speed. This belongs rather to the realm of +technic than to that of touch, and behind all technic +is the intellect of the player. Technic is a matter of +training the finger tips to attack and leave the keys +under the absolute discipline of the brain. Touch +has a much broader and wider significance. It is +touch that reveals the soul of the player.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Touch a Distinguishing Characteristic</span></h3> + +<p>"Touch is the distinguishing characteristic which +makes one player's music sound different from that +of another, for it is touch that dominates the player's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +means of producing dynamic shading or tone quality. +I know that many authorities contend that the +quality of tone depends upon the instrument rather +than upon the performer. Nevertheless, I am +reasonably confident that if I were to hear a number +of pianists play in succession upon the same instrument +behind a screen and one of these performers +were to be my friend, Harold Bauer, I could at once +identify his playing by his peculiarly individual touch. +In fact, the trained ear can identify different individual +characteristics with almost the same accuracy +that we identify different voices. One could never +forget Leschetizky's touch, or that of many another +contemporary pianist.</p> + +<p>"No matter how wonderful the pianist's technic—that +is, how rapidly and accurately he can play passages +of extraordinary difficulty, it is quite worthless +unless he possesses that control over his touch +which enables him to interpret the composer's work +with the right artistic shading. A fine technic without +the requisite touch to liberate the performer's +artistic intelligence and 'soul' is like a gorgeous +chandelier without the lights. Until the lights are +ignited all its beauty is obscured in darkness. With +an excellent technic and a fine touch, together with +a broad musical and general education and artistic +temperament, the young player may be said to be +equipped to enter the virtuoso field.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Combining Different Touches</span></h3> + +<p>"As I have intimated, if the fingers are used exclusively +a terribly dry tone must result. The full-arm +touch, in which I experience a complete relaxation +of the arm from the shoulder to the finger tips, +is the condition I employ at most times. But the +touches I use are combinations of the different finger, +hand and arm touches. These lead to myriads of +results, and only the experienced performer can +judge where they should be applied to produce desired +effects.</p> + +<p>"You will observe by placing your hand upon my +shoulder that even with the movement of the single +finger a muscular activity may be detected at the +shoulder. This shows how completely relaxed I keep +my entire arm during performance. It is only in +this way that I can produce the right kind of singing +tone in cantabile passages. Sometimes I use one +touch in one voice and an entirely different touch +in another voice. The combinations are kaleidoscopic +in their multiplicity.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Mechanical Methods Dangerous</span></h3> + +<p>"I have never been in favor of the many automatic +and mechanical methods of producing touch. +They are all dangerous to my mind. There is only +one real way of teaching, and that is through the +sense of hearing of the pupil. The teacher should +go to the piano and produce the desired tonal effect,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +and the pupil should listen and watch the teacher. +Then the pupil should be instructed to secure a +similar result, and the teacher should persevere until +the audible effect is nearly the same. If the pupil, +working empirically, does not discover the means +leading to this effect, the teacher should call the +pupil's attention to some of the physical conditions +leading to the result. If the teacher is unable to +play well enough to illustrate this, and to secure +the right kind of touch from his pupils, he has no +business to be a teacher of advanced students. All +the theory in the world will never lead to the proper +results.</p> + +<p>"Rubinstein paid little or no attention to the +theory of touch, and, in fact, he frequently stated +that he cared little about such things, but who could +hear Rubinstein's touch without being benefited? +I believe that in teaching touch the teacher should +first give his model of the touch required and then +proceed from this positive ideal, by means of the so-called +Socratic method of inducing the pupil to produce +a similar result through repeated questions. In this +way the pupil will not be obliged to resign his individuality, +as would be the case if he followed strict +technical injunctions and rules.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Students Should Hear Virtuosos</span></h3> + +<p>"For the same reason it is advisable for the pupil +to hear many fine pianists. He should never miss +an opportunity to attend the concerts of great virtuo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>sos. +I can frankly say that I have learned as much +from hearing the concerts of great performers as I +have from any other source of educational inspiration. +The pupil should listen intelligently and earnestly. +When he hears what appeals to him as a particularly +fine tonal effect, he should endeavor to note +the means the pianist employs to produce this effect.</p> + +<p>"He must, however, learn to discriminate between +affection or needless movement and the legitimate +means to an end. Consequent upon a relaxed full +arm is the occasional dropping of the wrist below the +level of the keyboard. A few great players practice +this at a public recital, and lo! and behold! a veritable +cult of 'wrist-droppers' arises and we see students +raising and lowering the wrist with exaggerated mechanical +stiffness and entirely ignoring the important +end in which this wrist dropping was only an incident.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Methods, and Still More Methods</span></h3> + +<p>"I am continually amused at the thousand and +one different ways of striking the keys that teachers +devise and then attach with the label 'method.' +These varied contortions are, after all, largely a +matter of vision, and have little effect upon the real +musical results that the composition demands. +Touch, as I have previously said, all comes down +to the question of the degree of weight applied to the +keyboard and the degree of quickness with which +it is applied. In rapid octave and staccato passages +the hand touch is largely used. This is the touch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +most dependent upon local muscular activity. Aside +from this the combination of muscular and weight +touch almost invariably obtain.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Don't Neglect Ear Training</span></h3> + +<p>"I desire to reiterate that if the ideal touch is +presented to the pupil's mind, through the medium +of the ear, he will be much more successful in attaining +the artistic ends required. The pupil must +realize clearly <i>what is good</i> and <i>what is bad</i>, and his +<i>aural sense</i> must be continually educated in this +respect. He should practice slowly and carefully at +the keyboard until he is convinced that his arm is +at all times relaxed. He cannot make his sense of +touch too sensitive. He should even be able to sense +the weight or upward pressure which brings the +pianoforte key back into position after it has been +depressed. The arm should feel as if it were floating, +and should never be tense.</p> + +<p>"When I am playing I do not think of the arm +motion. I am, of course, absorbed in the composition +being performed. A relaxed arm has become +second nature to me. It comes by itself. Players +are rarely able to tell just how they produce their +results. There are too many contributing factors. +Even with the best-known performers the effects +differ at different performances. It is impossible +for the performer to give a program repeatedly in +identically the same manner. If he did succeed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +doing this, his playing would soon become stereotyped.</p> + +<p>"The teacher should, from the very beginning, seek +to avoid stiffness and bad hand positions, such as +crooked fingers or broken-in knuckles. If these details +are neglected the pupil is liable to go through +his entire musical career greatly hampered. I would +earnestly advise all teachers to discourage the efforts +of pupils to attain virtuoso heights unless they are +convinced beyond the possibility of a doubt that the +pupil has marvelous talent. The really great performers +seem to be endowed with a 'God-given' +insight in the matter of both technic and touch. They +are unquestionably born for it. They possess the +right mental and physical capacity for success. No +amount of training would make a Normandy dray +horse that could compete with a Kentucky thoroughbred +on the race course. It is a pitiful sight to watch +students who could not possibly become virtuosos slave +year after year before an ivory and ebony tread-mill, +when, if they realized their lack of personal qualifications, +they could engage in teaching or in some other +professional or mercantile line and take a delight in +their music as an avocation that they would never +find in professional playing.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Artistic Interpretation Paramount</span></h3> + +<p>"To some, the matter of touch is of little significance. +They are apparently born with an appreciation +of tonal values that others might work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +years to attain in vain. Those who imagine that +touch is entirely a matter of finger tips are greatly +mistaken. The ear is quite as important as the +organs employed in administering the touch to the +keyboard. The pianist should in reality not think +of the muscles and nerves in his arm, nor of the +ivory and ebony keys, nor of the hammers and strings +in the interior of the instrument. He should think +first and always of the kind of tone he is eliciting +from the instrument, and determine whether it is +the most appropriate tonal quality for the proper +interpretation of the piece he is playing. He must, +of course, spend years of hard thought and study +in cultivating this ability to judge and produce the +right touch, but the performer who is more concerned +about the technical claims of a composition than its +musical interpretation can only hope to give an uninteresting, +uninspired, stilted performance that +should rightly drive all intelligent hearers from his +audience hall."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES VII</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">ossip gabrilowitsch</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series7"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What are the two means of administering touch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>State the effect of a rigid arm upon piano playing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Can a pianist's playing be distinguished by touch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>How do the muscles of the shoulder come into action in piano playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How should the sense of hearing be employed in piano playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>How did Rubinstein regard the theory of touch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>When is the hand touch generally employed?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How should the arm feel during the act of touch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Does the virtuoso hamper himself with details of technic during a performance?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What should be the pianist's first thought during the moment of performance?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> +<h2>LEOPOLD GODOWSKY</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + +<p>Leopold Godowsky was born at Wilna, Russia +(Russian Poland), February 13, 1870. His father +was a physician. When Godowsky was nine years +old he made his first public appearance as a pianist +and met with instantaneous success—success so +great that a tour of Germany and Poland was +arranged for the child. When thirteen he entered +the Royal High School for Music in Berlin as the +<i>protégé</i> of a rich banker of Königsberg. There he +studied under Bargeil and Rudorff. In 1884 he toured +America together with Ovide Musin, the violin +virtuoso. Two years later he became the pupil of +Saint-Saëns in Paris. In 1887 and 1888 he toured +France and visited London, where he received a command +to appear at the British Court. In 1890 he +returned to America and made this country his home +for ten years, appearing frequently in concert and +engaging in several tours. In 1894-1895 he became +head of the piano department of the South Broad +Street Conservatory, Philadelphia. He then became +director of the Piano Department of the Chicago +Conservatory and held this position for five years. +In 1900 Godowsky appeared in Berlin and was immediately +recognized as one of the great piano masters +of his time. In 1909 he became director of the Master +School of Piano Playing connected with the Imperial +Conservatory of Vienna (a post previously held by +Emil Sauer and F. B. Busoni). His success as a +teacher has been exceptional. His compositions, +particularly his fifty studies upon Chopin Etudes, +have won the admiration of the entire musical world.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;"> +<a href="images/011.jpg"><img src="images/011th.jpg" width="261" height="400" alt="leopold godowsky" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">leopold godowsky</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> +<h2>X</h2> + +<h3>THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TECHNIC</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>leopold godowsky</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Ideas Upon Technic Often Erroneous</span></h3> + +<p>"It is quite impossible in a short talk to earnest +music students to do more than discuss a few of the +more important points in the subject proposed. It +may safely be said at the start, however, that the +popular conception of technic is quite an erroneous +one and one that deserves correction. It is highly +necessary that the student should have a correct +attitude of mind regarding this matter. First of all, +I distinguish between what might be called mere +mechanics and technic.</p> + +<p>"The art of piano playing as a whole seems to divide +itself into three quite distinct channels when it is considered +from the educational standpoint. The first +channel is that of mechanics. This would naturally +include all that pertains to that branch of piano +study which has to do with the exercises that develop +the hand from the machine standpoint—that is, make +it capable of playing with the greatest possible +rapidity, the greatest possible power, when power is +needed and also provide it with the ability to play +those passages which, because of fingering or unusual +arrangement of the piano keys, are particularly +difficult to perform.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Brain Side of Piano Study</span></h3> + +<p>"In the second channel we would find the study of +the technic of the art of playing the instrument. +Technic differs from the mechanics of piano playing in +that it has properly to do with the intellectual phase of +the subject rather than the physical. It is the brain +side of the study not the digital or the manual. To the +average student who is short-sighted enough to spend +hours hammering away at the keyboard developing +the mechanical side of his work, a real conscious +knowledge of the great saving he could effect through +technic, would be a godsend. Technic properly has +to do with Rhythm, Tempo, Accent, Phrasing, +Dynamics, Agogics, Touch, etc.</p> + +<p>"The excellence of one's technic depends upon the +accuracy of one's understanding of these subjects and +his skill in applying them to his interpretations at the +keyboard. Mechanical skill, minus real technical +grasp, places the player upon a lower footing than the +piano-playing machines which really do play all the +notes, with all the speed and all the power the operator +demands. Some of these instruments, indeed, are so +constructed that many of the important considerations +that we have placed in the realm of technic are reproduced +in a surprising manner.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Emotions in Piano Playing</span></h3> + +<p>"However, not until man invents a living soul, can +piano playing by machine include the third and vastly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +important channel through which we communicate +the works of the masters to those who would hear +them. That channel is the emotional or artistic +phase of piano playing. It is the channel which the +student must expect to develop largely through his +own inborn artistic sense and his cultivated powers +of observation of the playing of master pianists. +It is the sacred fire communicated from one art generation +to the next and modified by the individual emotions +of the performer himself.</p> + +<p>"Even though the performer may possess the most +highly perfected mechanism, technical mastery which +enables him to play great masterpieces effectively, if +he does not possess the emotional insight, his performances +will lack a peculiar subtlety and artistic power +that will deprive him of becoming a truly great pianist.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Inspiring the Student</span></h3> + +<p>"Exercises for the mechanical side of pianoforte +playing abound. Czerny alone wrote over one +thousand opus numbers. There have also been valuable +attempts to provide books to assist the student +in his technical work, but it should always be remembered +that this depends first of all upon understanding +and then upon the ability to translate that understanding +to the instrument.</p> + +<p>"There can never be any exercises in the emotional +side of the student's work other than the entire literature +of the instrument. One may as well try to capture +the perfume of the flower as define the require<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>ments +of the emotional in pianoforte playing. A great +deal may be done to inspire the student and suggest +ideas which may bring him to the proper artistic +appreciation of a passage, but it is this very indefinability +which makes the emotional phase one of the +most important of all. Attendance at the recitals +of artistic pianists is of great help in this connection.</p> + +<p>"The student, however, may learn a vast amount +about real piano technic and apply his knowledge to +his playing through the medium of the proper studies. +For instance, in the subject of touch alone, there is a +vast store of valuable information which can be gained +from a review of the progressive steps through which +this significant phase of the subject has passed during +the last century. The art of piano playing, considered +apart from that of the similar instruments which preceded +the piano, is very little over one hundred years +old.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Changes in the Mechanism of the Instrument</span></h3> + +<p>"During this time many significant changes have +been made in the mechanism of the instrument and in +the methods of manufacture. These changes in the +nature of the instrument have in themselves doubtless +had much to do with changes in methods of touch as +have the natural evolutions coming through countless +experiments made by teachers and performers. Thus +we may speak of the subject of touch as being divided +into three epochs, the first being that of Czerny +(characterized by a stroke touch), the second being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +that of the famous Stuttgart Conservatory (characterized +by a pressure touch), and the third or new epoch +which is characterized by weight playing. All my +own playing is based upon the last named method, and +I had the honor of being one of the first to make application +of it when I commenced teaching some twenty +years ago.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Significance of Weight Playing</span></h3> + +<p>"In this method of playing, the fingers are virtually +'glued to the keys' in that they leave them the least +possible distance in order to accomplish their essential +aims. This results in no waste motion of any kind, +no loss of power and consequently the greatest possible +conservation of energy. In this manner of playing +the arm is so relaxed that it would fall to the side if the +keyboard were removed from beneath it. Since the +hand and the arm are relaxed the back (top) of the +hand is almost on a level with the forearm.</p> + +<p>"The high angular stroke which characterized the +playing of the Czerny epoch and which could hardly +fail to cause tired muscles and unbearably stiff playing, +is seen very little in these days. By means of it the +student was taught to deliver a blow to the keyboard—a +blow which permitted very little modification to the +requirements of modern technic.</p> + +<p>"In my experience as a pianist and as a teacher, I +have observed that the weight touch allows the greatest +possible opportunity for the proper application of those +all-important divisions of technic without which piano<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +playing is not only inartistic, but devoid of all interest. +Weight playing permits nothing to interfere with discriminative +phrasing, complicated rhythmical problems, +the infinitely subtle variation of time for expressive +purposes now classed under the head of +agogics, all shades of dynamic gradation; in fact +everything that falls in the domain of the artist +pianist.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Moulding the Fingers To the Keys</span></h3> + +<p>"In weight playing the fingers seem to mould the +piano keys under them, the hand and arm are relaxed, +but never heavy. The maximum of relaxation results +in the minimum of fatigue. In legato playing, for +instance, the fingers rest upon the fleshy part behind +the tip rather than immediately upon the tip as they +would in passage work when the player desired to have +the effect of a string of pearls. The sensation in +legato playing is that of pulling back rather than +striking the keys. In passages where force is required +the sensation is that of pushing.</p> + +<p>"Much might be said of the sensibility of the finger +tips as they come in contact with the ivory and ebony +keys. Most every artist has a strong consciousness +that there is a very manifest relation between his emotional +and mental conditions and his tactile sense, that +is his highly developed sense of feeling at the finger +tips on the keyboard. However, the phenomena +may be explained from the psychological standpoint, +it is nevertheless true that the feeling of longing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +yearning, hope or soulful anticipation, for instance, +induces a totally different kind of touch from that of +anger, resentment or hate.</p> + +<p>"The artist who is incapable of communicating his +emotions to the keyboard or who must depend upon +artifice to stimulate emotions rarely electrifies his +audiences. Every concert is a test of the artist's +sincerity, not merely an exhibition of his prowess, or +his acrobatic accomplishments on the keyboard. He +must have some vital message to convey to his audience +or else his entire performance will prove meaningless, +soulless, worthless.</p> + +<p>"That which is of great importance to him is to +have the least possible barrier between his artistic +conception of the work he would interpret and the +sounds that are conveyed to the ears of his audience. +If we obliterate the emotional side and depend upon +artifice or what might be called in vulgar parlance +"tricks of the trade," pianism will inevitably descend +to a vastly lower level. By cultivating a sensibility +in touch and employing the technical means which +will bring the interpreter's message to the world with +the least possible obstruction, we reach the highest +in the art. Those who would strain at gnats might +contend that with the machinery of the instrument +itself, intervening between the touch at the keyboard +and the sounding wires, would make the influence of +the emotions though the tactile sense (sense of touch) +is wholly negligible. To this I can only reply that +the experience of the artist and the teacher is always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +more reliable, more susceptible to finer appreciations +of artistic values than that of the pure theorist, who +views his problems through material rather than +spiritual eyes. Every observing pianist is familiar +with the remarkable influence upon the nerves of the +voice-making apparatus that any emotion makes. +Is it not reasonable to suppose that the finger tips +possess a similar sensibility and that the interpretations +of any highly trained artist are duly affected +through them?</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Individuality, Character and Temperament</span></h3> + +<p>"Indeed, Individuality, Character and Temperament +are becoming more and more significant in the +highly organized art of pianoforte playing. Remove +these and the playing of the artist again becomes little +better than that of a piano-playing machine. No +machine can ever achieve the distinguishing charm +that this trinity brings to pianoforte playing. +Whether the performer is a 'genius' who has carefully +developed the performance of a masterpiece until it +evidences that distinguishing mark of the authoritative +interpretation, or whether he is a 'talent' who +improvises as the mood of the moment inspires him +and never plays the same composition twice in anything +like a similar manner, he need not fear the rivalry +of any machine so long as he preserves his individuality, +character and temperament.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Genius and Work</span></h3> + +<p>"The fault with many students, however, is the +very erroneous idea that genius or talent will take +the place of study and work. They minimize the +necessity for a careful painstaking consideration of +the infinite details of technic. To them, the significance +of the developments of Bach, Rameau, and +Scarlatti in fingering means nothing. They are +content with the superficial. They are incapable of +comparing the value of the advances made by Von +Bülow, Tausig and other innovators whose lives were +given to a large extent to the higher development +of the technic of the instrument. They struggle +laboriously at the keyboard, imagining that they are +dealing with the problem of technic, when in reality +they are doing little more than performing a drill +in a kind of musical gymnasium—a necessary drill to +be sure, but at the same time quite worthless unless +directed by a brain trained in the principles of the +technic of the art.</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES VIII</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">leopold godowsky</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series8"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>How may the mechanics of playing be distinguished from the larger subject of technic?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>With what has technic to do?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>What channel in the study of pianoforte must the pupil develop most thoroughly?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Name three epochs into which the subject of touch may be divided.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How does weight playing differ from the high angular playing of the Czerny epoch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>How should the fingers rest in legato playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>What may be said of the sensitiveness of the finger tips?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>By what device may pianism descend to a lower level?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>What qualities must the student preserve above all things?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Will genius or talent take the place of study and work?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;"> +<a href="images/012.jpg"><img src="images/012th.jpg" width="265" height="400" alt="katharine goodson" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">katharine goodson</span> +</div> + + +<h2>KATHARINE GOODSON</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Miss Katharine Goodson was born at Watford, +Herts, England. She commenced the study of music +at so very youthful an age that she made several +appearances in the English Provinces before she +was twelve years of age. Her talent aroused such +interest that she was sent to the Royal Academy of +Music in London. There she was placed under the +artistic guidance of one of the foremost English +teachers of pianoforte, Oscar Beringer, with whom she +remained for six years. This was followed by four +years under Leschetizky in Vienna.</p> + +<p>Leschetizky saw splendid opportunities in such +talented and regularly trained material and is said to +have given particularly careful attention to Miss +Goodson. It is not surprising that upon her return +to London Miss Goodson made a profound impression +upon the musical public and laid the foundation for a +splendid reputation. She toured in England, Germany, +Austria and America with great success. In the +Grove Dictionary, her playing is described in the +following manner: "It is marked by an amount of +verve and animation that are most rare with the +younger English pianists. She has a great command +of tone gradation, admirable technical finish, genuine +musical taste and considerable individuality of style." +In 1903 Miss Goodson married Mr. Arthur Hinton, +one of the most brilliant of modern English composers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> +<h2>XI</h2> + +<h3>ANALYZING MASTERPIECES</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>katharine goodson</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Natural Tendency To Analyze</span></h3> + +<p>"Judging from the mischievous investigations of +things in general, which seem so natural for the small +boy to make, it would appear that our tendency to +analyze things is innate. We also have innumerable +opportunities to observe how children, to say nothing +of primitive people, struggle to construct—to put this +and that together for the purpose of making something +new—in other words, to employ the opposite process to +analysis, known as synthesis. Moreover, it does not +demand much philosophy to perceive that all scientific +and artistic progress is based upon these very processes +of analysis and synthesis. We pull things apart +to find out how they are made and what they are made +of. We put them together again to indicate the +mastery of our knowledge.</p> + +<p>"The measure of musicianship is the ability to do. +All the analyzing in the world will not benefit the +pupil unless he can give some visible indications of his +proficiency. Indeed, important as the process is, +it is possible to carry it to extremes and neglect the +building process which leads to real accomplishment.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The First Step in Analyzing a New Piece</span></h3> + +<p>"A great many of the pupils who have come to me +indicate a lamentable neglect in an understanding of +the very first things which should have been analyzed +by the preparatory teachers. It is an expensive +process to study with a public artist unless the preparation +has been thoroughly made. Reputation +naturally places a higher monetary value upon the +services of the virtuoso, and for the student to expect +instruction in elementary points in analysis is obviously +an extravagance. The virtuoso's time during +the lesson period should be spent in the finer study of +interpretation—not in those subjects which the elementary +teacher should have completed. Often the +teacher of an advanced pupil is deceived at the start +and assumes that the pupil has a knowledge, which +future investigations reveal that he does not possess.</p> + +<p>"For instance, the pupil should be able to determine +the general structure of a piece he is undertaking +and should be so familiar with the structure that it +becomes a form of second nature to him. If the +piece is a sonata he should be able to identify the +main theme and the secondary theme whenever they +appear or whenever any part of them appears. Inability +to do this indicates the most superficial kind of +study.</p> + +<p>"The student should know enough of the subject of +form in general to recognize the periods into which +the piece is divided. Without this knowledge how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +could he possibly expect to study with understanding? +Even though he has passed the stage when it is necessary +for him to mark off the periods, he should not +study a new piece without observing the outlines—the +architectural plans the composer laid down in constructing +the piece. It is one thing for a Sir Christopher +Wren to make the plans of a great cathedral +like St. Paul's and quite another thing for him to get +master builders to carry out those plans. By studying +the composer's architectural plan carefully the +student will find that he is saving an immense amount +of time. For example, let us consider the Chopin <i>F +Minor Fantasie</i>. In this composition the main theme +comes three times, each time in a different key. +Once learned in one key, it should be very familiar +in the next key.</p> + +<p>"The student should also know something of the +history of the dance, and he should be familiar with +the characteristics of the different national dances. +Each national dance form has something more than a +rhythm—it has an atmosphere. The word atmosphere +may be a little loose in its application here, but +there seems to be no other word to describe what I +mean. The flavor of the Spanish bolero is very different +from the Hungarian czardas, and who could +confound the intoxicating swirl of the Italian tarantella +with the stately air of cluny lace and silver rapiers +which seems to surround the minuet? The minuet, +by the way, is frequently played too fast. The +minuet from Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +notable example. Many conductors have made the +error of rushing through it. Dr. Hans Richter conducts +it with the proper tempo. This subject in +itself takes a tremendous amount of consideration and +the student should never postpone this first step in +the analysis of the works he is to perform.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Poetic Idea of the Piece</span></h3> + +<p>"Despite the popular impression that music is +imitative in the sense of being able to reproduce different +pictures and different emotions, it is really very +far from it. The subject of program music and illustrative +music is one of the widest in the art, and at the +same time one of the least definite. Except in cases +like the Beethoven <i>Pastoral Symphony</i>, where the +composer has made obvious attempts to suggest rural +scenes, composers do not as a rule try to make either +aquarelles or cycloramas with their music. They +write music for what it is worth as music, not as scenery. +Very often the public or some wily publisher +applies the title, as in the case of the <i>Moonlight +Sonata</i> or some of the Mendelssohn <i>Songs Without +Words</i>. Of course there are some notable exceptions, +and many teachers may be right in trying to stimulate +the sluggish imaginations of some pupils with fanciful +stories. However, when there is a certain design in a +piece which lends itself to the suggestion of a certain +idea, as does, for instance, the Liszt-Wagner <i>Spinning +Song</i> from the <i>Flying Dutchman</i>, it is interesting to +work with a specific picture in view—but never for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>getting +the real beauty of the piece purely as a beautiful +piece of music.</p> + +<p>"Some pieces with special titles are notoriously +misnamed and carry no possible means of definitely +intimating what the composer intended. Even some +forms are misleading in their names. The <i>Scherzos</i> of +Chopin are often very remote from the playful +significance of the word—a significance which is +beautifully preserved in the <i>Scherzos</i> of Mendelssohn.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Studying the Rhythm</span></h3> + +<p>"A third point in analyzing a new piece might be +analyzing the rhythm. It is one thing to understand +or to comprehend a rhythm and another to preserve +it in actual playing. Rhythm depends upon the +arrangement of notes and accents in one or two +measures which give a characteristic swing to the +entire composition. Rhythm is an altar upon which +many idols are smashed. Sometimes one is inclined +to regard rhythm as a kind of sacred gift. Whatever +it may be, it is certainly most difficult to acquire or +better to absorb. A good rhythm indicates a finely +balanced musician—one who knows how and one who +has perfect self-control. All the book study in the +world will not develop it. It is a knack which seems +to come intuitively or 'all at once' when it does come. +My meaning is clear to anyone who has struggled with +the problem of playing two notes against three, for +at times it seems impossible, but in the twinkling +of an eye the conflicting rhythms apparently jump<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +into place, and thereafter the pupil has little difficulty +with them.</p> + +<p>"Rhythmic swing is different from rhythm, but is +allied to it as it is allied to tempo. To get the swing—the +impelling force—the student must have played +many pieces which have a tendency to develop this +swing. The big waltzes of Moszkowski are fine for +this. If one of Leschetizky's pupils had difficulty +with rhythm he almost invariably advised them to go +to hear the concerts of that king of rhythm and dance, +Eduard Strauss. Dances are invaluable in developing +this sense of rhythm—swift-moving dances like +the bolero and the tarantella are especially helpful. +Certain pieces demand a particularly strict observance +of the rhythm, as does the Opus 42 of Chopin, +in which the left hand must adhere very strictly to +the Valse rhythm.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Analysis of Phrases</span></h3> + +<p>"The ability to see the phrases by which a composition +is built, clearly and readily, simplifies the study +of interpretation of a new piece wonderfully. This, +of course, is difficult at first, but with the proper +training the pupil should be able to see the phrases at a +glance, just as a botanist in examining a new flower +would divide it in his mind's eye into its different +parts. He would never mistake the calyx for a petal, +and he would be able to determine at once the peculiarities +of each part. In addition to the melodic +phrases the pupil should be able to see the metrical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +divisions which underlie the form of the piece. He +should be able to tell whether the composition is one +of eight-measure sections or four-measure sections, or +whether the sections are irregular.</p> + +<p>"What a splendid thing it would be if little children +at their first lessons were taught the desirability of +observing melodic phrases. Teachers lay great stress +upon hand formation, with the object of getting the +pupil to keep the hand in a perfect condition—a condition +that is the result of a carefully developed habit. +Why not develop the habit of noting the phrases in the +same way? Why not a little mind formation? It is +a great deal nearer the real musical aim than the mere +digital work. The most perfectly formed hand in the +world would be worthless for the musician unless the +mind that operates the hand has had a real musical +training."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Studying the Harmony</span></h3> + +<p>"Every piano student ought to have a knowledge +of harmony. But this knowledge should be a practical +one. What do I mean by a practical knowledge +of harmony? Simply this—a knowledge of harmony +which recognizes the ear as well as the eye. There +are students of harmony who can work out some harmonic +problem with the skill of an expert mathematician +and yet they never for one single moment think +of the music their notes might make. This is due to +the great neglect of the study of ear-training in early +musical education.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To be able to recognize a chord when you see it on +paper is not nearly such an acquisition as the ability +to recognize the same chord when it is played. The +student who can tell a diminished seventh, or an augmented +sixth at a glance, but who could not identify +the same chords when he saw them through his ears +instead of his eyes is severely handicapped. But how +many musicians can do this? Ear-training should be +one of the first of all studies. It may be acquired +more easily in childhood if the student is not naturally +gifted with it, and it is the only basis of a thorough +knowledge of harmony. The piano teacher cannot +possibly find time to give sufficient instruction in the +subject of harmony at the piano lesson. It demands +a separate period, and in most cases it is necessary +and advisable to have a separate teacher; that is, +one who has made a specialty of harmony.</p> + +<p>"The piano itself is of course a great help to the +student in the study of harmony, providing the student +listens all the time he is playing. Few adult +piano students study string instruments, such as the +violin or 'cello—instruments which cultivate the perception +of hearing far more than can the piano. +For this reason all children should have the advantage +of a course in ear-training. This should not be training +for pitch alone, but for quality of tone as well. +It may be supplemented with exercises in musical +dictation until the pupil is able to write down short +phrases with ease after he has heard them once. A +pupil who has had such a training would make ideal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +material for the advanced teacher, and because of the +greatly developed powers of the pupil would be able +to memorize quicker and make much better progress. +In fact, ear-training and harmony lead to great +economy of time. For instance, let us suppose that +the pupil has a chord like the following in a sonata:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/013a.jpg" width="600" height="159" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>If the same chord appeared again in the piece it +would probably be found in the key of the dominant, +thus:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/013b.jpg" width="600" height="154" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>It seems very obvious that if the pupil could perceive +the harmonic relationship between these two +chords he would be spared the trouble of identifying +an entirely different chord when he finds the repetition +of it merely in another key. This is only one of +scores of instances where a knowledge of the harmonic +structure proves to be of constant importance to the +student.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Careful Analysis of Touch Effects</span></h3> + +<p>"Here again we find an interminable subject. +Although there are only a few principal divisions +into which the subject of touch might be divided, +the number of different subdivisions of these best +known methods of striking the keys to produce +artistic effects is very considerable. The artist working +day in and day out at the keyboard will discover +some subtle touch effects which he will always associate +with a certain passage. He may have no logical +reason for doing this other than that it appeals to his +artistic sense. He is in all probability following no +law but that of his own musical taste and sense of +hearing.</p> + +<p>It is this more than anything else which gives individuality +to the playing of the different virtuosos +and makes their efforts so different from the playing +of machines. Time and time again mechanical +efforts have been made to preserve all these infinite +subtilities and some truly wonderful machines have +been invented, but not until the sculptor's marble can +be made to glow with the vitality of real flesh can +this be accomplished. Wonderful as the mechanical +inventions are there is always something lacking.</p> + +<p>"Here, again, ear-training will benefit the pupil +who is studying with a virtuoso teacher. It is impossible +to show exactly how certain touches produce +certain effects. The ear, however, hears these +effects, and if the pupil has the right kind of per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>sistence +he will work and work until he is able to +reproduce the same effect that he has heard. Then +it will be found that the touch he employs will be +very similar to that used by the virtuoso he has heard. +It may take weeks to show a certain pupil a kind +of touch. The pupil with the trained ear and the +willingness to work might be able to pick up the +same touch and produce the same effect after a few +days. A highly developed sense of hearing is of +immense value to the student who attends concerts +for the purpose of promoting his musical knowledge.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Responsibilities of the Teacher</span></h3> + +<p>"The more one contemplates this subject the more +one realizes the responsibilities of the teacher in +the first years of music study. Of all the pupils +who commence in the art there are but few who make +it a part of their lives; many of those who do continue +find themselves handicapped when they reach the +more advanced stages of the journey, owing to +inefficient early training. At the period when their +time is the most valuable to them they have to take +up studies which should have been mastered eight or +ten years before. The elementary teachers all over +the world have a big responsibility. If they belittle +their work with children and pine for the kind of +teaching which the virtuosos attempt to do, let them +realize that they are in a sense the foundation of the +structure, and although perhaps not as conspicuous as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +the spire which towers up into the skies, they are +certainly of equal importance."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES IX</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">katharine goodson</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series9"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Is analysis natural to children?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>When should the first steps in analysis be made?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Why is a knowledge of the different dance forms desirable?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>What may be said of the poetic idea of the piece?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What indicates a finely balanced musician?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Should phrase analysis be taught at an early age?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Is the ability to identify a chord by hearing more important than the ability to identify it by sight?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Does a trained ear help in the acquisition of touch?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>What may the pupil learn from concerts?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>When is the teacher's responsibility greatest?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> +<h2>JOSEF HOFMANN</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Josef Hofmann was born at Cracow, Russia, January +20, 1877. His father was an exceptionally successful +teacher and was for a time Professor of +Harmony and Composition at the Warsaw Conservatory. +The elder Hofmann's talents were by no means +limited to teaching, however, since he conducted the +Opera at Warsaw for many performances. He +undertook the training of his son with great care and +since the child showed remarkable promise the musicians +of Russia took an extraordinary interest in him. +He appeared in public at the age of six and before he +was ten years of age he was the most celebrated child +prodigy of his time. He traveled thousands of miles, +including tours of America, playing complicated +classical compositions in a manner which surprised +musicians everywhere. Fortunately for his health +and education his tours were terminated in time for +him to study for the advanced work of the more +mature artist. Accordingly he was placed with the +great Anton Rubinstein with whom he remained for +two years. At seventeen he resumed his concert +work again appearing in Dresden in 1894. By +thoroughly dignified methods, scholarly analysis, and +his natural poetical sense Hofmann introduced new +ideas in virtuosoship which made him immensely popular +at once.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;"> +<a href="images/014.jpg"><img src="images/014th.jpg" width="265" height="400" alt="josef hofmann" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">josef hofmann</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> +<h2>XII</h2> + +<h3>PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>josef hofmann</span></h3> + + +<p>The question of progress in pianoforte playing is +one that admits of the widest possible discussion. +One is frequently asked whether the manner of playing +the pianoforte has undergone any change since +the time of Hummel, and, if it has advanced, of +what nature are the advances, and to what particular +condition are the advances due. Johann Nepomuk +Hummel, it will be remembered, was contemporary +with Beethoven, and was, in fact, a kind of bridge +between the old and the new. He made his début +at a concert given by Mozart at Dresden. For a +time he was a kind of assistant <i>kapellmeister</i> to Haydn, +and indeed many at that time thought his works +were quite on a par with those of the great master, +Beethoven. Hummel was a really great virtuoso, +and was noted for his remarkable improvisations. +His style of playing was taken as a model in his time, +and consequently we may safely start with this epoch +by way of example.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">What Determines Changes in Playing</span></h3> + +<p>It is sometimes said that the changes in the construction +of the piano have caused a different treatment +of it, but this reasoning is superficial, inasmuch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +as the structural changes of the instrument itself are +called forth by the ever-increasing demands of the +<i>composer</i> made upon the instrument. So long as the +tone quality, action and nature of the instrument +sufficed for compositions of the type of those of +Domenico Scarlatti, or François Couperin, or Rameau, +there was little need for change, but as the more +modern composers longed for new and more comprehensive +effects, the piano-makers kept up with their +desires and aims. Thus it is that after all is said and +done, the composer, and the composer only, is responsible +for the changes. The literature of the +piano determines them. It is the same in the advancement +of piano technic and interpretation. The +composers conceive new and often radically different +musical ideas. These in turn demand a new manner +of interpretation. This kind of evolution has been +going on continually since the invention of the instrument +and is going on to-day, only it is more difficult +for us to see it in the present than it is to review it +in the past.</p> + +<p>The general mental tendencies of the times, the +artistic and cultural influences of the world taken as +a whole, have also had a conspicuous though somewhat +less pronounced share in these matters since +they inevitably exert an influence upon the interpreter. +Speaking from a strictly pianistic point of +view, it is the player's individuality, influenced by +the factors just stated, which is the determining element +in producing new pianistic tendencies. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +thus very evident that progress in piano playing since +the epoch of Hummel has been enormous.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The New Technic and the Old</span></h3> + +<p>You ask me what are the essential differences +between the modern technic and the technic of the +older periods? It is very difficult to discuss this +question off-hand and it is one which might better +be discussed in an article of a different character. +One difficulty lies in the regrettable tendency of +modern technic toward being a purpose in itself. +Judging from the manner in which some ambitious +young players work, their sole aim is to become +human piano-playing machines quite without any +real musical consciousness. Before radically condemning +this tendency, however, it should be remembered +that it has brought us many undeniable advantages. +It cannot be doubted that we owe to the +ingenious investigators of technical subjects greater +possibilities in effective polyphonic playing, economy +of power and arm motion, larger participation of +the mind in the acquisition of technic, and numerous +other praiseworthy factors in good piano playing. +In the olden days, while technical exercises were by +no means absent, they were not nearly so numerous, +and more time was given to the real musical elements +in the study of the musical compositions themselves. +If the excellent technical ideas to be found in some of +the systems of to-day are employed solely to secure +real musical and artistic effects—that is, effects based<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +upon known æsthetic principles—the new technic +will prove valuable, and we should be very grateful +for it. However, as soon as it becomes an objective +point in itself and succeeds in eclipsing the higher purposes +of musical interpretation, just so soon should +it be abolished. If the black charcoal sketch which +the artist puts upon canvas to use as an outline shows +through the colors of the finished painting, no masterpiece +will result. Really artistic piano playing is an +impossibility until the outlines of technic have been +erased to make way for true interpretation from the +highest sense of the word. There is much more in +this than most young artists think, and the remedy +may be applied at once by students and teachers in +their daily work.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Technic Since Liszt</span></h3> + +<p>Again you ask whether technic has made any significant +advance since the time of Franz Liszt. Here +again you confront me with a subject difficult to +discuss within the confines of a conference. There +is so much to be said upon it. A mere change in +itself does not imply either progress or retrogression. +It is for this reason we cannot speak of progress since +the time of Liszt. To play as Liszt did—that is, +exactly as he did, as a mirror reflects an object—would +not be possible to anyone unless he were endowed +with an individuality and personality exactly +like that of Liszt. Since no two people are exactly +alike, it is futile to compare the playing of any modern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +pianist with that of Franz Liszt. To discuss accurately +the playing of Liszt from the purely technical +standpoint is also impossible because so much of +his technic was self-made, and also a mere manual +expression of his unique personality and that which +his own mind had created. He may perhaps never +be equalled in certain respects, but on the other hand +there are unquestionably pianists to-day who would +have astonished the great master with their technics—I +speak technically, purely technically.</p> + + +<h3><span class='smcap'>Definite Methods are Little More than Stencils</span></h3> + +<p>I have always been opposed to definite "methods"—so-called—when +they are given in an arbitrary +fashion and without the care of the intelligent teacher +to adapt special need to special pupils. Methods of +this kind can only be regarded as a kind of musical +stencil, or like the dies that are used in factories to +produce large numbers of precisely similar objects. +Since art and its merits are so strangely dependent +upon individuality (and this includes anatomical +individuality as well as psychological individuality), +an inflexible method must necessarily have a deadening +effect upon its victims.</p> + +<p>The question of whether special technical studies +of an arbitrary nature, such as scale studies, should be +extensively used is one which has been widely debated, +and I fear will be debated for years to come. Let us +understand first, there is a wide difference between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +studying and practicing. They resemble each other +only in so far as they both require energy and time. +Many sincere and ambitious students make the great +mistake of confounding these two very essential +factors of pianistic success. Study and practice +really are quite widely removed from each other, and +at the same time they are virtually inseparable. The +real difference lies in the amount and quality of the +two elements. Practice means a large number of +repetitions, with a fair amount of attention to mere +correctness of notes, fingering, etc. Under ordinary +circumstances and conditions it usually means a great +sacrifice of time and a comparatively small investment +of mentality.</p> + +<p>Study, on the contrary, implies first of all mental +activity of the highest and most concentrated type. +It <i>presupposes</i> absolute accuracy in notes, time, fingerings, +etc., and implies the closest possible attention to +those things which are generally, though erroneously, +regarded as lying outside of technic, such as tonal +beauty, dynamic shading, rhythmical matters, and the +like. Some have the happy gift of combining practice +with study, but this is rare.</p> + +<p>Hence, in the question of scale exercises, etc., if the +word "study" is meant in the true sense, I can only +say that the study of scales is more than necessary—it +is indispensable. The pedagogical experts of the +world are practically unanimous upon this subject. +The injunction, "study," applies not only to scales, +but to all forms of technical discipline, which only too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +often are "practiced" without being studied. I will +not deny that mere practicing, as I have defined it, +may bring some little benefit, but this benefit is gained +at an enormous expenditure of time and physical and +mental exertion. Oh! the endless leagues that +ambitious fingers have traveled over ivory keys! +Only too often they race like automobiles on a race-course—in +a circle—and after having gone innumerable +miles, and spent a tremendous amount of energy, +they arrive at the same point from which they started, +exhausted and worn, with very little to show for their +work, and no nearer their real goal than when they +started. The proportion in which mental and physical +activity is compounded, determines, to my mind, +the distinction between practicing and real study. +One might also say that the proportion in which real +study enters into the daily work of the student determines +the success of the student.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Study of Details Imperative</span></h3> + +<p>Study demands that the student shall delve into the +minute details of his art, and master them before he +attempts to advance. Only the most superficial +students fail to do this in these days. All of the better +trained teachers insist upon it, and it is hard for the +pupil to skim through on the thinnest possible theoretical +ice, as they did in past years. The separate study +of embellishments, for instance, is decidedly necessary, +especially in connection with the embellishments +introduced by the writers of the early eighteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the study of embellishments it is vitally important +for the student to remember one or two very +important points in connection with his investigation. +One point is the understanding of the nature of the +instrument for which the composer wrote when he +had the embellishment in mind. The instruments of +the early eighteenth century were characterized by a +tone so thin and of such short duration that the composers +and players (and it should be remembered that +in those days practically all of the great composers +played, and most of the great performers were composers) +had to resort to all kind of subterfuges and +tricks to produce the deception of a prolonged tone. +For instance, they had a method of moving the finger +to and fro (sideways) upon a key after it was struck. +Thus they produced a sort of vibrato, not unlike that +of which we have received an overdose in recent years +from violinists and 'cellists. This vibrato (German, +<i>Bebung</i>) was marked like our modern "shake," thus,</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/015.jpg" width="600" height="194" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>but if we interpret it as a "shake" we commit a grave +error. We ought never to regard it as a "shake," +unless it is obviously an integer of the melody.</p> + +<p>The other point to be considered in the study of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +embellishments is taste, or rather, let me say, "fashion," +for the fashion of those times which over-indulged +in ornamentation and over-loaded everything +with it, from architecture to dress, was by no means an +insignificant factor in music. The point is important +because it involves the element of "concessions" +which the composers, voluntarily or from habit, +made to the public of their day. I seriously question +the necessity of retaining these often superabundant +embellishments in their entirety, for I contend that +we study antique works on account of their musical +substance and not for the sake of gewgaws and frills +which were either induced by the imperfections of the +instrument or by the vitiated taste of times to which +the composer had to yield willy-nilly.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, a very difficult and responsible task +to determine what to retain and what to discard. +This, to a large extent, must depend upon what part +the ornament plays in the melody of the composition, +whether it is really an integral part or an artificial +excrescence. By all means never discard any embellishment +which may serve to emphasize the melodic +curve, or any one which may add to its declamatory +character. A well-educated taste assisted by experience +will be a fairly reliable guide in this matter. +However, it is hardly advisable for amateurs with +limited training to attempt any home editing of this +kind.</p> + +<p>Those embellishments which we do regain should in +all cases be executed as the composer of the piece<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +would desire to hear them executed if he could become +acquainted with the instruments of to-day. +This, of course, places the study of ornamentation +with the many auxiliary musical branches which +demand special and separate attention. Johann +Sebastian Bach's son, Phillip Emanuel Bach, realized +this, and gave years to the proper exposition of +embellishments. However, the student should realize +that the study of embellishments is only a part of the +great whole and he should not be misled into accepting +every little shake or other little frippery, and then +magnifying it into a matter of more vital importance +than the piece itself.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Well-meaning Advisers</span></h3> + +<p>The student should form the habit of determining +things for himself. He will soon find that he will be +surrounded with many well-meaning advisers who, if +they have their own way, may serve to confuse him. +Some virtuosos regard their well-meaning admirers +and entertainers as the worst penalties of the virtuoso +life. Whether they are or are not must, of course, +depend upon the artist's character. If he accepts +their compliments and courtesies as an expression of +the measure of pleasure <i>they derived</i> from his playing, +he has tacitly allowed for that share in their pleasure +which is due to their power of appreciation, and he can +therefore only rejoice in having provided something +worthy of it. The manner of their expression, the +observations they make, the very wording of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +compliments will reveal, quickly enough, whether he +has a case of real appreciation before him, or a mere +morbid mania to hobnob with celebrities, or at least +with people who by nature of their professional work +are often compelled against their own desires to hold a +more or less exposed position in the public eye. If +he deals with the latter and still allows their compliments +to go further than the physical ear, he must be +a man of a character so weak as to make it doubtful +that he will ever produce anything worthy of sincere +and earnest appreciation. More young students are +misled by blatant flattery than anything else. They +become convinced that their efforts are comparable +with those of the greatest artist, and the desire for +improvement diminishes in direct ratio to the rate in +which their opinion of their own efforts increases. +The student should continually examine his own work +with the same acuteness that he would be expected to +show were he teaching another.</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES X</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">josef hofmann</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series10"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Has piano playing progressed since the time of Hummel?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>How have the changes in the structure of the instrument affected pianistic progress?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Why should students avoid becoming "piano-playing machines"?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>What must be the sole aim in employing a technical exercise?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Will the technic of Liszt ever be excelled?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Why are stencil-like methods bad?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Is scale study indispensable?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Must the student know the characteristics of the instrument for which the composer wrote?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>What part did fashion play in the introduction of embellishments?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Why should the student determine problems for himself?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 279px;"> +<a href="images/016.jpg"><img src="images/016th.jpg" width="279" height="400" alt="JOSEF LHÉVINNE" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">josef lhévinne</span> +</div> + + +<h2>JOSEF LHÉVINNE</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Josef Lhévinne is one of the last noted Russian +pianists to attain celebrity in America. At his first +appearance in New York he amazed the critics and +music lovers by the virility of his style, the comprehensiveness +of his technic and by his finely trained artistic +judgment. Lhévinne was born at Moscow, in 1874. +His father was a professional musician, playing "all instruments +except the piano." It is not surprising that +his four sons became professional musicians. Three +are pianists and one is a flutist. When Josef was four +his father discovered that he had absolute pitch, and +encouraged by this sign of musical capacity placed the +child under the instruction of some students from the +conservatory. At six Lhévinne became the pupil of a +Scandinavian teacher named Grisander. When eight +he appeared at a concert and aroused much enthusiasm +by his playing. At twelve he became the pupil of the +famous Russian teacher, Wassili Safonoff, at the conservatory +at Moscow, remaining under his instruction +for six years. At the same time his teachers in theory +and composition were Taneieff and Arensky. In +1891 Rubinstein selected him from all the students +at the conservatory to play at a concert given under +the famous master's direction. After that Lhévinne +had frequent conferences with the great pianist, and +attributes much of his success to his advice. In 1895 +he won the famous Rubinstein Prize in Berlin. From +1902 to 1906 he was Professor of Piano at the conservatory +at Moscow. One year spent in military +service in Russia proved a compulsory setback in his +work, and was a serious delay in his musical progress. +Lhévinne came to America in 1907 and has been here +five times since then. His wife is also an exceptionally +fine concert pianist.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIII</h2> + +<h3>PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>josef lhévinne</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Russia's Many Keyboard Masters</span></h3> + +<p>"Russia is old, Russia is vast, Russia is mighty. +Eight and one-half million square miles of empire +not made up of colonies here and there all over the +world, but one enormous territory comprising nearly +one hundred and fifty million people, of almost as +many races as one finds in the United States, that is +Russia. Although the main occupation of the people +is the most peaceful of all labor—agriculture—Russia +has had to deal with over a dozen wars and insurrections +during a little more than a century. In the +same time the United States has had but five. War is +not a thing to boast about, but the condition reflects +the unrest that has existed in the vast country of the +Czar, and it is not at all unlikely that this very unrest +is responsible for the mental activity which has +characterized the work of so many artists of Russian +birth.</p> + +<p>Although Russia is one of the most venerable of the +European nations, and although she has absorbed other +territory possessed by races even more venerable than +herself, her advance in art, letters and music is comparatively +recent. When Scarlatti, Handel, and Bach +were at their height, Russia, outside of court circles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +was still in a state of serfdom. Tolstoi was born as +late as 1828, Turgenieff in 1818 and Pushkin, the +half-negro poet-humorist, was born in 1799. Contemporary +with these writers was Mikhail Ivanovitch +Glinka—the first of the great modern composers of +Russia. Still later we come to Wassili Vereschagin, +the best known of the Russian painters, who was not +born until 1842. It may thus be seen that artistic +development in the modern sense of the term has +occurred during the lifetime of the American republic. +Reaching back into the centuries, Russia is one of the +most ancient of nations, but considered from the art +standpoint it is one of the newest.</p> + +<p>The folk songs that sprang from the hearts of the +people in sadness and in joy indicated the unconcealable +talent of the Russian people. They were longing +to sing, and music became almost as much a part of +their lives as food. It is no wonder then that we find +among the names of the Russian pianists such celebrities +as Anton Rubinstein, Nicholas Rubinstein, +Essipoff, Siloti, Rachmaninoff, Gabrilowitsch, Scriabin, +de Pachmann, Safonoff, Sapellnikoff and many +others. It seems as though the Russian must be +endowed by nature with those characteristics which +enable him to penetrate the artistic maze that surrounds +the wonders of music. He comes to music +with a new talent, a new gift and finds first of all a +great joy in his work. Much the same might be said +of the Russian violinists and the Russian singers, +many of whom have met with tremendous success.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">With the Musical Child in Russia</span></h3> + +<p>The Russian parent usually has such a keen love for +music that the child is watched from the very first for +some indication that it may have musical talent. The +parent knows how much music brings into the life of +the child and he never looks upon the art as an accomplishment +for exhibition purposes, but rather as a +source of great joy. Music is fostered in the home +as a part of the daily existence. Indeed, business is +kept far from the Russian fireside and the atmosphere +of most homes of intelligent people is that of culture +rather than commerce. If the child is really musical +the whole household is seized with the ambition to +produce an artist. In my own case, I was taught the +rudiments of music at so early an age that I have +no recollection of ever having learned how to begin. +It came to me just as talking does with the average +child. At five I could sing some of the Schumann +songs and some of those of Beethoven.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Kind of Music the Russian Child Hears</span></h3> + +<p>The Russian child is spared all contact with really +bad music. That is, he hears for the most part either +the songs of the people or little selections from classical +or romantic composers that are selected especially +with the view of cultivating his talent. He has practically +no opportunity to come in contact with any +music that might be described as banal. America is +a very young country and with the tension that one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +sees in American life on all sides there comes a tendency +to accept music that may be most charitably +described as "cheap." Very often the same themes +found in this music, skilfully treated, would make +worthy musical compositions. "Rag-time," and by +this I refer to the peculiar rhythm and not to the bad +music that Americans have come to class under this +head, has a peculiar fascination for me. There is +nothing objectionable about the unique rhythm, +any more than there is anything iniquitous about the +gypsy melodies that have made such excellent material +for Brahms, Liszt and Sarasate. The fault lies in the +clumsy presentation of the matter and its associations +with vulgar words. The rhythm is often fascinating +and exhilarating. Perhaps some day some American +composer will glorify it in the Scherzo of a Symphony.</p> + +<p>In Russia, teachers lay great stress upon careful +grading. Many teachers of note have prepared +carefully graded lists of pieces, suitable to each stage +of advancement. I understand that this same +purpose is accomplished in America by the publication +of volumes of the music itself in different grades, +although I have never seen any of these collections. +The Russian teacher of children takes great care that +the advancement of the pupil is not too rapid. The +pupil is expected to be able to perform all the pieces +in one grade acceptably before going to the next grade. +I have had numerous American pupils and most of +them seem to have the fault of wanting to advance to a +higher step long before they are really able. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +is very wrong, and the pupil who insists upon such a +course will surely realize some day that instead of +advancing rapidly he is really throwing many annoying +obstacles directly in his own path.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Instruction Books</span></h3> + +<p>Many juvenile instruction books are used in Russia +just as in America. Some teachers, however, find +that with pupils starting at an advanced age it is +better to teach the rudiments without a book. This +matter of method is of far greater importance than the +average teacher will admit. The teacher often makes +the mistake of living up in the clouds with Beethoven, +Bach, Chopin, and Brahms, never realizing that the +pupil is very much upon the earth, and that no matter +how grandly the teacher may play, the pupil must have +practical assistance within his grasp. The main duty +in all elementary work is to make the piano study +interesting, and the teacher must choose the course +likely to arouse the most interest in the particular +pupil.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Opportunities for Virtuoso-Students in Russia</span></h3> + +<p>It may surprise the American student to hear that +there are really more opportunities for him to secure +public appearances right here in his own country than +in Russia. In fact, it is really very hard to get a start +in Russia unless one is able to attract the attention +of the public very forcibly. In America the standard +may not be so high as that demanded in the musical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +circles of Russia, but the student has many chances +to play that would never come to him in the old world. +There, the only chance for the young virtuoso is at the +conservatory concerts. There are many music schools +in Russia that must content themselves with private +recitals, but the larger conservatories have public concerts +of much importance, concerts that demand the +attendance of renowned artists and compel the serious +interest of the press. However, these concerts are few +and far between, and only one student out of many +hundreds has a chance to appear at them.</p> + +<p>One singular custom obtains in Russia in reference +to concerts. The pianist coming from some other +European country is paid more than the local pianist. +For instance, although I am Russian by birth, I +reside in Germany and receive a higher rate when I +play in Russia than does the resident artist. In fact, +this rate is often double. The young virtuoso in the +early stages of his career receives about one hundred +roubles an appearance in Russia, while the mature +artist receives from 800 to 1000. The rouble, while +having an exchange value of only fifty cents in United +States currency, has a purchasing value of about one +dollar in Russia.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Why Russian Pianists Are Famed for Technic</span></h3> + +<p>The Russian pianist is always famed for his technical +ability. Even the mediocre artists possess that. +The great artists realize that the mechanical side of +piano playing is but the basis, but they would no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +sooner think of trying to do without that basis than +they would of dispensing with the beautiful artistic +temples which they build upon the substantial +foundation which technic gives to them. The +Russian pianists have earned fame for their technical +grasp because they give adequate study to the matter. +Everything is done in the most solid, substantial +manner possible. They build not upon sands, but +upon rock. For instance, in the conservatory examinations +the student is examined first upon technic. +If he fails to pass the technical examination he is +not even asked to perform his pieces. Lack of proficiency +in technic is taken as an indication of a lack of +the right preparation and study, just as the lack of +the ability to speak simple phrases correctly would +be taken as a lack of preparation in the case of the +actor.</p> + +<p>"Particular attention is given to the mechanical side +of technic, the exercises, scales and arpeggios. American +readers should understand that the full course at +the leading Russian conservatories is one of about +eight or nine years. During the first five years, the +pupil is supposed to be building the base upon which +must rest the more advanced work of the artist. The +last three or four years at the conservatory are given +over to the study of master works. Only pupils who +manifest great talent are permitted to remain during +the last year. During the first five years the backbone +of the daily work in all Russian schools is scales and +arpeggios. All technic reverts to these simple mater<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>ials +and the student is made to understand this from +his very entrance to the conservatory. As the time +goes on the scales and arpeggios become more difficult, +more varied, more rapid, but they are never omitted +from the daily work. The pupil who attempted +complicated pieces without this preliminary technical +drill would be laughed at in Russia. I have been +amazed to find pupils coming from America who have +been able to play a few pieces fairly well, but who +wonder why they find it difficult to extend their +musical sphere when the whole trouble lies in an almost +total absence of regular daily technical work +systematically pursued through several years.</p> + +<p>"Of course, there must be other technical material +in addition to scales, but the highest technic, broadly +speaking, may be traced back to scales and arpeggios. +The practice of scales and arpeggios need never be +mechanical or uninteresting. This depends upon the +attitude of mind in which the teacher places the pupil. +In fact, the teacher is largely responsible if the pupil +finds scale practice dry or tiresome. It is because +the pupil has not been given enough to think about +in scale playing, not enough to look out for in nuance, +evenness, touch, rhythm, etc., etc.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Modern Russian Influence in Musical Art</span></h3> + +<p>"Most musicians of to-day appreciate the fact that in +many ways the most modern effects sought by the +composers who seek to produce extremely new effects +have frequently been anticipated in Russia. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>ever, +one signal difference exists between the Russians +with ultra-modern ideas and the composers of other +nations. The Russian's advanced ideas are almost +always the result of a development as were those of +Wagner, Verdi, Grieg, Haydn and Beethoven. That +is, constant study and investigations have led them to +see things in a newer and more radical way. In the +case of such composers as Debussy, Strauss, Ravel, +Reger and others of the type of musical Philistine +it will be observed that to all intents and purposes, +they started out as innovators. Schönberg is the +most recent example. How long will it take the +world to comprehend his message if he really has one? +Certainly, at the present time, even the admirers of +the bizarre in music must pause before they confess +that they understand the queer utterings of this +newest claimant for the palm of musical eccentricity. +With Debussy, Strauss and others it is different, for +the skilled musician at once recognizes an astonishing +facility to produce effects altogether new and often +wonderfully fascinating. With Reger one seems to be +impressed with tremendous effort and little result. +Strauss, however, is really a very great master; so +great that it is difficult to get the proper perspective +upon his work at this time. It is safe to say that all +the modern composers of the world have been influenced +in one way or another by the great Russian +masters of to-day and yesterday. Tchaikovsky, +Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Glazounov, Rachmaninov, +Moussorgsky, Arensky, Scriabine and others, have all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +had a powerful bearing upon the musical thought of +the times. Their virility and character have been +due to the newness of the field in which they worked. +The influence of the compositions of Rubinstein and +Glinka can hardly be regarded as Russian since they +were so saturated with European models that they +might be ranked with Gluck, Mendelssohn, Liszt +and Meyerbeer far better than with their fellow-countrymen +who have expressed the idiom of Russia +with greater veracity."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XI</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">josef lhévinne</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series11"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Is music a part of the daily life of the child in the Russian home?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>In what does the Russian teacher of children take great care?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Why are Russian pianists famed for their technical ability?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>How are examinations conducted in Russia?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What would be thought of the Russian pupil who attempted pieces without the proper preliminary scale work?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Need the practice of scales be mechanical and uninteresting?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Why do some pupils find technical studies tiresome?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How does Russian musical progress in composition differ from that of other musical nations?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Has Russian music influenced the progress of other musical nations?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>How may the compositions of Rubinstein and Glinka be regarded?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;"> +<a href="images/017.jpg"><img src="images/017th.jpg" width="265" height="400" alt="v. de pachmann" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">v. de pachmann</span> +</div> + + +<h2>VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Vladimir de Pachmann was born at Odessa, +Russia, July 27, 1848. His first teacher was his +father, who was a musical enthusiast and a fine performer +upon the violin. The elder de Pachmann was a +Professor of Law at the University of Vienna and at +first did not desire to have his son become anything +more than a cultured amateur. In his youth de +Pachmann was largely self taught and aside from +hearing great virtuosos at concerts and modeling his +playing to some extent after theirs he had no teachers +until 1866 when he went to the Vienna Conservatory +to study with the then celebrated teacher, Joseph +Dachs. Dachs was a concert pianist of the old school. +Academic perfection was his goal and he could not +understand such a pupil as de Pachmann who was +able to get results by what seemed un-academic +means. After one year with Dachs de Pachmann +toured Russia with great success and since then has +made repeated tours of the entire musical world. +He never gave any serious attention to musical +composition. As an interpreter of the works of +Chopin no one in recent times has ever excelled de +Pachmann, but he also gave numerous recitals showing +a great breadth of style in the performances of +works of the other great masters particularly Brahms +and Liszt.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in English, +German, French and Italian.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIV</h2> + +<h3>SEEKING ORIGINALITY</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>vladimir de pachmann</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Meaning of Originality</span></h3> + +<p>"Originality in pianoforte playing, what does it +really mean? Nothing more than the interpretation +of one's real self instead of the artificial self which +traditions, mistaken advisors and our own natural +sense of mimicry impose upon us. Seek for originality +and it is gone like a gossamer shining in the morning +grass. Originality is in one's self. It is the true +voice of the heart. I would enjoin students to listen +to their own inner voices. I do not desire to deprecate +teachers, but I think that many teachers are in error +when they fail to encourage their pupils to form their +own opinions.</p> + +<p>"I have always sought the individual in myself. +When I have found him I play at my best. I try to +do everything in my own individual way. I work for +months to invent, contrive or design new fingerings—not +so much for simplicity, but to enable me to manipulate +the keys so that I may express the musical thought +as it seems to me it ought to be expressed. See my +hand, my fingers—the flesh as soft as that of a child, +yet covering muscles of steel. They are thus because +I have worked from childhood to make them thus.</p> + +<p>"The trouble with most pupils in studying a piece<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +is that when they seek individuality and originality, +they go about it in the wrong way, and the result +is a studied, stiff, hard performance. Let them +listen to the voice, I say; to the inner voice, the voice +which is speaking every moment of the day, but to +which so many shut the ears of their soul.</p> + +<p>"Franz Liszt—ah, you see I bow when I mention the +name—you never heard Franz Liszt? Ah, it was the +great Liszt who listened—listened to his inner voice. +They said he was inspired. He was simply listening +to himself.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Machine Teaching</span></h3> + +<p>"<i>Nun, passen Sie mal auf!</i> I abominate machine +teaching. A certain amount of it may be necessary, +but I hate it. It seems so brutal—so inartistic. +Instead of leading the pupil to seek results for himself, +they lay down laws and see that these laws are obeyed, +like <i>gendarmes</i>. It is possible, of course, by means of +systematic training, to educate a boy so that he +could play a concerto which he could not possibly +comprehend intelligently until he became at least +twenty years older; but please tell, what is the use +of such a training? Is it artistic? Is it musical? +Would it not be better to train him to play a piece +which he could comprehend and which he could express +in his own way?</p> + +<p>"Of course I am not speaking now of the boy +Mozarts, the boy Liszts or other freaks of nature, but +of the children who by machine-made methods are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +made to do things which nature never intended that +they should do. This forcing method to which some +conservatories seem addicted reminds one of those men +who in bygone ages made a specialty of disfiguring +the forms and faces of children, to make dwarfs, +jesters and freaks out of them. Bah!</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Originality the Road To Permanent Fame</span></h3> + +<p>"Originality in interpretation is of course no more +important than originality in creation. See how the +composers who have been the most original have been +the ones who have laid the surest foundation for +permanent fame. Here again true originality has +been merely the highest form of self-expression. <i>Non +ê vero?</i> When the composer has sought originality +and contrived to get it by purposely taking out-of-the-way +methods, what has he produced? Nothing but a +horrible sham—a structure of cards which is destroyed +by the next wind of fashion.</p> + +<p>"Other composers write for all time. They are +original because they listen to the little inner voice, +the true source of originality. It is the same in architecture. +Styles in architecture are evolved, not +created, and whenever the architect has striven for +bizarre effects he builds for one decade only. The +architects who build for all time are different and yet +how unlike, how individual, how original is the work +of one great architect from that of another.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Most Original Composers</span></h3> + +<p>"The most original of all composers, at least as they +appear to me, is Johann Sebastian Bach. Perhaps +this is because he is the most sincere. Next I should +class Beethoven, that great mountain peak to whose +heights so few ever soar. Then would come in order +Liszt, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, Weber, and +Mendelssohn. Schumann more original than Chopin? +Yes, at least so it seems to me. That is, there is +something more distinctive, something more indicative +of a great individuality speaking a new language.</p> + +<p>"Compare these men with composers of the order of +Abt, Steibelt, Thalberg, and Donizetti, and you will +see at once what I mean about originality being the +basis of permanent art. For over twenty years my +great fondness for mineralogy and for gems led me to +neglect in a measure the development of the higher +works of these composers, but I have realized my error +and have been working enormously for years to attain +the technic which their works demand. Some years +ago I felt that technical development must cease at a +certain age. This is all idiocy. I feel that I have now +many times the technic I have ever had before and I +have acquired it all in recent years.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Self-help the Secret of Many Successes</span></h3> + +<p>"No one could possibly believe more in self-help +than I. The student who goes to a teacher and +imagines that the teacher will cast some magic spell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +about him which will make him a musician without +working, has an unpleasant surprise in store for him. +When I was eighteen I went to Dachs at the Vienna +Conservatory. He bade me play something. I played +the <i>Rigoletto</i> paraphrase of Liszt. Dachs commented +favorably upon my touch but assured me that I was +very much upon the wrong track and that I should +study the <i>Woltemperirtes Klavier</i> of Bach. He assured +me that no musical education could be considered +complete without an intimate acquaintance with the +Bach fugues, which of course was most excellent +advice.</p> + +<p>"Consequently I secured a copy of the fugues and +commenced work upon them. Dachs had told me to +prepare the first prelude and fugue for the following +lesson. But Dachs was not acquainted with my methods +of study. He did not know that I had mastered +the art of concentration so that I could obliterate +every suggestion of any other thought from my mind +except that upon which I was working. He had no +estimate of my youthful zeal and intensity. He did +not know that I could not be satisfied unless I spent +the entire day working with all my artistic might and +main.</p> + +<p>"Soon I saw the wonderful design of the great +master of Eisenach. The architecture of the fugues +became plainer and plainer. Each subject became a +friend and each answer likewise. It was a great joy +to observe with what marvelous craftsmanship he had +built up the wonderful structures. I could not stop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +when I had memorized the first fugue, so I went to the +next and the next and the next.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Surprised Teacher</span></h3> + +<p>"At the following lesson I went with my book under +my arm. I requested him to name a fugue. He did, +and I placed the closed book on the rack before me. +After I had finished playing he was dumfounded. +He said, 'You come to me to take lessons. You already +know the great fugues and I have taught you +nothing.' Thinking that I would find Chopin more +difficult to memorize, he suggested that I learn two of +the etudes. I came at the following lesson with the +entire twenty-four memorized. Who could withstand +the alluring charm of the Chopin etudes? +Who could resist the temptation to learn them all +when they are once commenced?</p> + +<p>"An actor learns page after page in a few days, and +why should the musician go stumbling along for +months in his endeavor to learn something which he +could master in a few hours with the proper interest +and the burning concentration without which all +music study is a farce?</p> + +<p>"It was thus during my entire course with Dachs. +He would suggest the work and I would go off by +myself and learn it. I had practically no method. +Each page demanded a different method. Each page +presented entirely new and different technical ideas."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Deep Thought Necessary</span></h3> + +<p>"As a rule piano students do not think deeply +enough. They skim over the really difficult things +and no amount of persuasion will make them believe +some very simple things difficult. Take the scale of +C Major, for instance. This scale is by far the most +difficult of all. To play it with true legato, at any +desired degree of force or speed, in any desired +rhythm and with any desired touch, is one of the most +difficult achievements in all music. Yet the young +pupil will literally turn up his nose at the scale of C +Major and at the same time claim that he is perfectly +competent to play a Beethoven Sonata.</p> + +<p>"The scale of C should be learned step by step until +the practice habits are so formed that they will reign +supreme while playing all the other scales. This is +the way to secure results—go deep into things. Pearls +lie at the bottom of the sea. Most pupils seem to expect +them floating upon the surface of the water. +They never float, and the one who would have his +scales shine with the beauty of splendid gems must +first dive deep for the gems.</p> + +<p>"But what is the use of saying all this? To tell it +to young pupils seems to be a waste of words. They +will go on making their mistakes and ignoring the +advice of their teachers and mentors until the great +teacher of all—experience—forces them to dive for +the hidden riches.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Take Time To Do Things Well</span></h3> + +<p>"Every pianist advances at a rate commensurate +with his personal ability. Some pianists are slow in +development. Others with wonderful natural gifts +go ahead very quickly. The student will see some +pianist make wonderful progress and will sometimes +imitate him without giving the time or effort to study +that the other pianist has given. The artist will +spend months upon a Chopin valse. The student +feels injured if he cannot play it in a day.</p> + +<p>"Look, I will play the wonderful Nocturne of Chopin +in G, Opus No. 2. The legato thirds seem simple? +Ah, if I could only tell you of the years that are +behind those thirds. The human mind is peculiar +in its methods of mastering the movements of the +fingers, and to get a great masterpiece so that you can +have supreme control over it at all times and under all +conditions demands a far greater effort than the +ordinary non-professional music lover can imagine.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Mastering Artistic Details</span></h3> + +<p>"Each note in a composition should be polished +until it is as perfect as a jewel—as perfect as an Indian +diamond—those wonderful scintillating, ever-changing +orbs of light. In a really great masterpiece each +note has its place just as the stars, the jewels of heaven, +have their places in their constellations. When a +star moves it moves in an orbit that was created by +nature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Great musical masterpieces owe their existence to +mental forces quite as miraculous as those which put +the heavens into being. The notes in compositions +of this kind are not there by any rule of man. They +come through the ever mystifying source which we +call inspiration. Each note must bear a distinct +relation to the whole.</p> + +<p>"An artist in jewels in making a wonderful work of +art does not toss his jewels together in any haphazard +way. He often has to wait for months to get the +right ruby, or the right pearl, or the right diamond to +fit in the right place. Those who do not know might +think one gem just like another, but the artist knows. +He has been looking at gems, examining them under +the microscope. There is a meaning in every facet, +in every shade of color. He sees blemishes which the +ordinary eye would never detect.</p> + +<p>"Finally he secures his jewels and arranges them in +some artistic form, which results in a masterpiece. +The public does not know the reason why, but it will +instantly realize that the work of the artist is in some +mysterious way superior to the work of the bungler. +Thus it is that the mind of the composer works spontaneously +in selecting the musical jewels for the diadem +which is to crown him with fame. During the +process of inspiration he does not realize that he is +selecting his jewels with lightning rapidity, but with a +highly cultivated artistic judgment. When the musical +jewels are collected and assembled he regards the +work as a whole as the work of another. He does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +realize that he has been going through the process of +collecting them. Schubert failed to recollect some +of his own compositions only a few days after he had +written them.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Something No One Can Teach</span></h3> + +<p>"Now the difficulty with students is that they do +not take time to polish the jewels which the composers +have selected with such keen æsthetic discernment. +They think it enough if they merely succeed in playing +the note. How horrible! A machine can play the +notes, but there is only one machine with a soul and +that is the artist. To think that an artist should play +only the notes and forget the glories of the inspiration +which came in the composer's mind during the moment +of creation.</p> + +<p>"Let me play the D flat Chopin Nocturne for you. +Please notice how the notes all bear a relation to each +other, how everything is in right proportion. Do you +think that came in a day? Ah, my friend, the polishing +of those jewels took far longer than the polishing +of the Kohinoor. Yet I have heard young girls +attempt to play this piece for me—expecting approbation, +of course, and I am certain that they could +not have practiced upon it more than a year or so. +They evidently think that musical masterpieces can +be brought into being like the cobwebs which rise +during the night to be torn down by the weight of the +dew of the following morning. <i>Imbecillità!</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Best Teacher</span></h3> + +<p>"They play just as their teachers have told them to +play, which is of course good as far as it goes. But +they stop at that, and no worthy teacher expects his +pupil to stop with his instruction. The best teacher +is the one who incites his pupil to penetrate deeper +and learn new beauties by himself. A teacher in the +highest sense of the word is not a mint, coining pupils +as it were and putting the same stamp of worth upon +each pupil.</p> + +<p>"The great teacher is an artist who works in men +and women. Every pupil is different, and he must be +very quick to recognize these differences. He should +first of all teach the pupil that there are hundreds of +things which no teacher can ever hope to teach. +He must make his pupil keenly alert to this. There +are hundreds of things about my own playing which +are virtually impossible to teach. I would not know +how to convey them to others so that they might be +intelligently learned. Such things I have found out +for myself by long and laborious experimentation. +The control of my fifth finger in certain fingerings +presented endless problems which could only be worked +out at the keyboard. Such things give an individuality +to the pianist's art, something which cannot be +copied.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever been in a foreign art gallery and +watched the copyists trying to reproduce the works +of the masters? Have you ever noticed that though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +they get the form, the design, and even the colors and +also that with all these resemblances there is something +which distinguishes the work of the master +from the work of the copyist, something so wonderful +that even a child can see it? You wonder at this? +<i>Pourquoi?</i> No one can learn by copying the secret +the master has learned in creating.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Basis of Greatness</span></h3> + +<p>"Here we have a figure which brings out very clearly +the real meaning of originality in piano playing and +at the same time indicates how every pupil with or +without a teacher should work for himself. Why was +the great Liszt greater than any pianist of his time? +Simply because he found out certain pianistic secrets +which Czerny or any of Liszt's teachers and contemporaries +had failed to discover.</p> + +<p>"Why has Godowsky—<i>Ach! Godowsky, der ist +wirklich ein grosser Talent</i>—how has he attained his +wonderful rank? Because he has worked out certain +contrapuntal and technical problems which place him +in a class all by himself. I consider him the greatest +master of the mysteries of counterpoint since the +heyday of classical polyphony. Why does Busoni +produce inimitable results at the keyboard? Simply +because he was not satisfied to remain content with +the knowledge he had obtained from others.</p> + +<p>"This then is my life secret—work, unending work. +I have no other secrets. I have developed myself +along the lines revealed to me by my inner voice. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +have studied myself as well as my art. I have learned +to study mankind through the sciences and through +the great literary treasures, you see; I speak many +languages fluently, I have stepped apace with the +crowd, I have drunk the bitter and the sweet from the +chalices of life, but remember, I have never stopped, +and to-day I am just as keenly interested in my progress +as I was many years ago as a youth. The new +repertoire of the works of Liszt and Brahms and other +composers demanded a different technic, a bigger +technic. What exquisite joy it was to work for it. +Yes, <i>mio amico</i>, work is the greatest intoxication, the +greatest blessing, the greatest solace we can know. +Therefore work, work, work. But of all things, my +good musical friends in America, remember the old +German proverb:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>Das mag die beste Musik sein</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Wenn Herz und Mund stimmt überein.</i>'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>("Music is best when the heart and lips (mouth) +speak together.")</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XII</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">vladimir de pachmann</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series12"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What does originality in pianoforte playing really mean?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>State something of the evils of the forcing methods of training applied to young children.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Have the compositions of the most original composers been the most enduring?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Name seven of the most original composers for the pianoforte.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Must the pupil continually help himself?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>What is considered the most difficult scale to learn?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Is a great virtuoso obliged to practice years in order to secure results?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How may piano study be compared with the polishing of beautiful jewels?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Tell what characteristics a great teacher must have.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What lies at the foundation of pianistic greatness?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> +<h2>MAX PAUER</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Prof. Max Pauer was born in London, England, +October 31, 1866, and is the son of the eminent +musical educator, Ernst Pauer, who settled in England +in 1851, and aside from filling many of the foremost +positions in British musical life, also produced a +great number of instructive works, which have been +of immeasurable value in disseminating musical +education in England. His work on <i>Musical Forms</i> +is known to most all music students. Prof. Max +Pauer studied with his father at the same time his +parent was instructing another famous British-born +pianist, Eugen d'Albert. At the age of fifteen he +went to Karlsruhe, where he came under the instruction +of V. Lachner. In 1885 he returned to London +and continued to advance through self-study. In 1887 +he received the appointment at the head of the piano +department in the Cologne Conservatory. This +position he retained for ten years, until his appointment +at Stuttgart, first as head teacher in the piano +department and later as director of the School. +During this period the organization of the famous old +conservatory has changed totally. The building +occupied was very old and unfit for modern needs. +The new conservatory building is a splendid structure +located in one of the most attractive parts of the city. +The old methods, old equipment, old ideas have been +abandoned, and a wholly different atmosphere is said +to pervade the institution, while all that was best in +the old <i>régime</i> has been retained. Prof. Pauer made +his <i>début</i> as a virtuoso pianist in London. Since then +he has toured all Europe except the Latin countries. +He has published several compositions for the piano. +His present tour of America is his first in the New +World.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 255px;"> +<a href="images/018.jpg"><img src="images/018th.jpg" width="255" height="400" alt="max pauer" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">max pauer</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> +<h2>XV</h2> + +<h3>MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>max pauer</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Acquiring the Requisite Technic</span></h3> + +<p>"The preservation of one's individuality in playing +is perhaps one of the most difficult, and at the same +time one of the most essential tasks in the study of +the pianoforte. The kind of technical study that +passes the student through a certain process, apparently +destined to make him as much like his predecessors +as possible, is hardly the kind of technic +needed to make a great artist. Technical ability, +after all is said and done, depends upon nothing more +than physiologically correct motion applied to the +artistic needs of the masterpiece to be performed. +It implies a clear understanding of the essentials in +bringing out the composer's idea. The pupil must not +be confused with inaccurate thinking. For instance, +we commonly hear of the 'wrist touch.' More +pupils have been hindered through this clumsy +terminology than I should care to estimate. There +cannot be a wrist touch since the wrist is nothing +more than a wonderful natural hinge of bone and +muscle. With the pupil's mind centered upon his +wrist he is more than likely to stiffen it and form +habits which can only be removed with much difficulty +by the teacher. This is only an instance of one of the +loose expressions with which the terminology of tech<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>nic +is encumbered. When the pupil comes to recognize +the wrist as a <i>condition</i> rather than a thing he +will find that the matter of the tight, cramped wrist +will cease to have its terrors. In fact, as far as touch +itself is concerned, the motion of the arm as a whole +is vastly more important than that of the wrist. +The wrist is merely part of the apparatus which communicates +the weight of the arm to the keyboard.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Innovators Should Be Pianists</span></h3> + +<p>"In my opinion the technical needs of the piano +are likely to be far better understood by the virtuoso +pianist than by one who has never been through the +experiences which lead to the concert platform. +Please do not infer that I would say that all teachers +should be virtuoso pianists. I am referring particularly +to the makers of methods. I am continually +confronted in my teaching with all manner of absurd +ideas in piano technic. For instance, one pupil will +come and exhibit an exercise which requires her to +press hard upon the keyboard after the note is struck. +Just why there should be this additional waste of +nerve force when it can have no possible effect upon +the depressed key I have never been able to find out. +There is enough nervous energy expended in pianoforte +study as it is without exacting any more from +the pupil. Pupils are frequently carried away with +some technical trick of this kind like a child with a +new toy. They do these things without ever consulting +their own judgment."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>The whole idea of technic then is to achieve a +position <i>through</i> conscious effort, where one may +<i>dispense with</i> conscious effort. Not until this can be +accomplished can we hope for real self-expression in +playing. Nothing is so odious as the obtrusion of +technic in any work of art. Technic is the trellis +concealed beneath the foliage and the blossoms of the +bower. When the artist is really great all idea of +technic is forgotten. He must be absorbed by the +sheer beauty of his musical message, his expression +of his musical self. In listening to Rubinstein or to +Liszt one forgot all idea of technic, and it must be so +with all great artists in every branch of art in every +age. What we claim when we attend a recital is +the individual artist, unrestrained by mechanical +bonds.</p> + +<p>Very few of the great masters of pianoforte playing +have delved very deeply into the technical pedagogical +side of their art, as for instance have Tausig, Ehrlich +or Joseffy, all of whom have produced remarkable +works on technic. Liszt's contribution to the technic +of the instrument was made through his pieces, not +through exercises; his contributions to the Lebert +and Stark Stuttgart Conservatory method consist of +two well-known concert studies. Personally, I am +opposed to set methods, that is, those that pretend to +teach the pupil factory-wise. Of what value is the +teacher if he is not to apply his knowledge with the +discretion that comes with experience?</p> + +<p>Deppe's influence to this day is far more theoretical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +than practical. This does not imply that Deppe did +not evolve some very useful ideas in pianoforte work. +All of present technic is a common heritage from many +investigators and innovators. Pianoforte teaching, +as a matter of fact, is one of the most difficult of all +tasks. It is easy to teach it along conventional +"cut and dried" method lines, but the teachers of +real importance are those who have the ability, the +gift, the inclination and the experience to make a +brand new method for every pupil.</p> + +<p>In order to develop the means to communicate +one's message through one's art with the greatest +effectiveness, there must be a mastery of the delicate +balance between natural tendencies and discipline. +If the student is subjected to too much discipline, +stiff, angular results may be expected. If the student +is permitted to play with the flabby looseness which +some confuse with natural relaxation, characterless +playing must invariably result. The great desideratum +is the fine equilibrium between nature and discipline. +This may seem an unnecessary observation +to some, but many students never seem to be able to +strike the happy medium between marching over the +keys like a regiment of wooden soldiers, or crawling +over them like a lot of spineless caterpillars.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Avoid Machine-like Playing</span></h3> + +<p>There is a certain "something" which defines the +individuality of the player, and it seems well nigh +impossible to say just what this something is. Let us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +by all means preserve it. Imagine the future of music +if every piece were to be played in the selfsame way +by every player like a series of ordinary piano playing +machines. The remarkable apparatus for recording +the playing of virtuosos, and then reproducing it +through a mechanical contrivance, is somewhat of a +revelation to the pianist who tries it for the first time. +In the records of the playing of artists whose interpretations +are perfectly familiar to me, there still +remain unquestioned marks of individuality. Sometimes +these marks are small shortcomings, but which, +nevertheless, are so slight that they do no more than +give character. Look at a painting by Van Dyke, +and then at one upon a similar subject by Rembrandt, +and you will realize how these little characteristics +influence the whole outward aspect of an art work. +Both Van Dyke and Rembrandt were Dutchmen, and, +in a sense, contemporaries. They used pigments +and brushes, canvas and oil, yet the masterpieces +of each are readily distinguishable by any one slightly +familiar with their styles. It is precisely the same +with pianists. All of us have arms, fingers, muscles +and nerves, but what we have to say upon the keyboard +should be an expression of our own minds, not a +replica of some stereotyped model.</p> + +<p>When I listened to the first record of my own playing, +I heard things which seemed unbelievable to me. +Was I, after years of public playing, actually making +mistakes that I would be the first to condemn in any +one of my own pupils? I could hardly believe my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +ears, and yet the unrelenting machine showed that +in some places I had failed to play both hands exactly +together, and had been guilty of other errors no less +heinous, because they were trifling. I also learned +in listening to my own playing, as reproduced, that +I had unconsciously brought out certain nuances, +emphasized different voices and employed special +accents without the consciousness of having done so. +Altogether it made a most interesting study for me, +and it became very clear that the personality of the +artist must permeate everything that he does. When +his technic is sufficiently great it permits him to speak +with fluency and self-expression, enhancing the value +of his work a thousandfold.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Broad Understanding Necessary</span></h3> + +<p>"It would be a great mistake for the student to +imagine that by merely acquiring finger dexterity and +a familiarity with a certain number of pieces he may +consider himself proficient. There is vastly more to +piano-playing than that. He must add to his digital +ability and his repertoire and comprehensive grasp of +the principles of music itself. The pupil should strive +to accomplish as much as possible through mental +work. The old idea of attempting to play every +single study written by Czerny, or Cramer or the other +prolific writers of studies is a huge mistake. A judicious +selection from the works of these pedagogical +writers is desirable but certainly not all of them. They +are at best only the material with which one must work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +for a certain aim, and that aim should be high artistic +results. It should be realized by all students and +teachers that this same study material, excellent in +itself, may actually produce bad results if not properly +practiced. I have repeatedly watched students +practicing industriously, but becoming worse and +worse and actually cultivating faults rather than +approaching perfection. The student must always +remember that his fingers are only the outward +organs of his inner consciousness, and while his work +may be mechanical in part he should never think +mechanically. The smallest technical exercise must +have its own direction, its own aim. Nothing should +be done without some definite purpose in view. The +student should have pointed out to him just what the +road he must travel is, and where it leads to. The +ideal teacher is the one who gives the pupil something +to take home and work out at home, not the one who +works out the student's lesson for him in the class +room. The teacher's greatest mission is to raise the +consciousness of the pupil until he can appreciate his +own powers for developing an idea.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Freedom From Convention</span></h3> + +<p>"Oh the horror of the conventional, the absolutely +right, the human machine who cannot make an error! +The balance between the frigidly correct and the +abominably loose is a most difficult one to maintain. +It is, of course, desirable that the young student pass +through a certain period of strict discipline, but if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +this discipline succeeds in making an automaton, of +what earthly use is it? Is it really necessary to instruct +our little folks to think that everything must be +done in a "cut and dried" manner? Take the simple +matter of time, for instance. Listen to the playing +of most young pupils and you will hear nothing but a +kind of "railroad train" rhythm. Every measure +bumps along precisely like the last one. The pupil +has been taught to observe the bar signs like stone +walls partitioning the whole piece off into sections. +The result as a whole is too awful to describe. As a +matter of fact, the bar signs, necessary as they are as +guide-posts when we are learning the elements of +notation, are often the means of leading the poorly +trained pupil to a wholly erroneous interpretation. +For instance, in a passage like the following from +Beethoven's F minor Sonata, Opus 2, No. 1 (dedicated +to Joseph Haydn), Beethoven's idea must have been +the following:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/019a.jpg" width="600" height="138" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>before it was divided into measures by bar lines as +now found printed:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/019b.jpg" width="600" height="93" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>The trouble with the pupil in playing the above is that +he seems inclined to observe the bar lines very carefully +and lose all idea of the phrase as a whole. Music +should be studied by phrases, not by measures. In +studying a poem you strive first of all to get the poet's +meaning as expressed in his phrases and in his sentences; +you do not try to mumble a few words in an +arbitrary manner. The pupil who never gets over the +habit of playing in measures, who never sees the composer's +message as a whole rather than in little segments +can never play artistically. Many students fail +to realize that in some pieces it is actually misleading +to count the beats in the measure. The rhythm of the +piece as a whole is often marked by a series of measures, +and one must count the measures as units rather +than the notes in the measures. For instance, the +following section from a Chopin Valse, Opus 64, No. +1 (sometimes called the <i>Minute Valse</i>), may best be +counted by counting the measures thus:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/020.jpg" width="600" height="184" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Every pupil knows that the first beat in each ordinary +measure of four-quarter time carries a strong accent, +the third beat the next strongest, and the second and +fourth beats still weaker accents. In a series of meas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>ures +which may be counted in fours, it will be found +that the same arrangement often prevails. The pupil +will continually meet opportunities to study his work +along broader lines, and the wonderful part of it all +is that music contains so much that is interesting and +surprising, that there need be no end to his investigations. +Every page from a master work that has been +studied for years is likely to contain some unsolved +problem if the student can only see it right and hunt +for it.</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XIII</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>max pauer</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series13"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Define technical ability.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Describe some useless technical tricks.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Do great pianists devote much time to writing upon piano technic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>State the evils of too much discipline.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How may machine-like playing be avoided?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>State how faults are most frequently developed.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Why must one seek to avoid conventions?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Should music be studied by phrases or measures?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Play the Chopin Valse Opus 64, No. 1, indicating how it may best be counted.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Where must the student find his problems?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;"> +<a href="images/021.jpg"><img src="images/021th.jpg" width="261" height="400" alt="s. v. rachmaninoff" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">s. v. rachmaninoff</span> +</div> + + +<h2>S. V. RACHMANINOFF</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff was born at Novgorod, +Russia, April 1st, 1873. At the Moscow +Conservatory he was placed under the instruction +of Siloti who had been one of the favorite Russian +pupils of Franz Liszt. This master imparted a very +facile technic to Rachmaninoff and made him so +thoroughly acquainted with the best literature of +the instrument that his compositions became recognized +at once as those of a thorough master of the +keyboard. His teacher in composition was Arensky, +who in addition to his skill in the technic of the art +had a fund of melody which is a delight to all those +who know his works. In 1891 Rachmaninoff won +the great gold medal at the Moscow Conservatory +and his work as a composer commenced to attract +favorable attention throughout all Europe. In addition +to this his ability as a pianist attracted wide +notice and his tours have been very successful. His +compositions have been cast in many different forms +from opera to songs and piano pieces. His most +popular work is <i>the Prelude in C Sharp Minor</i> which +is in the repertoire of all advanced students. His +appointment as Supervisor General of the Imperial +conservatories of Russia was one of the highest distinctions +that could be conferred in the land of the +Czar. The correct pronunciation of the name as +given by the composer is Rokh-mahn-ee-noff.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in +German.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVI</h2> + +<h3>ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>s. v. rachmaninoff</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Forming the Proper Conception of a Piece</span></h3> + +<p>It is a seemingly impossible task to define the +number of attributes of really excellent pianoforte +playing. By selecting ten important characteristics, +however, and considering them carefully, one at a +time, the student may learn much that will give him +food for thought. After all, one can never tell in +print what can be communicated by the living +teacher. In undertaking the study of a new composition +it is highly important to gain a conception +of the work as a whole. One must comprehend the +main design of the composer. Naturally, there are +technical difficulties which must be worked out, +measure by measure, but unless the student can +form some idea of the work in its larger proportions +his finished performance may resemble a kind of +musical patchwork. Behind every composition is +the architectural plan of the composer. The student +should endeavor, first of all, to discover this plan, +and then he should build in the manner in which the +composer would have had him build.</p> + +<p>You ask me, "How can the student form the +proper conception of the work as a whole?" Doubtless +the best way is to hear it performed by some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +pianist whose authority as an interpreter cannot be +questioned. However, many students are so situated +that this course is impossible. It is also often quite +impossible for the teacher, who is busy teaching +from morning to night, to give a rendering of the +work that would be absolutely perfect in all of its +details. However, one can gain something from the +teacher who can, by his genius, give the pupil an idea +of the artistic demands of the piece.</p> + +<p>If the student has the advantage of hearing neither +the virtuoso nor the teacher he need not despair, +if he has talent. Talent! Ah, that is the great thing +in all musical work. If he has talent he will see with +the eyes of <i>talent</i>—that wonderful force which penetrates +all artistic mysteries and reveals the truths as +nothing else possibly can. Then he grasps, as if by +intuition, the composer's intentions in writing the +work, and, like the true interpreter, communicates +these thoughts to his audience in their proper form.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Technical Proficiency</span></h3> + +<p>It goes without saying, that technical proficiency +should be one of the first acquisitions of the student +who would become a fine pianist. It is impossible +to conceive of fine playing that is not marked by +clean, fluent, distinct, elastic technic. The technical +ability of the performer should be of such a nature +that it can be applied immediately to all the artistic +demands of the composition to be interpreted. Of +course, there may be individual passages which re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>quire +some special technical study, but, generally +speaking, technic is worthless unless the hands and +the mind of the player are so trained that they can +encompass the principal difficulties found in modern +compositions.</p> + +<p>In the music schools of Russia great stress is laid +upon technic. Possibly this may be one of the reasons +why some of the Russian pianists have been +so favorably received in recent years. The work in +the leading Russian conservatories is almost entirely +under supervision of the Imperial Musical Society. +The system is elastic in that, although all students are +obliged to go through the same course, special attention +is given to individual cases. Technic, however, is at +first made a matter of paramount importance. All +students must become technically proficient. None +are excused. It may be interesting to hear something +of the general plan followed in the Imperial music +schools of Russia. The course is nine years in duration. +During the first five years the student gets +most of his technical instruction from a book of studies +by Hanon, which is used very extensively in the conservatories. +In fact, this is practically the only +book of strictly technical studies employed. All of +the studies are in the key of "C." They include +scales, arpeggios, and other forms of exercises in +special technical designs.</p> + +<p>At the end of the fifth year an examination takes +place. This examination is twofold. The pupil is +examined first for proficiency in technic, and later<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +for proficiency in artistic playing—pieces, studies, +etc. However, if the pupil fails to pass the technical +examination he is not permitted to go ahead. He +knows the exercises in the book of studies by Hanon +so well that he knows each study by number, and the +examiner may ask him, for instance, to play study 17, +or 28, or 32, etc. The student at once sits at the keyboard +and plays.</p> + +<p>Although the original studies are all in the key of +"C," he may be requested to play them in any other +key. He has studied them so thoroughly that he +should be able to play them in any key desired. A +metronomic test is also applied. The student knows +that he will be expected to play the studies at certain +rates of speed. The examiner states the speed and the +metronome is started. The pupil is required, for +instance, to play the E flat major scale with the metronome +at 120, eight notes to the beat. If he is +successful in doing this, he is marked accordingly, +and other tests are given.</p> + +<p>Personally, I believe this matter of insisting upon +a thorough technical knowledge is a very vital one. +The mere ability to play a few pieces does not constitute +musical proficiency. It is like those music +boxes which possess only a few tunes. The student's +technical grasp should be all-embracing.</p> + +<p>Later the student is given advanced technical +exercises, like those of Tausig. Czerny is also very +deservedly popular. Less is heard of the studies of +Henselt, however, notwithstanding his long service<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +in Russia. Henselt's studies are so beautiful that +they should rather be classed with pieces like the studies +of Chopin.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Proper Phrasing</span></h3> + +<p>An artistic interpretation is not possible if the +student does not know the laws underlying the very +important subject of phrasing. Unfortunately many +editions of good music are found wanting in proper +phrase markings. Some of the phrase signs are +erroneously applied. Consequently the only safe +way is for the student to make a special study of +this important branch of musical art. In the olden +days phrase signs were little used. Bach used them +very sparingly. It was not necessary to mark them +in those times, for every musician who counted himself +a musician could determine the phrases as he +played. But a knowledge of the means of defining +phrases in a composition is by no means all-sufficient. +Skill in executing the phrases is quite as important. +The real musical feeling must exist in the mind of the +composer or all the knowledge of correct phrasing +he may possess will be worthless.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Regulating the Tempo</span></h3> + +<p>If a fine musical feeling, or sensitiveness, must +control the execution of the phrases, the regulation +of the tempo demands a kind of musical ability no +less exacting. Although in most cases the tempo +of a given composition is now indicated by means<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +of the metronomic markings, the judgment of the +player must also be brought frequently into requisition. +He cannot follow the tempo marks blindly, +although it is usually unsafe for him to stray very +far from these all-important musical sign-posts. +The metronome itself must not be used "with closed +eyes," as we should say it in Russia. The player +must use discretion. I do not approve of continual +practice with the metronome. The metronome is +designed to set the time, and if not abused is a very +faithful servant. However, it should only be used +for this purpose. The most mechanical playing +imaginable can proceed from those who make themselves +slaves to this little musical clock, which was +never intended to stand like a ruler over every minute +of the student's practice time.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Character in Playing</span></h3> + +<p>Too few students realize that there is continual +and marvelous opportunity for contrast in playing. +Every piece is a piece unto itself. It should, therefore, +have its own peculiar interpretation. There +are performers whose playing seems all alike. It +is like the meals served in some hotels. Everything +brought to the table has the same taste. Of +course, a successful performer must have a strong +individuality, and all of his interpretations must +bear the mark of this individuality, but at the same +time he should seek variety constantly. A Chopin +ballade must have quite a different interpretation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +from a Scarlatti Capriccio. There is really very little +in common between a Beethoven Sonata and a +Liszt Rhapsody. Consequently, the student must +seek to give each piece a different character. Each +piece must stand apart as possessing an individual +conception, and if the player fails to convey this +impression to his audience, he is little better than +some mechanical instrument. Josef Hofmann has +the ability of investing each composition with an +individual and characteristic charm that has always +been very delightful to me.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Significance of the Pedal</span></h3> + +<p>The pedal has been called the soul of the piano. +I never realized what this meant until I heard Anton +Rubinstein, whose playing seemed so marvelous to +me that it beggars description. His mastery of the +pedal was nothing short of phenomenal. In the last +movement of the B flat minor sonata of Chopin he +produced pedal effects that can never be described, +but for any one who remembers them they will +always be treasured as one of the greatest of musical +joys. The pedal is the study of a lifetime. It is +the most difficult branch of higher pianoforte study. +Of course, one may make rules for its use, and the +student should carefully study all these rules, but, at +the same time, these rules may often be skilfully +broken in order to produce some very charming effects. +The rules represent a few known principles that are +within the grasp of our musical intelligence. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +may be compared with the planet upon which we live, +and about which we know so much. Beyond the rules, +however, is the great universe—the celestial system +which only the telescopic artistic sight of the great +musician can penetrate. This, Rubinstein, and some +others, have done, bringing to our mundane vision +undreamt-of beauties which they alone could perceive.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Danger of Convention</span></h3> + +<p>While we must respect the traditions of the past, +which for the most part are very intangible to us +because they are only to be found in books, we must, +nevertheless, not be bound down by convention. +Iconoclasm is the law of artistic progress. All great +composers and performers have built upon the ruins +of conventions that they themselves have destroyed. +It is infinitely better to create than to imitate. Before +we can create, however, it is well to make ourselves +familiar with the best that has preceded us. This +applies not only to composition, but to pianoforte +playing as well. The master pianists, Rubinstein +and Liszt, were both marvelously broad in the scope +of their knowledge. They knew the literature of the +pianoforte in all its possible branches. They made +themselves familiar with every possible phase of musical +advancement. This is the reason for their gigantic +prominence. Their greatness was not the hollow +shell of acquired technic. THEY KNEW. Oh, for +more students in these days with the genuine thirst<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +for real musical knowledge, and not merely with the +desire to make a superficial exhibition at the keyboard!</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Real Musical Understanding</span></h3> + +<p>I am told that some teachers lay a great deal of +stress upon the necessity for the pupil learning the +source of the composer's inspiration. This is interesting, +of course, and may help to stimulate a dull +imagination. However, I am convinced that it +would be far better for the student to depend more +upon his real musical understanding. It is a mistake +to suppose that the knowledge of the fact that +Schubert was inspired by a certain poem, or that +Chopin was inspired by a certain legend, could ever +make up for a lack of the real essentials leading to +good pianoforte playing. The student must see, +first of all, the main points of musical relationship +in a composition. He must understand what it is +that gives the work unity, cohesion, force, or grace, +and must know how to bring out these elements. +There is a tendency with some teachers to magnify +the importance of auxiliary studies and minimize +the importance of essentials. This course is wrong, +and must lead to erroneous results.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Playing To Educate the Public</span></h3> + +<p>The virtuoso must have some far greater motive +than that of playing for gain. He has a mission, +and that mission is to educate the public. It is quite +as necessary for the sincere student in the home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +to carry on this educational work. For this reason +it is to his advantage to direct his efforts toward +pieces which he feels will be of musical educational +advantage to his friends. In this he must use judgment +and not overstep their intelligence too far. +With the virtuoso it is somewhat different. He expects, +and even demands, from his audience a certain +grade of musical taste, a certain degree of musical +education. Otherwise he would work in vain. If +the public would enjoy the greatest in music they must +hear good music until these beauties become evident.</p> + +<p>It would be useless for the virtuoso to attempt a +concert tour in the heart of Africa. The virtuoso +is expected to give his best, and he should not be +criticized by audiences that have not the mental +capacity to appreciate his work. The virtuosos look +to the students of the world to do their share in the +education of the great musical public. Do not waste +your time with music that is trite or ignoble. Life +is too short to spend it wandering in the barren Saharas +of musical trash.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Vital Spark</span></h3> + +<p>In all good pianoforte playing there is a vital spark +that seems to make each interpretation of a masterpiece—a +living thing. It exists only for the moment, +and cannot be explained. For instance, two pianists +of equal technical ability may play the same composition. +With one the playing is dull, lifeless and sapless, +with the other there is something that is indescribably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +wonderful. His playing seems fairly to quiver with +life. It commands interest and inspires the audience. +What is this vital spark that brings life to mere notes? +In one way it may be called the intense artistic interest +of the player. It is that astonishing thing known as +inspiration.</p> + +<p>When the composition was originally written the +composer was unquestionably inspired; when the +performer finds the same joy that the composer found +at the moment the composition came into existence, +then something new and different enters his playing. +It seems to be stimulated and invigorated in a manner +altogether marvelous. The audience realizes this +instantly, and will even sometimes forgive technical +imperfections if the performance is inspired. Rubinstein +was technically marvelous, and yet he admitted +making mistakes. Nevertheless, for every possible +mistake he may have made, he gave, in return, ideas +and musical tone pictures that would have made up for +a million mistakes. When Rubinstein was overexact +his playing lost something of its wonderful +charm. I remember that upon one occasion he was +playing Balakireff's <i>Islamei</i> at a concert. Something +distracted his attention and he apparently forgot the +composition entirely; but he kept on improvising in +the style of the piece, and after about four minutes the +remainder of the composition came back to him and he +played it to the end correctly. This annoyed him +greatly and he played the next number upon the program +with the greatest exactness, but, strange to say,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +it lost the wonderful charm of the interpretation of +the piece in which his memory had failed him. Rubinstein +was really incomparable, even more so perhaps +because he was full of human impulse and his playing +very far removed from mechanical perfection.</p> + +<p>While, of course, the student must play the notes, +and all of the notes, in the manner and in the time +in which the composer intended that they should be +played, his efforts should by no means stop with notes. +Every individual note in a composition is important, +but there is something quite as important as the notes, +and that is the soul. After all, the vital spark is +the soul. The soul is the source of that higher expression +in music which cannot be represented in +dynamic marks. The soul feels the need for the +<i>crescendos</i> and <i>diminuendos</i> intuitively. The mere +matter of the duration of a pause upon a note depends +upon its significance, and the soul of the artist dictates +to him just how long such a pause should be held. +If the student resorts to mechanical rules and depends +upon them absolutely, his playing will be soulless.</p> + +<p>Fine playing requires much deep thought away +from the keyboard. The student should not feel +that when the notes have been played his task is +done. It is, in fact, only begun. He must make the +piece a part of himself. Every note must awaken in +him a kind of musical consciousness of his real artistic +mission.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XIV</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">s. v. rachmaninoff</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series14"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Should the student gain an idea of the work as a whole before attempting detailed study?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>How is the matter of digital technic regarded in Russia?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>What part should the study of phrasing play in modern music education?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>State how contrast in playing may be accomplished.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What may be considered the most difficult branch of pianoforte study?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>What is the law of artistic progress?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>How must real musical understanding be achieved?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>What is the vital spark in piano playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Can one be overexact in playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What is the effect of too many mechanical rules?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;"> +<a href="images/022.jpg"><img src="images/022th.jpg" width="256" height="400" alt="a. reisenauer" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">a. reisenauer</span> +</div> + + +<h2>ALFRED REISENAUER</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Alfred Reisenauer was born at Königsberg, Germany, +Nov. 1st, 1863. He was a pupil of his mother, Louis +Köhler, and Franz Liszt. His début as a pianist was +made in Rome, in 1881, at the palace of Cardinal +Hohenlohe. After a concert tour in Germany and a +visit to England he studied Law for one year at the +Leipsic University. Not finding this altogether to +his liking he resumed his concert work and commenced +a long series of tours which included all the nooks and +corners of the world where one might find a musical +public. He was an accomplished linguist, speaking +many languages very fluently. His work as a composer +was not significant but in certain branches of +pianoforte playing he rose to exceptional heights. +He died October 31st, 1907.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVII</h2> + +<h3>SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>alfred reisenauer</span></h3> + + +<p>"I can never thank my mother enough for the +splendid start she gave me in my early musical life. +She was a wonderful woman and a veritable genius +as a teacher. See, I have here to-day on my piano +a copy of the Schumann Sonata in F sharp minor +which she herself used and which she played with a +feeling I have never heard equaled. There is one +thing in particular for which I am everlastingly grateful +to her. Before I was taught anything of notes or +of the piano keyboard, she took me aside one day and +explained in the simple and beautiful tongue which +only a mother employs in talking to her child, the +wonderful natural relationships of tones used in making +music. Whether this was an inspiration, an +intuition, or a carefully thought out plan for my +benefit, I cannot tell, but my mother put into practice +what I have since come to consider the most important +and yet the most neglected step in the education of +the child. The fault lies in the fact that most teachers +at the start do not teach music, rather musical notation +and the peculiarities of the instrument.</p> + +<p>Nothing could possibly be more stultifying to the +musical instinct of the child. For instance, the plan +generally pursued is to let the child grope over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +white keys of the piano keyboard and play exercises +in the scale of C, until he begins to feel that the whole +musical world lies in the scale of C, with the scales of +F and G as the frontiers. The keys of F sharp, B, D +flat and others are looked upon as tremendously +difficult and the child mind reasons with its own peculiar +logic that these keys being so much less used, must, +of course be less important. The black keys upon +the keyboard are a '<i>terra incognita</i>.' Consequently +at the very start the child has a radically incorrect +view of what music really is.</p> + +<p>"Before notation existed,—before keyboards were +invented,—people sang. Before a child knows anything +of notation or a keyboard, it sings. It is following +its natural, musical instinct. Notation and +keyboards are simply symbols of music—cages in +which the beautiful bird is caught. They are not +music any more than the alphabet is literature. +Unfortunately, our system of musical symbols and +the keyboard itself are very complex. For the young +child it is as difficult as are Calculus and Algebra for +his older brother. As a matter of fact, the keys of F +sharp, B, and D flat major, etc., are only difficult +because fate has made them so. It would have served +the musical purpose just as well if the pitch of the +instruments employed had been adjusted so that what +is now F sharp, would be the key of C major. That, +however, would not have simplified matters and we +have to receive our long established musical notation +until we can exchange it for a better one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"At a very early age, I was taken to Franz Liszt +by my mother. Liszt immediately perceived my +natural talent and strongly advised my mother to +continue my musical work. At the same time he said +'As a child I was exposed to criticism as a Wunderkind +(prodigy), through the ignorance of my parents, +long before I was properly prepared to meet the inevitable +consequences of public appearance. This +did incalculable damage to me. Let your child be +spared such a fate. My own experience was disastrous. +Do not let your son appear in public until he is +a mature artist.'</p> + +<p>"My first teacher, Louis Köhler, was an artist and a +great artist, but he was an artist-teacher rather than +an artist-pianist. Compared with many of his contemporaries +his playing suffered immensely, but he +made an art of teaching as few other men have done. +He did not play for his pupils to any extent, nor did +he ask them to imitate him in any way. His playing +was usually confined to general illustrations and suggestions. +By these means the individuality of his +pupils was preserved and permitted to develop, so +that while the pupil always had an excellent idea of +the authoritative traditions governing the interpretation +of a certain piece, there was nothing that suggested +the stilted or wooden performance of the brainless +mimic. He taught his pupils to think. He was +an indefatigable student and thinker himself. He +had what many teachers would have considered peculiar +ideas upon technic.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Köhler's Technical Scheme</span></h3> + +<p>"While he invented many little means whereby +technical difficulties could be more readily overcome +than by the existing plan he could not be called in any +way radical. He believed in carrying the technical +side of a pupil's education up to a certain point along +more or less conventional lines. When the pupil +reached that point he found that he was upon a +veritable height of mechanical supremacy. Thereafter +Köhler depended upon the technical difficulties +presented in the literature of the instrument to continue +the technical efficiency acquired. In other +words, the acquisition of a technic was solely to enable +the pupil to explore the world of music equipped in +such a way that he was not to be overcome by anything. +The everlasting continuance of technical +exercises was looked upon by Köhler as a ridiculous +waste of time and a great injury.</p> + +<p>"I also hold this opinion. Let us suppose that I +were to sit at the piano for six or seven hours and do +nothing but play conventional finger exercises. What +happens to my soul, psychologically considered, +during those hours spent upon exercises which no man +or woman could possibly find anything other than an +irritation? Do not the same exercises occur in thousands +of pieces but in such connection that the mind +is interested? Is it necessary for the advanced +pianist to punish himself with a kind of mental and +physical penance more trying, perhaps, than the de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>vices +of the medieval ascetics or the oriental priests +of to-day? No, technic is the Juggernaut which has +ground to pieces more musicians than one can imagine. +It produces a stiff, wooden touch and has a tendency +to induce the pianist to believe that the art of pianoforte +playing depends upon the continuance of technical +exercises whereas the acquisition of technical +ability should be regarded as the beginning and not +the end. When pupils leave your schools you say +that they are having a 'Commencement.' The +acquisition of a technic is only the commencement, +unfortunately too many consider it the end. This +may perhaps be the reason why our conservatories +turn out so many bright and proficient young people +who in a few years are buried in oblivion.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">With Liszt</span></h3> + +<p>"When I had reached a certain grade of advancement +it was my great fortune to become associated +with the immortal Franz Liszt. I consider Liszt the +greatest man I have ever met. By this I mean that +I have never met, in any other walk of life, a man +with the mental grasp, splendid disposition and +glorious genius. This may seem a somewhat extravagant +statement. I have met many, many great men, +rulers, jurists, authors, scientists, teachers, merchants +and warriors, but never have I met a man in any position +whom I have not thought would have proved the +inferior of Franz Liszt, had Liszt chosen to follow +the career of the man in question. Liszt's personality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +can only be expressed by one word, 'colossal.' He had +the most generous nature of any man I have ever met. +He had aspirations to become a great composer, +greater than his own measure of his work as a composer +had revealed to him. The dire position of Wagner +presented itself. He abandoned his own ambitions—ambitions +higher than those he ever held toward piano +virtuosity—abandoned them completely to champion +the difficult cause of the great Wagner. What Liszt +suffered to make this sacrifice, the world does not +know. But no finer example of moral heroism can +be imagined. His conversations with me upon the +subject were so intimate that I do not care to reveal +one word.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Liszt's Pedagogical Methods</span></h3> + +<p>His generosity and personal force in his work with +the young artists he assisted are hard to describe. +You ask me whether he had a certain method. I +reply, he abhorred methods in the modern sense of the +term. His work was eclectic in the highest sense. In +one way he could not be considered a teacher at all. +He charged no fees and had irregular and somewhat +unsystematic classes. In another sense he was the +greatest of teachers. Sit at the piano and I will indicate +the general plan pursued by Liszt at a lesson. +Reisenauer is a remarkable and witty mimic of +people he desires to describe. The present writer sat +at the piano and played at some length through several +short compositions, eventually coming to the inevit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>able +"Chopin Valse, Op. 69, No. 1, in A flat major." +In the meanwhile, Reisenauer had gone to another +room and, after listening patiently, returned, imitating +the walk, facial expression and the peculiar +guttural snort characteristic of Liszt in his later years. +Then followed a long "kindly sermon" upon the +emotional possibilities of the composition. This was +interrupted with snorts and went with kaleidoscopic +rapidity from French to German and back again +many, many times. Imitating Liszt he said,</p> + +<p>"First of all we must arrive at the very essence of +the thing; the germ that Chopin chose to have grow +and blossom in his soul. It is, roughly considered, this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/023a.jpg" width="600" height="112" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Chopin's next thought was, no doubt:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/023b.jpg" width="600" height="88" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But with his unerring good taste and sense of +symmetry he writes it so:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/023c.jpg" width="600" height="86" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Now consider the thing in studying it and while playing +it from the composer's attitude. By this I mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +that during the mental process of conception, before +the actual transference of the thought to paper, the +thought itself is in a nebulous condition. The composer +sees it in a thousand lights before he actually +determines upon the exact form he desires to perpetuate. +For instance, this theme might have gone +through Chopin's mind much after this fashion:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/024.jpg" width="600" height="159" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"The main idea being to reach the embryo of +Chopin's thought and by artistic insight divine the +connotation of that thought, as nearly as possible in +the light of the treatment Chopin has given it.</p> + +<p>"It is not so much the performer's duty to play mere +notes and dynamic marks, as it is for him to make an +artistic estimate of the composer's intention and to +feel that during the period of reproduction he simulates +the natural psychological conditions which affected +the composer during the actual process of +composition. In this way the composition becomes +a living entity—a tangible resurrection of the soul of +the great Chopin. Without such penetrative genius +a pianist is no more than a mere machine and with it +he may develop into an artist of the highest type."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Unique Attitude</span></h3> + +<p>Reisenauer's attitude toward the piano is unique +and interesting. Musicians are generally understood +to have an affectionate regard for their instruments, +almost paternal. Not so with Reisenauer. He even +goes so far as to make this statement: "I have +aways been drawn to the piano by a peculiar charm I +have never been able to explain to myself. I feel that +I must play, play, play, play, play. It has become a +second nature to me. I have played so much and so +long that the piano has become a part of me. Yet I +am never free from the feeling that it is a constant +battle with the instrument, and even with my technical +resources I am not able to express all the beauties +I hear in the music. While music is my very life, I +nevertheless hate the piano. I play because I can't +help playing and because there is no other instrument +which can come as near imitating the melodies and the +harmonies of the music I feel. People say wherever +I go, 'Ah, he is a master.' What absurdity! I the +master? Why, there is the master (pointing to the +piano), I am only the slave."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Future of Pianoforte Music</span></h3> + +<p>An interesting question that frequently arises in +musical circles relates to the future possibilities of +the art of composition in its connection with the pianoforte. +Not a few have some considerable apprehension +regarding the possible dearth of new melodic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +material and the technical and artistic treatment +of such material. "I do not think that there need be +any fear of a lack of original melodic material or +original methods of treating such material. The +possibilities of the art of musical composition have by +no means been exhausted. While I feel that in a +certain sense, very difficult to illustrate with words, one +great 'school' of composition for the pianoforte ended +with Liszt and the other in Brahms, nevertheless I +can but prophesy the arising of many new and wonderful +schools in the future. I base my prophecy upon +the premises of frequent similar conditions during the +history of musical art.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, it is yet my ambition to give a +lengthy series of recitals, with programs arranged to +give a chronological aspect of all the great masterpieces +in music. I hope to be enabled to do this +before I retire. It is part of a plan to circle the world +in a manner that has not yet been done." When +asked whether these programs were to resemble +Rubinstein's famous historical recitals in London, +years ago, he replied: "They will be more extensive +than the Rubinstein recitals. The times make such +a series possible now, which Rubinstein would have +hesitated to give."</p> + +<p>As to American composers, Reisenauer is so thoroughly +and enthusiastically won over by MacDowell +that he has not given the other composers +sufficient attention to warrant a critical opinion. I +found upon questioning that he had made a genuinely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +sincere effort to find new material in America, but he +said that outside of MacDowell, he found nothing but +indifferently good salon-music. With the works of +several American composers he was, however, unfamiliar. +He has done little or nothing himself as a +composer and declared that it was not his forte.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">American Musical Taste</span></h3> + +<p>"I find that American musical taste is in many +ways astonishing. Many musicians who came to +America prior to the time of Thomas and Damrosch +returned to Europe with what were, no doubt, +true stories of the musical conditions in America at +that time. These stories were given wide circulation +in Europe, and it is difficult for Europeans to understand +the cultured condition of the American people +at the present time. America can never thank Dr. +Leopold Damrosch and Theodore Thomas enough for +their unceasing labors. Thanks to the impetus that +they gave the movement, it is now possible to play +programs in almost any American city that are in no +sense different from those one is expected to give in +great European capitals. The status of musical education +in the leading American cities is surprisingly +high. Of course the commercial element necessarily +affects it to a certain extent; but in many cases this +is not as injurious as might be imagined. The future +of music in America seems very roseate to me and I +can look back to my American concert tours with +great pleasure.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Concert Conditions in America</span></h3> + +<p>"One of the great difficulties, however, in concert +touring in America is the matter of enormous distances. +I often think that American audiences rarely +hear great pianists at their best. Considering the +large amounts of money involved in a successful +American tour and the business enterprise which +must be extremely forceful to make such a tour +possible, it is not to be wondered that enormous +journeys must be made in ridiculously short time. +No one can imagine what this means to even a man +of my build." (Reisenauer is a wonderfully strong +and powerful man.) "I have been obliged to play +in one Western city one night and in an Eastern city +the following night. Hundreds of miles lay between +them. In the latter city I was obliged to go directly +from the railroad depot to the stage of the concert +hall, hungry, tired, travel worn and without practice +opportunities. How can a man be at his best under +such conditions?—yet certain conditions make these +things unavoidable in America, and the pianist must +suffer occasional criticism for not playing uniformly +well. In Europe such conditions do not exist owing +to the closely populated districts. I am glad to have +the opportunity to make this statement, as no doubt +a very great many Americans fail to realize under +what distressing conditions an artist is often obliged +to play in America."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XV</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">alfred reisenauer</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series15"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What should be the first step in the musical education of the child?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Why was Köhler so successful as a teacher?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Did Liszt follow a method in teaching or was his work eclectic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Give Liszt's conception of how Chopin developed one of his Valses.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Have the possibilities of the art of musical composition been exhausted?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Are other great schools of pianoforte playing likely to arise?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>What was Reisenauer's opinion of the works of MacDowell?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>What may be said of musical taste in America when Reisenauer was touring this country.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>What may be said of the status of American musical education?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What great difficulties do the virtuosos visiting America encounter?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 244px;"> +<a href="images/025.jpg"><img src="images/025th.jpg" width="244" height="400" alt="emil sauer" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">emil sauer</span> +</div> + + +<h2>EMIL SAUER</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Emil Sauer was born in Hamburg, Germany, +October 8, 1862. His first teacher was his mother, +who was a fine musician, and who took exceptional +pains with her talented son. From 1879 to 1881 he +studied with Nicholas Rubinstein, brother of the +famous Anton Rubinstein. Nicholas Rubinstein was +declared by many to be a far abler teacher than his +brother, who eclipsed him upon the concert platform. +From 1884 to 1885 Sauer studied with Franz Liszt. +In his autobiographical work, "My Life," Sauer +relates that Liszt at that time had reached an age +when much of his reputed brilliance had disappeared, +and the playing of the great Master of Weimar did +not startle Sauer as it did some others. However, +Liszt took a great personal interest in Sauer and prophesied +a great future for him.</p> + +<p>In 1882 Sauer made his first tour as a virtuoso, and +met with such favor that numerous tours of the +music-loving countries ensued. The critics praised +his playing particularly for his great clarity, sanity, +symmetrical appreciation of form, and unaffected +fervor. For a time Sauer was at the head of the +Meisterschule of Piano-playing, connected with the +Imperial Conservatory in Vienna.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in +German and English.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>emil sauer</span></h3> + + +<p>One of the most inestimable advantages I have +ever had was my good fortune in having a musical +mother. It is to her that I owe my whole career +as an artist. If it had not been for her loving care +and her patient persistence I might have been engaged +in some entirely different pursuit. As a child +I was very indifferent to music. I abhorred practice, +and, in fact, showed no signs of pronounced talent +until my twelfth year. But she kept faithfully +pegging away at me and insisted that because my +grandfather had been a noted artist and because +she was devoted to music it must be in my blood.</p> + +<p>My mother was a pupil of Deppe, of whom Miss +Amy Fay has written in her book "Music Study in +Germany." Deppe was a remarkable pedagogue +and had excellent ideas upon the foundation of a +rational system of touch. He sought the most +natural position of the hand and always aimed to +work along the line of least resistance. My mother +instilled Deppe's ideas into me together with a very +comprehensive training in the standard etudes and +classics within my youthful technical grasp. For +those years I could not have had a better teacher. +Lucky is the child, who like Gounod, Reisenauer and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +others, has had the invaluable instruction that a +patient, self-sacrificing mother can give. The mother +is the most unselfish of all teachers, and is painstaking +to a fault.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Slow Systematic Practice</span></h3> + +<p>She insisted upon slow systematic regular practice. +She knew the importance of regularity, and +one of the first things I ever learned was that if +I missed one or two days' practice, I could not hope +to make it up by practicing overtime on the following +days. Practice days missed or skipped are gone forever. +One must make a fresh start and the loss is +sometimes not recovered for several days.</p> + +<p>I was also made to realize the necessity of freshness +at the practice period. The pupil who wants +to make his practice lead to results must feel well +while practicing. Practicing while tired, either mentally +or physically, is wasted practice.</p> + +<p>Pupils must learn to concentrate, and if they have +not the ability to do this naturally they should have +a master who will teach them how. It is not easy +to fix the mind upon one thing and at the same time +drive every other thought away. With some young +pupils this takes much practice. Some never acquire +it—it is not in them. Concentration is the +vertebræ of musical success. The student who cannot +concentrate had better abandon musical study. +In fact, the young person who cannot concentrate +is not likely to be a conspicuous success in any line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +of activity. The study of music cultivates the +pupil's powers of concentration perhaps more than +any other study. The notes to be played must be +recognized instantaneously and correctly performed. +In music the mind has no time to wander. This is +one of the reasons why music is so valuable even +for those who do not ever contemplate a professional +career.</p> + +<p>One hour of concentrated practice with the mind +fresh and the body rested is better than four hours +of dissipated practice with the mind stale and the +body tired. With a fatigued intellect the fingers +simply dawdle over the keys and nothing is accomplished. +I find in my own daily practice that it is +best for me to practice two hours in the morning +and then two hours later in the day. When I am +finished with two hours of hard study I am exhausted +from close concentration. I have also noted that any +time over this period is wasted. I am too fatigued +for the practice to be of any benefit to me.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Necessity for a Good General Education</span></h3> + +<p>Parents make a great mistake in not insuring the +general education of the child who is destined to +become a concert performer. I can imagine nothing +more stultifying or more likely to result in artistic +disaster than the course that some parents take +in neglecting the child's school work with an idea +that if he is to become a professional musician he +need only devote himself to music. This one-sided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +cultivation should be reserved for idiots who can +do nothing else. The child-wonder is often the victim +of some mental disturbance.</p> + +<p>I remember once seeing a remarkable child mathematician +in Hungary. He was only twelve years of +age and yet the most complicated mathematical +problems were solved in a few seconds without recourse +to paper. The child had water on the brain +and lived but a few years. His usefulness to the world +of mathematics was limited solely to show purposes. +It is precisely the same with the so-called musical +precocities. They are rarely successful in after life, +and unless trained by some very wise and careful +teacher, they soon become objects for pity.</p> + +<p>The child who is designed to become a concert +pianist should have the broadest possible culture. +He must live in the world of art and letters and +become a naturalized citizen. The wider the range +of his information, experience and sympathies, the +larger will be the audience he will reach when he +comes to talk to them from the concert platform. +It is the same as with a public speaker. No one +wants to hear a speaker who has led a narrow, crabbed +intellectual existence, but the man who has seen and +known the world, who has become acquainted with +the great masterpieces of art and the wonderful +achievements of science, has little difficulty in securing +an audience providing he has mastered the means +of expressing his ideas.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Clean Playing vs. Slovenly Playing</span></h3> + +<p>In the matter of technical preparation there is, +perhaps, too little attention being given to-day to +the necessity for clean playing. Of course, each +individual requires a different treatment. The pupil +who has a tendency to play with stiffness and rigidity +may be given studies which will develop a more fluent +style. For these pupils' studies, like those of Heller, +are desirable in the cases of students with only moderate +technical ability, while the splendid "etudes" +of Chopin are excellent remedies for advanced pupils +with tendencies toward hard, rigid playing. The +difficulty one ordinarily meets, however, is ragged, +slovenly playing rather than stiff, rigid playing. To +remedy this slovenliness, there is nothing like the +well-known works of Czerny, Cramer or Clementi.</p> + +<p>I have frequently told pupils in my "Meisterschule" +in Vienna, before I abandoned teaching for my work +as a concert pianist, that they must learn to draw +before they learn to paint. They will persist in trying +to apply colors before they learn the art of making +correct designs. This leads to dismal failure in almost +every case. Technic first—then interpretation. +The great concert-going public has no use for a player +with a dirty, slovenly technic no matter how much he +strives to make morbidly sentimental interpretations +that are expected to reach the lovers of sensation. +For such players a conscientious and exacting study +of Czerny, Cramer, Clementi and others of similar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +design is good musical soap and water. It washes +them into respectability and technical decency. +The pianist with a bungling, slovenly technic, who +at the same time attempts to perform the great +masterpieces, reminds me of those persons who attempt +to disguise the necessity for soap and water +with nauseating perfume.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Health a Vital Factor</span></h3> + +<p>Few people realize what a vital factor health is +to the concert pianist. The student should never +fail to think of this. Many young Americans who go +abroad to study break down upon the very vehicle +upon which they must depend in their ride to success +through the indiscretions of overwork or wrong +living. The concert pianist really lives a life of privation. +I always make it a point to restrict myself +to certain hygienic rules on the day before a concert. +I have a certain diet and a certain amount of exercise +and sleep, without which I cannot play successfully.</p> + +<p>In America one is overcome with the kindness of +well-meaning people who insist upon late suppers, +receptions, etc. It is hard to refuse kindness of this +description, but I have always felt that my debt to my +audiences was a matter of prime importance, and while +on tour I refrain from social pleasures of all kinds. +My mind and my body must be right or failure will +surely result.</p> + +<p>I have often had people say to me after the performance +of some particularly brilliant number "Ah!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +You must have taken a bottle of champagne to give +a performance like that." Nothing could be further +from the truth. A half a bottle of beer would ruin +a recital for me. The habit of taking alcoholic +drinks with the idea that they lead to a more fiery +performance is a dangerous custom that has been +the ruin of more than one pianist. The performer +who would be at his best must live a very careful, +almost abstemious life. Any unnatural excess is +sure to mar his playing and lead to his downfall with +the public. I have seen this done over and over again, +and have watched alcohol tear down in a few years +what had taken decades of hard practice and earnest +study to build up.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Judicious Use of Technical Exercises</span></h3> + +<p>The field of music is so enormous that I have +often thought that the teacher should be very careful +not to overdo the matter of giving technical exercises. +Technical exercises are, at best, short cuts. +They are necessary for the student. He should have +a variety of them, and not be kept incessantly pounding +away at one or two exercises. As Nicholas +Rubinstein once said to me, "Scales should never be +dry. If you are not interested in them work with +them until you become interested in them." They +should be played with accents and in different rhythms. +If they are given in the shapeless manner in which +some teachers obliged their unfortunate pupils to +practice them they are worthless. I do not believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +in working out technical exercises at a table or with a +dumb piano. The brain must always work with the +fingers, and without the sound of the piano the imagination +must be enormously stretched to get anything +more than the most senseless, toneless, soulless touch.</p> + +<p>Technic with many is unmistakably a gift. I say +this after having given the matter much careful +thought. It is like the gift of speech. Some people +are fluent talkers, precisely as some people can do +more in two hours' technical work at the keyboard +than others could accomplish with four. Of course, +much can be accomplished with persistent practice, +and a latent gift may be awakened, but it is certainly +not given to all to become able technicalists. Again +some become very proficient from the technical standpoint, +but are barren, soulless, uninspired and vapid +when it comes to the artistic and musicianly interpretation +of a piece.</p> + +<p>There comes a time to every advanced pianist +when such exercises as the scales, arpeggios, the studies +of Czerny and Cramer are unnecessary. I have not +practiced them for some years, but pray do not +think that I attempt to go without exercises. These +exercises I make by selecting difficult parts of famous +pieces and practicing them over and over. I find +the concertos of Hummel particularly valuable in +this connection, and there are parts of some of the +Beethoven concertos that make splendid musical +exercises that I can practice without the fatal diminution +of interest which makes a technical exercise +valueless.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Study Abroad</span></h3> + +<p>In the matter of foreign study I think that I may +speak without bias, as I am engaged in teaching and +am not likely to resume for some years. I am <i>absolutely +convinced</i> that there are many teachers in America +who are as good as the best in Europe. Nevertheless, +I would advise the young American to secure +the best instruction possible in his native land, and +then to go abroad for a further course. It will serve +to broaden him in many ways.</p> + +<p>I believe in patriotism, and I admire the man who +sticks to his fatherland. But, in art there is no such +thing as patriotism. As the conservatory of Paris +provides, through the "Prix de Rome," for a three +years' residence in Italy and other countries for the +most promising pupil, so the young American music +students should avail themselves of the advantages of +Old World civilization, art, and music. There is +much to be learned from the hustle and vigorous +wholesome growth of your own country that would +be of decided advantage to the German students who +could afford a term of residence here. It is narrowing +to think that one should avoid the Old World art +centers from the standpoint of American patriotism.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Versatility</span></h3> + +<p>Few people recognize the multifarious requirements +of the concert pianist. He must adjust himself +to all sorts of halls, pianos and living conditions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +The difference between one piano and another is +often very remarkable. It sometimes obliges the +artist to readjust his technical methods very materially. +Again, the difference in halls is noteworthy. +In a great hall, like the Albert Hall of London, one +can only strive for very broad effects. It is not possible +for one to attempt the delicate shadings which +the smaller halls demand. Much is lost in the great +hall, and it is often unjust to determine the pianist's +ability by his exclusively bravura performances in +very large auditoriums.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Cultivating Finger Strength</span></h3> + +<p>The concert pianist must have great endurance. +His fingers must be as strong as steel, and yet they +must be as elastic and as supple as willow wands. +I have always had great faith in the "Kleine Pischna" +and the "Pischna Exercises" in cultivating strength. +These exercises are now world famous, and it would +be hard for me to imagine anything better for this +particular purpose. They are somewhat voluminous, +but necessarily so. One conspicuous difficulty with +which teachers have to contend is that pupils attempt +pieces requiring great digital strength without ever +having gone through such a course as I advocate +above. The result is that they have all sorts of troubles +with their hands through strain. Some of these +troubles are irremediable, others are curable, but cause +annoying delays. I have never had anything of this +sort and attribute my immunity from weeping sinews,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +etc., to correct hand positions, a loose wrist and slow +systematic work in my youth.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Velocity</span></h3> + +<p>Velocity depends more upon natural elasticity than +strength. Some people seem to be born with the +ability to play rapidly. It is always a matter of the +fingers, but is more a matter of the brain. Some +people have the ability to think very rapidly, and +when these people have good supple hands they seem +to be able to play rapidly with comparatively little +study. When you fail to get velocity at first, do not +hesitate to lay the piece aside for several weeks, +months or years. Then you will doubtless find that +the matter of velocity will not trouble you. Too +much study upon a piece that fails for the time being +to respond to earnest effort is often a bad thing. +Be a little patient. It will all come out right in the +end. If you fuss and fume for immediate results +you may be sadly disappointed.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Talent</span></h3> + +<p>Talent is great and immutable. Take the case of +Liszt, for instance. I recently heard from a reliable +source the following interesting story: One day +Liszt was called away from his class at Wiemar by +an invitation to visit the Grand Duke. Von Bülow, +then a mature artist, was present, and he was asked +by Liszt to teach the class for the day. Liszt left +the room, and a young student was asked to play<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +one of Liszt's own compositions. Von Bülow did +not like the youth's interpretation, as he had been +accustomed to play the same work on tour in a very +different manner. Consequently he abused the student +roundly, and then sat at the keyboard and was +playing to his great satisfaction when the tottering +old master broke in the room and with equal severity +reprimanded Von Bülow, and sat down at the keyboard +and gave an interpretation that was infinitely +superior to that of Von Bülow. It was simply a case +of superiority of talent that enabled the aged and +somewhat infirm Liszt to excel his younger contemporary.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Be Natural</span></h3> + +<p>In closing, let me enjoin all young American music +students to strive for naturalness. Avoid ostentatious +movements in your playing. Let your playing +be as quiet as possible. The wrist should be loose. +The hands, to my mind, should be neither high nor +low, but should be in line with the forearm. One +should continually strive for quietness. Nothing +should be forced. Ease in playing is always admirable, +and comes in time to all talented students who +seek it. The Deppe method of hand position, while +pedantic and unnecessarily long, is interesting and +instructive.</p> + +<p>Personally, I advocate the use of the Etudes of +Chopin, Moscheles and the <i>Etudes Transcendante</i> to +all advanced pupils. I have used them with pupils<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +with invariable success. I have also a series of thirteen +Etudes of my own that I have made for the +express purpose of affording pupils material for +work which is not adequately covered in the usual +course.</p> + +<p>Young Americans have a great future before them. +The pupils I have had have invariably been ones +who progress with astonishing rapidity. They show +keenness and good taste, and are willing to work +faithfully and conscientiously, and that, after all, +is the true road to success.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Talent Counts</span></h3> + +<p>If you think that talent does not count you are +very greatly mistaken. We not infrequently see +men who have been engaged in one occupation with +only very moderate success suddenly leap into fame +in an entirely different line. Men who have struggled +to be great artists or illustrators like du Maurier +astonish the world with a previously concealed literary +ability. It is foolish not to recognize the part +that talent must play in the careers of artists. Sometimes +hard work and patient persistence will stimulate +the mind and soul, and reveal talents that were +never supposed to exist, but if the talent does not +exist it is as hopeless to hunt for it as it is to seek for +diamonds in a bowl of porridge.</p> + +<p>Talented people seem to be born with the knack +or ability to do certain things twice as well and twice +as quickly as other people can do the same things.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +I well remember that when all Europe was wild +over the "Diabolo" craze my little girl commenced to +play with the sticks and the little spool. It looked +interesting and I thought that I would try it a few +times and then show her how to do it. The more I +tried the more exasperated I became. I simply +could not make it go, and before I knew it I had wasted +a whole morning upon it. My little daughter took +it up and in a few minutes' practice she was able to do +it as well as an expert. It is precisely the same at the +keyboard. What takes some pupils hours to accomplish +others can do in a few seconds with apparently +less effort. The age of the pupil seems to have little +to do with musical comprehension. What does +count is talent, that peculiar qualification which seems +to lead the student to see through complex problems +as if he had been solving them through different +generations for centuries.</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XVI</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">emil sauer</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series16"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Can missed practice periods ever be made up?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Does piano study cultivate concentration?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>What is a good arrangement of practice hours?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>What are some remedies for slovenly playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How is one's playing affected by health?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Are stimulants good or bad?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Is listening important in pianoforte playing?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How may finger strength be cultivated?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Upon what does velocity depend?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What part does talent play in the artist's success?</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;"> +<a href="images/026.jpg"><img src="images/026th.jpg" width="258" height="400" alt="x. scharwenka" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">x. scharwenka</span> +</div> + + +<h2>XAVER SCHARWENKA</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Franz Xaver Scharwenka was born at Samter, +Posen (Polish Prussia), January 6, 1850. He was a +pupil of Kullak and Würst at Kullak's Academy in +Berlin, from which he graduated in 1868. Shortly +thereafter he was appointed a teacher in the same +institution. The next year he made his début as a +virtuoso at the <i>Singakademie</i>. For many years +thereafter he gave regular concerts in Berlin in connection +with Sauret and Grünfeld. In 1874 he +gave up his position in the famous Berlin music +school and commenced the career of the touring +virtuoso. In 1880 he founded the Scharwenka +Conservatory in Berlin together with his brother +Philipp Scharwenka, an able composer.</p> + +<p>In 1891 Scharwenka came to New York to establish +a conservatory there. This, however, was closed in +1898 when Scharwenka returned to Berlin as Director +of the Klindworth-Scharwenka conservatory. +He has been the recipient of numerous honors from the +governments of Austria and Germany. He received +the title of "Professor" from the King of Prussia +(Emperor Wilhelm II) and that of Court Pianist +from the emperor of Austria.</p> + +<p>His many concert tours in America and in Europe +have established his fame as a pianist of great intellectual +strength as well as strong poetical force. +His compositions, including his four Concertos, have +been widely played, and his opera, <i>Mataswintha</i>, has +received important productions. One of his earlier +works, the <i>Polish Dance</i>, has been enormously popular +for a quarter of a century.</p> + +<p>(The following conference was conducted in German +and English.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIX</h2> + +<h3>ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>xaver scharwenka</span></h3> + + +<p>It is somewhat of a question whether any time +spent in music study is actually wasted, since all +intellectual activity is necessarily accompanied by an +intellectual advance. However, it soon becomes apparent +to the young teacher that results can be +achieved with a great economy of time if the right +methods are used. By the use of the words "right +methods" I do not mean to infer that only one right +method exists. The right method for one pupil might +be quite different from that which would bring about +the best results with another pupil. In these days +far more elasticity of methods exists than was generally +sanctioned in the past, and the greatness of the teacher +consists very largely of his ability to invent, adapt, +and adjust his pedagogical means to the special +requirements of his pupil. Thus it happens that the +teacher, by selecting only those exercises, etudes and +teaching pieces demanded by the obvious needs of +the pupil, and by eliminating unnecessary material, +a much more rapid rate of advancement may be +obtained. One pupil, for instance, might lack those +qualities of velocity and dexterity which many of the +etudes of Czerny develop in such an admirable manner, +while another pupil might be deficient in the singing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +tone, which is almost invariably improved by the +study of certain Chopin etudes.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Time Lost in Early Study</span></h3> + +<p>Although my educational work for many years has +been almost exclusively limited to pupils preparing +for careers as teachers and as concert pianists, I +nevertheless have naturally taken a great interest +in those broad and significant problems which underlie +the elementary training of the young music +student. I have written quite extensively upon the +subject, and my ideas have been quite definitely +expressed in my book, <i>Methodik des Klavierspiels: +Systematische Darstellung der technischen und æsthetischen +Erfordernisse für einen rationellen Lehrgang</i>. +I have also come in close contact with this branch of +musical work in the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory +in Berlin.</p> + +<p>My observations have led to the firm conviction +that much of the time lost in music study could be +saved if the elementary training of the pupil were +made more comprehensive and more secure. It is +by no means an economy of time to hurry over the +foundation work of the pupil. It is also by no means +an economy of money to place the beginner in the +hands of a second-rate teacher. There is just as +much need for the specialist to train the pupil at +the start as there is for the head of the "meisterschule" +to guide the budding virtuoso. How can +we expect the pupil to make rapid progress if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +start is not right? One might as well expect a +broken-down automobile to win a race. The equipment +at the beginning must be of the kind which will +carry the pupil through his entire career with success. +If any omissions occur, they must be made up later +on, and the difficulty in repairing this neglect is twice +as great as it would have been had the student received +the proper instruction at the start.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Ear-Training</span></h3> + +<p>The training of the ear is of great importance, and +if teachers would only make sure that their pupils +studied music with their sense of hearing as well as +with their fingers, much time would be saved in +later work. Young pupils should be taught to +listen by permitting them to hear good music, which +is at the same time sufficiently simple to insure +comprehension. Early musical education is altogether +too one-sided. The child is taken to the +piano and a peculiar set of hieroglyphics known as +notation is displayed to him. He is given a few +weeks to comprehend that these signs refer to certain +keys on the keyboard. He commences to push down +these keys faithfully and patiently and his musical +education is thus launched in what many consider +the approved manner. Nothing is said about the +meaning of the piece, its rhythm, its harmonies, its +æsthetic beauties. Nothing is told of the composer, +or of the period in which the piece was written. It +would be just about as sensible to teach a pupil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +to repeat the sounds of the Chinese language by +reading the Chinese word-signs, but without comprehending +the meaning of the sounds and signs. +Is it any wonder that beginners lose interest in their +work, and refuse to practise except when compelled +to do so?</p> + +<p>I am most emphatically in favor of a more rational, +a more broad, and a more thorough training of the +beginner. Time taken from that ordinarily given to +the senseless, brainless working up and down of +the fingers at the keyboard, and devoted to those +studies such as harmony, musical history, form, and +in fact, any study which will tend to widen the pupil's +knowledge and increase his interest, will save much +time in later work.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Waste in Technical Study</span></h3> + +<p>Geometrically speaking, the shortest distance between +two points is a straight line. Teachers should +make every possible effort to find the straight line +of technic which will carry the pupil from his first +steps to technical proficiency without wandering +about through endless lanes and avenues which lead +to no particular end. I suppose that all American +teachers hear the same complaint that is heard by +all European teachers when any attempt is made to +insist upon thorough practice and adequate study +from the <i>dilettante</i>. As soon as the teacher demands +certain indispensable technical studies, certain necessary +investigations of the harmonic, æsthetic or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +historical problems, which contribute so much to +the excellence of pianistic interpretations, he hears +the following complaint: "I don't want to be a composer" +or "I don't want to be a virtuoso—I only +want to play just a little for my own amusement." +The teacher knows and appreciates the pupil's attitude +exactly, and while he realizes that his reasoning is +altogether fatuous, it seems well-nigh impossible to +explain to the amateur that unless he does his work +right he will get very little real pleasure or amusement +out of it.</p> + +<p>The whole sum and substance of the matter is that +a certain amount of technical, theoretical and historical +knowledge must be acquired to make the +musician, before we can make a player. There is +the distinction. Teachers should never fail to remember +that their first consideration should be to make +a musician. All unmusical playing is insufferable. +No amount of technical study will make a musician, +and all technical study which simply aims to make the +fingers go faster, or play complicated rhythms, is +wasted unless there is the foundation and culture +of the real musician behind it.</p> + +<p>To the sincere student every piece presents technical +problems peculiar to itself. The main objection +to all technical study is that unless the pupil +is vitally interested the work becomes monotonous. +The student should constantly strive to avoid monotony +in practicing exercises. As soon as the exercises +become dull and uninteresting their value im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>mediately +depreciates. The only way to avoid this +is to seek variety. As I have said in my <i>Methodik +des Klavierspiels</i>: "The musical and tonal monotony +of technical exercises may be lessened in a measure +by progressive modulations, by various rhythmical +alterations, and further through frequent changes +in contrary motion." Great stress should be laid +upon practice in contrary motion. The reason for +this is obvious to all students of harmony. When +playing in contrary motion all unevenness, all breaks +in precision and all unbalanced conditions of touch +become much more evident to the ear than if the same +exercises were played in parallel motion. Another +important reason for the helpfulness of playing in +contrary motion is not to be undervalued. It is +that a kind of physical 'sympathy' is developed between +the fingers and the nerves which operate them +in the corresponding hands. For instance, it is much +easier to play with the fifth finger of one hand and +the fifth finger of the other hand than it is to play +with the third finger of one hand and the fifth finger +of another."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Waste in Unimportant Subjects</span></h3> + +<p>There is a general impression among teachers to-day +that much time might be saved by a more careful +selection of studies, and by a better adaptation +of the studies to particular pupils. For instance, +Carl Czerny wrote over one thousand opus numbers. +He wrote some of the most valuable studies ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +written, but no one would think of demanding a +pupil to play all of the Czerny studies, any more than +the student should be compelled to play everything +that Loeschhorn, Cramer and Clementi ever wrote. +Studies must be selected with great care and adapted +to particular cases, and if the young teacher feels +himself incapable of doing this, he should either use +selections or collections of studies edited by able +authorities or he should place himself under the +advice of some mature and experienced teacher until +the right experience has been obtained. It would +not be a bad plan to demand that all young teachers +be apprenticed to an older teacher until the right +amount of experience has been obtained. The completion +of a course in music does not imply that the +student is able to teach. Teaching and the matter +of musical proficiency are two very different things. +Many conservatories now conduct classes for teachers, +which are excellent in their way. In the olden days +a mechanic had to work side by side with his master +before he was considered proficient to do his work by +himself. How much more important is it that our +educators should be competently trained. They do +not have to deal with machinery, but they do have to +deal with the most wonderful of all machines—the +human brain.</p> + +<p>Some studies in use by teachers are undeserving +of their popularity, according to my way of thinking. +Some studies are altogether trivial and quite dispensable. +I have never held any particular fondness for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +Heller for instance. His studies are tuneful, but they +seem to me, in many cases, weak imitations of the +style of some masters such as Schumann, Mendelssohn, +etc., who may be studied with more profit. I believe +that the studies of Loeschhorn possess great pedagogical +value. Loeschhorn was a born teacher: he knew +how to collect and present technical difficulties in a +manner designed to be of real assistance to the student. +The studies of Kullak are also extremely fine.</p> + +<p>This is a subject which is far more significant +than it may at first appear. Whatever the student +may choose to study after he leaves the teacher, his +work while under the teacher's direction should be +focused upon just those pieces which will be of most +value to him. The teacher should see that the course +he prescribes is unified. There should be no waste +material. Some teachers are inclined to teach pieces +of a worthless order to gain the fickle interest of some +pupils. They feel that it is better to teach an operatic +arrangement, no matter how superficial, and retain +the interest of the pupil, than to insist upon what +they know is really best for the pupil, and run the +risk of having the pupil go to another teacher less conscientious +about making compromises of this sort. +When the teacher has come to a position where he is +obliged to permit the pupil to select his own pieces +or dictate the kind of pieces he is to be taught in order +to retain his interest, the teacher will find that he has +very little influence over the pupil. Pupils who insist +upon mapping out their own careers are always stumb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>ling-blocks. +It is far better to make it very clear to the +pupil in the first place that interference of this kind +is never desirable, and that unless the pupil has +implicit confidence in the teacher's judgment it is +better to discontinue.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Brain Technic Versus Finger Technic</span></h3> + +<p>Few pupils realize that hours and hours are wasted +at the piano keyboard doing those things which we +are already able to do, and in the quest of something +which we already possess. When we come to think +of it, every one is born with a kind of finger dexterity. +Any one can move the fingers up and down with great +rapidity; no study of the pianoforte keyboard is +necessary to do this. The savage in the African +wilds is gifted with that kind of dexterity, although +he may never have seen a pianoforte. Then why +spend hours in practicing at the keyboard with the +view of doing something we can already do? It +may come as a surprise to many when I make the +statement that they already possess a kind of dexterity +and velocity which they may not suspect. One +does not have to work for years to make the fingers go +up and down quickly. It is also a fact that a few +lessons under a really good teacher and a few tickets +for high-class piano recitals will often give the feeling +and "knack" of producing a good touch, for which +many strive in vain for years at the keyboard.</p> + +<p>No, the technic which takes time is the technic +of the brain, which directs the fingers to the right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +place at the right time. This may be made the +greatest source of musical economy. If you want +to save time in your music study see that you comprehend +your musical problems thoroughly. You must +see it right in your mind, you must hear it right, you +must feel it right. Before you place your fingers on +the keyboard you should have formed your ideal +mental conception of the proper rhythm, the proper +tonal quality, the æsthetic values and the harmonic +content. These things can only be perfectly comprehended +after study. They do not come from strumming +at the keyboard. This, after all, is the greatest +possible means for saving time in music study.</p> + +<p>A great deal might be said upon the subject of +the teacher's part in saving time. The good teacher +is a keen critic. His experience and his innate ability +enable him to diagnose faults just as a trained medical +specialist can determine the cause of a disease with +accuracy and rapidity. Much depends upon the diagnosis. +It is no saving to go to a doctor who diagnoses +your case as one of rheumatism and treats you for +rheumatic pains, whereas you are really suffering +from neurasthenia. In a similar manner, an unskilled +and incompetent teacher may waste much treasured +time in treating you for technical and musical deficiencies +entirely different from those which you really +suffer. Great care should be taken in selecting a +teacher for with the wrong teacher not only time is +wasted, but talent, energy, and sometimes that jewel +in the crown of success—"ambition."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Case in Point</span></h3> + +<p>An illustration of one means of wasting time is +well indicated in the case of some pedagogs who +hold to old ideas in piano-playing simply because +they are old. I believe in conservatism, but at the +same time I am opposed to conservatism which +excludes all progressiveness. The world is continually +advancing, and we are continually finding +out new things as well as determining which of the +older methods will prove the best in the long run. +All musical Europe has been upset during the last +quarter of the century over the vital subject of +whether the pressure touch is better than the angular +blow touch. There was a time in the past when an +apparent effort was made to make everything pertaining +to pianoforte technic as stiff and inelastic as +possible. The fingers were trained to hop up and down +like little hammers—the arm was held stiff and hard +at the side. In fact, it was not uncommon for some +teachers to put a book under the armpit and insist +upon their pupils holding it there by pressing against +the body during the practice period.</p> + +<p>H. Ehrlich, who in his day was a widely recognized +authority, wrote a pamphlet to accompany his edition +of the Tausig technical studies in which this system +is very clearly outlined. He asserts that Tausig +insisted upon it. To-day we witness a great revolution. +The arms are held freely and rigidity of all kind is +avoided. It was found that the entire system of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +touch was under a more delicate and sensitive control +when the pressure touch was employed than when the +mechanical "hitting" touch was used. It was also +found that much of the time spent in developing the +hitting touch along mechanical lines was wasted, since +superior results could be achieved in a shorter time +by means of pressing and "kneading" the keys, +rather than delivering blows to them. The pressure +touch seems to me very much freer and I am emphatically +in favor of it. The older method produced +cramped unmusical playing and the pupil was +so restricted that he reminded one for all the world +of the new-fangled skirts ("hobble-skirts") which +seem to give our ladies of fashion so much difficulty +just now.</p> + +<p>The American pupils who have come to Germany +to study with me have been for the most part exceedingly +well trained. In America there are innumerable +excellent teachers. The American pupil +is almost always very industrious. His chief point +of vantage is his ability to concentrate. He does +not dissipate his time or thought. In some instances +he can only remain in Europe for two years—sometimes +less. He quite naturally feels that a great deal +must be done in those two years, and consequently +he works at white heat. This is not a disadvantage, +for his mental powers are intensified and he is faithful +to his labor.</p> + +<p>The young women of America are for the most part +very self-reliant. This is also very much to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +advantage. As a rule, they know how to take care +of themselves, and yet they have the courage to +venture and ask questions when questions should be +asked. My residence in America has brought me +many good friends, and it is a pleasure to note the +great advance made in every way since my last visit +here. I am particularly anxious to have some of my +later compositions become better known in America, +as I have great faith in the musical future of the +country. I wish that they might become familiar +with such works as my <i>Fourth Concerto</i>. I should +deeply regret to think that Americans would judge +my work as a composer by my "Polish Dance" and +some other lighter compositions which are obviously +inferior to my other works.</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XVII</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">xaver scharwenka</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series17"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Is any time spent in music study really wasted?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>How may the pupil's elementary work be made more secure?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>State the importance of ear-training.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>What additional musical studies should be included in the work of the pupil?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>What should be the teacher's first consideration?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Why must monotony be avoided in technical study?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>State the value of practice in contrary motion.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>May time be wasted with unprofitable studies?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>What is the difference between brain technic and finger technic?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>State how a revolution in methods of touch has come about.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p> +<h2>ERNEST SCHELLING</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h3> + + +<p>Ernest Schelling was born at Belvidere, New Jersey, +1875. His first musical training was received +from his father. At the age of four and one-half +years he made his début at the Philadelphia +Academy of Music. At the age of seven he entered +the Paris Conservatoire, with the famous Chopin +pupil, Georges Mathias, as his teacher. He remained +with Mathias for two years. However, he +commenced giving concerts which took him to France, +England, and Austria when he was only eight years old. +At ten he was taken to Stuttgart and placed under the +educational guidance of Pruckner and the American +teacher, Percy Götschius, who attained wide fame +abroad. Shortly thereafter he was placed for a short +time under the instruction of Leschetizky, but this +was interrupted by tours through Russia and other +countries. At twelve he was taken to Basle, Switzerland, +and Hans Huber undertook to continue his already +much varied training. Here his general education +received the attention which had been much neglected. +At fifteen he went to study with Barth in Berlin, but +the strain of his previous work was so great that at +seventeen he was attacked with neuritis and abandoned +the career of a virtuoso. An accidental meeting +with Paderewski led to an arrangement whereby +Paderewski became his teacher for three years during +which time Paderewski had no other pupils. Since +then Schelling has made numerous tours at home and +abroad.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;"> +<a href="images/027.jpg"><img src="images/027th.jpg" width="264" height="400" alt="ernest schelling" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">ernest schelling</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> +<h2>XX</h2> + +<h3>LEARNING A NEW PIECE</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>ernest schelling</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Preliminary Study</span></h3> + +<p>In studying a new musical composition experience +has revealed to me that the student can save much +time and get a better general idea of the composition +by reading it over several times before going to the +instrument. While this is difficult for very young +pupils to do before they have become accustomed to +mentally interpreting the notes into sounds without +the assistance of the instrument, it is, nevertheless, of +advantage from the very start. It saves the pupil +from much unprofitable blundering. To take a piece +right to the keyboard without any preliminary consideration +may perhaps be good practice for those who +would cultivate ready sight reading, but it should be +remembered that even the most apt sight readers will +usually take the precaution of looking a new piece +through at least once to place themselves on guard +for the more difficult or more complicated passages. +By forming the habit of reading away from the piano +the pupil soon becomes able to hear the music without +making the sounds at the keyboard and this leads to a +mental conception of the piece as a whole, which +invariably produces surprisingly good results.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Technical Demands of the Piece</span></h3> + +<p>"The next consideration should be the execution +of the right notes. A careless prima-vista reading +often leads the pupil to play notes quite different +from those actually in the piece. It is astonishing +how often some pupils are deceived in this matter. +Until you have insured absolute accuracy in the matter +of the notes you are not in condition to regard +the other details. The failure to repeat an accidental +chromatic alteration in the same bar, the neglect of a +tie, or an enharmonic interval with a tie are all common +faults which mark careless performances. After the +piece has been read as a whole and you have determined +upon the notes so that there is no opportunity +for inaccuracy from that source you will find that the +best way to proceed is to take a very small passage +and study that passage first. For the inexperienced +student I should suggest two measures or a phrase of +similar length. Do not leave these two measures +until you are convinced that you have mastered them. +This will take a great amount of concentration. +Many pupils fail because they underestimate the +amount of concentration required. They expect results +to come without effort and are invariably disappointed. +After the first two measures have been +mastered take the next two measures and learn these +thoroughly. Then go back and learn measures two +and three so that there may be no possibility of a +break or interruption between them. Next proceed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +in the same way with the following four measures and +do not stop until you have completed the piece.</p> + +<p>This kind of study may take more time than the +methods to which you have become accustomed, but +it is by all means the most thorough and the most +satisfactory. I found it indispensable in the preparation +of pieces for public performances. It demands +the closest kind of study, and this leads to artistic +results and a higher perception of the musical values +of the composition being studied. Take for instance +the C Major Fantasie of Schumann, one of the most +beautiful and yet one of the most difficult of all +compositions to interpret properly. At first the whole +work seems disunited, and if studied carelessly the +necessary unity which should mark this work can +never be secured. But, if studied with minute regard +for details after the manner in which I have +suggested the whole composition becomes wonderfully +compact and every part is linked to the other +parts so that a beautiful unity must result.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Formal Divisions</span></h3> + +<p>"Many works have formal divisions, such as those +of the sonata, the suite, etc. Even the Liszt 'Rhapsodies' +have movements of marked differences in tempo +and style. Here the secret is to study each division in +its relation to the whole. There must be an internal +harmony between all the parts. Otherwise the interpretation +will mar the great masterpiece. The difficulty +is to find the bearing of one movement upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +another. Even the themes of subjects of the conventional +sonata have a definite interrelation. How to +interpret these themes and yet at the same time produce +contrast and unity is difficult. It is this difference +of interpretation that adds charm to the piano +recitals of different virtuosos. There is no one right +way and no one best way, but rather an indefinite +margin for personal opinion and the exhibition of +artistic taste. If there was one best way, there are +now machines which could record that way and there +the whole matter would end. But we want to hear +all the ways and consequently we go to the recitals +of different pianists. How can I express more emphatically +the necessity for the pianist being a man of +culture, artistic sensibilities and of creative tendencies? +The student must be taught to think about his interpretations +and if this point is missed and he is permitted +to give conventional, uninspired performances +he need never hope to play artistically.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Touch Required</span></h3> + +<p>"In studying a new piece, as soon as the style of +the piece has been determined and the accuracy of +the notes secured, the pupil should consider the +all-important matter to touch. He should have been +previously instructed in the principles of the different +kinds of touch used in pianoforte playing. I +am a firm believer in associating the appropriate +kind of touch with the passage studied from the very +beginning. If the passage calls for a staccato touch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +do not waste your time as many do by practicing it +legato. Again, in a cantabile passage do not make +the mistake of using a touch that would produce the +wrong quality of tone. The wrists at all times +should be in the most supple possible condition. +There should never be any constraint at that point. +When I resumed my musical studies with Paderewski +after a lapse of several years he laid greatest emphasis +upon this point. I feel that the most valuable years +for the development of touch and tone are those +which bind the natural facility of the child hand with +the acquired agility of the adult. To my great misfortune +I was not able to practice between the ages +of twelve and eighteen. This was due to excessive +study and extensive concert tours as a prodigy. +These wrecked my health and it was only by the +hardest kind of practice in after life that I was able +to regain the natural facility that had marked my +playing in childhood. In fact I owe everything to the +kind persistence and wonderful inspiration of M. +Paderewski.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Right Tempo</span></h3> + +<p>"The right tempo is a very important matter for +the student. First of all, he must be absolutely +positive that his time is correct. There is nothing +so barbarous in all piano-playing as a bad conception +of time. Even the inexperienced and unmusical +listener detects bad time. The student should consider +this matter one of greatest importance and de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>mand +perfect time from himself. With some students +this can only be cultivated after much painful effort. +The metronome is of assistance, as is counting, but +these are not enough. The pupil must create a +sense of time, he must have a sort of internal metronome +which he must feel throbbing within all the +time.</p> + +<p>"Always begin your practice slowly and gradually +advance the tempo. The worst possible thing is to +start practicing too fast. It invariably leads to bad +results and to lengthy delays. The right tempo +will come with time and you must have patience +until you can develop it. In the matter of 'tempo +rubato' passages, which always invite disaster upon +the part of the student, the general idea is that the +right hand must be out of time with the left. This +is not always the case, as they sometimes play in +unison. The word simply implies 'robbing the time,' +but it is robbed after the same manner in which one +'robs Peter to pay Paul,' that is, a ritard in one part of +the measure must be compensated for by an acceleration +in another part of the measure. If the right +hand is to play at variance with the left hand the latter +remains as a kind of anchor upon which the tempo +of the entire measure must depend. Chopin called +the left hand the <i>chef d'orchestre</i> and a very good +appellation this is. Take, for instance, his <i>B flat +minor Prelude</i>. In the latter part of this wonderful +composition the regular rhythmic repetition in octaves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +in the bass makes a rhythmic foundation which the +most erratic and nervous right hand cannot shake.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Rhythmic Peculiarities</span></h3> + +<p>"Rhythm is the basis of everything. Even the +silent mountain boulders are but the monuments of +some terrible rhythmic convulsion of the earth in +past ages. There is a rhythm in the humming bird +and there is a rhythm in the movements of a giant +locomotive. We are all rhythmic in our speech, our +walk, and in our life more or less. How important +then is the study of the rhythmic peculiarities of the +new piece. Every contributing accent which gives +motion and characteristic swing to the piece must be +carefully studied. It is rhythm which sways the +audience. Some performers are so gifted with the +ability to invest their interpretations with a rhythmic +charm that they seem to fairly invigorate their audiences +with the spirit of motion. I cannot conceive +of a really great artist without this sense of rhythm.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Composer's Inspiration</span></h3> + +<p>"Personally I believe in 'pure music,' that is music +in the field of pianoforte composition that is sufficient +unto itself and which does not require any of the +other arts to enhance its beauty. However, in the +cases of some of our modern composers who have +professedly drawn their musical inspiration from tales, +great pictures or from nature, I can see the desirability +of investigating these sources in order to come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +closer to the composer's idea. Some of the works of +Debussy demand this. Let me play you his '<i>Night +in Granada</i>,' for instance. The work is most subtle +and requires an appreciation of Oriental life, and is +indeed a kind of tonal dream picture of the old fortified +palace of Moorish Spain. I feel that in cases of this +kind it helps the performer to have in mind the composer's +conception and in playing this piece in public +I always follow this plan.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Studying the Phrasing</span></h3> + +<p>"Each phrase in a piece requires separate study. +I believe that the student should leave nothing undone +to learn how to phrase or rather to analyze a +piece so that all its constituent phrases become clear +to him. Each phrase must be studied with the same +deference to detail that the singer would give to an +individual phrase. This is by no means an easy +matter. More important still is the interrelation of +phrases. Every note in a work of musical art bears +a certain relation to every other note. So it is with +the phrases. Each phrase must be played with +reference to the work as a whole or more particularly +to the movement of which it is a part.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Marking the Fingering</span></h3> + +<p>"It seems hardly necessary to say anything about +the fingering when so much attention is being given +to the matter by the best teachers of the country, +but certainly one of the most essential considerations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +in the study of a new piece is the study of the fingering. +A detailed study of this should be made and +it should be clearly understood that the fingering +should be adapted to fit the hand of the player. It +is by no means necessary to accept the fingering +given in the book as 'gospel.' The wise student +will try many fingerings before deciding upon the +one that suits him best. Students who go to these +pains are the ones who invariably succeed. Those +who take anything that is presented to them without +considering its advisability rarely attain lofty +musical heights.</p> + +<p>"When a fingering has once been determined upon +it should never be changed. To change a fingering +frequently means to waste many hours of practice. +This may be considered a mechanical method but +it is the method invariably employed by successful +artists. Why? Simply because one fingering closely +adhered to establishes finger habits which give +freedom and certainty and permits the player to +give more consideration to the other details of artistic +interpretation.</p> + +<p>"I ofttimes find it expedient to adapt a more difficult +fingering of some given passage for the reason +that the difficult fingering frequently leads to a +better interpretation of the composer's meaning. I +know of innumerable passages in the piano classics +which illustrate this point. Moreover a fingering +that seems difficult at first is often more simple than +the conventional or arbitrary fingering employed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +by the student, after the student has given sufficient +time to the new fingering. The required accent often +obliges the performer to employ a different fingering. +The stronger fingers are naturally better adapted to +the stronger accents. Otherwise it is best to use a +similar fingering for similar passages.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Memorizing</span></h3> + +<p>"I should like to add a few words with regard to +committing pieces to memory. There are three +ways. 1, By sight; that is, seeing the notes in your +mind's eye; 2, memorizing by 'ear,' the way which +comes to one most naturally; 3, memorizing by the +fingers, that is training the fingers to do their duty +no matter what happens. Before performing in +public the student should have memorized the composition +in all of these ways. Only thus can he be +absolutely sure of himself. If one way fails him the +other method comes to his rescue.</p> + +<p>"After careful attention has been given to the +various points of which I have spoken and the details +of the composition satisfactorily worked out the student +should practice with a view to learning the +piece as a whole. Nothing is so distressing to the +musician as a piece which does not seem to have +coherence and unity. It should be regarded aurally +as the artist regards his work visually. The painter +stands off at some distance to look at his work in +order to see whether all parts of his painting harmonize. +The pianist must do much the same thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +He must listen to his work time and time again and +if it does not seem to 'hang together' he must unify +all the parts until he can give a real interpretation +instead of a collection of disjointed sections. This +demands grasp, insight and talent, three qualifications +without which the pianist cannot hope for +large success."</p> + + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XVIII</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">ernest schelling</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series18"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What should be the preliminary study of a new composition?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>How should the mechanical difficulties of the piece be studied?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>How may one find the bearing of one movement upon another?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>State the importance of deciding upon the appropriate touch.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>How may the right tempo be established?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>What did Chopin call the left hand?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>What is it in playing that sways the audience?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How should the fingering of a new piece be studied?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Why is a more difficult fingering sometimes preferable?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Give a practical plan for memorizing.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> +<h2>SIGISMUND STOJOWSKI</h2> + +<h3>BIOGRAPHICAL</h3> + + +<p>Sigismund Stojowski was born at Strelce, Poland, +May 2, 1870. He studied piano with L. Zelenski at +Cracow and with Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire. +At the same institution he studied composition +with Léo Delibes. His talent both as a composer +and as a pianist was considered extraordinary +at that time and he was successful in carrying off +two first prizes, one for piano and one for composition +(1889). At that time Stojowski's great fellow +countryman, Paderewski, assumed the educational +supervision of his career and became his teacher in +person.</p> + +<p>Stojowski's orchestral compositions attracted wide +attention in Paris and he met with pronounced success +as a virtuoso. Mr. Stojowski came to America +in 1906 and he entered immediately into the musical +life of the country, taking foremost rank as a composer, +pianist and teacher. Aside from his musical talent +he is a remarkable linguist and speaks many languages +fluently. His articles written in English, for instance, +are unusually graphic and expressive. Once when +complimented upon his linguistic ability he remarked +"We Poles are given the credit of being natural +linguists because we take the trouble to learn many +languages thoroughly in our youth." In 1913 Mr. +Stojowski made a highly successful tour abroad, his +compositions meeting with wide favor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 252px;"> +<a href="images/028.jpg"><img src="images/028th.jpg" width="252" height="400" alt="s. stojowski" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">s. stojowski</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXI</h2> + +<h3>WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS</h3> + +<h3><span class='smcap'>sigismund stojowski</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Composer's Limitations in His Means +of Expression</span></h3> + +<p>It is difficult for some people who are not versed +in the intricate mysteries of the art of music to realize +how limited are the means afforded the composer for +communicating to the interpreter some slight indication +of the ideal he had in mind when writing the composition. +It may be said that, while every great composer +feels almost God-like at the moment of creation, +the merest fraction of the myriad beauties he has in +mind ever reach human ears. The very signs with +which the composer is provided to help him put his +thoughts down on paper are in themselves inadequate +to serve as a means of recording more than a +shadow of his masterpiece as it was originally conceived. +Of course, we are speaking now in a large +sense—we are imagining that the composer is a Beethoven +with an immortal message to convey to posterity. +Of all composers, Beethoven was perhaps +the one to employ the most perfect means of expression. +His works represent a completeness, a poise +and a masterly finish which will serve as a model for +all time to come. It must also be noted that few com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>posers +have employed more accurate marks of expression—such +as time marks, dynamic marks, etc.</p> + +<p>In all these things Beethoven was obliged to adhere +to the conventions adopted by others for this purpose +of attempting to make the composer's meaning clearer +to other minds. These conventions, like all conventions, +are partly insufficient to convey the full idea +of the composer, and partly arbitrary, in that they do +not give the interpreter adequate latitude to introduce +his own ideas in expression. The student should +seek to break the veil of conventions provided by +notation and seek a clearer insight into the composer's +individuality as expressed in his compositions. +From this point of view the so-called subjective interpretation +seems the only legitimate one. In fact, +the ones who pretend to be objective in the sense of +being literal and playing strictly according to the +marks of expression and admitting little elasticity +in the interpretation of these are also, as Rubinstein +pointed out, subjective at heart. This may be more +concisely expressed thus: Since all things of permanent +value in music have proceeded from a fervid +artistic imagination, they should be interpreted with +the continual employment of the performer's imagination.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the subjective method, right +as it is in principle, can become, of course, according +to the Italian saying, <i>Traduttore, traditore</i>—that +is, an absolute treachery to the composer's ideal, +if the performer's understanding and execution of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +the composition is not based upon long and careful +investigation of all the fundamental laws and associated +branches of musical study, which are designed +to give him a basis for forming his own opinions upon +the best method of interpreting the composition. Inadequate +training in this respect is the Chinese Wall +which surrounds the composer's hidden meaning. This +wall must be torn down, brick by brick, stone by +stone, in a manner which we would call "analytical +practice." It is the only way in which the student +may gain entrance to the sacred city of the elect, to +whom the ideal of the composer has been revealed.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Interpreter Must Coöperate with the +Composer</span></h3> + +<p>In a certain sense the interpreter is a coöperator +with the composer, or, more definitely expressed, +he is the "continuer" along the line of the musical +thought and its adequate expression. Music, of all +arts, is the unfinished art. When a great painting +is completed, time, and time only, will make the +changes in its surface. When the great masterpieces +left the brushes of Raphael, Rubens, Holbein, Correggio +or Van Dyck they were finished works of art. +When Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Brahms put +their thoughts down upon paper they left a record +in ink and paper which must be born again every +time it is brought to the minds of men. This rebirth +is the very essence of all that is best in interpretative +skill. New life goes into the composition at the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +moment it passes through the soul of the master +performer. It is here that he should realize the great +truth that in music, more than in any other art, "the +letter kills and the spirit vivifies." The interpreter +must master the "letter" and seek to give "rebirth" +to the spirit. If he can do this he will attain the +greatest in interpretative ability.</p> + +<p>From the literal or objective standpoint, then, an +insight is gained into the nature of the composer's +masterpiece,—by close and careful study of the work +itself, by gaining a knowledge of the musical laws +underlying the structure and composition of a work +of its kind as well as the necessary keyboard technic +to give expression to the work,—but the veil is torn +from the composer's hidden meaning, only becoming +intimate with his creative personality as a master, +by studying his life environments, by investigating +the historical background of the period in which he +worked, by learning of his joys and his sufferings, by +cultivating a deep and heartfelt sympathy for his +ideals and by the scrupulous and constant revision +of one's own ideals and conceptions of the standards +by which his masterpieces should be judged.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Studying the Historical Background</span></h3> + +<p>To exemplify what I mean, I could, for instance, +refer to Paderewski's interpretations of Liszt and +Chopin. During the time I was associated with the +master pianist as a pupil I had abundant opportunities +to make notes upon the very individual, as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +as the highly artistically differentiated expressions of +his musical judgment. It was interesting to observe +that he played the Rhapsodies with various extensions +and modifications, the result of which is the glorification +of Liszt's own spirit. On the contrary, in order +to preserve Chopin's spirit, the master would always +repudiate any changes, like those of Tausig, for instance, +by which some virtuosos pretend to "emphasize" +or "modernize" Chopin's personal and perfect +pianism. Differences in treatment are the outcome +of deep insight as well as the study of the time and +conditions under which the work was produced.</p> + +<p>The study of musical history reveals many very +significant things which have a direct bearing not only +upon the interpretation of the performer, but upon +the degree of appreciation with which the listener is +able to enjoy a musical work. It was for this reason +that I prefaced the first two recitals of my course of +historical recitals given at Mendelssohn Hall, New +York, during the past season, with a lecture upon the +historical conditions which surrounded the masters at +the time the compositions were composed.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Inadequacy of Musical Signs</span></h3> + +<p>I have already referred to the inadequacy of musical +signs. Even the mechanical guide, the metronome, +is not always to be depended upon to give the exact +tempo the composer had in mind. Let me cite a little +instance from the biography of Ries, the friend of +Beethoven. Ries was preparing to conduct a per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>formance +of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony. He +requested Beethoven to make notes upon paper regarding +the metronomic marks of speed at which the +composition should be played. The metronome at +that time was a comparatively new instrument. +Maelzel, its inventor (or, rather, its improver, since the +principle of the metronome was of Dutch origin), was +a friend of Beethoven. At times they were on the +best of terms, and at other times they were literally +"at swords' points." Nevertheless, Maelzel, who +had a strong personality, succeeded in inducing Beethoven +to put metronomic markings upon several of +his compositions. Naturally, the metronome was immediately +accorded an important place in the musical +world even at that day. Ries was consequently very +anxious to give the Choral Symphony according to +Beethoven's own ideas. Beethoven had complied +with the publisher's desire and sent a slip of paper +with the tempi marked metronomically. This slip +was lost. Ries wrote to Beethoven for a duplicate. +Beethoven sent another. Later the lost slip was found, +and, upon comparing it with the second slip, it was +found that Beethoven had made an entirely different +estimate of the tempi at which he desired the Symphony +to be played.</p> + +<p>Even with the most elaborate and complete marks +of expression, such as those, for instance, employed +by Beethoven and by Wagner, the composer is confronted +with his great poverty of resources to present +his views to the mind of the interpreter. Ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>tensive +as some of the modern dictionaries of musical +terminology seem to be, they are wholly inadequate +from the standpoint of a complete vocabulary to give +full expression to the artist's imagination. It also +gives full scope to an infinite variety of error in the +matter of the shades or degrees of dynamic force at +which the conventional marks may be rendered.</p> + +<p>One might venture to remark that composers are +the most keen, most conscious judges of their own +works, or, rather, of the garments which fit them +best. There is in all composition a divine part and +also a conscious part. The divine part is the inspiration. +The conscious part has to do with dressing +the inspiration in its most appropriate harmonic, +polyphonic, and rhythmic garments. These garments +are the raiment in which the inspiration will be +viewed by future generations. It is often by these +garments that they will be judged. If the garments +are awkward, inappropriate and ill-fitting, a beautiful +interpretation of the composer's ideal will be impossible. +Nevertheless, it is the performer's duty in each +case to try to see through even unbecoming garments +and divine the composer's thought, according to the +interpreter's best understanding.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Learning the Musical Language</span></h3> + +<p>Where interpretation is concerned, one is too often +inclined to forget that while there is a higher part, +the secrets of which are accessible only to the elect, +there is also an elementary part which involves the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +knowledge of musical grammar, and beyond that +the correct feeling of musical declamation—since +music, after all, is a language which is at all times +perfectly teachable, and which should be most carefully +and systematically taught. I consider the +book of Mathis Lussy, <i>Rhythm and Musical Expression</i>, +of great value to the student in search of truths +pertaining to intelligent interpretation. Lussy was a +Swiss who was born in the early part of the last century. +He went to Paris to study medicine, but, +having had a musical training in the country of his +birth, he became a good pianoforte teacher and an +excellent writer upon musical subjects. While teaching +in a young ladies' school, he was confronted with +the great paucity of real knowledge of the rudiments +of expression, and he accordingly prepared a book +upon the subject which has since been translated into +several languages. This book is most helpful, and I +advocate its use frequently. It should be in the +hands of every conscientious piano student.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Mistakes Peculiar to the Pianoforte +Player</span></h3> + +<p>The nature of the keyboard of the piano, and the +ease with which certain things are accomplished, +make it possible for the performer to make certain +errors which the construction of other instruments +would prevent. The pianist is, for instance, entirely +unlike the violinist, who has to locate his keyboard +every time he takes up his instrument, and, more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>over, +locate it by a highly trained sense of position. +In a certain way I sometimes feel somewhat ashamed +for the pianist profession when I hear players, even +those with manifest technical proficiency, commit +flagrant mistakes against elementary rules of accentuation +and phrasing, such as, for instance, an average +violinist acquainted with good bowing is accordingly +prevented from making upon his instrument.</p> + +<p>The means of discovering the composer's hidden +meaning are, in fact, so numerous that the conscientious +interpreter must keep upon continuous voyages +of exploration. There are many easily recognizable +paths leading to the promised land—one is the +path of harmony, without an understanding of which +the would-be performer can never reach his goal; +another is musical history; others are the studies of +phrasing, rhythm, accentuation, pedaling, etc., etc., +<i>ad infinitum</i>. To fail to traverse any one of these +roads will result in endless exasperation. Find your +guide, press on without thinking of failure, and the +way to success may be found before you know it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> + +<h3> +<span class="smcap">Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression<br /> +and Technic of Pianoforte Playing</span></h3> + +<h3>SERIES XIX</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Sigismund Stojowski</span></h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="series19"> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>What composer preserved the most perfect balance between artistic conception and expression?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>How may the student break the veil of conventions?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>What fundamental laws should underlie interpretation?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>How may master works be born again?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Is one ever warranted in altering a masterpiece?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Tell of Beethoven's attitude toward the metronome.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>How may errors arise in the use of the terms of expression?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>How may one be helped in learning the musical language?</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>State some mistakes peculiar to the pianoforte.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>What voyages of exploration must the student make?</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='transnote'> +<a name="transnote" id="transnote"></a><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_8">8</a>: Torquamada <i>sic</i></p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_153">153</a>: subtilities <i>sic</i></p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_159">159</a>: regretable amended to regrettable</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_187">187</a>: dumfounded <i>sic</i></p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_251">251</a>: "polish Prussia" amended to "Polish Prussia"</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_257">257</a>: Klaverspiels amended to Klavierspiels</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_262">262</a>: pedagogs <i>sic</i></p> + +<p>Hyphenation has generally been standardized. However, when +a word appears hyphenated and unhyphenated an equal number +of times, both versions have been retained +(offhand/off-hand).</p> + +<p>"Etude/Étude" and "etude/étude" are used interchangeably. +This has been retained.</p> + +<p>Discrepancies between the Table of Contents and individual +chapter headings have been retained. Page references have been corrected.</p> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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