initial commit of ebook 39211HEADmain

36 files changed, 24668 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/39211-8.txt b/39211-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a385541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7761 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Piano Playing, by Josef Hofmann
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Piano Playing
+       With Piano Questions Answered
+
+
+Author: Josef Hofmann
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2012  [eBook #39211]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Johanna, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 39211-h.htm or 39211-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39211/39211-h/39211-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39211/39211-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _Josef Hofmann_]
+
+
+PIANO PLAYING
+
+With Piano Questions Answered
+
+by
+
+JOSEF HOFMANN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Copyright © 1909 by Doubleday, Page and Company;
+renewed 1937 by J. Hofmann.
+
+© 1908 by McClure Company; renewed 1936
+by J. Hofmann.
+
+© 1920 by Theodore Presser Company; renewed
+1947 by Josef Hofmann.
+
+
+
+
+Piano Playing
+
+
+
+
+TO MY DEAR FRIEND
+
+CONSTANTIN VON STERNBERG
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                             PAGE
+
+  A FOREWORD                                   xv
+
+  THE PIANO AND ITS PLAYER                      3
+
+  GENERAL RULES                                19
+
+  CORRECT TOUCH AND TECHNIC                    34
+
+  THE USE OF THE PEDAL                         41
+
+  PLAYING "IN STYLE"                           49
+
+  HOW RUBINSTEIN TAUGHT ME TO PLAY             57
+
+  INDISPENSABLES IN PIANISTIC SUCCESS          70
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  _Josef Hofmann_                          _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                   FACING
+                                                     PAGE
+
+  _The Position of the Hand_                           20
+
+  _Incorrect Way to Play an Octave_                    28
+
+  _Correct Way to Play an Octave_                      28
+
+  _Incorrect Position of the Little Finger_            29
+
+  _Correct Position of the Little Finger_              29
+
+  _Incorrect Position of Thumb_                        38
+
+  _Correct Position of Thumb_                          38
+
+  _Incorrect Position of the Feet_                     42
+
+  _Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal_          43
+
+  _Anton Rubinstein_                                   58
+
+  _How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play_                   59
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+This little book purposes to present a general view of artistic
+piano-playing and to offer to young students the results of such
+observations as I have made in the years of my own studies, as well as
+of the experiences which my public activity has brought me.
+
+It is, of course, only the concrete, the material side of piano-playing
+that can be dealt with here--that part of it which aims to reproduce in
+tones what is plainly stated in the printed lines of a composition. The
+other, very much subtler part of piano-playing, draws upon and, indeed,
+depends upon imagination, refinement of sensibility, and spiritual
+vision, and endeavours to convey to an audience what the composer has,
+consciously or unconsciously, hidden _between_ the lines. That almost
+entirely psychic side of piano-playing eludes treatment in literary form
+and must, therefore, not be looked for in this little volume. It may
+not be amiss, however, to dwell a moment upon these elusive matters of
+æsthetics and conception, though it be only to show how far apart they
+are from technic.
+
+When the material part, the technic, has been completely acquired by the
+piano student, he will see a limitless vista opening up before him,
+disclosing the vast field of artistic interpretation. In this field the
+work is largely of an analytical nature and requires that intelligence,
+spirit, and sentiment, supported by knowledge and æsthetic perception,
+form a felicitous union to produce results of value and dignity. It is
+in this field that the student must learn to perceive the invisible
+something which unifies the seemingly separate notes, groups, periods,
+sections, and parts into an organic whole. The spiritual eye for this
+invisible something is what musicians have in mind when they speak of
+"reading between the lines"--which is at once the most fascinating and
+most difficult task of the interpretative artist; for, it is just
+between the lines where, in literature as in music, the soul of a work
+of art lies hidden. To play its notes, even to play them correctly, is
+still very far from doing justice to the life and soul of an artistic
+composition.
+
+I should like to reiterate at this point two words which I used in the
+second paragraph: the words "consciously or unconsciously." A brief
+comment upon this alternative may lead to observations which may throw a
+light upon the matter of reading between the lines, especially as I am
+rather strongly inclining toward the belief in the "unconscious" side of
+the alternative.
+
+I believe that every composer of talent (not to speak of genius) in his
+moments of creative fever has given birth to thoughts, ideas, designs
+that lay altogether beyond the reach of his conscious will and control.
+In speaking of the products of such periods we have hit upon exactly the
+right word when we say that the composer "has surpassed himself." For,
+in saying this we recognise that the act of surpassing one's self
+precludes the control of the self. A critical, sober overseeing of one's
+work during the period of creation is unthinkable, for it is the fancy
+and the imagination that carries one on and on, will-lessly,
+driftingly, until the totality of the tonal apparition is completed and
+mentally as well as physically absorbed.
+
+Now, inasmuch as the composer's conscious will takes little or no part
+in the creating of the work, it seems to follow that he is not,
+necessarily, an absolute authority as to the "only correct way" of
+rendering it. Pedantic adherence to the composer's own conception is, to
+my mind, not an unassailable maxim. The composer's way of rendering his
+composition may not be free from certain predilections, biases,
+mannerisms, and his rendition may also suffer from a paucity of
+pianistic experience. It seems, therefore, that to do justice to the
+work itself is of far greater importance than a slavish adherence to the
+composer's conception.
+
+Now, to discover what it is, intellectually or emotionally, that hides
+itself between the lines; how to conceive and how to interpret it--that
+must ever rest with the reproductive artist, provided that he possesses
+not only the spiritual vision which entitles him to an individual
+conception, but also the technical skill to express what this individual
+conception (aided by imagination and analysis) has whispered to him.
+Taking these two conditions for granted, his interpretations--however
+punctiliously he adhere to the text--will and must be a reflex of his
+breeding, education, temperament, disposition; in short, of all the
+faculties and qualities that go to make up his personality. And as these
+personal qualities differ between players, their interpretations must,
+necessarily, differ in the same measure.
+
+In some respects the performance of a piece of music resembles the
+reading of a book aloud to some one. If a book should be read to us by a
+person who does not understand it, would it impress us as true,
+convincing, or even credible? Can a dull person, by reading them to us,
+convey bright thoughts intelligibly? Even if such a person were drilled
+to read with outward correctness that of which he cannot fathom the
+meaning, the reading could not seriously engage our attention, because
+the reader's want of understanding would be sure to effect a lack of
+interest in us. Whatever is said to an audience, be the speech literary
+or musical, must be a free and individual expression, governed only by
+general or is it æsthetic laws or rules; it must be free to be artistic,
+and it must be individual to have vital force. Traditional conceptions
+of works of art are "canned goods," unless the individual happens to
+concur with the traditional conception, which, at best, is very rarely
+the case and does not speak well for the mental calibre of the easily
+contented treader of the beaten path.
+
+We know how precious a thing is freedom. But in modern times it is not
+only precious, it is also costly; it is based upon certain possessions.
+This holds as good in life as in art. To move comfortably with freedom
+in life requires money; freedom in art requires a sovereign mastery of
+technic. The pianist's artistic bank-account upon which he can draw at
+any moment is his technic. We do not gauge him by it as an artist, to be
+sure, but rather by the use he makes of it; just as we respect the
+wealthy according to the way in which they use their money. And as there
+are wealthy people that are vulgar, so there may be pianists who,
+despite the greatest technic, are not artists. Still, while money is to
+a gentleman perhaps no more than a rather agreeable adjunct, technic is
+to the pianist's equipment an indispensable necessity.
+
+To assist young students in acquiring this necessity, the following
+articles were written for _The Ladies' Home Journal_, and for this form
+I have gone over them and corrected and amplified. I sincerely hope that
+they will help my young colleagues to become free as piano-playing
+musicians first, and that this, in its turn and with the help of good
+fortune in their career, will bring them the means to make them equally
+free in their daily life.
+
+                                        JOSEF HOFMANN.
+
+
+
+
+Piano Playing
+
+
+
+
+THE PIANO AND ITS PLAYER
+
+
+The first requisite for one who wishes to become a musicianly and
+artistic pianist is a precise knowledge of the possibilities and
+limitations of the piano as an instrument. Having properly recognised
+them both, having thus staked off a stretch of ground for his activity,
+he must explore it to discover all the resources for tonal expression
+that are hidden within its pale. With these resources, however, he must
+be contented. He must, above all, never strive to rival the orchestra.
+For there is no necessity to attempt anything so foolish and so futile,
+since the gamut of expressions inherent to the piano is quite extensive
+enough to vouchsafe artistic results of the very highest order,
+provided, of course, that this gamut is used in an artistic manner.
+
+
+THE PIANO AND THE ORCHESTRA
+
+From one point of view the piano can claim to be the equal of the
+orchestra; namely, in so far as it is--no less than the orchestra--the
+exponent of a specific branch of music which, complete by itself,
+reposes upon a literature exclusively its own and of a type so
+distinguished that only the orchestra can claim to possess its peer. The
+great superiority of the literature of the piano over that of any other
+single instrument has, to my knowledge, never been disputed. I think it
+is equally certain that the piano grants to its players a greater
+freedom of expression than any other instrument; greater--in certain
+respects--than even the orchestra, and very much greater than the organ,
+which, after all, lacks the intimate, personal element of "touch" and
+the immediateness of its variegated results.
+
+In dynamic and colouristic qualities, on the other hand, the piano
+cannot bear comparison with the orchestra; for in these qualities it is
+very limited indeed. The prudent player will not go beyond these limits.
+The utmost that the pianist can achieve in the way of colour may be
+likened to what the painters call "monochrome." For in reality the
+piano, like any other instrument, has only one colour; but the artistic
+player can subdivide the colour into an infinite number and variety of
+shades. The virtue of a specific charm, too, attaches as much to the
+piano as to other instruments, though, perhaps, in a lesser degree of
+sensuousness than to some others. Is it because of this lesser sensuous
+charm that the art of the piano is considered the chastest of all
+instruments? I am rather inclined to think that it is, partly at least,
+due to this chastity that it "wears" best, that we can listen longer to
+a piano than to other instruments, and that this chastity may have had a
+reflex action upon the character of its unparagoned literature.
+
+For this literature, though, we have to thank the pianists themselves,
+or, speaking more precisely, we are indebted to the circumstance that
+the piano is the only single instrument capable of conveying the
+complete entity of a composition. That melody, bass, harmony,
+figuration, polyphony, and the most intricate contrapuntal devices
+can--by skilful hands--be rendered simultaneously and (to all intents
+and purposes) completely on the piano has probably been the inducement
+which persuaded the great masters of music to choose it as their
+favourite instrument.
+
+It may be mentioned at this point that the piano did not have the effect
+of impairing the orchestration of the great composers--as some musical
+wiseacres assert from time to time--for they have written just as fine
+works for a variety of other instruments, not to speak of their
+symphonies. Thus has, for instance, the most substantial part of the
+violin literature been contributed by piano-players (Bach, Mozart,
+Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Saint-Saëns, Tschaikowski, and
+many others). As to the literature of the orchestra, it came almost
+exclusively from those masters whose only, or chiefest, medium of
+musical utterance was the piano. Highly organised natures, as they were,
+they liked to dress their thoughts, sometimes, in the colour splendour
+of the orchestra. Looking at the depth of their piano works, however, at
+their sterling merit, at their poetry, I feel that even a refined
+musical nature may find lifelong contentment in the piano--despite its
+limitations--if, as I said before, the artist keeps within its
+boundaries and commands its possibilities. For it is, after all, not so
+very little that the piano has to offer. It is both governed and
+manipulated by one and the same mind and person; its mechanism is so
+fine and yet so simple as to make its tone response quite as direct as
+that of any other stringed instrument; it admits of the thoroughly
+personal element of touch; it requires no auxiliary instruments (for
+even in the Concerto the orchestra is not a mere accompanist but an
+equal partner, as the name "Concerto" implies); its limitations are not
+as bad as those of some other instruments or of the voice; it outweighs
+these limitations very fairly by the vast wealth of its dynamic and
+touch varieties. Considering all these and many other points of merit, I
+think that a musician may be pretty well satisfied with being a pianist.
+His realm is in more than one respect smaller than that of the
+conductor, to be sure, but on the other hand the conductor loses many
+lovely moments of sweet intimacy which are granted to the pianist when,
+world-oblivious and alone with his instrument he can commune with his
+innermost and best self. Consecrated moments, these, which he would
+exchange with no musician of any other type and which wealth can neither
+buy nor power compel.
+
+
+THE PIANO AND THE PLAYER
+
+Music makers are, like the rest of mankind, not free from sin. On the
+whole, however, I think that the transgressions of pianists against the
+canons of art are less grave and less frequent than those of other music
+makers; perhaps, because they are--usually--better grounded as musicians
+than are singers and such players of other instruments as the public
+places on a par with the pianists I have in mind. But, while their sins
+may be less in number and gravity--let it be well understood that the
+pianists are no saints. Alas, no! It is rather strange, though, that
+their worst misdeeds are induced by that very virtue of the piano of
+requiring no auxiliary instruments, of being independent. If it were not
+so; if the pianist were compelled always to play in company with other
+musicians, these other players might at times differ with him as to
+conception, tempo, etc., and their views and wishes should have to be
+reckoned with, for the sake of both equilibrium and--sweet peace.
+
+Left entirely to himself, however, as the pianist usually is in his
+performances, he sometimes yields to a tendency to move altogether too
+freely, to forget the deference due to the composition and its creator,
+and to allow his much-beloved "individuality" to glitter with a false
+and presumptuous brightness. Such a pianist does not only fail in his
+mission as an interpreter but he also misjudges the possibilities of the
+piano. He will, for instance, try to produce six _forte-s_ when the
+piano has not more than three to give, all told, except at a sacrifice
+of its dignity and its specific charm.
+
+The extremest contrasts, the greatest _forte_ and the finest _piano_,
+are given factors determined by the individual piano, by the player's
+skill of touch, and by the acoustic properties of the hall. These given
+factors the pianist must bear in mind, as well as the limitations of
+the piano as to colour, if he means to keep clear of dilettanteism and
+charlatanry. A nice appreciation of the realm over which he rules, as to
+its boundaries and possibilities, must be the supreme endeavour of every
+sovereign--hence also of every sovereign musician.
+
+Now, I hear it so often said of this and that pianist that "he plays
+with _so_ much feeling" that I cannot help wondering if he does not,
+sometimes at least, play with "_so_ much feeling" where it is not in the
+least called for and where "_so_ much feeling" constitutes a decided
+trespass against the æsthetic boundaries of the composition. My
+apprehension is usually well founded, for the pianist that plays
+_everything_ "with so much feeling" is an artist in name only, but in
+reality a sentimentalist, if not a vulgar sensationalist or a ranter
+upon the keyboard. What sane pianist would, for instance, attempt to
+play a cantilena with the same appealing sensuousness as the most
+mediocre 'cellist can do with the greatest ease? Yet many pianists
+attempt it; but since they are fully aware that they can never attain
+such ends by legitimate, artistic means, they make either the
+accompaniment or the rhythm, if not the phrasing, bear the brunt of
+their palpable dilettanteism. Of such illusory endeavours I cannot warn
+too strongly, for they are bound to destroy the organic relation of the
+melody to its auxiliaries and to change the musical "physiognomy" of a
+piece into a--"grimace:" This fault reveals that the pianist's
+spirit--of adventure--is too willing, but the flesh--of the fingers and
+their technic--too weak.
+
+The artistic and the dilettantic manners of expression must be sharply
+differentiated. They differ, principally, as follows: the artist knows
+and feels how far the responsiveness of his instrument, at any
+particular part of his piece, will allow him to go without violating
+æsthetics, and without stepping outside of the nature of his instrument.
+He shapes his rendition of the piece accordingly and practises wise
+economy in the use of force and in the display of feeling. As to
+feeling, _per se_, it is the ripe product of a multitude of æsthetic
+processes which the moment creates and develops; but the artist will
+keep this product from asserting itself until he has complied with every
+requirement of artistic _workmanship_; until he has, so to speak,
+provided a cleanly covered and fully set table upon which these matters
+of "feeling" appear as finishing, decorative touches, say, as flowers.
+
+The dilettante, on the other hand, does not consume any time by thinking
+and planning; he simply "goes for" his piece and, without bothering
+about workmanship or squirming around it as best he may, he rambles off
+into--"feeling," which in his case consists of naught but vague,
+formless, aimless, and purely sensuous sentimentality. His accompaniment
+drowns the melody, his rhythm goes on a sympathetic strike, dynamic and
+other artistic properties become hysterical; no matter, he--"feels"! He
+builds a house in which the cellar is under the roof and the garret in
+the basement.
+
+Let it be said in extenuation of such a player that he is not always and
+seldom wholly to blame for his wrong-doing. Very often he strays from
+the path of musical rectitude because of his misplaced trust in the
+judgment of others, which causes him to accept and follow advice in
+good faith, instead of duly considering its source. For, under certain
+conditions, the advice of even a connoisseur may be wrong. Many
+professional and well-equipped critics, for instance, fall into the bad
+habit of expecting that a pianist should tell all he knows in every
+piece he plays, whether the piano does or does not furnish the
+opportunities for displaying all his qualities. They expect him to show
+strength, temperament, passion, poise, sentiment, repose, depth, and so
+forth, in the first piece on his programme. He must tell his whole
+story, present himself at once as a "giant" or "Titan" of the piano,
+though the piece may call for naught but tenderness. With this demand,
+or the alternative of a "roasting," public artists are confronted rather
+frequently. Nor is this, perhaps, as much the fault of the critic as of
+the conditions under which they must write. From my own experience and
+that of others I know that the critics in large cities are so
+overburdened with work during the season that they have seldom time to
+listen to more than one piece out of a whole recital programme. After
+such a mere sample they form their opinions--so momentous for the
+career of a young pianist--and if this one piece happened to offer no
+opportunities to the pianist to show himself as the "great" So-and-so,
+why, then he is simply put down as one of the "littlefellows." It is no
+wonder that such conditions tempt many young aspirants to public renown
+to resort to æsthetic violence in order to make sure of "good notices";
+to use power where it is not called for; to make "feeling" ooze from
+every pore; to double, treble the tempo or vacillate it out of all
+rhythm; to violate the boundaries of both the composition and the
+instrument--and all this for no other purpose than to show as quickly as
+possible that the various qualities are "all there." These conditions
+produce what may be called the pianistic nouveau-riche or parvenu, who
+practises the vices of the dilettante without, however, the mitigating
+excuse of ignorance or a lack of training.
+
+
+THE PIANIST AND THE COMPOSITION
+
+As the piano, so has also every composition its limitations as to the
+range of its emotions and their artistic expression. The hints in this
+direction I threw out before may now be amplified by discussing a very
+common error which underlies the matter of conception. It is the error
+of inferring the conception of a composition _from the name of its
+composer_; of thinking that Beethoven has to be played thus and Chopin
+thus. No error could be greater!
+
+True, every great composer has his own style, his habitual mode of
+thought development, his personality revealing lines. But it is equally
+true that the imagination of all great composers was strong enough to
+absorb them as completely in their own creation as the late Pygmalion
+was absorbed in his Galatea, and to lure them, for the time being,
+completely away from their habits of thought and expression; they become
+the willing servants of the new creature of their own fancy. Thus we
+find some of Beethoven's works as romantic and fanciful as any of
+Schumann's or Chopin's could be, while some of the latter's works show
+at times a good deal of Beethovenish classicity. It is, therefore,
+utterly wrong to approach every work of Beethoven with the preconceived
+idea that it must be "deep" and "majestic," or, if the work be Chopin's,
+that it must run over with sensuousness and "feeling." How would such a
+style of rendition do, for instance, for the Polonaise op. 53, or even
+for the little one in A, op. 40, No. 1? On the other hand, how would the
+stereotype, academic manner of playing Beethoven suit his Concerto in
+G--that poetic presage of Chopin?
+
+Every great master has written some works that are, and some that are
+not, typical of himself. In the latter cases the master's identity
+reveals itself only to an eye that is experienced enough to detect it in
+the smaller, more minute traits of his style. Such delicate features,
+however, must be left in their discreet nooks and niches; they must not
+be clumsily dragged into the foreground for the sake of a traditional
+rendition of the piece. That sort of "reverence" is bound to obliterate
+all the peculiarities of the particular, non-typical composition. It is
+not reverence, but fetichism. Justice to the composer means justice to
+his works; to every work in particular. And this justice we cannot
+learn from the reading of his biography, but by regarding every one of
+his works as a separate and complete entity; as a perfect, organic whole
+of which we must study the general character, the special features, the
+form, the manner of design, the emotional course, and the trend of
+thought. Much more than by his biography we will be helped, in forming
+our conception, by comparing the work in hand with others of the same
+master, though the comparison may disclose just as many differences of
+style as it may show similarities.
+
+The worship of names, the unquestioning acquiescence in traditional
+conceptions--those are not the principles which will lead an artist to
+come into his own. It is rather a close examination of every popular
+notion, a severe testing of every tradition by the touchstone of
+self-thinking that will help an artist to find himself and to see, what
+he does see, with his own eyes.
+
+Thus we find that--in a certain constructive meaning--even the reverence
+for the composer is not without boundaries; though these boundary lines
+are drawn here only to secure the widest possible freedom for their
+work. Goethe's great word expresses most tersely what I mean:
+
+     Outwardly limited,
+     Boundless to inward.
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL RULES
+
+
+Successful piano-playing, if it cannot be entirely acquired by some very
+simple rules, can, at least, be very much helped by what will seem to
+some as contributing causes so slight as to be hardly worth notice.
+Still, they are immensely valuable, and I will endeavour to set down a
+few.
+
+_The Value of the Morning Hour_ above any other time is not generally
+appreciated. The mental freshness gained from sleep is a tremendous
+help. I go so far as to say play away for an hour, or a half hour even,
+before breakfast. But before you touch the piano let me suggest one very
+prosaic little hint: wash the keyboard as clean as you did your hands.
+Eating always tastes best from a clean table. Just so with the piano:
+you cannot do clean work on an unclean keyboard.
+
+_Now, as to Practice_: Let me suggest that you never practise more than
+an hour, or, at the most, two hours, at a stretch--according to your
+condition and strength. Then go out and take a walk, and think no more
+of music. This method of mental unhitching, so to speak, is absolutely
+necessary in order that the newly acquired results of your work
+may--unconsciously to yourself--mature in your mind and get, as it were,
+into your flesh and blood. That which you have newly learned must become
+affixed to your entire organism, very much like the picture on a
+photographic plate is developed and affixed by the silver bath. If you
+allow Nature no time for this work the result of your previous efforts
+will vanish and you will have to begin all over again with
+your--photographing. Yes, photographing! For every acoustic or tone
+picture is, through the agency of the ear, photographed in the brain,
+and the whole occupation of the pianist consists in the reproduction of
+the previously received impressions through the fingers, which, with the
+help of the instrument, retranslate the pictures into audible tones.
+
+After every half hour make a pause until you feel rested. Five minutes
+will often be sufficient. Follow the example of the painter, who
+closes his eyes for a few moments in order to obtain upon reopening them
+a fresh color impression.
+
+_A Valuable Little Hint Here_, if you will allow me: Watch well that you
+actually hear every tone you mean to produce. Every missing tone will
+mean a blotch upon your photographic plate in the brain. Each note must
+be, not mentally but physically, heard, and to this imperative
+requirement your speed must ever subordinate itself. It is not at all
+necessary to practise loudly in order to foster the permanence of
+impressions. Rather let an inward tension take the place of external
+force. It will engage, sympathetically, your hearing just as well.
+
+_As to the Theory_--great energy, great results--I prefer my amended
+version: great energy, restrained power and moderate manifestation of
+it. Prepare the finger for great force, imagine the tone as being
+strong, and yet strike moderately. Continuous loud playing makes our
+playing coarse. On the other hand, continuous soft playing will blur the
+tone picture in our mind and cause us soon to play insecurely and
+wrongly. From time to time we should, of course, practise loudly so as
+to develop physical endurance. But for the greater part of practice I
+recommend playing with restrained power. And, incidentally, your
+neighbours will thank you for it, too.
+
+_Do Not Practise Systematically_, or "methodically," as it is sometimes
+called. Systematism is the death of spontaneousness, and spontaneousness
+is the very soul of art. If you play every day at the same time the same
+sequence of the same studies and the same pieces, you may acquire a
+certain degree of skill, perhaps, but the spontaneity of your rendition
+will surely be lost. Art belongs to the realm of emotional
+manifestations, and it stands to reason that a systematic exploiting of
+our emotional nature must blunt it.
+
+_With Regard to Finger Exercises_: Do not let them be too frequent or
+too long--at the most a half hour a day. A half hour daily, kept up for
+a year, is enough for any one to learn to play one's exercises. And if
+one can play them why should one keep everlastingly on playing them?
+Can anybody explain, without reflecting upon one's sanity, why one
+should persist in playing them? I suggest to use these exercises as
+"preliminary warmers" (as practised in engines). As soon as the hands
+have become warm and elastic, or pliable--"played in," as we pianists
+say--drop the exercises and repeat them for the same purpose the next
+morning, if you will. They can be successfully substituted, however. As
+compositions they are but lukewarm water. If you will dip your hands,
+instead, for five minutes into hot water you will follow my own method
+and find it just as efficacious.
+
+_A Rule for Memory Exercises_: If you wish to strengthen the receptivity
+and retentiveness of your memory you will find the following plan
+practical: Start with a short piece. Analyse the form and manner of its
+texture. Play the piece a number of times very exactly with the music
+before you. Then stop playing for several hours and try to trace the
+course of ideas mentally in the piece. Try to hear the piece inwardly.
+If you have retained some parts refill the missing places by repeated
+reading of the piece, away from the piano. When next you go to the
+piano--after several hours, remember--try to play the piece. Should you
+still get "stuck" at a certain place take the sheet music, but play only
+that place (several times, if necessary), and then begin the piece over
+again, as a test, if you have better luck this time with those elusive
+places. If you still fail resume your silent reading of the piece away
+from the piano. Under no circumstances skip the unsafe place for the
+time being, and proceed with the rest of the piece. By such forcing of
+the memory you lose the logical development of your piece, tangle up
+your memory and injure its receptivity. Another observation in
+connection with memorising may find a place here. When we study a piece
+we--unconsciously--associate in our mind a multitude of things with it
+which bear not the slightest relation upon it. By these "things" I mean
+not only the action of the piano, light or heavy, as it may be, but also
+the colour of its wood, the colour of the wall paper, discoloration of
+the ivory on some key of the piano, the pictures on the walls, the angle
+at which the piano stands to the architectural lines of the room, in
+short, all sorts of things. And we remain utterly unconscious of having
+associated them with the piece we are studying--until we try to play the
+well-learned piece in a different place, in the house of a friend or, if
+we are inexperienced enough to commit such a blunder, in the concert
+hall. Then we find that our memory fails us most unexpectedly, and we
+blame our memory for its unreliableness. But the fact is rather that our
+memory was only too good, too exact, for the absence of or difference
+from our accustomed surroundings disturbed our too precise memory.
+Hence, to make absolutely sure of our memory we should try our piece in
+a number of different places before relying upon our memory; this will
+dissociate the wonted environment from the piece in our memory.
+
+_With Regard to Technical Work_: Play good compositions and construe out
+of them your own technical exercises. In nearly every piece you play you
+will find a place or two of which your conscience tells you that they
+are not up to your own wishes; that they can be improved upon either
+from a rhythmical, dynamical or precisional point of view. Give these
+places the preference for a while, but do not fail to play from time to
+time again the whole piece in order to put the erstwhile defective and
+now repaired part into proper relation to its context. Remember that a
+difficult part may "go" pretty well when severed from its context and
+yet fail utterly when attempted in its proper place. You must follow the
+mechanic in this. If a part of a machine is perfected in the shop it
+must still go through the process of being "mounted"--that is, being
+brought into proper relation to the machine itself--and this often
+requires additional packing or filing, as the case may be. This
+"mounting" of a repaired part is done best by playing it in conjunction
+with one preceding and one following measure; then put two measures on
+each side, three, four, etc., until you feel your ground safely under
+your fingers. Not until then have you achieved your purpose of technical
+practice. The mere mastering of a difficulty _per se_ is no guarantee of
+success whatever. Many students play certain compositions for years, and
+yet when they are asked to play them the evidences of imperfection are
+so palpable that they cannot have finished the learning of them. The
+strong probability is that they never will finish the "study" of them,
+because they do not study right.
+
+_As to the Number of Pieces_: The larger the number of good compositions
+you are able to play in a finished manner, the better grow your
+opportunities to develop your versatility of style; for in almost every
+good composition you will find some traits peculiar to itself only which
+demand an equally special treatment. To keep as many pieces as possible
+in your memory and in good technical condition, play them a few times
+each week. Do not play them, however, in consecutive repetitions. Take
+one after the other. After the last piece is played the first one will
+appear fresh again to your mind. This process I have tested and found
+very helpful in maintaining a large repertory.
+
+[Illustration: _The Position of the Hand_]
+
+_Play Always with the Fingers_--that is, move your arms as little as
+possible and hold them--and the shoulder muscles--quite loosely. The
+hands should be nearly horizontal, with a slight inclination from the
+elbows toward the keys. Bend the fingers gently and endeavour to touch
+the keys in their centre and with the tips of the fingers. This will
+tend toward sureness and give eyes to your fingers, so to speak.
+
+_The Practice of Finger Octaves_: Play octaves first as if you were
+playing single notes with one finger of each hand. Lift the thumb and
+fifth finger rather high and let them fall upon the keys without using
+the wrist. Later let the wrist come to your aid, sometimes even the arm
+and shoulder muscles, though the latter should both be reserved for
+places requiring great power.
+
+Where powerful octaves occur in long continuation it is best to
+distribute the work over the joints and muscles of the fingers, wrists,
+and shoulders. With a rational distribution each of the joints will
+avoid over-fatigue and the player will gain in endurance. This applies,
+of course, only to bravura passages. In places where musical
+characteristics predominate the player does best to choose whichever of
+these sources of touch seems most appropriate.
+
+[Illustration: _Incorrect Way to Play an Octave_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Way to Play an Octave_]
+
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Incorrect Position of Little Finger_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Position of Little Finger_]
+
+_About Using the Pedal_: Beware of too frequent and--above all--of
+long-continued use of the pedal. It is the mortal enemy of clarity.
+Judiciously, however, you should use it when you study a new work, for
+if you accustom yourself to play a work without the pedal the habit of
+non-pedalling will grow upon you, and you will be surprised to find
+later how your feet can be in the way of your fingers. Do not delay the
+use of the pedal as if it were the dessert after a repast.
+
+_Never Play with a Metronome_: You may use a metronome for a little
+passage as a test of your ability to play the passage in strict time.
+When you see the result, positive or negative, stop the machine
+at once. For according to the metronome a really musical rhythm is
+unrhythmical--and, on the other hand, the keeping of absolutely strict
+time is thoroughly unmusical and deadlike.
+
+You should endeavour to reproduce the sum-total of the time which a
+musical thought occupies. Within its scope, however, you must vary your
+beats in accordance with their musical significance. This constitutes in
+musical interpretation what I call the individual pulse-beat which
+imparts life to the dead, black notes. Beware, however, of being too
+"individual"! Avoid exaggeration, or else your patient will grow
+feverish and all æsthetic interpretation goes to the happy hunting
+grounds!
+
+_The Correct Posture at the Piano_: Sit straight before the piano but
+not stiff. Have both feet upon the pedals, so as to be at any moment
+ready to use them. All other manners to keep the feet are--bad manners.
+Let your hand fall with the arm upon the keyboard when you start a
+phrase, and observe a certain roundness in all the motions of your arms
+and hands. Avoid angles and sharp bends, for they produce strong
+frictions in the joints, which means a waste of force and is bound to
+cause premature fatigue.
+
+_Do Not Attend Poor Concerts._ Do not believe that you can learn correct
+vision from the blind, nor that you can really profit by hearing how a
+piece should _not_ be played, and then trying the reverse. The danger of
+getting accustomed to poor playing is very great. What would you think
+of a parent who deliberately sent his child into bad company in order
+that such child should learn how _not_ to behave? Such experiments are
+dangerous. By attending poor concerts you encourage the bungler to
+continue in his crimes against good taste and artistic decency, and you
+become his accomplice. Besides, you help to lower the standard of
+appreciation in your community, which may sink so low that good concerts
+will cease to be patronised. If you desire that good concerts should be
+given in your city the least you can do is to withhold your patronage
+from bad ones. If you are doubtful as to the merits of a proposed
+concert ask your own or your children's music teacher. He will
+appreciate your confidence and be glad of the opportunity to serve you
+for once in a musical matter that lies on a higher plane than your own
+or your children's music lesson.
+
+_To Those Who Play in Public_ I should like to say this: Before you have
+played a composition in public two or three times you must not expect
+that every detail of it shall go according to your wishes. Do not be
+surprised at little unexpected occurrences. Consider that the acoustic
+properties of the various halls constitute a serious danger to the
+musician. Bad humor on your part, or a slight indisposition, even a
+clamlike audience, Puritanically austere or cool from diffidence--all
+these things can be overcome; but the acoustic properties remain the
+same from the beginning of your programme to its end, and if they are
+not a kindly counsellor they turn into a fiendish demon who sneers to
+death your every effort to produce noble-toned pictures. Therefore, try
+to ascertain, as early as possible, what sort of an architectural
+stomach your musical feast is to fill, and then--well, do the best you
+can. Approach the picture you hold in your mind as nearly as
+circumstances permit.
+
+_When I Find Bad Acoustics in a Hall._ An important medium of rectifying
+the acoustic misbehaviour of a hall I have found in the pedal. In some
+halls my piano has sounded as if I had planted my feet on the pedal for
+good and ever; in such cases I practised the greatest abstention from
+pedalling. It is a fact that we have to treat the pedal differently in
+almost every hall to insure the same results. I know that a number of
+books have been written on the use of the pedal, but they are theories
+which tumble down before the first adverse experience on the legitimate
+concert stage. There you can lean on nothing but experience.
+
+_About Reading Books on Music._ And speaking of books on music, let me
+advise you to read them, but not to believe them unless they support
+every statement with an argument, and unless this argument succeeds in
+convincing you. In art we deal far oftener with exceptions than with
+rules and laws. Every genius in art has demonstrated in his works the
+forefeeling of new laws, and every succeeding one has done by his
+precursors as his successors have in their turn done by him. Hence all
+theorising in art must be problematic and precarious, while dogmatising
+in art amounts to absurdity. Music is a language--the language of the
+musical, whatever and wherever be their country. Let each one, then,
+speak in his own way, as he thinks and feels, provided he is sincere.
+Tolstoi put the whole thing so well when he said: "There are only three
+things of real importance in the world. They are: Sincerity! Sincerity!
+Sincerity!"
+
+
+
+
+CORRECT TOUCH AND TECHNIC
+
+
+Great finger technic may be defined as extreme precision and great speed
+in the action of the fingers. The latter quality, however, can never be
+developed without the legato touch. I am convinced that the degree of
+perfection of finger technic is exactly proportionate to the development
+of the legato touch. The process of the non-legato touch, by showing
+contrary results, will bear me out. To play a rapid run non-legato will
+consume much more time than to play it legato because of the lifting of
+the fingers between the tones. In playing legato the fingers are not
+lifted off the keys, but--hardly losing contact with the ivory--glide
+sideways to the right or the left as the notes may call for it. This,
+naturally, saves both time and exertion, and thus allows an increase of
+speed.
+
+How is the true legato accomplished? By the gliding motion just
+mentioned, and by touching the next following key before the finger
+which played last has fully abandoned its key. To illustrate, let me say
+that in a run of single notes two fingers are simultaneously at
+work--the "played" and the "playing" one; in runs of double notes
+(thirds, sixths, etc.) the number of simultaneously employed fingers is,
+analogously, four. Only in this manner is a true legato touch to be
+attained. While the fingers are in action the hand must not move lest it
+produce gaps between the succeeding tones, causing not only a breaking
+of the connection between them but also a lessening of speed. The
+transfer of the hand should take place only when the finger is already
+in touch with the key that is to follow--not at the time of contact,
+still less before.
+
+The selection of a practical fingering is, of course, of paramount
+importance for a good legato touch. In attempting a run without a good
+fingering we will soon find ourselves "out of fingers." In that
+emergency we should have to resort to "piecing on," and this means a
+jerk at every instance--equal to a non-legato. A correct fingering is
+one which permits the longest natural sequel of fingers to be used
+without a break. By earnest thinking every player can contrive the
+fingering that will prove most convenient to him. But, admitting that
+the great diversity of hands prohibits a universal fingering, all the
+varieties of fingering ought to be based upon the principle of a natural
+sequel. If a player be puzzled by certain configurations of notes and
+keys as to the best fingering for them, he ought to consult a teacher,
+who, if a good one, will gladly help him out.
+
+Precision, the other component part of finger technic, is intimately
+related with the player's general sense of orderliness. As a matter of
+fact, precision is orderliness in the technical execution of a musical
+prescription. If the student will but look quite closely at the piece he
+is learning; if he has the patience to repeat a difficult place in it a
+hundred times if necessary--and correctly, of course--he will soon
+acquire the trait of precision and he will experience the resultant
+increase in his technical ability.
+
+Mental technic presupposes the ability to form a clear inward conception
+of a run without resorting to the fingers at all. Since every action of
+a finger has first to be determined upon by the mind, a run should be
+completely prepared mentally before it is tried on the piano. In other
+words, the student should strive to acquire the ability to form the
+tonal picture in his mind, rather than the note picture.
+
+The tonal picture dwells in our imagination. This acts upon the
+responsive portions of the brain, influences them according to its own
+intensity, and this influence is then transferred to the motoric
+nerve-centres which are concerned in music-making. As far as known this
+is the course by which the musician converts his musical concept into a
+tonal reality. Hence, when studying a new work, it is imperative that a
+tonal picture of perfect clarity should be prepared in the mind before
+the mechanical (or technical) practicing begins. In the earlier stages
+of cultivating this trait it will be best to ask the teacher to play the
+piece for us, and thus to help us in forming a correct tonal picture in
+our mind.
+
+The blurring of the tonal picture produces a temporary (don't get
+frightened!) paralysis of the motoric centres which control the
+fingers. Every pianist knows--unfortunately--the sensation of having his
+fingers begin to "stick" as if the keys were covered with flypaper, and
+he knows, also, that this sensation is but a warning that the fingers
+are going on a general and even "sympathetic" strike--sympathetic,
+because even the momentarily unconcerned fingers participate in it. Now
+the cause of this sensation lies not in a defective action of the
+fingers themselves, but solely in the mind. It is there that some
+undesired change has taken place, a change which impairs the action of
+the fingers. The process is like this: by quick repetitions of
+complicated figures, slight errors, slips, flaws escape our notice; the
+more quick repetitions we make the larger will be the number of these
+tiny blots, and this must needs lead finally to a completely distorted
+tonal picture. This distortion, however, is not the worst feature.
+Inasmuch as we are very likely not to make the same little blunders at
+every repetition the tonal picture becomes confused, blurred. The nerve
+contacts which cause the fingers to act become undecided first, then
+they begin to fail more and more, until they cease altogether and the
+fingers--stick! At such a juncture the student should at once resort to
+slow practice. He should play the defective place clearly, orderly, and,
+above all, slowly, and persist in this course until the number of
+correct repetitions proves sufficient to crowd the confused tonal
+picture out of the mind. This is not to be regarded as mechanical
+practice, for it is intended for the rehabilitation of a disarranged or
+disturbed mental concept. I trust this will speak for the practice of
+what I called "mental technic." Make the mental tonal picture sharp; the
+fingers must and will obey it.
+
+[Illustration: _Incorrect Position of Thumb_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Position of Thumb_]
+
+We are sometimes affected by "thought-laziness"--I translate this word
+literally from other languages, because it is a good compound for which
+I can find no better equivalent in English. Whenever we find the fingers
+going astray in the piece we play we might as well admit to ourselves
+that the trouble is in the main office. The mysterious controlling
+officer has been talking with a friend instead of attending to business.
+The mind was not keeping step with the fingers. We have relied on our
+automatism; we allowed the fingers to run on and the mind lagged behind,
+instead of being, as it should be, ahead of the fingers, preparing their
+work.
+
+Quick musical thinking, the importance of which is thus apparent, cannot
+be developed by any direct course. It is one of the by-products of the
+general widening of one's musical horizon. It is ever proportionate to
+the growth of one's other musical faculties. It is the result of
+elasticity of the mind acquired or developed by constant, never-failing,
+unremitting employment whenever we are at the piano. A procedure tending
+directly toward developing quick musical thinking is, therefore, not
+necessary.
+
+The musical will has its roots in the natural craving for musical
+utterance. It is the director-in-chief of all that is musical in us.
+Hence I recognise in the purely technical processes of piano-playing no
+less a manifestation of the musical will. But a technic without a
+musical will is a faculty without a purpose, and when it becomes a
+purpose in itself it can never serve art.
+
+
+
+
+THE USE OF THE PEDAL
+
+
+To speak in a concrete manner of the pedal is possible only on the basis
+of a complete understanding of the fundamental principle underlying its
+use. The reader must agree to the governing theory that the organ which
+governs the employment of the pedal is--the ear! As the eye guides the
+fingers when we read music, so must the ear be the guide--and the "sole"
+guide--of the foot upon the pedal. The foot is merely the servant, the
+executive agent, while the ear is the guide, the judge, and the final
+criterion. If there is any phase in piano-playing where we should
+remember particularly that music is for the ear it is in the treatment
+of the pedal. Hence, whatever is said here in the following lines with
+regard to the pedal must be understood as resting upon the basis of this
+principle.
+
+As a general rule I recommend pressing the lever or treadle down with a
+quick, definite, full motion and always immediately after--mark me,
+after--the striking of the keys, never simultaneously with the stroke of
+the fingers, as so many erroneously assume and do. To prevent a
+cacophonous mixture of tones we should consider that we must stop the
+old tone before we can give pedal to the new one, and that, in order to
+make the stopping of the past tone perfect, we must allow the damper to
+press upon the vibrating strings long enough to do its work. If,
+however, we tread down exactly with the finger-stroke we simply inhibit
+this stopping, because the damper in question is lifted again before it
+has had time to fall down. (In speaking of the dampers as moving up and
+down I have in mind the action of the "grand" piano; in the upright
+piano the word "off" must be substituted for "up," and "on" for "down.")
+This rule will work in a vast majority of cases, but like every
+rule--especially in art--it will be found to admit of many exceptions.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Incorrect Position of the Feet_]
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal_]
+
+_Harmonic Clarity in Pedalling is the Basis_, but it is only the basis;
+it is not all that constitutes an artistic treatment of the pedal. In
+spite of what I have just said above there are in many pieces moments
+where a blending of tones, seemingly foreign to one another, is a means
+of characterisation. This blending is especially permissible when the
+passing (foreign) tones are more than one octave removed from the lowest
+tone and from the harmony built upon it. In this connection it should be
+remembered that the pedal is not merely a means of tone prolongation but
+also a means of colouring--and pre-eminently that. What is generally
+understood by the term piano-charm is to the greatest extent produced by
+an artistic use of the pedal.
+
+For instance, great accent effects can be produced by the gradual
+accumulating of tone-volume through the pedal and its sudden release on
+the accented point. The effect is somewhat like that which we hear in
+the orchestra when a crescendo is supported by a roll of the drum or
+tympani making the last tap on the accented point. And, as I am
+mentioning the orchestra, I may illustrate by the French horns another
+use of the pedal: where the horns do not carry the melody (which they do
+relatively seldom) they are employed to support sustained harmonies,
+and their effect is like a glazing, a binding, a unifying of the various
+tone-colours of the other instruments. Just such a glazing is produced
+by the judicious use of the pedal, and when, in the orchestra, the horns
+cease and the strings proceed alone there ensues a certain soberness of
+tone which we produce in the piano by the release and non-use of the
+pedal. In the former instance, while the horns were active they
+furnished the harmonic background upon which the thematic development of
+the musical picture proceeded; in the latter case, when the horns cease
+the background is taken away and the thematic configurations stand
+out--so to speak--against the sky. Hence, the pedal gives to the piano
+tone that unifying, glazing, that finish--though this is not exactly the
+word here--which the horns or softly played trombones give to the
+orchestra.
+
+_But the Pedal Can Do More Than That._ At times we can produce strange,
+glasslike effects by purposely mixing non-harmonic tones. I only need to
+hint at some of the fine, embroidery-like cadenzas in Chopin's works,
+like the one in his E-minor Concerto (Andante, measures 101, 102, and
+103). Such blendings are productive of a multitude of effects,
+especially when we add the agency of dynamic gradation: effects
+suggestive of winds from Zephyr to Boreas, of the splash and roar of
+waves, of fountain-play, of rustling leaves, etc. This mode of blending
+can be extended also to entire harmonies in many cases where one
+fundamental chord is to predominate for some time while other chords may
+pass in quicker succession while it lasts. In such cases it is by no
+means imperative to abandon the pedal; we need only to establish various
+dynamic levels and place the ruling harmony on a higher level than the
+passing ones. In other words, the predominating chord must receive so
+much force that it can outlast all those briefer ones which, though
+audible, must die of their own weakness, and while the strong, ruling
+chord was constantly disturbed by the weaker ones it also re-established
+its supremacy with the death of every weaker one which it outlasted.
+This use of the pedal has its limitations in the evanescent nature of
+the tone of the piano. That moment when the blending of non-harmonic
+tones imperils the tonal beauty of the piece in hand can be determined
+solely and exclusively by the player's own ear, and here we are once
+more at the point from which this article started, namely: that the ear
+is governor, and that it alone can decide whether or not there is to be
+any pedal.
+
+It were absurd to assume that we can greatly please the ear of others by
+our playing so long as our own ear is not completely satisfied. We
+should, therefore, endeavour to train the susceptibility of our ear, and
+we should ever make it more difficult to gain the assent of our own ear
+than to gain that of our auditors. They may, apparently, not notice
+defects in your playing, but at this juncture I wish to say a word of
+serious warning: Do not confound unmindfulness with consent! To hear
+ourselves play--that is, to listen to our own playing--is the bed-rock
+basis of all music-making and also, of course, of the technic of the
+pedal. Therefore, listen carefully, attentively to the tones you
+produce. When you employ the pedal as a prolongation of the fingers (to
+sustain tones beyond the reach of the fingers), see to it that you
+catch, and hold, the fundamental tone of your chord, for this tone must
+be always your chief consideration.
+
+_Whether You Use the Pedal as a Means of Mere Prolongation_ or as a
+medium of colouring, under no circumstances use it as a cloak for
+imperfection of execution. For, like charity, it is apt to be made to
+cover a multitude of sins; but, again like charity, who wants to make
+himself dependent upon it, when honest work can prevent it?
+
+Nor should the pedal be used to make up for a deficiency of force. To
+produce a forte is the business of the fingers (with or without the aid
+of the arm) but not of the pedal, and this holds true also--_mutatis
+mutandis_--of the left pedal, for which the Germans use a word
+(_Verschiebung_) denoting something like "shifting." In a "grand" piano
+the treading of the left pedal shifts the hammers so far to one side
+that instead of striking three strings they will strike only two. (In
+the pianos of fifty and more years ago there were only two strings to
+each tone, and when the hammers were shifted by the treading of the
+left pedal they struck only one string. From those days we have retained
+the term "_una corda_"--one string.) In an upright piano the lessening
+of tone-volume is produced by a lessening of the momentum of the hammer
+stroke.
+
+Now, as the right pedal should not be used to cover a lack of force, so
+should the left pedal not be regarded as a licence to neglect the
+formation of a fine _pianissimo_ touch. It should not cloak or screen a
+defective _pianissimo_, but should serve exclusively as a means of
+colouring where the softness of tone is coupled with what the jewellers
+call "dull finish." For the left pedal does not soften the tone without
+changing its character; it lessens the quantity of tone but at the same
+time it also markedly affects the quality.
+
+To _Sum Up_: Train your ear and then use both pedals honestly! Use them
+for what they were made. Remember that even screens are not used for
+hiding things behind them, but for decorative purposes or for
+protection. Those who do use them for hiding something must have
+something which they prefer to hide!
+
+
+
+
+PLAYING "IN STYLE"
+
+
+By playing a piece of music "in style" is understood a rendition which
+does absolute justice to its contents in regard to the manner of
+expression. Now, the true manner of expression must be sought and found
+for each piece individually, even though a number of different pieces
+may be written by one and the same composer. Our first endeavour should
+be to search out the peculiarity of the piece in hand rather than that
+of the composer in general. If you have succeeded in playing one work by
+Chopin in style, it does not follow, by any means, that you can play
+equally well any other work from his pen. Though on general lines his
+manner of writing may be the same in all his works, there will,
+nevertheless, be marked differences between the various pieces.
+
+Only by careful study of each work by itself can we find the key to its
+correct conception and rendition. We will never find it in books about
+the composer, nor in such as treat of his works, but only in the works
+themselves and in each one _per se_. People who study a lot of things
+about a work of art may possibly enrich their general knowledge, but
+they never can get that specific knowledge needful for the
+interpretation of the particular work in hand. Its own contents alone
+can furnish that knowledge. We know from frequent experience that
+book-learned musicians (or, as they are now called, musicologists)
+usually read everything in sight, and yet their playing rises hardly
+ever above mediocre dilettanteism.
+
+Why should we look for a correct conception of a piece anywhere but in
+the piece itself? Surely the composer has embodied in the piece all he
+knew and felt when he wrote it. Why, then, not listen to his specific
+language instead of losing our way in the terms of another art?
+Literature is literature, and music is music. They may combine, as in
+song, but one can never be substituted for the other.
+
+_Many Students Never Learn_ to understand a composer's specific language
+because their sole concern is to make the piece "effective" in the
+sense of a clever stunt. This tendency is most deplorable; for there
+really does exist a specifically musical language. By purely material
+means: through notes, pauses, dynamic and other signs, through special
+annotations, etc., the composer encloses in his work the whole world of
+his imagination. The duty of the interpretative artist is to extract
+from these material things the spiritual essence and to transmit it to
+his hearers. To achieve this he must understand this musical language in
+general and of each composition in particular.
+
+But--how is this language to be learned?
+
+By conning with careful attentiveness--and, of course, absorbing--the
+purely material matter of a piece: the notes, pauses, time values,
+dynamic indications, etc.
+
+If a player be scrupulously exact in his mere reading of a piece it
+will, of itself, lead him to understand a goodly portion of the piece's
+specific language. Nay, more! Through a really correct conning the
+player is enabled to determine upon the points of repose as well as upon
+the matter of climax, and thus to create a basis for the operations of
+his own imagination. After that, nothing remains but to call forth into
+tonal life, through the fingers, what his musical intelligence has
+grasped--which is a purely technical task. To transform the purely
+technical and material processes into a thing that lives, of course,
+rests with the natural, emotional, temperamental endowments of the
+individual; it rests with those many and complex qualities which are
+usually summarised by the term "talent," but this must be presupposed
+with a player who aspires to artistic work.
+
+On the other hand, talent alone cannot lift the veil that hides the
+spiritual content of a composition if its possessor neglects to examine
+the latter carefully as to its purely material ingredients. He may
+flatter the ear, sensuously speaking, but he can never play the piece in
+style.
+
+_Now How Can We Know_ whether we are or are not approaching the
+spiritual phase of a piece? By repetition under unremitting attention to
+the written values. If, then, you should find how much there is still
+left for you to do, you have proved to yourself that you have
+understood the piece spiritually and are on the right track to master
+it. With every repetition you will discover some hitherto unnoticed
+defect in your interpretation. Obviate these defects, one by one, and in
+so doing you will come nearer and nearer to the spiritual essence of the
+work in hand.
+
+As to the remaining "purely technical task" (as I said before), it must
+not be underestimated! To transmit one's matured conception to one's
+auditors requires a considerable degree of mechanical skill, and this
+skill, in its turn, must be under absolute control of the will. Of
+course--after the foregoing--this does not mean that everybody who has a
+good and well-controlled technic can interpret a piece in style.
+Remember that to possess wealth is one thing, to put it to good use is
+quite another.
+
+It is sometimes said that the too objective study of a piece may impair
+the "individuality" of its rendition. Have no fear of that! If ten
+players study the same piece with the same high degree of exactness and
+objectivity--depend upon it: each one will still play it quite
+differently from the nine others, though each one may think his
+rendition the only correct one. For each one will express what,
+according to his lights, he has mentally and temperamentally absorbed.
+Of the distinctive feature which constitutes the difference in the ten
+conceptions each one will have been unconscious while it formed itself,
+and perhaps also afterward. But it is just this unconsciously formed
+feature which constitutes legitimate individuality and which alone will
+admit of a real fusion of the composer's and the interpreter's thought.
+A purposed, blatant parading of the player's dear self through wilful
+additions of nuances, shadings, effects, and what not, is tantamount to
+a falsification; at best it is "playing to the galleries," charlatanism.
+The player should always feel convinced that he plays only what is
+written. To the auditor, who with his own and different intelligence
+follows the player's performance, the piece will appear in the light of
+the player's individuality. The stronger this is the more it will colour
+the performance, when unconsciously admixed.
+
+_Rubinstein Often Said to Me_: "Just play first exactly what is written;
+if you have done full justice to it and then still feel like adding or
+changing anything, why, do so." Mind well: after you have done full
+justice to what is written! How few are those who fulfil this duty! I
+venture to prove to any one who will play for me--if he be at all worth
+listening to--that he does not play more than is written (as he may
+think), but, in fact, a good deal less than the printed page reveals.
+And this is one of the principal causes of misunderstanding the esoteric
+portion, the inherent "style" of a piece--a misunderstanding which is
+not always confined to amateurs--inexact reading!
+
+The true interpretation of a piece of music results from a correct
+understanding of it, and this, in turn, depends solely upon scrupulously
+exact reading.
+
+_Learn the Language of Music_, then, I repeat, through exact reading!
+You will then soon fathom the musical meaning of a composition and
+transmit it intelligibly to your listeners. Would you satisfy your
+curiosity as to what manner of person the author is or was at the time
+of writing, you may do so. But--as I said in the "Foreword"--your chief
+interest should centre in the "composition," not in the "composer," for
+only by studying his work will you be enabled to play it in style.
+
+
+
+
+HOW RUBINSTEIN TAUGHT ME TO PLAY
+
+
+Outside of the regular students of the Imperial Conservatory of Music at
+St. Petersburg, Rubinstein accepted but one pupil. The advantage and
+privilege to be that one pupil was mine.
+
+I came to Rubinstein when I was sixteen years old and left him at
+eighteen. Since that time I have studied only by myself; for to whom
+could I have gone after Rubinstein? His very manner of teaching was such
+that it would have made any other teacher appear to me like a
+schoolmaster. He chose the method of indirect instruction through
+suggestive comparisons. He touched upon the strictly musical only upon
+rare occasions. In this way he wished to awaken within me the concretely
+musical as a parallel of his generalisations and thereby preserve my
+musical individuality.
+
+He never played for me. He only talked, and I, understanding him,
+translated his meaning into music and musical utterances. Sometimes, for
+instance, when I played the same phrase twice in succession, and played
+it both times alike (say in a sequence), he would say: "In fine weather
+you may play it as you did, but when it rains play it differently."
+
+Rubinstein was much given to whims and moods, and he often grew
+enthusiastic about a certain conception only to prefer a different one
+the next day. Yet he was always logical in his art, and though he aimed
+at hitting the nail from various points of view he always hit it on the
+head. Thus he never permitted me to bring to him, as a lesson, any
+composition more than once. He explained this to me once by saying that
+he might forget in the next lesson what he told me in the previous one,
+and by drawing an entirely new picture only confuse my mind. Nor did he
+ever permit me to bring one of his own works, though he never explained
+to me his reason for this singular attitude.
+
+[Illustration: _Anton Rubinstein_]
+
+[Illustration: _How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play_]
+
+Usually, when I came to him, arriving from Berlin, where I lived, I
+found him seated at his writing-desk, smoking Russian cigarettes. He
+lived at the Hôtel de l'Europe. After a kindly salute he would always
+ask me the same question: "Well, what is new in the world?"
+
+I remember replying to him: "I know nothing new; that's why I came to
+learn something new--from you."
+
+Rubinstein, understanding at once the musical meaning of my words,
+smiled, and the lesson thus promised to be a fine one.
+
+I noticed he was usually not alone when I came, but had as visitors
+several elderly ladies, sometimes very old ladies (mostly Russians), and
+some young girls--seldom any men. With a wave of his hand he directed me
+to the piano in the corner, a Bechstein, which was most of the time
+shockingly out of tune; but to this condition of his piano he was always
+serenely indifferent. He would remain at his desk studying the notes of
+the work while I played. He always compelled me to bring the pieces
+along, insisting that I should play everything just as it was written!
+He would follow every note of my playing with his eyes riveted on the
+printed pages. A pedant he certainly was, a stickler for the
+letter--incredibly so, especially when one considered the liberties he
+took when he played the same works! Once I called his attention modestly
+to this seeming paradox, and he answered: "When you are as old as I am
+now you may do as I do--if you can."
+
+Once I played a Liszt Rhapsody pretty badly. After a few moments he
+said: "The way you played this piece would be all right for auntie or
+mamma." Then rising and coming toward me he would say: "Now let us see
+how we play such things." Then I would begin all over again, but hardly
+had I played a few measures when he would interrupt and say: "Did you
+start? I thought I hadn't heard right----"
+
+"Yes, master, I certainly did," I would reply.
+
+"Oh," he would say vaguely. "I didn't notice."
+
+"How do you mean?" I would ask.
+
+"I mean this," he would answer: "Before your fingers touch the keys you
+must begin the piece mentally--that is, you must have settled in your
+mind the _tempo_, the manner of touch, and, above all, the attack of
+the first notes, before your actual playing begins. And by-the-bye, what
+is the character of this piece? Is it dramatic, tragic, lyric, romantic,
+humourous, heroic, sublime, mystic--what? Well, why don't you speak?"
+
+Generally I would mutter something after such a tirade, but usually I
+said something stupid because of the awe with which he inspired me.
+Finally, after trying several of his suggested designations I would hit
+it right. Then he would say: "Well, there we are at last! Humourous, is
+it? Very well! And rhapsodical, irregular--hey? You understand the
+meaning?" I would answer, "Yes."
+
+"Very well, then," he would reply; "now prove it." And then I would
+begin all over again.
+
+He would stand at my side, and whenever he wanted a special stress laid
+upon a certain note his powerful fingers would press upon my left
+shoulder with such force that I would stab the keys till the piano
+fairly screamed for me. When this did not have the effect he was after
+he would simply press his whole hand upon mine, flattening it out and
+spreading it like butter all over the keys, black and white ones,
+creating a frightful cacophony. Then he would say, almost with anger,
+"But cleaner, cleaner, cleaner," as if the discord had been of my doing.
+
+Such occurrences did not lack a humourous side, but their turn into the
+tragical always hung by a hair, especially if I had tried to explain or
+to make excuses. So I generally kept silent, and I found, after some
+experience, that was the only proper thing for me to do. For just as
+quickly as he would flare up he would also calm down again, and when the
+piece was ended I would hear his usual comment: "You are an excellent
+young man!" And how quickly was all pain then forgotten!
+
+I remember on one occasion that I played Schubert-Liszt's "Erl-König."
+When I came to the place in the composition where the Erl-King says to
+the child, "Thou dear, sweet child, oh, come with me," and I had played
+several false notes besides very poor arpeggios, Rubinstein asked me:
+"Do you know the text at this place?"
+
+As a reply I quoted the words.
+
+"Very well, then," he said, "the Erl-King addresses the child; Erl-King
+is a spirit, a ghost--so play this place in a spiritlike way, ghostly,
+if you will, but not ghastly with false notes!"
+
+I had to laugh at his word-play and Rubinstein himself chimed in, and
+the piece was saved, or rather the player. For when I repeated that
+particular part it went very well, and he allowed me to continue without
+further interruption.
+
+Once I asked him for the fingering of a rather complex passage.
+
+"Play it with your nose," he replied, "but make it sound well!"
+
+This remark puzzled me, and there I sat and wondered what he meant.
+
+As I understand it now he meant: Help yourself! The Lord helps those who
+help themselves!
+
+As I said before, Rubinstein never played for me the works I had to
+study. He explained, analysed, elucidated everything that he wanted me
+to know; but, this done, he left me to my own judgment, for only then,
+he would explain, would my achievement be my own and incontestable
+property. I learned from Rubinstein in this way the valuable truth that
+the conception of tone-pictures obtained through the playing of another
+gives us only transient impressions; they come and go, while the
+self-created conception will last and remain our own.
+
+Now, when I look back upon my study-days with Rubinstein, I can see that
+he did not so much instruct me as that I learned from him. He was not a
+pedagogue in the usual meaning of that word. He indicated to me an
+altitude offering a fine view, but how I was to get up there was my
+affair; he did not bother about it. "Play with your nose!" Yes--but when
+I bumped it till it fairly bled where would I get the metaphorical
+handkerchief? In my imagination! And he was right.
+
+To be sure, this method would not work with all pupils, but it is
+nevertheless well calculated to develop a student's original thought and
+bring out whatever acumen he may possess. If such a one succeeded by his
+own study and mental force to reach the desired point which the great
+magician's wizardry had made him see, he had gained the reliance in his
+own strength: he felt sure that he would always find that point
+again--even though he should lose his way once or twice, as every one
+with an honest aspiration is liable to do.
+
+I recall that Rubinstein once said to me: "Do you know why piano-playing
+is so difficult? Because it is prone to be either affected or else
+afflicted with mannerisms; and when these two pitfalls are luckily
+avoided then it is liable to be--dry! The truth lies between those three
+mischiefs!"
+
+When it was settled that I should make my Hamburg début under his baton
+with his own D-minor Concerto, I thought the time had come at last to
+study with him one of his own works. So I proposed it, but Rubinstein
+disposed of it! I still see him, as if it were but yesterday, seated in
+the greenroom of the Berlin Philharmonic during an intermission in his
+concert (it was on a Saturday) and telling me: "We shall appear together
+in Hamburg on Monday." The time was short, but I knew the Concerto and
+hoped to go through it with him some time in the remaining two days. I
+asked his permission to play the Concerto for him, but he declined my
+urgent request, saying: "It is not necessary; we understand each other!"
+And even in this critical moment he left me to my own resources. After
+the last (and only) rehearsal the great master embraced me before the
+whole orchestra, and I--well, I was not in the seventh, but in the
+"eighth" heaven! Everything was all right, I said to myself, for
+Rubinstein, Rubinstein was satisfied! The public simply had to be! The
+concert went off splendidly.
+
+After that memorable début in Hamburg, which was on March 14, 1894, I
+went directly to see Rubinstein, little dreaming that my eyes would then
+see him for the last time. I brought with me a large photograph of
+himself, and, though fully aware of his unconquerable aversion to
+autographing, my desire for the possession of his signature overruled my
+reluctance and I made my request.
+
+He raised both fists and thundered, half-angry and half-laughing: "_Et
+tu, Brute?_"
+
+But my wish was granted, and I reproduce the portrait in this article.
+
+Then I asked him when I should play for him again, and to my
+consternation he answered: "Never!"
+
+In my despair I asked him: "Why not?"
+
+He, generous soul that he was, then said to me: "My dear boy,
+I have told you all I know about legitimate piano-playing and
+music-making"--and then changing his tone somewhat he added: "And if you
+don't know it _yet_, why, go to the devil!"
+
+I saw only too well that while he smiled as he said it he meant it
+seriously, and I left him.
+
+I never saw Rubinstein again. Soon after that he returned to his villa
+in Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, and there he died on November 19,
+1894.
+
+The effect that his death had upon me I shall never forget. The world
+appeared suddenly entirely empty to me, devoid of any interest. My grief
+made me realise how my heart had worshipped not only the artist in him
+but also the man; how I loved him as if he were my father. I learned of
+his death through the English papers while I was _en route_ from London
+to Cheltenham, where I was booked for a recital on the twentieth. The
+B-flat minor Sonata by Chopin happened to be on the programme, and as I
+struck the first notes of the Funeral March the whole audience rose from
+their seats as if by command and remained standing with bowed heads
+during the whole piece--in honour of the great departed.
+
+A singular coincidence occurred at my concert on the preceding day--the
+day of Rubinstein's death.
+
+On this day I played for the first time in public after my seven years'
+retirement (excepting my Hamburg début). It was in London. In this
+concert I played, as a novelty, a Polonaise in E-flat minor which
+Rubinstein had but recently written in Dresden and dedicated to me. He
+had included it in the set called "Souvenirs de Dresde." This piece has
+throughout the character of a Funeral March in all but the
+time-division. Little did I dream while I was playing it that day that I
+was singing him into his eternal rest, for it was but a few hours later
+that, in the far East of Europe, my great master passed away, suddenly,
+of heart failure.
+
+Two years later I played this same Polonaise for the second and last
+time. It was on the anniversary of his death, in St. Petersburg, where
+in honour of his memory I gave a recital, the proceeds of which I
+devoted to the Rubinstein Fund. Since then I have played this piece only
+once, at home and to myself, excluding it entirely from my public
+répertoire. For, though it was dedicated to me, the time and
+circumstances of its initial performance always made me feel as if it
+still belonged to my master, or, at best, as if it were something
+personal and private between us two.
+
+
+
+
+Indispensables in Pianistic Success
+
+
+I
+
+"The Indispensables in Pianistic Success? Are not the indispensables in
+all success very much the same? Nothing can take the place of real
+worth. This is especially true of America, in which country I have lived
+longer than in any other, and which I am glad to call my home. Americans
+are probably the most traveled people of the world, and it is futile to
+offer them anything but the best. Some years ago a conductor brought to
+this country an orchestra of second-class character, with the idea that
+the people would accept it just because it bore the name of a famous
+European city which possessed one of the great orchestras of the world.
+It was a good orchestra, but there were better orchestras in American
+cities, and it took American audiences just two concerts to find this
+out, resulting in a disastrous failure, which the conductor was man
+enough to face and personally defray. The American people know the
+best, and will have nothing but the best. Therefore, if you would make a
+list of the indispensables of pianistic success in this country at this
+time you must put at the head of your list, REAL WORTH.
+
+"Naturally, one of the first indispensables would include what many term
+'the musical gift.' However, this is often greatly misunderstood. We
+are, happily, past the time when music was regarded as a special kind of
+divine dispensation, which, by its very possession, robbed the musician
+of any claim to possible excellence in other lines. In other words,
+music was so special a gift that it was even thought by some misguided
+people to isolate the musician from the world--to make him a thing apart
+and different from other men and women of high aspirations and
+attainments.
+
+"It is true that there have been famous prodigies in mathematics, and in
+games such as chess, who have given evidence of astonishing prowess in
+their chosen work, but who, at the same time, seem to have been
+lamentably under-developed in many other ways. This is not the case in
+music at this day at least, for, although a special love for music and a
+special quickness in mastering musical problems are indispensable, yet
+the musicians are usually men and women of broad cultural development if
+they desire it and are willing to work for it.
+
+"Nor can I concede that a very finely developed sense of hearing is in
+all cases essential. The possession of what is known as absolute pitch,
+which so many seem to think is a sure indication of musical genius, is
+often a nuisance. Schumann did not possess it, and (unless I am
+incorrectly informed) Wagner did not have absolute pitch. I have it, and
+can, I believe, distinguish differences of an eighth of a tone. I find
+it more disturbing than beneficial. My father had absolute pitch in
+remarkable fashion. He seemed to have extremely acute ears. Indeed, it
+was often impossible for him to identify a well-known composition if he
+heard it played in a different key--it sounded so different to him.
+Mozart had absolute pitch, but music, in his day, was far less
+complicated. We now live in an age of melodic and contrapuntal
+intricacy, and I do not believe that the so-called acute sense of
+hearing, or highly developed sense of absolute pitch, has very much to
+do with one's real musical ability. The physical hearing is nothing;
+the spiritual hearing--if one may say so--is what really counts. If, in
+transposing, for instance, one has associated the contents of a piece so
+closely with its corresponding tonality that it is hard to play in any
+other tonality, this constitutes a difficulty--not an advantage.
+
+
+II
+
+"Too much cannot be said about the advantage of an early drill. The
+impressions made during youth seem to be the most lasting. I am certain
+that the pieces that I learned before I was ten years of age remain more
+persistently in my memory than the compositions I studied after I was
+thirty. The child who is destined for a musical career should receive as
+much musical instruction in early life as is compatible with the child's
+health and receptivity. To postpone the work too long is just as
+dangerous to the child's career as it is dangerous to overload the pupil
+with more work than his mind and body can absorb. Children learn far
+more rapidly than adults--not merely because of the fact that the work
+becomes more and more complicated as the student advances, but also
+because the child mind is so vastly more receptive. The child's power
+of absorption in music study between the ages of eight and twelve is
+simply enormous; it is less between twelve and twenty; still less
+between twenty and thirty, and often lamentably small between thirty and
+forty. It might be represented by some such diagram as:
+
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  30 to 40 years of age    Limited Receptivity    Limited Results
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  20 to 30      }          Still Less Accomplishment
+  years of age  }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  12 to 20      }          Less Accomplishment
+  years of age  }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  8 to 12       }
+  years         }          Greatest Receptivity
+  of            }          Greatest Accomplishment
+  age           }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Of course, these lines are only comparative, and there are exceptional
+cases of astonishing development late in life, due to enormous ambition
+and industry. Yet the period of highest achievement is usually early in
+life. This is especially true in the arts where digital skill is
+concerned.
+
+"All teachers are aware of the need for the best possible drill early in
+life. The idea one so often hears expressed in America: 'Since my
+daughter is only beginning her studies--any teacher will do,' has been
+the source of great laxity in American musical education. If the father
+who has such an idea would only transpose the same thought to the
+building of a house he would be surprised to find himself saying: 'Since
+I am only laying a foundation, any kind of trashy material will do. I
+will use inferior cement, plaster, stone, bricks, decayed wood and cheap
+hardware, and employ the cheapest labor I can procure. But when I get to
+the roof I shall engage the finest roofmakers in the world!'
+
+"The beginning is of such tremendous importance that only the best is
+good enough. By this I do not mean the most expensive teacher
+obtainable, but someone who is thorough, painstaking, conscientious,
+alert and experienced. The foundation is the part of the house in which
+the greatest strength and thoroughness is required. Everything must be
+solid, substantial, firm and secure, to stand the stress of use and the
+test of time. Of course, there is such a thing as employing a teacher
+with a big reputation and exceptional skill, who would make an excellent
+teacher for an advanced student, but who might be incapable of laying a
+good foundation for the beginner. One wants strength at the
+foundation--not gold ornaments and marble trimmings and beautiful
+decorations, fretwork, carving. Just as in great cities one finds firms
+which make a specialty of laying foundations for immense buildings, so
+it is often wise to employ a teacher who specializes in instructing
+beginners. In European music schools this has almost always been the
+case. It is not virtuosity that is needed in the makeup of the teacher
+of beginners, but rather sound musicianship, as well as the
+comprehension of the child psychology. Drill, drill, and more drill, is
+the secret of the early training of the mind and hand. This is indicated
+quite as much in games such as tennis, billiards and golf. Think of the
+remarkable records of some very young players in these games, and you
+will see what may be accomplished in the early years of the young
+player.
+
+"In all arts and sciences, as one advances, complications and obstacles
+seem to multiply in complexity until the point of mastery is reached;
+then the tendency seems to reverse itself, until a kind of circle
+carries one round again to the point of simplicity. I have often liked
+to picture this to myself in this way:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"It is encouraging for the student to know that he must expect to be
+confronted with ever-increasing difficulties, until he reaches the point
+where all the intense and intricate problems seem to solve themselves,
+dissolving gradually into the light of a clear understanding day. This
+is to me a general principle underlying almost all lines of human
+achievement, and it appears to me that the student should learn its
+application, not only to his own but to other occupations and
+attainments. This universal line of life, starting with birth, mounting
+to its climax in middle life, and then passing on to greater and greater
+simplicity of means, until at death the circle is almost completed, is a
+kind of human program which all successful men would appear to follow.
+Perhaps we can make this clearer by studying the evolution of the steam
+engine.
+
+"The steam engine started with the most primitive kind of apparatus. At
+the very first it was of the turbine type. Hero of Alexander (Heron, in
+Greek) made the first steam engine, which was little more than a toy.
+According to some historians, Heron lived in the second century before
+Christ, and according to others his work was done in the latter half of
+the first century. He was an ingenious mathematician who often startled
+the people of this time with his mechanical contrivances. It is
+difficult to show the principle of his engine in an exact drawing; but
+the following indicates in a crude way the application of steam force
+something after the manner in which Heron first applied it.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"A is a retort containing water, which is heated to steam, which issues
+from the tube at B and is caught in the wheel in such a manner that the
+wheel revolves. The principle is simplicity itself; and the noteworthy
+fact is that--primitive as it is--it has the characteristic principle
+involved in the turbine engine of to-day. After Heron many others
+attempted to use controlled steam to produce force, until, in 1764,
+James Watt made discoveries which paved the way for the modern steam
+engine, constituting him virtually the inventor of the type. Thereafter,
+the machinery became more and more complicated and enormous in size.
+Double, triple and quadruple expansion types were introduced until, at
+the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876, a giant engine was
+exhibited by Corliss--a marvelous engine, with many elaborate details.
+Then, having reached the maximum curve of complexity, engine
+construction became more and more simple, and now we have turbine
+engines, such as the Parsons engines, which are all far smaller and
+simpler than their grandfathers of the seventies, but at the same time
+vastly more powerful and efficient.
+
+
+III
+
+"In the art of piano playing we have much the same line of curve. At
+first there was childlike simplicity. Then, with the further development
+of the art, we find the tendency toward enormous technical
+accomplishment and very great complexity. Fifty years ago technic was
+everything. The art of piano playing was the art of the musical
+speedometer--the art of playing the greatest number of notes in the
+shortest possible time. Of course, there were a few outstanding giants,
+Rubinsteins, Liszts and Chopins, who made their technic subordinate to
+their message; but the public was dazzled with technic--one might better
+say pyrotechnics. Now we find the circle drawing toward the point of
+simplicity again. Great beauty, combined with adequate technic, is
+demanded rather than enormous technic divorced from beauty.
+
+"Technic represents the material side of art, as money represents the
+material side of life. By all means achieve a fine technic, but do not
+dream that you will be artistically happy with this alone.
+Thousands--millions--of people believe that money is the basis of great
+happiness, only to find, when they have accumulated vast fortunes, that
+money is only one of the extraneous details which may--or may
+not--contribute to real content in life.
+
+"Technic is a chest of tools from which the skilled artisan draws what
+he needs at the right time for the right purpose. The mere possession
+of the tools means nothing; it is the instinct--the artistic intuition
+as to when and how to use the tools--that counts. It is like opening the
+drawer and finding what one needs at the moment.
+
+"There is a technic which liberates and a technic which represses the
+artistic self. All technic ought to be a means of expression. It is
+perfectly possible to accumulate a technic that is next to useless. I
+recall the case of a musician in Paris who studied counterpoint, harmony
+and fugue for eight years, and at the end of that time he was incapable
+of using any of his knowledge in practical musical composition. Why?
+Because he had spent all of his time on the mere dry technic of
+composition, and none in actual composition. He told me that he had been
+years trying to link his technic to the artistic side of things--to
+write compositions that embodied real music, and not merely the reflex
+of uninspired technical exercises. I am a firm believer in having
+technic go hand in hand with veritable musical development from the
+start. Neither can be studied alone; one must balance the other. The
+teacher who gives a pupil a long course in strict technic unbroken by
+the intelligent study of real music, is producing a musical mechanic--an
+artisan, not an artist.
+
+"Please do not quote me as making a diatribe against technic. I believe
+in technic to the fullest extent in its proper place. Rosenthal, who was
+unquestionably one of the greatest technicians, once said to me: 'I have
+found that the people who claim that technic is not an important thing
+in piano playing simply do not possess it.' For instance, one hears now
+and then that scales are unnecessary in piano practice. A well-played
+scale is a truly beautiful thing, but few people play them well because
+they do not practice them enough. Scales are among the most difficult
+things in piano playing; and how the student who aspires to rise above
+mediocrity can hope to succeed without a thorough and far-reaching drill
+in all kinds of scales, I do not know. I do know, however, that I was
+drilled unrelentingly in them, and that I have been grateful for this
+all my life. Do not despise scales, but rather seek to make them
+beautiful.
+
+"The clever teacher will always find some piece that will illustrate the
+use and result of the technical means employed. There are thousands of
+such pieces that indicate the use of scales, chords, arpeggios, thirds,
+etc., and the pupil is encouraged to find that what he has been working
+so hard to acquire may be made the source of beautiful expression in a
+real piece of music. This, to my mind, should be part of the regular
+program of the student from the very start; and it is what I mean when I
+say that the work of the pupil in technic and in musical appreciation
+should go hand in hand from the beginning.
+
+
+IV
+
+"The use of the pedal is an art in itself. Unfortunately, with many it
+is an expedient to shield deficiency--a cloak to cover up inaccuracy and
+poor touch. It is employed as the veils that fading dowagers adopt to
+obscure wrinkles. The pedal is even more than a medium of coloring. It
+provides the background so indispensable in artistic playing. Imagine a
+picture painted without any background and you may have an inkling of
+what the effect of the properly used pedal is in piano playing. It has
+always seemed to me that it does in piano playing what the wind
+instruments do in the tonal mass of the orchestra. The wind instruments
+usually make a sort of background for the music of the other
+instruments. One who has attended the rehearsal of a great orchestra and
+has heard the violins rehearsed alone, and then together with the wind
+instruments, will understand exactly what I mean.
+
+"How and when to introduce the pedal to provide certain effects is
+almost the study of a lifetime. From the very start, where the student
+is taught the bad effect of holding down the 'loud' pedal while two
+unrelated chords are played, to the time when he is taught to use the
+pedal for the accomplishment of atmospheric effects that are like
+painting in the most subtle and delicate shades, the study of the pedal
+is continuously a source of the most interesting experiment and
+revelation.
+
+"There should be no hard-and-fast rules governing the use of the pedal.
+It is the branch of pianoforte playing in which there must always be the
+greatest latitude. For instance, in the playing of Bach's works on the
+modern pianoforte there seems to have been a very great deal of
+confusion as to the propriety of the use of the pedal. The Bach music,
+which is played now on the keyboard of the modern piano, was, for the
+most part, originally written for either the clavier or for the organ.
+The clavichord had a very short sound, resembling in a way the staccato
+touch on the present-day piano, whereas the organ was and is capable of
+a great volume of sound of sustained quality. Due to the contradictory
+nature of these two instruments and the fact that many people do not
+know whether a composition at hand was written for the clavichord or for
+the organ, some of them try to imitate the organ sound by holding the
+pedal all the time or most of the time, while others try to imitate the
+clavichord and refrain from the use of the pedal altogether. The extreme
+theories, as in the case of all extreme theories, are undoubtedly wrong.
+
+"One may have the clavichord in mind in playing one piece and the organ
+in mind in playing another. There can be nothing wrong about that, but
+to transform the modern pianoforte, which has distinctly specific tonal
+attributes, into a clavichord or into an organ must result in a tonal
+abuse.
+
+"The pedal is just as much a part of the pianoforte as are the stops and
+the couplers a part of the organ or the brass tangents a part of the
+clavichord. It is artistically impossible to so camouflage the tone of
+the pianoforte as to make it sound like either the organ or the
+clavichord. Even were this possible, the clavichord is an instrument
+which is out of date, though the music of Bach is still a part and
+parcel of the musical literature of to-day. The oldest known specimen of
+the clavichord (dated 1537) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New
+York City. Should you happen to view this instrument you would realize
+at once that its action is entirely different from that of the piano,
+just as its tone was different. You cannot possibly make a piano sound
+like a clavichord through any medium of touch or pedals. Therefore, why
+not play the piano as a piano? Why try to do the impossible thing in
+endeavoring to make the piano sound like another instrument of a
+different mechanism? Why not make a piano sound like a piano? Must we
+always endure listening to Wagner's music in a variety show and to
+Strauss' waltzes in Carnegie Hall?
+
+
+V
+
+"If one were to ask me what is the indispensable thing in the education
+of a pianist, I would say: 'First of all, a good guide.' By this I do
+not mean merely a good teacher, but rather a mentor, a pilot who can and
+who will oversee the early steps of the career of a young person. In my
+own case, I was fortunate in having a father, a professional musician,
+who realized my musical possibilities, and from the very beginning was
+intensely interested in my career, not merely as a father, but as an
+artist guiding and piloting every day of my early life. Fate is such a
+peculiar mystery, and the student, in his young life, can have but a
+slight idea of what is before him in the future. Therefore, the need of
+a mentor is essential. I am sure that my father was the author of a
+great deal of the success that I have enjoyed. It was he who took me to
+Moszkowski and Rubinstein. The critical advice--especially that of
+Rubinstein--was invaluable to me. The student should have unrelenting
+criticism from a master mind. Even when it is caustic, as was von
+Bülow's, it may be very beneficial. I remember once in the home of
+Moszkowski that I played for von Bülow. The taciturn, cynical
+conductor-pianist simply crushed me with his criticism of my playing.
+But, young though I was, I was not so conceited as to fail to realize
+that he was right. I shook hands with him and thanked him for his
+advice and criticism. Von Bülow laughed and said, 'Why do you thank me?
+It is like the chicken thanking the one who had eaten it, for doing so.'
+Von Bülow, on that same day played in such a jumbled manner with his
+old, stiffened fingers, that I asked Moszkowski how in the world it
+might be possible for von Bülow to keep a concert engagement which I
+knew him to have a few days later in Berlin. Moszkowski replied: 'Let
+von Bülow alone for that. You don't know him. If he sets out to do
+something, he is going to do it.'
+
+"Von Bülow's playing, however, was almost always pedantic, although
+unquestionably scholarly. There was none of the leonine spontaneity of
+Rubinstein. Rubinstein was a very exacting schoolmaster at the piano
+when he first undertook to train me; but he often said to me, 'The main
+object is to make the music sound right, even though you have to play
+with your nose!' With Rubinstein there was no _ignus fatuus_ of mere
+method. Any method that would lead to fine artistic results--to
+beautiful and effective performance--was justifiable in his eyes.
+
+"Finally, to the student let me say: 'Always work hard and strive to do
+your best. Secure a reliable mentor if you can possibly do so, and
+depend upon his advice as to your career. Even with the best advice
+there is always the element of fate--the introduction of the
+unknown--the strangeness of coincidence which would almost make one
+believe in astrology and its dictum that our terrestrial course may be
+guided by the stars. In 1887, when I played in Washington as a child of
+eleven, I was introduced to a young lady, who was the daughter of
+Senator James B. Eustis. Little did I dream that this young woman, of
+all the hundreds and hundreds of girls introduced to me during my tours,
+would some day be my wife. Fate plays its rôle--but do not be tempted
+into the fallacious belief that success and everything else depend upon
+fate, for the biggest factor is, after all, hard work and intelligent
+guidance.'"
+
+
+
+
+_Piano Questions Answered_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  TECHNIQUE                                     PAGE
+
+  1. General                                      3
+
+  2. Position of the Body                         4
+
+  3. Position of the Hand                         6
+
+  4. Position of the Fingers                      6
+
+  5. Action of the Wrist                          9
+
+  6. Action of the Arm                           11
+
+  7. Stretching                                  12
+
+  8. The Thumb                                   14
+
+  9. The Other Fingers                           16
+
+  10. Weak Fingers, etc.                         18
+
+  11. Staccato                                   21
+
+  12. Legato                                     22
+
+  13. Precision                                  25
+
+  14. Piano Touch vs Organ Touch                 26
+
+  15. Fingering                                  27
+
+  16. The Glissando                              29
+
+  17. Octaves                                    29
+
+  18. Repetition Technique                       34
+
+  19. Double Notes                               35
+
+  THE INSTRUMENT                                 35
+
+  THE PEDALS                                     39
+
+  PRACTICE                                       45
+
+  MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE                         57
+
+  ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS             75
+
+  1. Bach                                        80
+
+  2. Beethoven                                   83
+
+  3. Mendelssohn                                 85
+
+  4. Chopin                                      86
+
+  EXERCISES AND STUDIES                          93
+
+  POLYRHYTHMS                                    96
+
+  PHRASING                                       98
+
+  RUBATO                                        100
+
+  CONCEPTION                                    102
+
+  FORCE OF EXAMPLE                              104
+
+  THEORY                                        104
+
+  THE MEMORY                                    112
+
+  SIGHT-READING                                 117
+
+  ACCOMPANYING                                  117
+
+  TRANSPOSING                                   119
+
+  PLAYING FOR PEOPLE                            120
+
+  ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE                        127
+
+  BAD MUSIC                                     133
+
+  ETHICAL                                       135
+
+  PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS                     136
+
+  THE STUDENT'S AGE                             138
+
+  TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS                 140
+
+  MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS                       150
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+This little book is compiled from the questions and my answers to them,
+as they have appeared during the past two years in the _Ladies' Home
+Journal_. Since the questions came mostly from young piano students and
+cover a large number of matters important to the study of the piano, it
+was thought that this republication might be of interest to piano
+students in general, and that, gathered into a little volume, they might
+form a new and perhaps not unwelcome sort of reference book.
+
+To serve as such and to facilitate the reader's search for any
+particular subject, I have grouped the questions, together with their
+answers, under special headings.
+
+It is only natural, however, that a book of this character cannot
+contain more than mere suggestions to stimulate the reader's individual
+thinking. Positive facts, which can be found in books on musical history
+and in kindred works, are, therefore, stated only where they are
+needful as a basis for the replies. Any rule or advice given to some
+particular person cannot fit every other person unless it is passed
+through the sieve of one's own individual intelligence and is, by this
+process, so modified as to fit one's own particular case.
+
+There are, in addition to the questions presented and answered, one or
+two points about piano-playing that would naturally not occur to the
+average student. The opportunity to discuss those here is too favourable
+to be allowed to pass, and as they hardly admit of precise
+classification, I venture to offer them here as a brief foreword.
+
+To the hundreds of students who at various times have asked me: What is
+the quickest way to become a great piano-player? I will say that such a
+thing as a royal road, a secret trick, or a patent method to quickly
+become a great artist, does not exist. As the world consists of atoms;
+as it is the infinitely small things that have forced the microscope
+into the scientist's hand, so does art contain numberless small,
+seemingly insignificant things which, if neglected entirely, visit dire
+vengeance upon the student. Instead of prematurely concerning himself
+with his inspiration, spirituality, genius, fancy, etc., and neglecting
+on their account the material side of piano study, the student should be
+willing to progress from atom to atom, slowly, deliberately, but with
+absolute certainty that each problem has been completely solved, each
+difficulty fully overcome, before he faces the next one. Leaps, there
+are none!
+
+Unquestionably it does sometimes happen that an artist suddenly acquires
+a wide renown. In such a case his leap was not into greatness, but
+merely into the public's recognition of it; the greatness must have been
+in him for some time before the public became aware of it. If there was
+any leaping, it was not the artist, but the public that did it.
+
+Let us not close our eyes to the fact that there have been--and probably
+always will be--artists that gain a wide renown _without_ being great;
+puffery, aided by some personal eccentricity, is quite able to mislead
+the public, but these will, at best, do it only for a short time, and
+the collapse of such a reputation, as collapse there must be, is always
+sure, and sad to behold.
+
+The buoyancy of mind, its ability to soar, so necessary for both
+creative and interpretative art, these are never impaired by close
+attention to detail. If they should be destroyed by attention to detail,
+it would not matter, for they cannot have been genuine; they can have
+been but sentimental imaginings. Details are the very steps which, one
+by one, lead to the summit of art; we should be careful not to lift one
+foot before the other one rests quite securely upon its step. One
+should--to illustrate--not be satisfied with the ability of "getting
+through" some difficult passage "by the skin of the teeth" or "without
+breaking down," but should strive to be able to play _with_ it, to toy
+with it, in order to have it at one's beck and call in any variation of
+mood, so as to play it as it pleases the mind and not only the fingers.
+One should acquire sovereignty over it.
+
+This sovereignty is technique. But--technique is not art. It is only a
+means to achieve art, a paver of the path toward it. The danger of
+confounding technique with art itself is not inconsiderable, since it
+takes a long time to develop a trustworthy technique; and this prolonged
+association with one subject is apt to give it supremacy over all others
+in one's mind. To guard against this serious danger the student should,
+above all, never lose sight of the fact that music, as does any other
+art, springs from our innate craving for individual expression. As
+word-thought is transmitted from man to man by verbal language so are
+feelings, emotions, moods--crystallized into tone-thought--conveyed by
+music. The effects of music may, therefore, be ennobling and refining;
+but they can as easily be degrading and demoralizing. For the saints and
+sinners among music-makers are probably in the same proportion as among
+the followers of other professions. The ethical value of music depends,
+therefore, not upon the musician's technique, but solely upon his moral
+tendencies. The student should never strive to dazzle his auditor's ear
+with mere technical brilliancy, but should endeavour to gladden his
+heart, to refine his feelings and sensibilities, by transmitting noble
+musical thoughts to his mind. He should scorn all unnecessary,
+charlatanish externalities and strive ever for the inwardness of the
+composition he interprets; for, in being honest to the composition he
+will also be honest to himself and thus, consciously or not, express his
+own best self. If all musicians were sincere in this endeavour there
+could be neither envy nor jealousy among them; advancing hand in hand
+toward their common ideal they could not help being of mutual assistance
+to each other.
+
+Art, not unlike religion, needs an altar around which its devotees may
+congregate. Liszt, in his day, had erected such an altar in Weimar, and
+as its high priest he stood, himself, before it--a luminous example of
+devotion to art. Rubinstein did the same in St. Petersburg. Out of these
+atmospheres, thanks to the inspiring influences of Liszt's and
+Rubinstein's wonderful personalities, there have emerged a large number
+of highly meritorious and some eminent artists. That many of them have
+lacked the power in their later life to withstand the temptations of
+quick material gain by descending to a lower plane is to be regretted,
+but--such is life. Many are called, but few are chosen. Since those days
+several of these "many" have attempted to create similar centres in
+Europe. They failed, because they were not serving art, but rather made
+art serve their own worldly purposes.
+
+The artists of talent no longer group themselves around the man of
+genius. Perhaps he is not to be found just now. Each little celebrity
+among the pianists keeps nowadays a shop of his own and all to himself.
+Many of these shops are "mints," and some of them produce counterfeits.
+As a matter of course, this separative system precludes all unification
+of artistic principles and is, therefore, very harmful to the present
+generation of students. The honest student who will discriminate between
+these, sometimes cleverly masked, counterfeit mints, and a real art
+altar must be of a character in which high principles are natively
+ingrained. It might help him somewhat to remember that when there is no
+good to choose we can always reject the bad.
+
+What is true of teachers is just as true of compositions. The student
+should not listen to--should not, at least, repeat the hearing of--bad
+compositions, though they may be called symphonies or operas. And he
+can, in a considerable measure, rely upon his own instincts in this
+matter. He may not--and probably will not--fully fathom the depths of a
+new symphony at its first hearing, but he must have received general
+impressions of sufficient power and clearness to make him _wish_ for
+another hearing. When this wish is absent he should not hear the work
+again from a mere sense of duty; it were far wiser to avoid another
+hearing, for habit is a strong factor, and if we accustom our ear to
+hear cacophonous music we are apt to lose our aversion to it, which is
+tantamount to a loss of good, natural taste. It is with much of modern
+music as it is with opium, morphine, and other deadly drugs. We should
+shun their very touch. These musical opiates are sometimes manufactured
+by persons of considerable renown; of such quickly gained renown as may
+be acquired nowadays by the employment of commercialistic methods; a
+possibility for which the venal portion of the public press must bear
+part of the blame. The student should not be deceived by names of which
+the general familiarity is of too recent a date. I repeat that he should
+rather consult his own feelings and by following them contribute his
+modest share toward sending some of the present "moderns" back into
+their deserved obscurity and insignificance.
+
+I use the term "moderns" advisedly, for the true masters--some of whom
+died but recently--have never stooped to those methods of
+self-aggrandisement at which I hinted. Their places of honour were
+accorded to them by the world because they were theirs, by right of
+their artistic power, their genius and the purity of their art. My
+advice to the students and to all lovers of music is: Hold on with all
+your might to the school of sincerity and chastity in music! It is saner
+and, morally and æsthetically, safer than the entire pack of our present
+nerve-tickling, aye, and nerve-racking "modernists." Music should always
+elevate; it should always call forth what, according to the demands of
+time and place, is best in us. When, instead of serving this divine
+mission, it speculates upon, and arouses, our lowest instincts for no
+better purpose than to fill the pockets of its perpetrator, it should
+receive neither the help nor the encouraging attention of any
+noble-thinking and clean-minded man or woman. Passive resistance can do
+a good deal on these premises.
+
+The matter of abstention from a certain type of music recalls to my mind
+another evil from which Americans should abstain; it is the curious and
+out-of-date superstition that music can be studied abroad better than
+here. While their number is not very large, I personally can name five
+American teachers who have struggled here for many a year without
+gaining that high recognition which they deserve. And now? Now they are
+in the various capitals of Europe, receiving the highest fees that were
+ever paid for instruction, and they receive these high fees from
+American students that throng their studios. That the indifference of
+their compatriots drove these men practically out of their country
+proved to be of advantage to them; but how ought those to be regarded
+who failed to keep them here? The wrong is irreparable in so far as
+these men do not think of returning to America except as visitors. The
+duty of American students and lovers of good music is to see to it that
+such capable teachers as _are_ still here should _remain_ here. The mass
+of emigration to Europe of our music students should cease! If a student
+has what is understood by "finished" his studies here and his teacher
+sets him free, he may make a reconnoitring tour in Europe. The change of
+views and customs will, no doubt, broaden his mind in certain
+directions. But musically speaking, he will be sure to find that most of
+the enchantment of Europe was due to its distance. Excepting the
+excellent orchestras of Europe and speaking of the general music-making
+there, it is at present not quite as good as it is here: neither is the
+average music teacher in Europe a whit better than the man of equal
+standing here.
+
+Americans should take cognizance of the fact that their country has not
+stood still in music any more than in any other direction. Each year has
+recorded an advancing step in its development. We must cease to compare
+the Europe of to-day with the America of fifty years ago. At present
+there is an astonishingly large number of clever and capable musicians
+in America, and, as with good physicians and lawyers, their ability
+usually stands in inverse proportion to the amount of their advertising.
+It is these worthy teachers for whose sake the superstition of "studying
+abroad" should be foresworn. What Uncle Sam has, in the field of music,
+not directly produced he has acquired by the natural law of attraction;
+now that so many talented and learned instructors, both native and
+foreign, are here they should be given a fair opportunity to finish a
+pupil's development as far as a teacher can do it, instead of seeing
+him, half-done, rush off "to Europe." If I were not convinced that a
+change on this score is possible, I should not have devoted so many
+words to it. It is merely a question of making a start. Let me hope that
+each reader of this little book may start this change, or, that, if
+already started, he will foster and help it. If his efforts should be
+disparaged by some, he need not feel disheartened, but remember that he
+belongs to the "land of limitless possibilities."
+
+JOSEF HOFMANN.
+
+
+
+
+PIANO QUESTIONS
+
+
+
+
+TECHNIQUE
+
+
+1. GENERAL
+
+[Sidenote: _What Does "Technique" Mean?_]
+
+What are the different techniques, and which one is most generally used?
+What is the difference between them?
+
+Technique is a generic term, comprising scales, arpeggios, chords,
+double notes, octaves, legato, and the various staccato touches as well
+as the dynamic shadings. They are all necessary to make up a complete
+technique.
+
+[Sidenote: _The More Technique the More Practice_]
+
+Why do pianists who have more technique than many others practise more
+than these others?
+
+Why have the Rothschilds more secretaries than I have? Because the
+administration of a large fortune entails more work than that of a small
+one. A pianist's technique is the material portion of his artistic
+possessions; it is his capital. To keep a great technique in fine
+working trim is in itself a considerable and time-absorbing task. And,
+besides, you know that the more we have the more we want. This trait is
+not only human; it is also pianistic.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Improve the Technique_]
+
+Should I endeavour to improve my technique by trying difficult pieces?
+
+You should not confine yourself to pieces that come easy to you, for
+that would prevent all further technical progress. But beware of pieces
+that are so difficult that you could not play them--in a slower
+tempo--with absolute correctness. For this would lead to the ruin of
+your technique and kill the joy in your studies. Play pieces that are
+always a trifle harder than those you have completely mastered. Do not
+emulate those who say: "I play already this or that," without asking
+themselves "how" they play. Artistry depends ever upon the "how."
+
+
+2. POSITION OF THE BODY
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Raise the Piano-Stool Too High_]
+
+Are the best results at the piano attained by sitting high or low?
+
+As a general rule, I do not recommend a high seat at the piano, because
+this induces the employment of the arm and shoulders rather than of the
+fingers, and is, of course, very harmful to the technique. As to the
+exact height of the seat, you will have to experiment for yourself and
+find out at which height you can play longest with the least fatigue.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Height of the Piano Seat_]
+
+Is my seat at the piano to be at the same height when I practise as when
+I play for people?
+
+Yes! Height and distance (from the keyboard) of your chair--which should
+never have arms--you should decide for yourself and once for all time;
+for only then can you acquire a normal hand position, which, in its
+turn, is a condition _sine qua non_ for the development of your
+technique. See also to it that both feet are in touch with their
+respective pedals so as to be in place when their action is required. If
+they stray away and you must grope for the pedals when you need them it
+will lead to a break in your concentration, and this will cause you to
+play less well than you really can. To let the feet stray from the
+pedals easily affects your entire position. It is a bad habit. Alas,
+that bad habits are so much easier acquired than good ones!
+
+
+3. POSITION OF THE HAND
+
+[Sidenote: _The Tilt of The Hand in Playing Scales_]
+
+Should my hand in playing scales be tilted toward the thumb or toward
+the little finger? I find that in the scales with black keys it is much
+easier to play the latter way.
+
+I quite share your opinion, and extend it also to the scales without
+black keys. I think the natural tendency of the hands is to lean toward
+the little finger, and as soon as you have passed the stage of
+preliminary training, as soon as you feel fairly certain that your
+fingers act evenly, you may yield to their natural tendency, especially
+when you strive more for speed than force; for speed does not suffer
+tension, while force craves it.
+
+
+4. POSITION OF THE FINGERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Results Count, Not the Methods_]
+
+Does it make any difference if my fingers are held very much curved or
+only a little? I was told that Rubenstein used his fingers almost flat.
+
+Since you mention Rubinstein I may quote his saying: "Play with your
+nose, if you will, but produce euphony (_Wohlklang_) and I will
+recognize you as a master of your instrument." It is ever a question of
+the result, whether you play this way or that way. If you should play
+with very much curved fingers and the result should sound uneven and
+pieced, change the curving little by little until you find out what
+degree of curvature suits your hand best. Experiment for yourself.
+Generally speaking, I recommend a free and easy position of hand and
+fingers, for it is only in a position of greatest freedom that their
+elasticity can be preserved, and elasticity is the chief point. By a
+free and easy position I mean that natural position of hand and fingers
+into which they fall when you drop your hand somewhat leisurely upon the
+keyboard.
+
+[Sidenote: _Cantabile Passages_]
+
+Should a cantabile passage be played with a high finger-stroke or by
+using the weight of the arm?
+
+Certain characteristic moments in some pieces require the high
+finger-stroke. It may be used also in working up a climax, in which
+case the raising of the fingers should increase proportionately to the
+rise of the climax. Where, however, the strength of the fingers is
+sufficient to obtain the climacteric result by pressure, instead of the
+stroke, it is always preferable to use pressure. As a general principle,
+I believe in the free-hanging, limp arm and recommend using its weight
+in cantabile playing.
+
+[Sidenote: _An Incorrect Position of the Fingers_]
+
+Pray how can I correct the fault of bending out the first joints of the
+fingers when their cushions are pressed down upon the keys?
+
+Your trouble comes under the head of faulty touch, which nothing will
+correct but the constant supervision by a good teacher, assisted by a
+strong exertion of your own will power and strictest attention whenever
+you play. This bending out of the first joint is one of the hardest
+pianistic ailments to cure, but it is curable. Do not be discouraged if
+the cure is slow. The habit of years cannot be thrown off in a day.
+
+
+5. ACTION OF THE WRIST
+
+[Sidenote: _Don't Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales_]
+
+Should the hands be kept perfectly still in playing scales and
+arpeggios? Or, to lessen fatigue, is an occasional rise and fall of the
+wrist permissible in a long passage of scale or arpeggio?
+
+The hands should, indeed, be kept still, but not stiff. Protracted
+passages of scales or arpeggios easily induce a stiffening of the wrist.
+Hence, an occasional motion of the wrist, upward and downward, will do
+much to counteract this tendency. It will, besides, be a good test of
+the looseness of the wrist.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Loose Wrist_]
+
+Is it not impossible to preserve a complete looseness of the wrist in
+piano-playing because of the muscles that connect the forearm with the
+hand?
+
+By no means. You should only see to it that you do not stiffen the wrist
+_unconsciously_, as most players do. The arm should be held so that the
+wrist is on a line with it, not bent, and by concentrated thinking you
+should endeavour to transfer the display of force to the finger-tips
+instead of holding the tension in your arm. For this produces fatigue,
+while the way I suggest will lead you to develop considerable force
+through the hand and fingers alone and leave the arm practically limp
+and loose. It takes months of study under closest attention, however, to
+acquire this looseness of the arm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Position of the Wrist_]
+
+Do you favour a low or high position of the wrist for average type of
+work?
+
+For average work, I recommend an average position; neither high nor low.
+Changes, upward or downward, must be made to meet the requirements of
+special occasions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff_]
+
+If one's wrist is stiff is there any set of exercises especially adapted
+to acquiring a freer movement? Or is there any special method of
+exercise?
+
+It depends on whether your wrist is stiff from non-use or from wrong
+use. Assuming the latter, I should recommend studies in wrist octaves,
+but you must watch your wrist while playing and rest at the slightest
+indication of its stiffening.
+
+
+6. ACTION OF THE ARM
+
+[Sidenote: _When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing_]
+
+I cannot play tremolo in the left hand for any length of time without
+great fatigue. I have tried changing the position of the hand from high
+to low, the sidewise motion, and the quiet hand. What is the correct
+method, and may the difficulty be overcome by slow practice?
+
+The tremolo cannot be practised slowly, nor with a stiff or quiet hand.
+The action must be distributed over the hand, wrist, underarm and, if
+necessary, the elbow. The shoulder forms the pivot whence a vibratory
+motion must proceed and engage all the points on the road to the
+fingers. The division of labour cannot be done consciously, but should
+better proceed from a feeling as if the whole arm was subjected to an
+electric current while engaged in playing a tremolo.
+
+[Sidenote: _Play Chords With a Loose Arm_]
+
+Should octave chords be played with rigid arms, the wrists and fingers
+thereby increasing the tone volume, or should the arms be loose? My
+teachers differ in their methods; so I turn to you for advice.
+
+With few exceptions, dictated by certain characterizations, chords
+should always be played with a loose arm. Let the arm pull the hand
+above the keys and then let both fall heavily upon them, preparing the
+fingers for their appropriate notes while still in the air and not, as
+many do, after falling down. This mode of touch produces greater
+tone-volume, is least fatiguing, and will have no bad after-effects.
+
+
+7. STRETCHING
+
+[Sidenote: _Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching_]
+
+I stretch between my fingers--taking the second and third, for instance,
+and trying to see how many keys I can get between them. It has helped
+me, but shall I be doing wrong to continue?
+
+If, as you say, you feel benefited by your stretching exercises you may
+continue them. But in your place I should beware of fatigue, for while
+the hand may show an improvement in its stretch while you are practising
+these exercises, if it is fatigued it will afterward contract so that
+its stretch is liable to become narrower than it was before.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Injure the Hand by Stretching It_]
+
+Is there any way to increase the stretch of my very small hand?
+
+Any modern teacher, acquainted with stretching your hand, can devise
+certain exercises that will be applicable to your particular hand. As
+the lack of stretch, however, may be due to a number of different causes
+I should advise you to desist from any stretch exercise that might be
+recommended to you without a close examination of your hand, since the
+wrong kind of exercise is not only apt, but bound, to injure it, perhaps
+permanently.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand_]
+
+Is there any exercise, on the piano or otherwise, that would tend to
+stretch my hand so as to enable me to play octaves? My fingers are short
+and stubby. My teacher has not given me anything definite on this score.
+
+The attempts to widen the natural stretch of the hand by artificial
+means lead easily to disastrous results. It was by just such attempts
+that Schumann rendered his hand useless for piano-playing. The best I
+can recommend is that before playing you soak your hands in rather hot
+water for several minutes and then--while still in the water--stretch
+the fingers of one hand with the other. By doing this daily you will
+gain in stretch, provided you refrain from forcing matters, and provided
+also that you are still young, and your hands are flexible.
+
+
+8. THE THUMB
+
+[Sidenote: "_What is the Matter With My Scales?_"]
+
+What is the matter with my scales? I cannot play them without a
+perceptible jerk when I use my thumb. How can I overcome the unevenness?
+
+In answering this question I am in the position of a physician who is
+expected to prescribe a treatment for a patient whom he has neither
+examined nor even seen. I can therefore advise only in a very general
+way--as I have done with many questions to avoid the eventuality of
+being confronted by an exceptional case. The cause of the hand's unrest
+in the passing of the thumb lies usually in transferring the thumb too
+late. The thumb waits usually until the very moment when it is needed
+and then quickly jumps upon the proper key, instead of moving toward it
+as soon as the last key it touched can be released. This belatedness
+causes a jerky motion of the arm and imparts it to the hand. Another
+cause lies in a fault no less grave than the first. Since the hand has
+only five fingers while the scale numbers many notes (according to its
+length), the player must replenish his fingers by passing the thumb
+under the hand so as to form a conjunction between the notes played and
+those to be played. This passing of the thumb conditions a change or
+shifting of the hand toward the keys to follow, but the shifting of the
+hand must not coincide with the passing of the thumb or the result will
+be a jerk. The position of the hand in relation to the keyboard must not
+change. It must remain the same until the thumb has struck its new key.
+Not until then must the shifting of the hand take place. In this way the
+jumpiness or jerkiness of the scale can be avoided, provided one can
+follow this precept punctiliously--which is not an easy matter,
+especially in great speed. Alas, why are those pesky scales so
+difficult, in fact, the most difficult thing to do on the piano?
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Hold the Thumb_]
+
+What is the correct position for the thumb? Should it be curved well
+under the hand while playing?
+
+In scale-playing the thumb should be slightly curved and kept near the
+index finger in order to be ready when needed. In pieces this position
+of the thumb cannot, of course, always be observed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?_]
+
+Should one pay special attention to the training of the thumb?
+
+It may be said that the thumb and the middle finger are the two
+arch-conspirators against a precise finger technique. They crave your
+greatest attention. Above all, you must see to it that, in touching the
+keys with these fingers, you do not move the whole hand, still less the
+arm.
+
+
+9. THE OTHER FINGERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Fourth and Fifth Fingers_]
+
+What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and the
+fifth fingers?
+
+Any collection of Etudes is sure to contain some that are devoted to
+the training of those two fingers. In the Cramer Etudes (Bulow's
+selection) you will find Nos. 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 20 adapted to your
+case, but do not pin your faith to the print! In all matters of art the
+"how" is of far more consequence than the "what." Play what you will,
+but bear your weak points in mind while you play. This is the real
+remedy. Keep hand and arm as loose as you can while training the fourth
+and fifth fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Action of the Little Finger_]
+
+In making wide skips in which the little finger strikes a single note,
+as, for instance, in left-hand waltz accompaniments, should one strike
+on the end of the little finger or on its side; and should the finger be
+curved or held more or less flat?
+
+The little finger should never strike with its side. It should always be
+held in its normally curved condition, and straighten at the stroke only
+on such occasions when its own force proves insufficient and requires
+the assistance of the wrist and arm muscles.
+
+
+10. WEAK FINGERS, ETC.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Strengthen the Weak Finger Use It_]
+
+How can I strengthen the little finger of my right hand? I avoid it in
+playing, using the next finger instead.
+
+By employing your little finger as much as possible and at once quitting
+the habit of substituting another finger for it.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Weak Fingers of the Left Hand_]
+
+What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and
+fifth fingers of the left hand?
+
+Slow trill with various touches, with highly lifted fingers producing
+strength through their fall and with a lesser lift of the fingers
+combined with pressure touch, watching closely that the little finger
+strikes with the tip and not with the side. Rhythmic evenness should
+also be punctiliously observed.
+
+[Sidenote: _When the Fingers Seem Weak_]
+
+What kind of technical work would you advise me to take to make my
+fingers strong in the shortest time consistent with good work?
+
+If your fingers are unusually weak it may be assumed that your muscular
+constitution in general is not strong. The training of the fingers
+alone will, in that case, lead to no decisive results. You will have to
+strive for a general strengthening of your muscular fibre. At this
+point, however, begins the province of your physician and mine ends. If
+you consider your constitution normal, four or five hours' daily work at
+the piano will develop the necessary digital force, if that time is
+judiciously used.
+
+[Sidenote: _No Necessity to Watch the Fingers_]
+
+Is it always necessary to watch the fingers with the eye?
+
+In places where the fingers slide, and do not jump from one note to
+another at a distance, there is no need of keeping the eye on them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch_]
+
+Is biting the finger-nails injurious to the piano touch?
+
+Certainly; biting the nails or any other injury to the finger-tips and
+hand will spoil your touch. Extreme cleanliness and care in cutting the
+nails the proper length are necessary to keep your hands in condition
+for playing the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Prevent Sore Finger-Tips After Playing_]
+
+How can I prevent my finger-tips, after prolonged playing, from feeling
+sore the next day?
+
+Experience teaches that in such cases, as in many others, cleanliness is
+the best remedy. After playing wash your fingers at once in warm water,
+with soap and brush, and then rub them well with either cold cream or
+some similar fatty substance. In the development of speed on the piano,
+the rigidity of the skin on the fingers is a great hindrance; it makes
+us feel as if we played with gloves on the fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage_]
+
+Are broad-tipped fingers considered a detriment to a man student of
+piano; for instance, if the finger grazes the black keys on each side
+when playing between them?
+
+Unless broad-tipped fingers are of an unusual thickness I do not
+consider them an obstacle in the way of good piano-playing; the less so,
+as the white keys--whatever shape the fingers may have--should never be
+struck between the black ones, but only in the midst of the open space.
+Altogether, I hold that the shape of the hand is of far greater
+importance to the pianist than the shape of his fingers; for it
+furnishes the fingers with a base of operations and with a source of
+strength, besides holding the entire control over them. Studying the
+hands and fingers of celebrated pianists you will find a great variety
+of finger shapes, while their hands are usually broad and muscular.
+
+[Sidenote: _What to do With the Unemployed Hand_]
+
+When playing a piece in which a rest of a measure and a half or two
+measures occurs should I drop my hand in my lap or keep it on the
+keyboard?
+
+If the temporarily unemployed hand is tired it will rest better in the
+lap, because this position favours the blood circulation, which, in its
+turn, tends to renew the strength. I should, however, not put it away
+from the keyboard too often, for this might easily be taken for a
+mannerism.
+
+
+11. STACCATO
+
+[Sidenote: _Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo_]
+
+What can I do to enable me to play wrist staccato very fast without
+fatiguing the arm?
+
+Change your wrist staccato for a little while to a finger or arm
+staccato, thus giving the wrist muscles a chance to rest and regain
+their strength.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other Kinds_]
+
+What does "finger staccato" mean? Is not staccato always done with the
+fingers?
+
+By no means! There is a well-defined arm staccato, a wrist staccato, and
+a finger staccato. The latter is produced by a touch similar to the
+rapid repetition touch--that is, by not allowing the fingers to fall
+perpendicularly upon the keys, but rather let them make a motion as if
+you were wiping a spot off the keys with the finger-tips, without the
+use of the arm, and rapidly pulling them toward the inner hand. The arm
+should take no part in it whatever.
+
+
+12. LEGATO
+
+[Sidenote: _The Advantage of Legato Over Staccato_]
+
+Is it better for me to practise more staccato or more legato?
+
+Give the preference to legato, for it produces the genuine piano tone,
+and it develops the technique of the fingers; while the staccato touch
+always tends to draw the arm into action. If you play from the arm you
+cannot expect any benefit for the fingers. For the acquisition of a
+legitimate legato Chopin's works cannot be highly enough recommended,
+even in the transcriptions by Godowsky, which become impossible when
+tried with any touch other than legato. He wrote them, so to speak, out
+of his own hand, and his legato is so perfect that it may well be taken
+as a model by anybody.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Produce Good Legato_]
+
+Should you advise me to make use of a high finger-stroke? My teacher
+makes me use it exclusively, but I notice that my playing is neither
+legato nor quiet. It is almost humpy.
+
+Your manner of putting the question expressed your own--and
+correct--judgment in the matter. This playing "in the air" is lost
+energy, and will not lead to a good legato. The most beautiful tone in
+legato style is ever produced by a "clinging and singing" gliding of the
+fingers over the keys. Of course, you have to watch your touch in order
+that your "clinging" does not deteriorate into "blurring," and that your
+"gliding" may not turn into "smearing." If you apprehend any such
+calamity you must for a while increase the raising of your fingers and
+use more force in their falling upon the keys. Under constant
+self-observation and keen listening you may, after a while, return to
+the gliding manner. This much in general; of course, there are places
+and passages where just the opposite of my advice could be said, but
+still I think that the high finger-stroke should rather be employed for
+some special characteristic effects than as a general principle.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Firm and Crisp Legato Touch_]
+
+I am confused by the terms "firm legato touch" and "crisp legato touch."
+Wherein lies the difference?
+
+Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word
+"connected." Two tones are either connected or they are not connected.
+The idea of various kinds of legato is purely a sophism, a product of
+non-musical hyper-analysis. By "legato" I understand the connecting of
+tones with each other through the agency of the fingers (on the piano).
+The finger that evoked a tone should not leave its key until the tone
+generated by the next finger has been perceived by the ear. This rule
+governs the playing of melodies and slow passages. In rapid passages,
+where the control through the ear is lessened, the legato is produced by
+more strictly mechanical means, but there should, nevertheless, always
+be two fingers simultaneously occupied. Do not take the over-smart
+differentiations of legato seriously. There is no plural to the word
+"legato."
+
+
+13. PRECISION
+
+[Sidenote: _Not Playing the Two Hands at Once_]
+
+My teachers have always scolded me for playing my left hand a little
+before my right. It is probably a very bad habit, but I do not hear it
+when I do it How can I cure it?
+
+This "limping," as it is called, is the worst habit you can have in
+piano playing, and you are fortunate in having a teacher who persists in
+his efforts to combat it. There is only one way to rid yourself of this
+habit, namely, by constant attention and closest, keenest listening to
+your own playing. You are probably misstating it when you say that you
+do not "hear" it when you "limp"; it seems more likely to me that you
+do not listen. Hearing is a purely physical function which you cannot
+prevent while awake, while listening is an act of your will-power--it
+means to give direction to your hearing.
+
+
+14. PIANO TOUCH _vs._ ORGAN TOUCH
+
+[Sidenote: _How Organ-Playing Affects the Pianist_]
+
+Is alternate organ and piano playing detrimental to the "pianistic
+touch"?
+
+Inasmuch as the force of touch and its various gradations are entirely
+irrelevant on the organ, the pianist who plays much on the organ is more
+than liable to lose the delicacy of feeling for tone-production through
+the fingers, and this must, naturally, lessen his power of expression.
+
+[Sidenote: _Organ-Playing and the Piano Touch_]
+
+Is it true that a child beginning music lessons on an organ gets much
+better tone than one beginning on a piano, and does the side study of
+pipe-organ, after two years of extensive piano work, impair the piano
+touch?
+
+It is only natural that a child can get better tone out of an organ than
+on a piano, because it is not the child but the organ that produces the
+tone. If the child's purpose, however, is to learn piano-playing it
+would not be wise to let him begin on an organ, because this would leave
+the essential element--the art of touch--entirely undeveloped. And if
+his piano touch has been formed it can easily be undone again by letting
+him play on the organ.
+
+
+15. FINGERING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Universal System of Marking Fingering_]
+
+In what respect does American fingering differ from foreign fingering,
+and which offers the greater advantages?
+
+There is no "American" fingering. Many years ago the "English" fingering
+(which counts only four fingers and a thumb, and indicates the latter by
+a plus mark: +) was adopted by a few of the less prominent publishers in
+America; but it was soon abandoned. If you have a piece of sheet music
+with English fingering you may be certain that it is not of a recent
+edition, and I would advise you to obtain a more modern one. The
+advantage of the universal fingering lies in its greater simplicity, and
+in the circumstance that it is universally adopted.
+
+[Sidenote: _The C-Scale Fingering for All Scales?_]
+
+Do you advise the use of the C-scale fingering for all the scales? Is it
+practicable?
+
+The C-scale fingering is not applicable to scales reposing on black keys
+because it creates unnecessary difficulties, the mastering of which
+would be a matter rather of mere sport than of art.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fingering the Chromatic Scale_]
+
+Which fingering of the chromatic scale the is most conducive to speed
+and accuracy?
+
+The right thumb always upon E and B, the left one upon F and C. Between
+times use three or four consecutive fingers as often as convenient. At
+the beginning of a long chromatic scale select such fingers as will most
+naturally bring you to one of the stations just mentioned.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent_]
+
+When executing the mordent, is not the use of three fingers preferable
+to two?
+
+The selection of the fingers for the execution of a mordent depends
+always upon the preceding notes or keys which lead up to it. Since
+we cannot lift the hand just before a mordent for the purpose of
+changing fingers (for this would mean a rude interruption) we have
+to use whatever fingers happen to be "on hand." An exchange of
+fingers in a mordent is seldom of any advantage, for it hampers
+precision and evenness, since, after all, each finger has its own
+tone-characteristics.
+
+
+16. THE GLISSANDO
+
+[Sidenote: _To Play a Glissando Passage_]
+
+Will you describe the best method of holding the hand when playing
+glissando? Which is preferable to use, the thumb or the forefinger?
+
+In playing glissando in the right hand use the index finger when going
+upward, the thumb when going downward. In the left hand--where it hardly
+ever occurs--use the middle finger in either direction, or, if you
+should find it easier, the index finger downward. The production of so
+great a volume of tone, as is possible on our modern piano, has
+necessitated a deeper fall of the keys than former pianos possessed, and
+this deeper dip has banished the glissando almost entirely from modern
+piano literature.
+
+
+17. OCTAVES
+
+[Sidenote: _How Best to Play the Octaves_]
+
+Should I play octaves using the "hinge" stroke from the wrist or by
+using the arm? I find I can get more tone by using the arm stroke, but
+cannot play so rapidly.
+
+The character of the octaves must govern the selection of means to
+produce them. For light octaves use the wrist, for heavier ones draw
+more upon the arm. Rapidity requires that you avoid fatigue. If you feel
+fatigue approaching from too constant use of one joint, change to the
+other, and in doing this change also the position of the hand from high
+to low, and _vice versa_. For wrist octaves I recommend the low position
+of the hand, for arm octaves the high one.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rapid Octaves_]
+
+Please suggest some method of playing octaves rapidly to one who finds
+this the most difficult part of piano-playing. Would be grateful also
+for naming some octave études that could be used in the répertoire.
+
+If rapid octaves seem to be "the most difficult part of piano-playing"
+to you, take it as an indication that they do not suit your nature. A
+"method" will never change your nature. This need not discourage you,
+however; it is only to prevent you from trying to make a specialty of
+something for which you are not especially qualified and to save you a
+needless disappointment. Hold arms and hands in but a slight tension,
+and at the slightest fatigue change the position of the hand from high
+to low and _vice versa_. Your seat at the piano should not be too low.
+Study the first book of Kullak's Octave School, and, later on, the
+second book.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Playing Octaves_]
+
+When should I use the arm to play octaves as I have seen some concert
+players do? As I was watching them there did not seem to be the
+slightest motion from the wrist.
+
+Most concert players play their octaves more from the arm than from the
+wrist, but their wrist is nevertheless not so inactive as it seems to
+have appeared to you. They have probably distributed the work over the
+wrist, the elbow, and the shoulder in such a way that each had to do
+only a part of it. Light octaves can come only from the wrist, while
+heavier ones put the elbow and shoulder into action. To make this
+distribution consciously is hardly possible. A striving for economy of
+force and the least possible fatigue will produce this "division of
+labour" unconsciously.
+
+[Sidenote: _Wrist Stroke in Long Octave Passages_]
+
+When playing extended octave passages, such as the Liszt arrangement of
+"The Erlking," should the endeavour be to play all from the pure wrist
+stroke; or is it well to relieve the strain by an occasional impulse (a
+sort of vibration) from the forearm? Is there any advantage in varying
+the height of the wrist?
+
+In extended octave playing it is well to vary the position of the wrist,
+now high and then low. The low position brings the forearm into action,
+while the whole arm coöperates when the wrist is held high. From the
+wrist alone such pieces as "The Erlking" cannot be played, because the
+wrist alone gives us neither the power nor the speed that such pieces
+require. Besides, the octaves, when all played from the wrist, would
+sound "cottony." The wrist alone is to be used only in light, graceful
+places.
+
+[Sidenote: _Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves_]
+
+In playing octaves or other double notes my wrist seems to stiffen. How
+can I remedy this?
+
+Stiffness in the wrist results from an unmindful use of it. When
+practising octaves or double notes think always of holding the arm and
+its joints in a loose, limber condition, and when you feel fatigued do
+not fail to stop until the muscular contraction is relieved. In a little
+while you will see your conscientious practising rewarded by acquiring
+an elasticity commensurate with your general physical status.
+
+[Sidenote: _Premature Fatigue in the Arms_]
+
+Why does it tire my arms when I play octaves and a continuation of
+little runs? How can I avoid it, so that they will feel free and easy?
+
+Premature fatigue is usually caused by undue muscular contraction. Keep
+your arms and wrists loose and you will find that the fatigue
+disappears. For your sensation of fatigue may be due, not to exhaustion
+of muscular power, but to a stoppage of circulation caused by an
+unconscious stiffening of the wrist. Change the position of the wrist
+from high to low and _vice versa_ whenever you feel the "fatigue"
+coming on.
+
+[Sidenote: _Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good_]
+
+Is Kullak's "Method of Octaves" still one of the best in its line? or
+can you recommend something better?
+
+Since the days when Kullak's "School of Octaves" was printed, experience
+has taught us some things which might be added to it, but nothing that
+would contradict it. Nor, so far as I know, has anything better appeared
+in print than the first volume of that work especially.
+
+
+18. REPETITION TECHNIQUE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difficulty of Playing Repetition Notes_]
+
+Please help me about my repetition notes. When I wish to play them
+rapidly it seems that the key does not always produce a sound? Is it
+because of my touch?
+
+First, examine the action of your piano. It occurs not infrequently that
+the fingers do their work well, but fail in the results because of an
+inert or lazy piano action. If, however, the fault does not lie in the
+instrument, it must lie in a certain stiffness of the fingers. To
+eliminate this you need, first of all, a loose wrist. Furthermore, you
+should not, in repetition technique, let the fingers fall
+perpendicularly upon the keys, but with a motion as if you were wiping
+the keys with the finger-tips and then pull them quickly toward the palm
+of the hand, bending every joint of them rapidly.
+
+
+19. DOUBLE NOTES
+
+[Sidenote: _The Playing of Double Thirds_]
+
+Please tell me something about the general practice of thirds, both
+diatonic and chromatic; also, about those in the first movement of the
+Grieg Concerto.
+
+As the playing of passages in single notes requires a close single
+legato, to do double thirds requires an equally close double legato. As
+to the exact details of legato playing I may refer you to my book,
+"Piano Playing," where you will find the matter discussed at length in
+the chapter on "Touch and Technic."
+
+
+THE INSTRUMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _The Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise_]
+
+Is it irrelevant whether I practise upon a good or a bad piano?
+
+For practice you should never use any but the very best available
+instrument. Far, rather, may the piano be bad when you play for people.
+This will not hurt you nearly so much as will the constant and habitual
+use of a piano with a mechanism in which every key demands a different
+kind of touch, and which is possibly out of tune. Such conditions impair
+the development of your musical ear as well as of your fingers. It
+cannot be otherwise. As I said once before, learning means the acquiring
+of habits: habits of thinking and of doing. With a bad instrument you
+cannot develop any good qualities, even if you should possess them by
+nature; much less can you acquire them. Hence, I recommend a good piano,
+clean keyboard--for your æsthetic perceptions should be developed all
+around--a correct seat and concentration of mind. But these
+recommendations presuppose on the part of the student some talent and a
+good teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"_]
+
+Is it not better for a student in the advanced stage of study, who is
+preparing for concert work, to practise on a piano with a heavy action
+in order to develop the finger and hand muscles, and to use an
+instrument with a light action for obtaining an artistic finish to the
+lighter passages occurring so often, for instance, in Chopin's music?
+
+All extremes are harmful in their effects upon study and practice. A too
+heavy action stiffens and overtires the fingers, while too light an
+action tends to impair your control. Try to obtain for your practice a
+piano the action of which approximates as nearly as possible that of the
+piano on which you have to play in the concert, in order to avoid
+unpleasant surprises, such as premature fatigue or a running away of the
+fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action_]
+
+Should I keep the action of my piano tight?
+
+Keep it tight enough to preserve the "feeling" of the keys under the
+fingers, but to make it more so would endanger your finger action and it
+may injure your hand.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Action of a Beginner's Piano_]
+
+Do you think it wise for a beginner to practise on a piano that has a
+heavy action?
+
+That depends upon the age and physical development of the beginner.
+"Heavy" and "light" action are not absolute but relative terms, which
+comprise in their meaning the power of resistance in the player's hand.
+The action should be so adjusted that the player can--even in the
+softest touch--always feel the key under his finger. A too heavy action
+leads necessarily to an employment of the shoulder muscles (which should
+be reserved for brief, special uses) and may permanently injure the
+hand.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing On a Dumb Piano_]
+
+Are mechanical appliances, such as a dumb keyboard, of advantage to
+the student of the piano? Should its use be restricted to a particular
+stage in the course of study?
+
+Music is a language. Schumann said: "From the dumb we cannot learn to
+talk!" The totally dumb or mute piano should, therefore, not be used, or
+very little, if we aim at a "musical" technique--that is, a live,
+multicoloured technique qualified to express musical thought and
+feeling. Personally I have never used a dumb piano.
+
+
+THE PEDALS
+
+[Sidenote: _A General Rule About the Pedal_]
+
+Should I use the pedal with each melody note? Should like a general
+rule.
+
+The treading upon the pedal should always follow immediately after the
+striking of the note for which it is intended, or else there will be
+discords arising from the mingling of that note with the one preceding
+it. This is the general rule. Exceptions there are, of course, but they
+occur only in certain moments when a mingling of tones is purposed for
+some special effect.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Use of the Pedal for Colouring_]
+
+What is the use of the damper pedal?
+
+Primarily it serves to prolong such tones as we cannot hold with the
+fingers. But it is also one of the greatest means for colouring. The
+employment of it should always be governed by the ear.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Use the Pedal_]
+
+Please tell me how to use the pedal. I find that in some pieces there is
+no mark under the measures to show me when it should be used. Is there
+any rule which you can give me?
+
+Assuming that you have in mind the artistic use of the pedal, I regret
+to say that there is no more a rule for this than for the mixing of
+colours upon the palette of a painter who strives for some particular
+shade or tint. He knows that blue and yellow make green, that red and
+blue make purple; but those are ground colours which he can rarely use.
+For the finer shades he has to experiment, to consult his eye and his
+judgment. The relation between the pedal and the player's ear is exactly
+similar to that of the palette and the painter's eye. Generally speaking
+(from sad experience) it is far more important to know when _not_ to use
+the pedal than when to use it. We must refrain from its use whenever
+there is the slightest danger of unintentional mingling of tones. This
+is best avoided by taking the pedal _after_ striking the tone upon which
+it is to act, and to release it promptly and simultaneously with the
+striking of the next tone. It may be at once taken again, and this
+alternation must be kept up where there is either a change of harmony or
+a succession of "passing notes." This is the only positive rule I can
+give, but even this is often violated. Let your ear be the guardian of
+your right foot. Accustom your ear to harmonic and melodic clarity,
+and--listen closely. To teach the use of the pedal independent of the
+action of your own ear is impossible.
+
+[Sidenote: _Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling_]
+
+In Weber's "Storm" should the pedal be held down throughout the entire
+piece, as directed? It produces quite a discord.
+
+Without knowing this piece, even by name, I may say that the pianos of
+Weber's time had a tone of such short duration and volume that the
+discords resulting from a continuous use of the pedal were not so
+noticeable, as they are now upon the modern piano with its magnificent
+volume and duration of tone. Hence, the pedal must now be used with the
+utmost caution. Generally speaking, I say--again--that the ear is the
+"sole" guide of the foot upon the pedal.
+
+[Sidenote: _Use Pedal With Caution in Playing Bach_]
+
+Is Bach's music ever played with the pedal?
+
+There is no piano-music that forbids in playing the use of the pedal.
+Even where the texture of a piece does not require the pedal--which
+happens very rarely--the player might employ it as an aid where the
+reach of his hand proves insufficient to hold all the parts of a harmony
+together. With Bach the pedal is often very important; for, by judicious
+use--as, for instance, in the cases of organ-point--it accumulates
+harmonic tones, holds the fundamental tone and thus produces effects not
+dissimilar to the organ. Qualitatively speaking, the pedal is as
+necessary in Bach's music as in any other; quantitatively, I recommend
+the utmost caution in its use, so as not to blur the fine texture of his
+polyphony.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student with a Fondness for the Pedal_]
+
+I always want to use the pedal as soon as I take a new piece, but my
+teacher insists that I should get a good singing tone first. Is she
+right?
+
+You "want" to use the pedal? In the face of your teacher's advice to the
+contrary? Then why did you apply for a teacher? People who consider
+their own pleasure while engaged in any kind of study need no teacher.
+They need discipline. Learn obedience! If by following your teacher's
+advice you should fail to progress, even then you have no right to do
+anything else than go to another teacher. But he will in all probability
+not be very different from the first one in his precepts. Hence, I say
+again: You should learn obedience!
+
+[Sidenote: _Using the Two Pedals at Once_]
+
+May the damper pedal and the soft pedal be used simultaneously, or would
+this be detrimental to the piano?
+
+Since the mechanisms of the two pedals are entirely separate and
+independent of each other you may use them simultaneously, provided that
+the character of a particular place in your piece justifies it.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Produce a Softer Tone_]
+
+Should the expression "_p_" be executed by the aid of the soft pedal or
+through the fingers?
+
+The soft pedal serves to change the quality of tone, not the quantity.
+It should therefore never be used to hide a faulty _piano_ (or soft)
+touch. Mere softness of tone should always be produced by a decrease of
+finger-force and a lessening of the raising of the fingers. The soft
+pedal should be employed only when the softness of tone is coupled with
+a change of colouring, such as lies within its range of action.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Over-Use the Soft Pedal_]
+
+Should the Gavotte in A, of Gluck-Brahms, be played without the soft
+pedal? Does a liberal use of the soft pedal tend to make the student
+lazy in using a light touch?
+
+Your first question is too general, as there is no piece of music that
+should be played entirely with or without the soft pedal; it is used
+only when a certain change of colouring is proposed. A too frequent use
+of the soft pedal does tend to a neglect of the _pianissimo_ touch, and
+it should, therefore, be discouraged.
+
+[Sidenote: _Once More the "Soft" Pedal_]
+
+My piano has a rather loud tone to which my people object, and urge me
+to play with the soft pedal. I use it most of the time, but am afraid
+now to play without it. What would you advise?
+
+If a soft touch and sound are liked, have the mechanism of your piano
+changed at the factory. I found myself in the bad condition at one time
+that I could not play certain passages independently of the position of
+my foot on the soft pedal. Such is the strength of association that
+very soon a constant use of the soft pedal produces physical inability
+to play unless the foot is pressing the pedal.
+
+
+PRACTICE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Morning Practice On the Piano_]
+
+In resuming my studies in the morning what should I play first?
+
+Begin with your technical work. Scales in all tonalities, each at least
+twice well rendered. First slowly, one after another, then somewhat
+quicker, but never very quickly as long as you are not absolutely sure
+that both hands are perfectly even, and that neither false notes nor
+wrong fingerings occur. To play the scales wrong is just as much a
+matter of habit as to play them right--only easier. You can get very
+firmly settled in the habit of striking a certain note wrong every time
+it occurs unless you take the trouble of counteracting the formation of
+such a habit. After these scales play them in octaves from the wrist,
+slowly and without tiring it by lifting the hand to a needless height.
+After this play either Czerny or Cramer, then Bach, and finally Mozart,
+Beethoven, Chopin, and so on. If you have the time to do it, play one
+hour in the morning on technical studies and use one hour for the
+difficult places in the works you are studying. In the afternoon play
+another hour, and this hour you devote to interpretation. I mean by this
+that you should now apply æsthetically what you have technically gained
+in the morning by uniting your mechanical advantages with the ideal
+conception which you have formed in your mind of the work you are
+studying.
+
+[Sidenote: _Morning Is the Best Time to Practise_]
+
+How much time should I spend on clearly technical study? I am practising
+three hours a day; how long should I practise at a time?
+
+Purely technical work--that is, work of the fingers without the
+participation of mind and heart--you should do little or none, for it
+kills your musical spirit. If, as you say, you practise three hours a
+day I should recommend two hours in succession in the morning and one
+hour in the afternoon. The morning is always the best time for work.
+Make no long pauses in your work, for they would break your contact
+with the piano and it would take considerable time to reëstablish it. In
+the afternoon, after the major portion of your daily task is done, you
+may move with greater freedom, though even this freedom should be kept
+within proper bounds.
+
+[Sidenote: _Time to Devote to Technical Exercises_]
+
+Should I practise studies in general for my progress or should I confine
+myself strictly to my technical exercises?
+
+Your strictly technical exercises should occupy one-quarter of the
+entire time you can give to your work. Two quarters you should use for
+the technical preparation of the difficult passages you encounter in the
+pieces you are studying, and during the last quarter these passages
+which have been thus prepared should be ranged into their proper places
+in the pieces, in order that you may not lose your view of the totality
+of the pieces while studying or practising details.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Only Kind of Practice Worth While_]
+
+In purely technical, _i. e._, mechanical, practice may I have a book or
+a magazine on the music-stand and read?
+
+This question will appear grotesque to any one who has not thought of
+it, yet it is legitimate; for I know positively that this crime upon
+themselves has been committed by many. I cannot warn students too
+strongly against this pernicious habit. It is far better to practise
+only half as long, but with concentrated attention. Even purely
+mechanical matter must be transmitted to the motor-centres of the brain
+through the agencies of the ear and eye in order to bring beneficial
+technical results. If the brain is otherwise occupied it becomes
+insensible to the impression of the work in hand, and practise thus done
+is a complete waste of time. Not only should we not read, but also not
+think of anything else but the work before us, if we expect results.
+Concentration is the first letter in the alphabet of success.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four_]
+
+Will I advance quicker by practising eight hours instead of four, as I
+do now?
+
+Playing too much in one day has often a deteriorating effect upon one's
+studies, because work is profitable, after all, only if done with full
+mental concentration, which can be sustained only for a certain length
+of time. Some exhaust their power of concentration quicker than others;
+but, however long it may have lasted, once it is exhausted all further
+work is like unrolling a scroll which we have laboriously rolled up.
+Practise self-examination, and if you notice that your interest is
+waning--stop. Remember that in studying the matter of quantity is of
+moment only when coupled with quality. Attention, concentration,
+devotion, will make unnecessary any inquiries as to how much you ought
+to practise.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing With Cold Hands_]
+
+Shall I, when my hands are cold and stiff, play at once difficult and
+fatiguing things in order to limber them up?
+
+In forcing things with cold hands you always run the danger of
+overstraining, while with a gradual limbering you may safely try the
+same tasks with impunity. Handle the piano lightly while the hands are
+cold, and increase both force and speed only when the hands have gained
+their normal temperature and elasticity. This may take half or even
+three-quarters of an hour. It may be accelerated by putting the hands
+in hot water before playing, but this should not be done too often,
+because it is apt to weaken the nerves of the hands.
+
+[Sidenote: _Counting Out Loud_]
+
+Is counting aloud injurious to a pupil's playing--that is, does not the
+sound of the voice confuse the pupil in getting the correct tone of the
+note struck?
+
+Loud counting can hardly ever be injurious--especially not while the
+pupil is dealing with time and rhythm. This part mastered or fully
+understood, the audible counting may be lessened and finally abandoned.
+During practice loud counting is of inestimable value, for it develops
+and strengthens rhythmic feeling better than anything else will, and,
+besides, it is an infallible guide to find the points of stress in a
+phrase.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Scales Is very Important_]
+
+Must all study of the piano absolutely begin with the study of scales?
+
+Scales should not be attempted until a good finger-touch has been formed
+and the very important action of the thumb in the scale has been fully
+prepared. After that, however, I consider the practising of scales
+important, not only for the fingers, but also for the discipline of the
+ear with regard to the feeling of tonality (key), understanding of
+intervals, and the comprehension of the total compass of the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of the Scales_]
+
+Do you approve of the study of all the fifteen major scales by piano
+students, or is the practice of the enharmonic ones unnecessary?
+
+One should learn everything in that line in order to select from one's
+store of learning that which the occasion calls for. Study or practise
+all scales as they are written, and later also in thirds, sixths, and
+octaves.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Reading Over a New Piece_]
+
+When studying a new composition, which is preferable: to practise first
+with separate hands or together?
+
+When first looking over a new composition both hands should be employed,
+if possible, for this is necessary to obtain, approximately, at least, a
+mental picture of it. If the player's technique is too insufficient for
+this the deciphering must, of course, be done for each hand separately.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practising the Two Parts Separately_]
+
+When I am learning a new piece should the hands practise their parts
+separately?
+
+Provided you have formed a general idea of the piece, it is well to
+practise the hands separately, because you can, in this way, concentrate
+your attention upon the work of each hand. As soon, however, as each
+hand knows its work the hands should play together in order now to
+pursue the musical purpose for which the separate practice was only a
+technical preparation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece_]
+
+Should a composition be studied away from the piano?
+
+There are four ways to study a composition:
+
+1. On the piano with the music.
+
+2. Away from the piano with the music.
+
+3. On the piano without the music.
+
+4. Away from the piano without the music.
+
+2 and 4 are mentally the most taxing and fatiguing ways, no doubt; but
+they also serve best to develop the memory and what we mean by "scope,"
+which is a faculty of great importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing_]
+
+How fast or slow should Schubert-Liszt's "_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_" be
+played? What modern parlour pieces would you recommend after Bendel's
+"Zephyr"?
+
+Even if I did believe in metronomes, as I do not, I could not indicate
+speed for you or for anybody, because it will always depend upon the
+state of your technique and the quality of your tone. For modern parlour
+pieces I suggest the two volumes of Russian piano music published by G.
+Schirmer, New York. You will find pieces of various degrees of
+difficulty there from which you may select what suits you best.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Work Up a Fast Tempo_]
+
+Which is the best way to work up a fast tempo?
+
+The best help is to hear the piece or part which you have in mind played
+quickly by another person, for this aids you in forming the mental
+concept of it, which is the principal condition to which all ability is
+subject. There are, however, other ways which each one of us must find
+for himself: either by a gradual increase of speed until you reach your
+individual maximum or by starting at once at full tilt, even though some
+notes should drop under the piano and then be picked up in subsequent
+repetitions. Which of these two or any other ways is best for you no one
+can tell; your musical instinct will guide you if you follow it
+cautiously.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo_]
+
+Is it ever a waste of time to practise a piece over and over again for
+months as slowly as a beginner and with utmost concentration? After
+having done so and gradually working up a tempo, I then find I cannot
+play so fast as I want to. Is it not wise to begin all over again as
+slowly as possible? I prefer to work this way, but have been told that
+one gets "stale," studying the same music for a long time.
+
+Do you advise practising with or without the pedal?
+
+Slow practice is undoubtedly the basis for quick playing; but quick
+playing is not an immediate result of slow practice. Quick playing must
+be tried from time to time, with increasing frequency and heightened
+speed, even at a temporary loss of clearness. This loss is easily
+regained by subsequent returns to slow practice. After all, we must
+first learn to think quickly through the course of a piece before we can
+play it quickly, and this mental endeavour, too, will be greatly aided
+by occasional trials in a quicker tempo. As for getting "stale," a
+variety of pieces is necessary to preserve the freshness of each one.
+
+Regarding the pedal, I suggest that you use it judiciously from the very
+beginning of the study of a new piece; though never in finger exercises.
+
+[Sidenote: _Watch Your Breathing_]
+
+What is the purpose of associating breathing with piano playing, and to
+what extent should it be practised?
+
+Breathing is as important in piano playing as in all physical exertion,
+and more so when we speak of pieces that entail the use of great
+muscular force; for this causes a quickening in the action of the heart;
+respiration naturally keeps step with it, and the result is often a
+forcible breathing through the mouth. Players resort to open-mouth
+breathing in such cases because they cannot help themselves. If, at the
+last spurt of a bicycle race, we should call to the wheelmen, "Breathe
+through the nose!" we could not wonder if our advice remains unheeded.
+This open-mouth breathing, however, need not be learned; it is the
+self-help of nature. I recommend breathing through the nose as long as
+possible. It is more wholesome than mouth-breathing, and it refreshes
+the head more. When physical exertion becomes too great then you will
+neither need nor heed my advice or anybody's; your nature will find its
+own line of least resistance.
+
+[Sidenote: _Take a Month's Rest Every Year_]
+
+Must I keep up my practice during my Christmas holidays of a month?
+
+If you have worked well on your development during the spring, summer,
+and autumn it will be to your advantage to stop your practising entirely
+for a month. Such a pause renews your forces as well as the love for
+your work, and you will, upon resuming it, not only catch up quickly
+with what you may think to have missed, but you will also make a quick
+leap forward because the quality of your work will be better than it
+could be if you had persisted in it with a fatigued mind. In a tired
+condition of mind and body we are very apt not to notice the formation
+of bad habits, and since "to learn means to form correct habits of
+thinking and doing" we must beware of anything that might impair our
+watchfulness as to bad habits. The greatest persistence cannot turn a
+bad habit into a virtue.
+
+
+MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Metronome Markings_]
+
+What is the meaning of M. M. = 72 printed over a piece of music?
+
+The M stands for "metronome," the other for the name of its inventor,
+Maelzl. The figures indicate the number of beats a minute and the note
+shows what each beat represents--in this case a quarter note. The whole
+annotation says that the average speed of the piece should admit of
+seventy-two quarter notes being played in a minute. I advise you,
+however, rather to consult the state of your technique and your own
+feeling for what is musically right in deciding upon the speed of the
+piece.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Personal Element and the Metronome_]
+
+In Chopin's Prelude No. 15 is the movement in C-sharp minor to be played
+in the same tempo as the opening movements, or much faster? How should
+the 6-8 and 9-8 movements of Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes be
+metronomized?
+
+The C-sharp minor movement should not increase in speed, or only very
+little, because it rises to a considerable height dynamically, and this
+seems to counteract an increase of speed. As to the metronoming, I would
+not bother about it. The possibilities of your technique must ever
+regulate the speed question in a large degree. Tempo is so intimately
+related with touch and dynamics that it is in a large measure an
+individual matter. This does not mean that one may play andante where an
+allegro is prescribed, but that one person's allegro differs slightly
+from that of another person. Touch, tone, and conception influence the
+tempo. The metronome indications are to be accepted only with the
+utmost caution.
+
+[Sidenote: _Metronome Markings May Better Be Ignored_]
+
+How fast, by metronome, should the minuetto of Beethoven's Sonatina,
+opus 49, Number 2, be played?
+
+If you possess an edition of Beethoven that has no metronome marks you
+have been singularly fortunate, and I would not for the world interfere
+with such rare good luck. Consult your technique, your feelings, and
+have confidence in your good sense.
+
+[Sidenote: _There are Dangers in Using a Metronome_]
+
+How should one use the metronome for practising? I have been warned
+against it, as my teacher tells me one is liable to become very stiff
+and mechanical by the persistent use of it.
+
+Your teacher is eminently right. You should not play with the metronome
+for any length of time, for it lames the musical pulse and kills the
+vital expression in your playing. The metronome may well be used as a
+controlling device first, to find the approximate average speed of a
+piece, and, second, to convince yourself that, after playing for a
+while without it, your feelings have not caused you to drift too far
+away from the average tempo.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Real Meaning of Speed Terms_]
+
+What is the meaning of the words Adagio, Andante, and Allegro? Are they
+just indications of speed?
+
+They serve as such; though our musical ancestors probably selected these
+terms because of their indefiniteness, which leaves a certain margin to
+our individuality. Literally, Adagio (_ad agio_) means "at leisure."
+Andante means "going" in contradistinction to "running," going apace,
+also walking. Allegro (a contraction of _al leg-gie-ro_) means with
+"lightness, cheerful." Primarily these terms are, as you see,
+indications of mood; but they have come to be regarded as speed
+annotations.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Rule For Selecting the Speed_]
+
+As the words "largo," "allegro," etc., are supposed to indicate a
+certain rate of speed, can you give a rule so that a student who cannot
+have the aid of a teacher will be able to understand in what time he
+should play a composition?
+
+If the metronome is not indicated you have to consult your own good
+taste. Take the most rapid notes of your piece, play them rapidly as the
+general trend of the piece will æsthetically permit, and adjust the
+general tempo accordingly.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Grace Notes Are Played_]
+
+How are the grace notes played in these measures from Chopin's Valse,
+opus 42, and when are grace notes not struck simultaneously with the
+base?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Grace notes and their chiefs--that is, those notes to which the grace
+notes are attached--should ever be played with one and the same muscular
+impulse. The time occupied by the grace notes should be so minimal that
+it should not be discernible whether they appear simultaneously with the
+base note or slightly before it. In modern music it is usually meant to
+precede the bass note, though the good taste of the player may
+occasionally prefer it otherwise.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rests Used Under or Over Notes_]
+
+What is the meaning of a rest above or below the notes of the treble
+clef?
+
+The rests you speak of can occur only when more than one voice (or part)
+is written in the same staff, and they indicate how long the entrance of
+the other voice is to be delayed.
+
+[Sidenote: _What a Double Dot Means_]
+
+What does it mean when a note is double-dotted, like:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I thought first it was a misprint, but it seems to occur too frequently
+for that.
+
+As the first dot prolongs the note by one-half of its own value, so does
+the second dot add one-half of the value of the first dot. A half-note
+with one dot lasts three-quarters, with two dots it lasts seven-eighths.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Playing of Slurred Notes_]
+
+Should I accent the first note under a slur thus:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+or should I lift my hand at the end of the slur thus:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other, because accents
+relate to rhythm, while slurs concern the touch. The last note under a
+slur will usually be slightly curtailed in order to create that small
+pause which separates one phrase from another. Generally speaking, the
+slur in piano music represents the breathing periods of the vocalist.
+
+[Sidenote: _How a Tie and a Slur Differ_]
+
+What difference is there between a slur and a tie?
+
+None in appearance, but much in effect. A tie continues the sound of the
+note struck at its beginning as long as the note-value at its end
+indicates. It can be placed only upon two notes of similar name in the
+same octave which follow each other. As soon as another note intervenes
+the tie becomes a slur and indicates a _legato_ touch.
+
+[Sidenote: _Slurs and Accents Not Related_]
+
+How should the beginning of slurs be accented?
+
+Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other. Slurs indicate
+either a legato touch or the grouping of the notes. Which one of the
+notes thus grouped is to be accented depends upon its rhythmical
+position in the measure. The strong and weak beat (or positive and
+negative beat) govern the accent always, unless there is an annotation
+to the contrary, and such an annotation must be carried out with great
+judiciousness, seldom literally.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Long an Accidental Affects a Note_]
+
+Where there is an accidental on the last beat of a measure does not that
+note resume its signature beyond the bar unless tied? The case I speak
+of was in a key of two flats, common time. The fourth beat, E, was
+naturalized and the first note of the next measure was E with the flat
+sign. I maintain that the flat sign is superfluous, and I should like to
+know if this is right?
+
+You are quite right, theoretically. Nevertheless, the proper tonality
+signature of a note that was changed is very frequently restated when
+the same note recurs beyond the bar. Though this special marking is not
+necessary theoretically, practical experience has shown that it is not
+an unwise precaution.
+
+[Sidenote: _"E-Sharp and B-Sharp" and the Double Flat_]
+
+What is the meaning of the sharps on the E and B line, and of a
+double-flat? Are they merely theoretical?
+
+They are not theoretical, but orthographical. You confound the note C
+with the key on the keyboard by that name. B-sharp is played upon the
+key called C, but its musical bearing is very remote from the note C.
+The same applies to double-flats (and double-sharps), for D with a
+double-flat is played upon the key called C, but it has no relation to
+the note C. This corresponds precisely with the homonym in language:
+"sow"--"sew"--"so"--sound alike, but are spelled in various ways
+according to the meaning they are to convey.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Effect of Double Flats_]
+
+How is an octave, written thus, to be played?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+As the single-flat lowers a note by a half-tone, so a double-flat lowers
+it by two half-tones or a full tone.
+
+[Sidenote: _Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In playing an operetta recently I found the double-sharp sign used for
+double-flats as well. Is this correct?
+
+The sign may be a misprint. But if it should occur repeatedly I advise
+you to make quite sure, before taking the misprint for granted, that the
+sign is not, after all, meant for a double-sharp.
+
+[Sidenote: _When an Accidental Is in Parentheses_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Please tell me how a chord or an interval marked thus, is executed. What
+does an accidental in parentheses mean?
+
+Chords marked as above are slightly rolled in the same manner as if
+marked by a serpentine line, unless the sign denotes a linking with the
+other hand. Which of the two meanings is intended you will easily infer
+from the context. Accidentals in parentheses are mere warnings given by
+some composers wherever there is a possibility of doubt as to the
+correct reading caused by a momentary harmonic ambiguity. I have found
+these accidentals in parentheses so far only in the works of French
+composers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Staffs Are Independent of Each Other_]
+
+Does an accidental in the right hand influence the left?
+
+Inasmuch as piano music is written in score form, the two staffs are as
+independent of each other as are the staffs in an orchestral score. We
+may, in cases of suspected misprints, draw certain inferences from one
+staff to the other, provided that they are justified by the prevailing
+harmony. As a rule, the two staffs are independent of each other in
+regard to accidental chromatic signs.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?_]
+
+I am often asked why there must be fifteen keys in music instead of
+twelve--that is, why not always write in B instead of C-flat, in F-sharp
+instead of G-flat, in D-flat instead of C-sharp, or _vice versa_? I can
+only say that the circle of fifths would not be complete without the
+seven scales in sharps and the seven in flats: but Bach does not use all
+the fifteen keys in his Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues, omitting
+entirely, in the major keys, G-flat, D-flat, and C-flat, and, in the
+minor keys, A-sharp and A-flat. Are compositions in sharps considered
+more brilliant than those in flats? Do composers consider modulation in
+selecting their key?
+
+The answer to your question hinges upon whether you recognize in music
+mere tone-play or whether you concede a mental and psychic side to it.
+In the former case the mode of spelling a tone C-sharp or D-flat would
+be, indeed, irrelevant. But in the latter case you must admit the
+necessity of a musical orthography qualified to convey distinct tonal
+meanings and musical thoughts to the reader and to the player. Though
+there is in the tempered scale no difference between C-sharp and D-flat,
+the musical reader will conceive them as different from one another,
+partly because of their connection with other related harmonies. These
+determine usually the composer's selection in cases of enharmonic
+identities. In the script of human language you will find an analogy
+than which none could be more perfect. In English there are, for
+instance, "to," "too," and "two"; words in which the spelling alone, and
+not the sound of pronunciation, conveys the different meanings of the
+words.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning and Use of "Motif"_]
+
+What is the meaning of a "motif"? What does a dash mean over a note?
+What is the best book of instruction for a beginner, a child of ten?
+
+A motif is the germ of a theme. A theme may be composed of reiterations
+of a motif, or by grouping several motifs together; it may also combine
+both modes of procedure. The most glorious exemplification of
+construction by reiteration of a motif you will find in the opening
+theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. A dash over a note enjoins the
+player to hold that note with the finger until it has received its full
+value. The best "instruction book" for a child is a good teacher who
+uses no instruction book, but imparts his knowledge to the child from
+out of his own inner consciousness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Tied Staccato Notes_]
+
+In playing notes written thus is it permissible to slide the fingers
+from the keys or should there be only a clinging touch?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Notes marked as above are to be played in such a manner that each note
+is slightly separated from the next. The best touch for this is from the
+arm, so that the fingers are not lifted from their joints, nor from the
+wrist, but that the arm pulls the finger upward from the key.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect_]
+
+What do short lines below or above a note or chord mean in
+contradistinction to a staccato or an accent? And does it affect the
+whole chord?
+
+The dash under or above a note is a substitute for the word "tenuto"
+(usually abbreviated into "ten."), which means "held," or, in other
+words, be particular about giving this note its full sound-duration.
+This substitute is usually employed when the holding concerns a single
+note or a single chord.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Rolled Chord Marked "Secco"_]
+
+How should I execute a chord that is written with a spread and also
+marked "secco"?--as in Chaminade's "Air de Ballet, No. 1."
+
+Roll the chord as evenly as possible in all its parts; but use no pedal
+and do not hold it, but play it briskly and short.
+
+[Sidenote: _Small Notes Under Large Ones_]
+
+What is the meaning of small notes printed under large ones?
+
+Usually the small notes are an indication that they may be omitted by
+players who have not the stretch of hand necessary to play them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata_]
+
+How should one play and accent the mordent occurring in the
+forty-seventh measure of the first movement--allegro di molto--of
+Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, Opus 13?
+
+The accent ought to lie upon the first note of the mordent, but you
+should not make a triplet of it by occupying the whole quarter with its
+execution. The mordent must be played fast enough to preserve the
+rhythmic integrity of the melody-note.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Position of the Turn Over a Note_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The turn stands sometimes directly over the note and sometimes farther
+to the right of it. Does this difference indicate different executions
+and, if so, how would the two turns have to be played?
+
+The turn always begins with its uppermost note. When it stands directly
+over a note it takes the place of this note; when more to the right the
+note is struck first and the turn, judiciously distributed at the time
+of its disposal, follows.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?_]
+
+How are syncopated notes to be played?
+
+Notes occurring an entire beat of the prescribed time are, when
+syncopated, to be played between the beats. If the syncopated notes
+occupy only a fraction of the beats they are played between the
+fractional beats.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Trill Begins on the Melodic Note_]
+
+In modern compositions should all trills begin upon the note which is
+written, presuming there is no appoggiatura before the note? Is the
+alternation of the thumb and the second finger desirable in the playing
+of a trill?
+
+Where not expressly otherwise stated (by appoggiatura) trills usually
+begin upon the melodic tone (the note which is written). Change fingers
+when those employed get tired. For extended trills the use of three
+fingers is advantageous, while in shorter trills two fingers will
+preserve more clarity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill_]
+
+In the accompanying example of the trill should the auxiliary note be a
+tone or a half-tone above the principal note? If the half-tone, what
+would be the name of the auxiliary note?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The episode you quote moves evidently in the tonality of G minor. The
+trill stands on B-flat. As the auxiliary note of a trill is ever the
+diatonic sequel of a stated note it must, in this case, be a whole tone
+above B-flat, namely C. Since the piece is written in D major there
+should have been a "natural" marked under the sign of the trill.
+
+[Sidenote: _Speed and Smoothness in Trilling_]
+
+Will you kindly suggest a good method of gaining speed and smoothness in
+trilling?
+
+While there are no "methods" for trilling there are certain means by
+which sluggish muscles may be assisted. Yet, even these means cannot be
+suggested without knowing the seat and cause of your trouble. The causes
+differ with the individual, but they are, in the majority of cases,
+purely mental, not manual. To trill quickly we must think quickly; for
+if we trill only with the fingers they will soon stick, lose their
+rhythmic succession, and finish in a cramped condition. Hence, there is
+no direct way to learn trilling; it will develop with your general
+mental-musical advancement. The main thing is, of course, always to
+listen to your own playing, actually and physically, to perceive every
+tone you play; for only then can you form an estimate as to how quickly
+you can "hear." And, of course, you do not expect to play anything more
+quickly than your own ear can follow.
+
+[Sidenote: _Difference in Playing Trills_]
+
+What is the difference in the manner of playing the trill in measure 25,
+and those in measures 37 and 38, of the Chopin Polonaise, Opus 53?
+
+The significance of the trill in measure 25 is melodic, while that of
+the trills in measures 37 and 38 is purely rhythmic, somewhat in the
+nature of a snare-drum effect. The first trill requires greater stress
+on the melodic note, while in the other two you may throw your hand, so
+to speak, on both notes and roll the trill until it lands upon the next
+eighth-note.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning of Solfeggio_]
+
+What is meant by "spelling" in music?
+
+Unless it means the variety of ways in which most chords can be written
+it refers to an oral reciting of notes, properly called solfeggio.
+
+
+ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS
+
+[Sidenote: _Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen_]
+
+Please tell me some pieces of the classics which are not too difficult
+for my daughter of fourteen to play. She has a great deal of talent but
+not much technique. The Kuhlau Sonatinas she can play very well.
+
+If your daughter is fourteen years old and has--as you say--much talent
+but little technique, it is high time to think of developing her
+technique, for a pianist without technique is like a pleasure traveller
+without money. At any rate, I should prefer the easier sonatas by Haydn
+and Mozart to those of Kuhlau, because of their greater intrinsic merit.
+Any good teacher will assist you in selecting them to fit your
+daughter's case.
+
+[Sidenote: _In Playing a Sonata_]
+
+In playing sonatas my teacher tells me it is a great fault if I neglect
+to observe the repeat marks. I have heard it said by others that the
+repetition is not necessary, though it may be desirable. Will you please
+give me your opinion?
+
+In a sonata it is of serious importance to repeat the first part
+(exposition) of the first movement in order that the two principal
+themes, as well as their tributaries, may well impress themselves upon
+the mind and memory of your auditor. For, unless this is accomplished,
+he cannot possibly understand and follow their development in the next
+part. That the exposition part is not the only one to be repeated you
+will find frequently indicated; for instance, in the last movement of
+the "Appassionata," where the repetition is needful, not for the reason
+stated before, but for the sake of formal balance or proportion.
+Generally speaking, I am in favour of following the composer's
+indications punctiliously, hence, also, his repeat marks, which serve
+æsthetic purposes that you will perhaps not understand until later, when
+the sonata has, in your hands, outgrown the stage of being learned.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata"_]
+
+Should not the notes of the triplet figure in Beethoven's "Moonlight
+Sonata" be so blended into each other that you do not hear them in
+separate notes, but as a background, so to speak, for the notes in the
+melody?
+
+The truth lies midway between two extremes. While the accompaniment
+should be sufficiently subdued to form, as you say, a harmonic
+background, it ought, nevertheless, not to be blended to such a degree
+as to obliterate entirely the undercurrent of a triplet motion. The
+accumulation of each chord should be produced through the pedal, not
+through an excessive legato touch.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast_]
+
+Should Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" be played in slow or fast time?
+
+It is marked "Allegretto grazioso." The latter term (graceful, in
+English) precludes a too-quick movement.
+
+[Sidenote: _What a Dot May Mean_]
+
+This is the seventh measure of Chopin's Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1. What
+is the meaning of the dot placed after the D in the bass? Whenever this
+measure is repeated the dot occurs, or I should have thought it a
+misprint.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The left-hand notes follow each other as eighth-notes. Their respective
+duration, however, is indicated by the upward stems and the dot. It is
+intended here that a complete chord should be built up by accumulation,
+as in illustration _a_:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+and I would also hold the fifth eighth as in illustration _b_.
+
+[Sidenote: _Where the Accent Should be Placed_]
+
+In playing Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, Opus 29, should the first or
+the last note of the mordent receive the accent? I have heard the
+mordent sound like a triplet? Is this the correct accent?
+
+The last note of the mordent should be accented in this case.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Disputed Chopin Reading_]
+
+In Chopin's Nocturne in F-sharp, after the _Doppio_ Movement, when
+returning to Tempo I, and counting five measures, should the right hand
+in the fifth measure play this melody?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The various editions differ from one another in this measure. Peters's
+edition, generally considered the best edition of Chopin's works, has
+the second version, which commends itself by its greater naturalness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing the "Melody in F"_]
+
+In Rubinstein's "Melody in F" should the melody be played in the left
+hand or be divided between the two hands?
+
+Where there is no valid reason for doing otherwise it is always best to
+follow the composer's prescription; for, in most cases--and with great
+composers in all cases--the author knows what he meant to say. In the
+aforesaid piece, too, I advise you to adhere to this principle, since it
+is written with a view to teach the division of the melody between the
+right and left hand. Any other execution would ruin this purposed
+design.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Two Fingers Have the Same Note_]
+
+In Schumann's "Blumenstück," third number, the uppermost notes of the
+left hand are identical with the lowest of the right hand. Should the
+thumbs of both hands strike the same keys at the same time all the way
+through or should the left hand omit them?
+
+The left hand should omit them, but be careful to omit only those that
+are really duplicates. There are a few places toward the end of each
+section where the left-hand notes differ from those in the right. In
+those cases you must be careful to play all the notes that are written.
+
+
+BACH
+
+[Sidenote: _The Beginner in Bach Music_]
+
+Can you give me a few helpful suggestions in a preliminary study of
+Bach?
+
+A totality consists of many parts. If you cannot master the totality of
+a work by Bach try each part by itself. Take one part of the right hand,
+one part of the left, add a third part, and so on until you have all the
+parts together. But be sure to follow out the line of each separate part
+(or "voice," as the Continentals say). Do not lose patience. Remember
+that Rome was not built in a day.
+
+[Sidenote: _Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique_]
+
+Do you think the study of Bach is necessary to the development of one's
+technique, or should one let his music alone until a later day when
+one's technique is in good condition? Some of his music seems so dry.
+
+Bach's music is not the only music that develops the technique. There
+is, for instance, the music of Czerny and Clementi to be considered. But
+Bach's music is particularly qualified to develop the fingers in
+conjunction with musical expression and thematic characterization. You
+may start with Czerny and Clementi, but you ought soon to turn to Bach.
+That some of his music seems dry to you may be due to your mental
+attitude by which you possibly expect from ecclesiastical music what
+only the opera can give you. Think yourself into his style and you will
+find a mine of never-dreamed-of enjoyment.
+
+[Sidenote: _Always Keep in Touch with Bach_]
+
+Do you think that the playing of Bach's works will keep one's hands in
+good technical condition? And which is the best edition of Bach's piano
+works?
+
+Bach is good for the soul as well as for the body, and I recommend that
+you never lose touch with him. Which is the best edition would be hard
+to say, but I have found the Peters edition to be very good.
+
+[Sidenote: _Bach's Preludes and Fugues_]
+
+What is the plan of a "Fugue," how does it differ from an "Invention"
+and "Prelude," and what is the purpose of studying the pieces so named
+by Bach?
+
+The explanation of the plan of a Fugue would exceed by far the limits of
+the space at my disposal. It would require a text-book, of which there
+are many to be found in every good music store. The Fugue is the most
+legitimate representation of true polyphony. Its difference from an
+Invention is expressed in the two names. A Fugue (_fuga_, flight) is the
+flight of one musical thought through many voices or parts, subject to
+strict rules, while an Invention is an accumulation of thoughts moving
+with absolute freedom. The definition of Prelude, as something which
+intentionally precedes and fittingly introduces a main action, fits the
+musical Prelude perfectly; especially in the case of Bach. The purpose
+of all these forms is that of all good music-making, namely, the
+purification and development of good taste in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _As to the Bach Fugues_]
+
+Of the Bach fugues do you consider the C sharp major difficult to
+memorize, or do you advise the use of the D flat arrangement instead?
+
+Such little differences have never bothered me, and I can therefore
+hardly answer your question definitely. It has been frequently
+observed--though never explained--that to many people it comes easier to
+read music in D flat than in C sharp. Hence, if you prefer the D flat
+edition it will reduce the difficulty for you. Possibly this more
+accessible version may aid you optically or visually in your work of
+memorizing.
+
+
+BEETHOVEN
+
+[Sidenote: _Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas_]
+
+I am just beginning to reach an intelligent interpretation of
+Beethoven's music. Now, in what order should the Sonatas be studied?
+
+If you should really have the laudable intention to study all the
+Sonatas of Beethoven for your repertory I should think that you may
+safely take them up very much in the order in which they are printed,
+with the exception of Opus 53 and the Appassionata, which--spiritually
+as well as technically--rank with the last five. The Steingräber
+edition, however, furnishes a very fair order of difficulty in the index
+to the Sonatas.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character_]
+
+My teacher calls the Sonata opus 28, by Beethoven, the "Pastoral"
+Sonata. I have not found anything "pastoral" in any of the movements. Is
+it because I do not understand it, or is the name a mere amateurish
+invention?
+
+The name "Pastoral Sonata" could, no doubt, be traced to an arbitrary
+invention, perhaps of some over-smart publisher endeavouring to heighten
+the attractiveness of the Sonata to the general public by the addition
+of a suggestive title. Yet it seems to fit the Sonata pretty well,
+because, really, its main characteristic is a rural sort of peaceful
+repose. Especially the first movement is of a tranquillity which,
+surely, does not suggest the life of a metropolis. But in the other
+movements, too, there are many episodes which by their naïveté and
+good-natured boisterousness indicate the life of the village.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Few, Well Played, Are Enough_]
+
+Must I play all the Sonatas of Beethoven's in order to become a good
+player, or is a certain number of them sufficient, and, if so, how many
+would you advise?
+
+Since the playing of all the Sonatas does not necessarily prove that
+they were all well played, I think it is better to play one Sonata well
+than to play many of them badly. Nor should Beethoven's Sonatas be
+regarded as a musical drilling-ground, but rather as musical
+revelations. As they are not all on precisely the same high plane of
+thought, it is not necessary to play them all. To familiarize yourself
+with Beethoven's style and grandeur of thought it is sufficient to have
+mastered six or eight of his Sonatas; though that number, at least,
+should be _mastered_.
+
+
+MENDELSSOHN
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Mendelssohn_]
+
+In a complete course for a piano student should the study of Mendelssohn
+be included? Which of his compositions are the most useful?
+
+Mendelssohn is surely a composer who is not to be omitted. His melody
+alone, besides other virtues, entitles him to be included, for melody
+seems to grow scarce nowadays. To develop a fine cantilena his "Songs
+Without Words" of slower motion, for instance, are just the thing.
+
+
+CHOPIN
+
+[Sidenote: _What Is the Best of Chopin?_]
+
+Which are the best compositions of Chopin to study by one who really
+desires to know him?
+
+All the Etudes, all the Preludes, the Ballades in A flat, G minor and F
+minor, the Berceuse and the Barcarolle. The Mazurkas, Nocturnes,
+Waltzes, and Polonaises you are probably familiar with; hence, I mention
+the aforesaid other works. Generally speaking, of Chopin a pianist
+should know everything.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Charm of Chopin's Touch_]
+
+What kind of touch did Chopin have?
+
+Since a description of his touch would require too much space I refer
+you to the book from which I gathered the most explicit information on
+this point. It is "The Life of Chopin," by Frederick Niecks (London and
+New York, Novello, Ewer & Co.), and in the second volume, from page 94
+to about 104, you will find what you wish to know, as far as it is
+possible to convey the charm of one art through the medium of another.
+Since you seem interested in Chopin I would recommend that you closely
+study both volumes of this masterly biographical work.
+
+[Sidenote: _Mood and Tempo in the A-Flat Impromptu_]
+
+What is the tempo (by metronome) of Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, and
+what idea did the composer embody in it?
+
+The editions vary in their metronome markings and I believe none of
+them. Your tempo will largely depend upon the state of your technique.
+To the second question my reply is that Chopin has composed "music"
+which--as you know--represents thoughts only in a musical sense,
+otherwise it deals with purely psychic processes, moods, etc. The humour
+of this Impromptu is mainly an amiable, ingratiating one, here and there
+slightly tinged with a sweet melancholy. It should not be played too
+fast, for it easily loses this latter attribute and then sounds like a
+Czerny exercise. A moderate tempo will also tend to bring out the many
+charming harmonic turns which, in too quick a tempo, are likely to be
+lost.
+
+[Sidenote: _Chopin's Barcarolle_]
+
+In Chopin's Barcarolle there is a number of trills preceded by grace
+notes. Are they to be executed according to Philipp Emmanuel Bach's
+rule, so that the grace notes take their time from the note that follows
+them?
+
+Philipp Emmanuel Bach's rule is a safe one to follow, but do not
+confound a rule with a law. If you have reached that plane on which an
+attempt at the Barcarolle by Chopin is rational, you must feel that your
+individual taste will not lead you too far astray even if it should
+prompt you occasionally to depart from the rule.
+
+[Sidenote: _Chopin's Works for a Popular Concert_]
+
+What works of Chopin would you suggest for a popular concert programme?
+
+Nocturne, Opus 27, No. 2; Fantasy Impromptu, Opus 66; Scherzo, Opus 31;
+Berceuse, Opus 57; Valse, Opus 64, No. 2; Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1;
+Chants Polonais (in Liszt's transcription).
+
+[Sidenote: _Taking Liberties with the Tempo_]
+
+In playing Chopin may one take liberties with the tempo and play
+different parts of the same mazurka or nocturne in various degrees of
+tempo?
+
+Undoubtedly. But the extent of such liberties depends upon your æsthetic
+training. In principle your question admits of an affirmative reply, but
+a specific answer is impossible without an acquaintance with your
+musical status. I recommend that you be very cautious about "taking
+liberties"; without, however, ceasing altogether to follow the
+promptings of your good taste here and there. There is such a thing as
+"artistic conscience"; consult it always before taking a liberty with
+the tempo.
+
+[Sidenote: _Omitting One Note in a Chord_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In the beginning of the Waltz in E minor by Chopin the left hand has to
+play this chord a number of times. I can stretch any three of the four
+notes, but not all four. Can one of them be omitted, and which one?
+
+You may omit the upper E, the second note from the top, but you may do
+so only so long as it is physically impossible for you to strike all
+the four notes. For, by omitting this note you do alter the tone colour
+of the chord as well as its sonority. As soon as you have acquired the
+requisite stretch--and anybody who does possess it--I would advise that
+the note be not unnecessarily omitted. Chopin evidently meant to have
+that note played.
+
+[Sidenote: _Masters Cannot be Studied in Order_]
+
+Will you give me your views as to the order in which the masters of
+piano composition should be studied?
+
+To classify composers, without specifying their works, is never
+advisable. Beethoven's first and last sonatas differ so fundamentally
+from each other in every particular that one may play the first one very
+well and yet be for many years (perhaps forever) unable to play the last
+one. And still, it is the same Beethoven that wrote both works. We can,
+therefore, hardly speak of an "order of composers." So long as we are
+dealing with masters the question should not be: Which master?--but,
+Which composition does your stage of mental and technical development
+call for? If you will defer the study of any other composer until you
+have fully mastered the works of Beethoven--only the principal ones, at
+that--you will need a life of more length than the Bible allots to the
+average man.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Greatest Composers as Pianists_]
+
+Is it true that nearly all the great composers have been pianists?
+
+If by pianists you mean musicians whose sole medium of audible musical
+utterance was the piano, your question admits of no other than an
+affirmative reply. The only exception I can think of just now was
+Berlioz; there were, no doubt, others, but none who belongs to the truly
+great ones. The reason for this is, perhaps, the circumstance that the
+pianist throughout his education is brought into touch with greater
+polyphony than the players of other instruments, and that polyphony is a
+basic principle in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Operatic Transcriptions_]
+
+Is the study of Thalberg's operatic transcriptions of any value to the
+piano student?
+
+Operatic transcriptions begin with Liszt. What was written before him in
+that line (and in some degree contemporary with him, hence it includes
+Thalberg) is hardly of any significance. If you feel a special
+inclination toward the transcriptions of Thalberg you may play them;
+they will not harm you so very much. But if you ask me whether they are
+of any musical value I must frankly say, no.
+
+[Sidenote: _Modern Piano Music_]
+
+Are such pieces as "Beautiful Star of Heaven" or "Falling Waters" in
+good taste? What contemporary composers write good piano music?
+
+Pieces with pretentious names are usually devoid of such contents as
+their names imply, so that the names are merely a screen to hide the
+paucity of thoughts and ideas. Speaking very generally, there seems to
+be not very much good music written for the piano just at present. By
+far the best comes from Russia. Most of these compositions are rather
+difficult to play, but there are some easy ones to be found among them,
+such as the "Music Box," by Liadow, "Fantastic Fairy Tales," No. 12, by
+Pachulski, and others.
+
+
+EXERCISES AND STUDIES
+
+[Sidenote: _Exercises for the Beginner to Practise_]
+
+Is there any special book of practice exercises that you think best for
+a beginner and that you would care to recommend?
+
+Any reliable music publisher will tell you which book of exercises is
+most in demand. The effect of the exercises depends, of course, upon the
+way you play them. Indications as to touch, etc., are usually given in
+such books. What kind of exercises your case demands cannot be
+determined without a personal examination by an expert.
+
+[Sidenote: _Good Finger Exercises_]
+
+What would you say are the best studies for plain finger work?
+
+The exercises of "Pischna" are to be recommended. They have appeared in
+two editions, of which one is abridged. They are known as the "large"
+and the "small Pischna." You may obtain them through any large music
+house, I think, in the Steingräber Edition.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Heller's Studies_]
+
+Are Heller's studies practical for a young student lacking in rhythm and
+expression?
+
+Yes, they are very good, provided the teacher insists that the pupil
+plays exactly what is indicated and does not merely "come near it."
+
+[Sidenote: _Good Intermediate Books of Etudes_]
+
+Living in the country, where there is no teacher available, I would
+thank you for telling me what Etudes I ought to study. I have finished
+those by Cramer and Moscheles, and can play them well, but find those by
+Chopin too difficult. Are there no intermediate works?
+
+You seem to be fond of playing Etudes. Well, then, I suggest:
+
+"Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," by Edmund Neupert.
+
+"Concert Etudes," by Hans Seeling (Peters Edition).
+
+"Etudes," by Carl Baermann (two books), published in Germany.
+
+"Etudes," by Ruthardt (Peters Edition).
+
+But why not select an easy Etude by Chopin and make a start? The best
+preparation--if not the Etudes themselves--is Heller's Opus 154.
+
+[Sidenote: _Etudes For Advanced Players to Work at_]
+
+What regular technical work would you prescribe for a fairly advanced
+pianist--one who plays pretty well such things as the Chopin Etudes in
+C minor, Opus 10, No. 12, and in D flat, Opus 25, No. 8, and the B flat
+minor prelude?
+
+My advice to advanced players is always that they should construct their
+technical exercises out of such material as the different places in the
+pieces at hand furnish. If you should feel the need of Etudes for
+increasing your endurance and control of protracted difficult passages I
+suggest that you take up the Etudes by Baermann and those by Kessler.
+The former are a little easier than the latter.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day_]
+
+My first teacher laid great store by Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum,"
+and insisted upon taking every study in it, while my new teacher, with
+whom I recently started lessons, says that it is "outlived,
+superannuated." Was my old or my new teacher right?
+
+They were both right; one as a pedagogue, the other as a musician. As
+you do not mention the reason of your first teacher's insistence, I must
+assume that he employed the "Gradus" as exercises, pure and simple. It
+serves this purpose quite well, though even as studies for the applying
+of technical disciplines they are, on account of their dryness,
+"outlived," as your new teacher correctly says. Modern writers have
+produced studies which combine with their technical usefulness greater
+musical value and attractiveness.
+
+
+POLYRHYTHMS
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing Duple Time Against Triple_]
+
+How must I execute triplets played against two-eighths? In Clementi's
+Sonatina, Opus 37, No. 3, first page, you will find such bars.
+
+In a slow tempo it may serve you to think of the second eighth-note of
+the triplet as being subdivided into two sixteenths. After both hands
+have played the first note of their respective groups simultaneously,
+the place of the aforesaid second sixteenth is to be filled by the
+second note of the couplet. In faster motion it is far better to
+practise at first each hand alone and with somewhat exaggerated accents
+of each group until the two relative speeds are well established in the
+mind. Then try to play the two hands together in a sort of
+semi-automatic way. Frequent correct repetition of the same figure will
+soon change your semi-automatic state into a conscious one, and thus
+train your ear to listen to and control two different rhythms or
+groupings at the same time.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Two Hands Playing Different Rhythms_]
+
+How should, in Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu, the four notes of the right
+be played to the three of the left? Is an exact division possible?
+
+An exact division would lead to such fractions as the musician has no
+means of measuring and no terms for expressing. There is but one way to
+play unequal rhythms simultaneously in both hands; study each hand
+separately until you can depend upon it, and put them together without
+thinking of either rhythm. Think of the points where the two hands have
+to meet, the "dead points" of the two motions, and rely on your
+automatism until, by frequent hearing, you have learned to listen to two
+rhythms at once.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Old Problem of Duple Time Against Triple_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How should the above-quoted notes be brought in with the lower triplets?
+
+It would be futile to attempt a precise and conscious division in such
+cases. The best, in fact, the only, way to do is to practise the hands
+separately with an exaggerated accent on each beat until the points
+where the hands meet are well conceived and the relative speed ratios
+are well understood. Then try to play the hands together, and do not be
+discouraged if the first attempts fail. Repeat the trial often and you
+will finally succeed if the separate practice has been sufficient to
+produce a semi-automatic action of the hands.
+
+
+PHRASING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing_]
+
+Can you give an amateur a concise definition of phrasing and a few
+helpful suggestions as to clear phrasing?
+
+Phrasing is a rational division and subdivision of musical sentences,
+and serves to make them intelligible. It corresponds closely with
+punctuation in literature and its recitation. Find out the start, the
+end, and the culminating point of your phrase. The last-named is
+usually to be found upon the highest note of the phrase, while the
+former are usually indicated by phrasing slurs. Generally speaking, the
+rising of the melody is combined with an increase of strength up to the
+point of culmination, where, in keeping with the note design, the
+decrease of strength sets in. For artistic phrasing it is of the utmost
+importance properly to recognize the principal mood of the piece, for
+this must, naturally, influence the rendition of every detail in it. A
+phrase occurring in an agitated movement, for instance, will have to be
+rendered very differently from a similar-looking phrase in a slow,
+dreamy movement.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest_]
+
+In observing a rest should the hand be raised from the wrist?
+
+Never! Such a motion should be made only in rapid wrist octaves or other
+double notes when a staccato is prescribed. The regular way to conclude
+a phrase, or observe a pause, as you say, is to lift the arm from the
+keyboard and keep the wrist perfectly limp, so that the arm carries the
+loosely hanging hand upward.
+
+
+RUBATO
+
+[Sidenote: _As to Playing Rubato_]
+
+Will you please tell me what is the best method of playing rubato?
+
+The artistic principles ruling rubato playing are good taste and keeping
+within artistic bounds. The physical principle is balance. What you
+shorten of the time in one phrase or part of a phrase you must add at
+the first opportunity to another in order that the time "stolen"
+(rubato) in one place may be restituted in another. The æsthetic law
+demands that the total time-value of a music piece shall not be affected
+by any rubato, hence, the rubato can only have sway within the limits of
+such time as would be consumed if the piece were played in the strictest
+time.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"_]
+
+I find an explanation of _tempo rubato_ which says that the hand which
+plays the melody may move with all possible freedom, while the
+accompanying hand must keep strict time. How can this be done?
+
+The explanation you found, while not absolutely wrong, is very
+misleading, for it can find application only in a very few isolated
+cases; only inside of one short phrase and then hardly satisfactorily.
+Besides, the words you quote are not an explanation, but a mere
+assertion or, rather, allegation. _Tempo rubato_ means a wavering, a
+vacillating of time values, and the question whether this is to extend
+over both hands or over only one must be decided by the player's good
+taste; it also depends upon whether the occupation of the two hands can
+be thought of as separate and musically independent. I assume that you
+are able to play each hand alone with perfect freedom, and I doubt not
+that you can, with some practice, retain this freedom of each hand when
+you unite them, but I can see only very few cases to which you could
+apply such skill, and still less do I see the advantage thereof.
+
+[Sidenote: _Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse_]
+
+In playing _rubato_ do you follow a preconceived notion or the impulse
+of the moment?
+
+Perfect expression is possible only under perfect freedom. Hence, the
+perfect _rubato_ must be the result of momentary impulse. It is,
+however, only a few very eminent players that have such command over
+this means of expression as to feel safe in trusting their momentary
+impulses altogether. The average player will do well carefully to
+consider the shifting of time values and to prepare their execution to a
+certain degree. This should not, however, be carried too far, as it
+would impair the naturalness of expression and lead to a stereotyped
+mannerism.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between Conception and Rubato_]
+
+Is there any difference between conception and _rubato?_
+
+Conception is a generic term and comprises the service of each and all
+means of expression, among which _rubato_ plays a somewhat prominent
+part. For it is, so to speak, the musical pulse-beat of the player.
+Being subordinate to conception, its function and manner must be
+governed by the latter.
+
+
+CONCEPTION
+
+[Sidenote: _Different Conceptions May be Individually Correct_]
+
+Can one and the same phrase be conceived differently by different
+artists and still be individually correct in each instance?
+
+Certainly! Provided that--whatever the conception be--it preserves the
+logical relations of the parts in building up the phrase, and that it is
+carried through the whole course of the piece in a consistent manner.
+Whether a certain conception of a phrase is or is not compatible with
+the general character of the piece and how far the freedom of conception
+may extend, it will be for the æsthetic training and the good taste of
+the player to determine for each and every case separately.
+
+[Sidenote: _Which Should Come First--Conception or Technique?_]
+
+In the first attempts at a new piece must matters of conception be
+observed at once or only after the piece has been technically mastered?
+
+Unless one is a very experienced reader it will be hardly possible to
+think of matters of conception until the technical means to express them
+and the necessary perspective of the piece have been gained. It is
+always safer first to make sure that the notes as such, and their
+respective times value have been read correctly, and that the technical
+difficulties have, to a fair degree, been overcome. This done, the
+question must be settled as to whether the general character of the
+piece is dramatic, _i. e._, tragic or conciliatory, melancholy, lyric,
+rhapsodic, humorous, or changeable, and so forth. Only when our mind on
+this point is made up with the utmost definiteness, can we approach the
+details that are conditioned by the conception.
+
+
+FORCE OF EXAMPLE
+
+[Sidenote: _Hearing a Piece Before Studying It_]
+
+Should a pupil hear a piece played before studying it?
+
+If the pupil's imagination needs stimulation he should hear the piece
+well played before studying it. If, however, he is merely too lazy to
+find out the rhythm, melody, and so forth, and rather relies upon his
+purely imitative faculty, he should not hear it, but be compelled to do
+his own reading and thinking.
+
+
+THEORY
+
+[Sidenote: _Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony_]
+
+Do you recommend the study of harmony and counterpoint to the piano
+student?
+
+By all means! To gain a musical insight into the pieces you play you
+must be able to follow the course of their harmonies and understand the
+contrapuntal treatment of their themes. Without the knowledge gained
+through a serious study of harmony and counter-point your conceptions
+will be pure guesswork and will lack in outline and definiteness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why so Many Different Keys?_]
+
+Why is it supposed to be necessary to have fifteen keys to complete the
+circle of fifths? Why would not twelve suffice, and thus avoid duplicate
+keys?
+
+Not fifteen, but twenty-five tonalities complete the circle of fifths,
+theoretically, and they are all necessary because of the many harmonic
+turns that occur in modern music and which could not be intelligently
+demonstrated unless we use the tonalities with seven, eight, nine or
+more sharps and flats. For otherwise we might have to change the
+signature so frequently as to become utterly confusing to even the most
+musicianly reader. C-sharp minor has but four sharps, yet the scale of
+its dominant (its next relative) has eight sharps.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Relation of Harmony to Piano-Playing_]
+
+Is it absolutely necessary for me to study harmony in connection with my
+piano? My teacher wants me to do it, but I don't see the use! Of what
+benefit is harmony?
+
+Of what benefit is the general school-work a child has to go through? To
+play the piano well a good hand and so many hours of practice are not
+sufficient; it requires a general musical education. This means, first
+and foremost, a knowledge of harmony, to which you may later add the
+study of counterpoint and forms. Your teacher is absolutely right.
+
+[Sidenote: _Text-Books on Harmony_]
+
+Would you care to recommend two or three of the best books on the study
+of harmony?
+
+The doctrine of harmony is ever the same, but the modes of teaching it
+are constantly changing and, I trust, improving. For this reason I feel
+a certain hesitation in recommending at this time the text-books which I
+studied many years ago, especially as I am not certain that they have
+been translated into English. I advise you, therefore, to inquire of
+some good teacher of harmony or, at least, of a reliable music publisher
+or dealer. E. F. Richter and Büssler wrote works of recognized merit,
+which, though no longer modern, may be safely studied.
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning to Modulate_]
+
+Is it possible to learn modulating from a book without the aid of a
+teacher, so as to connect two pieces of different tonality?
+
+Possible, yes, but not probable; for since in your written exercises you
+are likely to err at times, you will need some one to point out your
+errors and so show you the way to correct them. Generally speaking, I do
+not think much of studying the rudiments of anything without the aid of
+an experienced adviser.
+
+[Sidenote: _Studying Counterpoint by One's Self_]
+
+Is it possible to study counterpoint without a teacher, and, if so, what
+book can you recommend for its study?
+
+It is quite possible, provided you are certain never to misunderstand
+your text-book and never to commit any errors. Otherwise you will need
+the advice of an experienced musician in correcting them. A good
+teacher, however, is always better than a book for this study. Of
+text-books there are a great many. Any reliable music house will furnish
+you with a list of them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Should Piano Students Try to Compose?_]
+
+Besides my study of the piano shall I try to compose if I feel the
+inclination and believe I have some talent for it?
+
+The practice of constructing will always facilitate your work of
+reconstructing, which is, practically, what the rendition of a musical
+work means. Hence, I advise every one who feels able to construct even a
+modest little piece to try his hand at it. Of course, if you can write
+only a two-step it will not enable you to reconstruct a Beethoven
+Sonata; still, there may be little places in the Sonata that will clear
+up in your mind more quickly when you have come in touch with the
+technical act of putting down on paper what your mind has created, and
+you will altogether lose the attitude of the absolute stranger when
+facing a new composition. Do not construe this, however, as an
+encouragement to write two-steps!
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student Who Wants to Compose_]
+
+Please advise me as to the best way of learning composition. Which is
+the best work of that kind from which I could learn?
+
+First learn to write notes. Copying all sorts of music is the best
+practice for that. Then study the doctrine of harmony. Follow it up by a
+study of the various forms of counterpoint. Proceed to canon in its many
+kinds and intervals. Take up the fugue. Then study forms until you learn
+to feel them. Books for every one of these stages there are many, but
+better than all the books is a good teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between Major and Minor Scales_]
+
+What is the difference between the major and minor scale? Does it lie in
+the arrangement of semitones or in the character, or in both?
+
+There are three differences: First, in the arrangement of the semitones;
+second, in the character; and, third, in the circumstance that the minor
+scale admits of a number of modifications for melodic purposes which
+cannot be made in the major scale.
+
+[Sidenote: _There is Only One Minor Scale_]
+
+Which is the true minor scale, the melodic or the harmonic? My teacher
+insists upon the harmonic, but it sounds ugly to me. Will you please
+tell me something about it?
+
+There is but one minor scale; it is the one upon which the chords of its
+tonality are built; it is the one upon which your teacher wisely
+insists, because the so-called melodic minor scale offers no new
+intervals to your fingers, and because the term melodic minor scale is
+applied to that form of deviation from the real scale which is most
+frequently used, but which is by no means the only deviation that is
+possible; nor is it the only one in use.
+
+[Sidenote: _What is the Difference Between the Major and Minor Scales?_]
+
+What is the difference between the major and minor scales?
+
+The major scale has a major third and sixth, while the minor scale has a
+minor third and sixth and raises its seventh to a major seventh by an
+accidental elevating sign, raising a natural note by a sharp, and a flat
+note by a natural. If you begin your major scale upon its sixth degree
+and, counting it as the first of the minor, raise the seventh, you
+obtain the minor scale, in which, however, many modifications are
+admissible for melodic (though not for harmonic) purposes.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka, and Polonaise Differ_]
+
+As a waltz and a menuet are both in three-fourth time, is it only the
+tempo in which they differ, or are there other differences?
+
+Waltz, menuet, mazurka, and polonaise are all in three-fourth time and
+are not confined to a definite tempo. The difference between them lies
+in the structure. A waltz period--that is, the full expression of a
+theme--needs sixteen measures; a menuet needs only eight, a mazurka only
+four measures. In a mazurka a motive occupies only one measure, in the
+menuet two, and in the waltz four. The polonaise subdivides its quarters
+into eighths, and the second eighth usually into two sixteenths; it
+differs, therefore, from the other three dances by its rhythm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning of "Toccata"_]
+
+What is the meaning of the word "Toccata"? I do not find it in the
+Italian lexicon and the English musical dictionaries differ widely in
+their definitions. None of their definitions seems to apply to the
+Toccata by Chaminade.
+
+To make the matter quite plain let me say, first, that "Cantata" (from
+_cantare_--to sing) meant in olden times a music piece to be sung; while
+"Sonata" (from _suonare_--to play) designated a piece to be played on an
+instrument; and "Toccato" meant a piece for keyboard instruments like
+the organ or piano and its precursors, written with the intention of
+providing special opportunities for the display of the skill of touch
+(from _toccare_--to touch) or, as we would now say, finger technique.
+The original meanings have changed so that these terms now imply
+definite forms, like the modern Cantata and Sonata. The Toccata is, at
+present, understood to be a piece in constant and regular motion, very
+much like those that are called "_moto perpetuo_" or "perpetual motion,"
+of which Weber's "Perpetuum mobile" is a good example. I have no doubt
+that the Toccata by Chaminade, which I do not know, is written on
+similar lines.
+
+
+THE MEMORY
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing from Memory Is Indispensable_]
+
+Is memorization absolutely essential to a good player?
+
+Playing from memory is indispensable to the freedom of rendition. You
+have to bear in your mind and memory the whole piece in order to attend
+properly to its details. Some renowned players who take the printed
+sheets before them on the stage play, nevertheless, from memory. They
+take the music with them only to heighten their feeling of security and
+to counteract a lack of confidence in their memory--a species of
+nervousness.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Easiest Way to Memorize_]
+
+Will you please tell me which is the easiest way to memorize a piano
+piece?
+
+Begin by playing it a few times very carefully and slowly until you can
+play it with a fair degree of exactitude (you need not mind an
+occasional stopping). Then go over such places as appeared to you
+especially complex until you understand their construction. Now let the
+piece rest for a whole day and try to trace in your mind the train of
+thoughts in the piece. Should you come to a dead stop be satisfied with
+what you have achieved. Your mind will keep on working, subconsciously,
+as over a puzzle, always trying to find the continuation. If you find
+that the memory is a blank take the music in hand, look at the
+particular place--but only at this--and, since you have now found the
+connection, continue the work of mental tracing. At the next stop repeat
+this procedure until you have reached the end, not in every detail, but
+in large outlines. Of course, this does not mean that you can now _play_
+it from memory. You have only arrived at the point of transition from
+the imagined to the real, and now begins a new kind of study: to
+transfer to the instrument what you have mentally absorbed. Try to do
+this piece by piece, and look into the printed sheets (which should not
+be on the music-rack but away from it) only when your memory absolutely
+refuses to go on. The real work with the printed music should be
+reserved to the last, and you should regard it in the light of a
+proof-reading of your mental impressions. The whole process of absorbing
+a piece of music mentally resembles that of photographing. The
+development of the acoustic picture (the tone-picture) is like the bath.
+The tentative playing is like the process of "fixing" against
+sensitiveness to lights; and the final work with the printed music is
+the retouching.
+
+[Sidenote: _In Order to Memorize Easily_]
+
+I find it very hard to memorize my music. Can you suggest any method
+that would make it easier?
+
+To retain in one's memory what does not interest one is difficult to
+everybody, while that which does interest us comes easy. In your case
+the first requirement seems to be that your interest in the pieces you
+are to play be awakened. This interest usually comes with a deeper
+understanding of music; hence, it may be said that nothing will assist a
+naturally reluctant memory so much as a general musical education.
+Special studies for the memory have not come to my knowledge because I
+never had any need of them. After all, the best way to memorize is--to
+memorize. One phrase to-day, another to-morrow, and so on, until the
+memory grows by its own force through being exercised.
+
+[Sidenote: _Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily_]
+
+I memorize very easily, so that I can often play my pieces from memory
+before I have fully mastered their technical difficulties, as my
+teacher says. But I forget them just as quickly, so that in a few weeks
+I cannot remember enough of them to play them clear through. What would
+you advise, to make my memory more retentive?
+
+There are two fundamental types of memory: One is very mobile--it
+acquires quickly and loses just as quickly; the other is more cumbrous
+in its action--it acquires slowly, but retains forever. A combination of
+the two is very rare, indeed; I never heard of such a case. A remedy
+against forgetting you will find in refreshing your memory in regular
+periods, playing your memorized pieces over (carefully) every four or
+five days. Other remedies I know not and I see no necessity for them.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Keep Errors from Creeping in_]
+
+I can always memorize a piece before I can play it fast. Do you advise
+practising with notes when I already know it by heart?
+
+The occasional playing of a memorized piece from the notes will keep
+errors from creeping in, provided you read the music correctly and
+carefully.
+
+
+SIGHT READING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading_]
+
+Is there any practical method that will assist one to greater rapidity
+in sight-reading?
+
+The best way to become a quick reader is to read as much as possible.
+The rapidity of your progress depends upon the state of your general
+musical education, for the more complete this is the better you will be
+able to surmise the logical sequel of a phrase once started. A large
+part of sight-reading consists of surmising, as you will find upon
+analyzing your book-reading.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading_]
+
+What is a good plan to pursue to improve the facility in sight-reading?
+
+Much reading and playing at sight and as fast as possible, even though
+at first some slight inaccuracies may creep in. By quick reading you
+develop that faculty of the eye which is meant by "grasp," and this, in
+turn, facilitates your reading of details.
+
+
+ACCOMPANYING
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning To Accompany at Sight_]
+
+How can one learn to accompany at sight?
+
+Develop your sight-reading by playing many accompaniments, and
+endeavour--while playing your part--also to read and inwardly hear the
+solo part.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Art of Accompanying a Soloist_]
+
+How should one manage the accompaniment for a soloist inclined to play
+rubato?
+
+Since you cannot make a contract of artistically binding force with a
+soloist you must take refuge in "following." But do not take this word
+in its literal meaning; rather endeavour to divine the intentions of
+your soloist from moment to moment, for this divining is the soul of
+accompanying. To be, in this sense, a good accompanist, one must have
+what is called in musical slang a good "nose"--that is, one must
+musically "scent" whither the soloist is going. But, then, the nose is
+one of the things we are born with. We may develop it, as to its
+sensitiveness, but we cannot acquire a nose by learning. Experience will
+do much in these premises, but not everything.
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning the Art of Accompanying_]
+
+Wishing to become an accompanist I anticipate completing my studies in
+Berlin. What salary might I expect and what would be the best "course"
+to pursue?
+
+An experienced and very clever accompanist may possibly earn as much as
+fifty dollars a week if associated with a vocal, violin, or 'cello
+artist of great renown. Usually, however, accompanists are expected to
+be able to play solos. There are no special schools for accompanists,
+though there may be possibly some special courses in which experience
+may be fostered. If you come to Berlin you will find it easy to find
+what you seem to be seeking.
+
+
+TRANSPOSING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Problem of Transposing at Sight_]
+
+What, please, is the quickest and safest way of transposing from one key
+to another? I have trouble, for instance, in playing for singing if the
+piece is in A major and the singer wants it in F major.
+
+The question of transposing hinges on the process of hearing through the
+eye. I mean by this that you must study the piece until you learn to
+conceive the printed music as sounds and sound groups, not as key
+pictures. Then transfer the sound picture to another tonality in your
+mind, very much as if when moving from one floor to another with all
+your household goods you were to place them on the new floor as they
+were placed on the old. Practice will, of course, facilitate this
+process very much. Transposition at sight is based on somewhat different
+principles. Here you have to get mentally settled in the new tonality,
+and then follow the course of intervals. If you find transposition
+difficult you may derive consolation from the thought that it is
+difficult for everybody, and that transposing at sight is, of course,
+still more difficult than to transpose after studying the piece
+beforehand.
+
+
+PLAYING FOR PEOPLE
+
+[Sidenote: _When to "Play For People"_]
+
+During the period of serious study may I play for people (friends or
+strangers) or should I keep entirely away from the outside world?
+
+From time to time you may play for people the pieces you have mastered,
+but take good care to go over them afterward--the difficult places
+slowly--in order to eliminate any slight errors or unevenness that may
+have crept in. To play for people is not only a good incentive for
+further aspirations; it also furnishes you with a fairly exact estimate
+of your abilities and shortcomings, and indicates thereby the road to
+improvement. To retire from the outside world during the period of study
+is an outlived, obsolete idea which probably originated in the endeavour
+to curb the vanity of such students as would neglect their studies in
+hunting, prematurely, for applause. I recommend playing for people
+moderately and on the condition that for every such "performance" of a
+piece you play it afterward twice, slowly and carefully, at home. This
+will keep the piece intact and bring you many other unexpected
+advantages.
+
+[Sidenote: "_Afraid to Play Before People_"]
+
+I can never do myself justice when playing for people, because of my
+nervousness. How can I overcome it?
+
+If you are absolutely certain that your trouble is due to "nervousness"
+you should improve the condition of your nerves by proper exercise
+in the open air and by consulting your physician. But are you
+quite sure that your "nervousness" is not merely another name for
+self-consciousness, or, worse yet, for a "bad conscience" on the score
+of technical security? In the latter case you ought to perfect your
+technique, while in the former you must learn to discard all thought of
+your dear self, as well as of your hearers in relation to you, and
+concentrate your thinking upon the work you are to do. This you can well
+achieve by will-power and persistent self-training.
+
+[Sidenote: _Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often_]
+
+I have heard artists play the same piece year after year, and each time
+as expressively as before. After a piece has been played several hundred
+times it can hardly produce on the player the same emotional effect that
+it originally did. Is it possible for a player by his art and technical
+resources so to colour his tones that he can stimulate and produce in
+his audience an emotional condition which he himself does not at the
+time feel?
+
+In music emotion can be conveyed only through the means and modes of
+expression that are peculiar to music, such as dynamic changes,
+vacillations of tempo, differences of touch and kindred devices. When a
+piece is played in public very often on consecutive occasions--which
+artists avoid as much as they can--these expressions gradually assume a
+distinct form which is quite capable of preservation. Though it will in
+time lose its life-breath, it can still produce a deception just as (to
+draw a drastic parallel) a dead person may look as if he were only
+asleep. In this parallel the artist has, however, one great advantage.
+Since he cannot play a piece very often without having a number of
+errors, rearrangements, slight changes creeping into it, he must, in
+order to eliminate them and to cleanse the piece, return from time to
+time to slow practice in which he also refrains almost entirely from
+expression. When in the next public performance the right tempo and
+expression are added again they tend strongly to renew the freshness of
+the piece in the player's mind.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself_]
+
+I love music dearly and my teacher is always satisfied with my lessons,
+but when I play for my friends I never make a success. They compliment
+me, but I feel that they do not care for my playing; even my mother says
+that my playing is "mechanical." How can I change it?
+
+It is just possible that your friends and your mother may not be
+amenable to the high class of music which you play, but if this is not
+the case your affliction cannot be cured offhand. If the lack of
+expression in your playing should emanate from a lack of feeling in
+yourself, then your case would be incurable. If, however, you play
+"mechanically" because you do not know how to express your emotions in
+your playing--and I suspect it to be so--then you are curable, although
+there are no remedies that would act directly. I suggest that you form
+close associations with good musicians and with lovers of good music. By
+looking well and listening you can learn their modes of expression and
+employ them first by imitation until the habit of "saying something"
+when you play has grown upon you. I think, though, that you need an
+inward change before there can be any outward change.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Art of Playing With Feeling_]
+
+In the musical manifestations of feeling how does the artist chiefly
+differ from the amateur?
+
+The artist expresses his feelings with due deference to the canons of
+art. Above all, he plays correctly without allowing this ever-present
+correctness to make his playing seem lacking in feeling. Without unduly
+repressing or suppressing his individuality he respects the composer's
+intentions by punctiliously obeying every hint or suggestion he finds in
+the annotations, concerning speed, force, touch, changes, contrasts,
+etc. He delivers the composer's message truthfully. His personality or
+individuality reveals itself solely in the way he understands the
+composition and in the manner in which he executes the composer's
+prescriptions.
+
+Not so the amateur. Long before he is able to play the piece correctly
+he begins to twist and turn things in it to suit himself, under the
+belief, I suppose, that he is endowed with an "individuality" so strong
+as to justify an indulgence in all manner of "liberties," that is,
+licence. Feeling is a great thing; so is the will to express it; but
+both are worthless without ability. Hence, before playing with feeling,
+it were well to make sure that everything in the piece is in the right
+place, in the right time, strength, touch, and so forth. Correct
+reading--and not only of the notes _per se_--is a matter that every good
+teacher insists upon with his pupils, even in the earliest grades of
+advancement. The amateur should make sure of that before he allows his
+"feelings" to run riot. But he very seldom does.
+
+[Sidenote: _Affected Movements at the Piano_]
+
+Is there any justification for the swaying of the body, the nodding of
+the head, the exaggerated motion of the arms, and all grotesque actions
+in general while playing the piano, so frequently exhibited not only by
+amateurs but by concert players, too?
+
+All such actions as you describe reveal a lack of the player's proper
+self-control when they are unconsciously indulged in. When they are
+consciously committed, which is not infrequently the case, they betray
+the pianist's effort to deflect the auditors' attention from the
+composition to himself, feeling probably unable to satisfy his auditors
+with the result of his playing and, therefore, resorting to
+illustration by more or less exaggerated gesture. General
+well-manneredness, or its absence, has a good deal to do with the
+matter.
+
+
+ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE
+
+[Sidenote: _Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?_]
+
+Do you believe that the piano is the most difficult of all instruments
+to master--more so than the organ or the violin? If so, why?
+
+The piano is more difficult to master than the organ, because the
+tone-production on the piano is not so purely mechanical as it is on the
+organ. The pianist's touch is the immediate producer of whatever variety
+or colour of tone the moment requires, whereas the organist is powerless
+to produce any change of tone colour except by pulling a different stop.
+His fingers do not and cannot produce the change. As to string
+instruments, their difficulties lie in an entirely different field, and
+this fact precludes comparison with the piano. Technically, the string
+instrument may be more difficult, but, to become an exponent of musical
+art on the piano requires deeper study, because the pianist must
+present to his hearers the totality of a composition while the string
+instruments depend for the most part upon the accompaniments of some
+other instruments.
+
+[Sidenote: _Piano Study for Conductor and Composer_]
+
+Being a cornet player, and wishing to become a conductor and composer, I
+should like to know if the study of the piano is necessary in addition
+to my broad, theoretical studies and a common college course.
+
+It depends upon what you wish to conduct and what to compose. With no
+other means of musically expressing yourself than a cornet it is highly
+improbable that you will be able to write or conduct a symphony. But you
+may be able to lead a brass band and, perhaps, to write a march or dance
+piece. If your musical aims are serious by all means take to the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why the Piano Is So Popular_]
+
+Why do more people play the piano than any other instrument?
+
+Because the rudimentary stages of music study are easier on the piano
+than on any other instrument. The higher stages, however, are so much
+more difficult, and it is then that the piano gets even with the bold
+aggressor. A violinist or 'cellist who can play a melody simply and with
+good tone is considered a fairly good amateur, for he must have mastered
+the difficulty of tone-production; he must have trained his right arm. A
+pianist who can play a melody equally well is the merest tyro. When he
+approaches polyphony, when the discrimination begins between the various
+parts speaking simultaneously, aye, then the real work begins--not to
+speak of velocity. It is, perhaps, for this reason that in reality there
+are a great many more violinists than pianists, if by either we mean
+persons who really master their instrument. The number of 'cellists is
+smaller, but the reason for this is to be found in the small range of
+'cello literature and also, perhaps, in the comparative unwieldiness of
+the instrument, which does not admit of technical development as, for
+instance, the more handy violin. If all beginners at the piano realized
+what exasperating, harassing, discouraging, nerve-consuming difficulties
+await them later and beset the path to that mastery which so few
+achieve, there would be far fewer piano students and more people would
+study the violin or the 'cello. Of the harp and the wind instruments I
+need not speak, because they are to be considered only in matters
+orchestral and not--seriously--as solo instruments.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Genuine Piano Hand_]
+
+What shape of hand do you consider the best for piano playing? Mine is
+very broad, with rather long fingers.
+
+The best piano hand is not the popular, pretty, narrow hand with long
+fingers. Nearly all the great technicians had or have proportioned
+hands. The genuine piano hand must be broad, in order to give each
+finger a strong base for the action of its phalanges and to give this
+base space enough for the development of the various sets of muscles.
+The length of the fingers must be in proportion to the width of the
+hand, but it is the width which I consider most important.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Composition Must Fit the Player_]
+
+Would you advise players with small hands to attempt the heavier class
+of the compositions by Liszt?
+
+Never! Whether the hands are too small or the stretch between the
+fingers too narrow--if you attempt a piece which for these or other
+physical reasons you cannot fully master, you always run the serious
+risk of overstraining. This, however, should be most carefully avoided.
+If you cannot play a certain piece without undue physical strain, leave
+it alone and remember that singers choose their songs not because they
+lie within their compass, but because they suit their voice. Do
+likewise. Be guided by the nature and the type of your hand rather than
+by its rapidity of execution.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist_]
+
+What physical exercises are most advantageous to be taken in connection
+with piano practice? I have been swinging clubs to strengthen wrists and
+arms, but have imagined it stiffened my fingers.
+
+I am inclined to think that what you imagined was not far from the
+truth. Can you not replace the real clubs by imaginary ones? Since
+club-swinging tends to develop the agility of the arms and wrists rather
+than their strength you can easily make the same motions without the
+clubs; for all exertion of force that keeps the hands in a closed
+condition is bound to have a bad effect on piano playing. Undoubtedly
+the best exercise of all, however, is brisk walking in the open air, for
+it engages every part and every organ of the body, and by compelling
+deep breathing it fosters the general health through increased
+oxygenation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers_]
+
+My teacher objects to my riding horseback; not altogether, but he says I
+overdo it and it stiffens my fingers. Is he right?
+
+Yes, he is. Every abuse carries its own punishment in its train. The
+closed position of the hand, the pressure of the reins upon the fingers,
+as constant as it is the case in horseback riding, is surely not
+advantageous for the elasticity of the fingers. You should, therefore,
+allow the effect of one ride upon your fingers to disappear completely
+before you indulge in another.
+
+[Sidenote: _When to Keep Away from the Piano_]
+
+Do you think I should play and study the piano just because it is asked
+of me, and when I take no interest in it?
+
+Most emphatically, no! It would be a crime against yourself and against
+music. What little interest in music you may have left would be killed
+by a study that is distasteful to you, and this would be, therefore,
+bound to lead to failure. Leave this study to people who are sincerely
+interested in it. Thank heaven, there are still some of those, and there
+always will be some! Be sure, however, that you are really not
+interested, and discriminate well between a lack of interest and a mere
+opposition to a perhaps too strenuous urging on the part of your
+relatives. My advice would be to quit the study for a time entirely; if,
+after a while, you feel a craving for music you will find the way to
+your instrument. This advice, of course, holds good also for violin
+students or any type of music student.
+
+
+BAD MUSIC
+
+[Sidenote: _The Company That One Keeps in Music_]
+
+Must I persist in playing classical pieces when I prefer to play dance
+music?
+
+If, in your daily life, you wish to be regarded as a lady or a gentleman
+you are obliged to be careful as to the company you keep. It is the same
+in musical life. If you associate with the noble thoughts that
+constitute good--or, as you call it, classical--music, you will be
+counted with a higher class in the world of music. Remember that you
+cannot go through a flour-mill without getting dusty. Of course, not all
+pieces of dance music are bad; but the general run of them are such
+poor, if not vulgar, stuff as hardly to deserve the name of
+"compositions." Usually they are mere "expositions" of bad taste. Of
+these I warn you for your own sake, and if you wish to avoid the danger
+of confounding the good and the bad in that line it is best to abstain
+from it entirely. If dance music it must be, why, have you never heard
+of the waltzes and mazurkas by Chopin?
+
+[Sidenote: _Why Rag-Time Is Injurious_]
+
+Do you believe the playing of the modern rag-time piece to be actually
+hurtful to the student?
+
+I do, indeed, unless it is done merely for a frolic; though even such a
+mood might vent itself in better taste. The touch with vulgarity can
+never be but hurtful, whatever form vulgarity may assume--whether it be
+literature, a person, or a piece of music. Why share the musical food
+of those who are, by breeding or circumstance, debarred from anything
+better? The vulgar impulse which generated rag-time cannot arouse a
+noble impulse in response any more than "dime novels" can awaken the
+instincts of gentlemanliness or ladyship. If we watch the street-sweeper
+we are liable to get dusty. But remember that the dust on the mind and
+soul is not so easily removed as the dust on our clothes.
+
+
+ETHICAL
+
+[Sidenote: _What the Object of Study Should Be_]
+
+How can we know that our talent is great enough to warrant us in
+bestowing year after year of work upon its development?
+
+Pleasure and interest should be such that it is in the actual working
+that one is repaid. Do not think so much of the end of your work. Do not
+force your work with the one view of becoming a great artist. Let
+Providence and the future decide your standing in music. Go on studying
+with earnestness and interest, and find your pleasure in the endeavour,
+not in the accomplishment.
+
+
+PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The International Pitch_]
+
+What is meant by "pitch" as regards piano tuning? People say that a
+certain piano is pitched lower than another. Would E on one piano
+actually sound like F on another?
+
+Yes, it would if the pianos were not pitched alike. It is only recently
+that an international pitch has been established which was adopted
+everywhere except in England. In the international pitch the A in the
+second space of the treble staff makes 435 vibrations a second.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "International" Piano Pitch_]
+
+Which piano pitch is preferable, "concert" or "international"?
+
+By all means the "international," because it will fit your piano to be
+used in conjunction with any other instrument, no matter whence it may
+come. Besides, the international pitch was decided upon as far back as
+1859, in Paris, by a government commission, numbering among its members
+such men as Auber, Halévy, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Ambroise Thomas,
+and many physicists and army generals. You can easily infer from this
+that, in determining that the A in the second space of the treble staff
+should have 435 vibrations a second, all phases of music--vocal,
+instrumental, string, brass, wood, wind--have been duly considered.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Well-Tempered Piano Scale_]
+
+Is there really a difference of three-eighths of a tone between A-sharp
+and B-flat on the piano?
+
+There is no difference on the piano. But acoustically there is a
+difference, over which, however, I would waste no time, since the
+evenly-tempered scale has been generally adopted, and every composition
+from Bach's time to the present day has been thought and written in it.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "Colour" of Various Keys_]
+
+Is it not a mistaken idea that any one particular key is more or less
+rich or melodious than another?
+
+The effect of a tonality upon our hearing lies not in its signature (as
+even Beethoven seemed to believe) but in the vibration proportions. It
+is, therefore, irrelevant whether we play a piece upon a high-pitched
+piano in C, or upon a low-pitched piano in D flat. There are certain
+keys preferable to others for certain colours, but I fear that the
+preference is based not upon acoustic qualities but rather upon a
+fitness for the hand or voice. We apply the word "colour" as much to
+tone as the painters apply "tone" to colour, but I hardly think that
+anybody would speak of C major as representing black, or F major green.
+
+
+THE STUDENT'S AGE
+
+[Sidenote: _Starting a Child's Musical Training_]
+
+At what age should a child begin the study of instrumental music? If my
+daughter (six years old) is to study the violin should she first spend a
+few years with the piano, or _vice versa_?
+
+The usual age for a child to begin the study of music is between six and
+seven years. A pianist hardly needs to learn another instrument to
+become a well-rounded musician, but violinists, as well as the players
+of all other instruments, and also vocalists, will be much hampered in
+their general musical development if they fail to acquire what may be
+called a speaking acquaintance with the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _Age of the Student is Immaterial_]
+
+I am not longer in my first youth, cannot take more than one hour's
+lesson a week, and cannot practise more than three hours a day. Would
+you still advise me to begin the study of the piano?
+
+Provided there is gift and intelligence, the will, and the opportunity
+to study, age need not stand in your way. If your three hours of study
+are properly used, and your hour's lesson a week is with a good teacher,
+you should not become discouraged.
+
+[Sidenote: _Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin_]
+
+Do you think that mastery of the piano is unlikely or impossible when
+the beginner is twenty-five years of age?
+
+It is neither unlikely nor impossible. Your age will to some degree
+handicap you, because from purely physical causes the elasticity of the
+fingers and wrists could be developed much more quickly if you were ten
+years younger. If, however, you are endowed with strong musical gifts in
+the abstract you will achieve results superior to those attained by
+younger people with less talent. In overcoming the difficulties due to a
+late beginning you will find great inward satisfaction, and your
+attainments are bound to be a source of joy to you.
+
+
+TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Importance of the Right Teacher_]
+
+I have a son who is very desirous of learning to play the piano. I have
+been advised that an ordinarily good teacher is good enough to begin
+with. Others tell me a beginner should get the best teacher possible.
+Which would you advise? I live in a small town.
+
+The seriousness of your question is aggravated by the statement that you
+live in a small town, and that there is possibly no teacher of ability
+to be found in your town. And yet it is only such a one that I can
+recommend for your son. For nothing is more dangerous for the
+development of a talent than a bad foundation. Many people have tried
+all their lives to rid themselves of the bad habits acquired from an
+ignorant teacher in the rudimentary stages of their studies, and have
+failed. I should advise you to try your best to send your boy to some
+near-by city where there is an excellent teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _Nothing But the Best Will Do_]
+
+Wishing to begin the study of the piano now, in my twenty-fourth year,
+just for the sake of my great love for music, and knowing not even the
+notes, is it necessary to go to an expensive teacher at once or would a
+cheaper teacher do for the beginning?
+
+If music is to be merely a pastime, and you content yourself with a
+minimum of knowledge, the cheaper teacher will do; but if you aspire to
+become musical in a better sense, why, by all means, apply to a teacher
+of the better class. The maxim: "For the beginning this or that is good
+enough," is one of the most harmful fallacies. What would you think of
+an architect who says: "For the foundation loam is good enough; we put a
+sandstone house over it, any way." Remember also, that the road a
+cheaper teacher has led you to take must usually be retraced when your
+aspirations rise toward the better in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _Music Schools and Private Teachers_]
+
+Shall I take my lessons in a music school or from a private teacher?
+
+Music schools are very good for acquiring a general musical education.
+For the higher study of an executive specialty (piano, violin, the
+voice, etc.) I should naturally prefer private instruction from a
+specialist, because he can give more attention to each individual pupil
+than is possible under the wholesale system followed, not by all, but by
+the majority of music schools. What I should advise would be a
+combination: General matters--harmony, counterpoint, forms, history, and
+æsthetics--in a music school; and private lessons for your specialty
+from a teacher who has an established name as an executive artist. The
+best music schools have such a man at their head, and in these you find
+the best combination.
+
+[Sidenote: _Individual Teacher, or Conservatory?_]
+
+After taking lessons for five years and a half from a good teacher,
+would you advise a continuance with the individual teacher or attendance
+at a college of music or conservatory?
+
+For a general musical education I always recommend a good music school
+or conservatory. For the study of the piano I think it best to take
+private lessons from an artist who is experienced both as an executant
+and as a teacher. Some music schools have such men on their staff, if
+not, indeed, at their head.
+
+[Sidenote: _Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable_]
+
+Having had twenty months' lessons and having now mastered Etudes by
+Berens, opus 61, by Heller, opus 47, and Smith's Octave Studies, do you
+think I am justified in continuing my lessons?
+
+Assuming that you have really "mastered" the works you mention I can
+only encourage you to continue your lessons; I would, however, advise
+you to obtain an experienced pianist's criticism in order to assure
+yourself that your idea of "mastering" is right.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Sex of the Piano Teacher_]
+
+Is there any preference as to sex in the question of choosing a piano
+teacher; in other words, is a woman teacher preferable for any reason
+for a girl and a man teacher for a man?
+
+Your question does not admit of generalization from a purely musical
+point of view. It must be--on this premise--decided by the quality, not
+by the sex, of the teacher. A good feminine teacher is better than a bad
+masculine one, and _vice versa_. The question of sex does not enter
+into the matter. Of course, the greater number of eminent teachers are
+found on the masculine side.
+
+[Sidenote: _Too Much "Method"_]
+
+My recently engaged teacher says that the word "method" jars on her
+nerves. Kindly advise me whether a method is not the best thing for a
+novice, and, if so, which one?
+
+Your teacher, while possibly a little over-sensitive, is not wrong.
+America is the most method-ridden country in the world. Most of the
+methods in vogue contain some good points--about a grain of truth to a
+ton of mere ballast. Your teacher's utterance makes me think that you
+were lucky in finding her, and that you have excellent reason to trust
+in her guidance.
+
+[Sidenote: _What the Leschetizky Method Is_]
+
+How does the Leschetizky method rank with other methods, and in what
+respect does it differ from them?
+
+There are but two methods in all the arts: a good one and a bad one.
+Since you do not specify with what "other" methods you wish to compare
+that of Leschetizky I cannot answer you with definiteness. There are,
+alas, so many "methods"! But the majority of them are based upon a
+deliberate disregard for that reverence which is due to great
+compositions and to the example of their rendition given by great
+interpreters. I have not studied with Leschetizky, but I think that he
+believes in a very low position of the hand and a sort of
+super-energetic tension of the tendons of the arms and hands.
+
+[Sidenote: _Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial_]
+
+Has a young pupil, after studying the piano irregularly for two months,
+tested fairly a teacher's ability?
+
+Of course not! Altogether I do not like the idea of a pupil's testing
+his teacher's ability, rather the reverse. He may possibly find his
+teacher unsympathetic, but even this matter he is apt to judge
+prematurely. In most cases of irregularly attended or poorly prepared
+lessons the lack of sympathy means nothing more than that the pupil is a
+trifler and the teacher's honesty of purpose is not to his taste.
+
+[Sidenote: _Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One_]
+
+I have a "Piano Method," left over from lessons with my first teacher;
+it was very expensive, and I learned only a few pages of it. We moved to
+a different city and my new teacher objects to using the book, or, as
+she says, any such book. I do not know what to do about it, and would
+thank you for your advice.
+
+When you apply to a teacher for instruction you must, first of all,
+decide in your own mind whether you have or have not absolute confidence
+in his ability. If you trust him you must do as you are advised to do;
+if not, you must apply to another teacher. A book, costing much or
+little, plays no part in the matter. By what you say of the new teacher,
+however, I am disposed to think that he is better than the first one.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Proper Course For a Little Girl_]
+
+Commencing piano lessons with my seven-year-old daughter, should I
+devote my efforts to the development of the fingers and hands, or retard
+such development so as to keep pace with the expansion of the mind?
+
+Your question is interesting. But if your mind is clear on that
+point--and it seems to be--that a one-sided development (in this case
+technical) is dangerous to the "musical" talent of your little daughter,
+why, then, your little girl is, indeed, "out of danger." Your very
+question is a credit to your insight.
+
+[Sidenote: _Frequent Lessons and Shorter_]
+
+Is it better for a young student to take one hour lesson or two
+half-hour lessons a week?
+
+Since young students are liable to form bad habits it is essential that
+they should come under the teacher's eye as frequently as possible.
+Hence, it is preferable to divide the hour into two equidistant parts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Number of Lessons Depends on Progress_]
+
+Which plan is better for a child of eleven or twelve years: to take a
+one-hour lesson or two half-hour lessons a week?
+
+The child's age is not the determining factor in this matter; it is his
+musical status.
+
+[Sidenote: _One Lesson a Week_]
+
+Is one lesson a week inadequate for a piano student?
+
+It will be sufficient in the more advanced stages of piano study. In
+the earlier stages, however, where the danger of forming bad habits is
+greatest, it is best to bring the pupil under his teacher's eye twice a
+week at the very least.
+
+[Sidenote: _Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"_]
+
+What little classics are best for a child after six months' lessons?
+
+There are collections without number of facilitated or simplified
+arrangements of classic pieces, but I do not altogether approve of them.
+Let the classics wait until the child is technically--and, above all,
+mentally--ripe to approach such works as they are written.
+
+[Sidenote: _Can Music Be Studied in America?_]
+
+Is it necessary for me to go to Europe to continue my music studies?
+
+If you have very much money to spare, why not? You will see much, also
+hear much--and some of it not quite so sublime as you anticipated--and,
+last but not least, you will have "studied abroad." While this slogan
+still exercises a certain charm upon some people in America, their
+number is growing less year by year, because the public has begun to
+understand that the United States affords just as good instruction in
+music as Europe does. It has also been found out that to "study abroad"
+is by no means a guarantee of a triumphant return. Many a young student
+who went abroad as a lamb returned as a mutton-head. And why should
+there not be excellent teachers in America by this time? Even if you
+should insist upon a European teacher you can find many of the best in
+America. Is it not simpler that one teacher from Europe go to America to
+teach a hundred students than that a hundred students should make the
+trip for the sake of one teacher? I should advise you to stay where you
+are or go to Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, where you can find
+excellent teachers, native, resident Americans and foreigners. To quote
+a case in point, let me say that in Berlin I found Godowsky's pupils to
+be almost exclusively Americans. They came from various sections of
+America to study with him and with no one else. But during the eighteen
+years he spent in Chicago they did not seem to want him. Perhaps he was
+too near by! Why this self-deception? Without mentioning any names I
+assure you that there are many teachers in America now who, if they
+should go to Europe, would draw a host of students after them, and some
+of these excellent men I know personally. It is high time to put an end
+to the superstitious belief in "studying abroad."
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS
+
+[Sidenote: _Organizing a Musical Club_]
+
+Please give me the name of a good book on musical history and advise me
+how to organize and conduct a musical club among my pupils. Also give me
+a name, please.
+
+You will find the "History of Music," by Baltzell, a serviceable book.
+As a name for your club I suggest that of the patron saint of
+music--Saint Cecilia--perhaps, or that of a great composer. Ask the
+secretaries of a number of musical clubs for their constitutions and
+by-laws and then adapt these to your locality and circumstances. Make
+your pupils feel that it is their club and act, yourself, as secretary,
+if possible.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Get Music Published_]
+
+Please explain how to go about publishing a piece of music, and also
+give the name of some good publishing houses.
+
+It is very easy to publish a piece of music if the publisher sees any
+merit in it. Send your piece to any publishing house whose name you find
+on the title pages of your sheet music. The readers or advisers of the
+house will report to their chief as to the merit of your piece, and he
+will then decide and negotiate with you, if his decision is favourable.
+If he should not care for it he will return your manuscript and you may
+try some other house. I advise you, however, to obtain the opinion of a
+good musician before you send your piece to a publisher.
+
+[Sidenote: _"Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"_]
+
+What is the difference between playing "in time" and playing "in
+rhythm"?
+
+Playing in rhythm refers to the inner life of a composition--to its
+musical pulsation. Playing in time means the prompt arrival upon those
+points of repose which are conditioned by the rhythm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music_]
+
+I find great difficulty in playing anything that goes quick, though in a
+more moderate tempo I can play my pieces faultlessly. Every teacher I
+had promised to develop my speed, but they all failed. Can you give me
+a hint how to overcome my difficulty?
+
+Quickness of action, of motion, even of resolution, cannot be acquired
+by training alone; it must partly be inborn. I assume that your
+piano-playing is one phase of a general slowness. There is but one
+remedy for that. You have relied upon your teachers to develop your
+speed--you should have relied upon your own will-power. Try to will it
+and to will it often; you will see the ability keep step with the
+exertions of your will.
+
+[Sidenote: _"Wonder-Children" as Pianists_]
+
+My child of five years of age shows signs of great talent for music. He
+has a keen, true ear, and plays rather well for his age. Does this
+justify me in hoping that something out of the ordinary will become of
+him? They say that so-called "wonder-children" never amount to anything
+in later life.
+
+That "wonder-children" never amount to anything in later life is not
+borne out by history. If some are disappointments it is either because
+they astonished by mere executive precocity, instead of charming by
+their talent, or because they were ruined by unscrupulous parents or
+managers who confounded the promise of a future with its realization.
+But, aside from these few, all great musicians were "wonder-children,"
+whether they became composers, pianists, violinists, 'cellists, or what
+not. The biographies of our great masters of the past centuries as well
+as those of more recent times (Mendelssohn, Wagner, Chopin, Schumann,
+Liszt, Rubinstein, and all the others), will bear me out in this
+statement. If your child shows more than mere precocity--if, for
+instance, he does not merely play in his fifth year what others play in
+their tenth, but shows qualities of musical superiority--then you may
+with a fair degree of certainty feel hopeful of a fine musical future
+for him.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Going to Concerts_]
+
+Shall I attend orchestra concerts or shall I give preference to
+soloists?
+
+By all means attend orchestra and chamber-music concerts! For these will
+acquaint you with those works which are, after all, of the greatest
+importance to the student. Besides, you will usually hear more correct
+interpretations than from soloists. The latter, with some luminous
+exceptions, overestimate their own authority and take such unseemly
+liberties that in many cases you hear more Smith, Jones, or Levy than
+Beethoven, Schumann, or Chopin. Individuality in a soloist is certainly
+a great quality, but only if it is tempered by a proper deference to the
+composer of the work in hand. If you cannot hear a soloist who is
+capable of sinking his individuality in the thought, mood, and style of
+the composer he is interpreting--and this is given to only the very
+greatest--you do far better to prefer to the "individual" renditions of
+a soloist the "collective" renditions of the orchestra or string
+quartette. The synthetic nature of the orchestra forestalls the
+extravagances of so-called individuality and insures, generally
+speaking, a truthful interpretation. The very worst conductor imaginable
+cannot do as much harm to a composition as can a mediocre soloist, for
+an orchestra is a large body and, therefore, not so easily moved and
+shifted from the path of musical rectitude as is a single voice or an
+instrument. A really great soloist is, of course, the finest flower of
+the garden of applied music, for his touch with the instrument is
+immediate and he needs no middleman to express the finest shades of his
+conceptions; while the conductor--and even the best--has to impart his
+conception (through the baton, facial expression, and gesture) to other
+people before it can become audible, and on this circuitous route much
+of the original fervour and ardour may be lost. But there are more good
+orchestras than great soloists, and hence you are safe in attending
+orchestra and chamber-music concerts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Books That Aid the Student Working Alone_]
+
+Compelled to study without a teacher for two years before I can go to a
+conservatory, what method should I study for my technique and what
+pieces?
+
+You fail to say whether you are a beginner or already somewhat advanced.
+Still, I think it safe to recommend Mason's "Touch and Technique,"
+Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66; and select your pieces from the graded
+catalogues which any publisher will be glad to send you.
+
+[Sidenote: _Music as a Profession or as an Avocation_]
+
+Would you advise a young man with a good foundation to choose
+music--that is, concertizing--as a career, or should he keep his music
+as an accomplishment and avocation?
+
+Your distinguishing between music and concertizing gives direction to my
+reply; that the question was not answered by your own heart before you
+asked it prompts me to advise music for you as an avocation. The
+artist's career nowadays is not so simple as it appears to be. Of a
+thousand capable musicians there is, perhaps, one who attains to a
+general reputation and fortune. The rest of them, after spending money,
+time, and toil, give up in despair, and with an embittered disposition
+take up some other occupation. If you do not depend upon public
+music-making for a living; if your natural endowments are not of a very
+unusually high order, and if your entire personality does not imply the
+exercise of authority over assemblages of people--spiritual authority, I
+mean--it were better to enjoy your music in the circle of your friends.
+It is less risky and will, in all probability, give you much greater
+satisfaction.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Much You Can Get From Music_]
+
+When I hear a concert pianist I want to get more from his playing than
+æsthetic ear enjoyment. Can you give me a little outline of points for
+which to look that may help me in my piano study?
+
+There is no pleasure or enjoyment from which we can derive more than we
+bring with us in the way of receptiveness. As you deepen your study of
+music and gain insight into its forms, contrapuntal work and harmonic
+beauties you will derive more and more pleasure from listening to a good
+pianist the deeper your studies go. What their playing reflects of
+emotional life you will perceive in the exact measure of your own grasp
+upon life. Art is a medium connecting, like a telegraph, two stations:
+the sender of a message and the receiver. Both must be pitched equally
+high to make the communication perfect.
+
+[Sidenote: "_It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than Sharps!_"]
+
+You would confer a favour upon a teacher by solving a problem for her
+that has puzzled her all her life; why do all pupils prefer flats to
+sharps? I am not at all sure that I do not, in some degree, share this
+preference. Is it a fault of training, or has it any other cause?
+
+Your question is both original and well justified by frequent
+observation, for it is quite true that people prefer to read flats to
+sharps. But note it well that the aversion to sharps refers only to the
+reading, not to the playing. If any one should find it harder to _play_
+in sharps, say, after knowing the notes well, it would be a purely
+subjective deception, due to a mental association of the note-picture
+with the respective sounds. My personal belief is that the aversion to
+the _reading_ of sharps is caused by the comparative complexity of the
+sign itself, and this leads me to think that the whole matter belongs
+rather to ophthalmology than to either acoustics or music.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rubinstein or Liszt--Which the Greater?_]
+
+As between Liszt and Rubinstein, whom do you consider the greater?
+
+Rubinstein I knew very well (I was his pupil), and have heard him play a
+great many times. Liszt, who died when I was sixteen years old and had
+not appeared in public for some twenty years previously, I never met
+and never heard. Still, from the descriptions which many of my friends
+gave me of him, and from the study of his works, I have been able to
+form a fair idea of his playing and his personality. As a virtuoso I
+think Liszt stood above Rubinstein, for his playing must have possessed
+amazing, dazzling qualities. Rubinstein excelled by his sincerity, by
+his demoniacal, Heaven-storming power of great impassionedness,
+qualities which with Liszt had passed through the sieve of a superior
+education and--if you understand how I mean that term--gentlemanly
+elegance. He was, in the highest meaning of the word, a man of the
+world; Rubinstein, a world-stormer, with a sovereign disregard for
+conventionality and for Mrs. Grundy. The principal difference lay in the
+characters of the two. As musicians, with regard to their natural
+endowments and ability, they were probably of the same gigantic calibre,
+such as we would seek in vain at the present time.
+
+[Sidenote: _As to One Composer--Excluding All Others_]
+
+If I am deeply interested in Beethoven's music can I not find in him all
+that there is in music, in both an æsthetic and a technical sense? Is
+any one's music more profound?
+
+You imagine yourself in an impenetrable stronghold whence, safe from all
+attacks, you may look upon all composers (except Beethoven) with a
+patronizing, condescending smile. But you are gravely in error. Life is
+too rich in experience, too many-sided in its manifestations, to permit
+any one master, however great, to exhaust its interpretation through his
+art. If you base your preference for Beethoven upon your sympathies, and
+if, for this reason, his music satisfies you better than that of any
+other composer, you are to be complimented upon your good taste. But
+that gives you no right to contest, for instance, the profoundness of
+Bach, the æsthetic charm of Chopin, the wonders of Mozart's art, nor the
+many and various merits of your contemporary composers. The least that
+one can be charged with who finds the whole of life expressed in any
+one composer is one-sidedness, not to speak of the fact that the
+understanding cannot be very deep for one master if it is closed to all
+others. One of the chief requirements for true connoisseurship is
+catholicity of taste.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure_]
+
+I am fifty-six years old, live in the mountains sixty-five miles from
+any railroad, alone with my husband, and I have not taken lessons in
+thirty-five years. Do you think "Pischna" would help me much to regain
+my former ability to play? If not, what would you advise me to do?
+
+Refrain from all especially technical work. Since your love of music is
+strong enough to cause you to resume your playing you should take as
+much pleasure in it as possible and work technically only in the pieces
+you play--that is, in those places which offer you difficulties. Decide
+upon a comfortable fingering first, and practise the difficult places
+separately and slowly until you feel that you can venture to play them
+in their appropriate speed.
+
+[Sidenote: _First Learn to Play Simple Things Well_]
+
+What pieces would you advise me to memorize after Rachmaninoff's Prelude
+in C-sharp minor and Chopin's A-flat Ballade? These pieces do not appeal
+to the majority of people, but I enjoy them.
+
+If such a work as Chopin's Ballade in A-flat does not "appeal to the
+majority"--as you say--the fault cannot lie in the composition, but must
+be sought in the interpretation. Why not try a few pieces of lesser
+complexity and play them so perfectly that they do appeal to the
+majority. Try Chopin's Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2; Schumann's Romanza,
+opus. 28, No. 2; or his "Traumerei," or some of the more pretentious
+"Songs Without Words" by Mendelssohn.
+
+[Sidenote: _About Starting on a Concert Career_]
+
+I am twenty-four, have had four years' rigorous work in a conservatory
+and a partial college training. My technique is adequate for Brahms's
+Rhapsody in G minor and McDowell's Sonatas. I have good health and am
+determined not to grow self-satisfied. Is there a place on the concert
+stage--even if only as an accompanist--for a woman thus equipped?
+
+Any public career must begin by earning the good opinion of others.
+One's own opinion, however just, is never a criterion. My advice is that
+you speak to some of the prominent concert agents, whose names and
+addresses you find in every well-accredited music paper. Play for them.
+They are usually not connoisseurs by actual knowledge, but they have
+developed a fine instinct for that which is of use to them, and you are,
+of course, aware that we must be of use to others before we can be of
+use to ourselves. If the right "stuff" is in you you will make your way.
+People of ability always do. That there is room for women on the concert
+stage is proved by the great array of meritorious women pianists.
+Especially for accompanying women are in demand--that is, for _good_
+accompanying. But I would not start out with the idea of accompanying.
+It seems like going to a commercial school to study be to an "assistant"
+bookkeeper. Become a fine, all-round musician, a fine pianist, and see
+what the tide of affairs will bring you. The proper level for your
+ability is bound to disclose itself to you.
+
+[Sidenote: _Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering_]
+
+Should an accompanist precede or follow the soloist on the stage in a
+concert or recital, and should sex be considered in the matter?
+
+If the soloist be a man the accompanist should precede him on the stage
+in order to arrange his music, the height of his seat or whatever may be
+necessary, during which time the soloist salutes the audience. For these
+reasons it should be the same when the soloist is a woman, but as women
+are of the feminine persuasion it will, perhaps, look better if the
+accompanist yields precedence to her.
+
+
+
+
+ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF
+QUESTIONS
+
+
+                                                       PAGE
+
+  About Starting On a Concert Career                    162
+
+  Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata                        70
+
+  Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering      164
+
+  Action of a Beginner's Piano, The                      87
+
+  Action of the Little Finger, The                       17
+
+  Advantage of Legato over Staccato, The                 22
+
+  Affected Movements at the Piano                       126
+
+  "Afraid to Play Before People"                        121
+
+  Age of the Student is Immaterial                      139
+
+  Always Keep in Touch With Bach                         81
+
+  Art of Accompanying a Soloist, The                    118
+
+  Art of Playing With Feeling, The                      124
+
+  As to one Composer--Excluding All Others              160
+
+  As to Playing Rubato                                  100
+
+  As to the Bach Fugues                                  88
+
+
+  Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique               80
+
+  Bach's Preludes and Fugues                             82
+
+  Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character, The        84
+
+  Beginner in Bach Music, The                            80
+
+  Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist, The           181
+
+  Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading, The                117
+
+  Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo, The                 54
+
+  Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"         148
+
+  Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch               19
+
+  Books that Aid the Student Working Alone              155
+
+  Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage                20
+
+
+  C-Scale Fingering for All Scales, The                  28
+
+  Can Music be Studied in America?                      148
+
+  Cantabile Passages                                      7
+
+  Charm of Chopin's Touch, The                           86
+
+  Chopin's Barcarolle                                    88
+
+  Chopin's Works for a Popular Concert                   88
+
+  "Colour" of Various Keys, The                         187
+
+  Company that One Keeps in Music, The                  188
+
+  Composition Must Fit the Player, The                  130
+
+  Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing, The         53
+
+  Counting Out Loud                                      50
+
+
+  Difference Between Conception and Rubato, The         102
+
+  Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other
+    Kinds, The                                         22
+
+  Difference Between Major and Minor Scales, The        109
+
+  Difference in Playing Trills, The                      74
+
+  Different Conceptions May be Individually
+    Correct                                           102
+
+  Difficulty of Playing Repetition Notes, The            34
+
+  Disputed Chopin Reading, A                             78
+
+  Do not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff                    10
+
+  Do not Injure the Hand by Stretching It                13
+
+  Do not Over-Use the Soft Pedal                         44
+
+  Do not Raise the Piano-Stool too High                   4
+
+  Do not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest                   99
+
+  Do not Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales              9
+
+  Do not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"                 36
+
+  Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat                65
+
+
+  E Sharp and B Sharp and the Double Flat                64
+
+  Easiest Way to Memorize, The                          113
+
+  Effect of Double Flats, The                            65
+
+  Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often, The           122
+
+  Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One            146
+
+  Etudes for Advanced Players to Work At                 94
+
+  Exercises for the Beginner to Practise                 93
+
+
+  Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching                       12
+
+  Few Sonatas of Beethoven, Well Played,
+    Are Enough, A                                      85
+
+  Fingering the Chromatic Scale                          28
+
+  Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent, The                  28
+
+  Firm and Crisp Legato Touch, The                       24
+
+  First Learn to Play Simple Things Well                162
+
+  Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece                       52
+
+  Fourth and Fifth Fingers, The                          16
+
+  Frequent Lessons and Shorter                          147
+
+
+  General Rule About the Pedal, A                        39
+
+  Genuine Piano Hand, The                               130
+
+  Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial                        145
+
+  Good Finger Exercises                                  93
+
+  Good Intermediate Books of Etudes                      94
+
+  Greatest Composers as Pianists, The                    91
+
+
+  Hearing a Piece Before Studying It                    104
+
+  Height of the Piano Seat, The                           5
+
+  Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers                 132
+
+  How a Tie and a Slur Differ                            63
+
+  How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?                 71
+
+  How Best to Play the Octaves                           29
+
+  How Grace Notes Are Played                             61
+
+  How Long an Accidental Affects a Note                  64
+
+  How Much You Can Get from Music                       157
+
+  How Organ Playing Affects the Pianist                  26
+
+  How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action                   37
+
+  How to Get Music Published                            150
+
+  How to Hold the Thumb                                  16
+
+  How to Improve the Technique                            4
+
+  How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"                  100
+
+  How to Use the Pedal                                   39
+
+  How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka and Polonaise Differ       111
+
+
+  Importance of Studying With the Right Teacher,
+    The                                               140
+
+  Incorrect Position of the Fingers, An                   8
+
+  Individual Teacher or Conservatory?                   142
+
+  In Order to Memorize Easily                           115
+
+  In Playing a Sonata                                    75
+
+  "International" Piano Pitch, The                      136
+
+  International Pitch, The                              136
+
+  Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?                   127
+
+  "It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than
+    Sharps!"                                          157
+
+
+  Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise, The              35
+
+  Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good                34
+
+
+  Learning the Art of Accompanying                      118
+
+  Learning to Accompany at Sight                        117
+
+  Learning to Modulate                                  107
+
+  Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling                      41
+
+  Loose Wrist, The                                        9
+
+
+  Masters Cannot be Studied In Order                     90
+
+  Meaning and Use of "Motif," The                        68
+
+  Meaning of Solfeggio, The                              74
+
+  Meaning of "Toccata," The                             111
+
+  Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily          115
+
+  Metronome Markings, The                                57
+
+  Metronome Markings May Better be Ignored               59
+
+  Modern Piano Music                                     92
+
+  Mood and Tempo in the A Flat Impromptu                 87
+
+  More Technique the More Practice, The                   3
+
+  Morning is the Best Time to Practise                   46
+
+  Morning Practice on the Piano, The                     45
+
+  Music as a Profession or as an Avocation              156
+
+  Music Schools and Private Teachers                    141
+
+
+  No Necessity to Watch the Fingers                      19
+
+  Not Playing the Two Hands at Once                      25
+
+  Nothing But the Best Will Do                          141
+
+  Number of Lessons Depends on Progress, The            147
+
+
+  Old Problem of Duple Time against Triple, The          98
+
+  Omitting One Note in a Chord                           89
+
+  Once More the "Soft" Pedal                             44
+
+  One Lesson a Week                                     147
+
+  Only Kind of Practice Worth While, The                 47
+
+  Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas                  83
+
+  Organ Playing and the Piano Touch                      26
+
+  Organizing a Musical Club                             150
+
+
+  Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse        101
+
+  Personal Element and the Metronome, The                58
+
+  Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself, The             123
+
+  Piano Study for Conductor and Composer                128
+
+  Play Chords With a Loose Arm                           11
+
+  Playing Duple Time Against Triple                      96
+
+  Playing from Memory is Indispensable                  112
+
+  "Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"             151
+
+  Playing of Double Thirds, The                          35
+
+  Playing of Slurred Notes, The                          62
+
+  Playing On a Dumb Piano                                38
+
+  Playing the "Melody in F"                              79
+
+  Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast                     77
+
+  Playing with Cold Hands                                49
+
+  Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata," A             76
+
+  Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill                  72
+
+  Position of the Turn over a Note, The                  71
+
+  Position of the Wrist, The                             10
+
+  Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four                 48
+
+  Practising the Two Parts Separately                    52
+
+  Premature Fatigue in the Arms                          33
+
+  Problem of Transposing at Sight, The                  119
+
+  Proper Course for a Little Girl, The                  146
+
+
+  Rapid Octaves                                          30
+
+  Real Meaning of Speed Terms, The                       60
+
+  Relation of Harmony to Piano Playing, The             105
+
+  Rests Used under or over Notes                         62
+
+  Results Count, Not the Methods, The                     6
+
+  Rolled Chord Marked "Secco," A                         70
+
+  Rubinstein or Liszt--Which is the Greater?            158
+
+  Rule for Selecting the Speed, A                        60
+
+
+  Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand, A               13
+
+  Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure, A            161
+
+  Sex of the Piano Teacher, The                         143
+
+  Should Piano Students Try to Compose?                 108
+
+  Slurs and Accents Not Related                          63
+
+  Small Notes under Large Ones                           70
+
+  Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen                     75
+
+  Speed and Smoothness in Trilling                       73
+
+  Staffs are Independent of Each Other, The              66
+
+  Starting a Child's Musical Training                   138
+
+  Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves                        33
+
+  Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music, The               151
+
+  Student Who Wants to Compose, The                     108
+
+  Student with a Fondness for the Pedal, The             42
+
+  Study of Mendelssohn, The                              85
+
+  Study of Operatic Transcriptions, The                  91
+
+  Study of the Scales, The                               51
+
+  Study of the Scales is very Important, The             50
+
+  Studying Counterpoint by One's Self                   107
+
+
+  Take a Month's Rest Every Year                         56
+
+  Taking Liberties With the Tempo                        89
+
+  "Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect, The                      69
+
+  Text-books on Harmony                                 106
+
+  There Are Dangers in Using a Metronome                 59
+
+  There Is Only One Minor Scale                         109
+
+  Tied Staccato Notes                                    69
+
+  Tilt of the Hand in Playing Scales, The                 6
+
+  Time to Devote to Technical Exercises                  47
+
+  To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading                     117
+
+  To Keep Errors from Creeping in                       116
+
+  To Play a Glissando Passage                            29
+
+  To Prevent Sore Finger-tips After Playing              20
+
+  To Produce a Softer Tone                               43
+
+  To Produce Good Legato                                 23
+
+  To Strengthen the Weak Finger, Use It                  18
+
+  To Work up a Fast Tempo                                53
+
+  Too Much "Method"                                     144
+
+  Trill Begins on the Melodic Note, A                    72
+
+  Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin                     139
+
+  Two Hands Playing Difficult Rhythms, The               97
+
+
+  Universal System of Marking Fingering, The             27
+
+  Use of the Pedal for Colouring, The                    39
+
+  Use Pedal With Caution In Playing Bach                 41
+
+  Using the Two Pedals at Once                           48
+
+
+  Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day, The               95
+
+  Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing, The            98
+
+  Value of Going to Concerts, The                       153
+
+  Value of Heller's Studies, The                         93
+
+
+  Watch Your Breathing                                   55
+
+  Weak Fingers of the Left Hand, The                     18
+
+  Well-Tempered Piano Scale, The                        137
+
+  What a Dot May Mean                                    77
+
+  What a Double Dot Means                                62
+
+  What Does "Technique" Mean?                             3
+
+  What Is the Best of Chopin?                            86
+
+  What Is the Difference Between the Major and
+    Minor Scales?                                     110
+
+  "What Is the Matter with My Scales?"                   14
+
+  What the Leschetizky Method Is                        144
+
+  What the Object of Study Should Be                    135
+
+  What to Do with an Unemployed Hand                     21
+
+  When an Accidental Is in Parentheses                   66
+
+  When Playing Octaves                                   31
+
+  When Reading Over a New Piece                          51
+
+  When the Fingers Seem Weak                             18
+
+  When to Keep Away from the Piano                      132
+
+  When to Play for People                               120
+
+  When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing                   11
+
+  When Two Fingers Have the Same Note                    79
+
+  Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable                  143
+
+  Where the Accent Should Be Placed                      78
+
+  Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?                   16
+
+  Which Should Come First--Conception or
+    Technique?                                        103
+
+  Why Rag-time Is Injurious                             134
+
+  Why So Many Different Keys?                           105
+
+  Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony                  104
+
+  Why the Piano Is So Popular                           128
+
+  Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?                      67
+
+  "Wonder Children" as Pianists                         152
+
+  Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo                         21
+
+  Wrist Stroke In Long Octave Passages                   32
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A flat, key of, 67.
+  Impromptu in, 78, 87.
+  Chopin's Ballade in, 162.
+
+A sharp, key of, 67.
+  difference between, and B flat, 137.
+
+Accent, where the, should be placed, 78.
+
+Accenting a mordent, 70.
+
+Accents, slurs and, not related, 68.
+
+Accidental, how long an, affects a note, 64.
+  when an, is in parentheses, 66.
+
+Accompaniment, 118.
+
+Accompaniments, in left-hand waltz, 17.
+
+Accompanist, 118, 119, 164.
+
+Accompanying, at sight, 117.
+  a soloist, 118.
+  the art of, 118.
+
+Action, of the wrist, 9.
+  of the arm, 11.
+  of the little finger, 17.
+  a piano extreme in, 36.
+  how tight to keep the piano's, 37.
+  of a beginner's piano, 37.
+  a too heavy, 38.
+  too light an, 38.
+
+Adagio, 60.
+
+Advantage, of legato over staccato, 22.
+  of universal fingering, 27.
+
+Affected movements at the piano, 126.
+
+Age, and physical development of the beginner, 138, 139.
+
+Age of the student, immaterial, 139.
+
+Aid, books that, the student working alone, 155.
+
+Allegretto grazioso, 77.
+
+Allegro, 60.
+
+America, can music be studied in, 148.
+
+"American" fingering, 27.
+
+Andante, 60.
+
+Appassionata, the last movement of the, 76.
+
+Appoggiatura, 72.
+
+Arm, action of the, 11.
+  play chords with a loose, 11.
+
+Arms, premature fatigue in the, 33.
+
+Arpeggio, 3, 9.
+
+Art, of accompanying, the, 118.
+  the canons of, 125.
+
+Attention, which fingers demand most, 16.
+
+Auber, 136.
+
+Auxiliary, position of, note in a trill, 72.
+
+Average, speed, 59.
+  tempo, 60.
+
+Avocation, music as a profession or as an, 156.
+
+
+B flat minor, Chopin's Prelude in, 95.
+
+B sharp, 64, 65.
+
+Bach, use pedal with caution in playing, 41.
+  the beginner in, music, 80.
+  in touch with, 81.
+
+Bach, Philipp Emanuel, 88.
+
+Bach's, music, 80, 81.
+  preludes, 67, 82.
+  fugues, 67, 82, 83.
+
+Bad music, 183.
+
+Baermann, Carl, 94.
+
+Ballade, Chopin's, in A flat, 102.
+
+Baltzell, "History of Music," by, 150.
+
+Barcarolle, Chopin's, 88.
+
+Beethoven, the sonatas of, 83, 85.
+
+Beethoven's Sonatina, opus 49, 59.
+  Fifth Symphony, 69.
+  Sonata Pathétique, 70.
+  "Moonlight Sonata," 76.
+  sonatas, 83.
+  order of studying, sonatas, 83.
+  Sonata, opus 28, 84.
+  style, 85.
+  first and last sonatas, 90.
+
+Beginner's, the action of a, piano, 37.
+
+Bendel's "Zephyr," 53.
+
+Berceuse, Chopin's, opus 57, 86.
+
+Berens, 95, 143.
+
+Berlin, 118.
+
+Berlioz, 91, 136.
+
+Best, how to play the octaves, 29.
+  morning is the, time to
+  practise, 46.
+  way to work up a quick tempo, 54.
+  what is the, of Chopin, 86.
+  the, book of instruction for a beginner, 93.
+  the, way to improve sight-reading, 117.
+  the, piano hand, 130.
+  the, physical exercise for the pianist, 131.
+  nothing but the, will do, 141.
+
+Biting the finger-nails, 19.
+
+Blumenstuck, Schumann's, 79.
+
+"Blurring," 23.
+
+Body, general position of the, 4.
+
+Books, of Etudes, 93, 94.
+  that aid the student working alone, 155.
+
+Brahms, 162.
+
+Breathing, 55.
+
+Broad-tipped fingers, 20.
+
+Bulow, 17.
+
+Büssler, 106.
+
+
+C flat, 67.
+
+C sharp, key of, 67.
+
+C sharp major, Bach's fugue in, 83.
+
+C sharp minor movement, the, 58.
+
+Cantabile passages, 7.
+
+Cantata, 112.
+
+Chaminade, Toccata by, 111.
+
+Chaminade's "Air de Ballet," No. 1, 70.
+
+Chopin, Polonaise, opus 53, 74.
+  a disputed, reading, 78.
+  Life of, 86.
+  the best of, 86.
+  Etude by, 94.
+  Etudes in C minor, 95.
+
+Chopin's works, 23, 79.
+  Prelude, No. 15, 58.
+  Valse, opus 42, 61.
+  Polonaise, opus 58, 74.
+  Polonaise, opus 26, No. 1, 77.
+  Nocturne in F sharp, 78.
+  Impromptu in A flat, opus 29, 78, 87.
+  charm of, touch, 86.
+  Chants Polonais, 88.
+  Fantasy Impromptu, 88, 97.
+  Barcarolle, 88.
+  Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2, 88, 162.
+
+Chopin's works for a popular concert, 88.
+  Ballade in A flat, 162.
+
+Chord, rolled, marked "secco," 70.
+  in the Waltz in E minor, 89.
+
+Chords, play, with a loose arm, 11.
+
+Chromatic,
+  the, scale 28.
+  thirds, 35.
+  accidental, signs, 66, 67.
+
+Classics, "modified," 148.
+
+Clementi, 81.
+
+Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum," 95.
+  Sonatina, opus 37, 96.
+
+"Colour," of various keys, 137.
+
+Colouring, 39, 44, 137.
+
+Composer, piano-study for, 128.
+  as to one, 160.
+
+Composers, the greatest, as pianists, 91.
+
+Composition, 108, 130.
+
+Conception, difference between, and rubato, 102.
+
+Conceptions, different, 102.
+
+Concert, Chopin's works for a popular, 88.
+  etudes, 94.
+  work, 156.
+  career, 162.
+
+Concerto, the Grieg, 35.
+
+Concerts, the value of going to, 153.
+
+Conservatory, individual teacher or, 142.
+
+Conductor, piano-study for, 128.
+
+Correct practice of phrasing, 98.
+
+Counterpoint, studying, 107, 142.
+
+Cramer Etudes, the, 17, 45.
+
+C-scale fingering, 28.
+
+Counterpoint, studying, by one's self, 107.
+
+Counting, 50.
+
+Course, proper, for a little girl, 146.
+
+Criticism, where outside, is desirable, 143.
+
+Curved fingers, 6, 7.
+
+Czerny, 45, 81.
+
+
+D flat, key of, 67.
+  arrangement of Bach's Fugues, 83.
+
+Damper pedal, the, 43.
+
+Dance, music, 134.
+  Liszt's, of the Gnomes, 58.
+
+Dangers in using a metronome, 59.
+
+Dash, "tenuto," and its effect, 69.
+
+Diatonic, thirds, 35.
+  sequel, 73.
+
+Different, conceptions, 102.
+  rhythms, 97.
+  keys, 105.
+
+Difference, between "finger staccato" and other kinds, 22.
+  in playing trills, 74.
+  between conception and rubato, 102.
+  between major and minor scales, 109.
+
+Difficulty of playing repetition notes, 34.
+
+Doppio movement, in Chopin's Nocturne in F sharp, 78.
+
+Dot, double, 62.
+  what a, may mean, 77.
+
+Double notes, 35.
+  thirds, 35.
+  dot, 62.
+  flat, 64, 65.
+  flats, 65.
+  sharp, 65.
+
+Dumb piano, playing on a 38.
+
+Duple time, 96, 98.
+
+
+E minor, Waltz in, 89.
+
+E sharp, 64.
+
+Ear, let your, guide your pedalling, 41.
+
+Easiest way to memorize, 113.
+
+Edition, Peters's, of Chopin, 79.
+
+Edition, Steingräber, of Beethoven, 84.
+
+Education, general musical, 141.
+
+Element, personal, and the metronome, 58.
+
+"English" fingering, 27.
+
+Erlking, Liszt arrangement of the, 32.
+
+Errors, to keep, from creeping in, 116.
+
+Ethical, 135.
+
+Etudes, Cramer, 17, 45.
+  octave, 30.
+  for advanced players, 94.
+  good intermediate books of, 94.
+  by Ruthardt, 94.
+  twelve, for technique and expression, 94.
+  concert, 94.
+  by Baermann, 94.
+  of Chopin, 95.
+  by Kessler, 95.
+  by Berens, 95, 143.
+  by Heller, 143.
+  Sternberg's, 155.
+
+Example, force of, 104.
+
+Exercise, best physical, 131.
+
+Exercises, stretching, 12, 13.
+  technical, 47.
+  for the beginner, 93.
+  good finger, 93.
+
+
+F, Melody in, 79.
+
+F minor, Chopin's Ballades in, 86.
+
+F sharp, key of, 67.
+  Chopin's Nocturne in, 78.
+
+Fantastic Fairy Tales, 92.
+
+Fantasy Impromptu, Chopin's, 88, 97.
+
+Fatigue, premature, in the arms, 33.
+
+Faulty touch, 8, 43.
+
+Fifth Symphony, Beethoven's, 69.
+
+Finger, the middle, 16.
+  technique, 16.
+  the little, 17.
+  the weak, 18.
+  touch, 19.
+  staccato, 22.
+  exercises, 93.
+
+Fingering, English, 27.
+  universal, 27.
+  American, 27.
+  the chromatic scale, 28.
+  C-scale, 28.
+
+Finger-nails, biting the, 19.
+
+Fingers, position of, 6.
+  the other, 16.
+  fourth and fifth, 16.
+  weak, 18.
+  broad-tipped, 20.
+  needed to play a mordent, 28.
+
+Finger-stroke, high, 7, 23, 24.
+
+Finger-tips, sore, 20.
+  "wiping" the keys with the, 35.
+
+Firm legato touch, 24.
+
+Flat, double, 65.
+
+Flats, double, 65.
+
+Fugue, definition of a, 82.
+
+Fugues, Bach's, 82.
+
+
+G flat, key of, 67.
+
+G minor,
+  Chopin's Ballade in, 86.
+  Brahms's Rhapsody in, 162.
+
+Gavotte in A, the, 44.
+
+General, technique, 3.
+  rule about the pedal, 39.
+  musical education, 141.
+
+Glissando, the, 29.
+  to play a, passage, 29.
+
+Gluck-Brahms, 44.
+
+Godowsky, transcriptions by, 23.
+
+Godowsky's pupils, 149.
+
+Going to concerts, value of, 158.
+
+Grace notes, 61.
+
+"Gradus ad Parnassum," Clementi's, 95.
+
+Grieg Concerto, the, 35.
+
+
+Halévy, 136.
+
+Hand, position of, 6.
+  stretching the, 12.
+  small, 13.
+  unemployed, the, 21.
+  genuine piano, 130.
+
+Hands, two at once, 25.
+  playing with cold, 49.
+
+Harmonic, clarity, 41.
+  turns, 105.
+
+Harmony, study of, 104.
+  relation of, to piano-playing, 105.
+  textbooks on, 106.
+
+Haydn, 75.
+
+Heller, etudes by, 143.
+
+Heller's studies, value of, 93.
+  opus 154, 94.
+
+"History of Music," 150.
+
+
+Importance of the right teacher, 140.
+
+Impromptu, Chopin's, in A flat, 78.
+  Chopin's Fantasy, opus 66, 88, 97.
+
+Instrument, the, 35.
+
+Intermediate, good, books of etudes, 94.
+
+International piano pitch, 136.
+
+International pitch, 136.
+
+
+Key, two names for the same, 67.
+
+Keys, why so many different, 105.
+  "colour" of various, 187.
+
+Kuhlau Sonatinas, 75.
+
+Kullak's, Octave School, 31.
+  "Method of Octaves," 34.
+
+
+Learning, to modulate, 107.
+  to accompany at sight, 117.
+  the art of accompanying, 118.
+
+Legato, 22, 23.
+  advantage of, 22.
+  touch, 24.
+  meaning of, 24.
+
+Leschetizky method, the, 144.
+
+Lessons, teachers, and methods, 140.
+  number of, depends on progress, 147.
+  frequent, and shorter, 147.
+
+Liadow, "Music Box" by, 92.
+
+"Life of Chopin," the, 86.
+
+"Limping," 25.
+
+Liszt, 130, 158.
+
+Liszt's, Dance of the Gnomes, 58.
+  transcription of Chants Polonais, 88.
+
+Little finger, action of the, 17.
+
+Loud counting, 50.
+
+
+MacDowell, Sonatas, 162.
+
+Major, difference between, and minor scales, 109, 110.
+
+Marking a rest, in, 99.
+
+Marks and Nomenclature, 57.
+
+Mason's "Touch and Technique", 155.
+
+Masters cannot be studied in order, 90.
+
+Mazurka, 111.
+
+Mazurkas, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Melody in F, the, 79.
+
+Memorize, easiest way to, 113.
+  in order to, easily, 115.
+
+Memory, playing from, 112.
+  the, 112.
+
+Mendelssohn, the study of, 85.
+
+Mendelssohn's "Spring Song," 77.
+
+Menuet, 111.
+
+Method, too much, 144.
+  Leschetizky, 144.
+
+Methods, teachers, lessons and, 140.
+
+Metronome, markings, 57, 59.
+  personal element and the, 58.
+  dangers in using a, 59.
+
+Meyerbeer, 136.
+
+Minor, difference between major and, scales, 109.
+  only one, scale, 109.
+
+Miscellaneous questions, 150.
+
+"Modified Classics," 148.
+
+Modulate, learning to, 107.
+
+Mood and tempo in the A flat Impromptu, 87.
+
+"Moonlight Sonata," the, 76.
+
+Mordent, fingers needed to play a, 28.
+  accenting a, in a sonata, 70.
+
+Morning practice on the piano, 45.
+
+Moscheles, Etudes by, 94.
+
+Motif, meaning and use of, 68.
+
+"Moto perpetuo," 112.
+
+Mozart, 46, 75.
+
+Mozart's art, 160.
+
+Music, the beginner in Bach, 80.
+  modern piano, 92.
+  bad, 133.
+  the company that one keeps in, 133.
+  can, be studied in America, 148.
+  how to get, published, 150.
+  as a profession, 156.
+  how much you can get from, 157.
+
+"Music Box," the, 92.
+
+Music schools and private teachers, 141.
+
+
+Nocturne, Chopin's, in F sharp, 78.
+  opus 27, No. 2, 88, 162.
+
+Nocturnes, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Nomenclature, marks and, 57.
+
+Note, auxiliary, 72.
+  when two fingers have the same, 79.
+
+Notes repetition, 34.
+  double, 35.
+  slurred, 62.
+  tied staccato, 69.
+  small, under large ones, 70.
+  syncopated, 71.
+
+
+Object of study, 135.
+
+Octave, chords, 11.
+  Kullak's, School, 31.
+  in extended, playing, 32.
+  passages, 32.
+
+Octaves, 29.
+  rapid, 30.
+  when playing, 31.
+  wrist, 31, 32.
+  arm, 31.
+  stiff wrists in playing, 33.
+
+Operatic transcriptions, 91.
+
+Order of studying Beethoven's Sonatas, 83.
+
+Other fingers, the, 16.
+
+Organ, touch, 26.
+  playing, 26.
+
+
+Pachulski, 92.
+
+Pedal, a general rule about the, 39.
+  how to use the, 39.
+  use of the, for colouring, 39.
+  use, with caution in playing Bach, 41.
+  the "soft," 43, 44.
+  a constant use of the soft, 45.
+
+Pedalling, let your ear guide your, 41.
+
+Pedals, the, 39.
+  using the two, at once, 43.
+
+"Perpetuum Mobile," Weber's, 112.
+
+Peters's Edition, 79, 82.
+
+Phrasing, value and correct practice of, 98.
+
+Physical exercise, best, for the pianist, 131.
+
+Pianists, the greatest composers as, 91.
+  "wonder-children" as, 152.
+
+_Pianissimo_ touch, the, 44.
+
+Piano, height of the, seat, 5.
+  touch, 26.
+  kind of, upon which to practise, 35.
+  extreme in action, 36.
+  action of a beginner's, 37.
+  playing on a dumb, 38.
+  affected movements at the, 126.
+  about the, per se, 127.
+  genuine, hand, 130.
+  when to keep away from the, 132.
+
+"Piano Playing," 35.
+
+"Pischna," exercises of, 93, 161.
+
+Pitch, international, 136.
+
+Pitch and kindred matters, 136.
+  international piano, 136.
+
+Play for people, when to, 120.
+
+Playing for pleasure, 161.
+
+Polonaise, Chopin, opus 53, 74.
+  Chopin, opus 26, No. 1, 77.
+
+Polonaises, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Polyrhythms, 96.
+
+Popular concert, Chopin's works for a, 88.
+
+Position, of the body, 4.
+  of the hand, 6.
+  of the fingers, 6, 8.
+  of the wrist, 10.
+  of the thumb, 16.
+  of the turn over a note, 71.
+  of auxiliary note in a trill, 72.
+
+Practice, morning, on the piano, 45.
+  the only kind of, worth while, 47.
+  of phrasing, 98.
+  of constructing, 108.
+
+Practise, kind of a piano upon which to, 35.
+  exercises for the beginner to, 93.
+
+Practising, eight hours instead of four, 48.
+  the two parts separately, 52.
+
+Precision, 25.
+
+Prelude, the B flat minor, 95.
+  in C sharp minor, 162
+
+Preludes, Bach's, 82.
+  Chopin's, 86.
+
+Private teachers, 141.
+
+Profession, music as a, 156.
+
+
+Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, 162.
+
+Rag-time, why, is injurious, 134.
+
+Repetition, technique, 34.
+  notes, 34.
+
+Rests used under or over notes, 62.
+
+Rhapsody, Brahms's, in G minor, 162.
+
+Rhythm, accents relate to, 62.
+  playing in, 151.
+
+Richter, E. F., 106.
+
+Romanza, Schumann's, 162.
+
+Rossini, 136.
+
+Rubato, as to playing, 100.
+  passages marked, 100.
+  difference between conception and, 102.
+
+Rubinstein, 158.
+
+Rubinstein's "Melody in F," 79.
+
+Russian piano music, 53.
+
+Ruthardt, "Etudes" by, 94.
+
+
+Scale, fingering the chromatic, 28.
+  only one minor, 109.
+  the well-tempered piano, 137.
+
+Scale playing, in, 16.
+
+Scales, tilt of the hand in playing the, 6.
+  the practising of, 14, 51.
+  the study of the, 50, 51.
+
+Scherzo, Chopin's, opus 31, 88.
+
+Schubert-Liszt's "Auf dem Wasser zu singern," 53.
+
+Schumann's "Blumenstuck," 79.
+  Romanza, opus 28, No. 2, 162.
+  "Traumerei," 162.
+
+"Secco," a rolled chord marked, 70.
+
+Seeling, Hans, 94.
+
+Sex of the teacher, 143.
+
+Sight-reading, 117.
+
+Slur, how a tie and a, differ, 63.
+
+Slurred notes, the playing of, 62.
+
+Slurs, 63.
+
+Smith's Octave Studies, 143.
+
+Solfeggio, meaning of, 74.
+
+Soloist, 118, 164.
+
+Sonata, accenting a mordent in a, 70.
+  in playing a, 75.
+  Moonlight, 76.
+  Beethoven, with a pastoral character, 84.
+  meaning of, 112.
+
+Sonatina, Beethoven's, 59.
+
+Sonatas of Beethoven, the, 83, 85.
+
+"Songs without Words," Mendelssohn's, 86, 162.
+
+Speed, gradual increase of, 54.
+  average, 59.
+  meaning of, terms, 60.
+  rule for selecting the, 60.
+  and smoothness in trilling, 73.
+
+"Spring Song," the, 77.
+
+Staccato, wrist, at a high tempo, 21.
+  finger, 22.
+  arm, 22.
+
+Staffs, the, 66.
+
+Starting, about, on a concert career, 162.
+
+Steingräber Edition of Beethoven's Sonatas, 84.
+
+Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66, 155.
+
+Stretching, 12, 13.
+
+Student, age of, immaterial, 139.
+  books that aid the, working alone, 155.
+
+Students, piano, 108.
+
+Studies, Heller's, 93.
+
+Study, object of, 135.
+
+Studying, importance of, with the right teacher, 140.
+
+Syncopated notes, 71.
+
+System, universal, of fingering, 27.
+
+
+Teachers, lessons, and methods, 140.
+
+Technical, exercises, 47.
+  work, 18, 45, 46.
+  studies, 46.
+  results, 48.
+
+Technique, a generic term, 3.
+  how to improve the, 4.
+  a precise finger, 16.
+  of the fingers, 22.
+  repetition, 34.
+  a "musical," 38.
+
+Tempo, wrist staccato at a high, 21.
+  to work up a fast, 53, 54.
+  average, 60.
+  in the A flat Impromptu, 87.
+  taking liberties with the, 89.
+  rubato, 100, 101.
+
+"Tenuto" dash, the, 69.
+
+Textbooks on harmony, 106.
+
+Thalberg, 91, 92.
+
+Theory, 104.
+
+Thirds, double, 35.
+  diatonic, 35.
+  chromatic, 35.
+
+Thomas, Ambroise, 136.
+
+Thumb, the, 14.
+  how to hold the, 16.
+
+Tie, a, 63.
+
+Time, duple, against triple, 96, 98.
+  playing in, 151.
+
+Toccata, meaning of, 111.
+
+Touch, faulty, 8, 43.
+  finger, 19, 50.
+  biting the finger-nails spoils the, 19.
+  legato, 24, 63.
+  crisp legato, 24.
+  piano, 26.
+  organ, 26.
+  repetition, 34.
+  charm of Chopin's, 86.
+  and Technique, 155.
+
+Training, a child's musical, 138.
+
+Transcriptions, study of operatic, 91.
+
+Transposing at sight, 119.
+
+Tremolo, 11.
+
+Trill, position of auxiliary note in a, 72.
+
+Trills, on the melodic note, 72.
+  extended, 72.
+  difference in playing, 74.
+
+Triple time, 96, 98.
+
+"Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," 94.
+
+
+Universal system of marking fingering, 27.
+
+
+Valse, Chopin's, opus 42, 61.
+  opus 64, No. 2, 88.
+
+
+Waltz, a chord in the, in E minor, 89.
+
+Waltzes, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Weak fingers, 18.
+
+Weber's "Storm," 41.
+  pianos of, time, 41.
+  "Perpetuum Mobile," 112.
+
+"Wonder-children" as pianists, 152.
+
+Wrist, action of the, 9.
+  the loose, 9.
+  position of the, 10.
+  stiffness in the, 10.
+  octaves, 31, 32.
+  stroke in long octave passages, 32.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Punctuation has been made consistent.
+
+Other changes:
+
+Page iv and Index--'POLYRYTHMS' changed to 'POLYRHYTHMS.'
+
+Page xi--'As a matter _or_ course' changed to 'As a matter _of_ course.'
+
+Page 12--'I stretch _beween_ my fingers' changed to 'I stretch
+_between_ my fingers.'
+
+Page 43--'expresson' changed to 'expression.'
+
+Page 47--'_ti_ would take considerable time' changed to '_it_ would take
+considerable time.'
+
+Page 50--'rhymthic' changed to 'rhythmic.'
+
+Page 78--'Doggio' changed to 'Doppio.'
+
+Page 93--'_or_ which one is abridged' changed to '_of_ which one is
+abridged.'
+
+Page 123--'feel _they that_ do not care for my playing' changed to 'feel
+_that they_ do not care for my playing.'
+
+Page 140--'be be' changed to 'be.'
+
+Page 158--'Rubenstein' changed to 'Rubinstein.'
+
+Index--'F major, key of, [no page #]' removed.
+
+Index--'Gradus and Parnassum' corrected to 'Gradus ad Parnassum.'
+
+Index--'Hadyn' corrected to 'Haydn.'
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 39211-8.txt or 39211-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/2/1/39211
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions 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-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/39211-8.zip b/39211-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f802dca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-8.zip
diff --git a/39211-h.zip b/39211-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56f85da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h.zip
diff --git a/39211-h/39211-h.htm b/39211-h/39211-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..812e196
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/39211-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9130 @@
+<!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">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Piano Playing, by Josef Hofmann</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 15%;
+    margin-right: 15%;
+    /* line-height: 1.5; */ /* uncomment for double spacing */
+    /* text-indent: 2em; */ /* uncomment to indent all paragraphs */
+}
+
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .75em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .75em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 65%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.med {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.short {
+    width: 15%;
+    margin-top: 1em;
+    margin-bottom: 1em;
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+}
+
+.pagenum  {position: absolute; left: 92%;
+           font-size: 75%; text-indent: 0em;
+           border-top: solid gray 1px; border-bottom: solid gray 1px;
+           background-color: inherit; font-weight: normal;
+           font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
+           text-decoration: none;}
+
+.linenum {
+    position: absolute;
+    top: auto;
+    left: 4%;
+} /* line numbers */
+
+ul {list-style: none;}
+
+.section  {padding-top: 1em; }
+
+.sidenote {position: absolute;
+           left: 1%; /* space between the sidenote and extreme left of page */
+           margin-right: 87%; /* space between sidenote and left margin of text */
+           padding-top: 1em; /* aligns top of sidenote with top of text paragraph */
+           font-size: 90%;
+           font-weight: bold;
+           text-align: left;}
+           /*adjustable left-page-margin, unboxed, left-aligned text, small bold font*/
+
+
+/* Formatting */
+.blockquot {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+.bbox     {border: solid black 1px; margin-left: 10%;
+           margin-right: 10%;}
+
+.center    {text-align: center;}
+.centertp  {text-align: center; padding-top: 1em;}
+.centerbp  {text-align: center; padding-bottom: 1em;}
+.centertbp {text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;}
+
+.right    {text-align: right;}
+
+.tp       {padding-top: 1em;}
+.bp       {padding-bottom: 1em;}
+
+.noindent {text-indent: 0;} /* use to unindent indented paragraphs */
+
+.hang  {text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em;}
+
+
+/* Fonts */
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.xsm {font-size: 60%;}
+.sm  {font-size: 75%;}
+.msm {font-size: 90%;}
+.lg  {font-size: 125%;}
+.mlg {font-size: 150%;}
+.xlg {font-size: 200%;}
+
+.super    {vertical-align: baseline;
+           position: relative; bottom: 0.4em;
+           font-size: 80%;} /* superscripts that don't disturb line spacing */
+
+.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
+
+.dropcap  {float: left; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;
+           font-size: 250%; line-height: 83%;
+           width: auto;}
+
+.gesperrt {letter-spacing: .3em;}
+
+.bl       {font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;} /* substitute for blackletter */
+
+.sans {font-family: sans-serif;}
+
+
+/* Images */
+.border img {border: 5px solid silver;}
+
+.caption  {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 1em;
+           margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+.floatl     {float: left;
+             clear: left;
+             text-align: center;
+             border: 0px solid black;
+             padding: 2px;
+             margin: 0 4px 0 0; /* right margin to keep out from body */}
+
+.floatr     {float: right;
+             clear: right;
+             text-align: center;
+             border: 0px solid black;
+             padding: 2px;
+             margin: 0 0 0 4px; /* left margin to keep out from body */}
+
+.splitl {float: left;
+         clear: left;
+         padding-right: 10px;
+         padding-left: 0px;
+         padding-top: 0px;
+         padding-bottom: 0px;
+         }
+
+.splitr  {float: right;
+          clear: right;
+          padding-left: 10px;
+          padding-right: 0px;
+          padding-top: 0px;
+          padding-bottom: 0px;
+         }
+
+
+
+.floatcaptr {float: right;
+            clear: right;
+            text-align: center; font-weight: bold;
+            border: 0px solid black;
+            padding-bottom: 10px;
+            margin: 0 0 0 4px; /* left margin to keep out from body */}
+
+.floatcaptl {float: left;
+            clear: left;
+            text-align: center; font-weight: bold;
+            border: 0px solid black;
+            padding-bottom: 10px;
+            margin: 0 4px 0 0; /* right margin to keep out from body */}
+
+/* Transcriber Notes */
+.notes    {background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000;
+           padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em;
+           padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;
+           margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;}
+
+.err {border-bottom: thin dotted red;}
+
+    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; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Piano Playing, by Josef Hofmann</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Piano Playing</p>
+<p>       With Piano Questions Answered</p>
+<p>Author: Josef Hofmann</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 20, 2012  [eBook #39211]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by<br />
+    Colin Bell, Johanna, Stephen Hutcheson,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="Josef_Hofmann" id="Josef_Hofmann"><img src="images/jpg0001a.jpg" alt=""/></a></div>
+
+<h1><i>Josef Hofmann</i></h1>
+
+
+<h1><a href="#Piano_Playing">PIANO PLAYING</a></h1>
+
+<h2>WITH</h2>
+
+<h2><a href="#Piano_Questions_Answered">PIANO QUESTIONS ANSWERED</a></h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 1909 by Doubleday, Page and Company;
+renewed 1937 by J. Hofmann.</p>
+
+<p>&copy; 1908 by McClure Company; renewed 1936
+by J. Hofmann.</p>
+
+<p>&copy; 1920 by Theodore Presser Company; renewed
+1947 by Josef Hofmann.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1><i><a name="Piano_Playing" id="Piano_Playing">Piano Playing</a></i></h1>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>TO MY DEAR FRIEND<br />
+<br />
+
+CONSTANTIN VON STERNBERG</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+ <tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="right"><b>PAGE</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#A_FOREWORD"><span class="smcap">A Foreword</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">xv</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left"><a href="#THE_PIANO_AND_ITS_PLAYER"><span class="smcap">The Piano and Its Player</span></a></td>
+ <td align="right">3</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#GENERAL_RULES"><span class="smcap">General Rules</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">19</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#CORRECT_TOUCH_AND_TECHNIC"><span class="smcap">Correct Touch and Technic</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">34</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#THE_USE_OF_THE_PEDAL"><span class="smcap">The Use of the Pedal</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">41</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#PLAYING_IN_STYLE"><span class="smcap">Playing "In Style"</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">49</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#HOW_RUBINSTEIN_TAUGHT"><span class="smcap">How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">57</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#Indispensables_in_Pianistic"><span class="smcap">Indispensables in Pianistic Success</span></a></td>
+  <td align="right">70</td>
+ </tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS">
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#Josef_Hofmann"><i>Josef Hofmann</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="right">FACING<br/>PAGE</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#image_2"><i>The Position of the Hand</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">20</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#image_3"><i>Incorrect Way to Play an Octave</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">28</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td align="left"><a href="#image_3"><i>Correct Way to Play an Octave</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">28</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_4"><i>Incorrect Position of the Little Finger</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">29</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_4"><i>Correct Position of the Little Finger</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">29</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_5"><i>Incorrect Position of Thumb</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">38</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_5"><i>Correct Position of Thumb</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">38</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_6"><i>Incorrect Position of the Feet</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">42</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_7"><i>Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">43</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_8"><i>Anton Rubinstein</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">58</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#image_9"><i>How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play</i></a></td>
+  <td align="right">59</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xva" id="Page_xva">Pg xv</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="A_FOREWORD" id="A_FOREWORD"></a>A FOREWORD</h3>
+
+
+<p>This little book purposes to present a general view of artistic
+piano-playing and to offer to young students the results of such
+observations as I have made in the years of my own studies, as well as
+of the experiences which my public activity has brought me.</p>
+
+<p>It is, of course, only the concrete, the material side of piano-playing
+that can be dealt with here&mdash;that part of it which aims to
+reproduce in tones what is plainly stated in the printed lines of a
+composition. The other, very much subtler part of piano-playing, draws
+upon and, indeed, depends upon imagination, refinement of sensibility,
+and spiritual vision, and endeavours to convey to an audience what the
+composer has, consciously or unconsciously, hidden <i>between</i> the lines.
+That almost entirely psychic side of piano-playing eludes treatment in
+literary form and must, therefore, not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvia" id="Page_xvia">Pg xvi</a></span> looked for in this
+little volume. It may not be amiss, however, to dwell a moment upon
+these elusive matters of &#xe6;sthetics and conception, though it be only to
+show how far apart they are from technic.</p>
+
+<p>When the material part, the technic, has been completely acquired by the
+piano student, he will see a limitless vista opening up before him,
+disclosing the vast field of artistic interpretation. In this field the
+work is largely of an analytical nature and requires that intelligence,
+spirit, and sentiment, supported by knowledge and &#xe6;sthetic perception,
+form a felicitous union to produce results of value and dignity. It is
+in this field that the student must learn to perceive the invisible
+something which unifies the seemingly separate notes, groups, periods,
+sections, and parts into an organic whole. The spiritual eye for this
+invisible something is what musicians have in mind when they speak of
+"reading between the lines"&mdash;which is at once the most fascinating
+and most difficult task of the interpretative artist; for, it is just
+between the lines where, in literature as in music, the soul of a work
+of art lies hid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviia" id="Page_xviia">Pg xvii</a></span>den. To play its notes, even to play them
+correctly, is still very far from doing justice to the life and soul of
+an artistic composition.</p>
+
+<p>I should like to reiterate at this point two words which I used in the
+second paragraph: the words "consciously or unconsciously." A brief
+comment upon this alternative may lead to observations which may throw a
+light upon the matter of reading between the lines, especially as I am
+rather strongly inclining toward the belief in the "unconscious" side of
+the alternative.</p>
+
+<p>I believe that every composer of talent (not to speak of genius) in his
+moments of creative fever has given birth to thoughts, ideas, designs
+that lay altogether beyond the reach of his conscious will and control.
+In speaking of the products of such periods we have hit upon exactly the
+right word when we say that the composer "has surpassed himself." For,
+in saying this we recognise that the act of surpassing one's self
+precludes the control of the self. A critical, sober overseeing of one's
+work during the period of creation is unthinkable, for it is the fancy
+and the imagination that carries one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviiia" id="Page_xviiia">Pg xviii</a></span> on and on, will-lessly,
+driftingly, until the totality of the tonal apparition is completed and
+mentally as well as physically absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>Now, inasmuch as the composer's conscious will takes little or no part
+in the creating of the work, it seems to follow that he is not,
+necessarily, an absolute authority as to the "only correct way" of
+rendering it. Pedantic adherence to the composer's own conception is, to
+my mind, not an unassailable maxim. The composer's way of rendering his
+composition may not be free from certain predilections, biases,
+mannerisms, and his rendition may also suffer from a paucity of
+pianistic experience. It seems, therefore, that to do justice to the
+work itself is of far greater importance than a slavish adherence to the
+composer's conception.</p>
+
+<p>Now, to discover what it is, intellectually or emotionally, that hides
+itself between the lines; how to conceive and how to interpret
+it&mdash;that must ever rest with the reproductive artist, provided that
+he possesses not only the spiritual vision which entitles him to an
+individual conception, but also the technical skill to express what this
+individual conception (aided by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xixa" id="Page_xixa">Pg xix</a></span> imagination and analysis) has
+whispered to him. Taking these two conditions for granted, his
+interpretations&mdash;however punctiliously he adhere to the
+text&mdash;will and must be a reflex of his breeding, education,
+temperament, disposition; in short, of all the faculties and qualities
+that go to make up his personality. And as these personal qualities
+differ between players, their interpretations must, necessarily, differ
+in the same measure.</p>
+
+<p>In some respects the performance of a piece of music resembles the
+reading of a book aloud to some one. If a book should be read to us by a
+person who does not understand it, would it impress us as true,
+convincing, or even credible? Can a dull person, by reading them to us,
+convey bright thoughts intelligibly? Even if such a person were drilled
+to read with outward correctness that of which he cannot fathom the
+meaning, the reading could not seriously engage our attention, because
+the reader's want of understanding would be sure to effect a lack of
+interest in us. Whatever is said to an audience, be the speech literary
+or musical, must be a free and individual expres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxa" id="Page_xxa">Pg xx</a></span>sion, governed
+only by general or is it &#xe6;sthetic laws or rules; it must be free to be
+artistic, and it must be individual to have vital force. Traditional
+conceptions of works of art are "canned goods," unless the individual
+happens to concur with the traditional conception, which, at best, is
+very rarely the case and does not speak well for the mental calibre of
+the easily contented treader of the beaten path.</p>
+
+<p>We know how precious a thing is freedom. But in modern times it is not
+only precious, it is also costly; it is based upon certain possessions.
+This holds as good in life as in art. To move comfortably with freedom
+in life requires money; freedom in art requires a sovereign mastery of
+technic. The pianist's artistic bank-account upon which he can draw at
+any moment is his technic. We do not gauge him by it as an artist, to be
+sure, but rather by the use he makes of it; just as we respect the
+wealthy according to the way in which they use their money. And as there
+are wealthy people that are vulgar, so there may be pianists who,
+despite the greatest technic, are not artists. Still, while money is to
+a gentleman perhaps no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxia" id="Page_xxia">Pg xxi</a></span>
+more than a rather agreeable adjunct,
+technic is to the pianist's equipment an indispensable necessity.</p>
+
+<p>To assist young students in acquiring this necessity, the following
+articles were written for <i>The Ladies' Home Journal</i>, and for this form
+I have gone over them and corrected and amplified. I sincerely hope that
+they will help my young colleagues to become free as piano-playing
+musicians first, and that this, in its turn and with the help of good
+fortune in their career, will bring them the means to make them equally
+free in their daily life.</p>
+
+<p> <span class="smcap">Josef Hofmann.</span><br /> </p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3a" id="Page_3a">Pg 3</a></span></p>
+
+<h1><i>Piano Playing</i></h1>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="THE_PIANO_AND_ITS_PLAYER" id="THE_PIANO_AND_ITS_PLAYER"></a>THE PIANO AND ITS PLAYER</h3>
+
+
+<p>The first requisite for one who wishes to become a musicianly and
+artistic pianist is a precise knowledge of the possibilities and
+limitations of the piano as an instrument. Having properly recognised
+them both, having thus staked off a stretch of ground for his activity,
+he must explore it to discover all the resources for tonal expression
+that are hidden within its pale. With these resources, however, he must
+be contented. He must, above all, never strive to rival the orchestra.
+For there is no necessity to attempt anything so foolish and so futile,
+since the gamut of expressions inherent to the piano is quite extensive
+enough to vouchsafe artistic results of the very highest order,
+provided, of course, that this gamut is used in an artistic
+manner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4a" id="Page_4a">Pg 4</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h5>THE PIANO AND THE ORCHESTRA</h5>
+
+<p>From one point of view the piano can claim to be the equal of the
+orchestra; namely, in so far as it is&mdash;no less than the
+orchestra&mdash;the exponent of a specific branch of music which,
+complete by itself, reposes upon a literature exclusively its own and of
+a type so distinguished that only the orchestra can claim to possess its
+peer. The great superiority of the literature of the piano over that of
+any other single instrument has, to my knowledge, never been disputed. I
+think it is equally certain that the piano grants to its players a
+greater freedom of expression than any other instrument;
+greater&mdash;in certain respects&mdash;than even the orchestra, and
+very much greater than the organ, which, after all, lacks the intimate,
+personal element of "touch" and the immediateness of its variegated
+results.</p>
+
+<p>In dynamic and colouristic qualities, on the other hand, the piano
+cannot bear comparison with the orchestra; for in these qualities it is
+very limited indeed. The prudent player will not go beyond these limits.
+The utmost that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5a" id="Page_5a">Pg 5</a></span>
+the pianist can achieve in the way of colour may
+be likened to what the painters call "monochrome." For in reality the
+piano, like any other instrument, has only one colour; but the artistic
+player can subdivide the colour into an infinite number and variety of
+shades. The virtue of a specific charm, too, attaches as much to the
+piano as to other instruments, though, perhaps, in a lesser degree of
+sensuousness than to some others. Is it because of this lesser sensuous
+charm that the art of the piano is considered the chastest of all
+instruments? I am rather inclined to think that it is, partly at least,
+due to this chastity that it "wears" best, that we can listen longer to
+a piano than to other instruments, and that this chastity may have had a
+reflex action upon the character of its unparagoned literature.</p>
+
+<p>For this literature, though, we have to thank the pianists themselves,
+or, speaking more precisely, we are indebted to the circumstance that
+the piano is the only single instrument capable of conveying the
+complete entity of a composition. That melody, bass, harmony,
+figuration, polyphony, and the most intricate contrapuntal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6a" id="Page_6a">Pg 6</a></span>
+devices can&mdash;by skilful hands&mdash;be rendered simultaneously and
+(to all intents and purposes) completely on the piano has probably been
+the inducement which persuaded the great masters of music to choose it
+as their favourite instrument.</p>
+
+<p>It may be mentioned at this point that the piano did not have the effect
+of impairing the orchestration of the great composers&mdash;as some
+musical wiseacres assert from time to time&mdash;for they have written
+just as fine works for a variety of other instruments, not to speak of
+their symphonies. Thus has, for instance, the most substantial part of
+the violin literature been contributed by piano-players (Bach, Mozart,
+Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Saint-Sa&#xeb;ns, Tschaikowski, and
+many others). As to the literature of the orchestra, it came almost
+exclusively from those masters whose only, or chiefest, medium of
+musical utterance was the piano. Highly organised natures, as they were,
+they liked to dress their thoughts, sometimes, in the colour splendour
+of the orchestra. Looking at the depth of their piano works, however, at
+their sterling merit, at their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7a" id="Page_7a">Pg 7</a></span>
+poetry, I feel that even a refined
+musical nature may find lifelong contentment in the piano&mdash;despite
+its limitations&mdash;if, as I said before, the artist keeps within its
+boundaries and commands its possibilities. For it is, after all, not so
+very little that the piano has to offer. It is both governed and
+manipulated by one and the same mind and person; its mechanism is so
+fine and yet so simple as to make its tone response quite as direct as
+that of any other stringed instrument; it admits of the thoroughly
+personal element of touch; it requires no auxiliary instruments (for
+even in the Concerto the orchestra is not a mere accompanist but an
+equal partner, as the name "Concerto" implies); its limitations are not
+as bad as those of some other instruments or of the voice; it outweighs
+these limitations very fairly by the vast wealth of its dynamic and
+touch varieties. Considering all these and many other points of merit, I
+think that a musician may be pretty well satisfied with being a pianist.
+His realm is in more than one respect smaller than that of the
+conductor, to be sure, but on the other hand the conductor loses many
+lovely moments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8a" id="Page_8a">Pg 8</a></span>
+of sweet intimacy which are granted to the pianist
+when, world-oblivious and alone with his instrument he can commune with
+his innermost and best self. Consecrated moments, these, which he would
+exchange with no musician of any other type and which wealth can neither
+buy nor power compel.</p>
+
+<h5>THE PIANO AND THE PLAYER</h5>
+
+<p>Music makers are, like the rest of mankind, not free from sin. On the
+whole, however, I think that the transgressions of pianists against the
+canons of art are less grave and less frequent than those of other music
+makers; perhaps, because they are&mdash;usually&mdash;better grounded as
+musicians than are singers and such players of other instruments as the
+public places on a par with the pianists I have in mind. But, while
+their sins may be less in number and gravity&mdash;let it be well
+understood that the pianists are no saints. Alas, no! It is rather
+strange, though, that their worst misdeeds are induced by that very
+virtue of the piano of requiring no auxiliary instruments, of being
+independent. If it were not so; if the pianist
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9a" id="Page_9a">Pg 9</a></span> were compelled
+always to play in company with other musicians, these other players
+might at times differ with him as to conception, tempo, etc., and their
+views and wishes should have to be reckoned with, for the sake of both
+equilibrium and&mdash;sweet peace.</p>
+
+<p>Left entirely to himself, however, as the pianist usually is in his
+performances, he sometimes yields to a tendency to move altogether too
+freely, to forget the deference due to the composition and its creator,
+and to allow his much-beloved "individuality" to glitter with a false
+and presumptuous brightness. Such a pianist does not only fail in his
+mission as an interpreter but he also misjudges the possibilities of the
+piano. He will, for instance, try to produce six <i>forte-s</i> when the
+piano has not more than three to give, all told, except at a sacrifice
+of its dignity and its specific charm.</p>
+
+<p>The extremest contrasts, the greatest <i>forte</i> and the finest <i>piano</i>,
+are given factors determined by the individual piano, by the player's
+skill of touch, and by the acoustic properties of the hall. These given
+factors the pianist must bear in mind, as well as the limitations of
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10a" id="Page_10a">Pg 10</a></span>
+piano as to colour, if he means to keep clear of
+dilettanteism and charlatanry. A nice appreciation of the realm over
+which he rules, as to its boundaries and possibilities, must be the
+supreme endeavour of every sovereign&mdash;hence also of every sovereign
+musician.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I hear it so often said of this and that pianist that "he plays
+with <i>so</i> much feeling" that I cannot help wondering if he does not,
+sometimes at least, play with "<i>so</i> much feeling" where it is not in the
+least called for and where "<i>so</i> much feeling" constitutes a decided
+trespass against the &#xe6;sthetic boundaries of the composition. My
+apprehension is usually well founded, for the pianist that plays
+<i>everything</i> "with so much feeling" is an artist in name only, but in
+reality a sentimentalist, if not a vulgar sensationalist or a ranter
+upon the keyboard. What sane pianist would, for instance, attempt to
+play a cantilena with the same appealing sensuousness as the most
+mediocre 'cellist can do with the greatest ease? Yet many pianists
+attempt it; but since they are fully aware that they can never attain
+such ends by legitimate, artistic means, they make either the<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page11" id="Page11">Pg 11</a></span> accompaniment or the rhythm, if not
+the phrasing, bear the brunt of their palpable dilettanteism. Of such
+illusory endeavours I cannot warn too strongly, for they are bound to
+destroy the organic relation of the melody to its auxiliaries and to
+change the musical "physiognomy" of a piece into a&mdash;"grimace:" This
+fault reveals that the pianist's spirit&mdash;of adventure&mdash;is too
+willing, but the flesh&mdash;of the fingers and their technic&mdash;too
+weak.</p>
+
+<p>The artistic and the dilettantic manners of expression must be sharply
+differentiated. They differ, principally, as follows: the artist knows
+and feels how far the responsiveness of his instrument, at any
+particular part of his piece, will allow him to go without violating
+&#xe6;sthetics, and without stepping outside of the nature of his instrument.
+He shapes his rendition of the piece accordingly and practises wise
+economy in the use of force and in the display of feeling. As to
+feeling, <i>per se</i>, it is the ripe product of a multitude of &#xe6;sthetic
+processes which the moment creates and develops; but the artist will
+keep this product from asserting itself until he has complied with every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page12" id="Page12">Pg 12</a></span>
+requirement of artistic <i>workmanship</i>; until he has, so to
+speak, provided a cleanly covered and fully set table upon which these
+matters of "feeling" appear as finishing, decorative touches, say, as
+flowers.</p>
+
+<p>The dilettante, on the other hand, does not consume any time by thinking
+and planning; he simply "goes for" his piece and, without bothering
+about workmanship or squirming around it as best he may, he rambles off
+into&mdash;"feeling," which in his case consists of naught but vague,
+formless, aimless, and purely sensuous sentimentality. His accompaniment
+drowns the melody, his rhythm goes on a sympathetic strike, dynamic and
+other artistic properties become hysterical; no matter,
+he&mdash;"feels"! He builds a house in which the cellar is under the
+roof and the garret in the basement.</p>
+
+<p>Let it be said in extenuation of such a player that he is not always and
+seldom wholly to blame for his wrong-doing. Very often he strays from
+the path of musical rectitude because of his misplaced trust in the
+judgment of others, which causes him to accept and follow advice<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page13" id="Page13">Pg 13</a></span> in good faith, instead of duly
+considering its source. For, under certain conditions, the advice of
+even a connoisseur may be wrong. Many professional and well-equipped
+critics, for instance, fall into the bad habit of expecting that a
+pianist should tell all he knows in every piece he plays, whether the
+piano does or does not furnish the opportunities for displaying all his
+qualities. They expect him to show strength, temperament, passion,
+poise, sentiment, repose, depth, and so forth, in the first piece on his
+programme. He must tell his whole story, present himself at once as a
+"giant" or "Titan" of the piano, though the piece may call for naught
+but tenderness. With this demand, or the alternative of a "roasting,"
+public artists are confronted rather frequently. Nor is this, perhaps,
+as much the fault of the critic as of the conditions under which they
+must write. From my own experience and that of others I know that the
+critics in large cities are so overburdened with work during the season
+that they have seldom time to listen to more than one piece out of a
+whole recital programme. After such a mere sample they form<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page14" id="Page14">Pg 14</a></span> their opinions&mdash;so momentous
+for the career of a young pianist&mdash;and if this one piece happened
+to offer no opportunities to the pianist to show himself as the "great"
+So-and-so, why, then he is simply put down as one of the
+"littlefellows." It is no wonder that such conditions tempt many young
+aspirants to public renown to resort to &#xe6;sthetic violence in order to
+make sure of "good notices"; to use power where it is not called for; to
+make "feeling" ooze from every pore; to double, treble the tempo or
+vacillate it out of all rhythm; to violate the boundaries of both the
+composition and the instrument&mdash;and all this for no other purpose
+than to show as quickly as possible that the various qualities are "all
+there." These conditions produce what may be called the pianistic
+nouveau-riche or parvenu, who practises the vices of the dilettante
+without, however, the mitigating excuse of ignorance or a lack of
+training.</p>
+
+<h5>THE PIANIST AND THE COMPOSITION</h5>
+
+<p>As the piano, so has also every composition its limitations as to the
+range of its emotions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page15" id="Page15">Pg 15</a></span>
+and their artistic expression. The hints
+in this direction I threw out before may now be amplified by discussing
+a very common error which underlies the matter of conception. It is the
+error of inferring the conception of a composition <i>from the name of its
+composer</i>; of thinking that Beethoven has to be played thus and Chopin
+thus. No error could be greater!</p>
+
+<p>True, every great composer has his own style, his habitual mode of
+thought development, his personality revealing lines. But it is equally
+true that the imagination of all great composers was strong enough to
+absorb them as completely in their own creation as the late Pygmalion
+was absorbed in his Galatea, and to lure them, for the time being,
+completely away from their habits of thought and expression; they become
+the willing servants of the new creature of their own fancy. Thus we
+find some of Beethoven's works as romantic and fanciful as any of
+Schumann's or Chopin's could be, while some of the latter's works show
+at times a good deal of Beethovenish classicity. It is, therefore,
+utterly wrong to approach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page16" id="Page16">Pg 16</a></span>
+every work of Beethoven with the
+preconceived idea that it must be "deep" and "majestic," or, if the work
+be Chopin's, that it must run over with sensuousness and "feeling." How
+would such a style of rendition do, for instance, for the Polonaise op.
+53, or even for the little one in A, op. 40, No. 1? On the other hand,
+how would the stereotype, academic manner of playing Beethoven suit his
+Concerto in G&mdash;that poetic presage of Chopin?</p>
+
+<p>Every great master has written some works that are, and some that are
+not, typical of himself. In the latter cases the master's identity
+reveals itself only to an eye that is experienced enough to detect it in
+the smaller, more minute traits of his style. Such delicate features,
+however, must be left in their discreet nooks and niches; they must not
+be clumsily dragged into the foreground for the sake of a traditional
+rendition of the piece. That sort of "reverence" is bound to obliterate
+all the peculiarities of the particular, non-typical composition. It is
+not reverence, but fetichism. Justice to the composer means justice to
+his works; to every work in particular. And this justice we cannot<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page17" id="Page17">Pg 17</a></span> learn from the reading of his
+biography, but by regarding every one of his works as a separate and
+complete entity; as a perfect, organic whole of which we must study the
+general character, the special features, the form, the manner of design,
+the emotional course, and the trend of thought. Much more than by his
+biography we will be helped, in forming our conception, by comparing the
+work in hand with others of the same master, though the comparison may
+disclose just as many differences of style as it may show similarities.</p>
+
+<p>The worship of names, the unquestioning acquiescence in traditional
+conceptions&mdash;those are not the principles which will lead an artist
+to come into his own. It is rather a close examination of every popular
+notion, a severe testing of every tradition by the touchstone of
+self-thinking that will help an artist to find himself and to see, what
+he does see, with his own eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we find that&mdash;in a certain constructive meaning&mdash;even the
+reverence for the composer is not without boundaries; though these
+boundary lines are drawn here only to secure the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page18" id="Page18">Pg 18</a></span> widest possible
+freedom for their work. Goethe's great word expresses most tersely what
+I mean:</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Outwardly limited,</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Boundless to inward.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page19" id="Page19">Pg 19</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="GENERAL_RULES" id="GENERAL_RULES"></a>GENERAL RULES</h3>
+
+<p>Successful piano-playing, if it cannot be entirely acquired by some very
+simple rules, can, at least, be very much helped by what will seem to
+some as contributing causes so slight as to be hardly worth notice.
+Still, they are immensely valuable, and I will endeavour to set down a
+few.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Value of the Morning Hour</i> above any other time is not generally
+appreciated. The mental freshness gained from sleep is a tremendous
+help. I go so far as to say play away for an hour, or a half hour even,
+before breakfast. But before you touch the piano let me suggest one very
+prosaic little hint: wash the keyboard as clean as you did your hands.
+Eating always tastes best from a clean table. Just so with the piano:
+you cannot do clean work on an unclean keyboard.</p>
+
+<p><i>Now, as to Practice</i>: Let me suggest that you never practise more than
+an hour, or, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page20" id="Page20">Pg 20</a></span> the most, two hours, at a
+stretch&mdash;according to your condition and strength. Then go out and
+take a walk, and think no more of music. This method of mental
+unhitching, so to speak, is absolutely necessary in order that the newly
+acquired results of your work may&mdash;unconsciously to
+yourself&mdash;mature in your mind and get, as it were, into your flesh
+and blood. That which you have newly learned must become affixed to your
+entire organism, very much like the picture on a photographic plate is
+developed and affixed by the silver bath. If you allow Nature no time
+for this work the result of your previous efforts will vanish and you
+will have to begin all over again with your&mdash;photographing. Yes,
+photographing! For every acoustic or tone picture is, through the agency
+of the ear, photographed in the brain, and the whole occupation of the
+pianist consists in the reproduction of the previously received
+impressions through the fingers, which, with the help of the instrument,
+retranslate the pictures into audible tones.</p>
+
+<p>After every half hour make a pause until you feel rested. Five minutes
+will often be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page21" id="Page21">Pg 21</a></span>
+sufficient. Follow the example of the painter,
+who closes his eyes for a few moments in order to obtain upon reopening
+them a fresh color impression.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Valuable Little Hint Here</i>, if you will allow me: Watch well that you
+actually hear every tone you mean to produce. Every missing tone will
+mean a blotch upon your photographic plate in the brain. Each note must
+be, not mentally but physically, heard, and to this imperative
+requirement your speed must ever subordinate itself. It is not at all
+necessary to practise loudly in order to foster the permanence of
+impressions. Rather let an inward tension take the place of external
+force. It will engage, sympathetically, your hearing just as well.</p>
+
+<p><i>As to the Theory</i>&mdash;great energy, great results&mdash;I prefer my
+amended version: great energy, restrained power and moderate
+manifestation of it. Prepare the finger for great force, imagine the
+tone as being strong, and yet strike moderately. Continuous loud playing
+makes our playing coarse. On the other hand, continuous soft playing
+will blur the tone picture in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page22" id="Page22">Pg 22</a></span>
+our mind and cause us soon to play
+insecurely and wrongly. From time to time we should, of course, practise
+loudly so as to develop physical endurance. But for the greater part of
+practice I recommend playing with restrained power. And, incidentally,
+your neighbours will thank you for it, too.</p>
+
+<p><i>Do Not Practise Systematically</i>, or "methodically," as it is sometimes
+called. Systematism is the death of spontaneousness, and spontaneousness
+is the very soul of art. If you play every day at the same time the same
+sequence of the same studies and the same pieces, you may acquire a
+certain degree of skill, perhaps, but the spontaneity of your rendition
+will surely be lost. Art belongs to the realm of emotional
+manifestations, and it stands to reason that a systematic exploiting of
+our emotional nature must blunt it.</p>
+
+<p><i>With Regard to Finger Exercises</i>: Do not let them be too frequent or
+too long&mdash;at the most a half hour a day. A half hour daily, kept up
+for a year, is enough for any one to learn to play one's exercises. And
+if one can play them why should one keep everlastingly on<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page23" id="Page23">Pg 23</a></span> playing them? Can anybody explain,
+without reflecting upon one's sanity, why one should persist in playing
+them? I suggest to use these exercises as "preliminary warmers" (as
+practised in engines). As soon as the hands have become warm and
+elastic, or pliable&mdash;"played in," as we pianists say&mdash;drop the
+exercises and repeat them for the same purpose the next morning, if you
+will. They can be successfully substituted, however. As compositions
+they are but lukewarm water. If you will dip your hands, instead, for
+five minutes into hot water you will follow my own method and find it
+just as efficacious.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Rule for Memory Exercises</i>: If you wish to strengthen the receptivity
+and retentiveness of your memory you will find the following plan
+practical: Start with a short piece. Analyse the form and manner of its
+texture. Play the piece a number of times very exactly with the music
+before you. Then stop playing for several hours and try to trace the
+course of ideas mentally in the piece. Try to hear the piece inwardly.
+If you have retained some parts refill the missing places by repeated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page24" id="Page24">Pg 24</a></span>
+reading of the piece, away from the piano. When next you go to
+the piano&mdash;after several hours, remember&mdash;try to play the
+piece. Should you still get "stuck" at a certain place take the sheet
+music, but play only that place (several times, if necessary), and then
+begin the piece over again, as a test, if you have better luck this time
+with those elusive places. If you still fail resume your silent reading
+of the piece away from the piano. Under no circumstances skip the unsafe
+place for the time being, and proceed with the rest of the piece. By
+such forcing of the memory you lose the logical development of your
+piece, tangle up your memory and injure its receptivity. Another
+observation in connection with memorising may find a place here. When we
+study a piece we&mdash;unconsciously&mdash;associate in our mind a
+multitude of things with it which bear not the slightest relation upon
+it. By these "things" I mean not only the action of the piano, light or
+heavy, as it may be, but also the colour of its wood, the colour of the
+wall paper, discoloration of the ivory on some key of the piano, the
+pictures on the walls, the angle at which the piano stands<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page25" id="Page25">Pg 25</a></span> to the architectural lines of the
+room, in short, all sorts of things. And we remain utterly unconscious
+of having associated them with the piece we are studying&mdash;until we
+try to play the well-learned piece in a different place, in the house of
+a friend or, if we are inexperienced enough to commit such a blunder, in
+the concert hall. Then we find that our memory fails us most
+unexpectedly, and we blame our memory for its unreliableness. But the
+fact is rather that our memory was only too good, too exact, for the
+absence of or difference from our accustomed surroundings disturbed our
+too precise memory. Hence, to make absolutely sure of our memory we
+should try our piece in a number of different places before relying upon
+our memory; this will dissociate the wonted environment from the piece
+in our memory.</p>
+
+<p><i>With Regard to Technical Work</i>: Play good compositions and construe out
+of them your own technical exercises. In nearly every piece you play you
+will find a place or two of which your conscience tells you that they
+are not up to your own wishes; that they can be improved upon either
+from a rhythmical, dynamical
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page26" id="Page26">Pg 26</a></span>or precisional point of view. Give
+these places the preference for a while, but do not fail to play from
+time to time again the whole piece in order to put the erstwhile
+defective and now repaired part into proper relation to its context.
+Remember that a difficult part may "go" pretty well when severed from
+its context and yet fail utterly when attempted in its proper place. You
+must follow the mechanic in this. If a part of a machine is perfected in
+the shop it must still go through the process of being
+"mounted"&mdash;that is, being brought into proper relation to the
+machine itself&mdash;and this often requires additional packing or
+filing, as the case may be. This "mounting" of a repaired part is done
+best by playing it in conjunction with one preceding and one following
+measure; then put two measures on each side, three, four, etc., until
+you feel your ground safely under your fingers. Not until then have you
+achieved your purpose of technical practice. The mere mastering of a
+difficulty <i>per se</i> is no guarantee of success whatever. Many students
+play certain compositions for years, and yet when they are asked to play
+them the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page27" id="Page27">Pg 27</a></span>
+evidences of imperfection are so palpable that they
+cannot have finished the learning of them. The strong probability is
+that they never will finish the "study" of them, because they do not
+study right.</p>
+
+<p><i>As to the Number of Pieces</i>: The larger the number of good compositions
+you are able to play in a finished manner, the better grow your
+opportunities to develop your versatility of style; for in almost every
+good composition you will find some traits peculiar to itself only which
+demand an equally special treatment. To keep as many pieces as possible
+in your memory and in good technical condition, play them a few times
+each week. Do not play them, however, in consecutive repetitions. Take
+one after the other. After the last piece is played the first one will
+appear fresh again to your mind. This process I have tested and found
+very helpful in maintaining a large repertory.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_2" id="image_2"><img src="images/jpg0002a.jpg" alt="The Position of the Hand"/></a></div>
+
+<p><i>Play Always with the Fingers</i>&mdash;that is, move your arms as little
+as possible and hold them&mdash;and the shoulder muscles&mdash;quite
+loosely. The hands should be nearly horizontal, with a slight
+inclination from the elbows toward the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page28" id="Page28">Pg 28</a></span>
+keys. Bend the fingers
+gently and endeavour to touch the keys in their centre and with the tips
+of the fingers. This will tend toward sureness and give eyes to your
+fingers, so to speak.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_3" id="image_3"><img src="images/jpg0003a.jpg" alt="Incorrect Way to Play an Octave, Correct Way to Play an Octave"/></a></div>
+
+<p><i>The Practice of Finger Octaves</i>: Play octaves first as if you were
+playing single notes with one finger of each hand. Lift the thumb and
+fifth finger rather high and let them fall upon the keys without using
+the wrist. Later let the wrist come to your aid, sometimes even the arm
+and shoulder muscles, though the latter should both be reserved for
+places requiring great power.</p>
+
+<p>Where powerful octaves occur in long continuation it is best to
+distribute the work over the joints and muscles of the fingers, wrists,
+and shoulders. With a rational distribution each of the joints will
+avoid over-fatigue and the player will gain in endurance. This applies,
+of course, only to bravura passages. In places where musical
+characteristics predominate the player does best to choose whichever of
+these sources of touch seems most appropriate.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page29" id="Page29">Pg 29</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p><i>About Using the Pedal</i>: Beware of too frequent and&mdash;above
+all&mdash;of long-continued use of the pedal. It is the mortal enemy of
+clarity. Judiciously, however, you should use it when you study a new
+work, for if you accustom yourself to play a work without the pedal the
+habit of non-pedalling will grow upon you, and you will be surprised to
+find later how your feet can be in the way of your fingers. Do not delay
+the use of the pedal as if it were the dessert after a repast.</p>
+
+<p><i>Never Play with a Metronome</i>: You may use a metronome for a little
+passage as a test of your ability to play the passage in strict time.
+When you see the result, positive or negative, stop the machine at once.
+For according to the metronome a really musical rhythm is
+unrhythmical&mdash;and, on the other hand, the keeping of absolutely
+strict time is thoroughly unmusical and deadlike.</p>
+
+<p>You should endeavour to reproduce the sum-total of the time which a
+musical thought occupies. Within its scope, however, you must vary your
+beats in accordance with their musical significance. This constitutes in
+musical interpretation what I call the individual pulse-beat which
+imparts life to the dead, black notes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page30" id="Page30">Pg 30</a></span> Beware, however, of being
+too "individual"! Avoid exaggeration, or else your patient will grow
+feverish and all &#xe6;sthetic interpretation goes to the happy hunting
+grounds!</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_4" id="image_4"><img src="images/jpg0004a.jpg" alt="Incorrect Position of Little Finger, Correct Position of Little Finger"/></a></div>
+
+<p><i>The Correct Posture at the Piano</i>: Sit straight before the piano but
+not stiff. Have both feet upon the pedals, so as to be at any moment
+ready to use them. All other manners to keep the feet are&mdash;bad
+manners. Let your hand fall with the arm upon the keyboard when you
+start a phrase, and observe a certain roundness in all the motions of
+your arms and hands. Avoid angles and sharp bends, for they produce
+strong frictions in the joints, which means a waste of force and is
+bound to cause premature fatigue.</p>
+
+<p><i>Do Not Attend Poor Concerts.</i> Do not believe that you can learn correct
+vision from the blind, nor that you can really profit by hearing how a
+piece should <i>not</i> be played, and then trying the reverse. The danger of
+getting accustomed to poor playing is very great. What would you think
+of a parent who deliberately sent his child into bad company in order
+that such child should learn how <i>not</i> to behave?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page31" id="Page31">Pg 31</a></span> Such
+experiments are dangerous. By attending poor concerts you encourage the
+bungler to continue in his crimes against good taste and artistic
+decency, and you become his accomplice. Besides, you help to lower the
+standard of appreciation in your community, which may sink so low that
+good concerts will cease to be patronised. If you desire that good
+concerts should be given in your city the least you can do is to
+withhold your patronage from bad ones. If you are doubtful as to the
+merits of a proposed concert ask your own or your children's music
+teacher. He will appreciate your confidence and be glad of the
+opportunity to serve you for once in a musical matter that lies on a
+higher plane than your own or your children's music lesson.</p>
+
+<p><i>To Those Who Play in Public</i> I should like to say this: Before you have
+played a composition in public two or three times you must not expect
+that every detail of it shall go according to your wishes. Do not be
+surprised at little unexpected occurrences. Consider that the acoustic
+properties of the various halls constitute a serious danger to the
+musician. Bad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page32" id="Page32">Pg 32</a></span>
+humor on your part, or a slight indisposition,
+even a clamlike audience, Puritanically austere or cool from
+diffidence&mdash;all these things can be overcome; but the acoustic
+properties remain the same from the beginning of your programme to its
+end, and if they are not a kindly counsellor they turn into a fiendish
+demon who sneers to death your every effort to produce noble-toned
+pictures. Therefore, try to ascertain, as early as possible, what sort
+of an architectural stomach your musical feast is to fill, and
+then&mdash;well, do the best you can. Approach the picture you hold in
+your mind as nearly as circumstances permit.</p>
+
+<p><i>When I Find Bad Acoustics in a Hall.</i> An important medium of rectifying
+the acoustic misbehaviour of a hall I have found in the pedal. In some
+halls my piano has sounded as if I had planted my feet on the pedal for
+good and ever; in such cases I practised the greatest abstention from
+pedalling. It is a fact that we have to treat the pedal differently in
+almost every hall to insure the same results. I know that a number of
+books have been written on the use of the pedal, but they are theories
+which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page33" id="Page33">Pg 33</a></span>
+tumble down before the first adverse experience on the
+legitimate concert stage. There you can lean on nothing but experience.</p>
+
+<p><i>About Reading Books on Music.</i> And speaking of books on music, let me
+advise you to read them, but not to believe them unless they support
+every statement with an argument, and unless this argument succeeds in
+convincing you. In art we deal far oftener with exceptions than with
+rules and laws. Every genius in art has demonstrated in his works the
+forefeeling of new laws, and every succeeding one has done by his
+precursors as his successors have in their turn done by him. Hence all
+theorising in art must be problematic and precarious, while dogmatising
+in art amounts to absurdity. Music is a language&mdash;the language of
+the musical, whatever and wherever be their country. Let each one, then,
+speak in his own way, as he thinks and feels, provided he is sincere.
+Tolstoi put the whole thing so well when he said: "There are only three
+things of real importance in the world. They are: Sincerity! Sincerity!
+Sincerity!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page34" id="Page34">Pg 34</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CORRECT_TOUCH_AND_TECHNIC" id="CORRECT_TOUCH_AND_TECHNIC"></a>CORRECT TOUCH AND TECHNIC</h3>
+
+<p>Great finger technic may be defined as extreme precision and great speed
+in the action of the fingers. The latter quality, however, can never be
+developed without the legato touch. I am convinced that the degree of
+perfection of finger technic is exactly proportionate to the development
+of the legato touch. The process of the non-legato touch, by showing
+contrary results, will bear me out. To play a rapid run non-legato will
+consume much more time than to play it legato because of the lifting of
+the fingers between the tones. In playing legato the fingers are not
+lifted off the keys, but&mdash;hardly losing contact with the
+ivory&mdash;glide sideways to the right or the left as the notes may
+call for it. This, naturally, saves both time and exertion, and thus
+allows an increase of speed.</p>
+
+<p>How is the true legato accomplished? By the gliding motion just
+mentioned, and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page35" id="Page35">Pg 35</a></span>
+touching the next following key before the
+finger which played last has fully abandoned its key. To illustrate, let
+me say that in a run of single notes two fingers are simultaneously at
+work&mdash;the "played" and the "playing" one; in runs of double notes
+(thirds, sixths, etc.) the number of simultaneously employed fingers is,
+analogously, four. Only in this manner is a true legato touch to be
+attained. While the fingers are in action the hand must not move lest it
+produce gaps between the succeeding tones, causing not only a breaking
+of the connection between them but also a lessening of speed. The
+transfer of the hand should take place only when the finger is already
+in touch with the key that is to follow&mdash;not at the time of
+contact, still less before.</p>
+
+<p>The selection of a practical fingering is, of course, of paramount
+importance for a good legato touch. In attempting a run without a good
+fingering we will soon find ourselves "out of fingers." In that
+emergency we should have to resort to "piecing on," and this means a
+jerk at every instance&mdash;equal to a non-legato. A correct fingering
+is one which permits the longest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page36" id="Page36">Pg 36</a></span>
+natural sequel of fingers to be
+used without a break. By earnest thinking every player can contrive the
+fingering that will prove most convenient to him. But, admitting that
+the great diversity of hands prohibits a universal fingering, all the
+varieties of fingering ought to be based upon the principle of a natural
+sequel. If a player be puzzled by certain configurations of notes and
+keys as to the best fingering for them, he ought to consult a teacher,
+who, if a good one, will gladly help him out.</p>
+
+<p>Precision, the other component part of finger technic, is intimately
+related with the player's general sense of orderliness. As a matter of
+fact, precision is orderliness in the technical execution of a musical
+prescription. If the student will but look quite closely at the piece he
+is learning; if he has the patience to repeat a difficult place in it a
+hundred times if necessary&mdash;and correctly, of course&mdash;he will
+soon acquire the trait of precision and he will experience the resultant
+increase in his technical ability.</p>
+
+<p>Mental technic presupposes the ability to form a clear inward conception
+of a run<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page37" id="Page37">Pg 37</a></span>
+without resorting to the fingers at all. Since every
+action of a finger has first to be determined upon by the mind, a run
+should be completely prepared mentally before it is tried on the piano.
+In other words, the student should strive to acquire the ability to form
+the tonal picture in his mind, rather than the note picture.</p>
+
+<p>The tonal picture dwells in our imagination. This acts upon the
+responsive portions of the brain, influences them according to its own
+intensity, and this influence is then transferred to the motoric
+nerve-centres which are concerned in music-making. As far as known this
+is the course by which the musician converts his musical concept into a
+tonal reality. Hence, when studying a new work, it is imperative that a
+tonal picture of perfect clarity should be prepared in the mind before
+the mechanical (or technical) practicing begins. In the earlier stages
+of cultivating this trait it will be best to ask the teacher to play the
+piece for us, and thus to help us in forming a correct tonal picture in
+our mind.</p>
+
+<p>The blurring of the tonal picture produces a temporary (don't get
+frightened!) <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page38" id="Page38">Pg 38</a></span>
+paralysis of the motoric centres which control the
+fingers. Every pianist knows&mdash;unfortunately&mdash;the sensation of
+having his fingers begin to "stick" as if the keys were covered with
+flypaper, and he knows, also, that this sensation is but a warning that
+the fingers are going on a general and even "sympathetic"
+strike&mdash;sympathetic, because even the momentarily unconcerned
+fingers participate in it. Now the cause of this sensation lies not in a
+defective action of the fingers themselves, but solely in the mind. It
+is there that some undesired change has taken place, a change which
+impairs the action of the fingers. The process is like this: by quick
+repetitions of complicated figures, slight errors, slips, flaws escape
+our notice; the more quick repetitions we make the larger will be the
+number of these tiny blots, and this must needs lead finally to a
+completely distorted tonal picture. This distortion, however, is not the
+worst feature. Inasmuch as we are very likely not to make the same
+little blunders at every repetition the tonal picture becomes confused,
+blurred. The nerve contacts which cause the fingers to act become
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page39" id="Page39">Pg 39</a></span>
+undecided first, then they begin to fail more and more, until
+they cease altogether and the fingers&mdash;stick! At such a juncture
+the student should at once resort to slow practice. He should play the
+defective place clearly, orderly, and, above all, slowly, and persist in
+this course until the number of correct repetitions proves sufficient to
+crowd the confused tonal picture out of the mind. This is not to be
+regarded as mechanical practice, for it is intended for the
+rehabilitation of a disarranged or disturbed mental concept. I trust
+this will speak for the practice of what I called "mental technic." Make
+the mental tonal picture sharp; the fingers must and will obey it.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_5" id="image_5"><img src="images/jpg0005a.jpg" alt="Incorrect Position of Thumb, Correct Position of Thumb"/></a></div>
+
+<p>We are sometimes affected by "thought-laziness"&mdash;I translate this
+word literally from other languages, because it is a good compound for
+which I can find no better equivalent in English. Whenever we find the
+fingers going astray in the piece we play we might as well admit to
+ourselves that the trouble is in the main office. The mysterious
+controlling officer has been talking with a friend instead of attending
+to business. The mind was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page40" id="Page40">Pg 40</a></span>
+keeping step with the fingers. We
+have relied on our automatism; we allowed the fingers to run on and the
+mind lagged behind, instead of being, as it should be, ahead of the
+fingers, preparing their work.</p>
+
+<p>Quick musical thinking, the importance of which is thus apparent, cannot
+be developed by any direct course. It is one of the by-products of the
+general widening of one's musical horizon. It is ever proportionate to
+the growth of one's other musical faculties. It is the result of
+elasticity of the mind acquired or developed by constant, never-failing,
+unremitting employment whenever we are at the piano. A procedure tending
+directly toward developing quick musical thinking is, therefore, not
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The musical will has its roots in the natural craving for musical
+utterance. It is the director-in-chief of all that is musical in us.
+Hence I recognise in the purely technical processes of piano-playing no
+less a manifestation of the musical will. But a technic without a
+musical will is a faculty without a purpose, and when it becomes a
+purpose in itself it can never serve art.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page41" id="Page41">Pg 41</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_USE_OF_THE_PEDAL" id="THE_USE_OF_THE_PEDAL"></a>THE USE OF THE PEDAL</h3>
+
+<p>To speak in a concrete manner of the pedal is possible only on the basis
+of a complete understanding of the fundamental principle underlying its
+use. The reader must agree to the governing theory that the organ which
+governs the employment of the pedal is&mdash;the ear! As the eye guides
+the fingers when we read music, so must the ear be the guide&mdash;and
+the "sole" guide&mdash;of the foot upon the pedal. The foot is merely
+the servant, the executive agent, while the ear is the guide, the judge,
+and the final criterion. If there is any phase in piano-playing where we
+should remember particularly that music is for the ear it is in the
+treatment of the pedal. Hence, whatever is said here in the following
+lines with regard to the pedal must be understood as resting upon the
+basis of this principle.</p>
+
+<p>As a general rule I recommend pressing the lever or treadle down with a
+quick, definite, full motion and always immediately after&mdash;mark me,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page42" id="Page42">Pg 42</a></span>after&mdash;the
+striking of the keys, never simultaneously with the stroke of the
+fingers, as so many erroneously assume and do. To prevent a cacophonous
+mixture of tones we should consider that we must stop the old tone
+before we can give pedal to the new one, and that, in order to make the
+stopping of the past tone perfect, we must allow the damper to press
+upon the vibrating strings long enough to do its work. If, however, we
+tread down exactly with the finger-stroke we simply inhibit this
+stopping, because the damper in question is lifted again before it has
+had time to fall down. (In speaking of the dampers as moving up and down
+I have in mind the action of the "grand" piano; in the upright piano the
+word "off" must be substituted for "up," and "on" for "down.") This rule
+will work in a vast majority of cases, but like every
+rule&mdash;especially in art&mdash;it will be found to admit of many
+exceptions.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_6" id="image_6"><img src="images/jpg0006a.jpg" alt="Incorrect Position of the Feet"/></a></div>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_7" id="image_7"><img src="images/jpg0007a.jpg" alt="Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal"/></a></div>
+
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page43" id="Page43">Pg 43</a></span>
+
+<i>Harmonic Clarity in Pedalling is the Basis</i>, but it is only the basis;
+it is not all that constitutes an artistic treatment of the pedal. In
+spite of what I have just said above there are in many pieces moments
+where a blending of tones, seemingly foreign to one another, is a means
+of characterisation. This blending is especially permissible when the
+passing (foreign) tones are more than one octave removed from the lowest
+tone and from the harmony built upon it. In this connection it should be
+remembered that the pedal is not merely a means of tone prolongation but
+also a means of colouring&mdash;and pre-eminently that. What is
+generally understood by the term piano-charm is to the greatest extent
+produced by an artistic use of the pedal.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, great accent effects can be produced by the gradual
+accumulating of tone-volume through the pedal and its sudden release on
+the accented point. The effect is somewhat like that which we hear in
+the orchestra when a crescendo is supported by a roll of the drum or
+tympani making the last tap on the accented point. And, as I am
+mentioning the orchestra, I may illustrate by the French horns another
+use of the pedal: where the horns do not carry the melody (which they do
+relatively seldom) they are employed to support
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page44" id="Page44">Pg 44</a></span>sustained
+harmonies, and their effect is like a glazing, a binding, a unifying of
+the various tone-colours of the other instruments. Just such a glazing
+is produced by the judicious use of the pedal, and when, in the
+orchestra, the horns cease and the strings proceed alone there ensues a
+certain soberness of tone which we produce in the piano by the release
+and non-use of the pedal. In the former instance, while the horns were
+active they furnished the harmonic background upon which the thematic
+development of the musical picture proceeded; in the latter case, when
+the horns cease the background is taken away and the thematic
+configurations stand out&mdash;so to speak&mdash;against the sky. Hence,
+the pedal gives to the piano tone that unifying, glazing, that
+finish&mdash;though this is not exactly the word here&mdash;which the
+horns or softly played trombones give to the orchestra.</p>
+
+<p><i>But the Pedal Can Do More Than That.</i> At times we can produce strange,
+glasslike effects by purposely mixing non-harmonic tones. I only need to
+hint at some of the fine, embroidery-like cadenzas in Chopin's works,
+like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page45" id="Page45">Pg 45</a></span>
+one in his E-minor Concerto (Andante, measures 101,
+102, and 103). Such blendings are productive of a multitude of effects,
+especially when we add the agency of dynamic gradation: effects
+suggestive of winds from Zephyr to Boreas, of the splash and roar of
+waves, of fountain-play, of rustling leaves, etc. This mode of blending
+can be extended also to entire harmonies in many cases where one
+fundamental chord is to predominate for some time while other chords may
+pass in quicker succession while it lasts. In such cases it is by no
+means imperative to abandon the pedal; we need only to establish various
+dynamic levels and place the ruling harmony on a higher level than the
+passing ones. In other words, the predominating chord must receive so
+much force that it can outlast all those briefer ones which, though
+audible, must die of their own weakness, and while the strong, ruling
+chord was constantly disturbed by the weaker ones it also re-established
+its supremacy with the death of every weaker one which it outlasted.
+This use of the pedal has its limitations in the evanescent nature of
+the tone of the piano.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page46" id="Page46">Pg 46</a></span>
+That moment when the blending of
+non-harmonic tones imperils the tonal beauty of the piece in hand can be
+determined solely and exclusively by the player's own ear, and here we
+are once more at the point from which this article started, namely: that
+the ear is governor, and that it alone can decide whether or not there
+is to be any pedal.</p>
+
+<p>It were absurd to assume that we can greatly please the ear of others by
+our playing so long as our own ear is not completely satisfied. We
+should, therefore, endeavour to train the susceptibility of our ear, and
+we should ever make it more difficult to gain the assent of our own ear
+than to gain that of our auditors. They may, apparently, not notice
+defects in your playing, but at this juncture I wish to say a word of
+serious warning: Do not confound unmindfulness with consent! To hear
+ourselves play&mdash;that is, to listen to our own playing&mdash;is the
+bed-rock basis of all music-making and also, of course, of the technic
+of the pedal. Therefore, listen carefully, attentively to the tones you
+produce. When you employ the pedal as a prolongation of the fingers (to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page47" id="Page47">Pg 47</a></span>
+sustain tones beyond the reach of the fingers), see to it that
+you catch, and hold, the fundamental tone of your chord, for this tone
+must be always your chief consideration.</p>
+
+<p><i>Whether You Use the Pedal as a Means of Mere Prolongation</i> or as a
+medium of colouring, under no circumstances use it as a cloak for
+imperfection of execution. For, like charity, it is apt to be made to
+cover a multitude of sins; but, again like charity, who wants to make
+himself dependent upon it, when honest work can prevent it?</p>
+
+<p>Nor should the pedal be used to make up for a deficiency of force. To
+produce a forte is the business of the fingers (with or without the aid
+of the arm) but not of the pedal, and this holds true
+also&mdash;<i>mutatis mutandis</i>&mdash;of the left pedal, for which the
+Germans use a word (<i>Verschiebung</i>) denoting something like "shifting."
+In a "grand" piano the treading of the left pedal shifts the hammers so
+far to one side that instead of striking three strings they will strike
+only two. (In the pianos of fifty and more years ago there were only two
+strings to each tone, and when the hammers were shifted by<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page48" id="Page48">Pg 48</a></span> the treading of the left pedal they
+struck only one string. From those days we have retained the term "<i>una
+corda</i>"&mdash;one string.) In an upright piano the lessening of
+tone-volume is produced by a lessening of the momentum of the hammer
+stroke.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the right pedal should not be used to cover a lack of force, so
+should the left pedal not be regarded as a licence to neglect the
+formation of a fine <i>pianissimo</i> touch. It should not cloak or screen a
+defective <i>pianissimo</i>, but should serve exclusively as a means of
+colouring where the softness of tone is coupled with what the jewellers
+call "dull finish." For the left pedal does not soften the tone without
+changing its character; it lessens the quantity of tone but at the same
+time it also markedly affects the quality.</p>
+
+<p>To <i>Sum Up</i>: Train your ear and then use both pedals honestly! Use them
+for what they were made. Remember that even screens are not used for
+hiding things behind them, but for decorative purposes or for
+protection. Those who do use them for hiding something must have
+something which they prefer to hide!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page49" id="Page49">Pg 49</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a name="PLAYING_IN_STYLE" id="PLAYING_IN_STYLE"></a>PLAYING "IN STYLE"</h3>
+
+<p>By playing a piece of music "in style" is understood a rendition which
+does absolute justice to its contents in regard to the manner of
+expression. Now, the true manner of expression must be sought and found
+for each piece individually, even though a number of different pieces
+may be written by one and the same composer. Our first endeavour should
+be to search out the peculiarity of the piece in hand rather than that
+of the composer in general. If you have succeeded in playing one work by
+Chopin in style, it does not follow, by any means, that you can play
+equally well any other work from his pen. Though on general lines his
+manner of writing may be the same in all his works, there will,
+nevertheless, be marked differences between the various pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Only by careful study of each work by itself can we find the key to its
+correct conception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page50" id="Page50">Pg 50</a></span>
+and rendition. We will never find it in books
+about the composer, nor in such as treat of his works, but only in the
+works themselves and in each one <i>per se</i>. People who study a lot of
+things about a work of art may possibly enrich their general knowledge,
+but they never can get that specific knowledge needful for the
+interpretation of the particular work in hand. Its own contents alone
+can furnish that knowledge. We know from frequent experience that
+book-learned musicians (or, as they are now called, musicologists)
+usually read everything in sight, and yet their playing rises hardly
+ever above mediocre dilettanteism.</p>
+
+<p>Why should we look for a correct conception of a piece anywhere but in
+the piece itself? Surely the composer has embodied in the piece all he
+knew and felt when he wrote it. Why, then, not listen to his specific
+language instead of losing our way in the terms of another art?
+Literature is literature, and music is music. They may combine, as in
+song, but one can never be substituted for the other.</p>
+
+<p><i>Many Students Never Learn</i> to understand a composer's specific language
+because their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page51" id="Page51">Pg 51</a></span>
+sole concern is to make the piece "effective" in
+the sense of a clever stunt. This tendency is most deplorable; for there
+really does exist a specifically musical language. By purely material
+means: through notes, pauses, dynamic and other signs, through special
+annotations, etc., the composer encloses in his work the whole world of
+his imagination. The duty of the interpretative artist is to extract
+from these material things the spiritual essence and to transmit it to
+his hearers. To achieve this he must understand this musical language in
+general and of each composition in particular.</p>
+
+<p>But&mdash;how is this language to be learned?</p>
+
+<p>By conning with careful attentiveness&mdash;and, of course,
+absorbing&mdash;the purely material matter of a piece: the notes,
+pauses, time values, dynamic indications, etc.</p>
+
+<p>If a player be scrupulously exact in his mere reading of a piece it
+will, of itself, lead him to understand a goodly portion of the piece's
+specific language. Nay, more! Through a really correct conning the
+player is enabled to determine upon the points of repose as well as upon
+the matter of climax, and thus to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page52" id="Page52">Pg 52</a></span>
+create a basis for the
+operations of his own imagination. After that, nothing remains but to
+call forth into tonal life, through the fingers, what his musical
+intelligence has grasped&mdash;which is a purely technical task. To
+transform the purely technical and material processes into a thing that
+lives, of course, rests with the natural, emotional, temperamental
+endowments of the individual; it rests with those many and complex
+qualities which are usually summarised by the term "talent," but this
+must be presupposed with a player who aspires to artistic work.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, talent alone cannot lift the veil that hides the
+spiritual content of a composition if its possessor neglects to examine
+the latter carefully as to its purely material ingredients. He may
+flatter the ear, sensuously speaking, but he can never play the piece in
+style.</p>
+
+<p><i>Now How Can We Know</i> whether we are or are not approaching the
+spiritual phase of a piece? By repetition under unremitting attention to
+the written values. If, then, you should find how much there is still
+left for you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page53" id="Page53">Pg 53</a></span>
+to do, you have proved to yourself that you have
+understood the piece spiritually and are on the right track to master
+it. With every repetition you will discover some hitherto unnoticed
+defect in your interpretation. Obviate these defects, one by one, and in
+so doing you will come nearer and nearer to the spiritual essence of the
+work in hand.</p>
+
+<p>As to the remaining "purely technical task" (as I said before), it must
+not be underestimated! To transmit one's matured conception to one's
+auditors requires a considerable degree of mechanical skill, and this
+skill, in its turn, must be under absolute control of the will. Of
+course&mdash;after the foregoing&mdash;this does not mean that everybody
+who has a good and well-controlled technic can interpret a piece in
+style. Remember that to possess wealth is one thing, to put it to good
+use is quite another.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes said that the too objective study of a piece may impair
+the "individuality" of its rendition. Have no fear of that! If ten
+players study the same piece with the same high degree of exactness and
+objectivity&mdash;depend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page54" id="Page54">Pg 54</a></span>
+upon it: each one will still play it
+quite differently from the nine others, though each one may think his
+rendition the only correct one. For each one will express what,
+according to his lights, he has mentally and temperamentally absorbed.
+Of the distinctive feature which constitutes the difference in the ten
+conceptions each one will have been unconscious while it formed itself,
+and perhaps also afterward. But it is just this unconsciously formed
+feature which constitutes legitimate individuality and which alone will
+admit of a real fusion of the composer's and the interpreter's thought.
+A purposed, blatant parading of the player's dear self through wilful
+additions of nuances, shadings, effects, and what not, is tantamount to
+a falsification; at best it is "playing to the galleries," charlatanism.
+The player should always feel convinced that he plays only what is
+written. To the auditor, who with his own and different intelligence
+follows the player's performance, the piece will appear in the light of
+the player's individuality. The stronger this is the more it will colour
+the performance, when unconsciously admixed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page55" id="Page55">Pg 55</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Rubinstein Often Said to Me</i>: "Just play first exactly what is written;
+if you have done full justice to it and then still feel like adding or
+changing anything, why, do so." Mind well: after you have done full
+justice to what is written! How few are those who fulfil this duty! I
+venture to prove to any one who will play for me&mdash;if he be at all
+worth listening to&mdash;that he does not play more than is written (as
+he may think), but, in fact, a good deal less than the printed page
+reveals. And this is one of the principal causes of misunderstanding the
+esoteric portion, the inherent "style" of a piece&mdash;a
+misunderstanding which is not always confined to amateurs&mdash;inexact
+reading!</p>
+
+<p>The true interpretation of a piece of music results from a correct
+understanding of it, and this, in turn, depends solely upon scrupulously
+exact reading.</p>
+
+<p><i>Learn the Language of Music</i>, then, I repeat, through exact reading!
+You will then soon fathom the musical meaning of a composition and
+transmit it intelligibly to your listeners. Would you satisfy your
+curiosity as to what manner of person the author is or was at<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page56" id="Page56">Pg 56</a></span> the time of writing, you may do so.
+But&mdash;as I said in the "Foreword"&mdash;your chief interest should
+centre in the "composition," not in the "composer," for only by studying
+his work will you be enabled to play it in style.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page57" id="Page57">Pg 57</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a name="HOW_RUBINSTEIN_TAUGHT" id="HOW_RUBINSTEIN_TAUGHT"></a>HOW RUBINSTEIN TAUGHT ME TO PLAY</h3>
+
+<p>Outside of the regular students of the Imperial Conservatory of Music at
+St. Petersburg, Rubinstein accepted but one pupil. The advantage and
+privilege to be that one pupil was mine.</p>
+
+<p>I came to Rubinstein when I was sixteen years old and left him at
+eighteen. Since that time I have studied only by myself; for to whom
+could I have gone after Rubinstein? His very manner of teaching was such
+that it would have made any other teacher appear to me like a
+schoolmaster. He chose the method of indirect instruction through
+suggestive comparisons. He touched upon the strictly musical only upon
+rare occasions. In this way he wished to awaken within me the concretely
+musical as a parallel of his generalisations and thereby preserve my
+musical individuality.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_8" id="image_8"><img src="images/jpg0008a.jpg" alt="Anton Rubinstein"/></a></div>
+
+<p>He never played for me. He only talked,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page58" id="Page58">Pg 58</a></span> and I, understanding
+him, translated his meaning into music and musical utterances.
+Sometimes, for instance, when I played the same phrase twice in
+succession, and played it both times alike (say in a sequence), he would
+say: "In fine weather you may play it as you did, but when it rains play
+it differently."</p>
+
+<p>Rubinstein was much given to whims and moods, and he often grew
+enthusiastic about a certain conception only to prefer a different one
+the next day. Yet he was always logical in his art, and though he aimed
+at hitting the nail from various points of view he always hit it on the
+head. Thus he never permitted me to bring to him, as a lesson, any
+composition more than once. He explained this to me once by saying that
+he might forget in the next lesson what he told me in the previous one,
+and by drawing an entirely new picture only confuse my mind. Nor did he
+ever permit me to bring one of his own works, though he never explained
+to me his reason for this singular attitude.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_9" id="image_9"><img src="images/jpg0009a.jpg" alt="How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play"/></a></div>
+
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page59" id="Page59">Pg 59</a></span>
+
+Usually, when I came to him, arriving from Berlin, where I lived, I
+found him seated at his writing-desk, smoking Russian cigarettes. He
+lived at the H&#xf4;tel de l'Europe. After a kindly salute he would always
+ask me the same question: "Well, what is new in the world?"</p>
+
+<p>I remember replying to him: "I know nothing new; that's why I came to
+learn something new&mdash;from you."</p>
+
+<p>Rubinstein, understanding at once the musical meaning of my words,
+smiled, and the lesson thus promised to be a fine one.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed he was usually not alone when I came, but had as visitors
+several elderly ladies, sometimes very old ladies (mostly Russians), and
+some young girls&mdash;seldom any men. With a wave of his hand he
+directed me to the piano in the corner, a Bechstein, which was most of
+the time shockingly out of tune; but to this condition of his piano he
+was always serenely indifferent. He would remain at his desk studying
+the notes of the work while I played. He always compelled me to bring
+the pieces along, insisting that I should play everything just as it was
+written! He would follow every note of my playing with his eyes riveted
+on the printed pages. A pedant he certainly was, a stickler for<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page60" id="Page60">Pg 60</a></span> the letter&mdash;incredibly so,
+especially when one considered the liberties he took when he played the
+same works! Once I called his attention modestly to this seeming
+paradox, and he answered: "When you are as old as I am now you may do as
+I do&mdash;if you can."</p>
+
+<p>Once I played a Liszt Rhapsody pretty badly. After a few moments he
+said: "The way you played this piece would be all right for auntie or
+mamma." Then rising and coming toward me he would say: "Now let us see
+how we play such things." Then I would begin all over again, but hardly
+had I played a few measures when he would interrupt and say: "Did you
+start? I thought I hadn't heard right&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master, I certainly did," I would reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," he would say vaguely. "I didn't notice."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean?" I would ask.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean this," he would answer: "Before your fingers touch the keys you
+must begin the piece mentally&mdash;that is, you must have settled in
+your mind the <i>tempo</i>, the manner of touch,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page61" id="Page61">Pg 61</a></span> and, above all, the
+attack of the first notes, before your actual playing begins. And
+by-the-bye, what is the character of this piece? Is it dramatic, tragic,
+lyric, romantic, humourous, heroic, sublime, mystic&mdash;what? Well,
+why don't you speak?"</p>
+
+<p>Generally I would mutter something after such a tirade, but usually I
+said something stupid because of the awe with which he inspired me.
+Finally, after trying several of his suggested designations I would hit
+it right. Then he would say: "Well, there we are at last! Humourous, is
+it? Very well! And rhapsodical, irregular&mdash;hey? You understand the
+meaning?" I would answer, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then," he would reply; "now prove it." And then I would
+begin all over again.</p>
+
+<p>He would stand at my side, and whenever he wanted a special stress laid
+upon a certain note his powerful fingers would press upon my left
+shoulder with such force that I would stab the keys till the piano
+fairly screamed for me. When this did not have the effect he was after
+he would simply press his whole hand upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page62" id="Page62">Pg 62</a></span> mine, flattening it
+out and spreading it like butter all over the keys, black and white
+ones, creating a frightful cacophony. Then he would say, almost with
+anger, "But cleaner, cleaner, cleaner," as if the discord had been of my
+doing.</p>
+
+<p>Such occurrences did not lack a humourous side, but their turn into the
+tragical always hung by a hair, especially if I had tried to explain or
+to make excuses. So I generally kept silent, and I found, after some
+experience, that was the only proper thing for me to do. For just as
+quickly as he would flare up he would also calm down again, and when the
+piece was ended I would hear his usual comment: "You are an excellent
+young man!" And how quickly was all pain then forgotten!</p>
+
+<p>I remember on one occasion that I played Schubert-Liszt's "Erl-K&#xf6;nig."
+When I came to the place in the composition where the Erl-King says to
+the child, "Thou dear, sweet child, oh, come with me," and I had played
+several false notes besides very poor arpeggios, Rubinstein asked me:
+"Do you know the text at this place?"
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page63" id="Page63">Pg 63</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As a reply I quoted the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then," he said, "the Erl-King addresses the child; Erl-King
+is a spirit, a ghost&mdash;so play this place in a spiritlike way,
+ghostly, if you will, but not ghastly with false notes!"</p>
+
+<p>I had to laugh at his word-play and Rubinstein himself chimed in, and
+the piece was saved, or rather the player. For when I repeated that
+particular part it went very well, and he allowed me to continue without
+further interruption.</p>
+
+<p>Once I asked him for the fingering of a rather complex passage.</p>
+
+<p>"Play it with your nose," he replied, "but make it sound well!"</p>
+
+<p>This remark puzzled me, and there I sat and wondered what he meant.</p>
+
+<p>As I understand it now he meant: Help yourself! The Lord helps those who
+help themselves!</p>
+
+
+<p>As I said before, Rubinstein never played for me the works I had to
+study. He explained, analysed, elucidated everything that he wanted me
+to know; but, this done, he left me to my
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page64" id="Page64">Pg 64</a></span> own judgment, for only
+then, he would explain, would my achievement be my own and incontestable
+property. I learned from Rubinstein in this way the valuable truth that
+the conception of tone-pictures obtained through the playing of another
+gives us only transient impressions; they come and go, while the
+self-created conception will last and remain our own.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when I look back upon my study-days with Rubinstein, I can see that
+he did not so much instruct me as that I learned from him. He was not a
+pedagogue in the usual meaning of that word. He indicated to me an
+altitude offering a fine view, but how I was to get up there was my
+affair; he did not bother about it. "Play with your nose!" Yes&mdash;but
+when I bumped it till it fairly bled where would I get the metaphorical
+handkerchief? In my imagination! And he was right.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, this method would not work with all pupils, but it is
+nevertheless well calculated to develop a student's original thought and
+bring out whatever acumen he may possess. If such a one succeeded by his
+own study and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page65" id="Page65">Pg 65</a></span>
+mental force to reach the desired point which the
+great magician's wizardry had made him see, he had gained the reliance
+in his own strength: he felt sure that he would always find that point
+again&mdash;even though he should lose his way once or twice, as every
+one with an honest aspiration is liable to do.</p>
+
+<p>I recall that Rubinstein once said to me: "Do you know why piano-playing
+is so difficult? Because it is prone to be either affected or else
+afflicted with mannerisms; and when these two pitfalls are luckily
+avoided then it is liable to be&mdash;dry! The truth lies between those
+three mischiefs!"</p>
+
+<p>When it was settled that I should make my Hamburg d&#xe9;but under his baton
+with his own D-minor Concerto, I thought the time had come at last to
+study with him one of his own works. So I proposed it, but Rubinstein
+disposed of it! I still see him, as if it were but yesterday, seated in
+the greenroom of the Berlin Philharmonic during an intermission in his
+concert (it was on a Saturday) and telling me: "We shall appear together
+in Hamburg on Monday." The time was short, but I knew the<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page66" id="Page66">Pg 66</a></span> Concerto and hoped to go through it
+with him some time in the remaining two days. I asked his permission to
+play the Concerto for him, but he declined my urgent request, saying:
+"It is not necessary; we understand each other!" And even in this
+critical moment he left me to my own resources. After the last (and
+only) rehearsal the great master embraced me before the whole orchestra,
+and I&mdash;well, I was not in the seventh, but in the "eighth" heaven!
+Everything was all right, I said to myself, for Rubinstein, Rubinstein
+was satisfied! The public simply had to be! The concert went off
+splendidly.</p>
+
+<p>After that memorable d&#xe9;but in Hamburg, which was on March 14, 1894, I
+went directly to see Rubinstein, little dreaming that my eyes would then
+see him for the last time. I brought with me a large photograph of
+himself, and, though fully aware of his unconquerable aversion to
+autographing, my desire for the possession of his signature overruled my
+reluctance and I made my request.</p>
+
+<p>He raised both fists and thundered, half-angry and half-laughing: "<i>Et
+tu, Brute?</i>"
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page67" id="Page67">Pg 67</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But my wish was granted, and I reproduce the portrait in this article.</p>
+
+<p>Then I asked him when I should play for him again, and to my
+consternation he answered: "Never!"</p>
+
+<p>In my despair I asked him: "Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>He, generous soul that he was, then said to me: "My dear boy, I have
+told you all I know about legitimate piano-playing and
+music-making"&mdash;and then changing his tone somewhat he added: "And
+if you don't know it <i>yet</i>, why, go to the devil!"</p>
+
+<p>I saw only too well that while he smiled as he said it he meant it
+seriously, and I left him.</p>
+
+<p>I never saw Rubinstein again. Soon after that he returned to his villa
+in Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, and there he died on November 19,
+1894.</p>
+
+<p>The effect that his death had upon me I shall never forget. The world
+appeared suddenly entirely empty to me, devoid of any interest. My grief
+made me realise how my heart had worshipped not only the artist in him
+but also the man; how I loved him as if he were my father. I learned of
+his death through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page68" id="Page68">Pg 68</a></span>
+English papers while I was <i>en route</i> from
+London to Cheltenham, where I was booked for a recital on the twentieth.
+The B-flat minor Sonata by Chopin happened to be on the programme, and
+as I struck the first notes of the Funeral March the whole audience rose
+from their seats as if by command and remained standing with bowed heads
+during the whole piece&mdash;in honour of the great departed.</p>
+
+<p>A singular coincidence occurred at my concert on the preceding
+day&mdash;the day of Rubinstein's death.</p>
+
+<p>On this day I played for the first time in public after my seven years'
+retirement (excepting my Hamburg d&#xe9;but). It was in London. In this
+concert I played, as a novelty, a Polonaise in E-flat minor which
+Rubinstein had but recently written in Dresden and dedicated to me. He
+had included it in the set called "Souvenirs de Dresde." This piece has
+throughout the character of a Funeral March in all but the
+time-division. Little did I dream while I was playing it that day that I
+was singing him into his eternal rest, for it was but a few hours later
+that, in the far East of Europe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page69" id="Page69">Pg 69</a></span>
+my great master passed away, suddenly, of heart failure.</p>
+
+<p>Two years later I played this same Polonaise for the second and last
+time. It was on the anniversary of his death, in St. Petersburg, where
+in honour of his memory I gave a recital, the proceeds of which I
+devoted to the Rubinstein Fund. Since then I have played this piece only
+once, at home and to myself, excluding it entirely from my public
+r&#xe9;pertoire. For, though it was dedicated to me, the time and
+circumstances of its initial performance always made me feel as if it
+still belonged to my master, or, at best, as if it were something
+personal and private between us two.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page70" id="Page70">Pg 70</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Indispensables_in_Pianistic" id="Indispensables_in_Pianistic"></a>Indispensables in Pianistic Success</h2>
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>"The Indispensables in Pianistic Success? Are not the indispensables in
+all success very much the same? Nothing can take the place of real
+worth. This is especially true of America, in which country I have lived
+longer than in any other, and which I am glad to call my home. Americans
+are probably the most traveled people of the world, and it is futile to
+offer them anything but the best. Some years ago a conductor brought to
+this country an orchestra of second-class character, with the idea that
+the people would accept it just because it bore the name of a famous
+European city which possessed one of the great orchestras of the world.
+It was a good orchestra, but there were better orchestras in American
+cities, and it took American audiences just two concerts to find this
+out, resulting in a disastrous failure, which the conductor was man
+enough to face and personally defray. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page71" id="Page71">Pg 71</a></span> American people know
+the best, and will have nothing but the best. Therefore, if you would
+make a list of the indispensables of pianistic success in this country
+at this time you must put at the head of your list, REAL WORTH.</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally, one of the first indispensables would include what many term
+'the musical gift.' However, this is often greatly misunderstood. We
+are, happily, past the time when music was regarded as a special kind of
+divine dispensation, which, by its very possession, robbed the musician
+of any claim to possible excellence in other lines. In other words,
+music was so special a gift that it was even thought by some misguided
+people to isolate the musician from the world&mdash;to make him a thing
+apart and different from other men and women of high aspirations and
+attainments.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true that there have been famous prodigies in mathematics, and in
+games such as chess, who have given evidence of astonishing prowess in
+their chosen work, but who, at the same time, seem to have been
+lamentably under-developed in many other ways. This is not the case in
+music at this day at least, for, although a special love for music and a
+special quickness in mastering musical
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page72" id="Page72">Pg 72</a></span>problems are
+indispensable, yet the musicians are usually men and women of broad
+cultural development if they desire it and are willing to work for it.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor can I concede that a very finely developed sense of hearing is in
+all cases essential. The possession of what is known as absolute pitch,
+which so many seem to think is a sure indication of musical genius, is
+often a nuisance. Schumann did not possess it, and (unless I am
+incorrectly informed) Wagner did not have absolute pitch. I have it, and
+can, I believe, distinguish differences of an eighth of a tone. I find
+it more disturbing than beneficial. My father had absolute pitch in
+remarkable fashion. He seemed to have extremely acute ears. Indeed, it
+was often impossible for him to identify a well-known composition if he
+heard it played in a different key&mdash;it sounded so different to him.
+Mozart had absolute pitch, but music, in his day, was far less
+complicated. We now live in an age of melodic and contrapuntal
+intricacy, and I do not believe that the so-called acute sense of
+hearing, or highly developed sense of absolute pitch, has very much to
+do with one's real musical ability. The physical hearing is<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page73" id="Page73">Pg 73</a></span> nothing; the spiritual
+hearing&mdash;if one may say so&mdash;is what really counts. If, in
+transposing, for instance, one has associated the contents of a piece so
+closely with its corresponding tonality that it is hard to play in any
+other tonality, this constitutes a difficulty&mdash;not an advantage.</p>
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>"Too much cannot be said about the advantage of an early drill. The
+impressions made during youth seem to be the most lasting. I am certain
+that the pieces that I learned before I was ten years of age remain more
+persistently in my memory than the compositions I studied after I was
+thirty. The child who is destined for a musical career should receive as
+much musical instruction in early life as is compatible with the child's
+health and receptivity. To postpone the work too long is just as
+dangerous to the child's career as it is dangerous to overload the pupil
+with more work than his mind and body can absorb. Children learn far
+more rapidly than adults&mdash;not merely because of the fact that the
+work becomes more and more complicated as the student advances, but also
+because the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page74" id="Page74">Pg 74</a></span>
+child mind is so vastly more receptive. The child's
+power of absorption in music study between the ages of eight and twelve
+is simply enormous; it is less between twelve and twenty; still less
+between twenty and thirty, and often lamentably small between thirty and
+forty. It might be represented by some such diagram as:</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_1b" id="image_1b"><img src="images/jpg001b.jpg" alt="Power of Absorption in Music Study, by Age"/></a></div>
+
+<p>"Of course, these lines are only comparative, and there are exceptional
+cases of astonishing development late in life, due to enormous ambition
+and industry. Yet the period of highest achievement is usually early in
+life. This is especially true in the arts where digital skill is
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>"All teachers are aware of the need for the best possible drill early in
+life. The idea one so often hears expressed in America: 'Since<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page75" id="Page75">Pg 75</a></span> my daughter is only beginning her
+studies&mdash;any teacher will do,' has been the source of great laxity
+in American musical education. If the father who has such an idea would
+only transpose the same thought to the building of a house he would be
+surprised to find himself saying: 'Since I am only laying a foundation,
+any kind of trashy material will do. I will use inferior cement,
+plaster, stone, bricks, decayed wood and cheap hardware, and employ the
+cheapest labor I can procure. But when I get to the roof I shall engage
+the finest roofmakers in the world!'</p>
+
+<p>"The beginning is of such tremendous importance that only the best is
+good enough. By this I do not mean the most expensive teacher
+obtainable, but someone who is thorough, painstaking, conscientious,
+alert and experienced. The foundation is the part of the house in which
+the greatest strength and thoroughness is required. Everything must be
+solid, substantial, firm and secure, to stand the stress of use and the
+test of time. Of course, there is such a thing as employing a teacher
+with a big reputation and exceptional skill, who would make an excellent
+teacher for an advanced student, but who might be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page76" id="Page76">Pg 76</a></span>incapable of
+laying a good foundation for the beginner. One wants strength at the
+foundation&mdash;not gold ornaments and marble trimmings and beautiful
+decorations, fretwork, carving. Just as in great cities one finds firms
+which make a specialty of laying foundations for immense buildings, so
+it is often wise to employ a teacher who specializes in instructing
+beginners. In European music schools this has almost always been the
+case. It is not virtuosity that is needed in the makeup of the teacher
+of beginners, but rather sound musicianship, as well as the
+comprehension of the child psychology. Drill, drill, and more drill, is
+the secret of the early training of the mind and hand. This is indicated
+quite as much in games such as tennis, billiards and golf. Think of the
+remarkable records of some very young players in these games, and you
+will see what may be accomplished in the early years of the young
+player.</p>
+
+<p>"In all arts and sciences, as one advances, complications and obstacles
+seem to multiply in complexity until the point of mastery is reached;
+then the tendency seems to reverse itself, until a kind of circle
+carries one round again to the point of simplicity. I have often liked
+to picture this to myself in this way:</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_2b" id="image_2b"><img src="images/jpg002b.jpg" alt="Point of Greatest Complexity"/></a></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page77" id="Page77">Pg 77</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is encouraging for the student to know that he must expect to be
+confronted with ever-increasing difficulties, until he reaches the point
+where all the intense and intricate problems seem to solve themselves,
+dissolving gradually into the light of a clear understanding day. This
+is to me a general principle underlying almost all lines of human
+achievement, and it appears to me that the student should learn its
+application, not only to his own but to other occupations and
+attainments. This universal line of life, starting with birth, mounting
+to its climax in middle life, and then passing on to greater and greater
+simplicity of means, until at death the circle is almost completed, is a
+kind of human program which all successful men would appear to follow.
+Perhaps we can make this clearer by studying the evolution of the steam
+engine.</p>
+
+<p>"The steam engine started with the most primitive kind of apparatus. At
+the very first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page78" id="Page78">Pg 78</a></span>
+it was of the turbine type. Hero of Alexander
+(Heron, in Greek) made the first steam engine, which was little more
+than a toy. According to some historians, Heron lived in the second
+century before Christ, and according to others his work was done in the
+latter half of the first century. He was an ingenious mathematician who
+often startled the people of this time with his mechanical contrivances.
+It is difficult to show the principle of his engine in an exact drawing;
+but the following indicates in a crude way the application of steam
+force something after the manner in which Heron first applied it.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><a name="image_3b" id="image_3b"><img src="images/jpg003b.jpg" alt="Drawing of Turbine Engine"/></a></div>
+
+<p>"A is a retort containing water, which is heated to steam, which issues
+from the tube at B and is caught in the wheel in such a manner that the
+wheel revolves. The principle is simplicity itself; and the noteworthy
+fact is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page79" id="Page79">Pg 79</a></span>
+that&mdash;primitive as it is&mdash;it has the
+characteristic principle involved in the turbine engine of to-day. After
+Heron many others attempted to use controlled steam to produce force,
+until, in 1764, James Watt made discoveries which paved the way for the
+modern steam engine, constituting him virtually the inventor of the
+type. Thereafter, the machinery became more and more complicated and
+enormous in size. Double, triple and quadruple expansion types were
+introduced until, at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876,
+a giant engine was exhibited by Corliss&mdash;a marvelous engine, with
+many elaborate details. Then, having reached the maximum curve of
+complexity, engine construction became more and more simple, and now we
+have turbine engines, such as the Parsons engines, which are all far
+smaller and simpler than their grandfathers of the seventies, but at the
+same time vastly more powerful and efficient.</p>
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>"In the art of piano playing we have much the same line of curve. At
+first there was childlike simplicity. Then, with the further development
+of the art, we find the tendency
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page80" id="Page80">Pg 80</a></span> toward enormous technical
+accomplishment and very great complexity. Fifty years ago technic was
+everything. The art of piano playing was the art of the musical
+speedometer&mdash;the art of playing the greatest number of notes in the
+shortest possible time. Of course, there were a few outstanding giants,
+Rubinsteins, Liszts and Chopins, who made their technic subordinate to
+their message; but the public was dazzled with technic&mdash;one might
+better say pyrotechnics. Now we find the circle drawing toward the point
+of simplicity again. Great beauty, combined with adequate technic, is
+demanded rather than enormous technic divorced from beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"Technic represents the material side of art, as money represents the
+material side of life. By all means achieve a fine technic, but do not
+dream that you will be artistically happy with this alone.
+Thousands&mdash;millions&mdash;of people believe that money is the basis
+of great happiness, only to find, when they have accumulated vast
+fortunes, that money is only one of the extraneous details which
+may&mdash;or may not&mdash;contribute to real content in life.</p>
+
+<p>"Technic is a chest of tools from which the skilled artisan draws what
+he needs at the right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page81" id="Page81">Pg 81</a></span>
+time for the right purpose. The mere
+possession of the tools means nothing; it is the instinct&mdash;the
+artistic intuition as to when and how to use the tools&mdash;that
+counts. It is like opening the drawer and finding what one needs at the
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a technic which liberates and a technic which represses the
+artistic self. All technic ought to be a means of expression. It is
+perfectly possible to accumulate a technic that is next to useless. I
+recall the case of a musician in Paris who studied counterpoint, harmony
+and fugue for eight years, and at the end of that time he was incapable
+of using any of his knowledge in practical musical composition. Why?
+Because he had spent all of his time on the mere dry technic of
+composition, and none in actual composition. He told me that he had been
+years trying to link his technic to the artistic side of things&mdash;to
+write compositions that embodied real music, and not merely the reflex
+of uninspired technical exercises. I am a firm believer in having
+technic go hand in hand with veritable musical development from the
+start. Neither can be studied alone; one must balance the other. The
+teacher who gives a pupil a long course in strict technic<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page82" id="Page82">Pg 82</a></span> unbroken by the intelligent study of
+real music, is producing a musical mechanic&mdash;an artisan, not an
+artist.</p>
+
+<p>"Please do not quote me as making a diatribe against technic. I believe
+in technic to the fullest extent in its proper place. Rosenthal, who was
+unquestionably one of the greatest technicians, once said to me: 'I have
+found that the people who claim that technic is not an important thing
+in piano playing simply do not possess it.' For instance, one hears now
+and then that scales are unnecessary in piano practice. A well-played
+scale is a truly beautiful thing, but few people play them well because
+they do not practice them enough. Scales are among the most difficult
+things in piano playing; and how the student who aspires to rise above
+mediocrity can hope to succeed without a thorough and far-reaching drill
+in all kinds of scales, I do not know. I do know, however, that I was
+drilled unrelentingly in them, and that I have been grateful for this
+all my life. Do not despise scales, but rather seek to make them
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>"The clever teacher will always find some piece that will illustrate the
+use and result of the technical means employed. There are<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page83" id="Page83">Pg 83</a></span> thousands of such pieces that
+indicate the use of scales, chords, arpeggios, thirds, etc., and the
+pupil is encouraged to find that what he has been working so hard to
+acquire may be made the source of beautiful expression in a real piece
+of music. This, to my mind, should be part of the regular program of the
+student from the very start; and it is what I mean when I say that the
+work of the pupil in technic and in musical appreciation should go hand
+in hand from the beginning.</p>
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>"The use of the pedal is an art in itself. Unfortunately, with many it
+is an expedient to shield deficiency&mdash;a cloak to cover up
+inaccuracy and poor touch. It is employed as the veils that fading
+dowagers adopt to obscure wrinkles. The pedal is even more than a medium
+of coloring. It provides the background so indispensable in artistic
+playing. Imagine a picture painted without any background and you may
+have an inkling of what the effect of the properly used pedal is in
+piano playing. It has always seemed to me that it does in piano playing
+what the wind instruments do in the tonal mass of the orchestra. The
+wind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page84" id="Page84">Pg 84</a></span>
+instruments usually make a sort of background for the music
+of the other instruments. One who has attended the rehearsal of a great
+orchestra and has heard the violins rehearsed alone, and then together
+with the wind instruments, will understand exactly what I mean.</p>
+
+<p>"How and when to introduce the pedal to provide certain effects is
+almost the study of a lifetime. From the very start, where the student
+is taught the bad effect of holding down the 'loud' pedal while two
+unrelated chords are played, to the time when he is taught to use the
+pedal for the accomplishment of atmospheric effects that are like
+painting in the most subtle and delicate shades, the study of the pedal
+is continuously a source of the most interesting experiment and
+revelation.</p>
+
+<p>"There should be no hard-and-fast rules governing the use of the pedal.
+It is the branch of pianoforte playing in which there must always be the
+greatest latitude. For instance, in the playing of Bach's works on the
+modern pianoforte there seems to have been a very great deal of
+confusion as to the propriety of the use of the pedal. The Bach music,
+which is played now on the keyboard of the modern piano, was, for the
+most part, originally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page85" id="Page85">Pg 85</a></span>
+written for either the clavier or for the
+organ. The clavichord had a very short sound, resembling in a way the
+staccato touch on the present-day piano, whereas the organ was and is
+capable of a great volume of sound of sustained quality. Due to the
+contradictory nature of these two instruments and the fact that many
+people do not know whether a composition at hand was written for the
+clavichord or for the organ, some of them try to imitate the organ sound
+by holding the pedal all the time or most of the time, while others try
+to imitate the clavichord and refrain from the use of the pedal
+altogether. The extreme theories, as in the case of all extreme
+theories, are undoubtedly wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"One may have the clavichord in mind in playing one piece and the organ
+in mind in playing another. There can be nothing wrong about that, but
+to transform the modern pianoforte, which has distinctly specific tonal
+attributes, into a clavichord or into an organ must result in a tonal
+abuse.</p>
+
+<p>"The pedal is just as much a part of the pianoforte as are the stops and
+the couplers a part of the organ or the brass tangents a part of the
+clavichord. It is artistically impossible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page86" id="Page86">Pg 86</a></span>
+to so camouflage the
+tone of the pianoforte as to make it sound like either the organ or the
+clavichord. Even were this possible, the clavichord is an instrument
+which is out of date, though the music of Bach is still a part and
+parcel of the musical literature of to-day. The oldest known specimen of
+the clavichord (dated 1537) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New
+York City. Should you happen to view this instrument you would realize
+at once that its action is entirely different from that of the piano,
+just as its tone was different. You cannot possibly make a piano sound
+like a clavichord through any medium of touch or pedals. Therefore, why
+not play the piano as a piano? Why try to do the impossible thing in
+endeavoring to make the piano sound like another instrument of a
+different mechanism? Why not make a piano sound like a piano? Must we
+always endure listening to Wagner's music in a variety show and to
+Strauss' waltzes in Carnegie Hall?</p>
+
+<h4>V</h4>
+
+<p>"If one were to ask me what is the indispensable thing in the education
+of a pianist, I would say: 'First of all, a good guide.' By<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page87" id="Page87">Pg 87</a></span> this I do not mean merely a good
+teacher, but rather a mentor, a pilot who can and who will oversee the
+early steps of the career of a young person. In my own case, I was
+fortunate in having a father, a professional musician, who realized my
+musical possibilities, and from the very beginning was intensely
+interested in my career, not merely as a father, but as an artist
+guiding and piloting every day of my early life. Fate is such a peculiar
+mystery, and the student, in his young life, can have but a slight idea
+of what is before him in the future. Therefore, the need of a mentor is
+essential. I am sure that my father was the author of a great deal of
+the success that I have enjoyed. It was he who took me to Moszkowski and
+Rubinstein. The critical advice&mdash;especially that of
+Rubinstein&mdash;was invaluable to me. The student should have
+unrelenting criticism from a master mind. Even when it is caustic, as
+was von B&#xfc;low's, it may be very beneficial. I remember once in the home
+of Moszkowski that I played for von B&#xfc;low. The taciturn, cynical
+conductor-pianist simply crushed me with his criticism of my playing.
+But, young though I was, I was not so conceited as to fail to realize
+that he was right. I shook hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page88" id="Page88">Pg 88</a></span>
+with him and thanked him for
+his advice and criticism. Von B&#xfc;low laughed and said, 'Why do you thank
+me? It is like the chicken thanking the one who had eaten it, for doing
+so.' Von B&#xfc;low, on that same day played in such a jumbled manner with
+his old, stiffened fingers, that I asked Moszkowski how in the world it
+might be possible for von B&#xfc;low to keep a concert engagement which I
+knew him to have a few days later in Berlin. Moszkowski replied: 'Let
+von B&#xfc;low alone for that. You don't know him. If he sets out to do
+something, he is going to do it.'</p>
+
+<p>"Von B&#xfc;low's playing, however, was almost always pedantic, although
+unquestionably scholarly. There was none of the leonine spontaneity of
+Rubinstein. Rubinstein was a very exacting schoolmaster at the piano
+when he first undertook to train me; but he often said to me, 'The main
+object is to make the music sound right, even though you have to play
+with your nose!' With Rubinstein there was no <i>ignus fatuus</i> of mere
+method. Any method that would lead to fine artistic results&mdash;to
+beautiful and effective performance&mdash;was justifiable in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, to the student let me say: 'Always
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page89" id="Page89">Pg 89</a></span> work hard and
+strive to do your best. Secure a reliable mentor if you can possibly do
+so, and depend upon his advice as to your career. Even with the best
+advice there is always the element of fate&mdash;the introduction of the
+unknown&mdash;the strangeness of coincidence which would almost make one
+believe in astrology and its dictum that our terrestrial course may be
+guided by the stars. In 1887, when I played in Washington as a child of
+eleven, I was introduced to a young lady, who was the daughter of
+Senator James B. Eustis. Little did I dream that this young woman, of
+all the hundreds and hundreds of girls introduced to me during my tours,
+would some day be my wife. Fate plays its r&#xf4;le&mdash;but do not be
+tempted into the fallacious belief that success and everything else
+depend upon fate, for the biggest factor is, after all, hard work and
+intelligent guidance.'"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">Pg iii</a></span></p>
+
+<h1><a name="Piano_Questions_Answered" id="Piano_Questions_Answered"></a><i>Piano Questions Answered</i></h1>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS_Piano_Questions">
+ <tr>
+  <td><b>TECHNIQUE</b></td>
+  <td align="right">PAGE</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#General">1. General</a></td>
+  <td align="right">3</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Position_of_the_body">2. Position of the Body</a></td>
+  <td align="right">4</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Position_of_the_hand">3. Position of the Hand</a></td>
+  <td align="right">6</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Position_of_the_fingers">4. Position of the Fingers</a></td>
+  <td align="right">6</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Action_of_the_wrist">5. Action of the Wrist</a></td>
+  <td align="right">9</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Action_of_the_arm">6. Action of the Arm</a></td>
+  <td align="right">11</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Stretching">7. Stretching</a></td>
+  <td align="right">12</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_Thumb">8. The Thumb</a></td>
+  <td align="right">14</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_other_fingers">9. The Other Fingers</a></td>
+  <td align="right">16</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Weak_Fingers">10. Weak Fingers, etc.</a></td>
+  <td align="right">18</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Staccato">11. Staccato</a></td>
+  <td align="right">21</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Legato">12. Legato</a></td>
+  <td align="right">22</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Precision">13. Precision</a></td>
+  <td align="right">25</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Piano_Touch">14. Piano Touch vs Organ Touch</a></td>
+  <td align="right">26</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Fingering">15. Fingering</a></td>
+  <td align="right">27</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Glissando">16. The Glissando</a></td>
+  <td align="right">29</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Octaves">17. Octaves</a></td>
+  <td align="right">29</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Repetition_Technique">18. Repetition Technique</a></td>
+  <td align="right">34</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Double_Notes">19. Double Notes</a></td>
+  <td align="right">35</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_Instrument">THE INSTRUMENT</a></td>
+  <td align="right">35</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_Pedals">THE PEDALS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">39</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Practice">PRACTICE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">45</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Marks_and_Nomenclature">MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">57</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#About_certain">ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">75<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">Pg iv</a></span></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Bach">1. Bach</a></td>
+  <td align="right">80</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Beethoven">2. Beethoven</a></td>
+  <td align="right">83</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Mendelssohn">3. Mendelssohn</a></td>
+  <td align="right">85</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chopin">4. Chopin</a></td>
+  <td align="right">86</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Exercises">EXERCISES AND STUDIES</a></td>
+  <td align="right">93</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Polyrhythms">POLYRHYTHMS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">96</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Phrasing">PHRASING</a></td>
+  <td align="right">98</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Rubato">RUBATO</a></td>
+  <td align="right">100</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Conception">CONCEPTION</a></td>
+  <td align="right">102</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Force_of_Example">FORCE OF EXAMPLE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">104</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Theory">THEORY</a></td>
+  <td align="right">104</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_Memory">THE MEMORY</a></td>
+  <td align="right">112</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Sight-Reading">SIGHT-READING</a></td>
+  <td align="right">117</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Accompanying">ACCOMPANYING</a></td>
+  <td align="right">117</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Transposing">TRANSPOSING</a></td>
+  <td align="right">119</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Playing_for_People">PLAYING FOR PEOPLE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">120</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#About_the_Piano">ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">127</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Bad_Music">BAD MUSIC</a></td>
+  <td align="right">133</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Ethical">ETHICAL</a></td>
+  <td align="right">135</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Pitch">PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">136</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#The_Students_Age">THE STUDENT'S AGE</a></td>
+  <td align="right">138</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Teachers">TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">140</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Miscellaneous">MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">150</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#ALPHABETICAL_INDEX_OF">ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF QUESTIONS</a></td>
+  <td align="right">165</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td>
+  <td align="right">175</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">Pg v</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2>A FOREWORD</h2>
+
+
+<p>This little book is compiled from the questions and my answers to them,
+as they have appeared during the past two years in the <i>Ladies' Home
+Journal</i>. Since the questions came mostly from young piano students and
+cover a large number of matters important to the study of the piano, it
+was thought that this republication might be of interest to piano
+students in general, and that, gathered into a little volume, they might
+form a new and perhaps not unwelcome sort of reference book.</p>
+
+<p>To serve as such and to facilitate the reader's search for any
+particular subject, I have grouped the questions, together with their
+answers, under special headings.</p>
+
+<p>It is only natural, however, that a book of this character cannot
+contain more than mere suggestions to stimulate the reader's individual
+thinking. Positive facts, which can be found in books on musical history
+and in kindred works,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">Pg vi</a></span>
+are, therefore, stated only where they are
+needful as a basis for the replies. Any rule or advice given to some
+particular person cannot fit every other person unless it is passed
+through the sieve of one's own individual intelligence and is, by this
+process, so modified as to fit one's own particular case.</p>
+
+<p>There are, in addition to the questions presented and answered, one or
+two points about piano-playing that would naturally not occur to the
+average student. The opportunity to discuss those here is too favourable
+to be allowed to pass, and as they hardly admit of precise
+classification, I venture to offer them here as a brief foreword.</p>
+
+<p>To the hundreds of students who at various times have asked me: What is
+the quickest way to become a great piano-player? I will say that such a
+thing as a royal road, a secret trick, or a patent method to quickly
+become a great artist, does not exist. As the world consists of atoms;
+as it is the infinitely small things that have forced the microscope
+into the scientist's hand, so does art contain numberless small,
+seemingly insignificant things
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">Pg vii</a></span> which, if neglected entirely,
+visit dire vengeance upon the student. Instead of prematurely concerning
+himself with his inspiration, spirituality, genius, fancy, etc., and
+neglecting on their account the material side of piano study, the
+student should be willing to progress from atom to atom, slowly,
+deliberately, but with absolute certainty that each problem has been
+completely solved, each difficulty fully overcome, before he faces the
+next one. Leaps, there are none!</p>
+
+<p>Unquestionably it does sometimes happen that an artist suddenly acquires
+a wide renown. In such a case his leap was not into greatness, but
+merely into the public's recognition of it; the greatness must have been
+in him for some time before the public became aware of it. If there was
+any leaping, it was not the artist, but the public that did it.</p>
+
+<p>Let us not close our eyes to the fact that there have been&mdash;and
+probably always will be&mdash;artists that gain a wide renown <i>without</i>
+being great; puffery, aided by some personal eccentricity, is quite able
+to mislead the public, but these will, at best, do it only for a short
+time, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">Pg viii</a></span>
+the collapse of such a reputation, as collapse there
+must be, is always sure, and sad to behold.</p>
+
+<p>The buoyancy of mind, its ability to soar, so necessary for both
+creative and interpretative art, these are never impaired by close
+attention to detail. If they should be destroyed by attention to detail,
+it would not matter, for they cannot have been genuine; they can have
+been but sentimental imaginings. Details are the very steps which, one
+by one, lead to the summit of art; we should be careful not to lift one
+foot before the other one rests quite securely upon its step. One
+should&mdash;to illustrate&mdash;not be satisfied with the ability of
+"getting through" some difficult passage "by the skin of the teeth" or
+"without breaking down," but should strive to be able to play <i>with</i> it,
+to toy with it, in order to have it at one's beck and call in any
+variation of mood, so as to play it as it pleases the mind and not only
+the fingers. One should acquire sovereignty over it.</p>
+
+<p>This sovereignty is technique. But&mdash;technique is not art. It is
+only a means to achieve art, a paver of the path toward<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">Pg ix</a></span> it. The danger of confounding
+technique with art itself is not inconsiderable, since it takes a long
+time to develop a trustworthy technique; and this prolonged association
+with one subject is apt to give it supremacy over all others in one's
+mind. To guard against this serious danger the student should, above
+all, never lose sight of the fact that music, as does any other art,
+springs from our innate craving for individual expression. As
+word-thought is transmitted from man to man by verbal language so are
+feelings, emotions, moods&mdash;crystallized into
+tone-thought&mdash;conveyed by music. The effects of music may,
+therefore, be ennobling and refining; but they can as easily be
+degrading and demoralizing. For the saints and sinners among
+music-makers are probably in the same proportion as among the followers
+of other professions. The ethical value of music depends, therefore, not
+upon the musician's technique, but solely upon his moral tendencies. The
+student should never strive to dazzle his auditor's ear with mere
+technical brilliancy, but should endeavour to gladden his heart, to
+refine his feelings and sensibilities, by transmitting noble
+musical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">Pg x</a></span>
+thoughts to his mind. He should scorn all unnecessary,
+charlatanish externalities and strive ever for the inwardness of the
+composition he interprets; for, in being honest to the composition he
+will also be honest to himself and thus, consciously or not, express his
+own best self. If all musicians were sincere in this endeavour there
+could be neither envy nor jealousy among them; advancing hand in hand
+toward their common ideal they could not help being of mutual assistance
+to each other.</p>
+
+<p>Art, not unlike religion, needs an altar around which its devotees may
+congregate. Liszt, in his day, had erected such an altar in Weimar, and
+as its high priest he stood, himself, before it&mdash;a luminous example
+of devotion to art. Rubinstein did the same in St. Petersburg. Out of
+these atmospheres, thanks to the inspiring influences of Liszt's and
+Rubinstein's wonderful personalities, there have emerged a large number
+of highly meritorious and some eminent artists. That many of them have
+lacked the power in their later life to withstand the temptations of
+quick material gain by descending to a lower
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">Pg xi</a></span> plane is to be
+regretted, but&mdash;such is life. Many are called, but few are chosen.
+Since those days several of these "many" have attempted to create
+similar centres in Europe. They failed, because they were not serving
+art, but rather made art serve their own worldly purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The artists of talent no longer group themselves around the man of
+genius. Perhaps he is not to be found just now. Each little celebrity
+among the pianists keeps nowadays a shop of his own and all to himself.
+Many of these shops are "mints," and some of them produce counterfeits.
+As a matter of course, this separative system precludes all unification
+of artistic principles and is, therefore, very harmful to the present
+generation of students. The honest student who will discriminate between
+these, sometimes cleverly masked, counterfeit mints, and a real art
+altar must be of a character in which high principles are natively
+ingrained. It might help him somewhat to remember that when there is no
+good to choose we can always reject the bad.</p>
+
+<p>What is true of teachers is just as true of compositions. The student
+should not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">Pg xii</a></span>
+listen to&mdash;should not, at least, repeat the
+hearing of&mdash;bad compositions, though they may be called symphonies
+or operas. And he can, in a considerable measure, rely upon his own
+instincts in this matter. He may not&mdash;and probably will
+not&mdash;fully fathom the depths of a new symphony at its first
+hearing, but he must have received general impressions of sufficient
+power and clearness to make him <i>wish</i> for another hearing. When this
+wish is absent he should not hear the work again from a mere sense of
+duty; it were far wiser to avoid another hearing, for habit is a strong
+factor, and if we accustom our ear to hear cacophonous music we are apt
+to lose our aversion to it, which is tantamount to a loss of good,
+natural taste. It is with much of modern music as it is with opium,
+morphine, and other deadly drugs. We should shun their very touch. These
+musical opiates are sometimes manufactured by persons of considerable
+renown; of such quickly gained renown as may be acquired nowadays by the
+employment of commercialistic methods; a possibility for which the venal
+portion of the public press must bear part of the blame. The
+student<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">Pg xiii</a></span>
+should not be deceived by names of which the general
+familiarity is of too recent a date. I repeat that he should rather
+consult his own feelings and by following them contribute his modest
+share toward sending some of the present "moderns" back into their
+deserved obscurity and insignificance.</p>
+
+<p>I use the term "moderns" advisedly, for the true masters&mdash;some of
+whom died but recently&mdash;have never stooped to those methods of
+self-aggrandisement at which I hinted. Their places of honour were
+accorded to them by the world because they were theirs, by right of
+their artistic power, their genius and the purity of their art. My
+advice to the students and to all lovers of music is: Hold on with all
+your might to the school of sincerity and chastity in music! It is saner
+and, morally and &#xe6;sthetically, safer than the entire pack of our present
+nerve-tickling, aye, and nerve-racking "modernists." Music should always
+elevate; it should always call forth what, according to the demands of
+time and place, is best in us. When, instead of serving this divine
+mission, it speculates upon, and arouses, our lowest instincts for no
+better purpose than to fill
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">Pg xiv</a></span> the pockets of its perpetrator, it
+should receive neither the help nor the encouraging attention of any
+noble-thinking and clean-minded man or woman. Passive resistance can do
+a good deal on these premises.</p>
+
+<p>The matter of abstention from a certain type of music recalls to my mind
+another evil from which Americans should abstain; it is the curious and
+out-of-date superstition that music can be studied abroad better than
+here. While their number is not very large, I personally can name five
+American teachers who have struggled here for many a year without
+gaining that high recognition which they deserve. And now? Now they are
+in the various capitals of Europe, receiving the highest fees that were
+ever paid for instruction, and they receive these high fees from
+American students that throng their studios. That the indifference of
+their compatriots drove these men practically out of their country
+proved to be of advantage to them; but how ought those to be regarded
+who failed to keep them here? The wrong is irreparable in so far as
+these men do not think of returning to America except as visitors. The
+duty of American students and lovers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">Pg xv</a></span>
+of good music is to see to
+it that such capable teachers as <i>are</i> still here should <i>remain</i> here.
+The mass of emigration to Europe of our music students should cease! If
+a student has what is understood by "finished" his studies here and his
+teacher sets him free, he may make a reconnoitring tour in Europe. The
+change of views and customs will, no doubt, broaden his mind in certain
+directions. But musically speaking, he will be sure to find that most of
+the enchantment of Europe was due to its distance. Excepting the
+excellent orchestras of Europe and speaking of the general music-making
+there, it is at present not quite as good as it is here: neither is the
+average music teacher in Europe a whit better than the man of equal
+standing here.</p>
+
+<p>Americans should take cognizance of the fact that their country has not
+stood still in music any more than in any other direction. Each year has
+recorded an advancing step in its development. We must cease to compare
+the Europe of to-day with the America of fifty years ago. At present
+there is an astonishingly large number of clever and capable
+musicians<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">Pg xvi</a></span>
+in America, and, as with good physicians and lawyers,
+their ability usually stands in inverse proportion to the amount of
+their advertising. It is these worthy teachers for whose sake the
+superstition of "studying abroad" should be foresworn. What Uncle Sam
+has, in the field of music, not directly produced he has acquired by the
+natural law of attraction; now that so many talented and learned
+instructors, both native and foreign, are here they should be given a
+fair opportunity to finish a pupil's development as far as a teacher can
+do it, instead of seeing him, half-done, rush off "to Europe." If I were
+not convinced that a change on this score is possible, I should not have
+devoted so many words to it. It is merely a question of making a start.
+Let me hope that each reader of this little book may start this change,
+or, that, if already started, he will foster and help it. If his efforts
+should be disparaged by some, he need not feel disheartened, but
+remember that he belongs to the "land of limitless possibilities."</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 7.5em;"><span class="smcap">Josef Hofmann.</span></span><br />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">Pg 3</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2><a name="PIANO_QUESTIONS" id="PIANO_QUESTIONS"></a>PIANO QUESTIONS</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="TECHNIQUE" id="TECHNIQUE"></a>TECHNIQUE</h3>
+
+<h5><a name="General" id="General">1. GENERAL</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What Does "Technique" Mean?</i></div>
+
+<p>What are the different techniques, and which one is most generally used?
+What is the difference between them?</p>
+
+<p>Technique is a generic term, comprising scales, arpeggios, chords,
+double notes, octaves, legato, and the various staccato touches as well
+as the dynamic shadings. They are all necessary to make up a complete
+technique.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The More Technique the More Practice</i></div>
+
+<p>Why do pianists who have more technique than many others practise more
+than these others?</p>
+
+<p>Why have the Rothschilds more secretaries than I have? Because the
+administration of a large fortune entails more work than that of a small
+one. A pianist's technique is the material portion of his artistic
+possessions; it is his capital. To keep a great technique in fine
+working<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">Pg 4</a></span> trim is in itself a considerable and time-absorbing task.
+And, besides, you know that the more we have the more we want. This
+trait is not only human; it is also pianistic.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How to Improve the Technique</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I endeavour to improve my technique by trying difficult pieces?</p>
+
+<p>You should not confine yourself to pieces that come easy to you, for
+that would prevent all further technical progress. But beware of pieces
+that are so difficult that you could not play them&mdash;in a slower
+tempo&mdash;with absolute correctness. For this would lead to the ruin
+of your technique and kill the joy in your studies. Play pieces that are
+always a trifle harder than those you have completely mastered. Do not
+emulate those who say: "I play already this or that," without asking
+themselves "how" they play. Artistry depends ever upon the "how."</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Position_of_the_body" id="Position_of_the_body">2. POSITION OF THE BODY</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Raise the Piano-Stool Too High</i></div>
+
+<p>Are the best results at the piano attained by sitting high or low?</p>
+
+<p>As a general rule, I do not recommend a high seat at the piano, because
+this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">Pg 5</a></span> induces the employment of the arm and shoulders rather than
+of the fingers, and is, of course, very harmful to the technique. As to
+the exact height of the seat, you will have to experiment for yourself
+and find out at which height you can play longest with the least
+fatigue.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Height of the Piano Seat</i></div>
+
+<p>Is my seat at the piano to be at the same height when I practise as when
+I play for people?</p>
+
+<p>Yes! Height and distance (from the keyboard) of your chair&mdash;which
+should never have arms&mdash;you should decide for yourself and once for
+all time; for only then can you acquire a normal hand position, which,
+in its turn, is a condition <i>sine qua non</i> for the development of your
+technique. See also to it that both feet are in touch with their
+respective pedals so as to be in place when their action is required. If
+they stray away and you must grope for the pedals when you need them it
+will lead to a break in your concentration, and this will cause you to
+play less well than you really can. To let the feet stray<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_6" id="Page_6">Pg 6</a></span> from the pedals easily affects your
+entire position. It is a bad habit. Alas, that bad habits are so much
+easier acquired than good ones!</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Position_of_the_hand" id="Position_of_the_hand">3. POSITION OF THE HAND</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Tilt of The Hand in Playing Scales</i></div>
+
+<p>Should my hand in playing scales be tilted toward the thumb or toward
+the little finger? I find that in the scales with black keys it is much
+easier to play the latter way.</p>
+
+<p>I quite share your opinion, and extend it also to the scales without
+black keys. I think the natural tendency of the hands is to lean toward
+the little finger, and as soon as you have passed the stage of
+preliminary training, as soon as you feel fairly certain that your
+fingers act evenly, you may yield to their natural tendency, especially
+when you strive more for speed than force; for speed does not suffer
+tension, while force craves it.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Position_of_the_fingers" id="Position_of_the_fingers">4. POSITION OF THE FINGERS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Results Count, Not the Methods</i></div>
+
+<p>Does it make any difference if my fingers are held very much curved or
+only a little? I was told that Rubenstein used his fingers almost
+flat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">Pg 7</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Since you mention Rubinstein I may quote his saying: "Play with your
+nose, if you will, but produce euphony (<i>Wohlklang</i>) and I will
+recognize you as a master of your instrument." It is ever a question of
+the result, whether you play this way or that way. If you should play
+with very much curved fingers and the result should sound uneven and
+pieced, change the curving little by little until you find out what
+degree of curvature suits your hand best. Experiment for yourself.
+Generally speaking, I recommend a free and easy position of hand and
+fingers, for it is only in a position of greatest freedom that their
+elasticity can be preserved, and elasticity is the chief point. By a
+free and easy position I mean that natural position of hand and fingers
+into which they fall when you drop your hand somewhat leisurely upon the
+keyboard.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Cantabile Passages</i></div>
+
+<p>Should a cantabile passage be played with a high finger-stroke or by
+using the weight of the arm?</p>
+
+<p>Certain characteristic moments in some pieces require the high
+finger-stroke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">Pg 8</a></span>
+It may be used also in working up a climax, in
+which case the raising of the fingers should increase proportionately to
+the rise of the climax. Where, however, the strength of the fingers is
+sufficient to obtain the climacteric result by pressure, instead of the
+stroke, it is always preferable to use pressure. As a general principle,
+I believe in the free-hanging, limp arm and recommend using its weight
+in cantabile playing.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>An Incorrect Position of the Fingers</i></div>
+
+<p>Pray how can I correct the fault of bending out the first joints of the
+fingers when their cushions are pressed down upon the keys?</p>
+
+<p>Your trouble comes under the head of faulty touch, which nothing will
+correct but the constant supervision by a good teacher, assisted by a
+strong exertion of your own will power and strictest attention whenever
+you play. This bending out of the first joint is one of the hardest
+pianistic ailments to cure, but it is curable. Do not be discouraged if
+the cure is slow. The habit of years cannot be thrown off in a
+day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">Pg 9</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Action_of_the_wrist" id="Action_of_the_wrist">5. ACTION OF THE WRIST</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Don't Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales</i></div>
+
+<p>Should the hands be kept perfectly still in playing scales and
+arpeggios? Or, to lessen fatigue, is an occasional rise and fall of the
+wrist permissible in a long passage of scale or arpeggio?</p>
+
+<p>The hands should, indeed, be kept still, but not stiff. Protracted
+passages of scales or arpeggios easily induce a stiffening of the wrist.
+Hence, an occasional motion of the wrist, upward and downward, will do
+much to counteract this tendency. It will, besides, be a good test of
+the looseness of the wrist.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Loose Wrist</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it not impossible to preserve a complete looseness of the wrist in
+piano-playing because of the muscles that connect the forearm with the
+hand?</p>
+
+<p>By no means. You should only see to it that you do not stiffen the wrist
+<i>unconsciously</i>, as most players do. The arm should be held so that the
+wrist is on a line with it, not bent, and by concentrated thinking you
+should endeavour to transfer the display of force to the finger-tips
+instead of holding the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">Pg 10</a></span> tension in your arm. For this produces
+fatigue, while the way I suggest will lead you to develop considerable
+force through the hand and fingers alone and leave the arm practically
+limp and loose. It takes months of study under closest attention,
+however, to acquire this looseness of the arm.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Position of the Wrist</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you favour a low or high position of the wrist for average type of work?</p>
+
+<p>For average work, I recommend an average position; neither high nor low.
+Changes, upward or downward, must be made to meet the requirements of
+special occasions.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff</i></div>
+
+<p>If one's wrist is stiff is there any set of exercises especially adapted
+to acquiring a freer movement? Or is there any special method of
+exercise?</p>
+
+<p>It depends on whether your wrist is stiff from non-use or from wrong
+use. Assuming the latter, I should recommend studies in wrist octaves,
+but you must watch your wrist while playing and rest at the slightest
+indication of its stiffening.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">Pg 11</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Action_of_the_arm" id="Action_of_the_arm">6. ACTION OF THE ARM</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing</i></div>
+
+<p>I cannot play tremolo in the left hand for any length of time without
+great fatigue. I have tried changing the position of the hand from high
+to low, the sidewise motion, and the quiet hand. What is the correct
+method, and may the difficulty be overcome by slow practice?</p>
+
+<p>The tremolo cannot be practised slowly, nor with a stiff or quiet hand.
+The action must be distributed over the hand, wrist, underarm and, if
+necessary, the elbow. The shoulder forms the pivot whence a vibratory
+motion must proceed and engage all the points on the road to the
+fingers. The division of labour cannot be done consciously, but should
+better proceed from a feeling as if the whole arm was subjected to an
+electric current while engaged in playing a tremolo.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Play Chords With a Loose Arm</i></div>
+
+<p>Should octave chords be played with rigid arms, the wrists and fingers
+thereby increasing the tone volume, or should the arms be loose? My
+teachers differ in their methods; so I turn to you for advice.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">Pg 12</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With few exceptions, dictated by certain characterizations, chords
+should always be played with a loose arm. Let the arm pull the hand
+above the keys and then let both fall heavily upon them, preparing the
+fingers for their appropriate notes while still in the air and not, as
+many do, after falling down. This mode of touch produces greater
+tone-volume, is least fatiguing, and will have no bad after-effects.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Stretching" id="Stretching">7. STRETCHING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching</i></div>
+
+<p>I stretch between my fingers&mdash;taking the second and third, for
+instance, and trying to see how many keys I can get between them. It has
+helped me, but shall I be doing wrong to continue?</p>
+
+<p>If, as you say, you feel benefited by your stretching exercises you may
+continue them. But in your place I should beware of fatigue, for while
+the hand may show an improvement in its stretch while you are practising
+these exercises, if it is fatigued it will afterward contract so that
+its stretch is liable to become narrower than it was before.<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_13" id="Page_13">Pg 13</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Injure the Hand by Stretching It</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any way to increase the stretch of my very small hand?</p>
+
+<p>Any modern teacher, acquainted with stretching your hand, can devise
+certain exercises that will be applicable to your particular hand. As
+the lack of stretch, however, may be due to a number of different causes
+I should advise you to desist from any stretch exercise that might be
+recommended to you without a close examination of your hand, since the
+wrong kind of exercise is not only apt, but bound, to injure it, perhaps
+permanently.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any exercise, on the piano or otherwise, that would tend to
+stretch my hand so as to enable me to play octaves? My fingers are short
+and stubby. My teacher has not given me anything definite on this score.</p>
+
+<p>The attempts to widen the natural stretch of the hand by artificial
+means lead easily to disastrous results. It was by just such attempts
+that Schumann rendered his hand useless for piano-playing. The best I
+can recommend is that before playing you soak your hands in rather hot
+water for several minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">Pg 14</a></span>
+and then&mdash;while still in the
+water&mdash;stretch the fingers of one hand with the other. By doing
+this daily you will gain in stretch, provided you refrain from forcing
+matters, and provided also that you are still young, and your hands are
+flexible.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_Thumb" id="The_Thumb">8. THE THUMB</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote">"<i>What is the Matter With My Scales?</i>"</div>
+
+<p>What is the matter with my scales? I cannot play them without a
+perceptible jerk when I use my thumb. How can I overcome the unevenness?</p>
+
+<p>In answering this question I am in the position of a physician who is
+expected to prescribe a treatment for a patient whom he has neither
+examined nor even seen. I can therefore advise only in a very general
+way&mdash;as I have done with many questions to avoid the eventuality of
+being confronted by an exceptional case. The cause of the hand's unrest
+in the passing of the thumb lies usually in transferring the thumb too
+late. The thumb waits usually until the very moment when it is needed
+and then quickly jumps upon the proper key, instead of moving toward it
+as soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">Pg 15</a></span>
+as the last key it touched can be released. This
+belatedness causes a jerky motion of the arm and imparts it to the hand.
+Another cause lies in a fault no less grave than the first. Since the
+hand has only five fingers while the scale numbers many notes (according
+to its length), the player must replenish his fingers by passing the
+thumb under the hand so as to form a conjunction between the notes
+played and those to be played. This passing of the thumb conditions a
+change or shifting of the hand toward the keys to follow, but the
+shifting of the hand must not coincide with the passing of the thumb or
+the result will be a jerk. The position of the hand in relation to the
+keyboard must not change. It must remain the same until the thumb has
+struck its new key. Not until then must the shifting of the hand take
+place. In this way the jumpiness or jerkiness of the scale can be
+avoided, provided one can follow this precept punctiliously&mdash;which
+is not an easy matter, especially in great speed. Alas, why are those
+pesky scales so difficult, in fact,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">Pg 16</a></span>
+the most difficult thing to do on the piano?</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How to Hold the Thumb</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the correct position for the thumb? Should it be curved well
+under the hand while playing?</p>
+
+<p>In scale-playing the thumb should be slightly curved and kept near the
+index finger in order to be ready when needed. In pieces this position
+of the thumb cannot, of course, always be observed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?</i></div>
+
+<p>Should one pay special attention to the training of the thumb?</p>
+
+<p>It may be said that the thumb and the middle finger are the two
+arch-conspirators against a precise finger technique. They crave your
+greatest attention. Above all, you must see to it that, in touching the
+keys with these fingers, you do not move the whole hand, still less the
+arm.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_other_fingers" id="The_other_fingers">9. THE OTHER FINGERS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Fourth and Fifth Fingers</i></div>
+
+<p>What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and the
+fifth fingers?</p>
+
+<p>Any collection of Etudes is sure to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">Pg 17</a></span>
+contain some that are
+devoted to the training of those two fingers. In the Cramer Etudes
+(Bulow's selection) you will find Nos. 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 20 adapted to
+your case, but do not pin your faith to the print! In all matters of art
+the "how" is of far more consequence than the "what." Play what you
+will, but bear your weak points in mind while you play. This is the real
+remedy. Keep hand and arm as loose as you can while training the fourth
+and fifth fingers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Action of the Little Finger</i></div>
+
+<p>In making wide skips in which the little finger strikes a single note,
+as, for instance, in left-hand waltz accompaniments, should one strike
+on the end of the little finger or on its side; and should the finger be
+curved or held more or less flat?</p>
+
+<p>The little finger should never strike with its side. It should always be
+held in its normally curved condition, and straighten at the stroke only
+on such occasions when its own force proves insufficient and requires
+the assistance of the wrist and arm muscles.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">Pg 18</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Weak_Fingers" id="Weak_Fingers">10. WEAK FINGERS, ETC.</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Strengthen the Weak Finger Use It</i></div>
+
+<p>How can I strengthen the little finger of my right hand? I avoid it in
+playing, using the next finger instead.</p>
+
+<p>By employing your little finger as much as possible and at once quitting
+the habit of substituting another finger for it.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Weak Fingers of the Left Hand</i></div>
+
+<p>What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and
+fifth fingers of the left hand?</p>
+
+<p>Slow trill with various touches, with highly lifted fingers producing
+strength through their fall and with a lesser lift of the fingers
+combined with pressure touch, watching closely that the little finger
+strikes with the tip and not with the side. Rhythmic evenness should
+also be punctiliously observed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When the Fingers Seem Weak</i></div>
+
+<p>What kind of technical work would you advise me to take to make my
+fingers strong in the shortest time consistent with good work?</p>
+
+<p>If your fingers are unusually weak it may be assumed that your muscular
+constitution in general is not strong.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">Pg 19</a></span>
+The training of the fingers alone will, in that case, lead to no decisive results. You will
+have to strive for a general strengthening of your muscular fibre. At
+this point, however, begins the province of your physician and mine
+ends. If you consider your constitution normal, four or five hours'
+daily work at the piano will develop the necessary digital force, if
+that time is judiciously used.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>No Necessity to Watch the Fingers</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it always necessary to watch the fingers with the eye?</p>
+
+<p>In places where the fingers slide, and do not jump from one note to
+another at a distance, there is no need of keeping the eye on them.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch</i></div>
+
+<p>Is biting the finger-nails injurious to the piano touch?</p>
+
+<p>Certainly; biting the nails or any other injury to the finger-tips and
+hand will spoil your touch. Extreme cleanliness and care in cutting the
+nails the proper length are necessary to keep your hands in condition
+for playing the piano.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">Pg 20</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Prevent Sore Finger-Tips After Playing</i></div>
+
+<p>How can I prevent my finger-tips, after prolonged playing, from feeling
+sore the next day?</p>
+
+<p>Experience teaches that in such cases, as in many others, cleanliness is
+the best remedy. After playing wash your fingers at once in warm water,
+with soap and brush, and then rub them well with either cold cream or
+some similar fatty substance. In the development of speed on the piano,
+the rigidity of the skin on the fingers is a great hindrance; it makes
+us feel as if we played with gloves on the fingers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage</i></div>
+
+<p>Are broad-tipped fingers considered a detriment to a man student of
+piano; for instance, if the finger grazes the black keys on each side
+when playing between them?</p>
+
+<p>Unless broad-tipped fingers are of an unusual thickness I do not
+consider them an obstacle in the way of good piano-playing; the less so,
+as the white keys&mdash;whatever shape the fingers may have&mdash;should
+never be struck between the black ones, but only in the midst of the
+open space. Altogether, I hold that the shape<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">Pg 21</a></span>
+of the hand is of
+far greater importance to the pianist than the shape of his fingers; for
+it furnishes the fingers with a base of operations and with a source of
+strength, besides holding the entire control over them. Studying the
+hands and fingers of celebrated pianists you will find a great variety
+of finger shapes, while their hands are usually broad and muscular.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What to do With the Unemployed Hand</i></div>
+
+<p>When playing a piece in which a rest of a measure and a half or two
+measures occurs should I drop my hand in my lap or keep it on the
+keyboard?</p>
+
+<p>If the temporarily unemployed hand is tired it will rest better in the
+lap, because this position favours the blood circulation, which, in its
+turn, tends to renew the strength. I should, however, not put it away
+from the keyboard too often, for this might easily be taken for a
+mannerism.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Staccato" id="Staccato">11. STACCATO</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo</i></div>
+
+<p>What can I do to enable me to play wrist staccato very fast without
+fatiguing the arm?</p>
+
+<p>Change your wrist staccato for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">Pg 22</a></span>
+little while to a finger or arm staccato, thus giving the wrist muscles
+a chance to rest and regain their strength.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other Kinds</i></div>
+
+<p>What does "finger staccato" mean? Is not staccato always done with the
+fingers?</p>
+
+<p>By no means! There is a well-defined arm staccato, a wrist staccato, and
+a finger staccato. The latter is produced by a touch similar to the
+rapid repetition touch&mdash;that is, by not allowing the fingers to
+fall perpendicularly upon the keys, but rather let them make a motion as
+if you were wiping a spot off the keys with the finger-tips, without the
+use of the arm, and rapidly pulling them toward the inner hand. The arm
+should take no part in it whatever.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Legato" id="Legato">12. LEGATO</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Advantage of Legato Over Staccato</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it better for me to practise more staccato or more legato?</p>
+
+<p>Give the preference to legato, for it produces the genuine piano tone,
+and it develops the technique of the fingers; while the staccato touch
+always tends to draw the arm into action. If you play
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">Pg 23</a></span> from the
+arm you cannot expect any benefit for the fingers. For the acquisition
+of a legitimate legato Chopin's works cannot be highly enough
+recommended, even in the transcriptions by Godowsky, which become
+impossible when tried with any touch other than legato. He wrote them,
+so to speak, out of his own hand, and his legato is so perfect that it
+may well be taken as a model by anybody.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Produce Good Legato</i></div>
+
+<p>Should you advise me to make use of a high finger-stroke? My teacher
+makes me use it exclusively, but I notice that my playing is neither
+legato nor quiet. It is almost humpy.</p>
+
+<p>Your manner of putting the question expressed your own&mdash;and
+correct&mdash;judgment in the matter. This playing "in the air" is lost
+energy, and will not lead to a good legato. The most beautiful tone in
+legato style is ever produced by a "clinging and singing" gliding of the
+fingers over the keys. Of course, you have to watch your touch in order
+that your "clinging" does not deteriorate into "blurring," and that your
+"gliding" may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">Pg 24</a></span> not turn into "smearing." If you apprehend any
+such calamity you must for a while increase the raising of your fingers
+and use more force in their falling upon the keys. Under constant
+self-observation and keen listening you may, after a while, return to
+the gliding manner. This much in general; of course, there are places
+and passages where just the opposite of my advice could be said, but
+still I think that the high finger-stroke should rather be employed for
+some special characteristic effects than as a general principle.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Firm and Crisp Legato Touch</i></div>
+
+<p>I am confused by the terms "firm legato touch" and "crisp legato touch."
+Wherein lies the difference?</p>
+
+<p>Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word
+"connected." Two tones are either connected or they are not connected.
+The idea of various kinds of legato is purely a sophism, a product of
+non-musical hyper-analysis. By "legato" I understand the connecting of
+tones with each other through the agency of the fingers (on the piano).
+The finger that evoked a tone should not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">Pg 25</a></span> leave its key until the
+tone generated by the next finger has been perceived by the ear. This
+rule governs the playing of melodies and slow passages. In rapid
+passages, where the control through the ear is lessened, the legato is
+produced by more strictly mechanical means, but there should,
+nevertheless, always be two fingers simultaneously occupied. Do not take
+the over-smart differentiations of legato seriously. There is no plural
+to the word "legato."</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Precision" id="Precision">13. PRECISION</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Not Playing the Two Hands at Once</i></div>
+
+<p>My teachers have always scolded me for playing my left hand a little
+before my right. It is probably a very bad habit, but I do not hear it
+when I do it How can I cure it?</p>
+
+<p>This "limping," as it is called, is the worst habit you can have in
+piano playing, and you are fortunate in having a teacher who persists in
+his efforts to combat it. There is only one way to rid yourself of this
+habit, namely, by constant attention and closest, keenest listening to
+your own playing. You are probably misstating it when you say that you
+do not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">Pg 26</a></span>
+"hear" it when you "limp"; it seems more likely to me
+that you do not listen. Hearing is a purely physical function which you
+cannot prevent while awake, while listening is an act of your
+willpower&mdash;it means to give direction to your hearing.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Piano_Touch" id="Piano_Touch">14. PIANO TOUCH <i>vs.</i> ORGAN TOUCH</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Organ-Playing Affects the Pianist</i></div>
+
+<p>Is alternate organ and piano playing detrimental to the "pianistic
+touch"?</p>
+
+<p>Inasmuch as the force of touch and its various gradations are entirely
+irrelevant on the organ, the pianist who plays much on the organ is more
+than liable to lose the delicacy of feeling for tone-production through
+the fingers, and this must, naturally, lessen his power of expression.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Organ-Playing and the Piano Touch</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it true that a child beginning music lessons on an organ gets much
+better tone than one beginning on a piano, and does the side study of
+pipe-organ, after two years of extensive piano work, impair the piano
+touch?</p>
+
+<p>It is only natural that a child can get better tone out of an organ than
+on a piano, because it is not the child but the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">Pg 27</a></span> organ that
+produces the tone. If the child's purpose, however, is to learn
+piano-playing it would not be wise to let him begin on an organ, because
+this would leave the essential element&mdash;the art of
+touch&mdash;entirely undeveloped. And if his piano touch has been formed
+it can easily be undone again by letting him play on the organ.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Fingering" id="Fingering">15. FINGERING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Universal System of Marking Fingering</i></div>
+
+<p>In what respect does American fingering differ from foreign fingering,
+and which offers the greater advantages?</p>
+
+<p>There is no "American" fingering. Many years ago the "English" fingering
+(which counts only four fingers and a thumb, and indicates the latter by
+a plus mark: +) was adopted by a few of the less prominent publishers in
+America; but it was soon abandoned. If you have a piece of sheet music
+with English fingering you may be certain that it is not of a recent
+edition, and I would advise you to obtain a more modern one. The
+advantage of the universal fingering lies in its greater simplicity, and
+in the circumstance that it is universally adopted.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">Pg 28</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The C-Scale Fingering for All Scales?</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you advise the use of the C-scale fingering for all the scales? Is it
+practicable?</p>
+
+<p>The C-scale fingering is not applicable to scales reposing on black keys
+because it creates unnecessary difficulties, the mastering of which
+would be a matter rather of mere sport than of art.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Fingering the Chromatic Scale</i></div>
+
+<p>Which fingering of the chromatic scale the is most conducive to speed
+and accuracy?</p>
+
+<p>The right thumb always upon E and B, the left one upon F and C. Between
+times use three or four consecutive fingers as often as convenient. At
+the beginning of a long chromatic scale select such fingers as will most
+naturally bring you to one of the stations just mentioned.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent</i></div>
+
+<p>When executing the mordent, is not the use of three fingers preferable
+to two?</p>
+
+<p>The selection of the fingers for the execution of a mordent depends
+always upon the preceding notes or keys which lead up to it. Since we
+cannot lift the hand just before a mordent for the purpose of changing
+fingers (for this would mean a rude interruption) we have to use
+whatever fingers happen to be "on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">Pg 29</a></span>
+hand." An exchange of fingers in a mordent is seldom of any advantage,
+for it hampers precision and evenness, since, after all, each finger
+has its own tone-characteristics.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Glissando" id="Glissando">16. THE GLISSANDO</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Play a Glissando Passage</i></div>
+
+<p>Will you describe the best method of holding the hand when playing
+glissando? Which is preferable to use, the thumb or the forefinger?</p>
+
+<p>In playing glissando in the right hand use the index finger when going
+upward, the thumb when going downward. In the left hand&mdash;where it
+hardly ever occurs&mdash;use the middle finger in either direction, or,
+if you should find it easier, the index finger downward. The production
+of so great a volume of tone, as is possible on our modern piano, has
+necessitated a deeper fall of the keys than former pianos possessed, and
+this deeper dip has banished the glissando almost entirely from modern
+piano literature.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Octaves" id="Octaves">17. OCTAVES</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Best to Play the Octaves</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I play octaves using the "hinge" stroke from the wrist or by
+using the arm? I find I can get more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">Pg 30</a></span> tone by using the arm
+stroke, but cannot play so rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>The character of the octaves must govern the selection of means to
+produce them. For light octaves use the wrist, for heavier ones draw
+more upon the arm. Rapidity requires that you avoid fatigue. If you feel
+fatigue approaching from too constant use of one joint, change to the
+other, and in doing this change also the position of the hand from high
+to low, and <i>vice versa</i>. For wrist octaves I recommend the low position
+of the hand, for arm octaves the high one.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Rapid Octaves</i></div>
+
+<p>Please suggest some method of playing octaves rapidly to one who finds
+this the most difficult part of piano-playing. Would be grateful also
+for naming some octave &#xe9;tudes that could be used in the repertoire.</p>
+
+<p>If rapid octaves seem to be "the most difficult part of piano-playing"
+to you, take it as an indication that they do not suit your nature. A
+"method" will never change your nature. This need not discourage you,
+however; it is only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">Pg 31</a></span>
+to prevent you from trying to make a
+specialty of something for which you are not especially qualified and to
+save you a needless disappointment. Hold arms and hands in but a slight
+tension, and at the slightest fatigue change the position of the hand
+from high to low and <i>vice versa</i>. Your seat at the piano should not be
+too low. Study the first book of Kullak's Octave School, and, later on,
+the second book.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When Playing Octaves</i></div>
+
+<p>When should I use the arm to play octaves as I have seen some concert
+players do? As I was watching them there did not seem to be the
+slightest motion from the wrist.</p>
+
+<p>Most concert players play their octaves more from the arm than from the
+wrist, but their wrist is nevertheless not so inactive as it seems to
+have appeared to you. They have probably distributed the work over the
+wrist, the elbow, and the shoulder in such a way that each had to do
+only a part of it. Light octaves can come only from the wrist, while
+heavier ones put the elbow and shoulder into action. To make this
+distribution<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">Pg 32</a></span>
+consciously is hardly possible. A striving for
+economy of force and the least possible fatigue will produce this
+"division of labour" unconsciously.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Wrist Stroke in Long Octave Passages</i></div>
+
+<p>When playing extended octave passages, such as the Liszt arrangement of
+"The Erlking," should the endeavour be to play all from the pure wrist
+stroke; or is it well to relieve the strain by an occasional impulse (a
+sort of vibration) from the forearm? Is there any advantage in varying
+the height of the wrist?</p>
+
+<p>In extended octave playing it is well to vary the position of the wrist,
+now high and then low. The low position brings the forearm into action,
+while the whole arm co&#xf6;perates when the wrist is held high. From the
+wrist alone such pieces as "The Erlking" cannot be played, because the
+wrist alone gives us neither the power nor the speed that such pieces
+require. Besides, the octaves, when all played from the wrist, would
+sound "cottony." The wrist alone is to be used only in light, graceful
+places.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">Pg 33</a></span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing octaves or other double notes my wrist seems to stiffen. How
+can I remedy this?</p>
+
+<p>Stiffness in the wrist results from an unmindful use of it. When
+practising octaves or double notes think always of holding the arm and
+its joints in a loose, limber condition, and when you feel fatigued do
+not fail to stop until the muscular contraction is relieved. In a little
+while you will see your conscientious practising rewarded by acquiring
+an elasticity commensurate with your general physical status.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Premature Fatigue in the Arms</i></div>
+
+<p>Why does it tire my arms when I play octaves and a continuation of
+little runs? How can I avoid it, so that they will feel free and easy?</p>
+
+<p>Premature fatigue is usually caused by undue muscular contraction. Keep
+your arms and wrists loose and you will find that the fatigue
+disappears. For your sensation of fatigue may be due, not to exhaustion
+of muscular power, but to a stoppage of circulation caused by an
+unconscious stiffening of the wrist. Change the position of the wrist from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">Pg 34</a></span> high to low and <i>vice versa</i>
+whenever you feel the "fatigue" coming on.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good</i></div>
+
+<p>Is Kullak's "Method of Octaves" still one of the best in its line? or
+can you recommend something better?</p>
+
+<p>Since the days when Kullak's "School of Octaves" was printed, experience
+has taught us some things which might be added to it, but nothing that
+would contradict it. Nor, so far as I know, has anything better appeared
+in print than the first volume of that work especially.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<h5><a name="Repetition_Technique" id="Repetition_Technique">18. REPETITION TECHNIQUE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Difficulty of Playing Repetition Notes</i></div>
+
+<p>Please help me about my repetition notes. When I wish to play them
+rapidly it seems that the key does not always produce a sound? Is it
+because of my touch?</p>
+
+<p>First, examine the action of your piano. It occurs not infrequently that
+the fingers do their work well, but fail in the results because of an
+inert or lazy piano action. If, however, the fault does not lie in the
+instrument, it must lie in a certain stiffness of the fingers. To
+eliminate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">Pg 35</a></span>
+this you need, first of all, a loose wrist.
+Furthermore, you should not, in repetition technique, let the fingers
+fall perpendicularly upon the keys, but with a motion as if you were
+wiping the keys with the finger-tips and then pull them quickly toward
+the palm of the hand, bending every joint of them rapidly.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Double_Notes" id="Double_Notes">19. DOUBLE NOTES</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Playing of Double Thirds</i></div>
+
+<p>Please tell me something about the general practice of thirds, both
+diatonic and chromatic; also, about those in the first movement of the
+Grieg Concerto.</p>
+
+<p>As the playing of passages in single notes requires a close single
+legato, to do double thirds requires an equally close double legato. As
+to the exact details of legato playing I may refer you to my book,
+"Piano Playing," where you will find the matter discussed at length in
+the chapter on "Touch and Technic."</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_Instrument" id="The_Instrument">THE INSTRUMENT</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it irrelevant whether I practise upon a good or a bad piano?</p>
+
+<p>For practice you should never use any but the very best available
+instrument.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">Pg 36</a></span>
+Far, rather, may the piano be bad when you play for
+people. This will not hurt you nearly so much as will the constant and
+habitual use of a piano with a mechanism in which every key demands a
+different kind of touch, and which is possibly out of tune. Such
+conditions impair the development of your musical ear as well as of your
+fingers. It cannot be otherwise. As I said once before, learning means
+the acquiring of habits: habits of thinking and of doing. With a bad
+instrument you cannot develop any good qualities, even if you should
+possess them by nature; much less can you acquire them. Hence, I
+recommend a good piano, clean keyboard&mdash;for your &#xe6;sthetic
+perceptions should be developed all around&mdash;a correct seat and
+concentration of mind. But these recommendations presuppose on the part
+of the student some talent and a good teacher.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it not better for a student in the advanced stage of study, who is
+preparing for concert work, to practise on a piano with a heavy action
+in order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">Pg 37</a></span>
+develop the finger and hand muscles, and to use an
+instrument with a light action for obtaining an artistic finish to the
+lighter passages occurring so often, for instance, in Chopin's music?</p>
+
+<p>All extremes are harmful in their effects upon study and practice. A too
+heavy action stiffens and overtires the fingers, while too light an
+action tends to impair your control. Try to obtain for your practice a
+piano the action of which approximates as nearly as possible that of the
+piano on which you have to play in the concert, in order to avoid
+unpleasant surprises, such as premature fatigue or a running away of the
+fingers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I keep the action of my piano tight?</p>
+
+<p>Keep it tight enough to preserve the "feeling" of the keys under the
+fingers, but to make it more so would endanger your finger action and it
+may injure your hand.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Action of a Beginner's Piano</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you think it wise for a beginner to practise on a piano that has a
+heavy action?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">Pg 38</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That depends upon the age and physical development of the beginner.
+"Heavy" and "light" action are not absolute but relative terms, which
+comprise in their meaning the power of resistance in the player's hand.
+The action should be so adjusted that the player can&mdash;even in the
+softest touch&mdash;always feel the key under his finger. A too heavy
+action leads necessarily to an employment of the shoulder muscles (which
+should be reserved for brief, special uses) and may permanently injure
+the hand.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing On a Dumb Piano</i></div>
+
+<p>Are mechanical appliances, such as a dumb keyboard, of advantage to
+the student of the piano? Should its use be restricted to a particular
+stage in the course of study?</p>
+
+<p>Music is a language. Schumann said: "From the dumb we cannot learn to
+talk!" The totally dumb or mute piano should, therefore, not be used, or
+very little, if we aim at a "musical" technique&mdash;that is, a live,
+multicoloured technique qualified to express musical thought and
+feeling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">Pg 39</a></span>
+Personally I have never used a dumb piano.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_Pedals" id="The_Pedals">THE PEDALS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A General Rule About the Pedal</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I use the pedal with each melody note? Should like a general
+rule.</p>
+
+<p>The treading upon the pedal should always follow immediately after the
+striking of the note for which it is intended, or else there will be
+discords arising from the mingling of that note with the one preceding
+it. This is the general rule. Exceptions there are, of course, but they
+occur only in certain moments when a mingling of tones is purposed for
+some special effect.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Use of the Pedal for Colouring</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the use of the damper pedal?</p>
+
+<p>Primarily it serves to prolong such tones as we cannot hold with the
+fingers. But it is also one of the greatest means for colouring. The
+employment of it should always be governed by the ear.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How to Use the Pedal</i></div>
+
+<p>Please tell me how to use the pedal. I find that in some pieces there is
+no mark under the measures to show me when it should be used. Is there
+any rule which you can give me?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">Pg 40</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Assuming that you have in mind the artistic use of the pedal, I regret
+to say that there is no more a rule for this than for the mixing of
+colours upon the palette of a painter who strives for some particular
+shade or tint. He knows that blue and yellow make green, that red and
+blue make purple; but those are ground colours which he can rarely use.
+For the finer shades he has to experiment, to consult his eye and his
+judgment. The relation between the pedal and the player's ear is exactly"ALPHABETICAL_INDEX_OF"
+similar to that of the palette and the painter's eye. Generally speaking
+(from sad experience) it is far more important to know when <i>not</i> to use
+the pedal than when to use it. We must refrain from its use whenever
+there is the slightest danger of unintentional mingling of tones. This
+is best avoided by taking the pedal <i>after</i> striking the tone upon which
+it is to act, and to release it promptly and simultaneously with the
+striking of the next tone. It may be at once taken again, and this
+alternation must be kept up where there is either a change of harmony or
+a succession of "passing notes." This is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">Pg 41</a></span>
+only positive rule
+I can give, but even this is often violated. Let your ear be the
+guardian of your right foot. Accustom your ear to harmonic and melodic
+clarity, and&mdash;listen closely. To teach the use of the pedal
+independent of the action of your own ear is impossible.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling</i></div>
+
+<p>In Weber's "Storm" should the pedal be held down throughout the entire
+piece, as directed? It produces quite a discord.</p>
+
+<p>Without knowing this piece, even by name, I may say that the pianos of
+Weber's time had a tone of such short duration and volume that the
+discords resulting from a continuous use of the pedal were not so
+noticeable, as they are now upon the modern piano with its magnificent
+volume and duration of tone. Hence, the pedal must now be used with the
+utmost caution. Generally speaking, I say&mdash;again&mdash;that the ear
+is the "sole" guide of the foot upon the pedal.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Use Pedal With Caution in Playing Bach</i></div>
+
+<p>Is Bach's music ever played with the pedal?</p>
+
+<p>There is no piano-music that forbids in playing the use of the pedal.
+Even where the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">Pg 42</a></span>
+texture of a piece does not require the
+pedal&mdash;which happens very rarely&mdash;the player might employ it
+as an aid where the reach of his hand proves insufficient to hold all
+the parts of a harmony together. With Bach the pedal is often very
+important; for, by judicious use&mdash;as, for instance, in the cases of
+organ-point&mdash;it accumulates harmonic tones, holds the fundamental
+tone and thus produces effects not dissimilar to the organ.
+Qualitatively speaking, the pedal is as necessary in Bach's music as in
+any other; quantitatively, I recommend the utmost caution in its use, so
+as not to blur the fine texture of his polyphony.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Student with a Fondness for the Pedal</i></div>
+
+<p>I always want to use the pedal as soon as I take a new piece, but my
+teacher insists that I should get a good singing tone first. Is she
+right?</p>
+
+<p>You "want" to use the pedal? In the face of your teacher's advice to the
+contrary? Then why did you apply for a teacher? People who consider
+their own pleasure while engaged in any kind of study need no teacher.
+They need discipline. Learn obedience! If
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">Pg 43</a></span> by following your
+teacher's advice you should fail to progress, even then you have no
+right to do anything else than go to another teacher. But he will in all
+probability not be very different from the first one in his precepts.
+Hence, I say again: You should learn obedience!</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Using the Two Pedals at Once</i></div>
+
+<p>May the damper pedal and the soft pedal be used simultaneously, or would
+this be detrimental to the piano?</p>
+
+<p>Since the mechanisms of the two pedals are entirely separate and
+independent of each other you may use them simultaneously, provided that
+the character of a particular place in your piece justifies it.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Produce a Softer Tone</i></div>
+
+<p>Should the expression "<i>p</i>" be executed by the aid of the soft pedal or
+through the fingers?</p>
+
+<p>The soft pedal serves to change the quality of tone, not the quantity.
+It should therefore never be used to hide a faulty <i>piano</i> (or soft)
+touch. Mere softness of tone should always be produced by a decrease of
+finger-force and a lessening of the raising of the fingers. The soft
+pedal should be employed only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">Pg 44</a></span>
+when the softness of tone is coupled with a change of colouring, such
+as lies within its range of action.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Over-Use the Soft Pedal</i></div>
+
+<p>Should the Gavotte in A, of Gluck-Brahms, be played without the soft
+pedal? Does a liberal use of the soft pedal tend to make the student
+lazy in using a light touch?</p>
+
+<p>Your first question is too general, as there is no piece of music that
+should be played entirely with or without the soft pedal; it is used
+only when a certain change of colouring is proposed. A too frequent use
+of the soft pedal does tend to a neglect of the <i>pianissimo</i> touch, and
+it should, therefore, be discouraged.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Once More the "Soft" Pedal</i></div>
+
+<p>My piano has a rather loud tone to which my people object, and urge me
+to play with the soft pedal. I use it most of the time, but am afraid
+now to play without it. What would you advise?</p>
+
+<p>If a soft touch and sound are liked, have the mechanism of your piano
+changed at the factory. I found myself in the bad condition at one time
+that I could not play certain passages independently of the position of
+my foot on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">Pg 45</a></span>
+the soft pedal. Such is the strength of association
+that very soon a constant use of the soft pedal produces physical
+inability to play unless the foot is pressing the pedal.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Practice" id="Practice">PRACTICE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Morning Practice On the Piano</i></div>
+
+<p>In resuming my studies in the morning what should I play first?</p>
+
+<p>Begin with your technical work. Scales in all tonalities, each at least
+twice well rendered. First slowly, one after another, then somewhat
+quicker, but never very quickly as long as you are not absolutely sure
+that both hands are perfectly even, and that neither false notes nor
+wrong fingerings occur. To play the scales wrong is just as much a
+matter of habit as to play them right&mdash;only easier. You can get
+very firmly settled in the habit of striking a certain note wrong every
+time it occurs unless you take the trouble of counteracting the
+formation of such a habit. After these scales play them in octaves from
+the wrist, slowly and without tiring it by lifting the hand to a
+needless height. After this play either Czerny or Cramer,<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_46" id="Page_46">Pg 46</a></span> then Bach, and finally Mozart,
+Beethoven, Chopin, and so on. If you have the time to do it, play one
+hour in the morning on technical studies and use one hour for the
+difficult places in the works you are studying. In the afternoon play
+another hour, and this hour you devote to interpretation. I mean by this
+that you should now apply &#xe6;sthetically what you have technically gained
+in the morning by uniting your mechanical advantages with the ideal
+conception which you have formed in your mind of the work you are
+studying.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Morning Is the Best Time to Practise</i></div>
+
+<p>How much time should I spend on clearly technical study? I am practising
+three hours a day; how long should I practise at a time?</p>
+
+<p>Purely technical work&mdash;that is, work of the fingers without the
+participation of mind and heart&mdash;you should do little or none, for
+it kills your musical spirit. If, as you say, you practise three hours a
+day I should recommend two hours in succession in the morning and one
+hour in the afternoon. The morning is always the best time for work.
+Make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">Pg 47</a></span>
+no long pauses in your work, for they would break your
+contact with the piano and it would take considerable time to
+re&#xeb;stablish it. In the afternoon, after the major portion of your daily
+task is done, you may move with greater freedom, though even this
+freedom should be kept within proper bounds.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Time to Devote to Technical Exercises</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I practise studies in general for my progress or should I confine
+myself strictly to my technical exercises?</p>
+
+<p>Your strictly technical exercises should occupy one-quarter of the
+entire time you can give to your work. Two quarters you should use for
+the technical preparation of the difficult passages you encounter in the
+pieces you are studying, and during the last quarter these passages
+which have been thus prepared should be ranged into their proper places
+in the pieces, in order that you may not lose your view of the totality
+of the pieces while studying or practising details.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Only Kind of Practice Worth While</i></div>
+
+<p>In purely technical, <i>i. e.</i>, mechanical, practice may I have a book or
+a magazine on the music-stand and read?</p>
+
+<p>This question will appear grotesque to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">Pg 48</a></span>any one who has not
+thought of it, yet it is legitimate; for I know positively that this
+crime upon themselves has been committed by many. I cannot warn students
+too strongly against this pernicious habit. It is far better to practise
+only half as long, but with concentrated attention. Even purely
+mechanical matter must be transmitted to the motor-centres of the brain
+through the agencies of the ear and eye in order to bring beneficial
+technical results. If the brain is otherwise occupied it becomes
+insensible to the impression of the work in hand, and practise thus done
+is a complete waste of time. Not only should we not read, but also not
+think of anything else but the work before us, if we expect results.
+Concentration is the first letter in the alphabet of success.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four</i></div>
+
+<p>Will I advance quicker by practising eight hours instead of four, as I
+do now?</p>
+
+<p>Playing too much in one day has often a deteriorating effect upon one's
+studies, because work is profitable, after all, only if done with full
+mental concentration,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">Pg 49</a></span>
+which can be sustained only for a certain
+length of time. Some exhaust their power of concentration quicker than
+others; but, however long it may have lasted, once it is exhausted all
+further work is like unrolling a scroll which we have laboriously rolled
+up. Practise self-examination, and if you notice that your interest is
+waning&mdash;stop. Remember that in studying the matter of quantity is
+of moment only when coupled with quality. Attention, concentration,
+devotion, will make unnecessary any inquiries as to how much you ought
+to practise.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing With Cold Hands</i></div>
+
+<p>Shall I, when my hands are cold and stiff, play at once difficult and
+fatiguing things in order to limber them up?</p>
+
+<p>In forcing things with cold hands you always run the danger of
+overstraining, while with a gradual limbering you may safely try the
+same tasks with impunity. Handle the piano lightly while the hands are
+cold, and increase both force and speed only when the hands have gained
+their normal temperature and elasticity. This may take half or even
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">Pg 50</a></span>
+three-quarters of an hour. It may be accelerated by putting the
+hands in hot water before playing, but this should not be done too
+often, because it is apt to weaken the nerves of the hands.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Counting Out Loud</i></div>
+
+<p>Is counting aloud injurious to a pupil's playing&mdash;that is, does not
+the sound of the voice confuse the pupil in getting the correct tone of
+the note struck?</p>
+
+<p>Loud counting can hardly ever be injurious&mdash;especially not while
+the pupil is dealing with time and rhythm. This part mastered or fully
+understood, the audible counting may be lessened and finally abandoned.
+During practice loud counting is of inestimable value, for it develops
+and strengthens rhythmic feeling better than anything else will, and,
+besides, it is an infallible guide to find the points of stress in a
+phrase.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Study of Scales Is very Important</i></div>
+
+<p>Must all study of the piano absolutely begin with the study of scales?</p>
+
+<p>Scales should not be attempted until a good finger-touch has been formed
+and the very important action of the thumb in the scale has been fully
+prepared.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">Pg 51</a></span>
+After that, however, I consider the practising of
+scales important, not only for the fingers, but also for the discipline
+of the ear with regard to the feeling of tonality (key), understanding
+of intervals, and the comprehension of the total compass of the piano.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Study of the Scales</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you approve of the study of all the fifteen major scales by piano
+students, or is the practice of the enharmonic ones unnecessary?</p>
+
+<p>One should learn everything in that line in order to select from one's
+store of learning that which the occasion calls for. Study or practise
+all scales as they are written, and later also in thirds, sixths, and
+octaves.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When Reading Over a New Piece</i></div>
+
+<p>When studying a new composition, which is preferable: to practise first
+with separate hands or together?</p>
+
+<p>When first looking over a new composition both hands should be employed,
+if possible, for this is necessary to obtain, approximately, at least, a
+mental picture of it. If the player's technique is too insufficient for
+this the deciphering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">Pg 52</a></span>
+must, of course, be done for each hand separately.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Practising the Two Parts Separately</i></div>
+
+<p>When I am learning a new piece should the hands practise their parts
+separately?</p>
+
+<p>Provided you have formed a general idea of the piece, it is well to
+practise the hands separately, because you can, in this way, concentrate
+your attention upon the work of each hand. As soon, however, as each
+hand knows its work the hands should play together in order now to
+pursue the musical purpose for which the separate practice was only a
+technical preparation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece</i></div>
+
+<p>Should a composition be studied away from the piano?</p>
+
+<p>There are four ways to study a composition:</p>
+
+<p> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">1. On the piano with the music.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">2. Away from the piano with the
+music.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">3. On the piano without the music.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">4. Away from the piano without
+the music</span></p>
+
+<p>2 and 4 are mentally the most taxing and fatiguing ways, no doubt; but
+they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">Pg 53</a></span>
+also serve best to develop the memory and what we mean by
+"scope," which is a faculty of great importance.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing</i></div>
+
+<p>How fast or slow should Schubert-Liszt's "<i>Auf dem Wasser zu singen</i>" be
+played? What modern parlour pieces would you recommend after Bendel's
+"Zephyr"?</p>
+
+<p>Even if I did believe in metronomes, as I do not, I could not indicate
+speed for you or for anybody, because it will always depend upon the
+state of your technique and the quality of your tone. For modern parlour
+pieces I suggest the two volumes of Russian piano music published by G.
+Schirmer, New York. You will find pieces of various degrees of
+difficulty there from which you may select what suits you best.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Work Up a Fast Tempo</i></div>
+
+<p>Which is the best way to work up a fast tempo?</p>
+
+<p>The best help is to hear the piece or part which you have in mind played
+quickly by another person, for this aids you in forming the mental
+concept of it, which is the principal condition to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">Pg 54</a></span> which all
+ability is subject. There are, however, other ways which each one of us
+must find for himself: either by a gradual increase of speed until you
+reach your individual maximum or by starting at once at full tilt, even
+though some notes should drop under the piano and then be picked up in
+subsequent repetitions. Which of these two or any other ways is best for
+you no one can tell; your musical instinct will guide you if you follow
+it cautiously.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it ever a waste of time to practise a piece over and over again for
+months as slowly as a beginner and with utmost concentration? After
+having done so and gradually working up a tempo, I then find I cannot
+play so fast as I want to. Is it not wise to begin all over again as
+slowly as possible? I prefer to work this way, but have been told that
+one gets "stale," studying the same music for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>Do you advise practising with or without the pedal?</p>
+
+<p>Slow practice is undoubtedly the basis for quick playing; but quick
+playing is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">Pg 55</a></span>
+not an immediate result of slow practice. Quick
+playing must be tried from time to time, with increasing frequency and
+heightened speed, even at a temporary loss of clearness. This loss is
+easily regained by subsequent returns to slow practice. After all, we
+must first learn to think quickly through the course of a piece before
+we can play it quickly, and this mental endeavour, too, will be greatly
+aided by occasional trials in a quicker tempo. As for getting "stale," a
+variety of pieces is necessary to preserve the freshness of each one.</p>
+
+<p>Regarding the pedal, I suggest that you use it judiciously from the very
+beginning of the study of a new piece; though never in finger exercises.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Watch Your Breathing</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the purpose of associating breathing with piano playing, and to
+what extent should it be practised?</p>
+
+<p>Breathing is as important in piano playing as in all physical exertion,
+and more so when we speak of pieces that entail the use of great
+muscular force; for this causes a quickening in the action of the heart;
+respiration naturally keeps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">Pg 56</a></span>
+step with it, and the result is
+often a forcible breathing through the mouth. Players resort to
+open-mouth breathing in such cases because they cannot help themselves.
+If, at the last spurt of a bicycle race, we should call to the wheelmen,
+"Breathe through the nose!" we could not wonder if our advice remains
+unheeded. This open-mouth breathing, however, need not be learned; it is
+the self-help of nature. I recommend breathing through the nose as long
+as possible. It is more wholesome than mouth-breathing, and it refreshes
+the head more. When physical exertion becomes too great then you will
+neither need nor heed my advice or anybody's; your nature will find its
+own line of least resistance.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Take a Month's Rest Every Year</i></div>
+
+<p>Must I keep up my practice during my Christmas holidays of a month?</p>
+
+<p>If you have worked well on your development during the spring, summer,
+and autumn it will be to your advantage to stop your practising entirely
+for a month. Such a pause renews your forces as well as the love for
+your work, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">Pg 57</a></span>
+you will, upon resuming it, not only catch up
+quickly with what you may think to have missed, but you will also make a
+quick leap forward because the quality of your work will be better than
+it could be if you had persisted in it with a fatigued mind. In a tired
+condition of mind and body we are very apt not to notice the formation
+of bad habits, and since "to learn means to form correct habits of
+thinking and doing" we must beware of anything that might impair our
+watchfulness as to bad habits. The greatest persistence cannot turn a
+bad habit into a virtue.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Marks_and_Nomenclature" id="Marks_and_Nomenclature">MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Metronome Markings</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of M. M. = 72 printed over a piece of music?</p>
+
+<p>The M stands for "metronome," the other for the name of its inventor,
+Maelzl. The figures indicate the number of beats a minute and the note
+shows what each beat represents&mdash;in this case a quarter note. The
+whole annotation says that the average speed of the piece should admit
+of seventy-two quarter notes being played in a minute. I advise you,
+however, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">Pg 58</a></span>
+rather to consult the state of your technique and your
+own feeling for what is musically right in deciding upon the speed of
+the piece.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Personal Element and the Metronome</i></div>
+
+<p>In Chopin's Prelude No. 15 is the movement in C-sharp minor to be played
+in the same tempo as the opening movements, or much faster? How should
+the 6-8 and 9-8 movements of Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes be
+metronomized?</p>
+
+<p>The C-sharp minor movement should not increase in speed, or only very
+little, because it rises to a considerable height dynamically, and this
+seems to counteract an increase of speed. As to the metronoming, I would
+not bother about it. The possibilities of your technique must ever
+regulate the speed question in a large degree. Tempo is so intimately
+related with touch and dynamics that it is in a large measure an
+individual matter. This does not mean that one may play andante where an
+allegro is prescribed, but that one person's allegro differs slightly
+from that of another person. Touch, tone, and conception influence the
+tempo. The metronome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">Pg 59</a></span>
+indications are to be accepted only with the utmost caution.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Metronome Markings May Better Be Ignored</i></div>
+
+<p>How fast, by metronome, should the minuetto of Beethoven's Sonatina,
+opus 49, Number 2, be played?</p>
+
+<p>If you possess an edition of Beethoven that has no metronome marks you
+have been singularly fortunate, and I would not for the world interfere
+with such rare good luck. Consult your technique, your feelings, and
+have confidence in your good sense.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>There are Dangers in Using a Metronome</i></div>
+
+<p>How should one use the metronome for practising? I have been warned
+against it, as my teacher tells me one is liable to become very stiff
+and mechanical by the persistent use of it.</p>
+
+<p>Your teacher is eminently right. You should not play with the metronome
+for any length of time, for it lames the musical pulse and kills the
+vital expression in your playing. The metronome may well be used as a
+controlling device first, to find the approximate average speed of a
+piece, and, second, to convince yourself that, after playing for a<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_60" id="Page_60">Pg 60</a></span> while without it, your feelings have
+not caused you to drift too far away from the average tempo.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Real Meaning of Speed Terms</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of the words Adagio, Andante, and Allegro? Are they
+just indications of speed?</p>
+
+<p>They serve as such; though our musical ancestors probably selected these
+terms because of their indefiniteness, which leaves a certain margin to
+our individuality. Literally, Adagio (<i>ad agio</i>) means "at leisure."
+Andante means "going" in contradistinction to "running," going apace,
+also walking. Allegro (a contraction of <i>al leg-gie-ro</i>) means with
+"lightness, cheerful." Primarily these terms are, as you see,
+indications of mood; but they have come to be regarded as speed annotations.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Rule For Selecting the Speed</i></div>
+
+<p>As the words "largo," "allegro," etc., are supposed to indicate a
+certain rate of speed, can you give a rule so that a student who cannot
+have the aid of a teacher will be able to understand in what time he
+should play a composition?</p>
+
+<p>If the metronome is not indicated you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">Pg 61</a></span> have to consult your own
+good taste. Take the most rapid notes of your piece, play them rapidly
+as the general trend of the piece will &#xe6;sthetically permit, and adjust
+the general tempo accordingly.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Grace Notes Are Played</i></div>
+
+<p>How are the grace notes played in these measures from Chopin's Valse,
+opus 42, and when are grace notes not struck simultaneously with the
+base?</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0004b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<p>Grace notes and their chiefs&mdash;that is, those notes to which the
+grace notes are attached&mdash;should ever be played with one and the
+same muscular impulse. The time occupied by the grace notes should be so
+minimal that it should not be discernible whether they appear
+simultaneously with the base note or slightly before it. In modern music
+it is usually meant to precede the bass note, though the good taste of
+the player may occasionally prefer it otherwise.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">Pg 62</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Rests Used Under or Over Notes</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of a rest above or below the notes of the treble
+clef?</p>
+
+<p>The rests you speak of can occur only when more than one voice (or part)
+is written in the same staff, and they indicate how long the entrance of
+the other voice is to be delayed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What a Double Dot Means</i></div>
+
+<p>What does it mean when a note is double-dotted like <img src="images/png0005b.jpg" alt=""/>
+I thought first it was a misprint, but it seems to occur too
+frequently for that.</p>
+
+<p>As the first dot prolongs the note by one-half of its own value, so does
+the second dot add one-half of the value of the first dot. A half-note
+with one dot lasts three-quarters, with two dots it lasts seven-eighths.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Playing of Slurred Notes</i></div>
+
+<p>Should I accent the first note under a slur thus <img src="images/png0006b.jpg" alt=""/> or
+should I lift my hand at the end of the slur thus <img src="images/png0007b.jpg" alt=""/></p>
+
+<p>Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other, because accents
+relate to rhythm, while slurs concern the touch. The last note under a
+slur will usually be slightly curtailed in order to create<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_63" id="Page_63">Pg 63</a></span> that small pause which separates one
+phrase from another. Generally speaking, the slur in piano music
+represents the breathing periods of the vocalist.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How a Tie and a Slur Differ</i></div>
+
+<p>What difference is there between a slur and a tie?</p>
+
+<p>None in appearance, but much in effect. A tie continues the sound of the
+note struck at its beginning as long as the note-value at its end
+indicates. It can be placed only upon two notes of similar name in the
+same octave which follow each other. As soon as another note intervenes
+the tie becomes a slur and indicates a <i>legato</i> touch.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Slurs and Accents Not Related</i></div>
+
+<p>How should the beginning of slurs be accented?</p>
+
+<p>Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other. Slurs indicate
+either a legato touch or the grouping of the notes. Which one of the
+notes thus grouped is to be accented depends upon its rhythmical
+position in the measure. The strong and weak beat (or positive and
+negative beat) govern the accent always, unless there is an annotation
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">Pg 64</a></span>
+the contrary, and such an annotation must be carried out with
+great judiciousness, seldom literally.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Long an Accidental Affects a Note</i></div>
+
+<p>Where there is an accidental on the last beat of a measure does not that
+note resume its signature beyond the bar unless tied? The case I speak
+of was in a key of two flats, common time. The fourth beat, E, was
+naturalized and the first note of the next measure was E with the flat
+sign. I maintain that the flat sign is superfluous, and I should like to
+know if this is right?</p>
+
+<p>You are quite right, theoretically. Nevertheless, the proper tonality
+signature of a note that was changed is very frequently restated when
+the same note recurs beyond the bar. Though this special marking is not
+necessary theoretically, practical experience has shown that it is not
+an unwise precaution.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>"E-Sharp and B-Sharp" and the Double Flat</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of the sharps on the E and B line, and of a
+double-flat? Are they merely theoretical?</p>
+
+<p>They are not theoretical, but orthographical. You confound the note
+C<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">Pg 65</a></span>
+with the key on the keyboard by that name. B-sharp is played
+upon the key called C, but its musical bearing is very remote from the
+note C. The same applies to double-flats (and double-sharps), for D with
+a double-flat is played upon the key called C, but it has no relation to
+the note C. This corresponds precisely with the homonym in language:
+"sow"&mdash;"sew"&mdash;"so"&mdash;sound alike, but are spelled in
+various ways according to the meaning they are to convey.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Effect of Double Flats</i></div>
+
+<p>How is an octave, written thus, to be played?</p> <img src="images/png0008b.jpg" alt=""/>
+
+<p>As the single-flat lowers a note by a half-tone, so a double-flat lowers
+it by two half-tones or a full tone.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing an operetta recently I found the double-sharp sign [X]
+used for double-flats as well. Is this correct?</p>
+
+<p>The sign may be a misprint. But if it should occur repeatedly I advise
+you to make quite sure, before taking the misprint for granted, that the
+sign is not, after all, meant for a double-sharp.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">Pg 66</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When an Accidental Is in Parentheses</i></div>
+
+<p>Please tell me how a chord or an interval marked thus, is executed.</p>
+<img src="images/png0009b.jpg" alt=""/>
+<p>What does an accidental in parentheses mean?</p>
+
+
+<p>Chords marked as above are slightly rolled in the same manner as if
+marked by a serpentine line, unless the sign denotes a linking with the
+other hand. Which of the two meanings is intended you will easily infer
+from the context. Accidentals in parentheses are mere warnings given by
+some composers wherever there is a possibility of doubt as to the
+correct reading caused by a momentary harmonic ambiguity. I have found
+these accidentals in parentheses so far only in the works of French
+composers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Staffs Are Independent of Each Other</i></div>
+
+<p>Does an accidental in the right hand influence the left?</p>
+
+<p>Inasmuch as piano music is written in score form, the two staffs are as
+independent of each other as are the staffs in an orchestral score. We
+may, in cases of suspected misprints, draw certain inferences from one
+staff to the other, provided that they are justified by the prevailing
+harmony. As a rule, the two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">Pg 67</a></span>
+staffs are independent of each other in regard to accidental chromatic signs.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?</i></div>
+
+<p>I am often asked why there must be fifteen keys in music instead of
+twelve&mdash;that is, why not always write in B instead of C-flat, in
+F-sharp instead of G-flat, in D-flat instead of C-sharp, or <i>vice
+versa</i>? I can only say that the circle of fifths would not be complete
+without the seven scales in sharps and the seven in flats: but Bach does
+not use all the fifteen keys in his Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues,
+omitting entirely, in the major keys, G-flat, D-flat, and C-flat, and,
+in the minor keys, A-sharp and A-flat. Are compositions in sharps
+considered more brilliant than those in flats? Do composers consider
+modulation in selecting their key?</p>
+
+<p>The answer to your question hinges upon whether you recognize in music
+mere tone-play or whether you concede a mental and psychic side to it.
+In the former case the mode of spelling a tone C-sharp or D-flat would
+be, indeed, irrelevant. But in the latter case you must admit the
+necessity of a musical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">Pg 68</a></span>
+orthography qualified to convey distinct
+tonal meanings and musical thoughts to the reader and to the player.
+Though there is in the tempered scale no difference between C-sharp and
+D-flat, the musical reader will conceive them as different from one
+another, partly because of their connection with other related
+harmonies. These determine usually the composer's selection in cases of
+enharmonic identities. In the script of human language you will find an
+analogy than which none could be more perfect. In English there are, for
+instance, "to," "too," and "two"; words in which the spelling alone, and
+not the sound of pronunciation, conveys the different meanings of the
+words.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Meaning and Use of "Motif"</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of a "motif"? What does a dash mean over a note?
+What is the best book of instruction for a beginner, a child of ten?</p>
+
+<p>A motif is the germ of a theme. A theme may be composed of reiterations
+of a motif, or by grouping several motifs together; it may also combine
+both modes of procedure. The most glorious
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">Pg 69</a></span>exemplification of
+construction by reiteration of a motif you will find in the opening
+theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. A dash over a note enjoins the
+player to hold that note with the finger until it has received its full
+value. The best "instruction book" for a child is a good teacher who
+uses no instruction book, but imparts his knowledge to the child from
+out of his own inner consciousness.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Tied Staccato Notes</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing notes written thus, is it permissible to
+slide the fingers from the keys or should there be only a clinging
+touch?</p>
+
+<img src="images/png0010b.jpg" alt=""/>
+
+<p>Notes marked as above are to be played in such a manner that each note
+is slightly separated from the next. The best touch for this is from the
+arm, so that the fingers are not lifted from their joints, nor from the
+wrist, but that the arm pulls the finger upward from the key.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The "Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect</i></div>
+
+<p>What do short lines below or above a note or chord mean in
+contradistinction to a staccato or an accent? And does it affect the
+whole chord?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">Pg 70</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The dash under or above a note is a substitute for the word "tenuto"
+(usually abbreviated into "ten."), which means "held," or, in other
+words, be particular about giving this note its full sound-duration.
+This substitute is usually employed when the holding concerns a single
+note or a single chord.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Rolled Chord Marked "Secco"</i></div>
+
+<p>How should I execute a chord that is written with a spread and also
+marked "secco"?&mdash;as in Chaminade's "Air de Ballet, No. 1."</p>
+
+<p>Roll the chord as evenly as possible in all its parts; but use no pedal
+and do not hold it, but play it briskly and short.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Small Notes Under Large Ones</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of small notes printed under large ones?</p>
+
+<p>Usually the small notes are an indication that they may be omitted by
+players who have not the stretch of hand necessary to play them.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata</i></div>
+
+<p>How should one play and accent the mordent occurring in the
+forty-seventh measure of the first movement&mdash;allegro di
+molto&mdash;of Beethoven's Sonata Path&#xe9;tique, Opus 13?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">Pg 71</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The accent ought to lie upon the first note of the mordent, but you
+should not make a triplet of it by occupying the whole quarter with its
+execution. The mordent must be played fast enough to preserve the
+rhythmic integrity of the melody-note.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Position of the Turn Over a Note</i></div>
+
+<p>The turn <img src="images/png0011b.jpg" alt=""/> stands sometimes directly over the
+note and sometimes farther to the right of it. Does this difference
+indicate different executions and, if so, how would the two turns have
+to be played?</p>
+
+<p>The turn always begins with its uppermost note. When it stands directly
+over a note it takes the place of this note; when more to the right the
+note is struck first and the turn, judiciously distributed at the time
+of its disposal, follows.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?</i></div>
+
+<p>How are syncopated notes to be played?</p>
+
+<p>Notes occurring an entire beat of the prescribed time are, when
+syncopated, to be played between the beats. If the syncopated notes
+occupy only a fraction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">Pg 72</a></span>
+of the beats they are played between the fractional beats.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Trill Begins on the Melodic Note</i></div>
+
+<p>In modern compositions should all trills begin upon the note which is
+written, presuming there is no appoggiatura before the note? Is the
+alternation of the thumb and the second finger desirable in the playing
+of a trill?</p>
+
+<p>Where not expressly otherwise stated (by appoggiatura) trills usually
+begin upon the melodic tone (the note which is written). Change fingers
+when those employed get tired. For extended trills the use of three
+fingers is advantageous, while in shorter trills two fingers will
+preserve more clarity.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill</i></div>
+
+<p>In the accompanying example of the trill should the auxiliary note be a
+tone or a half-tone above the principal note? If the half-tone, what
+would be the name of the auxiliary note?</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0012b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">Pg 73</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The episode you quote moves evidently in the tonality of G minor. The
+trill stands on B-flat. As the auxiliary note of a trill is ever the
+diatonic sequel of a stated note it must, in this case, be a whole tone
+above B-flat, namely C. Since the piece is written in D major there
+should have been a "natural" marked under the sign of the trill.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Speed and Smoothness in Trilling</i></div>
+
+<p>Will you kindly suggest a good method of gaining speed and smoothness in
+trilling?</p>
+
+<p>While there are no "methods" for trilling there are certain means by
+which sluggish muscles may be assisted. Yet, even these means cannot be
+suggested without knowing the seat and cause of your trouble. The causes
+differ with the individual, but they are, in the majority of cases,
+purely mental, not manual. To trill quickly we must think quickly; for
+if we trill only with the fingers they will soon stick, lose their
+rhythmic succession, and finish in a cramped condition. Hence, there is
+no direct way to learn trilling; it will develop with your general
+mental-musical advancement. The main thing is, of course,<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_74" id="Page_74">Pg 74</a></span> always to listen to your own
+playing, actually and physically, to perceive every tone you play; for
+only then can you form an estimate as to how quickly you can "hear."
+And, of course, you do not expect to play anything more quickly than
+your own ear can follow.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Difference in Playing Trills</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the difference in the manner of playing the trill in measure 25,
+and those in measures 37 and 38, of the Chopin Polonaise, Opus 53?</p>
+
+<p>The significance of the trill in measure 25 is melodic, while that of
+the trills in measures 37 and 38 is purely rhythmic, somewhat in the
+nature of a snare-drum effect. The first trill requires greater stress
+on the melodic note, while in the other two you may throw your hand, so
+to speak, on both notes and roll the trill until it lands upon the next
+eighth-note.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Meaning of Solfeggio</i></div>
+
+<p>What is meant by "spelling" in music?</p>
+
+<p>Unless it means the variety of ways in which most chords can be written
+it refers to an oral reciting of notes, properly called solfeggio.<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_75" id="Page_75">Pg 75</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="About_certain" id="About_certain">ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen</i></div>
+
+<p>Please tell me some pieces of the classics which are not too difficult
+for my daughter of fourteen to play. She has a great deal of talent but
+not much technique. The Kuhlau Sonatinas she can play very well.</p>
+
+<p>If your daughter is fourteen years old and has&mdash;as you
+say&mdash;much talent but little technique, it is high time to think of
+developing her technique, for a pianist without technique is like a
+pleasure traveller without money. At any rate, I should prefer the
+easier sonatas by Haydn and Mozart to those of Kuhlau, because of their
+greater intrinsic merit. Any good teacher will assist you in selecting
+them to fit your daughter's case.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>In Playing a Sonata</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing sonatas my teacher tells me it is a great fault if I neglect
+to observe the repeat marks. I have heard it said by others that the
+repetition is not necessary, though it may be desirable. Will you please
+give me your opinion?</p>
+
+<p>In a sonata it is of serious importance to repeat the first part
+(exposition) of the first movement in order that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">Pg 76</a></span> two
+principal themes, as well as their tributaries, may well impress
+themselves upon the mind and memory of your auditor. For, unless this is
+accomplished, he cannot possibly understand and follow their development
+in the next part. That the exposition part is not the only one to be
+repeated you will find frequently indicated; for instance, in the last
+movement of the "Appassionata," where the repetition is needful, not for
+the reason stated before, but for the sake of formal balance or
+proportion. Generally speaking, I am in favour of following the
+composer's indications punctiliously, hence, also, his repeat marks,
+which serve &#xe6;sthetic purposes that you will perhaps not understand until
+later, when the sonata has, in your hands, outgrown the stage of being
+learned.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata"</i></div>
+
+<p>Should not the notes of the triplet figure in Beethoven's "Moonlight
+Sonata" be so blended into each other that you do not hear them in
+separate notes, but as a background, so to speak, for the notes in the
+melody?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">Pg 77</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The truth lies midway between two extremes. While the accompaniment
+should be sufficiently subdued to form, as you say, a harmonic
+background, it ought, nevertheless, not to be blended to such a degree
+as to obliterate entirely the undercurrent of a triplet motion. The
+accumulation of each chord should be produced through the pedal, not
+through an excessive legato touch.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast</i></div>
+
+<p>Should Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" be played in slow or fast time?</p>
+
+<p>It is marked "Allegretto grazioso." The latter term (graceful, in
+English) precludes a too-quick movement.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What a Dot May Mean</i></div>
+
+<p>This is the seventh measure of Chopin's Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1. What
+is the meaning of the dot placed after the D in the bass? Whenever this
+measure is repeated the dot occurs, or I should have thought it a
+misprint.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0013b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">Pg 78</a></span>
+
+<p>The left-hand notes follow each other as eighth-notes. Their respective
+duration, however, is indicated by the upward stems and the dot. It is
+intended here that a complete chord should be built up by accumulation,
+as in illustration <i>a</i>:</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0014b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<p>and I would also hold the fifth eighth as in illustration <i>b</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Where the Accent Should be Placed</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, Opus 29, should the first or
+the last note of the mordent receive the accent? I have heard the
+mordent sound like a triplet? Is this the correct accent?</p>
+
+<p>The last note of the mordent should be accented in this case.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Disputed Chopin Reading</i></div>
+
+<p>In Chopin's Nocturne in F-sharp, after the <i>Doppio</i> Movement, when
+returning to Tempo I, and counting five measures, should the right hand
+in the fifth measure play this melody?</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0015b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">Pg 79</a></span>
+
+<p>The various editions differ from one another in this measure. Peters's
+edition, generally considered the best edition of Chopin's works, has
+the second version, which commends itself by its greater naturalness.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing the "Melody in F"</i></div>
+
+<p>In Rubinstein's "Melody in F" should the melody be played in the left
+hand or be divided between the two hands?</p>
+
+<p>Where there is no valid reason for doing otherwise it is always best to
+follow the composer's prescription; for, in most cases&mdash;and with
+great composers in all cases&mdash;the author knows what he meant to
+say. In the aforesaid piece, too, I advise you to adhere to this
+principle, since it is written with a view to teach the division of the
+melody between the right and left hand. Any other execution would ruin
+this purposed design.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When Two Fingers Have the Same Note</i></div>
+
+<p>In Schumann's "Blumenst&#xfc;ck," third number, the uppermost notes of the
+left hand are identical with the lowest of the right hand. Should the
+thumbs of both hands strike the same keys at the same
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">Pg 80</a></span>
+time all the way through or should the left hand omit them?</p>
+
+<p>The left hand should omit them, but be careful to omit only those that
+are really duplicates. There are a few places toward the end of each
+section where the left-hand notes differ from those in the right. In
+those cases you must be careful to play all the notes that are written.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Bach" id="Bach">BACH</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Beginner in Bach Music</i></div>
+
+<p>Can you give me a few helpful suggestions in a preliminary study of
+Bach?</p>
+
+<p>A totality consists of many parts. If you cannot master the totality of
+a work by Bach try each part by itself. Take one part of the right hand,
+one part of the left, add a third part, and so on until you have all the
+parts together. But be sure to follow out the line of each separate part
+(or "voice," as the Continentals say). Do not lose patience. Remember
+that Rome was not built in a day.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you think the study of Bach is necessary to the development of one's
+technique, or should one let his music alone until a later day when
+one's technique <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">Pg 81</a></span>
+is in good condition? Some of his music seems so dry.</p>
+
+<p>Bach's music is not the only music that develops the technique. There
+is, for instance, the music of Czerny and Clementi to be considered. But
+Bach's music is particularly qualified to develop the fingers in
+conjunction with musical expression and thematic characterization. You
+may start with Czerny and Clementi, but you ought soon to turn to Bach.
+That some of his music seems dry to you may be due to your mental
+attitude by which you possibly expect from ecclesiastical music what
+only the opera can give you. Think yourself into his style and you will
+find a mine of never-dreamed-of enjoyment.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Always Keep in Touch with Bach</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you think that the playing of Bach's works will keep one's hands in
+good technical condition? And which is the best edition of Bach's piano
+works?</p>
+
+<p>Bach is good for the soul as well as for the body, and I recommend that
+you never lose touch with him. Which is the best edition would be hard
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">Pg 82</a></span>
+say, but I have found the Peters edition to be very good.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Bach's Preludes and Fugues</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the plan of a "Fugue," how does it differ from an "Invention"
+and "Prelude," and what is the purpose of studying the pieces so named
+by Bach?</p>
+
+<p>The explanation of the plan of a Fugue would exceed by far the limits of
+the space at my disposal. It would require a text-book, of which there
+are many to be found in every good music store. The Fugue is the most
+legitimate representation of true polyphony. Its difference from an
+Invention is expressed in the two names. A Fugue (<i>fuga</i>, flight) is the
+flight of one musical thought through many voices or parts, subject to
+strict rules, while an Invention is an accumulation of thoughts moving
+with absolute freedom. The definition of Prelude, as something which
+intentionally precedes and fittingly introduces a main action, fits the
+musical Prelude perfectly; especially in the case of Bach. The purpose
+of all these forms is that of all good music-making, namely, the<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_83" id="Page_83">Pg 83</a></span> purification and development of good
+taste in music.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>As to the Bach Fugues</i></div>
+
+<p>Of the Bach fugues do you consider the C sharp major difficult to
+memorize, or do you advise the use of the D flat arrangement instead?</p>
+
+<p>Such little differences have never bothered me, and I can therefore
+hardly answer your question definitely. It has been frequently
+observed&mdash;though never explained&mdash;that to many people it comes
+easier to read music in D flat than in C sharp. Hence, if you prefer the
+D flat edition it will reduce the difficulty for you. Possibly this more
+accessible version may aid you optically or visually in your work of
+memorizing.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Beethoven" id="Beethoven">BEETHOVEN</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas</i></div>
+
+<p>I am just beginning to reach an intelligent interpretation of
+Beethoven's music. Now, in what order should the Sonatas be studied?</p>
+
+<p>If you should really have the laudable intention to study all the
+Sonatas of Beethoven for your repertory I should think that you may
+safely take them up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">Pg 84</a></span>
+very much in the order in which they are
+printed, with the exception of Opus 53 and the Appassionata,
+which&mdash;spiritually as well as technically&mdash;rank with the last
+five. The Steingr&#xe4;ber edition, however, furnishes a very fair order of
+difficulty in the index to the Sonatas.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character</i></div>
+
+<p>My teacher calls the Sonata opus 28, by Beethoven, the "Pastoral"
+Sonata. I have not found anything "pastoral" in any of the movements. Is
+it because I do not understand it, or is the name a mere amateurish
+invention?</p>
+
+<p>The name "Pastoral Sonata" could, no doubt, be traced to an arbitrary
+invention, perhaps of some over-smart publisher endeavouring to heighten
+the attractiveness of the Sonata to the general public by the addition
+of a suggestive title. Yet it seems to fit the Sonata pretty well,
+because, really, its main characteristic is a rural sort of peaceful
+repose. Especially the first movement is of a tranquillity which,
+surely, does not suggest the life of a metropolis. But in the other
+movements, too, there are many episodes which by their na&#xef;vet&#xe9;<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_85" id="Page_85">Pg 85</a></span> and good-natured boisterousness
+indicate the life of the village.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Few, Well Played, Are Enough</i></div>
+
+<p>Must I play all the Sonatas of Beethoven's in order to become a good
+player, or is a certain number of them sufficient, and, if so, how many
+would you advise?</p>
+
+<p>Since the playing of all the Sonatas does not necessarily prove that
+they were all well played, I think it is better to play one Sonata well
+than to play many of them badly. Nor should Beethoven's Sonatas be
+regarded as a musical drilling-ground, but rather as musical
+revelations. As they are not all on precisely the same high plane of
+thought, it is not necessary to play them all. To familiarize yourself
+with Beethoven's style and grandeur of thought it is sufficient to have
+mastered six or eight of his Sonatas; though that number, at least,
+should be <i>mastered</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Mendelssohn" id="Mendelssohn">MENDELSSOHN</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Study of Mendelssohn</i></div>
+
+<p>In a complete course for a piano student should the study of Mendelssohn
+be included? Which of his compositions are the most useful?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">Pg 86</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mendelssohn is surely a composer who is not to be omitted. His melody
+alone, besides other virtues, entitles him to be included, for melody
+seems to grow scarce nowadays. To develop a fine cantilena his "Songs
+Without Words" of slower motion, for instance, are just the thing.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Chopin" id="Chopin">CHOPIN</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What Is the Best of Chopin?</i></div>
+
+<p>Which are the best compositions of Chopin to study by one who really
+desires to know him?</p>
+
+<p>All the Etudes, all the Preludes, the Ballades in A flat, G minor and F
+minor, the Berceuse and the Barcarolle. The Mazurkas, Nocturnes,
+Waltzes, and Polonaises you are probably familiar with; hence, I mention
+the aforesaid other works. Generally speaking, of Chopin a pianist
+should know everything.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Charm of Chopin's Touch</i></div>
+
+<p>What kind of touch did Chopin have?</p>
+
+<p>Since a description of his touch would require too much space I refer
+you to the book from which I gathered the most explicit information on
+this point. It is "The Life of Chopin," by Frederick
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">Pg 87</a></span>
+Niecks (London and New York, Novello, Ewer &amp; Co.), and in the second
+volume, from page 94 to about 104, you will find what you wish to know,
+as far as it is possible to convey the charm of one art through the
+medium of another. Since you seem interested in Chopin I would recommend
+that you closely study both volumes of this masterly biographical work.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Mood and Tempo in the A-Flat Impromptu</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the tempo (by metronome) of Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, and
+what idea did the composer embody in it?</p>
+
+<p>The editions vary in their metronome markings and I believe none of
+them. Your tempo will largely depend upon the state of your technique.
+To the second question my reply is that Chopin has composed "music"
+which&mdash;as you know&mdash;represents thoughts only in a musical
+sense, otherwise it deals with purely psychic processes, moods, etc. The
+humour of this Impromptu is mainly an amiable, ingratiating one, here
+and there slightly tinged with a sweet melancholy. It should not be
+played too fast, for it easily loses this latter attribute<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_88" id="Page_88">Pg 88</a></span> and then sounds like a Czerny
+exercise. A moderate tempo will also tend to bring out the many charming
+harmonic turns which, in too quick a tempo, are likely to be lost.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Chopin's Barcarolle</i></div>
+
+<p>In Chopin's Barcarolle there is a number of trills preceded by grace
+notes. Are they to be executed according to Philipp Emmanuel Bach's
+rule, so that the grace notes take their time from the note that follows
+them?</p>
+
+<p>Philipp Emmanuel Bach's rule is a safe one to follow, but do not
+confound a rule with a law. If you have reached that plane on which an
+attempt at the Barcarolle by Chopin is rational, you must feel that your
+individual taste will not lead you too far astray even if it should
+prompt you occasionally to depart from the rule.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Chopin's Works for a Popular Concert</i></div>
+
+<p>What works of Chopin would you suggest for a popular concert programme?</p>
+
+<p>Nocturne, Opus 27, No. 2; Fantasy Impromptu, Opus 66; Scherzo, Opus 31;
+Berceuse, Opus 57; Valse, Opus 64, No. 2; Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1;
+Chants Polonais (in Liszt's transcription).
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">Pg 89</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Taking Liberties with the Tempo</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing Chopin may one take liberties with the tempo and play
+different parts of the same mazurka or nocturne in various degrees of
+tempo?</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly. But the extent of such liberties depends upon your &#xe6;sthetic
+training. In principle your question admits of an affirmative reply, but
+a specific answer is impossible without an acquaintance with your
+musical status. I recommend that you be very cautious about "taking
+liberties"; without, however, ceasing altogether to follow the
+promptings of your good taste here and there. There is such a thing as
+"artistic conscience"; consult it always before taking a liberty with
+the tempo.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Omitting One Note in a Chord</i></div>
+
+<p>In the beginning of the Waltz in E minor by Chopin the left hand has to
+play this chord a number of times. I can stretch any three of the four
+notes, but not all four. Can one of them be omitted, and which one?</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0016b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<p>You may omit the upper E, the second note from the top, but you may do
+so only so long as it is physically impossible
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">Pg 90</a></span>
+for you to strike all the four notes. For, by omitting this note you do alter the tone
+colour of the chord as well as its sonority. As soon as you have
+acquired the requisite stretch&mdash;and anybody who does possess
+it&mdash;I would advise that the note be not unnecessarily omitted.
+Chopin evidently meant to have that note played.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Masters Cannot be Studied in Order</i></div>
+
+<p>Will you give me your views as to the order in which the masters of
+piano composition should be studied?</p>
+
+<p>To classify composers, without specifying their works, is never
+advisable. Beethoven's first and last sonatas differ so fundamentally
+from each other in every particular that one may play the first one very
+well and yet be for many years (perhaps forever) unable to play the last
+one. And still, it is the same Beethoven that wrote both works. We can,
+therefore, hardly speak of an "order of composers." So long as we are
+dealing with masters the question should not be: Which
+master?&mdash;but, Which composition does your stage of mental and
+technical development call for? If you will defer the study of any other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">Pg 91</a></span>
+composer until you have fully mastered the works of
+Beethoven&mdash;only the principal ones, at that&mdash;you will need a
+life of more length than the Bible allots to the average man.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Greatest Composers as Pianists</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it true that nearly all the great composers have been pianists?</p>
+
+<p>If by pianists you mean musicians whose sole medium of audible musical
+utterance was the piano, your question admits of no other than an
+affirmative reply. The only exception I can think of just now was
+Berlioz; there were, no doubt, others, but none who belongs to the truly
+great ones. The reason for this is, perhaps, the circumstance that the
+pianist throughout his education is brought into touch with greater
+polyphony than the players of other instruments, and that polyphony is a
+basic principle in music.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Study of Operatic Transcriptions</i></div>
+
+<p>Is the study of Thalberg's operatic transcriptions of any value to the
+piano student?</p>
+
+<p>Operatic transcriptions begin with Liszt. What was written before him in
+that line<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">Pg 92</a></span>
+(and in some degree contemporary with him, hence it
+includes Thalberg) is hardly of any significance. If you feel a special
+inclination toward the transcriptions of Thalberg you may play them;
+they will not harm you so very much. But if you ask me whether they are
+of any musical value I must frankly say, no.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Modern Piano Music</i></div>
+
+<p>Are such pieces as "Beautiful Star of Heaven" or "Falling Waters" in
+good taste? What contemporary composers write good piano music?</p>
+
+<p>Pieces with pretentious names are usually devoid of such contents as
+their names imply, so that the names are merely a screen to hide the
+paucity of thoughts and ideas. Speaking very generally, there seems to
+be not very much good music written for the piano just at present. By
+far the best comes from Russia. Most of these compositions are rather
+difficult to play, but there are some easy ones to be found among them,
+such as the "Music Box," by Liadow, "Fantastic Fairy Tales," No. 12, by
+Pachulski, and others.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">Pg 93</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Exercises" id="Exercises">EXERCISES AND STUDIES</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Exercises for the Beginner to Practise</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any special book of practice exercises that you think best for
+a beginner and that you would care to recommend?</p>
+
+<p>Any reliable music publisher will tell you which book of exercises is
+most in demand. The effect of the exercises depends, of course, upon the
+way you play them. Indications as to touch, etc., are usually given in
+such books. What kind of exercises your case demands cannot be
+determined without a personal examination by an expert.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Good Finger Exercises</i></div>
+
+<p>What would you say are the best studies for plain finger work?</p>
+
+<p>The exercises of "Pischna" are to be recommended. They have appeared in
+two editions, of which one is abridged. They are known as the "large"
+and the "small Pischna." You may obtain them through any large music
+house, I think, in the Steingr&#xe4;ber Edition.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Value of Heller's Studies</i></div>
+
+<p>Are Heller's studies practical for a young student lacking in rhythm and
+expression?</p>
+
+<p>Yes, they are very good, provided the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">Pg 94</a></span>
+teacher insists that the pupil plays exactly what is indicated and does not merely "come near
+it."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Good Intermediate Books of Etudes</i></div>
+
+<p>Living in the country, where there is no teacher available, I would
+thank you for telling me what Etudes I ought to study. I have finished
+those by Cramer and Moscheles, and can play them well, but find those by
+Chopin too difficult. Are there no intermediate works?</p>
+
+<p>You seem to be fond of playing Etudes. Well, then, I suggest:</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," by Edmund Neupert.</p>
+
+<p>"Concert Etudes," by Hans Seeling (Peters Edition).</p>
+
+<p>"Etudes," by Carl Baermann (two books), published in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>"Etudes," by Ruthardt (Peters Edition).</p>
+
+<p>But why not select an easy Etude by Chopin and make a start? The best
+preparation&mdash;if not the Etudes themselves&mdash;is Heller's Opus
+154.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Etudes For Advanced Players to Work at</i></div>
+
+<p>What regular technical work would you prescribe for a fairly advanced
+pianist&mdash;one who plays pretty well such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">Pg 95</a></span>
+things as the Chopin Etudes in C minor, Opus 10, No. 12, and in D flat, Opus 25, No.
+8, and the B flat minor prelude?</p>
+
+<p>My advice to advanced players is always that they should construct their
+technical exercises out of such material as the different places in the
+pieces at hand furnish. If you should feel the need of Etudes for
+increasing your endurance and control of protracted difficult passages I
+suggest that you take up the Etudes by Baermann and those by Kessler.
+The former are a little easier than the latter.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day</i></div>
+
+<p>My first teacher laid great store by Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum,"
+and insisted upon taking every study in it, while my new teacher, with
+whom I recently started lessons, says that it is "outlived,
+superannuated." Was my old or my new teacher right?</p>
+
+<p>They were both right; one as a pedagogue, the other as a musician. As
+you do not mention the reason of your first teacher's insistence, I must
+assume that he employed the "Gradus" as exercises, pure and simple. It
+serves this purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">Pg 96</a></span>
+quite well, though even as studies for the
+applying of technical disciplines they are, on account of their dryness,
+"outlived," as your new teacher correctly says. Modern writers have
+produced studies which combine with their technical usefulness greater
+musical value and attractiveness.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Polyrhythms" id="Polyrhythms">POLYRHYTHMS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing Duple Time Against Triple</i></div>
+
+<p>How must I execute triplets played against two-eighths? In Clementi's
+Sonatina, Opus 37, No. 3, first page, you will find such bars.</p>
+
+<p>In a slow tempo it may serve you to think of the second eighth-note of
+the triplet as being subdivided into two sixteenths. After both hands
+have played the first note of their respective groups simultaneously,
+the place of the aforesaid second sixteenth is to be filled by the
+second note of the couplet. In faster motion it is far better to
+practise at first each hand alone and with somewhat exaggerated accents
+of each group until the two relative speeds are well established in the
+mind. Then try to play the two hands together in a sort of
+semi-automatic way. Frequent correct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">Pg 97</a></span>
+repetition of the same figure will soon change your semi-automatic state into a conscious one,
+and thus train your ear to listen to and control two different rhythms
+or groupings at the same time.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Two Hands Playing Different Rhythms</i></div>
+
+<p>How should, in Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu, the four notes of the right
+be played to the three of the left? Is an exact division possible?</p>
+
+<p>An exact division would lead to such fractions as the musician has no
+means of measuring and no terms for expressing. There is but one way to
+play unequal rhythms simultaneously in both hands; study each hand
+separately until you can depend upon it, and put them together without
+thinking of either rhythm. Think of the points where the two hands have
+to meet, the "dead points" of the two motions, and rely on your
+automatism until, by frequent hearing, you have learned to listen to two
+rhythms at once.</p>
+
+<div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/png0017b.jpg" alt=""/></div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">Pg 98</a></span>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Old Problem of Duple Time Against Triple</i></div>
+
+<p>How should the above-quoted notes be brought in with the lower triplets?</p>
+
+<p>It would be futile to attempt a precise and conscious division in such
+cases. The best, in fact, the only, way to do is to practise the hands
+separately with an exaggerated accent on each beat until the points
+where the hands meet are well conceived and the relative speed ratios
+are well understood. Then try to play the hands together, and do not be
+discouraged if the first attempts fail. Repeat the trial often and you
+will finally succeed if the separate practice has been sufficient to
+produce a semi-automatic action of the hands.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Phrasing" id="Phrasing">PHRASING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing</i></div>
+
+<p>Can you give an amateur a concise definition of phrasing and a few
+helpful suggestions as to clear phrasing?</p>
+
+<p>Phrasing is a rational division and subdivision of musical sentences,
+and serves to make them intelligible. It corresponds closely with
+punctuation in literature and its recitation. Find out the start, the
+end, and the culminating point of your phrase. The last-named<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_99" id="Page_99">Pg 99</a></span> is usually to be found upon the
+highest note of the phrase, while the former are usually indicated by
+phrasing slurs. Generally speaking, the rising of the melody is combined
+with an increase of strength up to the point of culmination, where, in
+keeping with the note design, the decrease of strength sets in. For
+artistic phrasing it is of the utmost importance properly to recognize
+the principal mood of the piece, for this must, naturally, influence the
+rendition of every detail in it. A phrase occurring in an agitated
+movement, for instance, will have to be rendered very differently from a
+similar-looking phrase in a slow, dreamy movement.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Do Not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest</i></div>
+
+<p>In observing a rest should the hand be raised from the wrist?</p>
+
+<p>Never! Such a motion should be made only in rapid wrist octaves or other
+double notes when a staccato is prescribed. The regular way to conclude
+a phrase, or observe a pause, as you say, is to lift the arm from the
+keyboard and keep the wrist perfectly limp, so that the arm carries the
+loosely hanging hand upward.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">Pg 100</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Rubato" id="Rubato">RUBATO</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>As to Playing Rubato</i></div>
+
+<p>Will you please tell me what is the best method of playing rubato?</p>
+
+<p>The artistic principles ruling rubato playing are good taste and keeping
+within artistic bounds. The physical principle is balance. What you
+shorten of the time in one phrase or part of a phrase you must add at
+the first opportunity to another in order that the time "stolen"
+(rubato) in one place may be restituted in another. The &#xe6;sthetic law
+demands that the total time-value of a music piece shall not be affected
+by any rubato, hence, the rubato can only have sway within the limits of
+such time as would be consumed if the piece were played in the strictest
+time.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"</i></div>
+
+<p>I find an explanation of <i>tempo rubato</i> which says that the hand which
+plays the melody may move with all possible freedom, while the
+accompanying hand must keep strict time. How can this be done?</p>
+
+<p>The explanation you found, while not absolutely wrong, is very
+misleading, for it can find application only in a very few isolated
+cases; only inside of one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">Pg 101</a></span>
+short phrase and then hardly satisfactorily. Besides, the words you quote are not an explanation, but
+a mere assertion or, rather, allegation. <i>Tempo rubato</i> means a
+wavering, a vacillating of time values, and the question whether this is
+to extend over both hands or over only one must be decided by the
+player's good taste; it also depends upon whether the occupation of the
+two hands can be thought of as separate and musically independent. I
+assume that you are able to play each hand alone with perfect freedom,
+and I doubt not that you can, with some practice, retain this freedom of
+each hand when you unite them, but I can see only very few cases to
+which you could apply such skill, and still less do I see the advantage
+thereof.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse</i></div>
+
+<p>In playing <i>rubato</i> do you follow a preconceived notion or the impulse
+of the moment?</p>
+
+<p>Perfect expression is possible only under perfect freedom. Hence, the
+perfect <i>rubato</i> must be the result of momentary impulse. It is,
+however, only a few very eminent players that have such command<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_102" id="Page_102">Pg 102</a></span> over this means of expression as
+to feel safe in trusting their momentary impulses altogether. The
+average player will do well carefully to consider the shifting of time
+values and to prepare their execution to a certain degree. This should
+not, however, be carried too far, as it would impair the naturalness of
+expression and lead to a stereotyped mannerism.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Difference Between Conception and Rubato</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any difference between conception and <i>rubato?</i></p>
+
+<p>Conception is a generic term and comprises the service of each and all
+means of expression, among which <i>rubato</i> plays a somewhat prominent
+part. For it is, so to speak, the musical pulse-beat of the player.
+Being subordinate to conception, its function and manner must be
+governed by the latter.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Conception" id="Conception">CONCEPTION</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Different Conceptions May be Individually Correct</i></div>
+
+<p>Can one and the same phrase be conceived differently by different
+artists and still be individually correct in each instance?</p>
+
+<p>Certainly! Provided that&mdash;whatever the conception be&mdash;it
+preserves the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">Pg 103</a></span>
+logical relations of the parts in building up the
+phrase, and that it is carried through the whole course of the piece in
+a consistent manner. Whether a certain conception of a phrase is or is
+not compatible with the general character of the piece and how far the
+freedom of conception may extend, it will be for the &#xe6;sthetic training
+and the good taste of the player to determine for each and every case
+separately.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Which Should Come First&mdash;Conception or Technique?</i></div>
+
+<p>In the first attempts at a new piece must matters of conception be
+observed at once or only after the piece has been technically mastered?</p>
+
+<p>Unless one is a very experienced reader it will be hardly possible to
+think of matters of conception until the technical means to express them
+and the necessary perspective of the piece have been gained. It is
+always safer first to make sure that the notes as such, and their
+respective times value have been read correctly, and that the technical
+difficulties have, to a fair degree, been overcome. This done, the
+question must be settled as to whether the general character<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_104" id="Page_104">Pg 104</a></span> of the piece is dramatic, <i>i.
+e.</i>, tragic or conciliatory, melancholy, lyric, rhapsodic, humorous, or
+changeable, and so forth. Only when our mind on this point is made up
+with the utmost definiteness, can we approach the details that are
+conditioned by the conception.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Force_of_Example" id="Force_of_Example">FORCE OF EXAMPLE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Hearing a Piece Before Studying It</i></div>
+
+<p>Should a pupil hear a piece played before studying it?</p>
+
+<p>If the pupil's imagination needs stimulation he should hear the piece
+well played before studying it. If, however, he is merely too lazy to
+find out the rhythm, melody, and so forth, and rather relies upon his
+purely imitative faculty, he should not hear it, but be compelled to do
+his own reading and thinking.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Theory" id="Theory">THEORY</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you recommend the study of harmony and counterpoint to the piano
+student?</p>
+
+<p>By all means! To gain a musical insight into the pieces you play you
+must be able to follow the course of their harmonies and understand the
+contrapuntal treatment of their themes. Without
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">Pg 105</a></span>the knowledge
+gained through a serious study of harmony and counter-point your
+conceptions will be pure guesswork and will lack in outline and
+definiteness.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Why so Many Different Keys?</i></div>
+
+<p>Why is it supposed to be necessary to have fifteen keys to complete the
+circle of fifths? Why would not twelve suffice, and thus avoid duplicate
+keys?</p>
+
+<p>Not fifteen, but twenty-five tonalities complete the circle of fifths,
+theoretically, and they are all necessary because of the many harmonic
+turns that occur in modern music and which could not be intelligently
+demonstrated unless we use the tonalities with seven, eight, nine or
+more sharps and flats. For otherwise we might have to change the
+signature so frequently as to become utterly confusing to even the most
+musicianly reader. C-sharp minor has but four sharps, yet the scale of
+its dominant (its next relative) has eight sharps.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Relation of Harmony to Piano-Playing</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it absolutely necessary for me to study harmony in connection with my
+piano? My teacher wants me to do it, but I don't see the use! Of what
+benefit is harmony?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">Pg 106</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of what benefit is the general school-work a child has to go through? To
+play the piano well a good hand and so many hours of practice are not
+sufficient; it requires a general musical education. This means, first
+and foremost, a knowledge of harmony, to which you may later add the
+study of counterpoint and forms. Your teacher is absolutely right.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Text-Books on Harmony</i></div>
+
+<p>Would you care to recommend two or three of the best books on the study
+of harmony?</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of harmony is ever the same, but the modes of teaching it
+are constantly changing and, I trust, improving. For this reason I feel
+a certain hesitation in recommending at this time the text-books which I
+studied many years ago, especially as I am not certain that they have
+been translated into English. I advise you, therefore, to inquire of
+some good teacher of harmony or, at least, of a reliable music publisher
+or dealer. E. F. Richter and Bussler wrote works of recognized merit,
+which, though no longer modern, may be safely studied.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">Pg 107</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Learning to Modulate</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it possible to learn modulating from a book without the aid of a
+teacher, so as to connect two pieces of different tonality?</p>
+
+<p>Possible, yes, but not probable; for since in your written exercises you
+are likely to err at times, you will need some one to point out your
+errors and so show you the way to correct them. Generally speaking, I do
+not think much of studying the rudiments of anything without the aid of
+an experienced adviser.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Studying Counterpoint by One's Self</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it possible to study counterpoint without a teacher, and, if so, what
+book can you recommend for its study?</p>
+
+<p>It is quite possible, provided you are certain never to misunderstand
+your text-book and never to commit any errors. Otherwise you will need
+the advice of an experienced musician in correcting them. A good
+teacher, however, is always better than a book for this study. Of
+text-books there are a great many. Any reliable music house will furnish
+you with a list of them.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">Pg 108</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Should Piano Students Try to Compose?</i></div>
+
+<p>Besides my study of the piano shall I try to compose if I feel the
+inclination and believe I have some talent for it?</p>
+
+<p>The practice of constructing will always facilitate your work of
+reconstructing, which is, practically, what the rendition of a musical
+work means. Hence, I advise every one who feels able to construct even a
+modest little piece to try his hand at it. Of course, if you can write
+only a two-step it will not enable you to reconstruct a Beethoven
+Sonata; still, there may be little places in the Sonata that will clear
+up in your mind more quickly when you have come in touch with the
+technical act of putting down on paper what your mind has created, and
+you will altogether lose the attitude of the absolute stranger when
+facing a new composition. Do not construe this, however, as an
+encouragement to write two-steps!</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Student Who Wants to Compose</i></div>
+
+<p>Please advise me as to the best way of learning composition. Which is
+the best work of that kind from which I could learn?</p>
+
+<p>First learn to write notes. Copying
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">Pg 109</a></span> all sorts of music is the
+best practice for that. Then study the doctrine of harmony. Follow it up
+by a study of the various forms of counterpoint. Proceed to canon in its
+many kinds and intervals. Take up the fugue. Then study forms until you
+learn to feel them. Books for every one of these stages there are many,
+but better than all the books is a good teacher.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Difference Between Major and Minor Scales</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the difference between the major and minor scale? Does it lie in
+the arrangement of semitones or in the character, or in both?</p>
+
+<p>There are three differences: First, in the arrangement of the semitones;
+second, in the character; and, third, in the circumstance that the minor
+scale admits of a number of modifications for melodic purposes which
+cannot be made in the major scale.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>There is Only One Minor Scale</i></div>
+
+<p>Which is the true minor scale, the melodic or the harmonic? My teacher
+insists upon the harmonic, but it sounds ugly to me. Will you please
+tell me something about it?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">Pg 110</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is but one minor scale; it is the one upon which the chords of its
+tonality are built; it is the one upon which your teacher wisely
+insists, because the so-called melodic minor scale offers no new
+intervals to your fingers, and because the term melodic minor scale is
+applied to that form of deviation from the real scale which is most
+frequently used, but which is by no means the only deviation that is
+possible; nor is it the only one in use.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What is the Difference Between the Major and Minor Scales?</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the difference between the major and minor scales?</p>
+
+<p>The major scale has a major third and sixth, while the minor scale has a
+minor third and sixth and raises its seventh to a major seventh by an
+accidental elevating sign, raising a natural note by a sharp, and a flat
+note by a natural. If you begin your major scale upon its sixth degree
+and, counting it as the first of the minor, raise the seventh, you
+obtain the minor scale, in which, however, many modifications are
+admissible for melodic (though not for harmonic) purposes.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">Pg 111</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka, and Polonaise Differ</i></div>
+
+<p>As a waltz and a menuet are both in three-fourth time, is it only the
+tempo in which they differ, or are there other differences?</p>
+
+<p>Waltz, menuet, mazurka, and polonaise are all in three-fourth time and
+are not confined to a definite tempo. The difference between them lies
+in the structure. A waltz period&mdash;that is, the full expression of a
+theme&mdash;needs sixteen measures; a menuet needs only eight, a mazurka
+only four measures. In a mazurka a motive occupies only one measure, in
+the menuet two, and in the waltz four. The polonaise subdivides its
+quarters into eighths, and the second eighth usually into two
+sixteenths; it differs, therefore, from the other three dances by its
+rhythm.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Meaning of "Toccata"</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the meaning of the word "Toccata"? I do not find it in the
+Italian lexicon and the English musical dictionaries differ widely in
+their definitions. None of their definitions seems to apply to the
+Toccata by Chaminade.</p>
+
+<p>To make the matter quite plain let me say, first, that "Cantata"
+(from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">Pg 112</a></span>
+<i>cantare</i>&mdash;to sing) meant in olden times a music
+piece to be sung; while "Sonata" (from <i>suonare</i>&mdash;to play)
+designated a piece to be played on an instrument; and "Toccato" meant a
+piece for keyboard instruments like the organ or piano and its
+precursors, written with the intention of providing special
+opportunities for the display of the skill of touch (from
+<i>toccare</i>&mdash;to touch) or, as we would now say, finger technique. The
+original meanings have changed so that these terms now imply definite
+forms, like the modern Cantata and Sonata. The Toccata is, at present,
+understood to be a piece in constant and regular motion, very much like
+those that are called "<i>moto perpetuo</i>" or "perpetual motion," of which
+Weber's "Perpetuum mobile" is a good example. I have no doubt that the
+Toccata by Chaminade, which I do not know, is written on similar lines.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_Memory" id="The_Memory">THE MEMORY</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Playing from Memory Is Indispensable</i></div>
+
+<p>Is memorization absolutely essential to a good player?</p>
+
+<p>Playing from memory is indispensable to the freedom of rendition. You have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">Pg 113</a></span>
+to bear in your mind and memory the whole piece in order
+to attend properly to its details. Some renowned players who take the
+printed sheets before them on the stage play, nevertheless, from memory.
+They take the music with them only to heighten their feeling of security
+and to counteract a lack of confidence in their memory&mdash;a species
+of nervousness.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Easiest Way to Memorize</i></div>
+
+<p>Will you please tell me which is the easiest way to memorize a piano
+piece?</p>
+
+<p>Begin by playing it a few times very carefully and slowly until you can
+play it with a fair degree of exactitude (you need not mind an
+occasional stopping). Then go over such places as appeared to you
+especially complex until you understand their construction. Now let the
+piece rest for a whole day and try to trace in your mind the train of
+thoughts in the piece. Should you come to a dead stop be satisfied with
+what you have achieved. Your mind will keep on working, subconsciously,
+as over a puzzle, always trying to find the continuation. If you find
+that the memory is a blank<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">Pg 114</a></span>
+take the music in hand, look at the
+particular place&mdash;but only at this&mdash;and, since you have now
+found the connection, continue the work of mental tracing. At the next
+stop repeat this procedure until you have reached the end, not in every
+detail, but in large outlines. Of course, this does not mean that you
+can now <i>play</i> it from memory. You have only arrived at the point of
+transition from the imagined to the real, and now begins a new kind of
+study: to transfer to the instrument what you have mentally absorbed.
+Try to do this piece by piece, and look into the printed sheets (which
+should not be on the music-rack but away from it) only when your memory
+absolutely refuses to go on. The real work with the printed music should
+be reserved to the last, and you should regard it in the light of a
+proof-reading of your mental impressions. The whole process of absorbing
+a piece of music mentally resembles that of photographing. The
+development of the acoustic picture (the tone-picture) is like the bath.
+The tentative playing is like the process of "fixing" against<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_115" id="Page_115">Pg 115</a></span> sensitiveness to lights; and the
+final work with the printed music is the retouching.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>In Order to Memorize Easily</i></div>
+
+<p>I find it very hard to memorize my music. Can you suggest any method
+that would make it easier?</p>
+
+<p>To retain in one's memory what does not interest one is difficult to
+everybody, while that which does interest us comes easy. In your case
+the first requirement seems to be that your interest in the pieces you
+are to play be awakened. This interest usually comes with a deeper
+understanding of music; hence, it may be said that nothing will assist a
+naturally reluctant memory so much as a general musical education.
+Special studies for the memory have not come to my knowledge because I
+never had any need of them. After all, the best way to memorize
+is&mdash;to memorize. One phrase today, another to-morrow, and so on,
+until the memory grows by its own force through being exercised.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily</i></div>
+
+<p>I memorize very easily, so that I can often play my pieces from memory
+before I have fully mastered their technical difficulties, as my
+teacher<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">Pg 116</a></span> says.
+But I forget them just as quickly, so that in a
+few weeks I cannot remember enough of them to play them clear through.
+What would you advise, to make my memory more retentive?</p>
+
+<p>There are two fundamental types of memory: One is very mobile&mdash;it
+acquires quickly and loses just as quickly; the other is more cumbrous
+in its action&mdash;it acquires slowly, but retains forever. A
+combination of the two is very rare, indeed; I never heard of such a
+case. A remedy against forgetting you will find in refreshing your
+memory in regular periods, playing your memorized pieces over
+(carefully) every four or five days. Other remedies I know not and I see
+no necessity for them.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Keep Errors from Creeping in</i></div>
+
+<p>I can always memorize a piece before I can play it fast. Do you advise
+practising with notes when I already know it by heart?</p>
+
+<p>The occasional playing of a memorized piece from the notes will keep
+errors from creeping in, provided you read the music correctly and
+carefully.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">Pg 117</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Sight-Reading" id="Sight-Reading">SIGHT READING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any practical method that will assist one to greater rapidity
+in sight-reading?</p>
+
+<p>The best way to become a quick reader is to read as much as possible.
+The rapidity of your progress depends upon the state of your general
+musical education, for the more complete this is the better you will be
+able to surmise the logical sequel of a phrase once started. A large
+part of sight-reading consists of surmising, as you will find upon
+analyzing your book-reading.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading</i></div>
+
+<p>What is a good plan to pursue to improve the facility in sight-reading?</p>
+
+<p>Much reading and playing at sight and as fast as possible, even though
+at first some slight inaccuracies may creep in. By quick reading you
+develop that faculty of the eye which is meant by "grasp," and this, in
+turn, facilitates your reading of details.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Accompanying" id="Accompanying">ACCOMPANYING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Learning To Accompany at Sight</i></div>
+
+<p>How can one learn to accompany at sight?</p>
+
+<p>Develop your sight-reading by playing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">Pg 118</a></span>
+many accompaniments, and endeavour&mdash;while playing your part&mdash;also to read and inwardly
+hear the solo part.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Art of Accompanying a Soloist</i></div>
+
+<p>How should one manage the accompaniment for a soloist inclined to play
+rubato?</p>
+
+<p>Since you cannot make a contract of artistically binding force with a
+soloist you must take refuge in "following." But do not take this word
+in its literal meaning; rather endeavour to divine the intentions of
+your soloist from moment to moment, for this divining is the soul of
+accompanying. To be, in this sense, a good accompanist, one must have
+what is called in musical slang a good "nose"&mdash;that is, one must
+musically "scent" whither the soloist is going. But, then, the nose is
+one of the things we are born with. We may develop it, as to its
+sensitiveness, but we cannot acquire a nose by learning. Experience will
+do much in these premises, but not everything.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Learning the Art of Accompanying</i></div>
+
+<p>Wishing to become an accompanist I anticipate completing my studies in
+Berlin. What salary might I expect and what would be the best "course"
+to pursue?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">Pg 119</a></span></p>
+
+<p>An experienced and very clever accompanist may possibly earn as much as
+fifty dollars a week if associated with a vocal, violin, or 'cello
+artist of great renown. Usually, however, accompanists are expected to
+be able to play solos. There are no special schools for accompanists,
+though there may be possibly some special courses in which experience
+may be fostered. If you come to Berlin you will find it easy to find
+what you seem to be seeking.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Transposing" id="Transposing">TRANSPOSING</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Problem of Transposing at Sight</i></div>
+
+<p>What, please, is the quickest and safest way of transposing from one key
+to another? I have trouble, for instance, in playing for singing if the
+piece is in A major and the singer wants it in F major.</p>
+
+<p>The question of transposing hinges on the process of hearing through the
+eye. I mean by this that you must study the piece until you learn to
+conceive the printed music as sounds and sound groups, not as key
+pictures. Then transfer the sound picture to another tonality in your
+mind, very much as if when moving from one floor to another with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">Pg 120</a></span>
+all your household goods you were
+to place them on the new floor as they were placed on the old. Practice
+will, of course, facilitate this process very much. Transposition at
+sight is based on somewhat different principles. Here you have to get
+mentally settled in the new tonality, and then follow the course of
+intervals. If you find transposition difficult you may derive
+consolation from the thought that it is difficult for everybody, and
+that transposing at sight is, of course, still more difficult than to
+transpose after studying the piece beforehand.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Playing_for_People" id="Playing_for_People">PLAYING FOR PEOPLE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When to "Play For People"</i></div>
+
+<p>During the period of serious study may I play for people (friends or
+strangers) or should I keep entirely away from the outside world?</p>
+
+<p>From time to time you may play for people the pieces you have mastered,
+but take good care to go over them afterward&mdash;the difficult places
+slowly&mdash;in order to eliminate any slight errors or unevenness that
+may have crept in. To play for people is not only a good incentive for
+further aspirations; it also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">Pg 121</a></span>
+furnishes you with a fairly exact
+estimate of your abilities and shortcomings, and indicates thereby the
+road to improvement. To retire from the outside world during the period
+of study is an outlived, obsolete idea which probably originated in the
+endeavour to curb the vanity of such students as would neglect their
+studies in hunting, prematurely, for applause. I recommend playing for
+people moderately and on the condition that for every such "performance"
+of a piece you play it afterward twice, slowly and carefully, at home.
+This will keep the piece intact and bring you many other unexpected
+advantages.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote">"<i>Afraid to Play Before People</i>"</div>
+
+<p>I can never do myself justice when playing for people, because of my
+nervousness. How can I overcome it?</p>
+
+<p>If you are absolutely certain that your trouble is due to "nervousness"
+you should improve the condition of your nerves by proper exercise in
+the open air and by consulting your physician. But are you quite sure
+that your "nervousness" is not merely another name for
+self-consciousness, or, worse yet, for a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">Pg 122</a></span> "bad conscience" on
+the score of technical security? In the latter case you ought to perfect
+your technique, while in the former you must learn to discard all
+thought of your dear self, as well as of your hearers in relation to
+you, and concentrate your thinking upon the work you are to do. This you
+can well achieve by will-power and persistent self-training.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often</i></div>
+
+<p>I have heard artists play the same piece year after year, and each time
+as expressively as before. After a piece has been played several hundred
+times it can hardly produce on the player the same emotional effect that
+it originally did. Is it possible for a player by his art and technical
+resources so to colour his tones that he can stimulate and produce in
+his audience an emotional condition which he himself does not at the
+time feel?</p>
+
+<p>In music emotion can be conveyed only through the means and modes of
+expression that are peculiar to music, such as dynamic changes,
+vacillations of tempo, differences of touch and kindred devices. When a
+piece is played in public very often on consecutive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">Pg 123</a></span>
+occasions&mdash;which artists avoid as
+much as they can&mdash;these expressions gradually assume a distinct
+form which is quite capable of preservation. Though it will in time lose
+its life-breath, it can still produce a deception just as (to draw a
+drastic parallel) a dead person may look as if he were only asleep. In
+this parallel the artist has, however, one great advantage. Since he
+cannot play a piece very often without having a number of errors,
+rearrangements, slight changes creeping into it, he must, in order to
+eliminate them and to cleanse the piece, return from time to time to
+slow practice in which he also refrains almost entirely from expression.
+When in the next public performance the right tempo and expression are
+added again they tend strongly to renew the freshness of the piece in
+the player's mind.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself</i></div>
+
+<p>I love music dearly and my teacher is always satisfied with my lessons,
+but when I play for my friends I never make a success. They compliment
+me, but I feel that they do not care for my playing; even my mother says
+that my playing is "mechanical." How can I change it?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">Pg 124</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is just possible that your friends and your mother may not be
+amenable to the high class of music which you play, but if this is not
+the case your affliction cannot be cured offhand. If the lack of
+expression in your playing should emanate from a lack of feeling in
+yourself, then your case would be incurable. If, however, you play
+"mechanically" because you do not know how to express your emotions in
+your playing&mdash;and I suspect it to be so&mdash;then you are curable,
+although there are no remedies that would act directly. I suggest that
+you form close associations with good musicians and with lovers of good
+music. By looking well and listening you can learn their modes of
+expression and employ them first by imitation until the habit of "saying
+something" when you play has grown upon you. I think, though, that you
+need an inward change before there can be any outward change.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Art of Playing With Feeling</i></div>
+
+<p>In the musical manifestations of feeling how does the artist chiefly
+differ from the amateur?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">Pg 125</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The artist expresses his feelings with due deference to the canons of
+art. Above all, he plays correctly without allowing this ever-present
+correctness to make his playing seem lacking in feeling. Without unduly
+repressing or suppressing his individuality he respects the composer's
+intentions by punctiliously obeying every hint or suggestion he finds in
+the annotations, concerning speed, force, touch, changes, contrasts,
+etc. He delivers the composer's message truthfully. His personality or
+individuality reveals itself solely in the way he understands the
+composition and in the manner in which he executes the composer's
+prescriptions.</p>
+
+<p>Not so the amateur. Long before he is able to play the piece correctly
+he begins to twist and turn things in it to suit himself, under the
+belief, I suppose, that he is endowed with an "individuality" so strong
+as to justify an indulgence in all manner of "liberties," that is,
+licence. Feeling is a great thing; so is the will to express it; but
+both are worthless without ability. Hence, before playing with feeling,
+it were well to make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">Pg 126</a></span>
+sure that everything in the piece is in
+the right place, in the right time, strength, touch, and so forth.
+Correct reading&mdash;and not only of the notes <i>per se</i>&mdash;is a
+matter that every good teacher insists upon with his pupils, even in the
+earliest grades of advancement. The amateur should make sure of that
+before he allows his "feelings" to run riot. But he very seldom does.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Affected Movements at the Piano</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any justification for the swaying of the body, the nodding of
+the head, the exaggerated motion of the arms, and all grotesque actions
+in general while playing the piano, so frequently exhibited not only by
+amateurs but by concert players, too?</p>
+
+<p>All such actions as you describe reveal a lack of the player's proper
+self-control when they are unconsciously indulged in. When they are
+consciously committed, which is not infrequently the case, they betray
+the pianist's effort to deflect the auditors' attention from the
+composition to himself, feeling probably unable to satisfy his auditors
+with the result of his playing and, therefore,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">Pg 127</a></span>resorting to
+illustration by more or less exaggerated gesture. General
+well-manneredness, or its absence, has a good deal to do with the
+matter.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="About_the_Piano" id="About_the_Piano">ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you believe that the piano is the most difficult of all instruments
+to master&mdash;more so than the organ or the violin? If so, why?</p>
+
+<p>The piano is more difficult to master than the organ, because the
+tone-production on the piano is not so purely mechanical as it is on the
+organ. The pianist's touch is the immediate producer of whatever variety
+or colour of tone the moment requires, whereas the organist is powerless
+to produce any change of tone colour except by pulling a different stop.
+His fingers do not and cannot produce the change. As to string
+instruments, their difficulties lie in an entirely different field, and
+this fact precludes comparison with the piano. Technically, the string
+instrument may be more difficult, but, to become an exponent of musical
+art on the piano requires deeper study, because the pianist must
+present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">Pg 128</a></span>
+to his hearers the totality of a composition while the
+string instruments depend for the most part upon the accompaniments of
+some other instruments.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Piano Study for Conductor and Composer</i></div>
+
+<p>Being a cornet player, and wishing to become a conductor and composer, I
+should like to know if the study of the piano is necessary in addition
+to my broad, theoretical studies and a common college course.</p>
+
+<p>It depends upon what you wish to conduct and what to compose. With no
+other means of musically expressing yourself than a cornet it is highly
+improbable that you will be able to write or conduct a symphony. But you
+may be able to lead a brass band and, perhaps, to write a march or dance
+piece. If your musical aims are serious by all means take to the piano.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Why the Piano Is So Popular</i></div>
+
+<p>Why do more people play the piano than any other instrument?</p>
+
+<p>Because the rudimentary stages of music study are easier on the piano
+than on any other instrument. The higher stages, however, are so much
+more difficult, and it is then that the piano
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">Pg 129</a></span> gets even with
+the bold aggressor. A violinist or 'cellist who can play a melody simply
+and with good tone is considered a fairly good amateur, for he must have
+mastered the difficulty of tone-production; he must have trained his
+right arm. A pianist who can play a melody equally well is the merest
+tyro. When he approaches polyphony, when the discrimination begins
+between the various parts speaking simultaneously, aye, then the real
+work begins&mdash;not to speak of velocity. It is, perhaps, for this
+reason that in reality there are a great many more violinists than
+pianists, if by either we mean persons who really master their
+instrument. The number of 'cellists is smaller, but the reason for this
+is to be found in the small range of 'cello literature and also,
+perhaps, in the comparative unwieldiness of the instrument, which does
+not admit of technical development as, for instance, the more handy
+violin. If all beginners at the piano realized what exasperating,
+harassing, discouraging, nerve-consuming difficulties await them later
+and beset the path to that mastery which so few
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">Pg 130</a></span> achieve, there
+would be far fewer piano students and more people would study the violin
+or the 'cello. Of the harp and the wind instruments I need not speak,
+because they are to be considered only in matters orchestral and
+not&mdash;seriously&mdash;as solo instruments.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Genuine Piano Hand</i></div>
+
+<p>What shape of hand do you consider the best for piano playing? Mine is
+very broad, with rather long fingers.</p>
+
+<p>The best piano hand is not the popular, pretty, narrow hand with long
+fingers. Nearly all the great technicians had or have proportioned
+hands. The genuine piano hand must be broad, in order to give each
+finger a strong base for the action of its phalanges and to give this
+base space enough for the development of the various sets of muscles.
+The length of the fingers must be in proportion to the width of the
+hand, but it is the width which I consider most important.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Composition Must Fit the Player</i></div>
+
+<p>Would you advise players with small hands to attempt the heavier class
+of the compositions by Liszt?</p>
+
+<p>Never! Whether the hands are too
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">Pg 131</a></span> small or the stretch between
+the fingers too narrow&mdash;if you attempt a piece which for these or
+other physical reasons you cannot fully master, you always run the
+serious risk of overstraining. This, however, should be most carefully
+avoided. If you cannot play a certain piece without undue physical
+strain, leave it alone and remember that singers choose their songs not
+because they lie within their compass, but because they suit their
+voice. Do likewise. Be guided by the nature and the type of your hand
+rather than by its rapidity of execution.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist</i></div>
+
+<p>What physical exercises are most advantageous to be taken in connection
+with piano practice? I have been swinging clubs to strengthen wrists and
+arms, but have imagined it stiffened my fingers.</p>
+
+<p>I am inclined to think that what you imagined was not far from the
+truth. Can you not replace the real clubs by imaginary ones? Since
+club-swinging tends to develop the agility of the arms and wrists rather
+than their strength you can easily make the same motions without the
+clubs; for all exertion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">Pg 132</a></span>
+force that keeps the hands in a
+closed condition is bound to have a bad effect on piano playing.
+Undoubtedly the best exercise of all, however, is brisk walking in the
+open air, for it engages every part and every organ of the body, and by
+compelling deep breathing it fosters the general health through
+increased oxygenation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers</i></div>
+
+<p>My teacher objects to my riding horseback; not altogether, but he says I
+overdo it and it stiffens my fingers. Is he right?</p>
+
+<p>Yes, he is. Every abuse carries its own punishment in its train. The
+closed position of the hand, the pressure of the reins upon the fingers,
+as constant as it is the case in horseback riding, is surely not
+advantageous for the elasticity of the fingers. You should, therefore,
+allow the effect of one ride upon your fingers to disappear completely
+before you indulge in another.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>When to Keep Away from the Piano</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you think I should play and study the piano just because it is asked
+of me, and when I take no interest in it?</p>
+
+<p>Most emphatically, no! It would be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">Pg 133</a></span> a crime against yourself and
+against music. What little interest in music you may have left would be
+killed by a study that is distasteful to you, and this would be,
+therefore, bound to lead to failure. Leave this study to people who are
+sincerely interested in it. Thank heaven, there are still some of those,
+and there always will be some! Be sure, however, that you are really not
+interested, and discriminate well between a lack of interest and a mere
+opposition to a perhaps too strenuous urging on the part of your
+relatives. My advice would be to quit the study for a time entirely; if,
+after a while, you feel a craving for music you will find the way to
+your instrument. This advice, of course, holds good also for violin
+students or any type of music student.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Bad_Music" id="Bad_Music">BAD MUSIC</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Company That One Keeps in Music</i></div>
+
+<p>Must I persist in playing classical pieces when I prefer to play dance
+music?</p>
+
+<p>If, in your daily life, you wish to be regarded as a lady or a gentleman
+you are obliged to be careful as to the company you keep. It is the same
+in musical life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">Pg 134</a></span>
+If you associate with the noble thoughts that
+constitute good&mdash;or, as you call it, classical&mdash;music, you
+will be counted with a higher class in the world of music. Remember that
+you cannot go through a flour-mill without getting dusty. Of course, not
+all pieces of dance music are bad; but the general run of them are such
+poor, if not vulgar, stuff as hardly to deserve the name of
+"compositions." Usually they are mere "expositions" of bad taste. Of
+these I warn you for your own sake, and if you wish to avoid the danger
+of confounding the good and the bad in that line it is best to abstain
+from it entirely. If dance music it must be, why, have you never heard
+of the waltzes and mazurkas by Chopin?</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Why Rag-Time Is Injurious</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you believe the playing of the modern rag-time piece to be actually
+hurtful to the student?</p>
+
+<p>I do, indeed, unless it is done merely for a frolic; though even such a
+mood might vent itself in better taste. The touch with vulgarity can
+never be but hurtful, whatever form vulgarity may assume&mdash;whether
+it be literature, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">Pg 135</a></span>
+person, or a piece of music. Why share the
+musical food of those who are, by breeding or circumstance, debarred
+from anything better? The vulgar impulse which generated rag-time cannot
+arouse a noble impulse in response any more than "dime novels" can
+awaken the instincts of gentlemanliness or ladyship. If we watch the
+street-sweeper we are liable to get dusty. But remember that the dust on
+the mind and soul is not so easily removed as the dust on our clothes.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Ethical" id="Ethical">ETHICAL</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What the Object of Study Should Be</i></div>
+
+<p>How can we know that our talent is great enough to warrant us in
+bestowing year after year of work upon its development?</p>
+
+<p>Pleasure and interest should be such that it is in the actual working
+that one is repaid. Do not think so much of the end of your work. Do not
+force your work with the one view of becoming a great artist. Let
+Providence and the future decide your standing in music. Go on studying
+with earnestness and interest, and find your pleasure in the endeavour,
+not in the accomplishment.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">Pg 136</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Pitch" id="Pitch">PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The International Pitch</i></div>
+
+<p>What is meant by "pitch" as regards piano tuning? People say that a
+certain piano is pitched lower than another. Would E on one piano
+actually sound like F on another?</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it would if the pianos were not pitched alike. It is only recently
+that an international pitch has been established which was adopted
+everywhere except in England. In the international pitch the A in the
+second space of the treble staff makes 435 vibrations a second.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The "International" Piano Pitch</i></div>
+
+<p>Which piano pitch is preferable, "concert" or "international"?</p>
+
+<p>By all means the "international," because it will fit your piano to be
+used in conjunction with any other instrument, no matter whence it may
+come. Besides, the international pitch was decided upon as far back as
+1859, in Paris, by a government commission, numbering among its members
+such men as Auber, Hal&#xe9;vy, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Ambroise Thomas,
+and many physicists and army generals. You can easily infer from this
+that, in determining that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">Pg 137</a></span>
+A in the second space of the
+treble staff should have 435 vibrations a second, all phases of
+music&mdash;vocal, instrumental, string, brass, wood, wind&mdash;have
+been duly considered.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Well-Tempered Piano Scale</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there really a difference of three-eighths of a tone between A-sharp
+and B-flat on the piano?</p>
+
+<p>There is no difference on the piano. But acoustically there is a
+difference, over which, however, I would waste no time, since the
+evenly-tempered scale has been generally adopted, and every composition
+from Bach's time to the present day has been thought and written in it.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The "Colour" of Various Keys</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it not a mistaken idea that any one particular key is more or less
+rich or melodious than another?</p>
+
+<p>The effect of a tonality upon our hearing lies not in its signature (as
+even Beethoven seemed to believe) but in the vibration proportions. It
+is, therefore, irrelevant whether we play a piece upon a high-pitched
+piano in C, or upon a low-pitched piano in D flat. There are certain
+keys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">Pg 138</a></span>
+preferable to others for certain colours, but I fear that
+the preference is based not upon acoustic qualities but rather upon a
+fitness for the hand or voice. We apply the word "colour" as much to
+tone as the painters apply "tone" to colour, but I hardly think that
+anybody would speak of C major as representing black, or F major green.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="The_Students_Age" id="The_Students_Age">THE STUDENT'S AGE</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Starting a Child's Musical Training</i></div>
+
+<p>At what age should a child begin the study of instrumental music? If my
+daughter (six years old) is to study the violin should she first spend a
+few years with the piano, or <i>vice versa</i>?</p>
+
+<p>The usual age for a child to begin the study of music is between six and
+seven years. A pianist hardly needs to learn another instrument to
+become a well-rounded musician, but violinists, as well as the players
+of all other instruments, and also vocalists, will be much hampered in
+their general musical development if they fail to acquire what may be
+called a speaking acquaintance with the piano.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">Pg 139</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Age of the Student is Immaterial</i></div>
+
+<p>I am not longer in my first youth, cannot take more than one hour's
+lesson a week, and cannot practise more than three hours a day. Would
+you still advise me to begin the study of the piano?</p>
+
+<p>Provided there is gift and intelligence, the will, and the opportunity
+to study, age need not stand in your way. If your three hours of study
+are properly used, and your hour's lesson a week is with a good teacher,
+you should not become discouraged.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin</i></div>
+
+<p>Do you think that mastery of the piano is unlikely or impossible when
+the beginner is twenty-five years of age?</p>
+
+<p>It is neither unlikely nor impossible. Your age will to some degree
+handicap you, because from purely physical causes the elasticity of the
+fingers and wrists could be developed much more quickly if you were ten
+years younger. If, however, you are endowed with strong musical gifts in
+the abstract you will achieve results superior to those attained by
+younger people with less talent. In overcoming the difficulties due to a
+late<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">Pg 140</a></span>
+beginning you will find great inward satisfaction, and
+your attainments are bound to be a source of joy to you.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Teachers" id="Teachers">TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Importance of the Right Teacher</i></div>
+
+<p>I have a son who is very desirous of learning to play the piano. I have
+been advised that an ordinarily good teacher is good enough to begin
+with. Others tell me a beginner should get the best teacher possible.
+Which would you advise? I live in a small town.</p>
+
+<p>The seriousness of your question is aggravated by the statement that you
+live in a small town, and that there is possibly no teacher of ability
+to be found in your town. And yet it is only such a one that I can
+recommend for your son. For nothing is more dangerous for the
+development of a talent than a bad foundation. Many people have tried
+all their lives to rid themselves of the bad habits acquired from an
+ignorant teacher in the rudimentary stages of their studies, and have
+failed. I should advise you to try your best to send your boy to some
+near-by city where there is an excellent teacher.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">Pg 141</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Nothing But the Best Will Do</i></div>
+
+<p>Wishing to begin the study of the piano now, in my twenty-fourth year,
+just for the sake of my great love for music, and knowing not even the
+notes, is it necessary to go to an expensive teacher at once or would a
+cheaper teacher do for the beginning?</p>
+
+<p>If music is to be merely a pastime, and you content yourself with a
+minimum of knowledge, the cheaper teacher will do; but if you aspire to
+become musical in a better sense, why, by all means, apply to a teacher
+of the better class. The maxim: "For the beginning this or that is good
+enough," is one of the most harmful fallacies. What would you think of
+an architect who says: "For the foundation loam is good enough; we put a
+sandstone house over it, any way." Remember also, that the road a
+cheaper teacher has led you to take must usually be retraced when your
+aspirations rise toward the better in music.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Music Schools and Private Teachers</i></div>
+
+<p>Shall I take my lessons in a music school or from a private teacher?</p>
+
+<p>Music schools are very good for acquiring a general musical
+education.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">Pg 142</a></span>
+For the higher study of an executive specialty
+(piano, violin, the voice, etc.) I should naturally prefer private
+instruction from a specialist, because he can give more attention to
+each individual pupil than is possible under the wholesale system
+followed, not by all, but by the majority of music schools. What I
+should advise would be a combination: General matters&mdash;harmony,
+counterpoint, forms, history, and &#xe6;sthetics&mdash;in a music school; and
+private lessons for your specialty from a teacher who has an established
+name as an executive artist. The best music schools have such a man at
+their head, and in these you find the best combination.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Individual Teacher, or Conservatory?</i></div>
+
+<p>After taking lessons for five years and a half from a good teacher,
+would you advise a continuance with the individual teacher or attendance
+at a college of music or conservatory?</p>
+
+<p>For a general musical education I always recommend a good music school
+or conservatory. For the study of the piano I think it best to take
+private lessons from an artist who is experienced
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">Pg 143</a></span> both as an
+executant and as a teacher. Some music schools have such men on their
+staff, if not, indeed, at their head.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable</i></div>
+
+<p>Having had twenty months' lessons and having now mastered Etudes by
+Berens, opus 61, by Heller, opus 47, and Smith's Octave Studies, do you
+think I am justified in continuing my lessons?</p>
+
+<p>Assuming that you have really "mastered" the works you mention I can
+only encourage you to continue your lessons; I would, however, advise
+you to obtain an experienced pianist's criticism in order to assure
+yourself that your idea of "mastering" is right.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Sex of the Piano Teacher</i></div>
+
+<p>Is there any preference as to sex in the question of choosing a piano
+teacher; in other words, is a woman teacher preferable for any reason
+for a girl and a man teacher for a man?</p>
+
+<p>Your question does not admit of generalization from a purely musical
+point of view. It must be&mdash;on this premise&mdash;decided by the
+quality, not by the sex, of the teacher. A good feminine teacher is
+better than a bad masculine one, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">Pg 144</a></span> <i>vice versa</i>. The question
+of sex does not enter into the matter. Of course, the greater number of
+eminent teachers are found on the masculine side.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Too Much "Method"</i></div>
+
+<p>My recently engaged teacher says that the word "method" jars on her
+nerves. Kindly advise me whether a method is not the best thing for a
+novice, and, if so, which one?</p>
+
+<p>Your teacher, while possibly a little over-sensitive, is not wrong.
+America is the most method-ridden country in the world. Most of the
+methods in vogue contain some good points&mdash;about a grain of truth
+to a ton of mere ballast. Your teacher's utterance makes me think that
+you were lucky in finding her, and that you have excellent reason to
+trust in her guidance.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>What the Leschetizky Method Is</i></div>
+
+<p>How does the Leschetizky method rank with other methods, and in what
+respect does it differ from them?</p>
+
+<p>There are but two methods in all the arts: a good one and a bad one.
+Since you do not specify with what "other" methods you wish to compare
+that of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">Pg 145</a></span>
+Leschetizky I cannot answer you with definiteness.
+There are, alas, so many "methods"! But the majority of them are based
+upon a deliberate disregard for that reverence which is due to great
+compositions and to the example of their rendition given by great
+interpreters. I have not studied with Leschetizky, but I think that he
+believes in a very low position of the hand and a sort of
+super-energetic tension of the tendons of the arms and hands.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial</i></div>
+
+<p>Has a young pupil, after studying the piano irregularly for two months,
+tested fairly a teacher's ability?</p>
+
+<p>Of course not! Altogether I do not like the idea of a pupil's testing
+his teacher's ability, rather the reverse. He may possibly find his
+teacher unsympathetic, but even this matter he is apt to judge
+prematurely. In most cases of irregularly attended or poorly prepared
+lessons the lack of sympathy means nothing more than that the pupil is a
+trifler and the teacher's honesty of purpose is not to his taste.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">Pg 146</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One</i></div>
+
+<p>I have a "Piano Method," left over from lessons with my first teacher;
+it was very expensive, and I learned only a few pages of it. We moved to
+a different city and my new teacher objects to using the book, or, as
+she says, any such book. I do not know what to do about it, and would
+thank you for your advice.</p>
+
+<p>When you apply to a teacher for instruction you must, first of all,
+decide in your own mind whether you have or have not absolute confidence
+in his ability. If you trust him you must do as you are advised to do;
+if not, you must apply to another teacher. A book, costing much or
+little, plays no part in the matter. By what you say of the new teacher,
+however, I am disposed to think that he is better than the first one.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Proper Course For a Little Girl</i></div>
+
+<p>Commencing piano lessons with my seven-year-old daughter, should I
+devote my efforts to the development of the fingers and hands, or retard
+such development so as to keep pace with the expansion of the mind?</p>
+
+<p>Your question is interesting. But if
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">Pg 147</a></span> your mind is clear on that
+point&mdash;and it seems to be&mdash;that a one-sided development (in
+this case technical) is dangerous to the "musical" talent of your little
+daughter, why, then, your little girl is, indeed, "out of danger." Your
+very question is a credit to your insight.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Frequent Lessons and Shorter</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it better for a young student to take one hour lesson or two
+half-hour lessons a week?</p>
+
+<p>Since young students are liable to form bad habits it is essential that
+they should come under the teacher's eye as frequently as possible.
+Hence, it is preferable to divide the hour into two equidistant parts.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Number of Lessons Depends on Progress</i></div>
+
+<p>Which plan is better for a child of eleven or twelve years: to take a
+one-hour lesson or two half-hour lessons a week?</p>
+
+<p>The child's age is not the determining factor in this matter; it is his
+musical status.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>One Lesson a Week</i></div>
+
+<p>Is one lesson a week inadequate for a piano student?</p>
+
+<p>It will be sufficient in the more advanced stages of piano study. In
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">Pg 148</a></span>
+earlier stages, however, where the danger of forming bad
+habits is greatest, it is best to bring the pupil under his teacher's
+eye twice a week at the very least.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"</i></div>
+
+<p>What little classics are best for a child after six months' lessons?</p>
+
+<p>There are collections without number of facilitated or simplified
+arrangements of classic pieces, but I do not altogether approve of them.
+Let the classics wait until the child is technically&mdash;and, above
+all, mentally&mdash;ripe to approach such works as they are written.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Can Music Be Studied in America?</i></div>
+
+<p>Is it necessary for me to go to Europe to continue my music studies?</p>
+
+<p>If you have very much money to spare, why not? You will see much, also
+hear much&mdash;and some of it not quite so sublime as you
+anticipated&mdash;and, last but not least, you will have "studied
+abroad." While this slogan still exercises a certain charm upon some
+people in America, their number is growing less year by year, because
+the public has begun to understand that the United States affords just
+as good instruction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">Pg 149</a></span>
+music as Europe does. It has also been
+found out that to "study abroad" is by no means a guarantee of a
+triumphant return. Many a young student who went abroad as a lamb
+returned as a mutton-head. And why should there not be excellent
+teachers in America by this time? Even if you should insist upon a
+European teacher you can find many of the best in America. Is it not
+simpler that one teacher from Europe go to America to teach a hundred
+students than that a hundred students should make the trip for the sake
+of one teacher? I should advise you to stay where you are or go to
+Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, where you can find excellent
+teachers, native, resident Americans and foreigners. To quote a case in
+point, let me say that in Berlin I found Godowsky's pupils to be almost
+exclusively Americans. They came from various sections of America to
+study with him and with no one else. But during the eighteen years he
+spent in Chicago they did not seem to want him. Perhaps he was too near
+by! Why this self-deception? Without mentioning any names I assure you
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">Pg 150</a></span>
+there are many teachers in America now who, if they should
+go to Europe, would draw a host of students after them, and some of
+these excellent men I know personally. It is high time to put an end to
+the superstitious belief in "studying abroad."</p>
+</div>
+
+<h5><a name="Miscellaneous" id="Miscellaneous">MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS</a></h5>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Organizing a Musical Club</i></div>
+
+<p>Please give me the name of a good book on musical history and advise me
+how to organize and conduct a musical club among my pupils. Also give me
+a name, please.</p>
+
+<p>You will find the "History of Music," by Baltzell, a serviceable book.
+As a name for your club I suggest that of the patron saint of
+music&mdash;Saint Cecilia&mdash;perhaps, or that of a great composer.
+Ask the secretaries of a number of musical clubs for their constitutions
+and by-laws and then adapt these to your locality and circumstances.
+Make your pupils feel that it is their club and act, yourself, as
+secretary, if possible.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How to Get Music Published</i></div>
+
+<p>Please explain how to go about publishing a piece of music, and also
+give the name of some good publishing houses.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">Pg 151</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is very easy to publish a piece of music if the publisher sees any
+merit in it. Send your piece to any publishing house whose name you find
+on the title pages of your sheet music. The readers or advisers of the
+house will report to their chief as to the merit of your piece, and he
+will then decide and negotiate with you, if his decision is favourable.
+If he should not care for it he will return your manuscript and you may
+try some other house. I advise you, however, to obtain the opinion of a
+good musician before you send your piece to a publisher.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>"Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"</i></div>
+
+<p>What is the difference between playing "in time" and playing "in
+rhythm"?</p>
+
+<p>Playing in rhythm refers to the inner life of a composition&mdash;to its
+musical pulsation. Playing in time means the prompt arrival upon those
+points of repose which are conditioned by the rhythm.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music</i></div>
+
+<p>I find great difficulty in playing anything that goes quick, though in a
+more moderate tempo I can play my pieces faultlessly. Every teacher I
+had promised to develop my speed, but they all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">Pg 152</a></span> failed. Can you
+give me a hint how to overcome my difficulty?</p>
+
+<p>Quickness of action, of motion, even of resolution, cannot be acquired
+by training alone; it must partly be inborn. I assume that your
+piano-playing is one phase of a general slowness. There is but one
+remedy for that. You have relied upon your teachers to develop your
+speed&mdash;you should have relied upon your own will-power. Try to will
+it and to will it often; you will see the ability keep step with the
+exertions of your will.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>"Wonder-Children" as Pianists</i></div>
+
+<p>My child of five years of age shows signs of great talent for music. He
+has a keen, true ear, and plays rather well for his age. Does this
+justify me in hoping that something out of the ordinary will become of
+him? They say that so-called "wonder-children" never amount to anything
+in later life.</p>
+
+<p>That "wonder-children" never amount to anything in later life is not
+borne out by history. If some are disappointments it is either because
+they astonished by mere executive precocity, instead of<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_153" id="Page_153">Pg 153</a></span> charming by their talent, or
+because they were ruined by unscrupulous parents or managers who
+confounded the promise of a future with its realization. But, aside from
+these few, all great musicians were "wonder-children," whether they
+became composers, pianists, violinists, 'cellists, or what not. The
+biographies of our great masters of the past centuries as well as those
+of more recent times (Mendelssohn, Wagner, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt,
+Rubinstein, and all the others), will bear me out in this statement. If
+your child shows more than mere precocity&mdash;if, for instance, he
+does not merely play in his fifth year what others play in their tenth,
+but shows qualities of musical superiority&mdash;then you may with a
+fair degree of certainty feel hopeful of a fine musical future for him.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Value of Going to Concerts</i></div>
+
+<p>Shall I attend orchestra concerts or shall I give preference to
+soloists?</p>
+
+<p>By all means attend orchestra and chamber-music concerts! For these will
+acquaint you with those works which are, after all, of the greatest
+importance to the student. Besides, you will usually
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">Pg 154</a></span> hear more
+correct interpretations than from soloists. The latter, with some
+luminous exceptions, overestimate their own authority and take such
+unseemly liberties that in many cases you hear more Smith, Jones, or
+Levy than Beethoven, Schumann, or Chopin. Individuality in a soloist is
+certainly a great quality, but only if it is tempered by a proper
+deference to the composer of the work in hand. If you cannot hear a
+soloist who is capable of sinking his individuality in the thought,
+mood, and style of the composer he is interpreting&mdash;and this is
+given to only the very greatest&mdash;you do far better to prefer to the
+"individual" renditions of a soloist the "collective" renditions of the
+orchestra or string quartette. The synthetic nature of the orchestra
+forestalls the extravagances of so-called individuality and insures,
+generally speaking, a truthful interpretation. The very worst conductor
+imaginable cannot do as much harm to a composition as can a mediocre
+soloist, for an orchestra is a large body and, therefore, not so easily
+moved and shifted from the path of musical rectitude
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">Pg 155</a></span> as is a
+single voice or an instrument. A really great soloist is, of course, the
+finest flower of the garden of applied music, for his touch with the
+instrument is immediate and he needs no middleman to express the finest
+shades of his conceptions; while the conductor&mdash;and even the
+best&mdash;has to impart his conception (through the baton, facial
+expression, and gesture) to other people before it can become audible,
+and on this circuitous route much of the original fervour and ardour may
+be lost. But there are more good orchestras than great soloists, and
+hence you are safe in attending orchestra and chamber-music concerts.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Books That Aid the Student Working Alone</i></div>
+
+<p>Compelled to study without a teacher for two years before I can go to a
+conservatory, what method should I study for my technique and what
+pieces?</p>
+
+<p>You fail to say whether you are a beginner or already somewhat advanced.
+Still, I think it safe to recommend Mason's "Touch and Technique,"
+Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66; and select your pieces from the graded
+catalogues which any publisher will be glad to send you.<span class="pagenum"><a
+name="Page_156" id="Page_156">Pg 156</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Music as a Profession or as an Avocation</i></div>
+
+<p>Would you advise a young man with a good foundation to choose
+music&mdash;that is, concertizing&mdash;as a career, or should he keep
+his music as an accomplishment and avocation?</p>
+
+<p>Your distinguishing between music and concertizing gives direction to my
+reply; that the question was not answered by your own heart before you
+asked it prompts me to advise music for you as an avocation. The
+artist's career nowadays is not so simple as it appears to be. Of a
+thousand capable musicians there is, perhaps, one who attains to a
+general reputation and fortune. The rest of them, after spending money,
+time, and toil, give up in despair, and with an embittered disposition
+take up some other occupation. If you do not depend upon public
+music-making for a living; if your natural endowments are not of a very
+unusually high order, and if your entire personality does not imply the
+exercise of authority over assemblages of people&mdash;spiritual
+authority, I mean&mdash;it were better to enjoy your music in the circle
+of your friends. It is less risky and will, in all probability, give you
+much greater satisfaction.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">Pg 157</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>How Much You Can Get From Music</i></div>
+
+<p>When I hear a concert pianist I want to get more from his playing than
+&#xe6;sthetic ear enjoyment. Can you give me a little outline of points for
+which to look that may help me in my piano study?</p>
+
+<p>There is no pleasure or enjoyment from which we can derive more than we
+bring with us in the way of receptiveness. As you deepen your study of
+music and gain insight into its forms, contrapuntal work and harmonic
+beauties you will derive more and more pleasure from listening to a good
+pianist the deeper your studies go. What their playing reflects of
+emotional life you will perceive in the exact measure of your own grasp
+upon life. Art is a medium connecting, like a telegraph, two stations:
+the sender of a message and the receiver. Both must be pitched equally
+high to make the communication perfect.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote">"<i>It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than Sharps!</i>"</div>
+
+<p>You would confer a favour upon a teacher by solving a problem for her
+that has puzzled her all her life; why do all pupils prefer flats to
+sharps? I am not at all sure that I do not, in some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">Pg 158</a></span> degree,
+share this preference. Is it a fault of training, or has it any other cause?</p>
+
+<p>Your question is both original and well justified by frequent
+observation, for it is quite true that people prefer to read flats to
+sharps. But note it well that the aversion to sharps refers only to the
+reading, not to the playing. If any one should find it harder to <i>play</i>
+in sharps, say, after knowing the notes well, it would be a purely
+subjective deception, due to a mental association of the note-picture
+with the respective sounds. My personal belief is that the aversion to
+the <i>reading</i> of sharps is caused by the comparative complexity of the
+sign itself, and this leads me to think that the whole matter belongs
+rather to ophthalmology than to either acoustics or music.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Rubinstein or Liszt&mdash;Which the Greater?</i></div>
+
+<p>As between Liszt and Rubinstein, whom do you consider the greater?</p>
+
+<p>Rubinstein I knew very well (I was his pupil), and have heard him play a
+great many times. Liszt, who died when I was sixteen years old and had
+not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">Pg 159</a></span>
+appeared in public for some twenty years previously, I
+never met and never heard. Still, from the descriptions which many of my
+friends gave me of him, and from the study of his works, I have been
+able to form a fair idea of his playing and his personality. As a
+virtuoso I think Liszt stood above Rubinstein, for his playing must have
+possessed amazing, dazzling qualities. Rubinstein excelled by his
+sincerity, by his demoniacal, Heaven-storming power of great
+impassionedness, qualities which with Liszt had passed through the sieve
+of a superior education and&mdash;if you understand how I mean that
+term&mdash;gentlemanly elegance. He was, in the highest meaning of the
+word, a man of the world; Rubinstein, a world-stormer, with a sovereign
+disregard for conventionality and for Mrs. Grundy. The principal
+difference lay in the characters of the two. As musicians, with regard
+to their natural endowments and ability, they were probably of the same
+gigantic calibre, such as we would seek in vain at the present
+time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">Pg 160</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>As to One Composer&mdash;Excluding All Others</i></div>
+
+<p>If I am deeply interested in Beethoven's music can I not find in him all
+that there is in music, in both an &#xe6;sthetic and a technical sense? Is
+any one's music more profound?</p>
+
+<p>You imagine yourself in an impenetrable stronghold whence, safe from all
+attacks, you may look upon all composers (except Beethoven) with a
+patronizing, condescending smile. But you are gravely in error. Life is
+too rich in experience, too many-sided in its manifestations, to permit
+any one master, however great, to exhaust its interpretation through his
+art. If you base your preference for Beethoven upon your sympathies, and
+if, for this reason, his music satisfies you better than that of any
+other composer, you are to be complimented upon your good taste. But
+that gives you no right to contest, for instance, the profoundness of
+Bach, the &#xe6;sthetic charm of Chopin, the wonders of Mozart's art, nor the
+many and various merits of your contemporary composers. The least that
+one can be charged with who finds the whole of life expressed in
+any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">Pg 161</a></span>
+one composer is one-sidedness, not to speak of the fact
+that the understanding cannot be very deep for one master if it is
+closed to all others. One of the chief requirements for true
+connoisseurship is catholicity of taste.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>A Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure</i></div>
+
+<p>I am fifty-six years old, live in the mountains sixty-five miles from
+any railroad, alone with my husband, and I have not taken lessons in
+thirty-five years. Do you think "Pischna" would help me much to regain
+my former ability to play? If not, what would you advise me to do?</p>
+
+<p>Refrain from all especially technical work. Since your love of music is
+strong enough to cause you to resume your playing you should take as
+much pleasure in it as possible and work technically only in the pieces
+you play&mdash;that is, in those places which offer you difficulties.
+Decide upon a comfortable fingering first, and practise the difficult
+places separately and slowly until you feel that you can venture to play
+them in their appropriate speed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">Pg 162</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>First Learn to Play Simple Things Well</i></div>
+
+<p>What pieces would you advise me to memorize after Rachmaninoff's Prelude
+in C-sharp minor and Chopin's A-flat Ballade? These pieces do not appeal
+to the majority of people, but I enjoy them.</p>
+
+<p>If such a work as Chopin's Ballade in A-flat does not "appeal to the
+majority"&mdash;as you say&mdash;the fault cannot lie in the
+composition, but must be sought in the interpretation. Why not try a few
+pieces of lesser complexity and play them so perfectly that they do
+appeal to the majority. Try Chopin's Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2;
+Schumann's Romanza, opus. 28, No. 2; or his "Traumerei," or some of the
+more pretentious "Songs Without Words" by Mendelssohn.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>About Starting on a Concert Career</i></div>
+
+<p>I am twenty-four, have had four years' rigorous work in a conservatory
+and a partial college training. My technique is adequate for Brahms's
+Rhapsody in G minor and McDowell's Sonatas. I have good health and am
+determined not to grow self-satisfied. Is there a place on the concert
+stage&mdash;even if only as an accompanist&mdash;for a woman thus
+equipped?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">Pg 163</a></span></p><br/>
+
+<p>Any public career must begin by earning the good opinion of others.
+One's own opinion, however just, is never a criterion. My advice is that
+you speak to some of the prominent concert agents, whose names and
+addresses you find in every well-accredited music paper. Play for them.
+They are usually not connoisseurs by actual knowledge, but they have
+developed a fine instinct for that which is of use to them, and you are,
+of course, aware that we must be of use to others before we can be of
+use to ourselves. If the right "stuff" is in you you will make your way.
+People of ability always do. That there is room for women on the concert
+stage is proved by the great array of meritorious women pianists.
+Especially for accompanying women are in demand&mdash;that is, for
+<i>good</i> accompanying. But I would not start out with the idea of
+accompanying. It seems like going to a commercial school to study be to
+an "assistant" bookkeeper. Become a fine, all-round musician, a fine
+pianist, and see what the tide of affairs will bring
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">Pg 164</a></span> you. The
+proper level for your ability is bound to disclose itself to you.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section">
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering</i></div>
+
+<p>Should an accompanist precede or follow the soloist on the stage in a
+concert or recital, and should sex be considered in the matter?</p>
+
+<p>If the soloist be a man the accompanist should precede him on the stage
+in order to arrange his music, the height of his seat or whatever may be
+necessary, during which time the soloist salutes the audience. For these
+reasons it should be the same when the soloist is a woman, but as women
+are of the feminine persuasion it will, perhaps, look better if the
+accompanist yields precedence to her.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">Pg 165</a></span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3><a name="ALPHABETICAL_INDEX_OF" id="ALPHABETICAL_INDEX_OF"></a>ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF</h3>
+<h3>QUESTIONS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions">
+ <tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="right">PAGE</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>About Starting On a Concert Career</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Action of a Beginner's Piano, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Action of the Little Finger, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Advantage of Legato over Staccato, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Affected Movements at the Piano</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>"Afraid to Play Before People"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Age of the Student is Immaterial</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Always Keep in Touch With Bach</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Art of Accompanying a Soloist, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Art of Playing With Feeling, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>As to one Composer&mdash;Excluding All Others</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>As to Playing Rubato</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>As to the Bach Fugues</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Bach's Preludes and Fugues</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Beginner in Bach Music, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">Pg 166</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page2">
+ <tr>
+  <td>Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>C-Scale Fingering for All Scales, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Can Music be Studied in America?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Cantabile Passages</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Charm of Chopin's Touch, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Chopin's Barcarolle</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Chopin's Work for a Popular Concert</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>"Colour" of Various Keys, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Company that One Keeps in Music, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Composition Must Fit the Player, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Counting Out Loud</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Difference Between Conception and Rubato, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other Kinds, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Difference Between Major and Minor Scales, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Difference in Playing Trills, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Different Conceptions May be Individually Correct</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Disputed Chopin Reading, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Injure the Hand by Stretching It</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Over-Use the Soft Pedal</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Raise the Piano-Stool too High</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Do not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">Pg 167</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page3">
+
+ <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>E Sharp and B Sharp and the Double Flat</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Easiest Way to Memorize, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Effect of Double Flats, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Etudes for Advanced Players to Work At</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Exercises for the Beginner to Practise</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Few Sonatas of Beethoven, Well Played, Are Enough, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Fingering the Chromatic Scale</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Firm and Crisp Legato Touch, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>First Learn to Play Simple Things Well</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Fourth and Fifth Fingers, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Frequent Lessons and Shorter</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>General Rule About the Pedal, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Genuine Piano Hand, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Good Finger Exercises</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Good Intermediate Books of Etudes</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Greatest Composers as Pianists, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Hearing a Piece Before Studying It</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Height of the Piano Seat, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How a Tie and a Slur Differ</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">Pg 168</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page4">
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Best to Play the Octaves</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Grace Notes Are Played</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Long an Accidental Affects a Note</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Much You Can Get from Music</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Organ Playing Affects the Pianist</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How to Get Music Published</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How to Hold the Thumb</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How to Improve the Technique</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How to Use the Pedal</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka and Polonaise Differ</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Importance of Studying With the Right Teacher, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Incorrect Position of the Fingers, An</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Individual Teacher or Conservatory?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>In Order to Memorize Easily</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>In Playing a Sonata</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>"International" Piano Pitch, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>International Piano Pitch, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>"It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than Sharps!"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Learning the Art of Accompanying</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Learning to Accompany at Sight</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Learning to Modulate</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">Pg 169</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page5">
+ <tr>
+  <td>Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Loose Wrist, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Masters Cannot be Studied In Order</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Meaning and Use of "Motif," The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Meaning of Solfeggio, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Meaning of "Toccata," The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Metronome Markings, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Metronome Markings May Better be Ignored</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Modern Piano Music</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Mood and Tempo in the A Flat Impromptu</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>More Technique the More Practice, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Morning is the Best Time to Practise</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Morning Practice on the Piano, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Music as a Profession or as an Avocation</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Music Schools and Private Teachers</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>No Necessity to Watch the Fingers</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Not Playing the Two Hands at Once</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Nothing But the Best Will Do</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Number of Lessons Depends on Progress, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Old Problem of Duple Time against Triple, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Omitting One Note in a Chord</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Once More the "Soft" Pedal</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>One Lesson a Week</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Only Kind of Practice Worth While, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Organ Playing and the Piano Touch</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Organizing a Musical Club</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">Pg 170</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page6">
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Personal Element and the Metronome, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Piano Study for Conductor and Composer</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Play Chords With a Loose Arm</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing Duple Time Against Triple</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing from Memory is Indispensable</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>"Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing of Double Thirds, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing of Slurred Notes, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing On a Dumb Piano</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing the "Melody in F"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Playing with Cold Hands</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata," A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Position of the Turn over a Note, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Position of the Wrist, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Practising the Two Parts Separately</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Premature Fatigue in the Arms</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Problem of Transposing at Sight, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Proper Course for a Little Girl, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Rapid Octaves</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Real Meaning of Speed Terms, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Relation of Harmony to Piano Playing, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Rests Used under or over Notes</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Results Count, Not the Methods, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Rolled Chord Marked "Secco," A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Rubinstein or Liszt&mdash;Which is the Greater?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Rule for Selecting the Speed, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">Pg 171</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page7">
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Sex of the Piano Teacher, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Should Piano Students Try to Compose?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Slurs and Accents Not Related</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Small Notes under Large Ones</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Speed and Smoothness in Trilling</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Staffs are Independent of Each Other, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Starting a Child's Musical Training</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Student Who Wants to Compose, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Student with a Fondness for the Pedal, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Study of Mendelssohn, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Study of Operatic Transcriptions, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Study of the Scales, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Study of the Scales is very Important, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Studying Counterpoint by One's Self</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Take a Month's Rest Every Year</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Taking Liberties With the Tempo</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>"Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Text-books on Harmony</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>There Are Dangers in Using a Metronome</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>There Is Only One Minor Scale</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Tied Staccato Notes</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Tilt of the Hand in Playing Scales, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Time to Devote to Technical Exercises</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Keep Errors from Creeping in</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Play a Glissando Passage</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Prevent Sore Finger-tips After Playing</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">Pg 172</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page8">
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Produce a Softer Tone</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Produce Good Legato</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Strengthen the Weak Finger, Use It</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>To Work up a Fast Tempo</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Too Much "Method"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Trill Begins on the Melodic Note, A</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Two Hands Playing Difficult Rhythms, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Universal System of Marking Fingering, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Use of the Pedal for Colouring, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Use Pedal With Caution In Playing Bach</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Using the Two Pedals at Once</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Value of Going to Concerts, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Value of Heller's Studies, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+ <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Watch Your Breathing</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Weak Fingers of the Left Hand, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>Well-Tempered Piano Scale, The</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What a Dot May Mean</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What a Double Dot Means</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What Does "Technique" Mean?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What Is the Best of Chopin?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What Is the Difference Between the Major and Minor Scales?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>"What Is the Matter with My Scales?"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What the Leschetizky Method Is</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What the Object of Study Should Be</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>What to Do with an Unemployed Hand</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td>When an Accidental Is in Parentheses</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">Pg 173</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Index_Piano_Questions_page9">
+ <tr>
+  <td>When Playing Octaves</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When Reading Over a New Piece</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When the Fingers Seem Weak</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When to Keep Away from the Piano</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When to Play for People</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>When Two Fingers Have the Same Note</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Where the Accent Should Be Placed</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Which Should Come First&mdash;Conception or Technique?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Why Rag-time Is Injurious</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Why So Many Different Keys?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Why the Piano Is So Popular</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>"Wonder Children" as Pianists</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+  <td>Wrist Stroke In Long Octave Passages</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">Pg 175</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
+
+
+<p> A flat, key of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Impromptu in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's Ballade in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> <br /> A
+sharp, key of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference between, and B flat, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Accent, where
+the, should be placed, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.<br /> <br /> Accenting a mordent, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> <br /> Accents, slurs
+and, not related, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> <br /> Accidental, how long an, affects a note, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when an, is in parentheses, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Accompaniment, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br /> <br /> Accompaniments, in
+left-hand waltz, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> <br /> Accompanist, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br /> <br /> Accompanying, at
+sight, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">a soloist, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the art of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Action, of the wrist, <a
+href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the arm, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the little finger, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a piano extreme in, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how tight to keep the piano's, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of a beginner's piano, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a too heavy, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">too light an, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Adagio, <a
+href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> <br /> Advantage, of legato over staccato, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of universal fingering, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Affected
+movements at the piano, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> <br /> Age, and physical development of the
+beginner, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> <br /> Age of the student, immaterial, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> <br /> Aid, books
+that, the student working alone, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.<br /> <br /> Allegretto grazioso, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.<br /> <br />
+Allegro, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> <br /> America, can music be studied in, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.<br /> <br /> "American"
+fingering, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> <br /> Andante, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> <br /> Appassionata, the last movement of the,
+<a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br /> <br /> Appoggiatura, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> <br /> Arm, action of the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">play chords with a loose, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Arms, premature
+fatigue in the, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br /> <br /> Arpeggio, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br /> <br /> Art, of accompanying, the, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the canons of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Attention, which fingers demand most, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br /> <br /> Auber,
+<a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Auxiliary, position of, note in a trill, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> <br /> Average, speed,
+<a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">tempo, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Avocation, music as a profession or as an, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> B flat
+minor, Chopin's Prelude in, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> <br /> B sharp, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> <br /> Bach, use pedal with
+caution in playing, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the beginner in, music, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in touch with, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Bach, Philipp Emanuel,
+<a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br/><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">Pg 176</a></span><br /> Bach's, music, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preludes, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">fugues, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Bad
+music, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> <br /> Baermann, Carl, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> Ballade, Chopin's, in A flat, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<br /> <br />
+Baltzell, "History of Music," by, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> <br /> Barcarolle, Chopin's, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> <br />
+Beethoven, the sonatas of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> <br /> Beethoven's Sonatina, opus 49,
+<a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fifth Symphony, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sonata Path&#xe8;tique, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Moonlight Sonata,"
+<a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sonatas, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">order of studying, sonatas, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sonata, opus 28, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">style, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first and last sonatas, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Beginner's, the
+action of a, piano, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br /> <br /> Bendel's "Zephyr," <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> <br /> Berceuse, Chopin's,
+opus 57, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> Berens, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> <br /> Berlin, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br /> <br /> Berlioz, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Best,
+how to play the octaves, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">morning is the, time to practise, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">way to work up a quick tempo,
+<a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">what is the, of Chopin, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, book of instruction for a beginner,
+<a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, way to improve sight-reading, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, piano hand, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, physical exercise for the pianist,
+<a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">nothing but the, will do, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Biting the finger-nails, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> <br />
+Blumenstuck, Schumann's, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <br /> "Blurring," <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br /> <br /> Body, general position of
+the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br /> <br /> Books, of Etudes, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">that aid the student working alone,
+<a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Brahms, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br /> Breathing, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br /> <br /> Broad-tipped fingers, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> <br /> Bulow,
+<a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> <br /> B&#xfc;ssler, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> C flat, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <br /> C sharp, key of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <br /> C sharp major,
+Bach's fugue in, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br /> <br /> C sharp minor movement, the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> <br /> Cantabile
+passages, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> <br /> Cantata, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> <br /> Chaminade, Toccata by, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br /> <br /> Chaminade's
+"Air de Ballet," No. 1, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> <br /> Chopin, Polonaise, opus 53, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a disputed, reading, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the best of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Etude by, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Etudes in C minor, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Chopin's works, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prelude, No. 15, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Valse, opus 42, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Polonaise, opus 58, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Polonaise, opus 26, No. 1, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nocturne in F sharp, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Impromptu in A flat, opus 29, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charm of, touch, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chants Polonais, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fantasy Impromptu, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barcarolle, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">Pg 177</a></span>
+
+<br />
+Chopin's works for a popular concert, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ballade in A flat, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Chord, rolled, marked
+"secco," <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Waltz in E minor, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Chords, play, with a loose
+arm, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br /> <br /> Chromatic,<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, scale <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">thirds, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accidental, signs, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Classics,
+"modified," <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.<br /> <br /> Clementi, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> <br /> Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum,"
+<a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sonatina, opus 37, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Colour," of various keys, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> <br /> Colouring,
+<a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> <br /> Composer, piano-study for, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">as to one, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</span><br /> <br />
+Composers, the greatest, as pianists, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> <br /> Composition, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.<br /> <br />
+Conception, difference between, and rubato, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<br /> <br /> Conceptions,
+different, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<br /> <br /> Concert, Chopin's works for a popular, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etudes, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">work, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Concerto, the Grieg, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <br />
+Concerts, the value of going to, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> <br /> Conservatory, individual teacher
+or, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> <br /> Conductor, piano-study for, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> <br /> Correct practice of
+phrasing, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> <br /> Counterpoint, studying, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> <br /> Cramer Etudes, the,
+<a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> <br /> C-scale fingering, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br /> <br /> Counterpoint, studying, by one's self,
+<a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> <br /> Counting, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br /> <br /> Course, proper, for a little girl, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.<br /> <br /> Criticism,
+where outside, is desirable, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> <br /> Curved fingers, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> <br /> Czerny, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>,
+<a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> D flat, key of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrangement of Bach's Fugues, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Damper
+pedal, the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> <br /> Dance, music, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liszt's, of the Gnomes, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Dangers
+in using a metronome, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br /> <br /> Dash, "tenuto," and its effect, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> <br />
+Diatonic, thirds, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sequel, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Different, conceptions, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<br />
+<span     style="margin-left: 1em;">rhythms, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">keys, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Difference, between "finger staccato" and other kinds, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in playing trills, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">between conception and rubato, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">between major and minor scales, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Difficulty of playing repetition notes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br /> <br /> Doppio movement, in
+Chopin's Nocturne in F sharp, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.<br /> <br /> Dot, double, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what a, may mean, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<br /> Double notes, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thirds, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dot, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flat, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<span
+style="margin-left: 1em;">flats, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+ <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sharp, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">Pg 178</a></span>
+
+<br /> Dumb piano, playing on a, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br /> <br />
+Duple time, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> E minor, Waltz in, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br /> <br /> E sharp, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> <br /> Ear, let
+your, guide your pedalling, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> <br /> Easiest way to memorize, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> <br /> Edition,
+Peters's, of Chopin, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <br /> Edition, Steingr&#xe4;ber, of Beethoven, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> <br />
+Education, general musical, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> <br /> Element, personal, and the metronome,
+<a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> <br /> "English" fingering, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> <br /> Erlking, Liszt arrangement of the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.<br />
+<br /> Errors, to keep, from creeping in, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> <br /> Ethical, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> <br /> Etudes, Cramer,
+<a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">octave, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">for advanced players, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">good intermediate books
+of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Ruthardt, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">twelve, for technique and expression, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concert, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Baermann, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Chopin, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Kessler, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Berens, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Heller, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sternberg's, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Example, force of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.<br /> <br />
+Exercise, best physical, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> <br /> Exercises, stretching, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">technical, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">for the beginner, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good finger, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> F, Melody in, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <br /> F minor,
+Chopin's Ballades in, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> F sharp, key of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's Nocturne in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Fantastic Fairy
+Tales, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> <br /> Fantasy Impromptu, Chopin's, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> <br /> Fatigue, premature, in
+the arms, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br /> <br /> Faulty touch, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> <br /> Fifth Symphony, Beethoven's, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br />
+<br /> Finger, the middle, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">technique, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the little, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the weak, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">touch, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">staccato, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Fingering,
+English, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">American, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the chromatic scale, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C-scale, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Finger-nails, biting the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<br /> Fingers, position of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the other, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">fourth and fifth, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weak, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">broad-tipped, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">needed to play a mordent, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Finger-stroke,
+high, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br /> <br /> Finger-tips, sore, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"wiping" the keys with the,
+<a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Firm legato touch, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br /> <br /> Flat, double, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> <br /> Flats, double, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> <br />
+Fugue, definition of a, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> <br /> Fugues, Bach's, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> G flat, key of,
+<a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <br /> G minor,<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's Ballade in, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brahms's Rhapsody in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">Pg 179</a></span>
+
+Gavotte in A, the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> <br /> General, technique, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rule about the pedal, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical education, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Glissando, the,
+<a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">to play a, passage, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Gluck-Brahms, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> <br /> Godowsky, transcriptions
+by, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br /> <br /> Godowsky's pupils, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.<br /> <br /> Going to concerts, value of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> <br />
+Grace notes, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br /> <br /> "Gradus ad Parnassum," Clementi's, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> <br /> Grieg
+Concerto, the, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Hal&#xe9;vy, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Hand, position of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stretching the, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">small, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unemployed, the, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">genuine piano, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span><br /> <br />
+Hands, two at once, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing with cold, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Harmonic, clarity,
+<a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Harmony, study of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation of, to piano-playing,
+<a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">textbooks on, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Haydn, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br /> <br /> Heller, etudes by, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> <br /> Heller's
+studies,value of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">opus 154, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "History of Music," <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> <br /> <br />
+Importance of the right teacher, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> <br /> Impromptu, Chopin's, in A flat,
+<a href="#Page_78">78</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's Fantasy, opus 66, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Instrument, the, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <br />
+Intermediate, good, books of etudes, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> International piano pitch,
+<a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> International pitch, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Key, two names for the same, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> <br />
+Keys, why so many different, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"colour" of various, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Kuhlau
+Sonatinas, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br /> <br /> Kullak's, Octave School, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Method of Octaves," <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
+<br /> <br /> Learning, to modulate, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">to accompany at sight, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the art of accompanying, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Legato, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>,
+<a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">advantage of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">touch, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Leschetizky method,
+the, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> <br /> Lessons, teachers, and methods, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, depends on progress, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frequent, and shorter, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Liadow, "Music
+Box" by, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> <br /> "Life of Chopin," the, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> "Limping," <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br /> <br /> Liszt, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>,
+<a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> <br /> Liszt's, Dance of the Gnomes, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">transcription of Chants
+Polonais, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Little finger, action of the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> <br /> Loud counting, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br /> <br />
+<br /> MacDowell, Sonatas, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br /> Major, difference between, and minor scales,
+<a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br /> <br /> Marking a rest, in, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.<br /> <br /> Marks and Nomenclature, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> <br /> Mason's
+"Touch and Technique", <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.<br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">Pg 180</a></span></p>
+
+<p> Masters cannot be studied in order, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> <br /> Mazurka, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br /> <br /> Mazurkas,
+Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> Melody in F, the, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <br /> Memorize, easiest way to, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in order to, easily, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Memory, playing from, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Mendelssohn, the study of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> <br />
+Mendelssohn's "Spring Song," <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.<br /> <br /> Menuet, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br /> <br /> Method, too much,
+<a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leschetizky, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Methods, teachers, lessons and, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> <br /> Metronome,
+markings, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal element and the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangers in using a, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Meyerbeer, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br />
+Minor, difference between major and, scales, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">only one, scale, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Miscellaneous
+questions, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> <br /> "Modified Classics," <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.<br /> <br /> Modulate, learning to,
+<a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> <br /> Mood and tempo in the A flat Impromptu, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br /> <br /> "Moonlight Sonata,"
+the, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br /> <br /> Mordent, fingers needed to play a, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accenting a, in a sonata, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Morning
+practice on the piano, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> <br /> Moscheles, Etudes by, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> Motif, meaning
+and use of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br /> <br /> "Moto perpetuo," <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> <br /> Mozart, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br /> <br /> Mozart's art,
+<a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> <br /> Music, the beginner in Bach, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern piano, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the company that one keeps in,
+<a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">can, be studied in America, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">how to get, published, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a profession, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how much you can get from, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Music Box,"
+the, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> <br /> Music schools and private teachers, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Nocturne, Chopin's,
+in F sharp, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">opus 27, No. 2, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Nocturnes, Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br />
+Nomenclature, marks and, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> <br /> Note, auxiliary, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when two fingers have the same, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Notes
+repetition, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">double, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">slurred, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">tied staccato, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">small, under large ones, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">syncopated, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> Object of study, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> <br />
+Octave, chords, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kullak's, School, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in extended, playing, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passages, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Octaves, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">rapid, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">when playing, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wrist, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">arm, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stiff wrists in playing, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Operatic
+transcriptions, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> <br /> Order of studying Beethoven's Sonatas, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br /> <br /> Other
+fingers, the, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">Pg 181</a></span></p>
+
+<p> Organ, touch, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> Pachulski, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> <br /> Pedal, a general rule
+about the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">how to use the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of the, for colouring, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use, with caution in playing Bach, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "soft," <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">a constant use of the
+soft, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Pedalling, let your ear guide your, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> <br /> Pedals, the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">using the two, at once, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Perpetuum Mobile," Weber's, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> <br /> Peters's
+Edition, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> <br /> Phrasing, value and correct practice of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> <br /> Physical
+exercise, best, for the pianist, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> <br /> Pianists, the greatest composers
+as, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"wonder-children" as, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <i>Pianissimo</i> touch, the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> <br /> Piano,
+height of the, seat, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">touch, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">kind of, upon which to practise,
+<a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">extreme in action, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">action of a beginner's, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing on a dumb, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affected movements at the, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">about the, per se, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">genuine, hand, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">when to keep away from
+the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Piano Playing," <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <br /> "Pischna," exercises of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br /> <br />
+Pitch, international, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Pitch and kindred matters, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">international piano, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Play for people,
+when to, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> <br /> Playing for pleasure, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br /> <br /> Polonaise, Chopin, opus 53,
+<a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin, opus 26, No. 1, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Polonaises, Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> Polyrhythms,
+<a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /> <br /> Popular concert, Chopin's works for a, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> <br /> Position, of the body,
+<a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the hand, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the fingers, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the wrist, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the thumb, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the turn over a note,
+<a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of auxiliary note in a trill, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Practice, morning, on the piano,
+<a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the only kind of, worth while, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">of phrasing, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of constructing, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Practise, kind of a
+piano upon which to, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises for the beginner to, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Practising,
+eight hours instead of four, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the two parts separately, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</span><br /> <br />
+Precision, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br /> <br /> Prelude, the B flat minor, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in C sharp minor, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></span><br /> <br />
+Preludes, Bach's, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Private teachers, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> <br /> Profession,
+music as a, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br />
+Rag-time, why, is injurious, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">Pg 182</a></span></p>
+
+<p> Repetition, technique, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">notes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Rests used under or over notes,
+<a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> <br /> Rhapsody, Brahms's, in G minor, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br /> Rhythm, accents relate to,
+<a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing in, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Richter, E. F., <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> <br /> Romanza, Schumann's, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br />
+<br /> Rossini, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Rubato, as to playing, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">passages marked, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference between conception and, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span><br /> <br />
+Rubinstein, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> <br /> Rubinstein's "Melody in F," <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <br /> Russian piano music,
+<a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> <br /> Ruthardt, "Etudes" by, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Scale, fingering the chromatic, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">only one minor, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the well-tempered piano, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Scale playing, in,
+<a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br /> <br /> Scales, tilt of the hand in playing the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the practising of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the study of the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Scherzo, Chopin's,
+opus <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> <br /> Schubert-Liszt's "Auf dem Wasser zu singern," <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> <br />
+Schumann's "Blumenstuck," <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Romanza, opus 28, No. 2, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Traumerei," <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Secco," a rolled chord
+marked, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> <br /> Seeling, Hans, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> Sex of the teacher, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> <br />
+Sight-reading, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /> <br /> Slur, how a tie and a, differ, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> <br /> Slurred notes,
+the playing of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> <br /> Slurs, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> <br /> Smith's Octave Studies, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> <br />
+Solfeggio, meaning of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> <br /> Soloist, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br /> <br /> Sonata, accenting a
+mordent in a, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in playing a, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moonlight, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beethoven, with a pastoral character, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Sonatina, Beethoven's, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br /> <br /> Sonatas of Beethoven, the,
+<a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> <br /> "Songs without Words," <i>Mendelssohn</i>'s, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br /> Speed, gradual
+increase of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">average, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of, terms, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rule for selecting the, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and smoothness in trilling, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Spring
+Song," the, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.<br /> <br /> Staccato, wrist, at a high tempo, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finger, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">arm, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Staffs, the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br /> <br />
+Starting, about, on a concert career, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> <br /> Steingr&#xe4;ber Edition of
+Beethoven's Sonatas, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> <br /> Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.<br /> <br /> Stretching,
+<a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br /> <br /> Student, age of, immaterial, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">books that aid the, working
+alone, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Students, piano, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br /> <br /> Studies, Heller's, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> <br /> Study,
+object of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">Pg 183</a></span></p>
+
+<p> Studying, importance of, with the right teacher, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> <br /> Syncopated
+notes, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> <br /> System, universal, of fingering, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Teachers, lessons,
+and methods, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> <br /> Technical, exercises, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">work, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studies, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">results, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Technique, a
+generic term, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">how to improve the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">a precise finger, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the fingers, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">repetition, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a "musical," <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Tempo, wrist staccato at a
+high, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">to work up a fast, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">average, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the A flat Impromptu, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taking liberties with the, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rubato, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br /> <br /> "Tenuto" dash, the, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> <br />
+Textbooks on harmony, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> <br /> Thalberg, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> <br /> Theory, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.<br /> <br /> Thirds,
+double, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">diatonic, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">chromatic, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Thomas, Ambroise, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> <br /> Thumb,
+the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">how to hold the, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Tie, a, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> <br /> Time, duple, against triple,
+<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing in, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Toccata, meaning of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br /> <br /> Touch, faulty, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>,
+<a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">finger, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">biting the finger-nails spoils the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legato, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">crisp legato, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piano, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">organ, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repetition, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">charm of Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Technique, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Training, a child's
+musical, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br /> <br /> Transcriptions, study of operatic, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> <br /> Transposing at
+sight, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> <br /> Tremolo, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br /> <br /> Trill, position of auxiliary note in a,
+<a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> <br /> Trills, on the melodic note, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">extended, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference in playing, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Triple time, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+<a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> <br /> "Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Universal
+system of marking fingering, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> Valse, Chopin's, opus 42, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opus 64, No. 2, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> Waltz, a chord in the,
+in E minor, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br /> <br /> Waltzes, Chopin's, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br /> <br /> Weak fingers, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br /> <br /> Weber's
+"Storm," <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">pianos of, time, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Perpetuum&nbsp; Mobile," <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> <br />
+"Wonder-children" as pianists, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br /> <br /> Wrist, action of the, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the loose, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stiffness in the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">octaves, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">stroke in long octave
+passages, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br /> </p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="notes">
+<h4>Transcriber's Note</h4>
+
+<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p>
+
+<p><b>Other changes:</b></p>
+
+<p>page iv&mdash;'<b>POLYRYTHMS</b>' changed to '<b>POLYRHYTHMS</b>.'</p>
+
+<p>page xi&mdash;'As a matter <b>or</b> course' changed to 'As a matter <b>of</b> course.'</p>
+
+<p>page 12&mdash;'I stretch <b>beween</b> my fingers' changed to 'I stretch <b>between</b> my fingers.'</p>
+
+<p>page 43&mdash;'<b>expresson</b>' changed to '<b>expression</b>.'</p>
+
+<p>page 47&mdash;'<b>ti</b> would take considerable time' changed to '<b>it</b> would take considerable time.'</p>
+
+<p>page 50&mdash;'<b>rhymthic</b>' changed to '<b>rhythmic</b>.'</p>
+
+<p>page 78&mdash;'<i><b>Doggio</b></i>' changed to '<i><b>Doppio</b></i>.'</p>
+
+<p>page 93&mdash;'<b>or</b> which one is abridged' changed to '<b>of</b> which one is abridged.'</p>
+
+<p>page 123&mdash;'feel <b>they that</b> do not care for my playing' changed to 'feel <b>that they</b> do not care for my playing.'</p>
+
+<p>page 140&mdash;'<b>be be</b>' changed to '<b>be</b>.'</p>
+
+<p>Index&mdash;'F major, key of, [no page #]' removed.</p>
+
+<p>Index&mdash;'Gradus <b>and</b> Parnassum' corrected to 'Gradus <b>ad</b> Parnassum.'</p>
+
+<p>Index&mdash;'<b>Hadyn</b>' corrected to '<b>Haydn</b>.'</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+</div>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 39211-h.txt or 39211-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/2/1/39211">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/1/39211</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions 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-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0001a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0001a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4eff66c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0001a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0002a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0002a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61b94f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0002a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0003.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0003.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de2273e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0003.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0003a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0003a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..439d0db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0003a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0004a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0004a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f2faf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0004a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0005a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0005a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ce3227
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0005a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0006a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0006a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f86fb11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0006a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0007a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0007a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e931d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0007a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0008a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0008a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68231c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0008a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg0009a.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg0009a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a5d70f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg0009a.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg001b.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg001b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1688675
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg001b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg002b.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg002b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abd8ee8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg002b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/jpg003b.jpg b/39211-h/images/jpg003b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5b8e9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/jpg003b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0004b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0004b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a056866
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0004b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0005b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0005b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad5a396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0005b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0006b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0006b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94e32b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0006b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0007b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0007b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b62053
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0007b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0008b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0008b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..add6115
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0008b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0009b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0009b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bab879
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0009b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0010b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0010b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83fa80b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0010b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0011b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0011b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..502ddc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0011b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0012b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0012b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb9ffca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0012b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0013b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0013b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9a0597
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0013b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0014b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0014b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..badfff1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0014b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0015b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0015b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd6c79e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0015b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0016b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0016b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..343addf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0016b.jpg
diff --git a/39211-h/images/png0017b.jpg b/39211-h/images/png0017b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90ec27c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211-h/images/png0017b.jpg
diff --git a/39211.txt b/39211.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51532f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7761 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Piano Playing, by Josef Hofmann
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Piano Playing
+       With Piano Questions Answered
+
+
+Author: Josef Hofmann
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2012  [eBook #39211]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Johanna, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 39211-h.htm or 39211-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39211/39211-h/39211-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39211/39211-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _Josef Hofmann_]
+
+
+PIANO PLAYING
+
+With Piano Questions Answered
+
+by
+
+JOSEF HOFMANN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Copyright (C) 1909 by Doubleday, Page and Company;
+renewed 1937 by J. Hofmann.
+
+(C) 1908 by McClure Company; renewed 1936
+by J. Hofmann.
+
+(C) 1920 by Theodore Presser Company; renewed
+1947 by Josef Hofmann.
+
+
+
+
+Piano Playing
+
+
+
+
+TO MY DEAR FRIEND
+
+CONSTANTIN VON STERNBERG
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                             PAGE
+
+  A FOREWORD                                   xv
+
+  THE PIANO AND ITS PLAYER                      3
+
+  GENERAL RULES                                19
+
+  CORRECT TOUCH AND TECHNIC                    34
+
+  THE USE OF THE PEDAL                         41
+
+  PLAYING "IN STYLE"                           49
+
+  HOW RUBINSTEIN TAUGHT ME TO PLAY             57
+
+  INDISPENSABLES IN PIANISTIC SUCCESS          70
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  _Josef Hofmann_                          _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                   FACING
+                                                     PAGE
+
+  _The Position of the Hand_                           20
+
+  _Incorrect Way to Play an Octave_                    28
+
+  _Correct Way to Play an Octave_                      28
+
+  _Incorrect Position of the Little Finger_            29
+
+  _Correct Position of the Little Finger_              29
+
+  _Incorrect Position of Thumb_                        38
+
+  _Correct Position of Thumb_                          38
+
+  _Incorrect Position of the Feet_                     42
+
+  _Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal_          43
+
+  _Anton Rubinstein_                                   58
+
+  _How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play_                   59
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+This little book purposes to present a general view of artistic
+piano-playing and to offer to young students the results of such
+observations as I have made in the years of my own studies, as well as
+of the experiences which my public activity has brought me.
+
+It is, of course, only the concrete, the material side of piano-playing
+that can be dealt with here--that part of it which aims to reproduce in
+tones what is plainly stated in the printed lines of a composition. The
+other, very much subtler part of piano-playing, draws upon and, indeed,
+depends upon imagination, refinement of sensibility, and spiritual
+vision, and endeavours to convey to an audience what the composer has,
+consciously or unconsciously, hidden _between_ the lines. That almost
+entirely psychic side of piano-playing eludes treatment in literary form
+and must, therefore, not be looked for in this little volume. It may
+not be amiss, however, to dwell a moment upon these elusive matters of
+aesthetics and conception, though it be only to show how far apart they
+are from technic.
+
+When the material part, the technic, has been completely acquired by the
+piano student, he will see a limitless vista opening up before him,
+disclosing the vast field of artistic interpretation. In this field the
+work is largely of an analytical nature and requires that intelligence,
+spirit, and sentiment, supported by knowledge and aesthetic perception,
+form a felicitous union to produce results of value and dignity. It is
+in this field that the student must learn to perceive the invisible
+something which unifies the seemingly separate notes, groups, periods,
+sections, and parts into an organic whole. The spiritual eye for this
+invisible something is what musicians have in mind when they speak of
+"reading between the lines"--which is at once the most fascinating and
+most difficult task of the interpretative artist; for, it is just
+between the lines where, in literature as in music, the soul of a work
+of art lies hidden. To play its notes, even to play them correctly, is
+still very far from doing justice to the life and soul of an artistic
+composition.
+
+I should like to reiterate at this point two words which I used in the
+second paragraph: the words "consciously or unconsciously." A brief
+comment upon this alternative may lead to observations which may throw a
+light upon the matter of reading between the lines, especially as I am
+rather strongly inclining toward the belief in the "unconscious" side of
+the alternative.
+
+I believe that every composer of talent (not to speak of genius) in his
+moments of creative fever has given birth to thoughts, ideas, designs
+that lay altogether beyond the reach of his conscious will and control.
+In speaking of the products of such periods we have hit upon exactly the
+right word when we say that the composer "has surpassed himself." For,
+in saying this we recognise that the act of surpassing one's self
+precludes the control of the self. A critical, sober overseeing of one's
+work during the period of creation is unthinkable, for it is the fancy
+and the imagination that carries one on and on, will-lessly,
+driftingly, until the totality of the tonal apparition is completed and
+mentally as well as physically absorbed.
+
+Now, inasmuch as the composer's conscious will takes little or no part
+in the creating of the work, it seems to follow that he is not,
+necessarily, an absolute authority as to the "only correct way" of
+rendering it. Pedantic adherence to the composer's own conception is, to
+my mind, not an unassailable maxim. The composer's way of rendering his
+composition may not be free from certain predilections, biases,
+mannerisms, and his rendition may also suffer from a paucity of
+pianistic experience. It seems, therefore, that to do justice to the
+work itself is of far greater importance than a slavish adherence to the
+composer's conception.
+
+Now, to discover what it is, intellectually or emotionally, that hides
+itself between the lines; how to conceive and how to interpret it--that
+must ever rest with the reproductive artist, provided that he possesses
+not only the spiritual vision which entitles him to an individual
+conception, but also the technical skill to express what this individual
+conception (aided by imagination and analysis) has whispered to him.
+Taking these two conditions for granted, his interpretations--however
+punctiliously he adhere to the text--will and must be a reflex of his
+breeding, education, temperament, disposition; in short, of all the
+faculties and qualities that go to make up his personality. And as these
+personal qualities differ between players, their interpretations must,
+necessarily, differ in the same measure.
+
+In some respects the performance of a piece of music resembles the
+reading of a book aloud to some one. If a book should be read to us by a
+person who does not understand it, would it impress us as true,
+convincing, or even credible? Can a dull person, by reading them to us,
+convey bright thoughts intelligibly? Even if such a person were drilled
+to read with outward correctness that of which he cannot fathom the
+meaning, the reading could not seriously engage our attention, because
+the reader's want of understanding would be sure to effect a lack of
+interest in us. Whatever is said to an audience, be the speech literary
+or musical, must be a free and individual expression, governed only by
+general or is it aesthetic laws or rules; it must be free to be artistic,
+and it must be individual to have vital force. Traditional conceptions
+of works of art are "canned goods," unless the individual happens to
+concur with the traditional conception, which, at best, is very rarely
+the case and does not speak well for the mental calibre of the easily
+contented treader of the beaten path.
+
+We know how precious a thing is freedom. But in modern times it is not
+only precious, it is also costly; it is based upon certain possessions.
+This holds as good in life as in art. To move comfortably with freedom
+in life requires money; freedom in art requires a sovereign mastery of
+technic. The pianist's artistic bank-account upon which he can draw at
+any moment is his technic. We do not gauge him by it as an artist, to be
+sure, but rather by the use he makes of it; just as we respect the
+wealthy according to the way in which they use their money. And as there
+are wealthy people that are vulgar, so there may be pianists who,
+despite the greatest technic, are not artists. Still, while money is to
+a gentleman perhaps no more than a rather agreeable adjunct, technic is
+to the pianist's equipment an indispensable necessity.
+
+To assist young students in acquiring this necessity, the following
+articles were written for _The Ladies' Home Journal_, and for this form
+I have gone over them and corrected and amplified. I sincerely hope that
+they will help my young colleagues to become free as piano-playing
+musicians first, and that this, in its turn and with the help of good
+fortune in their career, will bring them the means to make them equally
+free in their daily life.
+
+                                        JOSEF HOFMANN.
+
+
+
+
+Piano Playing
+
+
+
+
+THE PIANO AND ITS PLAYER
+
+
+The first requisite for one who wishes to become a musicianly and
+artistic pianist is a precise knowledge of the possibilities and
+limitations of the piano as an instrument. Having properly recognised
+them both, having thus staked off a stretch of ground for his activity,
+he must explore it to discover all the resources for tonal expression
+that are hidden within its pale. With these resources, however, he must
+be contented. He must, above all, never strive to rival the orchestra.
+For there is no necessity to attempt anything so foolish and so futile,
+since the gamut of expressions inherent to the piano is quite extensive
+enough to vouchsafe artistic results of the very highest order,
+provided, of course, that this gamut is used in an artistic manner.
+
+
+THE PIANO AND THE ORCHESTRA
+
+From one point of view the piano can claim to be the equal of the
+orchestra; namely, in so far as it is--no less than the orchestra--the
+exponent of a specific branch of music which, complete by itself,
+reposes upon a literature exclusively its own and of a type so
+distinguished that only the orchestra can claim to possess its peer. The
+great superiority of the literature of the piano over that of any other
+single instrument has, to my knowledge, never been disputed. I think it
+is equally certain that the piano grants to its players a greater
+freedom of expression than any other instrument; greater--in certain
+respects--than even the orchestra, and very much greater than the organ,
+which, after all, lacks the intimate, personal element of "touch" and
+the immediateness of its variegated results.
+
+In dynamic and colouristic qualities, on the other hand, the piano
+cannot bear comparison with the orchestra; for in these qualities it is
+very limited indeed. The prudent player will not go beyond these limits.
+The utmost that the pianist can achieve in the way of colour may be
+likened to what the painters call "monochrome." For in reality the
+piano, like any other instrument, has only one colour; but the artistic
+player can subdivide the colour into an infinite number and variety of
+shades. The virtue of a specific charm, too, attaches as much to the
+piano as to other instruments, though, perhaps, in a lesser degree of
+sensuousness than to some others. Is it because of this lesser sensuous
+charm that the art of the piano is considered the chastest of all
+instruments? I am rather inclined to think that it is, partly at least,
+due to this chastity that it "wears" best, that we can listen longer to
+a piano than to other instruments, and that this chastity may have had a
+reflex action upon the character of its unparagoned literature.
+
+For this literature, though, we have to thank the pianists themselves,
+or, speaking more precisely, we are indebted to the circumstance that
+the piano is the only single instrument capable of conveying the
+complete entity of a composition. That melody, bass, harmony,
+figuration, polyphony, and the most intricate contrapuntal devices
+can--by skilful hands--be rendered simultaneously and (to all intents
+and purposes) completely on the piano has probably been the inducement
+which persuaded the great masters of music to choose it as their
+favourite instrument.
+
+It may be mentioned at this point that the piano did not have the effect
+of impairing the orchestration of the great composers--as some musical
+wiseacres assert from time to time--for they have written just as fine
+works for a variety of other instruments, not to speak of their
+symphonies. Thus has, for instance, the most substantial part of the
+violin literature been contributed by piano-players (Bach, Mozart,
+Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Saint-Saens, Tschaikowski, and
+many others). As to the literature of the orchestra, it came almost
+exclusively from those masters whose only, or chiefest, medium of
+musical utterance was the piano. Highly organised natures, as they were,
+they liked to dress their thoughts, sometimes, in the colour splendour
+of the orchestra. Looking at the depth of their piano works, however, at
+their sterling merit, at their poetry, I feel that even a refined
+musical nature may find lifelong contentment in the piano--despite its
+limitations--if, as I said before, the artist keeps within its
+boundaries and commands its possibilities. For it is, after all, not so
+very little that the piano has to offer. It is both governed and
+manipulated by one and the same mind and person; its mechanism is so
+fine and yet so simple as to make its tone response quite as direct as
+that of any other stringed instrument; it admits of the thoroughly
+personal element of touch; it requires no auxiliary instruments (for
+even in the Concerto the orchestra is not a mere accompanist but an
+equal partner, as the name "Concerto" implies); its limitations are not
+as bad as those of some other instruments or of the voice; it outweighs
+these limitations very fairly by the vast wealth of its dynamic and
+touch varieties. Considering all these and many other points of merit, I
+think that a musician may be pretty well satisfied with being a pianist.
+His realm is in more than one respect smaller than that of the
+conductor, to be sure, but on the other hand the conductor loses many
+lovely moments of sweet intimacy which are granted to the pianist when,
+world-oblivious and alone with his instrument he can commune with his
+innermost and best self. Consecrated moments, these, which he would
+exchange with no musician of any other type and which wealth can neither
+buy nor power compel.
+
+
+THE PIANO AND THE PLAYER
+
+Music makers are, like the rest of mankind, not free from sin. On the
+whole, however, I think that the transgressions of pianists against the
+canons of art are less grave and less frequent than those of other music
+makers; perhaps, because they are--usually--better grounded as musicians
+than are singers and such players of other instruments as the public
+places on a par with the pianists I have in mind. But, while their sins
+may be less in number and gravity--let it be well understood that the
+pianists are no saints. Alas, no! It is rather strange, though, that
+their worst misdeeds are induced by that very virtue of the piano of
+requiring no auxiliary instruments, of being independent. If it were not
+so; if the pianist were compelled always to play in company with other
+musicians, these other players might at times differ with him as to
+conception, tempo, etc., and their views and wishes should have to be
+reckoned with, for the sake of both equilibrium and--sweet peace.
+
+Left entirely to himself, however, as the pianist usually is in his
+performances, he sometimes yields to a tendency to move altogether too
+freely, to forget the deference due to the composition and its creator,
+and to allow his much-beloved "individuality" to glitter with a false
+and presumptuous brightness. Such a pianist does not only fail in his
+mission as an interpreter but he also misjudges the possibilities of the
+piano. He will, for instance, try to produce six _forte-s_ when the
+piano has not more than three to give, all told, except at a sacrifice
+of its dignity and its specific charm.
+
+The extremest contrasts, the greatest _forte_ and the finest _piano_,
+are given factors determined by the individual piano, by the player's
+skill of touch, and by the acoustic properties of the hall. These given
+factors the pianist must bear in mind, as well as the limitations of
+the piano as to colour, if he means to keep clear of dilettanteism and
+charlatanry. A nice appreciation of the realm over which he rules, as to
+its boundaries and possibilities, must be the supreme endeavour of every
+sovereign--hence also of every sovereign musician.
+
+Now, I hear it so often said of this and that pianist that "he plays
+with _so_ much feeling" that I cannot help wondering if he does not,
+sometimes at least, play with "_so_ much feeling" where it is not in the
+least called for and where "_so_ much feeling" constitutes a decided
+trespass against the aesthetic boundaries of the composition. My
+apprehension is usually well founded, for the pianist that plays
+_everything_ "with so much feeling" is an artist in name only, but in
+reality a sentimentalist, if not a vulgar sensationalist or a ranter
+upon the keyboard. What sane pianist would, for instance, attempt to
+play a cantilena with the same appealing sensuousness as the most
+mediocre 'cellist can do with the greatest ease? Yet many pianists
+attempt it; but since they are fully aware that they can never attain
+such ends by legitimate, artistic means, they make either the
+accompaniment or the rhythm, if not the phrasing, bear the brunt of
+their palpable dilettanteism. Of such illusory endeavours I cannot warn
+too strongly, for they are bound to destroy the organic relation of the
+melody to its auxiliaries and to change the musical "physiognomy" of a
+piece into a--"grimace:" This fault reveals that the pianist's
+spirit--of adventure--is too willing, but the flesh--of the fingers and
+their technic--too weak.
+
+The artistic and the dilettantic manners of expression must be sharply
+differentiated. They differ, principally, as follows: the artist knows
+and feels how far the responsiveness of his instrument, at any
+particular part of his piece, will allow him to go without violating
+aesthetics, and without stepping outside of the nature of his instrument.
+He shapes his rendition of the piece accordingly and practises wise
+economy in the use of force and in the display of feeling. As to
+feeling, _per se_, it is the ripe product of a multitude of aesthetic
+processes which the moment creates and develops; but the artist will
+keep this product from asserting itself until he has complied with every
+requirement of artistic _workmanship_; until he has, so to speak,
+provided a cleanly covered and fully set table upon which these matters
+of "feeling" appear as finishing, decorative touches, say, as flowers.
+
+The dilettante, on the other hand, does not consume any time by thinking
+and planning; he simply "goes for" his piece and, without bothering
+about workmanship or squirming around it as best he may, he rambles off
+into--"feeling," which in his case consists of naught but vague,
+formless, aimless, and purely sensuous sentimentality. His accompaniment
+drowns the melody, his rhythm goes on a sympathetic strike, dynamic and
+other artistic properties become hysterical; no matter, he--"feels"! He
+builds a house in which the cellar is under the roof and the garret in
+the basement.
+
+Let it be said in extenuation of such a player that he is not always and
+seldom wholly to blame for his wrong-doing. Very often he strays from
+the path of musical rectitude because of his misplaced trust in the
+judgment of others, which causes him to accept and follow advice in
+good faith, instead of duly considering its source. For, under certain
+conditions, the advice of even a connoisseur may be wrong. Many
+professional and well-equipped critics, for instance, fall into the bad
+habit of expecting that a pianist should tell all he knows in every
+piece he plays, whether the piano does or does not furnish the
+opportunities for displaying all his qualities. They expect him to show
+strength, temperament, passion, poise, sentiment, repose, depth, and so
+forth, in the first piece on his programme. He must tell his whole
+story, present himself at once as a "giant" or "Titan" of the piano,
+though the piece may call for naught but tenderness. With this demand,
+or the alternative of a "roasting," public artists are confronted rather
+frequently. Nor is this, perhaps, as much the fault of the critic as of
+the conditions under which they must write. From my own experience and
+that of others I know that the critics in large cities are so
+overburdened with work during the season that they have seldom time to
+listen to more than one piece out of a whole recital programme. After
+such a mere sample they form their opinions--so momentous for the
+career of a young pianist--and if this one piece happened to offer no
+opportunities to the pianist to show himself as the "great" So-and-so,
+why, then he is simply put down as one of the "littlefellows." It is no
+wonder that such conditions tempt many young aspirants to public renown
+to resort to aesthetic violence in order to make sure of "good notices";
+to use power where it is not called for; to make "feeling" ooze from
+every pore; to double, treble the tempo or vacillate it out of all
+rhythm; to violate the boundaries of both the composition and the
+instrument--and all this for no other purpose than to show as quickly as
+possible that the various qualities are "all there." These conditions
+produce what may be called the pianistic nouveau-riche or parvenu, who
+practises the vices of the dilettante without, however, the mitigating
+excuse of ignorance or a lack of training.
+
+
+THE PIANIST AND THE COMPOSITION
+
+As the piano, so has also every composition its limitations as to the
+range of its emotions and their artistic expression. The hints in this
+direction I threw out before may now be amplified by discussing a very
+common error which underlies the matter of conception. It is the error
+of inferring the conception of a composition _from the name of its
+composer_; of thinking that Beethoven has to be played thus and Chopin
+thus. No error could be greater!
+
+True, every great composer has his own style, his habitual mode of
+thought development, his personality revealing lines. But it is equally
+true that the imagination of all great composers was strong enough to
+absorb them as completely in their own creation as the late Pygmalion
+was absorbed in his Galatea, and to lure them, for the time being,
+completely away from their habits of thought and expression; they become
+the willing servants of the new creature of their own fancy. Thus we
+find some of Beethoven's works as romantic and fanciful as any of
+Schumann's or Chopin's could be, while some of the latter's works show
+at times a good deal of Beethovenish classicity. It is, therefore,
+utterly wrong to approach every work of Beethoven with the preconceived
+idea that it must be "deep" and "majestic," or, if the work be Chopin's,
+that it must run over with sensuousness and "feeling." How would such a
+style of rendition do, for instance, for the Polonaise op. 53, or even
+for the little one in A, op. 40, No. 1? On the other hand, how would the
+stereotype, academic manner of playing Beethoven suit his Concerto in
+G--that poetic presage of Chopin?
+
+Every great master has written some works that are, and some that are
+not, typical of himself. In the latter cases the master's identity
+reveals itself only to an eye that is experienced enough to detect it in
+the smaller, more minute traits of his style. Such delicate features,
+however, must be left in their discreet nooks and niches; they must not
+be clumsily dragged into the foreground for the sake of a traditional
+rendition of the piece. That sort of "reverence" is bound to obliterate
+all the peculiarities of the particular, non-typical composition. It is
+not reverence, but fetichism. Justice to the composer means justice to
+his works; to every work in particular. And this justice we cannot
+learn from the reading of his biography, but by regarding every one of
+his works as a separate and complete entity; as a perfect, organic whole
+of which we must study the general character, the special features, the
+form, the manner of design, the emotional course, and the trend of
+thought. Much more than by his biography we will be helped, in forming
+our conception, by comparing the work in hand with others of the same
+master, though the comparison may disclose just as many differences of
+style as it may show similarities.
+
+The worship of names, the unquestioning acquiescence in traditional
+conceptions--those are not the principles which will lead an artist to
+come into his own. It is rather a close examination of every popular
+notion, a severe testing of every tradition by the touchstone of
+self-thinking that will help an artist to find himself and to see, what
+he does see, with his own eyes.
+
+Thus we find that--in a certain constructive meaning--even the reverence
+for the composer is not without boundaries; though these boundary lines
+are drawn here only to secure the widest possible freedom for their
+work. Goethe's great word expresses most tersely what I mean:
+
+     Outwardly limited,
+     Boundless to inward.
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL RULES
+
+
+Successful piano-playing, if it cannot be entirely acquired by some very
+simple rules, can, at least, be very much helped by what will seem to
+some as contributing causes so slight as to be hardly worth notice.
+Still, they are immensely valuable, and I will endeavour to set down a
+few.
+
+_The Value of the Morning Hour_ above any other time is not generally
+appreciated. The mental freshness gained from sleep is a tremendous
+help. I go so far as to say play away for an hour, or a half hour even,
+before breakfast. But before you touch the piano let me suggest one very
+prosaic little hint: wash the keyboard as clean as you did your hands.
+Eating always tastes best from a clean table. Just so with the piano:
+you cannot do clean work on an unclean keyboard.
+
+_Now, as to Practice_: Let me suggest that you never practise more than
+an hour, or, at the most, two hours, at a stretch--according to your
+condition and strength. Then go out and take a walk, and think no more
+of music. This method of mental unhitching, so to speak, is absolutely
+necessary in order that the newly acquired results of your work
+may--unconsciously to yourself--mature in your mind and get, as it were,
+into your flesh and blood. That which you have newly learned must become
+affixed to your entire organism, very much like the picture on a
+photographic plate is developed and affixed by the silver bath. If you
+allow Nature no time for this work the result of your previous efforts
+will vanish and you will have to begin all over again with
+your--photographing. Yes, photographing! For every acoustic or tone
+picture is, through the agency of the ear, photographed in the brain,
+and the whole occupation of the pianist consists in the reproduction of
+the previously received impressions through the fingers, which, with the
+help of the instrument, retranslate the pictures into audible tones.
+
+After every half hour make a pause until you feel rested. Five minutes
+will often be sufficient. Follow the example of the painter, who
+closes his eyes for a few moments in order to obtain upon reopening them
+a fresh color impression.
+
+_A Valuable Little Hint Here_, if you will allow me: Watch well that you
+actually hear every tone you mean to produce. Every missing tone will
+mean a blotch upon your photographic plate in the brain. Each note must
+be, not mentally but physically, heard, and to this imperative
+requirement your speed must ever subordinate itself. It is not at all
+necessary to practise loudly in order to foster the permanence of
+impressions. Rather let an inward tension take the place of external
+force. It will engage, sympathetically, your hearing just as well.
+
+_As to the Theory_--great energy, great results--I prefer my amended
+version: great energy, restrained power and moderate manifestation of
+it. Prepare the finger for great force, imagine the tone as being
+strong, and yet strike moderately. Continuous loud playing makes our
+playing coarse. On the other hand, continuous soft playing will blur the
+tone picture in our mind and cause us soon to play insecurely and
+wrongly. From time to time we should, of course, practise loudly so as
+to develop physical endurance. But for the greater part of practice I
+recommend playing with restrained power. And, incidentally, your
+neighbours will thank you for it, too.
+
+_Do Not Practise Systematically_, or "methodically," as it is sometimes
+called. Systematism is the death of spontaneousness, and spontaneousness
+is the very soul of art. If you play every day at the same time the same
+sequence of the same studies and the same pieces, you may acquire a
+certain degree of skill, perhaps, but the spontaneity of your rendition
+will surely be lost. Art belongs to the realm of emotional
+manifestations, and it stands to reason that a systematic exploiting of
+our emotional nature must blunt it.
+
+_With Regard to Finger Exercises_: Do not let them be too frequent or
+too long--at the most a half hour a day. A half hour daily, kept up for
+a year, is enough for any one to learn to play one's exercises. And if
+one can play them why should one keep everlastingly on playing them?
+Can anybody explain, without reflecting upon one's sanity, why one
+should persist in playing them? I suggest to use these exercises as
+"preliminary warmers" (as practised in engines). As soon as the hands
+have become warm and elastic, or pliable--"played in," as we pianists
+say--drop the exercises and repeat them for the same purpose the next
+morning, if you will. They can be successfully substituted, however. As
+compositions they are but lukewarm water. If you will dip your hands,
+instead, for five minutes into hot water you will follow my own method
+and find it just as efficacious.
+
+_A Rule for Memory Exercises_: If you wish to strengthen the receptivity
+and retentiveness of your memory you will find the following plan
+practical: Start with a short piece. Analyse the form and manner of its
+texture. Play the piece a number of times very exactly with the music
+before you. Then stop playing for several hours and try to trace the
+course of ideas mentally in the piece. Try to hear the piece inwardly.
+If you have retained some parts refill the missing places by repeated
+reading of the piece, away from the piano. When next you go to the
+piano--after several hours, remember--try to play the piece. Should you
+still get "stuck" at a certain place take the sheet music, but play only
+that place (several times, if necessary), and then begin the piece over
+again, as a test, if you have better luck this time with those elusive
+places. If you still fail resume your silent reading of the piece away
+from the piano. Under no circumstances skip the unsafe place for the
+time being, and proceed with the rest of the piece. By such forcing of
+the memory you lose the logical development of your piece, tangle up
+your memory and injure its receptivity. Another observation in
+connection with memorising may find a place here. When we study a piece
+we--unconsciously--associate in our mind a multitude of things with it
+which bear not the slightest relation upon it. By these "things" I mean
+not only the action of the piano, light or heavy, as it may be, but also
+the colour of its wood, the colour of the wall paper, discoloration of
+the ivory on some key of the piano, the pictures on the walls, the angle
+at which the piano stands to the architectural lines of the room, in
+short, all sorts of things. And we remain utterly unconscious of having
+associated them with the piece we are studying--until we try to play the
+well-learned piece in a different place, in the house of a friend or, if
+we are inexperienced enough to commit such a blunder, in the concert
+hall. Then we find that our memory fails us most unexpectedly, and we
+blame our memory for its unreliableness. But the fact is rather that our
+memory was only too good, too exact, for the absence of or difference
+from our accustomed surroundings disturbed our too precise memory.
+Hence, to make absolutely sure of our memory we should try our piece in
+a number of different places before relying upon our memory; this will
+dissociate the wonted environment from the piece in our memory.
+
+_With Regard to Technical Work_: Play good compositions and construe out
+of them your own technical exercises. In nearly every piece you play you
+will find a place or two of which your conscience tells you that they
+are not up to your own wishes; that they can be improved upon either
+from a rhythmical, dynamical or precisional point of view. Give these
+places the preference for a while, but do not fail to play from time to
+time again the whole piece in order to put the erstwhile defective and
+now repaired part into proper relation to its context. Remember that a
+difficult part may "go" pretty well when severed from its context and
+yet fail utterly when attempted in its proper place. You must follow the
+mechanic in this. If a part of a machine is perfected in the shop it
+must still go through the process of being "mounted"--that is, being
+brought into proper relation to the machine itself--and this often
+requires additional packing or filing, as the case may be. This
+"mounting" of a repaired part is done best by playing it in conjunction
+with one preceding and one following measure; then put two measures on
+each side, three, four, etc., until you feel your ground safely under
+your fingers. Not until then have you achieved your purpose of technical
+practice. The mere mastering of a difficulty _per se_ is no guarantee of
+success whatever. Many students play certain compositions for years, and
+yet when they are asked to play them the evidences of imperfection are
+so palpable that they cannot have finished the learning of them. The
+strong probability is that they never will finish the "study" of them,
+because they do not study right.
+
+_As to the Number of Pieces_: The larger the number of good compositions
+you are able to play in a finished manner, the better grow your
+opportunities to develop your versatility of style; for in almost every
+good composition you will find some traits peculiar to itself only which
+demand an equally special treatment. To keep as many pieces as possible
+in your memory and in good technical condition, play them a few times
+each week. Do not play them, however, in consecutive repetitions. Take
+one after the other. After the last piece is played the first one will
+appear fresh again to your mind. This process I have tested and found
+very helpful in maintaining a large repertory.
+
+[Illustration: _The Position of the Hand_]
+
+_Play Always with the Fingers_--that is, move your arms as little as
+possible and hold them--and the shoulder muscles--quite loosely. The
+hands should be nearly horizontal, with a slight inclination from the
+elbows toward the keys. Bend the fingers gently and endeavour to touch
+the keys in their centre and with the tips of the fingers. This will
+tend toward sureness and give eyes to your fingers, so to speak.
+
+_The Practice of Finger Octaves_: Play octaves first as if you were
+playing single notes with one finger of each hand. Lift the thumb and
+fifth finger rather high and let them fall upon the keys without using
+the wrist. Later let the wrist come to your aid, sometimes even the arm
+and shoulder muscles, though the latter should both be reserved for
+places requiring great power.
+
+Where powerful octaves occur in long continuation it is best to
+distribute the work over the joints and muscles of the fingers, wrists,
+and shoulders. With a rational distribution each of the joints will
+avoid over-fatigue and the player will gain in endurance. This applies,
+of course, only to bravura passages. In places where musical
+characteristics predominate the player does best to choose whichever of
+these sources of touch seems most appropriate.
+
+[Illustration: _Incorrect Way to Play an Octave_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Way to Play an Octave_]
+
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Incorrect Position of Little Finger_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Position of Little Finger_]
+
+_About Using the Pedal_: Beware of too frequent and--above all--of
+long-continued use of the pedal. It is the mortal enemy of clarity.
+Judiciously, however, you should use it when you study a new work, for
+if you accustom yourself to play a work without the pedal the habit of
+non-pedalling will grow upon you, and you will be surprised to find
+later how your feet can be in the way of your fingers. Do not delay the
+use of the pedal as if it were the dessert after a repast.
+
+_Never Play with a Metronome_: You may use a metronome for a little
+passage as a test of your ability to play the passage in strict time.
+When you see the result, positive or negative, stop the machine
+at once. For according to the metronome a really musical rhythm is
+unrhythmical--and, on the other hand, the keeping of absolutely strict
+time is thoroughly unmusical and deadlike.
+
+You should endeavour to reproduce the sum-total of the time which a
+musical thought occupies. Within its scope, however, you must vary your
+beats in accordance with their musical significance. This constitutes in
+musical interpretation what I call the individual pulse-beat which
+imparts life to the dead, black notes. Beware, however, of being too
+"individual"! Avoid exaggeration, or else your patient will grow
+feverish and all aesthetic interpretation goes to the happy hunting
+grounds!
+
+_The Correct Posture at the Piano_: Sit straight before the piano but
+not stiff. Have both feet upon the pedals, so as to be at any moment
+ready to use them. All other manners to keep the feet are--bad manners.
+Let your hand fall with the arm upon the keyboard when you start a
+phrase, and observe a certain roundness in all the motions of your arms
+and hands. Avoid angles and sharp bends, for they produce strong
+frictions in the joints, which means a waste of force and is bound to
+cause premature fatigue.
+
+_Do Not Attend Poor Concerts._ Do not believe that you can learn correct
+vision from the blind, nor that you can really profit by hearing how a
+piece should _not_ be played, and then trying the reverse. The danger of
+getting accustomed to poor playing is very great. What would you think
+of a parent who deliberately sent his child into bad company in order
+that such child should learn how _not_ to behave? Such experiments are
+dangerous. By attending poor concerts you encourage the bungler to
+continue in his crimes against good taste and artistic decency, and you
+become his accomplice. Besides, you help to lower the standard of
+appreciation in your community, which may sink so low that good concerts
+will cease to be patronised. If you desire that good concerts should be
+given in your city the least you can do is to withhold your patronage
+from bad ones. If you are doubtful as to the merits of a proposed
+concert ask your own or your children's music teacher. He will
+appreciate your confidence and be glad of the opportunity to serve you
+for once in a musical matter that lies on a higher plane than your own
+or your children's music lesson.
+
+_To Those Who Play in Public_ I should like to say this: Before you have
+played a composition in public two or three times you must not expect
+that every detail of it shall go according to your wishes. Do not be
+surprised at little unexpected occurrences. Consider that the acoustic
+properties of the various halls constitute a serious danger to the
+musician. Bad humor on your part, or a slight indisposition, even a
+clamlike audience, Puritanically austere or cool from diffidence--all
+these things can be overcome; but the acoustic properties remain the
+same from the beginning of your programme to its end, and if they are
+not a kindly counsellor they turn into a fiendish demon who sneers to
+death your every effort to produce noble-toned pictures. Therefore, try
+to ascertain, as early as possible, what sort of an architectural
+stomach your musical feast is to fill, and then--well, do the best you
+can. Approach the picture you hold in your mind as nearly as
+circumstances permit.
+
+_When I Find Bad Acoustics in a Hall._ An important medium of rectifying
+the acoustic misbehaviour of a hall I have found in the pedal. In some
+halls my piano has sounded as if I had planted my feet on the pedal for
+good and ever; in such cases I practised the greatest abstention from
+pedalling. It is a fact that we have to treat the pedal differently in
+almost every hall to insure the same results. I know that a number of
+books have been written on the use of the pedal, but they are theories
+which tumble down before the first adverse experience on the legitimate
+concert stage. There you can lean on nothing but experience.
+
+_About Reading Books on Music._ And speaking of books on music, let me
+advise you to read them, but not to believe them unless they support
+every statement with an argument, and unless this argument succeeds in
+convincing you. In art we deal far oftener with exceptions than with
+rules and laws. Every genius in art has demonstrated in his works the
+forefeeling of new laws, and every succeeding one has done by his
+precursors as his successors have in their turn done by him. Hence all
+theorising in art must be problematic and precarious, while dogmatising
+in art amounts to absurdity. Music is a language--the language of the
+musical, whatever and wherever be their country. Let each one, then,
+speak in his own way, as he thinks and feels, provided he is sincere.
+Tolstoi put the whole thing so well when he said: "There are only three
+things of real importance in the world. They are: Sincerity! Sincerity!
+Sincerity!"
+
+
+
+
+CORRECT TOUCH AND TECHNIC
+
+
+Great finger technic may be defined as extreme precision and great speed
+in the action of the fingers. The latter quality, however, can never be
+developed without the legato touch. I am convinced that the degree of
+perfection of finger technic is exactly proportionate to the development
+of the legato touch. The process of the non-legato touch, by showing
+contrary results, will bear me out. To play a rapid run non-legato will
+consume much more time than to play it legato because of the lifting of
+the fingers between the tones. In playing legato the fingers are not
+lifted off the keys, but--hardly losing contact with the ivory--glide
+sideways to the right or the left as the notes may call for it. This,
+naturally, saves both time and exertion, and thus allows an increase of
+speed.
+
+How is the true legato accomplished? By the gliding motion just
+mentioned, and by touching the next following key before the finger
+which played last has fully abandoned its key. To illustrate, let me say
+that in a run of single notes two fingers are simultaneously at
+work--the "played" and the "playing" one; in runs of double notes
+(thirds, sixths, etc.) the number of simultaneously employed fingers is,
+analogously, four. Only in this manner is a true legato touch to be
+attained. While the fingers are in action the hand must not move lest it
+produce gaps between the succeeding tones, causing not only a breaking
+of the connection between them but also a lessening of speed. The
+transfer of the hand should take place only when the finger is already
+in touch with the key that is to follow--not at the time of contact,
+still less before.
+
+The selection of a practical fingering is, of course, of paramount
+importance for a good legato touch. In attempting a run without a good
+fingering we will soon find ourselves "out of fingers." In that
+emergency we should have to resort to "piecing on," and this means a
+jerk at every instance--equal to a non-legato. A correct fingering is
+one which permits the longest natural sequel of fingers to be used
+without a break. By earnest thinking every player can contrive the
+fingering that will prove most convenient to him. But, admitting that
+the great diversity of hands prohibits a universal fingering, all the
+varieties of fingering ought to be based upon the principle of a natural
+sequel. If a player be puzzled by certain configurations of notes and
+keys as to the best fingering for them, he ought to consult a teacher,
+who, if a good one, will gladly help him out.
+
+Precision, the other component part of finger technic, is intimately
+related with the player's general sense of orderliness. As a matter of
+fact, precision is orderliness in the technical execution of a musical
+prescription. If the student will but look quite closely at the piece he
+is learning; if he has the patience to repeat a difficult place in it a
+hundred times if necessary--and correctly, of course--he will soon
+acquire the trait of precision and he will experience the resultant
+increase in his technical ability.
+
+Mental technic presupposes the ability to form a clear inward conception
+of a run without resorting to the fingers at all. Since every action of
+a finger has first to be determined upon by the mind, a run should be
+completely prepared mentally before it is tried on the piano. In other
+words, the student should strive to acquire the ability to form the
+tonal picture in his mind, rather than the note picture.
+
+The tonal picture dwells in our imagination. This acts upon the
+responsive portions of the brain, influences them according to its own
+intensity, and this influence is then transferred to the motoric
+nerve-centres which are concerned in music-making. As far as known this
+is the course by which the musician converts his musical concept into a
+tonal reality. Hence, when studying a new work, it is imperative that a
+tonal picture of perfect clarity should be prepared in the mind before
+the mechanical (or technical) practicing begins. In the earlier stages
+of cultivating this trait it will be best to ask the teacher to play the
+piece for us, and thus to help us in forming a correct tonal picture in
+our mind.
+
+The blurring of the tonal picture produces a temporary (don't get
+frightened!) paralysis of the motoric centres which control the
+fingers. Every pianist knows--unfortunately--the sensation of having his
+fingers begin to "stick" as if the keys were covered with flypaper, and
+he knows, also, that this sensation is but a warning that the fingers
+are going on a general and even "sympathetic" strike--sympathetic,
+because even the momentarily unconcerned fingers participate in it. Now
+the cause of this sensation lies not in a defective action of the
+fingers themselves, but solely in the mind. It is there that some
+undesired change has taken place, a change which impairs the action of
+the fingers. The process is like this: by quick repetitions of
+complicated figures, slight errors, slips, flaws escape our notice; the
+more quick repetitions we make the larger will be the number of these
+tiny blots, and this must needs lead finally to a completely distorted
+tonal picture. This distortion, however, is not the worst feature.
+Inasmuch as we are very likely not to make the same little blunders at
+every repetition the tonal picture becomes confused, blurred. The nerve
+contacts which cause the fingers to act become undecided first, then
+they begin to fail more and more, until they cease altogether and the
+fingers--stick! At such a juncture the student should at once resort to
+slow practice. He should play the defective place clearly, orderly, and,
+above all, slowly, and persist in this course until the number of
+correct repetitions proves sufficient to crowd the confused tonal
+picture out of the mind. This is not to be regarded as mechanical
+practice, for it is intended for the rehabilitation of a disarranged or
+disturbed mental concept. I trust this will speak for the practice of
+what I called "mental technic." Make the mental tonal picture sharp; the
+fingers must and will obey it.
+
+[Illustration: _Incorrect Position of Thumb_]
+
+[Illustration: _Correct Position of Thumb_]
+
+We are sometimes affected by "thought-laziness"--I translate this word
+literally from other languages, because it is a good compound for which
+I can find no better equivalent in English. Whenever we find the fingers
+going astray in the piece we play we might as well admit to ourselves
+that the trouble is in the main office. The mysterious controlling
+officer has been talking with a friend instead of attending to business.
+The mind was not keeping step with the fingers. We have relied on our
+automatism; we allowed the fingers to run on and the mind lagged behind,
+instead of being, as it should be, ahead of the fingers, preparing their
+work.
+
+Quick musical thinking, the importance of which is thus apparent, cannot
+be developed by any direct course. It is one of the by-products of the
+general widening of one's musical horizon. It is ever proportionate to
+the growth of one's other musical faculties. It is the result of
+elasticity of the mind acquired or developed by constant, never-failing,
+unremitting employment whenever we are at the piano. A procedure tending
+directly toward developing quick musical thinking is, therefore, not
+necessary.
+
+The musical will has its roots in the natural craving for musical
+utterance. It is the director-in-chief of all that is musical in us.
+Hence I recognise in the purely technical processes of piano-playing no
+less a manifestation of the musical will. But a technic without a
+musical will is a faculty without a purpose, and when it becomes a
+purpose in itself it can never serve art.
+
+
+
+
+THE USE OF THE PEDAL
+
+
+To speak in a concrete manner of the pedal is possible only on the basis
+of a complete understanding of the fundamental principle underlying its
+use. The reader must agree to the governing theory that the organ which
+governs the employment of the pedal is--the ear! As the eye guides the
+fingers when we read music, so must the ear be the guide--and the "sole"
+guide--of the foot upon the pedal. The foot is merely the servant, the
+executive agent, while the ear is the guide, the judge, and the final
+criterion. If there is any phase in piano-playing where we should
+remember particularly that music is for the ear it is in the treatment
+of the pedal. Hence, whatever is said here in the following lines with
+regard to the pedal must be understood as resting upon the basis of this
+principle.
+
+As a general rule I recommend pressing the lever or treadle down with a
+quick, definite, full motion and always immediately after--mark me,
+after--the striking of the keys, never simultaneously with the stroke of
+the fingers, as so many erroneously assume and do. To prevent a
+cacophonous mixture of tones we should consider that we must stop the
+old tone before we can give pedal to the new one, and that, in order to
+make the stopping of the past tone perfect, we must allow the damper to
+press upon the vibrating strings long enough to do its work. If,
+however, we tread down exactly with the finger-stroke we simply inhibit
+this stopping, because the damper in question is lifted again before it
+has had time to fall down. (In speaking of the dampers as moving up and
+down I have in mind the action of the "grand" piano; in the upright
+piano the word "off" must be substituted for "up," and "on" for "down.")
+This rule will work in a vast majority of cases, but like every
+rule--especially in art--it will be found to admit of many exceptions.
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Incorrect Position of the Feet_]
+
+[Illustration: _Photograph by Byron_
+_Correct Position of the Feet on the Pedal_]
+
+_Harmonic Clarity in Pedalling is the Basis_, but it is only the basis;
+it is not all that constitutes an artistic treatment of the pedal. In
+spite of what I have just said above there are in many pieces moments
+where a blending of tones, seemingly foreign to one another, is a means
+of characterisation. This blending is especially permissible when the
+passing (foreign) tones are more than one octave removed from the lowest
+tone and from the harmony built upon it. In this connection it should be
+remembered that the pedal is not merely a means of tone prolongation but
+also a means of colouring--and pre-eminently that. What is generally
+understood by the term piano-charm is to the greatest extent produced by
+an artistic use of the pedal.
+
+For instance, great accent effects can be produced by the gradual
+accumulating of tone-volume through the pedal and its sudden release on
+the accented point. The effect is somewhat like that which we hear in
+the orchestra when a crescendo is supported by a roll of the drum or
+tympani making the last tap on the accented point. And, as I am
+mentioning the orchestra, I may illustrate by the French horns another
+use of the pedal: where the horns do not carry the melody (which they do
+relatively seldom) they are employed to support sustained harmonies,
+and their effect is like a glazing, a binding, a unifying of the various
+tone-colours of the other instruments. Just such a glazing is produced
+by the judicious use of the pedal, and when, in the orchestra, the horns
+cease and the strings proceed alone there ensues a certain soberness of
+tone which we produce in the piano by the release and non-use of the
+pedal. In the former instance, while the horns were active they
+furnished the harmonic background upon which the thematic development of
+the musical picture proceeded; in the latter case, when the horns cease
+the background is taken away and the thematic configurations stand
+out--so to speak--against the sky. Hence, the pedal gives to the piano
+tone that unifying, glazing, that finish--though this is not exactly the
+word here--which the horns or softly played trombones give to the
+orchestra.
+
+_But the Pedal Can Do More Than That._ At times we can produce strange,
+glasslike effects by purposely mixing non-harmonic tones. I only need to
+hint at some of the fine, embroidery-like cadenzas in Chopin's works,
+like the one in his E-minor Concerto (Andante, measures 101, 102, and
+103). Such blendings are productive of a multitude of effects,
+especially when we add the agency of dynamic gradation: effects
+suggestive of winds from Zephyr to Boreas, of the splash and roar of
+waves, of fountain-play, of rustling leaves, etc. This mode of blending
+can be extended also to entire harmonies in many cases where one
+fundamental chord is to predominate for some time while other chords may
+pass in quicker succession while it lasts. In such cases it is by no
+means imperative to abandon the pedal; we need only to establish various
+dynamic levels and place the ruling harmony on a higher level than the
+passing ones. In other words, the predominating chord must receive so
+much force that it can outlast all those briefer ones which, though
+audible, must die of their own weakness, and while the strong, ruling
+chord was constantly disturbed by the weaker ones it also re-established
+its supremacy with the death of every weaker one which it outlasted.
+This use of the pedal has its limitations in the evanescent nature of
+the tone of the piano. That moment when the blending of non-harmonic
+tones imperils the tonal beauty of the piece in hand can be determined
+solely and exclusively by the player's own ear, and here we are once
+more at the point from which this article started, namely: that the ear
+is governor, and that it alone can decide whether or not there is to be
+any pedal.
+
+It were absurd to assume that we can greatly please the ear of others by
+our playing so long as our own ear is not completely satisfied. We
+should, therefore, endeavour to train the susceptibility of our ear, and
+we should ever make it more difficult to gain the assent of our own ear
+than to gain that of our auditors. They may, apparently, not notice
+defects in your playing, but at this juncture I wish to say a word of
+serious warning: Do not confound unmindfulness with consent! To hear
+ourselves play--that is, to listen to our own playing--is the bed-rock
+basis of all music-making and also, of course, of the technic of the
+pedal. Therefore, listen carefully, attentively to the tones you
+produce. When you employ the pedal as a prolongation of the fingers (to
+sustain tones beyond the reach of the fingers), see to it that you
+catch, and hold, the fundamental tone of your chord, for this tone must
+be always your chief consideration.
+
+_Whether You Use the Pedal as a Means of Mere Prolongation_ or as a
+medium of colouring, under no circumstances use it as a cloak for
+imperfection of execution. For, like charity, it is apt to be made to
+cover a multitude of sins; but, again like charity, who wants to make
+himself dependent upon it, when honest work can prevent it?
+
+Nor should the pedal be used to make up for a deficiency of force. To
+produce a forte is the business of the fingers (with or without the aid
+of the arm) but not of the pedal, and this holds true also--_mutatis
+mutandis_--of the left pedal, for which the Germans use a word
+(_Verschiebung_) denoting something like "shifting." In a "grand" piano
+the treading of the left pedal shifts the hammers so far to one side
+that instead of striking three strings they will strike only two. (In
+the pianos of fifty and more years ago there were only two strings to
+each tone, and when the hammers were shifted by the treading of the
+left pedal they struck only one string. From those days we have retained
+the term "_una corda_"--one string.) In an upright piano the lessening
+of tone-volume is produced by a lessening of the momentum of the hammer
+stroke.
+
+Now, as the right pedal should not be used to cover a lack of force, so
+should the left pedal not be regarded as a licence to neglect the
+formation of a fine _pianissimo_ touch. It should not cloak or screen a
+defective _pianissimo_, but should serve exclusively as a means of
+colouring where the softness of tone is coupled with what the jewellers
+call "dull finish." For the left pedal does not soften the tone without
+changing its character; it lessens the quantity of tone but at the same
+time it also markedly affects the quality.
+
+To _Sum Up_: Train your ear and then use both pedals honestly! Use them
+for what they were made. Remember that even screens are not used for
+hiding things behind them, but for decorative purposes or for
+protection. Those who do use them for hiding something must have
+something which they prefer to hide!
+
+
+
+
+PLAYING "IN STYLE"
+
+
+By playing a piece of music "in style" is understood a rendition which
+does absolute justice to its contents in regard to the manner of
+expression. Now, the true manner of expression must be sought and found
+for each piece individually, even though a number of different pieces
+may be written by one and the same composer. Our first endeavour should
+be to search out the peculiarity of the piece in hand rather than that
+of the composer in general. If you have succeeded in playing one work by
+Chopin in style, it does not follow, by any means, that you can play
+equally well any other work from his pen. Though on general lines his
+manner of writing may be the same in all his works, there will,
+nevertheless, be marked differences between the various pieces.
+
+Only by careful study of each work by itself can we find the key to its
+correct conception and rendition. We will never find it in books about
+the composer, nor in such as treat of his works, but only in the works
+themselves and in each one _per se_. People who study a lot of things
+about a work of art may possibly enrich their general knowledge, but
+they never can get that specific knowledge needful for the
+interpretation of the particular work in hand. Its own contents alone
+can furnish that knowledge. We know from frequent experience that
+book-learned musicians (or, as they are now called, musicologists)
+usually read everything in sight, and yet their playing rises hardly
+ever above mediocre dilettanteism.
+
+Why should we look for a correct conception of a piece anywhere but in
+the piece itself? Surely the composer has embodied in the piece all he
+knew and felt when he wrote it. Why, then, not listen to his specific
+language instead of losing our way in the terms of another art?
+Literature is literature, and music is music. They may combine, as in
+song, but one can never be substituted for the other.
+
+_Many Students Never Learn_ to understand a composer's specific language
+because their sole concern is to make the piece "effective" in the
+sense of a clever stunt. This tendency is most deplorable; for there
+really does exist a specifically musical language. By purely material
+means: through notes, pauses, dynamic and other signs, through special
+annotations, etc., the composer encloses in his work the whole world of
+his imagination. The duty of the interpretative artist is to extract
+from these material things the spiritual essence and to transmit it to
+his hearers. To achieve this he must understand this musical language in
+general and of each composition in particular.
+
+But--how is this language to be learned?
+
+By conning with careful attentiveness--and, of course, absorbing--the
+purely material matter of a piece: the notes, pauses, time values,
+dynamic indications, etc.
+
+If a player be scrupulously exact in his mere reading of a piece it
+will, of itself, lead him to understand a goodly portion of the piece's
+specific language. Nay, more! Through a really correct conning the
+player is enabled to determine upon the points of repose as well as upon
+the matter of climax, and thus to create a basis for the operations of
+his own imagination. After that, nothing remains but to call forth into
+tonal life, through the fingers, what his musical intelligence has
+grasped--which is a purely technical task. To transform the purely
+technical and material processes into a thing that lives, of course,
+rests with the natural, emotional, temperamental endowments of the
+individual; it rests with those many and complex qualities which are
+usually summarised by the term "talent," but this must be presupposed
+with a player who aspires to artistic work.
+
+On the other hand, talent alone cannot lift the veil that hides the
+spiritual content of a composition if its possessor neglects to examine
+the latter carefully as to its purely material ingredients. He may
+flatter the ear, sensuously speaking, but he can never play the piece in
+style.
+
+_Now How Can We Know_ whether we are or are not approaching the
+spiritual phase of a piece? By repetition under unremitting attention to
+the written values. If, then, you should find how much there is still
+left for you to do, you have proved to yourself that you have
+understood the piece spiritually and are on the right track to master
+it. With every repetition you will discover some hitherto unnoticed
+defect in your interpretation. Obviate these defects, one by one, and in
+so doing you will come nearer and nearer to the spiritual essence of the
+work in hand.
+
+As to the remaining "purely technical task" (as I said before), it must
+not be underestimated! To transmit one's matured conception to one's
+auditors requires a considerable degree of mechanical skill, and this
+skill, in its turn, must be under absolute control of the will. Of
+course--after the foregoing--this does not mean that everybody who has a
+good and well-controlled technic can interpret a piece in style.
+Remember that to possess wealth is one thing, to put it to good use is
+quite another.
+
+It is sometimes said that the too objective study of a piece may impair
+the "individuality" of its rendition. Have no fear of that! If ten
+players study the same piece with the same high degree of exactness and
+objectivity--depend upon it: each one will still play it quite
+differently from the nine others, though each one may think his
+rendition the only correct one. For each one will express what,
+according to his lights, he has mentally and temperamentally absorbed.
+Of the distinctive feature which constitutes the difference in the ten
+conceptions each one will have been unconscious while it formed itself,
+and perhaps also afterward. But it is just this unconsciously formed
+feature which constitutes legitimate individuality and which alone will
+admit of a real fusion of the composer's and the interpreter's thought.
+A purposed, blatant parading of the player's dear self through wilful
+additions of nuances, shadings, effects, and what not, is tantamount to
+a falsification; at best it is "playing to the galleries," charlatanism.
+The player should always feel convinced that he plays only what is
+written. To the auditor, who with his own and different intelligence
+follows the player's performance, the piece will appear in the light of
+the player's individuality. The stronger this is the more it will colour
+the performance, when unconsciously admixed.
+
+_Rubinstein Often Said to Me_: "Just play first exactly what is written;
+if you have done full justice to it and then still feel like adding or
+changing anything, why, do so." Mind well: after you have done full
+justice to what is written! How few are those who fulfil this duty! I
+venture to prove to any one who will play for me--if he be at all worth
+listening to--that he does not play more than is written (as he may
+think), but, in fact, a good deal less than the printed page reveals.
+And this is one of the principal causes of misunderstanding the esoteric
+portion, the inherent "style" of a piece--a misunderstanding which is
+not always confined to amateurs--inexact reading!
+
+The true interpretation of a piece of music results from a correct
+understanding of it, and this, in turn, depends solely upon scrupulously
+exact reading.
+
+_Learn the Language of Music_, then, I repeat, through exact reading!
+You will then soon fathom the musical meaning of a composition and
+transmit it intelligibly to your listeners. Would you satisfy your
+curiosity as to what manner of person the author is or was at the time
+of writing, you may do so. But--as I said in the "Foreword"--your chief
+interest should centre in the "composition," not in the "composer," for
+only by studying his work will you be enabled to play it in style.
+
+
+
+
+HOW RUBINSTEIN TAUGHT ME TO PLAY
+
+
+Outside of the regular students of the Imperial Conservatory of Music at
+St. Petersburg, Rubinstein accepted but one pupil. The advantage and
+privilege to be that one pupil was mine.
+
+I came to Rubinstein when I was sixteen years old and left him at
+eighteen. Since that time I have studied only by myself; for to whom
+could I have gone after Rubinstein? His very manner of teaching was such
+that it would have made any other teacher appear to me like a
+schoolmaster. He chose the method of indirect instruction through
+suggestive comparisons. He touched upon the strictly musical only upon
+rare occasions. In this way he wished to awaken within me the concretely
+musical as a parallel of his generalisations and thereby preserve my
+musical individuality.
+
+He never played for me. He only talked, and I, understanding him,
+translated his meaning into music and musical utterances. Sometimes, for
+instance, when I played the same phrase twice in succession, and played
+it both times alike (say in a sequence), he would say: "In fine weather
+you may play it as you did, but when it rains play it differently."
+
+Rubinstein was much given to whims and moods, and he often grew
+enthusiastic about a certain conception only to prefer a different one
+the next day. Yet he was always logical in his art, and though he aimed
+at hitting the nail from various points of view he always hit it on the
+head. Thus he never permitted me to bring to him, as a lesson, any
+composition more than once. He explained this to me once by saying that
+he might forget in the next lesson what he told me in the previous one,
+and by drawing an entirely new picture only confuse my mind. Nor did he
+ever permit me to bring one of his own works, though he never explained
+to me his reason for this singular attitude.
+
+[Illustration: _Anton Rubinstein_]
+
+[Illustration: _How Rubinstein Taught Me to Play_]
+
+Usually, when I came to him, arriving from Berlin, where I lived, I
+found him seated at his writing-desk, smoking Russian cigarettes. He
+lived at the Hotel de l'Europe. After a kindly salute he would always
+ask me the same question: "Well, what is new in the world?"
+
+I remember replying to him: "I know nothing new; that's why I came to
+learn something new--from you."
+
+Rubinstein, understanding at once the musical meaning of my words,
+smiled, and the lesson thus promised to be a fine one.
+
+I noticed he was usually not alone when I came, but had as visitors
+several elderly ladies, sometimes very old ladies (mostly Russians), and
+some young girls--seldom any men. With a wave of his hand he directed me
+to the piano in the corner, a Bechstein, which was most of the time
+shockingly out of tune; but to this condition of his piano he was always
+serenely indifferent. He would remain at his desk studying the notes of
+the work while I played. He always compelled me to bring the pieces
+along, insisting that I should play everything just as it was written!
+He would follow every note of my playing with his eyes riveted on the
+printed pages. A pedant he certainly was, a stickler for the
+letter--incredibly so, especially when one considered the liberties he
+took when he played the same works! Once I called his attention modestly
+to this seeming paradox, and he answered: "When you are as old as I am
+now you may do as I do--if you can."
+
+Once I played a Liszt Rhapsody pretty badly. After a few moments he
+said: "The way you played this piece would be all right for auntie or
+mamma." Then rising and coming toward me he would say: "Now let us see
+how we play such things." Then I would begin all over again, but hardly
+had I played a few measures when he would interrupt and say: "Did you
+start? I thought I hadn't heard right----"
+
+"Yes, master, I certainly did," I would reply.
+
+"Oh," he would say vaguely. "I didn't notice."
+
+"How do you mean?" I would ask.
+
+"I mean this," he would answer: "Before your fingers touch the keys you
+must begin the piece mentally--that is, you must have settled in your
+mind the _tempo_, the manner of touch, and, above all, the attack of
+the first notes, before your actual playing begins. And by-the-bye, what
+is the character of this piece? Is it dramatic, tragic, lyric, romantic,
+humourous, heroic, sublime, mystic--what? Well, why don't you speak?"
+
+Generally I would mutter something after such a tirade, but usually I
+said something stupid because of the awe with which he inspired me.
+Finally, after trying several of his suggested designations I would hit
+it right. Then he would say: "Well, there we are at last! Humourous, is
+it? Very well! And rhapsodical, irregular--hey? You understand the
+meaning?" I would answer, "Yes."
+
+"Very well, then," he would reply; "now prove it." And then I would
+begin all over again.
+
+He would stand at my side, and whenever he wanted a special stress laid
+upon a certain note his powerful fingers would press upon my left
+shoulder with such force that I would stab the keys till the piano
+fairly screamed for me. When this did not have the effect he was after
+he would simply press his whole hand upon mine, flattening it out and
+spreading it like butter all over the keys, black and white ones,
+creating a frightful cacophony. Then he would say, almost with anger,
+"But cleaner, cleaner, cleaner," as if the discord had been of my doing.
+
+Such occurrences did not lack a humourous side, but their turn into the
+tragical always hung by a hair, especially if I had tried to explain or
+to make excuses. So I generally kept silent, and I found, after some
+experience, that was the only proper thing for me to do. For just as
+quickly as he would flare up he would also calm down again, and when the
+piece was ended I would hear his usual comment: "You are an excellent
+young man!" And how quickly was all pain then forgotten!
+
+I remember on one occasion that I played Schubert-Liszt's "Erl-Koenig."
+When I came to the place in the composition where the Erl-King says to
+the child, "Thou dear, sweet child, oh, come with me," and I had played
+several false notes besides very poor arpeggios, Rubinstein asked me:
+"Do you know the text at this place?"
+
+As a reply I quoted the words.
+
+"Very well, then," he said, "the Erl-King addresses the child; Erl-King
+is a spirit, a ghost--so play this place in a spiritlike way, ghostly,
+if you will, but not ghastly with false notes!"
+
+I had to laugh at his word-play and Rubinstein himself chimed in, and
+the piece was saved, or rather the player. For when I repeated that
+particular part it went very well, and he allowed me to continue without
+further interruption.
+
+Once I asked him for the fingering of a rather complex passage.
+
+"Play it with your nose," he replied, "but make it sound well!"
+
+This remark puzzled me, and there I sat and wondered what he meant.
+
+As I understand it now he meant: Help yourself! The Lord helps those who
+help themselves!
+
+As I said before, Rubinstein never played for me the works I had to
+study. He explained, analysed, elucidated everything that he wanted me
+to know; but, this done, he left me to my own judgment, for only then,
+he would explain, would my achievement be my own and incontestable
+property. I learned from Rubinstein in this way the valuable truth that
+the conception of tone-pictures obtained through the playing of another
+gives us only transient impressions; they come and go, while the
+self-created conception will last and remain our own.
+
+Now, when I look back upon my study-days with Rubinstein, I can see that
+he did not so much instruct me as that I learned from him. He was not a
+pedagogue in the usual meaning of that word. He indicated to me an
+altitude offering a fine view, but how I was to get up there was my
+affair; he did not bother about it. "Play with your nose!" Yes--but when
+I bumped it till it fairly bled where would I get the metaphorical
+handkerchief? In my imagination! And he was right.
+
+To be sure, this method would not work with all pupils, but it is
+nevertheless well calculated to develop a student's original thought and
+bring out whatever acumen he may possess. If such a one succeeded by his
+own study and mental force to reach the desired point which the great
+magician's wizardry had made him see, he had gained the reliance in his
+own strength: he felt sure that he would always find that point
+again--even though he should lose his way once or twice, as every one
+with an honest aspiration is liable to do.
+
+I recall that Rubinstein once said to me: "Do you know why piano-playing
+is so difficult? Because it is prone to be either affected or else
+afflicted with mannerisms; and when these two pitfalls are luckily
+avoided then it is liable to be--dry! The truth lies between those three
+mischiefs!"
+
+When it was settled that I should make my Hamburg debut under his baton
+with his own D-minor Concerto, I thought the time had come at last to
+study with him one of his own works. So I proposed it, but Rubinstein
+disposed of it! I still see him, as if it were but yesterday, seated in
+the greenroom of the Berlin Philharmonic during an intermission in his
+concert (it was on a Saturday) and telling me: "We shall appear together
+in Hamburg on Monday." The time was short, but I knew the Concerto and
+hoped to go through it with him some time in the remaining two days. I
+asked his permission to play the Concerto for him, but he declined my
+urgent request, saying: "It is not necessary; we understand each other!"
+And even in this critical moment he left me to my own resources. After
+the last (and only) rehearsal the great master embraced me before the
+whole orchestra, and I--well, I was not in the seventh, but in the
+"eighth" heaven! Everything was all right, I said to myself, for
+Rubinstein, Rubinstein was satisfied! The public simply had to be! The
+concert went off splendidly.
+
+After that memorable debut in Hamburg, which was on March 14, 1894, I
+went directly to see Rubinstein, little dreaming that my eyes would then
+see him for the last time. I brought with me a large photograph of
+himself, and, though fully aware of his unconquerable aversion to
+autographing, my desire for the possession of his signature overruled my
+reluctance and I made my request.
+
+He raised both fists and thundered, half-angry and half-laughing: "_Et
+tu, Brute?_"
+
+But my wish was granted, and I reproduce the portrait in this article.
+
+Then I asked him when I should play for him again, and to my
+consternation he answered: "Never!"
+
+In my despair I asked him: "Why not?"
+
+He, generous soul that he was, then said to me: "My dear boy,
+I have told you all I know about legitimate piano-playing and
+music-making"--and then changing his tone somewhat he added: "And if you
+don't know it _yet_, why, go to the devil!"
+
+I saw only too well that while he smiled as he said it he meant it
+seriously, and I left him.
+
+I never saw Rubinstein again. Soon after that he returned to his villa
+in Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, and there he died on November 19,
+1894.
+
+The effect that his death had upon me I shall never forget. The world
+appeared suddenly entirely empty to me, devoid of any interest. My grief
+made me realise how my heart had worshipped not only the artist in him
+but also the man; how I loved him as if he were my father. I learned of
+his death through the English papers while I was _en route_ from London
+to Cheltenham, where I was booked for a recital on the twentieth. The
+B-flat minor Sonata by Chopin happened to be on the programme, and as I
+struck the first notes of the Funeral March the whole audience rose from
+their seats as if by command and remained standing with bowed heads
+during the whole piece--in honour of the great departed.
+
+A singular coincidence occurred at my concert on the preceding day--the
+day of Rubinstein's death.
+
+On this day I played for the first time in public after my seven years'
+retirement (excepting my Hamburg debut). It was in London. In this
+concert I played, as a novelty, a Polonaise in E-flat minor which
+Rubinstein had but recently written in Dresden and dedicated to me. He
+had included it in the set called "Souvenirs de Dresde." This piece has
+throughout the character of a Funeral March in all but the
+time-division. Little did I dream while I was playing it that day that I
+was singing him into his eternal rest, for it was but a few hours later
+that, in the far East of Europe, my great master passed away, suddenly,
+of heart failure.
+
+Two years later I played this same Polonaise for the second and last
+time. It was on the anniversary of his death, in St. Petersburg, where
+in honour of his memory I gave a recital, the proceeds of which I
+devoted to the Rubinstein Fund. Since then I have played this piece only
+once, at home and to myself, excluding it entirely from my public
+repertoire. For, though it was dedicated to me, the time and
+circumstances of its initial performance always made me feel as if it
+still belonged to my master, or, at best, as if it were something
+personal and private between us two.
+
+
+
+
+Indispensables in Pianistic Success
+
+
+I
+
+"The Indispensables in Pianistic Success? Are not the indispensables in
+all success very much the same? Nothing can take the place of real
+worth. This is especially true of America, in which country I have lived
+longer than in any other, and which I am glad to call my home. Americans
+are probably the most traveled people of the world, and it is futile to
+offer them anything but the best. Some years ago a conductor brought to
+this country an orchestra of second-class character, with the idea that
+the people would accept it just because it bore the name of a famous
+European city which possessed one of the great orchestras of the world.
+It was a good orchestra, but there were better orchestras in American
+cities, and it took American audiences just two concerts to find this
+out, resulting in a disastrous failure, which the conductor was man
+enough to face and personally defray. The American people know the
+best, and will have nothing but the best. Therefore, if you would make a
+list of the indispensables of pianistic success in this country at this
+time you must put at the head of your list, REAL WORTH.
+
+"Naturally, one of the first indispensables would include what many term
+'the musical gift.' However, this is often greatly misunderstood. We
+are, happily, past the time when music was regarded as a special kind of
+divine dispensation, which, by its very possession, robbed the musician
+of any claim to possible excellence in other lines. In other words,
+music was so special a gift that it was even thought by some misguided
+people to isolate the musician from the world--to make him a thing apart
+and different from other men and women of high aspirations and
+attainments.
+
+"It is true that there have been famous prodigies in mathematics, and in
+games such as chess, who have given evidence of astonishing prowess in
+their chosen work, but who, at the same time, seem to have been
+lamentably under-developed in many other ways. This is not the case in
+music at this day at least, for, although a special love for music and a
+special quickness in mastering musical problems are indispensable, yet
+the musicians are usually men and women of broad cultural development if
+they desire it and are willing to work for it.
+
+"Nor can I concede that a very finely developed sense of hearing is in
+all cases essential. The possession of what is known as absolute pitch,
+which so many seem to think is a sure indication of musical genius, is
+often a nuisance. Schumann did not possess it, and (unless I am
+incorrectly informed) Wagner did not have absolute pitch. I have it, and
+can, I believe, distinguish differences of an eighth of a tone. I find
+it more disturbing than beneficial. My father had absolute pitch in
+remarkable fashion. He seemed to have extremely acute ears. Indeed, it
+was often impossible for him to identify a well-known composition if he
+heard it played in a different key--it sounded so different to him.
+Mozart had absolute pitch, but music, in his day, was far less
+complicated. We now live in an age of melodic and contrapuntal
+intricacy, and I do not believe that the so-called acute sense of
+hearing, or highly developed sense of absolute pitch, has very much to
+do with one's real musical ability. The physical hearing is nothing;
+the spiritual hearing--if one may say so--is what really counts. If, in
+transposing, for instance, one has associated the contents of a piece so
+closely with its corresponding tonality that it is hard to play in any
+other tonality, this constitutes a difficulty--not an advantage.
+
+
+II
+
+"Too much cannot be said about the advantage of an early drill. The
+impressions made during youth seem to be the most lasting. I am certain
+that the pieces that I learned before I was ten years of age remain more
+persistently in my memory than the compositions I studied after I was
+thirty. The child who is destined for a musical career should receive as
+much musical instruction in early life as is compatible with the child's
+health and receptivity. To postpone the work too long is just as
+dangerous to the child's career as it is dangerous to overload the pupil
+with more work than his mind and body can absorb. Children learn far
+more rapidly than adults--not merely because of the fact that the work
+becomes more and more complicated as the student advances, but also
+because the child mind is so vastly more receptive. The child's power
+of absorption in music study between the ages of eight and twelve is
+simply enormous; it is less between twelve and twenty; still less
+between twenty and thirty, and often lamentably small between thirty and
+forty. It might be represented by some such diagram as:
+
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  30 to 40 years of age    Limited Receptivity    Limited Results
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  20 to 30      }          Still Less Accomplishment
+  years of age  }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  12 to 20      }          Less Accomplishment
+  years of age  }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+  8 to 12       }
+  years         }          Greatest Receptivity
+  of            }          Greatest Accomplishment
+  age           }
+  ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Of course, these lines are only comparative, and there are exceptional
+cases of astonishing development late in life, due to enormous ambition
+and industry. Yet the period of highest achievement is usually early in
+life. This is especially true in the arts where digital skill is
+concerned.
+
+"All teachers are aware of the need for the best possible drill early in
+life. The idea one so often hears expressed in America: 'Since my
+daughter is only beginning her studies--any teacher will do,' has been
+the source of great laxity in American musical education. If the father
+who has such an idea would only transpose the same thought to the
+building of a house he would be surprised to find himself saying: 'Since
+I am only laying a foundation, any kind of trashy material will do. I
+will use inferior cement, plaster, stone, bricks, decayed wood and cheap
+hardware, and employ the cheapest labor I can procure. But when I get to
+the roof I shall engage the finest roofmakers in the world!'
+
+"The beginning is of such tremendous importance that only the best is
+good enough. By this I do not mean the most expensive teacher
+obtainable, but someone who is thorough, painstaking, conscientious,
+alert and experienced. The foundation is the part of the house in which
+the greatest strength and thoroughness is required. Everything must be
+solid, substantial, firm and secure, to stand the stress of use and the
+test of time. Of course, there is such a thing as employing a teacher
+with a big reputation and exceptional skill, who would make an excellent
+teacher for an advanced student, but who might be incapable of laying a
+good foundation for the beginner. One wants strength at the
+foundation--not gold ornaments and marble trimmings and beautiful
+decorations, fretwork, carving. Just as in great cities one finds firms
+which make a specialty of laying foundations for immense buildings, so
+it is often wise to employ a teacher who specializes in instructing
+beginners. In European music schools this has almost always been the
+case. It is not virtuosity that is needed in the makeup of the teacher
+of beginners, but rather sound musicianship, as well as the
+comprehension of the child psychology. Drill, drill, and more drill, is
+the secret of the early training of the mind and hand. This is indicated
+quite as much in games such as tennis, billiards and golf. Think of the
+remarkable records of some very young players in these games, and you
+will see what may be accomplished in the early years of the young
+player.
+
+"In all arts and sciences, as one advances, complications and obstacles
+seem to multiply in complexity until the point of mastery is reached;
+then the tendency seems to reverse itself, until a kind of circle
+carries one round again to the point of simplicity. I have often liked
+to picture this to myself in this way:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"It is encouraging for the student to know that he must expect to be
+confronted with ever-increasing difficulties, until he reaches the point
+where all the intense and intricate problems seem to solve themselves,
+dissolving gradually into the light of a clear understanding day. This
+is to me a general principle underlying almost all lines of human
+achievement, and it appears to me that the student should learn its
+application, not only to his own but to other occupations and
+attainments. This universal line of life, starting with birth, mounting
+to its climax in middle life, and then passing on to greater and greater
+simplicity of means, until at death the circle is almost completed, is a
+kind of human program which all successful men would appear to follow.
+Perhaps we can make this clearer by studying the evolution of the steam
+engine.
+
+"The steam engine started with the most primitive kind of apparatus. At
+the very first it was of the turbine type. Hero of Alexander (Heron, in
+Greek) made the first steam engine, which was little more than a toy.
+According to some historians, Heron lived in the second century before
+Christ, and according to others his work was done in the latter half of
+the first century. He was an ingenious mathematician who often startled
+the people of this time with his mechanical contrivances. It is
+difficult to show the principle of his engine in an exact drawing; but
+the following indicates in a crude way the application of steam force
+something after the manner in which Heron first applied it.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"A is a retort containing water, which is heated to steam, which issues
+from the tube at B and is caught in the wheel in such a manner that the
+wheel revolves. The principle is simplicity itself; and the noteworthy
+fact is that--primitive as it is--it has the characteristic principle
+involved in the turbine engine of to-day. After Heron many others
+attempted to use controlled steam to produce force, until, in 1764,
+James Watt made discoveries which paved the way for the modern steam
+engine, constituting him virtually the inventor of the type. Thereafter,
+the machinery became more and more complicated and enormous in size.
+Double, triple and quadruple expansion types were introduced until, at
+the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876, a giant engine was
+exhibited by Corliss--a marvelous engine, with many elaborate details.
+Then, having reached the maximum curve of complexity, engine
+construction became more and more simple, and now we have turbine
+engines, such as the Parsons engines, which are all far smaller and
+simpler than their grandfathers of the seventies, but at the same time
+vastly more powerful and efficient.
+
+
+III
+
+"In the art of piano playing we have much the same line of curve. At
+first there was childlike simplicity. Then, with the further development
+of the art, we find the tendency toward enormous technical
+accomplishment and very great complexity. Fifty years ago technic was
+everything. The art of piano playing was the art of the musical
+speedometer--the art of playing the greatest number of notes in the
+shortest possible time. Of course, there were a few outstanding giants,
+Rubinsteins, Liszts and Chopins, who made their technic subordinate to
+their message; but the public was dazzled with technic--one might better
+say pyrotechnics. Now we find the circle drawing toward the point of
+simplicity again. Great beauty, combined with adequate technic, is
+demanded rather than enormous technic divorced from beauty.
+
+"Technic represents the material side of art, as money represents the
+material side of life. By all means achieve a fine technic, but do not
+dream that you will be artistically happy with this alone.
+Thousands--millions--of people believe that money is the basis of great
+happiness, only to find, when they have accumulated vast fortunes, that
+money is only one of the extraneous details which may--or may
+not--contribute to real content in life.
+
+"Technic is a chest of tools from which the skilled artisan draws what
+he needs at the right time for the right purpose. The mere possession
+of the tools means nothing; it is the instinct--the artistic intuition
+as to when and how to use the tools--that counts. It is like opening the
+drawer and finding what one needs at the moment.
+
+"There is a technic which liberates and a technic which represses the
+artistic self. All technic ought to be a means of expression. It is
+perfectly possible to accumulate a technic that is next to useless. I
+recall the case of a musician in Paris who studied counterpoint, harmony
+and fugue for eight years, and at the end of that time he was incapable
+of using any of his knowledge in practical musical composition. Why?
+Because he had spent all of his time on the mere dry technic of
+composition, and none in actual composition. He told me that he had been
+years trying to link his technic to the artistic side of things--to
+write compositions that embodied real music, and not merely the reflex
+of uninspired technical exercises. I am a firm believer in having
+technic go hand in hand with veritable musical development from the
+start. Neither can be studied alone; one must balance the other. The
+teacher who gives a pupil a long course in strict technic unbroken by
+the intelligent study of real music, is producing a musical mechanic--an
+artisan, not an artist.
+
+"Please do not quote me as making a diatribe against technic. I believe
+in technic to the fullest extent in its proper place. Rosenthal, who was
+unquestionably one of the greatest technicians, once said to me: 'I have
+found that the people who claim that technic is not an important thing
+in piano playing simply do not possess it.' For instance, one hears now
+and then that scales are unnecessary in piano practice. A well-played
+scale is a truly beautiful thing, but few people play them well because
+they do not practice them enough. Scales are among the most difficult
+things in piano playing; and how the student who aspires to rise above
+mediocrity can hope to succeed without a thorough and far-reaching drill
+in all kinds of scales, I do not know. I do know, however, that I was
+drilled unrelentingly in them, and that I have been grateful for this
+all my life. Do not despise scales, but rather seek to make them
+beautiful.
+
+"The clever teacher will always find some piece that will illustrate the
+use and result of the technical means employed. There are thousands of
+such pieces that indicate the use of scales, chords, arpeggios, thirds,
+etc., and the pupil is encouraged to find that what he has been working
+so hard to acquire may be made the source of beautiful expression in a
+real piece of music. This, to my mind, should be part of the regular
+program of the student from the very start; and it is what I mean when I
+say that the work of the pupil in technic and in musical appreciation
+should go hand in hand from the beginning.
+
+
+IV
+
+"The use of the pedal is an art in itself. Unfortunately, with many it
+is an expedient to shield deficiency--a cloak to cover up inaccuracy and
+poor touch. It is employed as the veils that fading dowagers adopt to
+obscure wrinkles. The pedal is even more than a medium of coloring. It
+provides the background so indispensable in artistic playing. Imagine a
+picture painted without any background and you may have an inkling of
+what the effect of the properly used pedal is in piano playing. It has
+always seemed to me that it does in piano playing what the wind
+instruments do in the tonal mass of the orchestra. The wind instruments
+usually make a sort of background for the music of the other
+instruments. One who has attended the rehearsal of a great orchestra and
+has heard the violins rehearsed alone, and then together with the wind
+instruments, will understand exactly what I mean.
+
+"How and when to introduce the pedal to provide certain effects is
+almost the study of a lifetime. From the very start, where the student
+is taught the bad effect of holding down the 'loud' pedal while two
+unrelated chords are played, to the time when he is taught to use the
+pedal for the accomplishment of atmospheric effects that are like
+painting in the most subtle and delicate shades, the study of the pedal
+is continuously a source of the most interesting experiment and
+revelation.
+
+"There should be no hard-and-fast rules governing the use of the pedal.
+It is the branch of pianoforte playing in which there must always be the
+greatest latitude. For instance, in the playing of Bach's works on the
+modern pianoforte there seems to have been a very great deal of
+confusion as to the propriety of the use of the pedal. The Bach music,
+which is played now on the keyboard of the modern piano, was, for the
+most part, originally written for either the clavier or for the organ.
+The clavichord had a very short sound, resembling in a way the staccato
+touch on the present-day piano, whereas the organ was and is capable of
+a great volume of sound of sustained quality. Due to the contradictory
+nature of these two instruments and the fact that many people do not
+know whether a composition at hand was written for the clavichord or for
+the organ, some of them try to imitate the organ sound by holding the
+pedal all the time or most of the time, while others try to imitate the
+clavichord and refrain from the use of the pedal altogether. The extreme
+theories, as in the case of all extreme theories, are undoubtedly wrong.
+
+"One may have the clavichord in mind in playing one piece and the organ
+in mind in playing another. There can be nothing wrong about that, but
+to transform the modern pianoforte, which has distinctly specific tonal
+attributes, into a clavichord or into an organ must result in a tonal
+abuse.
+
+"The pedal is just as much a part of the pianoforte as are the stops and
+the couplers a part of the organ or the brass tangents a part of the
+clavichord. It is artistically impossible to so camouflage the tone of
+the pianoforte as to make it sound like either the organ or the
+clavichord. Even were this possible, the clavichord is an instrument
+which is out of date, though the music of Bach is still a part and
+parcel of the musical literature of to-day. The oldest known specimen of
+the clavichord (dated 1537) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New
+York City. Should you happen to view this instrument you would realize
+at once that its action is entirely different from that of the piano,
+just as its tone was different. You cannot possibly make a piano sound
+like a clavichord through any medium of touch or pedals. Therefore, why
+not play the piano as a piano? Why try to do the impossible thing in
+endeavoring to make the piano sound like another instrument of a
+different mechanism? Why not make a piano sound like a piano? Must we
+always endure listening to Wagner's music in a variety show and to
+Strauss' waltzes in Carnegie Hall?
+
+
+V
+
+"If one were to ask me what is the indispensable thing in the education
+of a pianist, I would say: 'First of all, a good guide.' By this I do
+not mean merely a good teacher, but rather a mentor, a pilot who can and
+who will oversee the early steps of the career of a young person. In my
+own case, I was fortunate in having a father, a professional musician,
+who realized my musical possibilities, and from the very beginning was
+intensely interested in my career, not merely as a father, but as an
+artist guiding and piloting every day of my early life. Fate is such a
+peculiar mystery, and the student, in his young life, can have but a
+slight idea of what is before him in the future. Therefore, the need of
+a mentor is essential. I am sure that my father was the author of a
+great deal of the success that I have enjoyed. It was he who took me to
+Moszkowski and Rubinstein. The critical advice--especially that of
+Rubinstein--was invaluable to me. The student should have unrelenting
+criticism from a master mind. Even when it is caustic, as was von
+Buelow's, it may be very beneficial. I remember once in the home of
+Moszkowski that I played for von Buelow. The taciturn, cynical
+conductor-pianist simply crushed me with his criticism of my playing.
+But, young though I was, I was not so conceited as to fail to realize
+that he was right. I shook hands with him and thanked him for his
+advice and criticism. Von Buelow laughed and said, 'Why do you thank me?
+It is like the chicken thanking the one who had eaten it, for doing so.'
+Von Buelow, on that same day played in such a jumbled manner with his
+old, stiffened fingers, that I asked Moszkowski how in the world it
+might be possible for von Buelow to keep a concert engagement which I
+knew him to have a few days later in Berlin. Moszkowski replied: 'Let
+von Buelow alone for that. You don't know him. If he sets out to do
+something, he is going to do it.'
+
+"Von Buelow's playing, however, was almost always pedantic, although
+unquestionably scholarly. There was none of the leonine spontaneity of
+Rubinstein. Rubinstein was a very exacting schoolmaster at the piano
+when he first undertook to train me; but he often said to me, 'The main
+object is to make the music sound right, even though you have to play
+with your nose!' With Rubinstein there was no _ignus fatuus_ of mere
+method. Any method that would lead to fine artistic results--to
+beautiful and effective performance--was justifiable in his eyes.
+
+"Finally, to the student let me say: 'Always work hard and strive to do
+your best. Secure a reliable mentor if you can possibly do so, and
+depend upon his advice as to your career. Even with the best advice
+there is always the element of fate--the introduction of the
+unknown--the strangeness of coincidence which would almost make one
+believe in astrology and its dictum that our terrestrial course may be
+guided by the stars. In 1887, when I played in Washington as a child of
+eleven, I was introduced to a young lady, who was the daughter of
+Senator James B. Eustis. Little did I dream that this young woman, of
+all the hundreds and hundreds of girls introduced to me during my tours,
+would some day be my wife. Fate plays its role--but do not be tempted
+into the fallacious belief that success and everything else depend upon
+fate, for the biggest factor is, after all, hard work and intelligent
+guidance.'"
+
+
+
+
+_Piano Questions Answered_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  TECHNIQUE                                     PAGE
+
+  1. General                                      3
+
+  2. Position of the Body                         4
+
+  3. Position of the Hand                         6
+
+  4. Position of the Fingers                      6
+
+  5. Action of the Wrist                          9
+
+  6. Action of the Arm                           11
+
+  7. Stretching                                  12
+
+  8. The Thumb                                   14
+
+  9. The Other Fingers                           16
+
+  10. Weak Fingers, etc.                         18
+
+  11. Staccato                                   21
+
+  12. Legato                                     22
+
+  13. Precision                                  25
+
+  14. Piano Touch vs Organ Touch                 26
+
+  15. Fingering                                  27
+
+  16. The Glissando                              29
+
+  17. Octaves                                    29
+
+  18. Repetition Technique                       34
+
+  19. Double Notes                               35
+
+  THE INSTRUMENT                                 35
+
+  THE PEDALS                                     39
+
+  PRACTICE                                       45
+
+  MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE                         57
+
+  ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS             75
+
+  1. Bach                                        80
+
+  2. Beethoven                                   83
+
+  3. Mendelssohn                                 85
+
+  4. Chopin                                      86
+
+  EXERCISES AND STUDIES                          93
+
+  POLYRHYTHMS                                    96
+
+  PHRASING                                       98
+
+  RUBATO                                        100
+
+  CONCEPTION                                    102
+
+  FORCE OF EXAMPLE                              104
+
+  THEORY                                        104
+
+  THE MEMORY                                    112
+
+  SIGHT-READING                                 117
+
+  ACCOMPANYING                                  117
+
+  TRANSPOSING                                   119
+
+  PLAYING FOR PEOPLE                            120
+
+  ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE                        127
+
+  BAD MUSIC                                     133
+
+  ETHICAL                                       135
+
+  PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS                     136
+
+  THE STUDENT'S AGE                             138
+
+  TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS                 140
+
+  MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS                       150
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+This little book is compiled from the questions and my answers to them,
+as they have appeared during the past two years in the _Ladies' Home
+Journal_. Since the questions came mostly from young piano students and
+cover a large number of matters important to the study of the piano, it
+was thought that this republication might be of interest to piano
+students in general, and that, gathered into a little volume, they might
+form a new and perhaps not unwelcome sort of reference book.
+
+To serve as such and to facilitate the reader's search for any
+particular subject, I have grouped the questions, together with their
+answers, under special headings.
+
+It is only natural, however, that a book of this character cannot
+contain more than mere suggestions to stimulate the reader's individual
+thinking. Positive facts, which can be found in books on musical history
+and in kindred works, are, therefore, stated only where they are
+needful as a basis for the replies. Any rule or advice given to some
+particular person cannot fit every other person unless it is passed
+through the sieve of one's own individual intelligence and is, by this
+process, so modified as to fit one's own particular case.
+
+There are, in addition to the questions presented and answered, one or
+two points about piano-playing that would naturally not occur to the
+average student. The opportunity to discuss those here is too favourable
+to be allowed to pass, and as they hardly admit of precise
+classification, I venture to offer them here as a brief foreword.
+
+To the hundreds of students who at various times have asked me: What is
+the quickest way to become a great piano-player? I will say that such a
+thing as a royal road, a secret trick, or a patent method to quickly
+become a great artist, does not exist. As the world consists of atoms;
+as it is the infinitely small things that have forced the microscope
+into the scientist's hand, so does art contain numberless small,
+seemingly insignificant things which, if neglected entirely, visit dire
+vengeance upon the student. Instead of prematurely concerning himself
+with his inspiration, spirituality, genius, fancy, etc., and neglecting
+on their account the material side of piano study, the student should be
+willing to progress from atom to atom, slowly, deliberately, but with
+absolute certainty that each problem has been completely solved, each
+difficulty fully overcome, before he faces the next one. Leaps, there
+are none!
+
+Unquestionably it does sometimes happen that an artist suddenly acquires
+a wide renown. In such a case his leap was not into greatness, but
+merely into the public's recognition of it; the greatness must have been
+in him for some time before the public became aware of it. If there was
+any leaping, it was not the artist, but the public that did it.
+
+Let us not close our eyes to the fact that there have been--and probably
+always will be--artists that gain a wide renown _without_ being great;
+puffery, aided by some personal eccentricity, is quite able to mislead
+the public, but these will, at best, do it only for a short time, and
+the collapse of such a reputation, as collapse there must be, is always
+sure, and sad to behold.
+
+The buoyancy of mind, its ability to soar, so necessary for both
+creative and interpretative art, these are never impaired by close
+attention to detail. If they should be destroyed by attention to detail,
+it would not matter, for they cannot have been genuine; they can have
+been but sentimental imaginings. Details are the very steps which, one
+by one, lead to the summit of art; we should be careful not to lift one
+foot before the other one rests quite securely upon its step. One
+should--to illustrate--not be satisfied with the ability of "getting
+through" some difficult passage "by the skin of the teeth" or "without
+breaking down," but should strive to be able to play _with_ it, to toy
+with it, in order to have it at one's beck and call in any variation of
+mood, so as to play it as it pleases the mind and not only the fingers.
+One should acquire sovereignty over it.
+
+This sovereignty is technique. But--technique is not art. It is only a
+means to achieve art, a paver of the path toward it. The danger of
+confounding technique with art itself is not inconsiderable, since it
+takes a long time to develop a trustworthy technique; and this prolonged
+association with one subject is apt to give it supremacy over all others
+in one's mind. To guard against this serious danger the student should,
+above all, never lose sight of the fact that music, as does any other
+art, springs from our innate craving for individual expression. As
+word-thought is transmitted from man to man by verbal language so are
+feelings, emotions, moods--crystallized into tone-thought--conveyed by
+music. The effects of music may, therefore, be ennobling and refining;
+but they can as easily be degrading and demoralizing. For the saints and
+sinners among music-makers are probably in the same proportion as among
+the followers of other professions. The ethical value of music depends,
+therefore, not upon the musician's technique, but solely upon his moral
+tendencies. The student should never strive to dazzle his auditor's ear
+with mere technical brilliancy, but should endeavour to gladden his
+heart, to refine his feelings and sensibilities, by transmitting noble
+musical thoughts to his mind. He should scorn all unnecessary,
+charlatanish externalities and strive ever for the inwardness of the
+composition he interprets; for, in being honest to the composition he
+will also be honest to himself and thus, consciously or not, express his
+own best self. If all musicians were sincere in this endeavour there
+could be neither envy nor jealousy among them; advancing hand in hand
+toward their common ideal they could not help being of mutual assistance
+to each other.
+
+Art, not unlike religion, needs an altar around which its devotees may
+congregate. Liszt, in his day, had erected such an altar in Weimar, and
+as its high priest he stood, himself, before it--a luminous example of
+devotion to art. Rubinstein did the same in St. Petersburg. Out of these
+atmospheres, thanks to the inspiring influences of Liszt's and
+Rubinstein's wonderful personalities, there have emerged a large number
+of highly meritorious and some eminent artists. That many of them have
+lacked the power in their later life to withstand the temptations of
+quick material gain by descending to a lower plane is to be regretted,
+but--such is life. Many are called, but few are chosen. Since those days
+several of these "many" have attempted to create similar centres in
+Europe. They failed, because they were not serving art, but rather made
+art serve their own worldly purposes.
+
+The artists of talent no longer group themselves around the man of
+genius. Perhaps he is not to be found just now. Each little celebrity
+among the pianists keeps nowadays a shop of his own and all to himself.
+Many of these shops are "mints," and some of them produce counterfeits.
+As a matter of course, this separative system precludes all unification
+of artistic principles and is, therefore, very harmful to the present
+generation of students. The honest student who will discriminate between
+these, sometimes cleverly masked, counterfeit mints, and a real art
+altar must be of a character in which high principles are natively
+ingrained. It might help him somewhat to remember that when there is no
+good to choose we can always reject the bad.
+
+What is true of teachers is just as true of compositions. The student
+should not listen to--should not, at least, repeat the hearing of--bad
+compositions, though they may be called symphonies or operas. And he
+can, in a considerable measure, rely upon his own instincts in this
+matter. He may not--and probably will not--fully fathom the depths of a
+new symphony at its first hearing, but he must have received general
+impressions of sufficient power and clearness to make him _wish_ for
+another hearing. When this wish is absent he should not hear the work
+again from a mere sense of duty; it were far wiser to avoid another
+hearing, for habit is a strong factor, and if we accustom our ear to
+hear cacophonous music we are apt to lose our aversion to it, which is
+tantamount to a loss of good, natural taste. It is with much of modern
+music as it is with opium, morphine, and other deadly drugs. We should
+shun their very touch. These musical opiates are sometimes manufactured
+by persons of considerable renown; of such quickly gained renown as may
+be acquired nowadays by the employment of commercialistic methods; a
+possibility for which the venal portion of the public press must bear
+part of the blame. The student should not be deceived by names of which
+the general familiarity is of too recent a date. I repeat that he should
+rather consult his own feelings and by following them contribute his
+modest share toward sending some of the present "moderns" back into
+their deserved obscurity and insignificance.
+
+I use the term "moderns" advisedly, for the true masters--some of whom
+died but recently--have never stooped to those methods of
+self-aggrandisement at which I hinted. Their places of honour were
+accorded to them by the world because they were theirs, by right of
+their artistic power, their genius and the purity of their art. My
+advice to the students and to all lovers of music is: Hold on with all
+your might to the school of sincerity and chastity in music! It is saner
+and, morally and aesthetically, safer than the entire pack of our present
+nerve-tickling, aye, and nerve-racking "modernists." Music should always
+elevate; it should always call forth what, according to the demands of
+time and place, is best in us. When, instead of serving this divine
+mission, it speculates upon, and arouses, our lowest instincts for no
+better purpose than to fill the pockets of its perpetrator, it should
+receive neither the help nor the encouraging attention of any
+noble-thinking and clean-minded man or woman. Passive resistance can do
+a good deal on these premises.
+
+The matter of abstention from a certain type of music recalls to my mind
+another evil from which Americans should abstain; it is the curious and
+out-of-date superstition that music can be studied abroad better than
+here. While their number is not very large, I personally can name five
+American teachers who have struggled here for many a year without
+gaining that high recognition which they deserve. And now? Now they are
+in the various capitals of Europe, receiving the highest fees that were
+ever paid for instruction, and they receive these high fees from
+American students that throng their studios. That the indifference of
+their compatriots drove these men practically out of their country
+proved to be of advantage to them; but how ought those to be regarded
+who failed to keep them here? The wrong is irreparable in so far as
+these men do not think of returning to America except as visitors. The
+duty of American students and lovers of good music is to see to it that
+such capable teachers as _are_ still here should _remain_ here. The mass
+of emigration to Europe of our music students should cease! If a student
+has what is understood by "finished" his studies here and his teacher
+sets him free, he may make a reconnoitring tour in Europe. The change of
+views and customs will, no doubt, broaden his mind in certain
+directions. But musically speaking, he will be sure to find that most of
+the enchantment of Europe was due to its distance. Excepting the
+excellent orchestras of Europe and speaking of the general music-making
+there, it is at present not quite as good as it is here: neither is the
+average music teacher in Europe a whit better than the man of equal
+standing here.
+
+Americans should take cognizance of the fact that their country has not
+stood still in music any more than in any other direction. Each year has
+recorded an advancing step in its development. We must cease to compare
+the Europe of to-day with the America of fifty years ago. At present
+there is an astonishingly large number of clever and capable musicians
+in America, and, as with good physicians and lawyers, their ability
+usually stands in inverse proportion to the amount of their advertising.
+It is these worthy teachers for whose sake the superstition of "studying
+abroad" should be foresworn. What Uncle Sam has, in the field of music,
+not directly produced he has acquired by the natural law of attraction;
+now that so many talented and learned instructors, both native and
+foreign, are here they should be given a fair opportunity to finish a
+pupil's development as far as a teacher can do it, instead of seeing
+him, half-done, rush off "to Europe." If I were not convinced that a
+change on this score is possible, I should not have devoted so many
+words to it. It is merely a question of making a start. Let me hope that
+each reader of this little book may start this change, or, that, if
+already started, he will foster and help it. If his efforts should be
+disparaged by some, he need not feel disheartened, but remember that he
+belongs to the "land of limitless possibilities."
+
+JOSEF HOFMANN.
+
+
+
+
+PIANO QUESTIONS
+
+
+
+
+TECHNIQUE
+
+
+1. GENERAL
+
+[Sidenote: _What Does "Technique" Mean?_]
+
+What are the different techniques, and which one is most generally used?
+What is the difference between them?
+
+Technique is a generic term, comprising scales, arpeggios, chords,
+double notes, octaves, legato, and the various staccato touches as well
+as the dynamic shadings. They are all necessary to make up a complete
+technique.
+
+[Sidenote: _The More Technique the More Practice_]
+
+Why do pianists who have more technique than many others practise more
+than these others?
+
+Why have the Rothschilds more secretaries than I have? Because the
+administration of a large fortune entails more work than that of a small
+one. A pianist's technique is the material portion of his artistic
+possessions; it is his capital. To keep a great technique in fine
+working trim is in itself a considerable and time-absorbing task. And,
+besides, you know that the more we have the more we want. This trait is
+not only human; it is also pianistic.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Improve the Technique_]
+
+Should I endeavour to improve my technique by trying difficult pieces?
+
+You should not confine yourself to pieces that come easy to you, for
+that would prevent all further technical progress. But beware of pieces
+that are so difficult that you could not play them--in a slower
+tempo--with absolute correctness. For this would lead to the ruin of
+your technique and kill the joy in your studies. Play pieces that are
+always a trifle harder than those you have completely mastered. Do not
+emulate those who say: "I play already this or that," without asking
+themselves "how" they play. Artistry depends ever upon the "how."
+
+
+2. POSITION OF THE BODY
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Raise the Piano-Stool Too High_]
+
+Are the best results at the piano attained by sitting high or low?
+
+As a general rule, I do not recommend a high seat at the piano, because
+this induces the employment of the arm and shoulders rather than of the
+fingers, and is, of course, very harmful to the technique. As to the
+exact height of the seat, you will have to experiment for yourself and
+find out at which height you can play longest with the least fatigue.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Height of the Piano Seat_]
+
+Is my seat at the piano to be at the same height when I practise as when
+I play for people?
+
+Yes! Height and distance (from the keyboard) of your chair--which should
+never have arms--you should decide for yourself and once for all time;
+for only then can you acquire a normal hand position, which, in its
+turn, is a condition _sine qua non_ for the development of your
+technique. See also to it that both feet are in touch with their
+respective pedals so as to be in place when their action is required. If
+they stray away and you must grope for the pedals when you need them it
+will lead to a break in your concentration, and this will cause you to
+play less well than you really can. To let the feet stray from the
+pedals easily affects your entire position. It is a bad habit. Alas,
+that bad habits are so much easier acquired than good ones!
+
+
+3. POSITION OF THE HAND
+
+[Sidenote: _The Tilt of The Hand in Playing Scales_]
+
+Should my hand in playing scales be tilted toward the thumb or toward
+the little finger? I find that in the scales with black keys it is much
+easier to play the latter way.
+
+I quite share your opinion, and extend it also to the scales without
+black keys. I think the natural tendency of the hands is to lean toward
+the little finger, and as soon as you have passed the stage of
+preliminary training, as soon as you feel fairly certain that your
+fingers act evenly, you may yield to their natural tendency, especially
+when you strive more for speed than force; for speed does not suffer
+tension, while force craves it.
+
+
+4. POSITION OF THE FINGERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Results Count, Not the Methods_]
+
+Does it make any difference if my fingers are held very much curved or
+only a little? I was told that Rubenstein used his fingers almost flat.
+
+Since you mention Rubinstein I may quote his saying: "Play with your
+nose, if you will, but produce euphony (_Wohlklang_) and I will
+recognize you as a master of your instrument." It is ever a question of
+the result, whether you play this way or that way. If you should play
+with very much curved fingers and the result should sound uneven and
+pieced, change the curving little by little until you find out what
+degree of curvature suits your hand best. Experiment for yourself.
+Generally speaking, I recommend a free and easy position of hand and
+fingers, for it is only in a position of greatest freedom that their
+elasticity can be preserved, and elasticity is the chief point. By a
+free and easy position I mean that natural position of hand and fingers
+into which they fall when you drop your hand somewhat leisurely upon the
+keyboard.
+
+[Sidenote: _Cantabile Passages_]
+
+Should a cantabile passage be played with a high finger-stroke or by
+using the weight of the arm?
+
+Certain characteristic moments in some pieces require the high
+finger-stroke. It may be used also in working up a climax, in which
+case the raising of the fingers should increase proportionately to the
+rise of the climax. Where, however, the strength of the fingers is
+sufficient to obtain the climacteric result by pressure, instead of the
+stroke, it is always preferable to use pressure. As a general principle,
+I believe in the free-hanging, limp arm and recommend using its weight
+in cantabile playing.
+
+[Sidenote: _An Incorrect Position of the Fingers_]
+
+Pray how can I correct the fault of bending out the first joints of the
+fingers when their cushions are pressed down upon the keys?
+
+Your trouble comes under the head of faulty touch, which nothing will
+correct but the constant supervision by a good teacher, assisted by a
+strong exertion of your own will power and strictest attention whenever
+you play. This bending out of the first joint is one of the hardest
+pianistic ailments to cure, but it is curable. Do not be discouraged if
+the cure is slow. The habit of years cannot be thrown off in a day.
+
+
+5. ACTION OF THE WRIST
+
+[Sidenote: _Don't Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales_]
+
+Should the hands be kept perfectly still in playing scales and
+arpeggios? Or, to lessen fatigue, is an occasional rise and fall of the
+wrist permissible in a long passage of scale or arpeggio?
+
+The hands should, indeed, be kept still, but not stiff. Protracted
+passages of scales or arpeggios easily induce a stiffening of the wrist.
+Hence, an occasional motion of the wrist, upward and downward, will do
+much to counteract this tendency. It will, besides, be a good test of
+the looseness of the wrist.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Loose Wrist_]
+
+Is it not impossible to preserve a complete looseness of the wrist in
+piano-playing because of the muscles that connect the forearm with the
+hand?
+
+By no means. You should only see to it that you do not stiffen the wrist
+_unconsciously_, as most players do. The arm should be held so that the
+wrist is on a line with it, not bent, and by concentrated thinking you
+should endeavour to transfer the display of force to the finger-tips
+instead of holding the tension in your arm. For this produces fatigue,
+while the way I suggest will lead you to develop considerable force
+through the hand and fingers alone and leave the arm practically limp
+and loose. It takes months of study under closest attention, however, to
+acquire this looseness of the arm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Position of the Wrist_]
+
+Do you favour a low or high position of the wrist for average type of
+work?
+
+For average work, I recommend an average position; neither high nor low.
+Changes, upward or downward, must be made to meet the requirements of
+special occasions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff_]
+
+If one's wrist is stiff is there any set of exercises especially adapted
+to acquiring a freer movement? Or is there any special method of
+exercise?
+
+It depends on whether your wrist is stiff from non-use or from wrong
+use. Assuming the latter, I should recommend studies in wrist octaves,
+but you must watch your wrist while playing and rest at the slightest
+indication of its stiffening.
+
+
+6. ACTION OF THE ARM
+
+[Sidenote: _When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing_]
+
+I cannot play tremolo in the left hand for any length of time without
+great fatigue. I have tried changing the position of the hand from high
+to low, the sidewise motion, and the quiet hand. What is the correct
+method, and may the difficulty be overcome by slow practice?
+
+The tremolo cannot be practised slowly, nor with a stiff or quiet hand.
+The action must be distributed over the hand, wrist, underarm and, if
+necessary, the elbow. The shoulder forms the pivot whence a vibratory
+motion must proceed and engage all the points on the road to the
+fingers. The division of labour cannot be done consciously, but should
+better proceed from a feeling as if the whole arm was subjected to an
+electric current while engaged in playing a tremolo.
+
+[Sidenote: _Play Chords With a Loose Arm_]
+
+Should octave chords be played with rigid arms, the wrists and fingers
+thereby increasing the tone volume, or should the arms be loose? My
+teachers differ in their methods; so I turn to you for advice.
+
+With few exceptions, dictated by certain characterizations, chords
+should always be played with a loose arm. Let the arm pull the hand
+above the keys and then let both fall heavily upon them, preparing the
+fingers for their appropriate notes while still in the air and not, as
+many do, after falling down. This mode of touch produces greater
+tone-volume, is least fatiguing, and will have no bad after-effects.
+
+
+7. STRETCHING
+
+[Sidenote: _Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching_]
+
+I stretch between my fingers--taking the second and third, for instance,
+and trying to see how many keys I can get between them. It has helped
+me, but shall I be doing wrong to continue?
+
+If, as you say, you feel benefited by your stretching exercises you may
+continue them. But in your place I should beware of fatigue, for while
+the hand may show an improvement in its stretch while you are practising
+these exercises, if it is fatigued it will afterward contract so that
+its stretch is liable to become narrower than it was before.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Injure the Hand by Stretching It_]
+
+Is there any way to increase the stretch of my very small hand?
+
+Any modern teacher, acquainted with stretching your hand, can devise
+certain exercises that will be applicable to your particular hand. As
+the lack of stretch, however, may be due to a number of different causes
+I should advise you to desist from any stretch exercise that might be
+recommended to you without a close examination of your hand, since the
+wrong kind of exercise is not only apt, but bound, to injure it, perhaps
+permanently.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand_]
+
+Is there any exercise, on the piano or otherwise, that would tend to
+stretch my hand so as to enable me to play octaves? My fingers are short
+and stubby. My teacher has not given me anything definite on this score.
+
+The attempts to widen the natural stretch of the hand by artificial
+means lead easily to disastrous results. It was by just such attempts
+that Schumann rendered his hand useless for piano-playing. The best I
+can recommend is that before playing you soak your hands in rather hot
+water for several minutes and then--while still in the water--stretch
+the fingers of one hand with the other. By doing this daily you will
+gain in stretch, provided you refrain from forcing matters, and provided
+also that you are still young, and your hands are flexible.
+
+
+8. THE THUMB
+
+[Sidenote: "_What is the Matter With My Scales?_"]
+
+What is the matter with my scales? I cannot play them without a
+perceptible jerk when I use my thumb. How can I overcome the unevenness?
+
+In answering this question I am in the position of a physician who is
+expected to prescribe a treatment for a patient whom he has neither
+examined nor even seen. I can therefore advise only in a very general
+way--as I have done with many questions to avoid the eventuality of
+being confronted by an exceptional case. The cause of the hand's unrest
+in the passing of the thumb lies usually in transferring the thumb too
+late. The thumb waits usually until the very moment when it is needed
+and then quickly jumps upon the proper key, instead of moving toward it
+as soon as the last key it touched can be released. This belatedness
+causes a jerky motion of the arm and imparts it to the hand. Another
+cause lies in a fault no less grave than the first. Since the hand has
+only five fingers while the scale numbers many notes (according to its
+length), the player must replenish his fingers by passing the thumb
+under the hand so as to form a conjunction between the notes played and
+those to be played. This passing of the thumb conditions a change or
+shifting of the hand toward the keys to follow, but the shifting of the
+hand must not coincide with the passing of the thumb or the result will
+be a jerk. The position of the hand in relation to the keyboard must not
+change. It must remain the same until the thumb has struck its new key.
+Not until then must the shifting of the hand take place. In this way the
+jumpiness or jerkiness of the scale can be avoided, provided one can
+follow this precept punctiliously--which is not an easy matter,
+especially in great speed. Alas, why are those pesky scales so
+difficult, in fact, the most difficult thing to do on the piano?
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Hold the Thumb_]
+
+What is the correct position for the thumb? Should it be curved well
+under the hand while playing?
+
+In scale-playing the thumb should be slightly curved and kept near the
+index finger in order to be ready when needed. In pieces this position
+of the thumb cannot, of course, always be observed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?_]
+
+Should one pay special attention to the training of the thumb?
+
+It may be said that the thumb and the middle finger are the two
+arch-conspirators against a precise finger technique. They crave your
+greatest attention. Above all, you must see to it that, in touching the
+keys with these fingers, you do not move the whole hand, still less the
+arm.
+
+
+9. THE OTHER FINGERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Fourth and Fifth Fingers_]
+
+What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and the
+fifth fingers?
+
+Any collection of Etudes is sure to contain some that are devoted to
+the training of those two fingers. In the Cramer Etudes (Bulow's
+selection) you will find Nos. 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 20 adapted to your
+case, but do not pin your faith to the print! In all matters of art the
+"how" is of far more consequence than the "what." Play what you will,
+but bear your weak points in mind while you play. This is the real
+remedy. Keep hand and arm as loose as you can while training the fourth
+and fifth fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Action of the Little Finger_]
+
+In making wide skips in which the little finger strikes a single note,
+as, for instance, in left-hand waltz accompaniments, should one strike
+on the end of the little finger or on its side; and should the finger be
+curved or held more or less flat?
+
+The little finger should never strike with its side. It should always be
+held in its normally curved condition, and straighten at the stroke only
+on such occasions when its own force proves insufficient and requires
+the assistance of the wrist and arm muscles.
+
+
+10. WEAK FINGERS, ETC.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Strengthen the Weak Finger Use It_]
+
+How can I strengthen the little finger of my right hand? I avoid it in
+playing, using the next finger instead.
+
+By employing your little finger as much as possible and at once quitting
+the habit of substituting another finger for it.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Weak Fingers of the Left Hand_]
+
+What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and
+fifth fingers of the left hand?
+
+Slow trill with various touches, with highly lifted fingers producing
+strength through their fall and with a lesser lift of the fingers
+combined with pressure touch, watching closely that the little finger
+strikes with the tip and not with the side. Rhythmic evenness should
+also be punctiliously observed.
+
+[Sidenote: _When the Fingers Seem Weak_]
+
+What kind of technical work would you advise me to take to make my
+fingers strong in the shortest time consistent with good work?
+
+If your fingers are unusually weak it may be assumed that your muscular
+constitution in general is not strong. The training of the fingers
+alone will, in that case, lead to no decisive results. You will have to
+strive for a general strengthening of your muscular fibre. At this
+point, however, begins the province of your physician and mine ends. If
+you consider your constitution normal, four or five hours' daily work at
+the piano will develop the necessary digital force, if that time is
+judiciously used.
+
+[Sidenote: _No Necessity to Watch the Fingers_]
+
+Is it always necessary to watch the fingers with the eye?
+
+In places where the fingers slide, and do not jump from one note to
+another at a distance, there is no need of keeping the eye on them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch_]
+
+Is biting the finger-nails injurious to the piano touch?
+
+Certainly; biting the nails or any other injury to the finger-tips and
+hand will spoil your touch. Extreme cleanliness and care in cutting the
+nails the proper length are necessary to keep your hands in condition
+for playing the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Prevent Sore Finger-Tips After Playing_]
+
+How can I prevent my finger-tips, after prolonged playing, from feeling
+sore the next day?
+
+Experience teaches that in such cases, as in many others, cleanliness is
+the best remedy. After playing wash your fingers at once in warm water,
+with soap and brush, and then rub them well with either cold cream or
+some similar fatty substance. In the development of speed on the piano,
+the rigidity of the skin on the fingers is a great hindrance; it makes
+us feel as if we played with gloves on the fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage_]
+
+Are broad-tipped fingers considered a detriment to a man student of
+piano; for instance, if the finger grazes the black keys on each side
+when playing between them?
+
+Unless broad-tipped fingers are of an unusual thickness I do not
+consider them an obstacle in the way of good piano-playing; the less so,
+as the white keys--whatever shape the fingers may have--should never be
+struck between the black ones, but only in the midst of the open space.
+Altogether, I hold that the shape of the hand is of far greater
+importance to the pianist than the shape of his fingers; for it
+furnishes the fingers with a base of operations and with a source of
+strength, besides holding the entire control over them. Studying the
+hands and fingers of celebrated pianists you will find a great variety
+of finger shapes, while their hands are usually broad and muscular.
+
+[Sidenote: _What to do With the Unemployed Hand_]
+
+When playing a piece in which a rest of a measure and a half or two
+measures occurs should I drop my hand in my lap or keep it on the
+keyboard?
+
+If the temporarily unemployed hand is tired it will rest better in the
+lap, because this position favours the blood circulation, which, in its
+turn, tends to renew the strength. I should, however, not put it away
+from the keyboard too often, for this might easily be taken for a
+mannerism.
+
+
+11. STACCATO
+
+[Sidenote: _Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo_]
+
+What can I do to enable me to play wrist staccato very fast without
+fatiguing the arm?
+
+Change your wrist staccato for a little while to a finger or arm
+staccato, thus giving the wrist muscles a chance to rest and regain
+their strength.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other Kinds_]
+
+What does "finger staccato" mean? Is not staccato always done with the
+fingers?
+
+By no means! There is a well-defined arm staccato, a wrist staccato, and
+a finger staccato. The latter is produced by a touch similar to the
+rapid repetition touch--that is, by not allowing the fingers to fall
+perpendicularly upon the keys, but rather let them make a motion as if
+you were wiping a spot off the keys with the finger-tips, without the
+use of the arm, and rapidly pulling them toward the inner hand. The arm
+should take no part in it whatever.
+
+
+12. LEGATO
+
+[Sidenote: _The Advantage of Legato Over Staccato_]
+
+Is it better for me to practise more staccato or more legato?
+
+Give the preference to legato, for it produces the genuine piano tone,
+and it develops the technique of the fingers; while the staccato touch
+always tends to draw the arm into action. If you play from the arm you
+cannot expect any benefit for the fingers. For the acquisition of a
+legitimate legato Chopin's works cannot be highly enough recommended,
+even in the transcriptions by Godowsky, which become impossible when
+tried with any touch other than legato. He wrote them, so to speak, out
+of his own hand, and his legato is so perfect that it may well be taken
+as a model by anybody.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Produce Good Legato_]
+
+Should you advise me to make use of a high finger-stroke? My teacher
+makes me use it exclusively, but I notice that my playing is neither
+legato nor quiet. It is almost humpy.
+
+Your manner of putting the question expressed your own--and
+correct--judgment in the matter. This playing "in the air" is lost
+energy, and will not lead to a good legato. The most beautiful tone in
+legato style is ever produced by a "clinging and singing" gliding of the
+fingers over the keys. Of course, you have to watch your touch in order
+that your "clinging" does not deteriorate into "blurring," and that your
+"gliding" may not turn into "smearing." If you apprehend any such
+calamity you must for a while increase the raising of your fingers and
+use more force in their falling upon the keys. Under constant
+self-observation and keen listening you may, after a while, return to
+the gliding manner. This much in general; of course, there are places
+and passages where just the opposite of my advice could be said, but
+still I think that the high finger-stroke should rather be employed for
+some special characteristic effects than as a general principle.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Firm and Crisp Legato Touch_]
+
+I am confused by the terms "firm legato touch" and "crisp legato touch."
+Wherein lies the difference?
+
+Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word
+"connected." Two tones are either connected or they are not connected.
+The idea of various kinds of legato is purely a sophism, a product of
+non-musical hyper-analysis. By "legato" I understand the connecting of
+tones with each other through the agency of the fingers (on the piano).
+The finger that evoked a tone should not leave its key until the tone
+generated by the next finger has been perceived by the ear. This rule
+governs the playing of melodies and slow passages. In rapid passages,
+where the control through the ear is lessened, the legato is produced by
+more strictly mechanical means, but there should, nevertheless, always
+be two fingers simultaneously occupied. Do not take the over-smart
+differentiations of legato seriously. There is no plural to the word
+"legato."
+
+
+13. PRECISION
+
+[Sidenote: _Not Playing the Two Hands at Once_]
+
+My teachers have always scolded me for playing my left hand a little
+before my right. It is probably a very bad habit, but I do not hear it
+when I do it How can I cure it?
+
+This "limping," as it is called, is the worst habit you can have in
+piano playing, and you are fortunate in having a teacher who persists in
+his efforts to combat it. There is only one way to rid yourself of this
+habit, namely, by constant attention and closest, keenest listening to
+your own playing. You are probably misstating it when you say that you
+do not "hear" it when you "limp"; it seems more likely to me that you
+do not listen. Hearing is a purely physical function which you cannot
+prevent while awake, while listening is an act of your will-power--it
+means to give direction to your hearing.
+
+
+14. PIANO TOUCH _vs._ ORGAN TOUCH
+
+[Sidenote: _How Organ-Playing Affects the Pianist_]
+
+Is alternate organ and piano playing detrimental to the "pianistic
+touch"?
+
+Inasmuch as the force of touch and its various gradations are entirely
+irrelevant on the organ, the pianist who plays much on the organ is more
+than liable to lose the delicacy of feeling for tone-production through
+the fingers, and this must, naturally, lessen his power of expression.
+
+[Sidenote: _Organ-Playing and the Piano Touch_]
+
+Is it true that a child beginning music lessons on an organ gets much
+better tone than one beginning on a piano, and does the side study of
+pipe-organ, after two years of extensive piano work, impair the piano
+touch?
+
+It is only natural that a child can get better tone out of an organ than
+on a piano, because it is not the child but the organ that produces the
+tone. If the child's purpose, however, is to learn piano-playing it
+would not be wise to let him begin on an organ, because this would leave
+the essential element--the art of touch--entirely undeveloped. And if
+his piano touch has been formed it can easily be undone again by letting
+him play on the organ.
+
+
+15. FINGERING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Universal System of Marking Fingering_]
+
+In what respect does American fingering differ from foreign fingering,
+and which offers the greater advantages?
+
+There is no "American" fingering. Many years ago the "English" fingering
+(which counts only four fingers and a thumb, and indicates the latter by
+a plus mark: +) was adopted by a few of the less prominent publishers in
+America; but it was soon abandoned. If you have a piece of sheet music
+with English fingering you may be certain that it is not of a recent
+edition, and I would advise you to obtain a more modern one. The
+advantage of the universal fingering lies in its greater simplicity, and
+in the circumstance that it is universally adopted.
+
+[Sidenote: _The C-Scale Fingering for All Scales?_]
+
+Do you advise the use of the C-scale fingering for all the scales? Is it
+practicable?
+
+The C-scale fingering is not applicable to scales reposing on black keys
+because it creates unnecessary difficulties, the mastering of which
+would be a matter rather of mere sport than of art.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fingering the Chromatic Scale_]
+
+Which fingering of the chromatic scale the is most conducive to speed
+and accuracy?
+
+The right thumb always upon E and B, the left one upon F and C. Between
+times use three or four consecutive fingers as often as convenient. At
+the beginning of a long chromatic scale select such fingers as will most
+naturally bring you to one of the stations just mentioned.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent_]
+
+When executing the mordent, is not the use of three fingers preferable
+to two?
+
+The selection of the fingers for the execution of a mordent depends
+always upon the preceding notes or keys which lead up to it. Since
+we cannot lift the hand just before a mordent for the purpose of
+changing fingers (for this would mean a rude interruption) we have
+to use whatever fingers happen to be "on hand." An exchange of
+fingers in a mordent is seldom of any advantage, for it hampers
+precision and evenness, since, after all, each finger has its own
+tone-characteristics.
+
+
+16. THE GLISSANDO
+
+[Sidenote: _To Play a Glissando Passage_]
+
+Will you describe the best method of holding the hand when playing
+glissando? Which is preferable to use, the thumb or the forefinger?
+
+In playing glissando in the right hand use the index finger when going
+upward, the thumb when going downward. In the left hand--where it hardly
+ever occurs--use the middle finger in either direction, or, if you
+should find it easier, the index finger downward. The production of so
+great a volume of tone, as is possible on our modern piano, has
+necessitated a deeper fall of the keys than former pianos possessed, and
+this deeper dip has banished the glissando almost entirely from modern
+piano literature.
+
+
+17. OCTAVES
+
+[Sidenote: _How Best to Play the Octaves_]
+
+Should I play octaves using the "hinge" stroke from the wrist or by
+using the arm? I find I can get more tone by using the arm stroke, but
+cannot play so rapidly.
+
+The character of the octaves must govern the selection of means to
+produce them. For light octaves use the wrist, for heavier ones draw
+more upon the arm. Rapidity requires that you avoid fatigue. If you feel
+fatigue approaching from too constant use of one joint, change to the
+other, and in doing this change also the position of the hand from high
+to low, and _vice versa_. For wrist octaves I recommend the low position
+of the hand, for arm octaves the high one.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rapid Octaves_]
+
+Please suggest some method of playing octaves rapidly to one who finds
+this the most difficult part of piano-playing. Would be grateful also
+for naming some octave etudes that could be used in the repertoire.
+
+If rapid octaves seem to be "the most difficult part of piano-playing"
+to you, take it as an indication that they do not suit your nature. A
+"method" will never change your nature. This need not discourage you,
+however; it is only to prevent you from trying to make a specialty of
+something for which you are not especially qualified and to save you a
+needless disappointment. Hold arms and hands in but a slight tension,
+and at the slightest fatigue change the position of the hand from high
+to low and _vice versa_. Your seat at the piano should not be too low.
+Study the first book of Kullak's Octave School, and, later on, the
+second book.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Playing Octaves_]
+
+When should I use the arm to play octaves as I have seen some concert
+players do? As I was watching them there did not seem to be the
+slightest motion from the wrist.
+
+Most concert players play their octaves more from the arm than from the
+wrist, but their wrist is nevertheless not so inactive as it seems to
+have appeared to you. They have probably distributed the work over the
+wrist, the elbow, and the shoulder in such a way that each had to do
+only a part of it. Light octaves can come only from the wrist, while
+heavier ones put the elbow and shoulder into action. To make this
+distribution consciously is hardly possible. A striving for economy of
+force and the least possible fatigue will produce this "division of
+labour" unconsciously.
+
+[Sidenote: _Wrist Stroke in Long Octave Passages_]
+
+When playing extended octave passages, such as the Liszt arrangement of
+"The Erlking," should the endeavour be to play all from the pure wrist
+stroke; or is it well to relieve the strain by an occasional impulse (a
+sort of vibration) from the forearm? Is there any advantage in varying
+the height of the wrist?
+
+In extended octave playing it is well to vary the position of the wrist,
+now high and then low. The low position brings the forearm into action,
+while the whole arm cooperates when the wrist is held high. From the
+wrist alone such pieces as "The Erlking" cannot be played, because the
+wrist alone gives us neither the power nor the speed that such pieces
+require. Besides, the octaves, when all played from the wrist, would
+sound "cottony." The wrist alone is to be used only in light, graceful
+places.
+
+[Sidenote: _Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves_]
+
+In playing octaves or other double notes my wrist seems to stiffen. How
+can I remedy this?
+
+Stiffness in the wrist results from an unmindful use of it. When
+practising octaves or double notes think always of holding the arm and
+its joints in a loose, limber condition, and when you feel fatigued do
+not fail to stop until the muscular contraction is relieved. In a little
+while you will see your conscientious practising rewarded by acquiring
+an elasticity commensurate with your general physical status.
+
+[Sidenote: _Premature Fatigue in the Arms_]
+
+Why does it tire my arms when I play octaves and a continuation of
+little runs? How can I avoid it, so that they will feel free and easy?
+
+Premature fatigue is usually caused by undue muscular contraction. Keep
+your arms and wrists loose and you will find that the fatigue
+disappears. For your sensation of fatigue may be due, not to exhaustion
+of muscular power, but to a stoppage of circulation caused by an
+unconscious stiffening of the wrist. Change the position of the wrist
+from high to low and _vice versa_ whenever you feel the "fatigue"
+coming on.
+
+[Sidenote: _Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good_]
+
+Is Kullak's "Method of Octaves" still one of the best in its line? or
+can you recommend something better?
+
+Since the days when Kullak's "School of Octaves" was printed, experience
+has taught us some things which might be added to it, but nothing that
+would contradict it. Nor, so far as I know, has anything better appeared
+in print than the first volume of that work especially.
+
+
+18. REPETITION TECHNIQUE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difficulty of Playing Repetition Notes_]
+
+Please help me about my repetition notes. When I wish to play them
+rapidly it seems that the key does not always produce a sound? Is it
+because of my touch?
+
+First, examine the action of your piano. It occurs not infrequently that
+the fingers do their work well, but fail in the results because of an
+inert or lazy piano action. If, however, the fault does not lie in the
+instrument, it must lie in a certain stiffness of the fingers. To
+eliminate this you need, first of all, a loose wrist. Furthermore, you
+should not, in repetition technique, let the fingers fall
+perpendicularly upon the keys, but with a motion as if you were wiping
+the keys with the finger-tips and then pull them quickly toward the palm
+of the hand, bending every joint of them rapidly.
+
+
+19. DOUBLE NOTES
+
+[Sidenote: _The Playing of Double Thirds_]
+
+Please tell me something about the general practice of thirds, both
+diatonic and chromatic; also, about those in the first movement of the
+Grieg Concerto.
+
+As the playing of passages in single notes requires a close single
+legato, to do double thirds requires an equally close double legato. As
+to the exact details of legato playing I may refer you to my book,
+"Piano Playing," where you will find the matter discussed at length in
+the chapter on "Touch and Technic."
+
+
+THE INSTRUMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _The Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise_]
+
+Is it irrelevant whether I practise upon a good or a bad piano?
+
+For practice you should never use any but the very best available
+instrument. Far, rather, may the piano be bad when you play for people.
+This will not hurt you nearly so much as will the constant and habitual
+use of a piano with a mechanism in which every key demands a different
+kind of touch, and which is possibly out of tune. Such conditions impair
+the development of your musical ear as well as of your fingers. It
+cannot be otherwise. As I said once before, learning means the acquiring
+of habits: habits of thinking and of doing. With a bad instrument you
+cannot develop any good qualities, even if you should possess them by
+nature; much less can you acquire them. Hence, I recommend a good piano,
+clean keyboard--for your aesthetic perceptions should be developed all
+around--a correct seat and concentration of mind. But these
+recommendations presuppose on the part of the student some talent and a
+good teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"_]
+
+Is it not better for a student in the advanced stage of study, who is
+preparing for concert work, to practise on a piano with a heavy action
+in order to develop the finger and hand muscles, and to use an
+instrument with a light action for obtaining an artistic finish to the
+lighter passages occurring so often, for instance, in Chopin's music?
+
+All extremes are harmful in their effects upon study and practice. A too
+heavy action stiffens and overtires the fingers, while too light an
+action tends to impair your control. Try to obtain for your practice a
+piano the action of which approximates as nearly as possible that of the
+piano on which you have to play in the concert, in order to avoid
+unpleasant surprises, such as premature fatigue or a running away of the
+fingers.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action_]
+
+Should I keep the action of my piano tight?
+
+Keep it tight enough to preserve the "feeling" of the keys under the
+fingers, but to make it more so would endanger your finger action and it
+may injure your hand.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Action of a Beginner's Piano_]
+
+Do you think it wise for a beginner to practise on a piano that has a
+heavy action?
+
+That depends upon the age and physical development of the beginner.
+"Heavy" and "light" action are not absolute but relative terms, which
+comprise in their meaning the power of resistance in the player's hand.
+The action should be so adjusted that the player can--even in the
+softest touch--always feel the key under his finger. A too heavy action
+leads necessarily to an employment of the shoulder muscles (which should
+be reserved for brief, special uses) and may permanently injure the
+hand.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing On a Dumb Piano_]
+
+Are mechanical appliances, such as a dumb keyboard, of advantage to
+the student of the piano? Should its use be restricted to a particular
+stage in the course of study?
+
+Music is a language. Schumann said: "From the dumb we cannot learn to
+talk!" The totally dumb or mute piano should, therefore, not be used, or
+very little, if we aim at a "musical" technique--that is, a live,
+multicoloured technique qualified to express musical thought and
+feeling. Personally I have never used a dumb piano.
+
+
+THE PEDALS
+
+[Sidenote: _A General Rule About the Pedal_]
+
+Should I use the pedal with each melody note? Should like a general
+rule.
+
+The treading upon the pedal should always follow immediately after the
+striking of the note for which it is intended, or else there will be
+discords arising from the mingling of that note with the one preceding
+it. This is the general rule. Exceptions there are, of course, but they
+occur only in certain moments when a mingling of tones is purposed for
+some special effect.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Use of the Pedal for Colouring_]
+
+What is the use of the damper pedal?
+
+Primarily it serves to prolong such tones as we cannot hold with the
+fingers. But it is also one of the greatest means for colouring. The
+employment of it should always be governed by the ear.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Use the Pedal_]
+
+Please tell me how to use the pedal. I find that in some pieces there is
+no mark under the measures to show me when it should be used. Is there
+any rule which you can give me?
+
+Assuming that you have in mind the artistic use of the pedal, I regret
+to say that there is no more a rule for this than for the mixing of
+colours upon the palette of a painter who strives for some particular
+shade or tint. He knows that blue and yellow make green, that red and
+blue make purple; but those are ground colours which he can rarely use.
+For the finer shades he has to experiment, to consult his eye and his
+judgment. The relation between the pedal and the player's ear is exactly
+similar to that of the palette and the painter's eye. Generally speaking
+(from sad experience) it is far more important to know when _not_ to use
+the pedal than when to use it. We must refrain from its use whenever
+there is the slightest danger of unintentional mingling of tones. This
+is best avoided by taking the pedal _after_ striking the tone upon which
+it is to act, and to release it promptly and simultaneously with the
+striking of the next tone. It may be at once taken again, and this
+alternation must be kept up where there is either a change of harmony or
+a succession of "passing notes." This is the only positive rule I can
+give, but even this is often violated. Let your ear be the guardian of
+your right foot. Accustom your ear to harmonic and melodic clarity,
+and--listen closely. To teach the use of the pedal independent of the
+action of your own ear is impossible.
+
+[Sidenote: _Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling_]
+
+In Weber's "Storm" should the pedal be held down throughout the entire
+piece, as directed? It produces quite a discord.
+
+Without knowing this piece, even by name, I may say that the pianos of
+Weber's time had a tone of such short duration and volume that the
+discords resulting from a continuous use of the pedal were not so
+noticeable, as they are now upon the modern piano with its magnificent
+volume and duration of tone. Hence, the pedal must now be used with the
+utmost caution. Generally speaking, I say--again--that the ear is the
+"sole" guide of the foot upon the pedal.
+
+[Sidenote: _Use Pedal With Caution in Playing Bach_]
+
+Is Bach's music ever played with the pedal?
+
+There is no piano-music that forbids in playing the use of the pedal.
+Even where the texture of a piece does not require the pedal--which
+happens very rarely--the player might employ it as an aid where the
+reach of his hand proves insufficient to hold all the parts of a harmony
+together. With Bach the pedal is often very important; for, by judicious
+use--as, for instance, in the cases of organ-point--it accumulates
+harmonic tones, holds the fundamental tone and thus produces effects not
+dissimilar to the organ. Qualitatively speaking, the pedal is as
+necessary in Bach's music as in any other; quantitatively, I recommend
+the utmost caution in its use, so as not to blur the fine texture of his
+polyphony.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student with a Fondness for the Pedal_]
+
+I always want to use the pedal as soon as I take a new piece, but my
+teacher insists that I should get a good singing tone first. Is she
+right?
+
+You "want" to use the pedal? In the face of your teacher's advice to the
+contrary? Then why did you apply for a teacher? People who consider
+their own pleasure while engaged in any kind of study need no teacher.
+They need discipline. Learn obedience! If by following your teacher's
+advice you should fail to progress, even then you have no right to do
+anything else than go to another teacher. But he will in all probability
+not be very different from the first one in his precepts. Hence, I say
+again: You should learn obedience!
+
+[Sidenote: _Using the Two Pedals at Once_]
+
+May the damper pedal and the soft pedal be used simultaneously, or would
+this be detrimental to the piano?
+
+Since the mechanisms of the two pedals are entirely separate and
+independent of each other you may use them simultaneously, provided that
+the character of a particular place in your piece justifies it.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Produce a Softer Tone_]
+
+Should the expression "_p_" be executed by the aid of the soft pedal or
+through the fingers?
+
+The soft pedal serves to change the quality of tone, not the quantity.
+It should therefore never be used to hide a faulty _piano_ (or soft)
+touch. Mere softness of tone should always be produced by a decrease of
+finger-force and a lessening of the raising of the fingers. The soft
+pedal should be employed only when the softness of tone is coupled with
+a change of colouring, such as lies within its range of action.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Over-Use the Soft Pedal_]
+
+Should the Gavotte in A, of Gluck-Brahms, be played without the soft
+pedal? Does a liberal use of the soft pedal tend to make the student
+lazy in using a light touch?
+
+Your first question is too general, as there is no piece of music that
+should be played entirely with or without the soft pedal; it is used
+only when a certain change of colouring is proposed. A too frequent use
+of the soft pedal does tend to a neglect of the _pianissimo_ touch, and
+it should, therefore, be discouraged.
+
+[Sidenote: _Once More the "Soft" Pedal_]
+
+My piano has a rather loud tone to which my people object, and urge me
+to play with the soft pedal. I use it most of the time, but am afraid
+now to play without it. What would you advise?
+
+If a soft touch and sound are liked, have the mechanism of your piano
+changed at the factory. I found myself in the bad condition at one time
+that I could not play certain passages independently of the position of
+my foot on the soft pedal. Such is the strength of association that
+very soon a constant use of the soft pedal produces physical inability
+to play unless the foot is pressing the pedal.
+
+
+PRACTICE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Morning Practice On the Piano_]
+
+In resuming my studies in the morning what should I play first?
+
+Begin with your technical work. Scales in all tonalities, each at least
+twice well rendered. First slowly, one after another, then somewhat
+quicker, but never very quickly as long as you are not absolutely sure
+that both hands are perfectly even, and that neither false notes nor
+wrong fingerings occur. To play the scales wrong is just as much a
+matter of habit as to play them right--only easier. You can get very
+firmly settled in the habit of striking a certain note wrong every time
+it occurs unless you take the trouble of counteracting the formation of
+such a habit. After these scales play them in octaves from the wrist,
+slowly and without tiring it by lifting the hand to a needless height.
+After this play either Czerny or Cramer, then Bach, and finally Mozart,
+Beethoven, Chopin, and so on. If you have the time to do it, play one
+hour in the morning on technical studies and use one hour for the
+difficult places in the works you are studying. In the afternoon play
+another hour, and this hour you devote to interpretation. I mean by this
+that you should now apply aesthetically what you have technically gained
+in the morning by uniting your mechanical advantages with the ideal
+conception which you have formed in your mind of the work you are
+studying.
+
+[Sidenote: _Morning Is the Best Time to Practise_]
+
+How much time should I spend on clearly technical study? I am practising
+three hours a day; how long should I practise at a time?
+
+Purely technical work--that is, work of the fingers without the
+participation of mind and heart--you should do little or none, for it
+kills your musical spirit. If, as you say, you practise three hours a
+day I should recommend two hours in succession in the morning and one
+hour in the afternoon. The morning is always the best time for work.
+Make no long pauses in your work, for they would break your contact
+with the piano and it would take considerable time to reestablish it. In
+the afternoon, after the major portion of your daily task is done, you
+may move with greater freedom, though even this freedom should be kept
+within proper bounds.
+
+[Sidenote: _Time to Devote to Technical Exercises_]
+
+Should I practise studies in general for my progress or should I confine
+myself strictly to my technical exercises?
+
+Your strictly technical exercises should occupy one-quarter of the
+entire time you can give to your work. Two quarters you should use for
+the technical preparation of the difficult passages you encounter in the
+pieces you are studying, and during the last quarter these passages
+which have been thus prepared should be ranged into their proper places
+in the pieces, in order that you may not lose your view of the totality
+of the pieces while studying or practising details.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Only Kind of Practice Worth While_]
+
+In purely technical, _i. e._, mechanical, practice may I have a book or
+a magazine on the music-stand and read?
+
+This question will appear grotesque to any one who has not thought of
+it, yet it is legitimate; for I know positively that this crime upon
+themselves has been committed by many. I cannot warn students too
+strongly against this pernicious habit. It is far better to practise
+only half as long, but with concentrated attention. Even purely
+mechanical matter must be transmitted to the motor-centres of the brain
+through the agencies of the ear and eye in order to bring beneficial
+technical results. If the brain is otherwise occupied it becomes
+insensible to the impression of the work in hand, and practise thus done
+is a complete waste of time. Not only should we not read, but also not
+think of anything else but the work before us, if we expect results.
+Concentration is the first letter in the alphabet of success.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four_]
+
+Will I advance quicker by practising eight hours instead of four, as I
+do now?
+
+Playing too much in one day has often a deteriorating effect upon one's
+studies, because work is profitable, after all, only if done with full
+mental concentration, which can be sustained only for a certain length
+of time. Some exhaust their power of concentration quicker than others;
+but, however long it may have lasted, once it is exhausted all further
+work is like unrolling a scroll which we have laboriously rolled up.
+Practise self-examination, and if you notice that your interest is
+waning--stop. Remember that in studying the matter of quantity is of
+moment only when coupled with quality. Attention, concentration,
+devotion, will make unnecessary any inquiries as to how much you ought
+to practise.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing With Cold Hands_]
+
+Shall I, when my hands are cold and stiff, play at once difficult and
+fatiguing things in order to limber them up?
+
+In forcing things with cold hands you always run the danger of
+overstraining, while with a gradual limbering you may safely try the
+same tasks with impunity. Handle the piano lightly while the hands are
+cold, and increase both force and speed only when the hands have gained
+their normal temperature and elasticity. This may take half or even
+three-quarters of an hour. It may be accelerated by putting the hands
+in hot water before playing, but this should not be done too often,
+because it is apt to weaken the nerves of the hands.
+
+[Sidenote: _Counting Out Loud_]
+
+Is counting aloud injurious to a pupil's playing--that is, does not the
+sound of the voice confuse the pupil in getting the correct tone of the
+note struck?
+
+Loud counting can hardly ever be injurious--especially not while the
+pupil is dealing with time and rhythm. This part mastered or fully
+understood, the audible counting may be lessened and finally abandoned.
+During practice loud counting is of inestimable value, for it develops
+and strengthens rhythmic feeling better than anything else will, and,
+besides, it is an infallible guide to find the points of stress in a
+phrase.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Scales Is very Important_]
+
+Must all study of the piano absolutely begin with the study of scales?
+
+Scales should not be attempted until a good finger-touch has been formed
+and the very important action of the thumb in the scale has been fully
+prepared. After that, however, I consider the practising of scales
+important, not only for the fingers, but also for the discipline of the
+ear with regard to the feeling of tonality (key), understanding of
+intervals, and the comprehension of the total compass of the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of the Scales_]
+
+Do you approve of the study of all the fifteen major scales by piano
+students, or is the practice of the enharmonic ones unnecessary?
+
+One should learn everything in that line in order to select from one's
+store of learning that which the occasion calls for. Study or practise
+all scales as they are written, and later also in thirds, sixths, and
+octaves.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Reading Over a New Piece_]
+
+When studying a new composition, which is preferable: to practise first
+with separate hands or together?
+
+When first looking over a new composition both hands should be employed,
+if possible, for this is necessary to obtain, approximately, at least, a
+mental picture of it. If the player's technique is too insufficient for
+this the deciphering must, of course, be done for each hand separately.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practising the Two Parts Separately_]
+
+When I am learning a new piece should the hands practise their parts
+separately?
+
+Provided you have formed a general idea of the piece, it is well to
+practise the hands separately, because you can, in this way, concentrate
+your attention upon the work of each hand. As soon, however, as each
+hand knows its work the hands should play together in order now to
+pursue the musical purpose for which the separate practice was only a
+technical preparation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece_]
+
+Should a composition be studied away from the piano?
+
+There are four ways to study a composition:
+
+1. On the piano with the music.
+
+2. Away from the piano with the music.
+
+3. On the piano without the music.
+
+4. Away from the piano without the music.
+
+2 and 4 are mentally the most taxing and fatiguing ways, no doubt; but
+they also serve best to develop the memory and what we mean by "scope,"
+which is a faculty of great importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing_]
+
+How fast or slow should Schubert-Liszt's "_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_" be
+played? What modern parlour pieces would you recommend after Bendel's
+"Zephyr"?
+
+Even if I did believe in metronomes, as I do not, I could not indicate
+speed for you or for anybody, because it will always depend upon the
+state of your technique and the quality of your tone. For modern parlour
+pieces I suggest the two volumes of Russian piano music published by G.
+Schirmer, New York. You will find pieces of various degrees of
+difficulty there from which you may select what suits you best.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Work Up a Fast Tempo_]
+
+Which is the best way to work up a fast tempo?
+
+The best help is to hear the piece or part which you have in mind played
+quickly by another person, for this aids you in forming the mental
+concept of it, which is the principal condition to which all ability is
+subject. There are, however, other ways which each one of us must find
+for himself: either by a gradual increase of speed until you reach your
+individual maximum or by starting at once at full tilt, even though some
+notes should drop under the piano and then be picked up in subsequent
+repetitions. Which of these two or any other ways is best for you no one
+can tell; your musical instinct will guide you if you follow it
+cautiously.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo_]
+
+Is it ever a waste of time to practise a piece over and over again for
+months as slowly as a beginner and with utmost concentration? After
+having done so and gradually working up a tempo, I then find I cannot
+play so fast as I want to. Is it not wise to begin all over again as
+slowly as possible? I prefer to work this way, but have been told that
+one gets "stale," studying the same music for a long time.
+
+Do you advise practising with or without the pedal?
+
+Slow practice is undoubtedly the basis for quick playing; but quick
+playing is not an immediate result of slow practice. Quick playing must
+be tried from time to time, with increasing frequency and heightened
+speed, even at a temporary loss of clearness. This loss is easily
+regained by subsequent returns to slow practice. After all, we must
+first learn to think quickly through the course of a piece before we can
+play it quickly, and this mental endeavour, too, will be greatly aided
+by occasional trials in a quicker tempo. As for getting "stale," a
+variety of pieces is necessary to preserve the freshness of each one.
+
+Regarding the pedal, I suggest that you use it judiciously from the very
+beginning of the study of a new piece; though never in finger exercises.
+
+[Sidenote: _Watch Your Breathing_]
+
+What is the purpose of associating breathing with piano playing, and to
+what extent should it be practised?
+
+Breathing is as important in piano playing as in all physical exertion,
+and more so when we speak of pieces that entail the use of great
+muscular force; for this causes a quickening in the action of the heart;
+respiration naturally keeps step with it, and the result is often a
+forcible breathing through the mouth. Players resort to open-mouth
+breathing in such cases because they cannot help themselves. If, at the
+last spurt of a bicycle race, we should call to the wheelmen, "Breathe
+through the nose!" we could not wonder if our advice remains unheeded.
+This open-mouth breathing, however, need not be learned; it is the
+self-help of nature. I recommend breathing through the nose as long as
+possible. It is more wholesome than mouth-breathing, and it refreshes
+the head more. When physical exertion becomes too great then you will
+neither need nor heed my advice or anybody's; your nature will find its
+own line of least resistance.
+
+[Sidenote: _Take a Month's Rest Every Year_]
+
+Must I keep up my practice during my Christmas holidays of a month?
+
+If you have worked well on your development during the spring, summer,
+and autumn it will be to your advantage to stop your practising entirely
+for a month. Such a pause renews your forces as well as the love for
+your work, and you will, upon resuming it, not only catch up quickly
+with what you may think to have missed, but you will also make a quick
+leap forward because the quality of your work will be better than it
+could be if you had persisted in it with a fatigued mind. In a tired
+condition of mind and body we are very apt not to notice the formation
+of bad habits, and since "to learn means to form correct habits of
+thinking and doing" we must beware of anything that might impair our
+watchfulness as to bad habits. The greatest persistence cannot turn a
+bad habit into a virtue.
+
+
+MARKS AND NOMENCLATURE
+
+[Sidenote: _The Metronome Markings_]
+
+What is the meaning of M. M. = 72 printed over a piece of music?
+
+The M stands for "metronome," the other for the name of its inventor,
+Maelzl. The figures indicate the number of beats a minute and the note
+shows what each beat represents--in this case a quarter note. The whole
+annotation says that the average speed of the piece should admit of
+seventy-two quarter notes being played in a minute. I advise you,
+however, rather to consult the state of your technique and your own
+feeling for what is musically right in deciding upon the speed of the
+piece.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Personal Element and the Metronome_]
+
+In Chopin's Prelude No. 15 is the movement in C-sharp minor to be played
+in the same tempo as the opening movements, or much faster? How should
+the 6-8 and 9-8 movements of Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes be
+metronomized?
+
+The C-sharp minor movement should not increase in speed, or only very
+little, because it rises to a considerable height dynamically, and this
+seems to counteract an increase of speed. As to the metronoming, I would
+not bother about it. The possibilities of your technique must ever
+regulate the speed question in a large degree. Tempo is so intimately
+related with touch and dynamics that it is in a large measure an
+individual matter. This does not mean that one may play andante where an
+allegro is prescribed, but that one person's allegro differs slightly
+from that of another person. Touch, tone, and conception influence the
+tempo. The metronome indications are to be accepted only with the
+utmost caution.
+
+[Sidenote: _Metronome Markings May Better Be Ignored_]
+
+How fast, by metronome, should the minuetto of Beethoven's Sonatina,
+opus 49, Number 2, be played?
+
+If you possess an edition of Beethoven that has no metronome marks you
+have been singularly fortunate, and I would not for the world interfere
+with such rare good luck. Consult your technique, your feelings, and
+have confidence in your good sense.
+
+[Sidenote: _There are Dangers in Using a Metronome_]
+
+How should one use the metronome for practising? I have been warned
+against it, as my teacher tells me one is liable to become very stiff
+and mechanical by the persistent use of it.
+
+Your teacher is eminently right. You should not play with the metronome
+for any length of time, for it lames the musical pulse and kills the
+vital expression in your playing. The metronome may well be used as a
+controlling device first, to find the approximate average speed of a
+piece, and, second, to convince yourself that, after playing for a
+while without it, your feelings have not caused you to drift too far
+away from the average tempo.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Real Meaning of Speed Terms_]
+
+What is the meaning of the words Adagio, Andante, and Allegro? Are they
+just indications of speed?
+
+They serve as such; though our musical ancestors probably selected these
+terms because of their indefiniteness, which leaves a certain margin to
+our individuality. Literally, Adagio (_ad agio_) means "at leisure."
+Andante means "going" in contradistinction to "running," going apace,
+also walking. Allegro (a contraction of _al leg-gie-ro_) means with
+"lightness, cheerful." Primarily these terms are, as you see,
+indications of mood; but they have come to be regarded as speed
+annotations.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Rule For Selecting the Speed_]
+
+As the words "largo," "allegro," etc., are supposed to indicate a
+certain rate of speed, can you give a rule so that a student who cannot
+have the aid of a teacher will be able to understand in what time he
+should play a composition?
+
+If the metronome is not indicated you have to consult your own good
+taste. Take the most rapid notes of your piece, play them rapidly as the
+general trend of the piece will aesthetically permit, and adjust the
+general tempo accordingly.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Grace Notes Are Played_]
+
+How are the grace notes played in these measures from Chopin's Valse,
+opus 42, and when are grace notes not struck simultaneously with the
+base?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Grace notes and their chiefs--that is, those notes to which the grace
+notes are attached--should ever be played with one and the same muscular
+impulse. The time occupied by the grace notes should be so minimal that
+it should not be discernible whether they appear simultaneously with the
+base note or slightly before it. In modern music it is usually meant to
+precede the bass note, though the good taste of the player may
+occasionally prefer it otherwise.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rests Used Under or Over Notes_]
+
+What is the meaning of a rest above or below the notes of the treble
+clef?
+
+The rests you speak of can occur only when more than one voice (or part)
+is written in the same staff, and they indicate how long the entrance of
+the other voice is to be delayed.
+
+[Sidenote: _What a Double Dot Means_]
+
+What does it mean when a note is double-dotted, like:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I thought first it was a misprint, but it seems to occur too frequently
+for that.
+
+As the first dot prolongs the note by one-half of its own value, so does
+the second dot add one-half of the value of the first dot. A half-note
+with one dot lasts three-quarters, with two dots it lasts seven-eighths.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Playing of Slurred Notes_]
+
+Should I accent the first note under a slur thus:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+or should I lift my hand at the end of the slur thus:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other, because accents
+relate to rhythm, while slurs concern the touch. The last note under a
+slur will usually be slightly curtailed in order to create that small
+pause which separates one phrase from another. Generally speaking, the
+slur in piano music represents the breathing periods of the vocalist.
+
+[Sidenote: _How a Tie and a Slur Differ_]
+
+What difference is there between a slur and a tie?
+
+None in appearance, but much in effect. A tie continues the sound of the
+note struck at its beginning as long as the note-value at its end
+indicates. It can be placed only upon two notes of similar name in the
+same octave which follow each other. As soon as another note intervenes
+the tie becomes a slur and indicates a _legato_ touch.
+
+[Sidenote: _Slurs and Accents Not Related_]
+
+How should the beginning of slurs be accented?
+
+Slurs and accents have nothing to do with each other. Slurs indicate
+either a legato touch or the grouping of the notes. Which one of the
+notes thus grouped is to be accented depends upon its rhythmical
+position in the measure. The strong and weak beat (or positive and
+negative beat) govern the accent always, unless there is an annotation
+to the contrary, and such an annotation must be carried out with great
+judiciousness, seldom literally.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Long an Accidental Affects a Note_]
+
+Where there is an accidental on the last beat of a measure does not that
+note resume its signature beyond the bar unless tied? The case I speak
+of was in a key of two flats, common time. The fourth beat, E, was
+naturalized and the first note of the next measure was E with the flat
+sign. I maintain that the flat sign is superfluous, and I should like to
+know if this is right?
+
+You are quite right, theoretically. Nevertheless, the proper tonality
+signature of a note that was changed is very frequently restated when
+the same note recurs beyond the bar. Though this special marking is not
+necessary theoretically, practical experience has shown that it is not
+an unwise precaution.
+
+[Sidenote: _"E-Sharp and B-Sharp" and the Double Flat_]
+
+What is the meaning of the sharps on the E and B line, and of a
+double-flat? Are they merely theoretical?
+
+They are not theoretical, but orthographical. You confound the note C
+with the key on the keyboard by that name. B-sharp is played upon the
+key called C, but its musical bearing is very remote from the note C.
+The same applies to double-flats (and double-sharps), for D with a
+double-flat is played upon the key called C, but it has no relation to
+the note C. This corresponds precisely with the homonym in language:
+"sow"--"sew"--"so"--sound alike, but are spelled in various ways
+according to the meaning they are to convey.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Effect of Double Flats_]
+
+How is an octave, written thus, to be played?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+As the single-flat lowers a note by a half-tone, so a double-flat lowers
+it by two half-tones or a full tone.
+
+[Sidenote: _Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In playing an operetta recently I found the double-sharp sign used for
+double-flats as well. Is this correct?
+
+The sign may be a misprint. But if it should occur repeatedly I advise
+you to make quite sure, before taking the misprint for granted, that the
+sign is not, after all, meant for a double-sharp.
+
+[Sidenote: _When an Accidental Is in Parentheses_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Please tell me how a chord or an interval marked thus, is executed. What
+does an accidental in parentheses mean?
+
+Chords marked as above are slightly rolled in the same manner as if
+marked by a serpentine line, unless the sign denotes a linking with the
+other hand. Which of the two meanings is intended you will easily infer
+from the context. Accidentals in parentheses are mere warnings given by
+some composers wherever there is a possibility of doubt as to the
+correct reading caused by a momentary harmonic ambiguity. I have found
+these accidentals in parentheses so far only in the works of French
+composers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Staffs Are Independent of Each Other_]
+
+Does an accidental in the right hand influence the left?
+
+Inasmuch as piano music is written in score form, the two staffs are as
+independent of each other as are the staffs in an orchestral score. We
+may, in cases of suspected misprints, draw certain inferences from one
+staff to the other, provided that they are justified by the prevailing
+harmony. As a rule, the two staffs are independent of each other in
+regard to accidental chromatic signs.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?_]
+
+I am often asked why there must be fifteen keys in music instead of
+twelve--that is, why not always write in B instead of C-flat, in F-sharp
+instead of G-flat, in D-flat instead of C-sharp, or _vice versa_? I can
+only say that the circle of fifths would not be complete without the
+seven scales in sharps and the seven in flats: but Bach does not use all
+the fifteen keys in his Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues, omitting
+entirely, in the major keys, G-flat, D-flat, and C-flat, and, in the
+minor keys, A-sharp and A-flat. Are compositions in sharps considered
+more brilliant than those in flats? Do composers consider modulation in
+selecting their key?
+
+The answer to your question hinges upon whether you recognize in music
+mere tone-play or whether you concede a mental and psychic side to it.
+In the former case the mode of spelling a tone C-sharp or D-flat would
+be, indeed, irrelevant. But in the latter case you must admit the
+necessity of a musical orthography qualified to convey distinct tonal
+meanings and musical thoughts to the reader and to the player. Though
+there is in the tempered scale no difference between C-sharp and D-flat,
+the musical reader will conceive them as different from one another,
+partly because of their connection with other related harmonies. These
+determine usually the composer's selection in cases of enharmonic
+identities. In the script of human language you will find an analogy
+than which none could be more perfect. In English there are, for
+instance, "to," "too," and "two"; words in which the spelling alone, and
+not the sound of pronunciation, conveys the different meanings of the
+words.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning and Use of "Motif"_]
+
+What is the meaning of a "motif"? What does a dash mean over a note?
+What is the best book of instruction for a beginner, a child of ten?
+
+A motif is the germ of a theme. A theme may be composed of reiterations
+of a motif, or by grouping several motifs together; it may also combine
+both modes of procedure. The most glorious exemplification of
+construction by reiteration of a motif you will find in the opening
+theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. A dash over a note enjoins the
+player to hold that note with the finger until it has received its full
+value. The best "instruction book" for a child is a good teacher who
+uses no instruction book, but imparts his knowledge to the child from
+out of his own inner consciousness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Tied Staccato Notes_]
+
+In playing notes written thus is it permissible to slide the fingers
+from the keys or should there be only a clinging touch?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Notes marked as above are to be played in such a manner that each note
+is slightly separated from the next. The best touch for this is from the
+arm, so that the fingers are not lifted from their joints, nor from the
+wrist, but that the arm pulls the finger upward from the key.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect_]
+
+What do short lines below or above a note or chord mean in
+contradistinction to a staccato or an accent? And does it affect the
+whole chord?
+
+The dash under or above a note is a substitute for the word "tenuto"
+(usually abbreviated into "ten."), which means "held," or, in other
+words, be particular about giving this note its full sound-duration.
+This substitute is usually employed when the holding concerns a single
+note or a single chord.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Rolled Chord Marked "Secco"_]
+
+How should I execute a chord that is written with a spread and also
+marked "secco"?--as in Chaminade's "Air de Ballet, No. 1."
+
+Roll the chord as evenly as possible in all its parts; but use no pedal
+and do not hold it, but play it briskly and short.
+
+[Sidenote: _Small Notes Under Large Ones_]
+
+What is the meaning of small notes printed under large ones?
+
+Usually the small notes are an indication that they may be omitted by
+players who have not the stretch of hand necessary to play them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata_]
+
+How should one play and accent the mordent occurring in the
+forty-seventh measure of the first movement--allegro di molto--of
+Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, Opus 13?
+
+The accent ought to lie upon the first note of the mordent, but you
+should not make a triplet of it by occupying the whole quarter with its
+execution. The mordent must be played fast enough to preserve the
+rhythmic integrity of the melody-note.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Position of the Turn Over a Note_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The turn stands sometimes directly over the note and sometimes farther
+to the right of it. Does this difference indicate different executions
+and, if so, how would the two turns have to be played?
+
+The turn always begins with its uppermost note. When it stands directly
+over a note it takes the place of this note; when more to the right the
+note is struck first and the turn, judiciously distributed at the time
+of its disposal, follows.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?_]
+
+How are syncopated notes to be played?
+
+Notes occurring an entire beat of the prescribed time are, when
+syncopated, to be played between the beats. If the syncopated notes
+occupy only a fraction of the beats they are played between the
+fractional beats.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Trill Begins on the Melodic Note_]
+
+In modern compositions should all trills begin upon the note which is
+written, presuming there is no appoggiatura before the note? Is the
+alternation of the thumb and the second finger desirable in the playing
+of a trill?
+
+Where not expressly otherwise stated (by appoggiatura) trills usually
+begin upon the melodic tone (the note which is written). Change fingers
+when those employed get tired. For extended trills the use of three
+fingers is advantageous, while in shorter trills two fingers will
+preserve more clarity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill_]
+
+In the accompanying example of the trill should the auxiliary note be a
+tone or a half-tone above the principal note? If the half-tone, what
+would be the name of the auxiliary note?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The episode you quote moves evidently in the tonality of G minor. The
+trill stands on B-flat. As the auxiliary note of a trill is ever the
+diatonic sequel of a stated note it must, in this case, be a whole tone
+above B-flat, namely C. Since the piece is written in D major there
+should have been a "natural" marked under the sign of the trill.
+
+[Sidenote: _Speed and Smoothness in Trilling_]
+
+Will you kindly suggest a good method of gaining speed and smoothness in
+trilling?
+
+While there are no "methods" for trilling there are certain means by
+which sluggish muscles may be assisted. Yet, even these means cannot be
+suggested without knowing the seat and cause of your trouble. The causes
+differ with the individual, but they are, in the majority of cases,
+purely mental, not manual. To trill quickly we must think quickly; for
+if we trill only with the fingers they will soon stick, lose their
+rhythmic succession, and finish in a cramped condition. Hence, there is
+no direct way to learn trilling; it will develop with your general
+mental-musical advancement. The main thing is, of course, always to
+listen to your own playing, actually and physically, to perceive every
+tone you play; for only then can you form an estimate as to how quickly
+you can "hear." And, of course, you do not expect to play anything more
+quickly than your own ear can follow.
+
+[Sidenote: _Difference in Playing Trills_]
+
+What is the difference in the manner of playing the trill in measure 25,
+and those in measures 37 and 38, of the Chopin Polonaise, Opus 53?
+
+The significance of the trill in measure 25 is melodic, while that of
+the trills in measures 37 and 38 is purely rhythmic, somewhat in the
+nature of a snare-drum effect. The first trill requires greater stress
+on the melodic note, while in the other two you may throw your hand, so
+to speak, on both notes and roll the trill until it lands upon the next
+eighth-note.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning of Solfeggio_]
+
+What is meant by "spelling" in music?
+
+Unless it means the variety of ways in which most chords can be written
+it refers to an oral reciting of notes, properly called solfeggio.
+
+
+ABOUT CERTAIN PIECES AND COMPOSERS
+
+[Sidenote: _Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen_]
+
+Please tell me some pieces of the classics which are not too difficult
+for my daughter of fourteen to play. She has a great deal of talent but
+not much technique. The Kuhlau Sonatinas she can play very well.
+
+If your daughter is fourteen years old and has--as you say--much talent
+but little technique, it is high time to think of developing her
+technique, for a pianist without technique is like a pleasure traveller
+without money. At any rate, I should prefer the easier sonatas by Haydn
+and Mozart to those of Kuhlau, because of their greater intrinsic merit.
+Any good teacher will assist you in selecting them to fit your
+daughter's case.
+
+[Sidenote: _In Playing a Sonata_]
+
+In playing sonatas my teacher tells me it is a great fault if I neglect
+to observe the repeat marks. I have heard it said by others that the
+repetition is not necessary, though it may be desirable. Will you please
+give me your opinion?
+
+In a sonata it is of serious importance to repeat the first part
+(exposition) of the first movement in order that the two principal
+themes, as well as their tributaries, may well impress themselves upon
+the mind and memory of your auditor. For, unless this is accomplished,
+he cannot possibly understand and follow their development in the next
+part. That the exposition part is not the only one to be repeated you
+will find frequently indicated; for instance, in the last movement of
+the "Appassionata," where the repetition is needful, not for the reason
+stated before, but for the sake of formal balance or proportion.
+Generally speaking, I am in favour of following the composer's
+indications punctiliously, hence, also, his repeat marks, which serve
+aesthetic purposes that you will perhaps not understand until later, when
+the sonata has, in your hands, outgrown the stage of being learned.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata"_]
+
+Should not the notes of the triplet figure in Beethoven's "Moonlight
+Sonata" be so blended into each other that you do not hear them in
+separate notes, but as a background, so to speak, for the notes in the
+melody?
+
+The truth lies midway between two extremes. While the accompaniment
+should be sufficiently subdued to form, as you say, a harmonic
+background, it ought, nevertheless, not to be blended to such a degree
+as to obliterate entirely the undercurrent of a triplet motion. The
+accumulation of each chord should be produced through the pedal, not
+through an excessive legato touch.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast_]
+
+Should Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" be played in slow or fast time?
+
+It is marked "Allegretto grazioso." The latter term (graceful, in
+English) precludes a too-quick movement.
+
+[Sidenote: _What a Dot May Mean_]
+
+This is the seventh measure of Chopin's Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1. What
+is the meaning of the dot placed after the D in the bass? Whenever this
+measure is repeated the dot occurs, or I should have thought it a
+misprint.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The left-hand notes follow each other as eighth-notes. Their respective
+duration, however, is indicated by the upward stems and the dot. It is
+intended here that a complete chord should be built up by accumulation,
+as in illustration _a_:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+and I would also hold the fifth eighth as in illustration _b_.
+
+[Sidenote: _Where the Accent Should be Placed_]
+
+In playing Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, Opus 29, should the first or
+the last note of the mordent receive the accent? I have heard the
+mordent sound like a triplet? Is this the correct accent?
+
+The last note of the mordent should be accented in this case.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Disputed Chopin Reading_]
+
+In Chopin's Nocturne in F-sharp, after the _Doppio_ Movement, when
+returning to Tempo I, and counting five measures, should the right hand
+in the fifth measure play this melody?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The various editions differ from one another in this measure. Peters's
+edition, generally considered the best edition of Chopin's works, has
+the second version, which commends itself by its greater naturalness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing the "Melody in F"_]
+
+In Rubinstein's "Melody in F" should the melody be played in the left
+hand or be divided between the two hands?
+
+Where there is no valid reason for doing otherwise it is always best to
+follow the composer's prescription; for, in most cases--and with great
+composers in all cases--the author knows what he meant to say. In the
+aforesaid piece, too, I advise you to adhere to this principle, since it
+is written with a view to teach the division of the melody between the
+right and left hand. Any other execution would ruin this purposed
+design.
+
+[Sidenote: _When Two Fingers Have the Same Note_]
+
+In Schumann's "Blumenstueck," third number, the uppermost notes of the
+left hand are identical with the lowest of the right hand. Should the
+thumbs of both hands strike the same keys at the same time all the way
+through or should the left hand omit them?
+
+The left hand should omit them, but be careful to omit only those that
+are really duplicates. There are a few places toward the end of each
+section where the left-hand notes differ from those in the right. In
+those cases you must be careful to play all the notes that are written.
+
+
+BACH
+
+[Sidenote: _The Beginner in Bach Music_]
+
+Can you give me a few helpful suggestions in a preliminary study of
+Bach?
+
+A totality consists of many parts. If you cannot master the totality of
+a work by Bach try each part by itself. Take one part of the right hand,
+one part of the left, add a third part, and so on until you have all the
+parts together. But be sure to follow out the line of each separate part
+(or "voice," as the Continentals say). Do not lose patience. Remember
+that Rome was not built in a day.
+
+[Sidenote: _Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique_]
+
+Do you think the study of Bach is necessary to the development of one's
+technique, or should one let his music alone until a later day when
+one's technique is in good condition? Some of his music seems so dry.
+
+Bach's music is not the only music that develops the technique. There
+is, for instance, the music of Czerny and Clementi to be considered. But
+Bach's music is particularly qualified to develop the fingers in
+conjunction with musical expression and thematic characterization. You
+may start with Czerny and Clementi, but you ought soon to turn to Bach.
+That some of his music seems dry to you may be due to your mental
+attitude by which you possibly expect from ecclesiastical music what
+only the opera can give you. Think yourself into his style and you will
+find a mine of never-dreamed-of enjoyment.
+
+[Sidenote: _Always Keep in Touch with Bach_]
+
+Do you think that the playing of Bach's works will keep one's hands in
+good technical condition? And which is the best edition of Bach's piano
+works?
+
+Bach is good for the soul as well as for the body, and I recommend that
+you never lose touch with him. Which is the best edition would be hard
+to say, but I have found the Peters edition to be very good.
+
+[Sidenote: _Bach's Preludes and Fugues_]
+
+What is the plan of a "Fugue," how does it differ from an "Invention"
+and "Prelude," and what is the purpose of studying the pieces so named
+by Bach?
+
+The explanation of the plan of a Fugue would exceed by far the limits of
+the space at my disposal. It would require a text-book, of which there
+are many to be found in every good music store. The Fugue is the most
+legitimate representation of true polyphony. Its difference from an
+Invention is expressed in the two names. A Fugue (_fuga_, flight) is the
+flight of one musical thought through many voices or parts, subject to
+strict rules, while an Invention is an accumulation of thoughts moving
+with absolute freedom. The definition of Prelude, as something which
+intentionally precedes and fittingly introduces a main action, fits the
+musical Prelude perfectly; especially in the case of Bach. The purpose
+of all these forms is that of all good music-making, namely, the
+purification and development of good taste in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _As to the Bach Fugues_]
+
+Of the Bach fugues do you consider the C sharp major difficult to
+memorize, or do you advise the use of the D flat arrangement instead?
+
+Such little differences have never bothered me, and I can therefore
+hardly answer your question definitely. It has been frequently
+observed--though never explained--that to many people it comes easier to
+read music in D flat than in C sharp. Hence, if you prefer the D flat
+edition it will reduce the difficulty for you. Possibly this more
+accessible version may aid you optically or visually in your work of
+memorizing.
+
+
+BEETHOVEN
+
+[Sidenote: _Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas_]
+
+I am just beginning to reach an intelligent interpretation of
+Beethoven's music. Now, in what order should the Sonatas be studied?
+
+If you should really have the laudable intention to study all the
+Sonatas of Beethoven for your repertory I should think that you may
+safely take them up very much in the order in which they are printed,
+with the exception of Opus 53 and the Appassionata, which--spiritually
+as well as technically--rank with the last five. The Steingraeber
+edition, however, furnishes a very fair order of difficulty in the index
+to the Sonatas.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character_]
+
+My teacher calls the Sonata opus 28, by Beethoven, the "Pastoral"
+Sonata. I have not found anything "pastoral" in any of the movements. Is
+it because I do not understand it, or is the name a mere amateurish
+invention?
+
+The name "Pastoral Sonata" could, no doubt, be traced to an arbitrary
+invention, perhaps of some over-smart publisher endeavouring to heighten
+the attractiveness of the Sonata to the general public by the addition
+of a suggestive title. Yet it seems to fit the Sonata pretty well,
+because, really, its main characteristic is a rural sort of peaceful
+repose. Especially the first movement is of a tranquillity which,
+surely, does not suggest the life of a metropolis. But in the other
+movements, too, there are many episodes which by their naivete and
+good-natured boisterousness indicate the life of the village.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Few, Well Played, Are Enough_]
+
+Must I play all the Sonatas of Beethoven's in order to become a good
+player, or is a certain number of them sufficient, and, if so, how many
+would you advise?
+
+Since the playing of all the Sonatas does not necessarily prove that
+they were all well played, I think it is better to play one Sonata well
+than to play many of them badly. Nor should Beethoven's Sonatas be
+regarded as a musical drilling-ground, but rather as musical
+revelations. As they are not all on precisely the same high plane of
+thought, it is not necessary to play them all. To familiarize yourself
+with Beethoven's style and grandeur of thought it is sufficient to have
+mastered six or eight of his Sonatas; though that number, at least,
+should be _mastered_.
+
+
+MENDELSSOHN
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Mendelssohn_]
+
+In a complete course for a piano student should the study of Mendelssohn
+be included? Which of his compositions are the most useful?
+
+Mendelssohn is surely a composer who is not to be omitted. His melody
+alone, besides other virtues, entitles him to be included, for melody
+seems to grow scarce nowadays. To develop a fine cantilena his "Songs
+Without Words" of slower motion, for instance, are just the thing.
+
+
+CHOPIN
+
+[Sidenote: _What Is the Best of Chopin?_]
+
+Which are the best compositions of Chopin to study by one who really
+desires to know him?
+
+All the Etudes, all the Preludes, the Ballades in A flat, G minor and F
+minor, the Berceuse and the Barcarolle. The Mazurkas, Nocturnes,
+Waltzes, and Polonaises you are probably familiar with; hence, I mention
+the aforesaid other works. Generally speaking, of Chopin a pianist
+should know everything.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Charm of Chopin's Touch_]
+
+What kind of touch did Chopin have?
+
+Since a description of his touch would require too much space I refer
+you to the book from which I gathered the most explicit information on
+this point. It is "The Life of Chopin," by Frederick Niecks (London and
+New York, Novello, Ewer & Co.), and in the second volume, from page 94
+to about 104, you will find what you wish to know, as far as it is
+possible to convey the charm of one art through the medium of another.
+Since you seem interested in Chopin I would recommend that you closely
+study both volumes of this masterly biographical work.
+
+[Sidenote: _Mood and Tempo in the A-Flat Impromptu_]
+
+What is the tempo (by metronome) of Chopin's Impromptu in A-flat, and
+what idea did the composer embody in it?
+
+The editions vary in their metronome markings and I believe none of
+them. Your tempo will largely depend upon the state of your technique.
+To the second question my reply is that Chopin has composed "music"
+which--as you know--represents thoughts only in a musical sense,
+otherwise it deals with purely psychic processes, moods, etc. The humour
+of this Impromptu is mainly an amiable, ingratiating one, here and there
+slightly tinged with a sweet melancholy. It should not be played too
+fast, for it easily loses this latter attribute and then sounds like a
+Czerny exercise. A moderate tempo will also tend to bring out the many
+charming harmonic turns which, in too quick a tempo, are likely to be
+lost.
+
+[Sidenote: _Chopin's Barcarolle_]
+
+In Chopin's Barcarolle there is a number of trills preceded by grace
+notes. Are they to be executed according to Philipp Emmanuel Bach's
+rule, so that the grace notes take their time from the note that follows
+them?
+
+Philipp Emmanuel Bach's rule is a safe one to follow, but do not
+confound a rule with a law. If you have reached that plane on which an
+attempt at the Barcarolle by Chopin is rational, you must feel that your
+individual taste will not lead you too far astray even if it should
+prompt you occasionally to depart from the rule.
+
+[Sidenote: _Chopin's Works for a Popular Concert_]
+
+What works of Chopin would you suggest for a popular concert programme?
+
+Nocturne, Opus 27, No. 2; Fantasy Impromptu, Opus 66; Scherzo, Opus 31;
+Berceuse, Opus 57; Valse, Opus 64, No. 2; Polonaise, Opus 26, No. 1;
+Chants Polonais (in Liszt's transcription).
+
+[Sidenote: _Taking Liberties with the Tempo_]
+
+In playing Chopin may one take liberties with the tempo and play
+different parts of the same mazurka or nocturne in various degrees of
+tempo?
+
+Undoubtedly. But the extent of such liberties depends upon your aesthetic
+training. In principle your question admits of an affirmative reply, but
+a specific answer is impossible without an acquaintance with your
+musical status. I recommend that you be very cautious about "taking
+liberties"; without, however, ceasing altogether to follow the
+promptings of your good taste here and there. There is such a thing as
+"artistic conscience"; consult it always before taking a liberty with
+the tempo.
+
+[Sidenote: _Omitting One Note in a Chord_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In the beginning of the Waltz in E minor by Chopin the left hand has to
+play this chord a number of times. I can stretch any three of the four
+notes, but not all four. Can one of them be omitted, and which one?
+
+You may omit the upper E, the second note from the top, but you may do
+so only so long as it is physically impossible for you to strike all
+the four notes. For, by omitting this note you do alter the tone colour
+of the chord as well as its sonority. As soon as you have acquired the
+requisite stretch--and anybody who does possess it--I would advise that
+the note be not unnecessarily omitted. Chopin evidently meant to have
+that note played.
+
+[Sidenote: _Masters Cannot be Studied in Order_]
+
+Will you give me your views as to the order in which the masters of
+piano composition should be studied?
+
+To classify composers, without specifying their works, is never
+advisable. Beethoven's first and last sonatas differ so fundamentally
+from each other in every particular that one may play the first one very
+well and yet be for many years (perhaps forever) unable to play the last
+one. And still, it is the same Beethoven that wrote both works. We can,
+therefore, hardly speak of an "order of composers." So long as we are
+dealing with masters the question should not be: Which master?--but,
+Which composition does your stage of mental and technical development
+call for? If you will defer the study of any other composer until you
+have fully mastered the works of Beethoven--only the principal ones, at
+that--you will need a life of more length than the Bible allots to the
+average man.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Greatest Composers as Pianists_]
+
+Is it true that nearly all the great composers have been pianists?
+
+If by pianists you mean musicians whose sole medium of audible musical
+utterance was the piano, your question admits of no other than an
+affirmative reply. The only exception I can think of just now was
+Berlioz; there were, no doubt, others, but none who belongs to the truly
+great ones. The reason for this is, perhaps, the circumstance that the
+pianist throughout his education is brought into touch with greater
+polyphony than the players of other instruments, and that polyphony is a
+basic principle in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Study of Operatic Transcriptions_]
+
+Is the study of Thalberg's operatic transcriptions of any value to the
+piano student?
+
+Operatic transcriptions begin with Liszt. What was written before him in
+that line (and in some degree contemporary with him, hence it includes
+Thalberg) is hardly of any significance. If you feel a special
+inclination toward the transcriptions of Thalberg you may play them;
+they will not harm you so very much. But if you ask me whether they are
+of any musical value I must frankly say, no.
+
+[Sidenote: _Modern Piano Music_]
+
+Are such pieces as "Beautiful Star of Heaven" or "Falling Waters" in
+good taste? What contemporary composers write good piano music?
+
+Pieces with pretentious names are usually devoid of such contents as
+their names imply, so that the names are merely a screen to hide the
+paucity of thoughts and ideas. Speaking very generally, there seems to
+be not very much good music written for the piano just at present. By
+far the best comes from Russia. Most of these compositions are rather
+difficult to play, but there are some easy ones to be found among them,
+such as the "Music Box," by Liadow, "Fantastic Fairy Tales," No. 12, by
+Pachulski, and others.
+
+
+EXERCISES AND STUDIES
+
+[Sidenote: _Exercises for the Beginner to Practise_]
+
+Is there any special book of practice exercises that you think best for
+a beginner and that you would care to recommend?
+
+Any reliable music publisher will tell you which book of exercises is
+most in demand. The effect of the exercises depends, of course, upon the
+way you play them. Indications as to touch, etc., are usually given in
+such books. What kind of exercises your case demands cannot be
+determined without a personal examination by an expert.
+
+[Sidenote: _Good Finger Exercises_]
+
+What would you say are the best studies for plain finger work?
+
+The exercises of "Pischna" are to be recommended. They have appeared in
+two editions, of which one is abridged. They are known as the "large"
+and the "small Pischna." You may obtain them through any large music
+house, I think, in the Steingraeber Edition.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Heller's Studies_]
+
+Are Heller's studies practical for a young student lacking in rhythm and
+expression?
+
+Yes, they are very good, provided the teacher insists that the pupil
+plays exactly what is indicated and does not merely "come near it."
+
+[Sidenote: _Good Intermediate Books of Etudes_]
+
+Living in the country, where there is no teacher available, I would
+thank you for telling me what Etudes I ought to study. I have finished
+those by Cramer and Moscheles, and can play them well, but find those by
+Chopin too difficult. Are there no intermediate works?
+
+You seem to be fond of playing Etudes. Well, then, I suggest:
+
+"Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," by Edmund Neupert.
+
+"Concert Etudes," by Hans Seeling (Peters Edition).
+
+"Etudes," by Carl Baermann (two books), published in Germany.
+
+"Etudes," by Ruthardt (Peters Edition).
+
+But why not select an easy Etude by Chopin and make a start? The best
+preparation--if not the Etudes themselves--is Heller's Opus 154.
+
+[Sidenote: _Etudes For Advanced Players to Work at_]
+
+What regular technical work would you prescribe for a fairly advanced
+pianist--one who plays pretty well such things as the Chopin Etudes in
+C minor, Opus 10, No. 12, and in D flat, Opus 25, No. 8, and the B flat
+minor prelude?
+
+My advice to advanced players is always that they should construct their
+technical exercises out of such material as the different places in the
+pieces at hand furnish. If you should feel the need of Etudes for
+increasing your endurance and control of protracted difficult passages I
+suggest that you take up the Etudes by Baermann and those by Kessler.
+The former are a little easier than the latter.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day_]
+
+My first teacher laid great store by Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum,"
+and insisted upon taking every study in it, while my new teacher, with
+whom I recently started lessons, says that it is "outlived,
+superannuated." Was my old or my new teacher right?
+
+They were both right; one as a pedagogue, the other as a musician. As
+you do not mention the reason of your first teacher's insistence, I must
+assume that he employed the "Gradus" as exercises, pure and simple. It
+serves this purpose quite well, though even as studies for the applying
+of technical disciplines they are, on account of their dryness,
+"outlived," as your new teacher correctly says. Modern writers have
+produced studies which combine with their technical usefulness greater
+musical value and attractiveness.
+
+
+POLYRHYTHMS
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing Duple Time Against Triple_]
+
+How must I execute triplets played against two-eighths? In Clementi's
+Sonatina, Opus 37, No. 3, first page, you will find such bars.
+
+In a slow tempo it may serve you to think of the second eighth-note of
+the triplet as being subdivided into two sixteenths. After both hands
+have played the first note of their respective groups simultaneously,
+the place of the aforesaid second sixteenth is to be filled by the
+second note of the couplet. In faster motion it is far better to
+practise at first each hand alone and with somewhat exaggerated accents
+of each group until the two relative speeds are well established in the
+mind. Then try to play the two hands together in a sort of
+semi-automatic way. Frequent correct repetition of the same figure will
+soon change your semi-automatic state into a conscious one, and thus
+train your ear to listen to and control two different rhythms or
+groupings at the same time.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Two Hands Playing Different Rhythms_]
+
+How should, in Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu, the four notes of the right
+be played to the three of the left? Is an exact division possible?
+
+An exact division would lead to such fractions as the musician has no
+means of measuring and no terms for expressing. There is but one way to
+play unequal rhythms simultaneously in both hands; study each hand
+separately until you can depend upon it, and put them together without
+thinking of either rhythm. Think of the points where the two hands have
+to meet, the "dead points" of the two motions, and rely on your
+automatism until, by frequent hearing, you have learned to listen to two
+rhythms at once.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Old Problem of Duple Time Against Triple_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How should the above-quoted notes be brought in with the lower triplets?
+
+It would be futile to attempt a precise and conscious division in such
+cases. The best, in fact, the only, way to do is to practise the hands
+separately with an exaggerated accent on each beat until the points
+where the hands meet are well conceived and the relative speed ratios
+are well understood. Then try to play the hands together, and do not be
+discouraged if the first attempts fail. Repeat the trial often and you
+will finally succeed if the separate practice has been sufficient to
+produce a semi-automatic action of the hands.
+
+
+PHRASING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing_]
+
+Can you give an amateur a concise definition of phrasing and a few
+helpful suggestions as to clear phrasing?
+
+Phrasing is a rational division and subdivision of musical sentences,
+and serves to make them intelligible. It corresponds closely with
+punctuation in literature and its recitation. Find out the start, the
+end, and the culminating point of your phrase. The last-named is
+usually to be found upon the highest note of the phrase, while the
+former are usually indicated by phrasing slurs. Generally speaking, the
+rising of the melody is combined with an increase of strength up to the
+point of culmination, where, in keeping with the note design, the
+decrease of strength sets in. For artistic phrasing it is of the utmost
+importance properly to recognize the principal mood of the piece, for
+this must, naturally, influence the rendition of every detail in it. A
+phrase occurring in an agitated movement, for instance, will have to be
+rendered very differently from a similar-looking phrase in a slow,
+dreamy movement.
+
+[Sidenote: _Do Not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest_]
+
+In observing a rest should the hand be raised from the wrist?
+
+Never! Such a motion should be made only in rapid wrist octaves or other
+double notes when a staccato is prescribed. The regular way to conclude
+a phrase, or observe a pause, as you say, is to lift the arm from the
+keyboard and keep the wrist perfectly limp, so that the arm carries the
+loosely hanging hand upward.
+
+
+RUBATO
+
+[Sidenote: _As to Playing Rubato_]
+
+Will you please tell me what is the best method of playing rubato?
+
+The artistic principles ruling rubato playing are good taste and keeping
+within artistic bounds. The physical principle is balance. What you
+shorten of the time in one phrase or part of a phrase you must add at
+the first opportunity to another in order that the time "stolen"
+(rubato) in one place may be restituted in another. The aesthetic law
+demands that the total time-value of a music piece shall not be affected
+by any rubato, hence, the rubato can only have sway within the limits of
+such time as would be consumed if the piece were played in the strictest
+time.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"_]
+
+I find an explanation of _tempo rubato_ which says that the hand which
+plays the melody may move with all possible freedom, while the
+accompanying hand must keep strict time. How can this be done?
+
+The explanation you found, while not absolutely wrong, is very
+misleading, for it can find application only in a very few isolated
+cases; only inside of one short phrase and then hardly satisfactorily.
+Besides, the words you quote are not an explanation, but a mere
+assertion or, rather, allegation. _Tempo rubato_ means a wavering, a
+vacillating of time values, and the question whether this is to extend
+over both hands or over only one must be decided by the player's good
+taste; it also depends upon whether the occupation of the two hands can
+be thought of as separate and musically independent. I assume that you
+are able to play each hand alone with perfect freedom, and I doubt not
+that you can, with some practice, retain this freedom of each hand when
+you unite them, but I can see only very few cases to which you could
+apply such skill, and still less do I see the advantage thereof.
+
+[Sidenote: _Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse_]
+
+In playing _rubato_ do you follow a preconceived notion or the impulse
+of the moment?
+
+Perfect expression is possible only under perfect freedom. Hence, the
+perfect _rubato_ must be the result of momentary impulse. It is,
+however, only a few very eminent players that have such command over
+this means of expression as to feel safe in trusting their momentary
+impulses altogether. The average player will do well carefully to
+consider the shifting of time values and to prepare their execution to a
+certain degree. This should not, however, be carried too far, as it
+would impair the naturalness of expression and lead to a stereotyped
+mannerism.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between Conception and Rubato_]
+
+Is there any difference between conception and _rubato?_
+
+Conception is a generic term and comprises the service of each and all
+means of expression, among which _rubato_ plays a somewhat prominent
+part. For it is, so to speak, the musical pulse-beat of the player.
+Being subordinate to conception, its function and manner must be
+governed by the latter.
+
+
+CONCEPTION
+
+[Sidenote: _Different Conceptions May be Individually Correct_]
+
+Can one and the same phrase be conceived differently by different
+artists and still be individually correct in each instance?
+
+Certainly! Provided that--whatever the conception be--it preserves the
+logical relations of the parts in building up the phrase, and that it is
+carried through the whole course of the piece in a consistent manner.
+Whether a certain conception of a phrase is or is not compatible with
+the general character of the piece and how far the freedom of conception
+may extend, it will be for the aesthetic training and the good taste of
+the player to determine for each and every case separately.
+
+[Sidenote: _Which Should Come First--Conception or Technique?_]
+
+In the first attempts at a new piece must matters of conception be
+observed at once or only after the piece has been technically mastered?
+
+Unless one is a very experienced reader it will be hardly possible to
+think of matters of conception until the technical means to express them
+and the necessary perspective of the piece have been gained. It is
+always safer first to make sure that the notes as such, and their
+respective times value have been read correctly, and that the technical
+difficulties have, to a fair degree, been overcome. This done, the
+question must be settled as to whether the general character of the
+piece is dramatic, _i. e._, tragic or conciliatory, melancholy, lyric,
+rhapsodic, humorous, or changeable, and so forth. Only when our mind on
+this point is made up with the utmost definiteness, can we approach the
+details that are conditioned by the conception.
+
+
+FORCE OF EXAMPLE
+
+[Sidenote: _Hearing a Piece Before Studying It_]
+
+Should a pupil hear a piece played before studying it?
+
+If the pupil's imagination needs stimulation he should hear the piece
+well played before studying it. If, however, he is merely too lazy to
+find out the rhythm, melody, and so forth, and rather relies upon his
+purely imitative faculty, he should not hear it, but be compelled to do
+his own reading and thinking.
+
+
+THEORY
+
+[Sidenote: _Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony_]
+
+Do you recommend the study of harmony and counterpoint to the piano
+student?
+
+By all means! To gain a musical insight into the pieces you play you
+must be able to follow the course of their harmonies and understand the
+contrapuntal treatment of their themes. Without the knowledge gained
+through a serious study of harmony and counter-point your conceptions
+will be pure guesswork and will lack in outline and definiteness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why so Many Different Keys?_]
+
+Why is it supposed to be necessary to have fifteen keys to complete the
+circle of fifths? Why would not twelve suffice, and thus avoid duplicate
+keys?
+
+Not fifteen, but twenty-five tonalities complete the circle of fifths,
+theoretically, and they are all necessary because of the many harmonic
+turns that occur in modern music and which could not be intelligently
+demonstrated unless we use the tonalities with seven, eight, nine or
+more sharps and flats. For otherwise we might have to change the
+signature so frequently as to become utterly confusing to even the most
+musicianly reader. C-sharp minor has but four sharps, yet the scale of
+its dominant (its next relative) has eight sharps.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Relation of Harmony to Piano-Playing_]
+
+Is it absolutely necessary for me to study harmony in connection with my
+piano? My teacher wants me to do it, but I don't see the use! Of what
+benefit is harmony?
+
+Of what benefit is the general school-work a child has to go through? To
+play the piano well a good hand and so many hours of practice are not
+sufficient; it requires a general musical education. This means, first
+and foremost, a knowledge of harmony, to which you may later add the
+study of counterpoint and forms. Your teacher is absolutely right.
+
+[Sidenote: _Text-Books on Harmony_]
+
+Would you care to recommend two or three of the best books on the study
+of harmony?
+
+The doctrine of harmony is ever the same, but the modes of teaching it
+are constantly changing and, I trust, improving. For this reason I feel
+a certain hesitation in recommending at this time the text-books which I
+studied many years ago, especially as I am not certain that they have
+been translated into English. I advise you, therefore, to inquire of
+some good teacher of harmony or, at least, of a reliable music publisher
+or dealer. E. F. Richter and Buessler wrote works of recognized merit,
+which, though no longer modern, may be safely studied.
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning to Modulate_]
+
+Is it possible to learn modulating from a book without the aid of a
+teacher, so as to connect two pieces of different tonality?
+
+Possible, yes, but not probable; for since in your written exercises you
+are likely to err at times, you will need some one to point out your
+errors and so show you the way to correct them. Generally speaking, I do
+not think much of studying the rudiments of anything without the aid of
+an experienced adviser.
+
+[Sidenote: _Studying Counterpoint by One's Self_]
+
+Is it possible to study counterpoint without a teacher, and, if so, what
+book can you recommend for its study?
+
+It is quite possible, provided you are certain never to misunderstand
+your text-book and never to commit any errors. Otherwise you will need
+the advice of an experienced musician in correcting them. A good
+teacher, however, is always better than a book for this study. Of
+text-books there are a great many. Any reliable music house will furnish
+you with a list of them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Should Piano Students Try to Compose?_]
+
+Besides my study of the piano shall I try to compose if I feel the
+inclination and believe I have some talent for it?
+
+The practice of constructing will always facilitate your work of
+reconstructing, which is, practically, what the rendition of a musical
+work means. Hence, I advise every one who feels able to construct even a
+modest little piece to try his hand at it. Of course, if you can write
+only a two-step it will not enable you to reconstruct a Beethoven
+Sonata; still, there may be little places in the Sonata that will clear
+up in your mind more quickly when you have come in touch with the
+technical act of putting down on paper what your mind has created, and
+you will altogether lose the attitude of the absolute stranger when
+facing a new composition. Do not construe this, however, as an
+encouragement to write two-steps!
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student Who Wants to Compose_]
+
+Please advise me as to the best way of learning composition. Which is
+the best work of that kind from which I could learn?
+
+First learn to write notes. Copying all sorts of music is the best
+practice for that. Then study the doctrine of harmony. Follow it up by a
+study of the various forms of counterpoint. Proceed to canon in its many
+kinds and intervals. Take up the fugue. Then study forms until you learn
+to feel them. Books for every one of these stages there are many, but
+better than all the books is a good teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Difference Between Major and Minor Scales_]
+
+What is the difference between the major and minor scale? Does it lie in
+the arrangement of semitones or in the character, or in both?
+
+There are three differences: First, in the arrangement of the semitones;
+second, in the character; and, third, in the circumstance that the minor
+scale admits of a number of modifications for melodic purposes which
+cannot be made in the major scale.
+
+[Sidenote: _There is Only One Minor Scale_]
+
+Which is the true minor scale, the melodic or the harmonic? My teacher
+insists upon the harmonic, but it sounds ugly to me. Will you please
+tell me something about it?
+
+There is but one minor scale; it is the one upon which the chords of its
+tonality are built; it is the one upon which your teacher wisely
+insists, because the so-called melodic minor scale offers no new
+intervals to your fingers, and because the term melodic minor scale is
+applied to that form of deviation from the real scale which is most
+frequently used, but which is by no means the only deviation that is
+possible; nor is it the only one in use.
+
+[Sidenote: _What is the Difference Between the Major and Minor Scales?_]
+
+What is the difference between the major and minor scales?
+
+The major scale has a major third and sixth, while the minor scale has a
+minor third and sixth and raises its seventh to a major seventh by an
+accidental elevating sign, raising a natural note by a sharp, and a flat
+note by a natural. If you begin your major scale upon its sixth degree
+and, counting it as the first of the minor, raise the seventh, you
+obtain the minor scale, in which, however, many modifications are
+admissible for melodic (though not for harmonic) purposes.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka, and Polonaise Differ_]
+
+As a waltz and a menuet are both in three-fourth time, is it only the
+tempo in which they differ, or are there other differences?
+
+Waltz, menuet, mazurka, and polonaise are all in three-fourth time and
+are not confined to a definite tempo. The difference between them lies
+in the structure. A waltz period--that is, the full expression of a
+theme--needs sixteen measures; a menuet needs only eight, a mazurka only
+four measures. In a mazurka a motive occupies only one measure, in the
+menuet two, and in the waltz four. The polonaise subdivides its quarters
+into eighths, and the second eighth usually into two sixteenths; it
+differs, therefore, from the other three dances by its rhythm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Meaning of "Toccata"_]
+
+What is the meaning of the word "Toccata"? I do not find it in the
+Italian lexicon and the English musical dictionaries differ widely in
+their definitions. None of their definitions seems to apply to the
+Toccata by Chaminade.
+
+To make the matter quite plain let me say, first, that "Cantata" (from
+_cantare_--to sing) meant in olden times a music piece to be sung; while
+"Sonata" (from _suonare_--to play) designated a piece to be played on an
+instrument; and "Toccato" meant a piece for keyboard instruments like
+the organ or piano and its precursors, written with the intention of
+providing special opportunities for the display of the skill of touch
+(from _toccare_--to touch) or, as we would now say, finger technique.
+The original meanings have changed so that these terms now imply
+definite forms, like the modern Cantata and Sonata. The Toccata is, at
+present, understood to be a piece in constant and regular motion, very
+much like those that are called "_moto perpetuo_" or "perpetual motion,"
+of which Weber's "Perpetuum mobile" is a good example. I have no doubt
+that the Toccata by Chaminade, which I do not know, is written on
+similar lines.
+
+
+THE MEMORY
+
+[Sidenote: _Playing from Memory Is Indispensable_]
+
+Is memorization absolutely essential to a good player?
+
+Playing from memory is indispensable to the freedom of rendition. You
+have to bear in your mind and memory the whole piece in order to attend
+properly to its details. Some renowned players who take the printed
+sheets before them on the stage play, nevertheless, from memory. They
+take the music with them only to heighten their feeling of security and
+to counteract a lack of confidence in their memory--a species of
+nervousness.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Easiest Way to Memorize_]
+
+Will you please tell me which is the easiest way to memorize a piano
+piece?
+
+Begin by playing it a few times very carefully and slowly until you can
+play it with a fair degree of exactitude (you need not mind an
+occasional stopping). Then go over such places as appeared to you
+especially complex until you understand their construction. Now let the
+piece rest for a whole day and try to trace in your mind the train of
+thoughts in the piece. Should you come to a dead stop be satisfied with
+what you have achieved. Your mind will keep on working, subconsciously,
+as over a puzzle, always trying to find the continuation. If you find
+that the memory is a blank take the music in hand, look at the
+particular place--but only at this--and, since you have now found the
+connection, continue the work of mental tracing. At the next stop repeat
+this procedure until you have reached the end, not in every detail, but
+in large outlines. Of course, this does not mean that you can now _play_
+it from memory. You have only arrived at the point of transition from
+the imagined to the real, and now begins a new kind of study: to
+transfer to the instrument what you have mentally absorbed. Try to do
+this piece by piece, and look into the printed sheets (which should not
+be on the music-rack but away from it) only when your memory absolutely
+refuses to go on. The real work with the printed music should be
+reserved to the last, and you should regard it in the light of a
+proof-reading of your mental impressions. The whole process of absorbing
+a piece of music mentally resembles that of photographing. The
+development of the acoustic picture (the tone-picture) is like the bath.
+The tentative playing is like the process of "fixing" against
+sensitiveness to lights; and the final work with the printed music is
+the retouching.
+
+[Sidenote: _In Order to Memorize Easily_]
+
+I find it very hard to memorize my music. Can you suggest any method
+that would make it easier?
+
+To retain in one's memory what does not interest one is difficult to
+everybody, while that which does interest us comes easy. In your case
+the first requirement seems to be that your interest in the pieces you
+are to play be awakened. This interest usually comes with a deeper
+understanding of music; hence, it may be said that nothing will assist a
+naturally reluctant memory so much as a general musical education.
+Special studies for the memory have not come to my knowledge because I
+never had any need of them. After all, the best way to memorize is--to
+memorize. One phrase to-day, another to-morrow, and so on, until the
+memory grows by its own force through being exercised.
+
+[Sidenote: _Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily_]
+
+I memorize very easily, so that I can often play my pieces from memory
+before I have fully mastered their technical difficulties, as my
+teacher says. But I forget them just as quickly, so that in a few weeks
+I cannot remember enough of them to play them clear through. What would
+you advise, to make my memory more retentive?
+
+There are two fundamental types of memory: One is very mobile--it
+acquires quickly and loses just as quickly; the other is more cumbrous
+in its action--it acquires slowly, but retains forever. A combination of
+the two is very rare, indeed; I never heard of such a case. A remedy
+against forgetting you will find in refreshing your memory in regular
+periods, playing your memorized pieces over (carefully) every four or
+five days. Other remedies I know not and I see no necessity for them.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Keep Errors from Creeping in_]
+
+I can always memorize a piece before I can play it fast. Do you advise
+practising with notes when I already know it by heart?
+
+The occasional playing of a memorized piece from the notes will keep
+errors from creeping in, provided you read the music correctly and
+carefully.
+
+
+SIGHT READING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading_]
+
+Is there any practical method that will assist one to greater rapidity
+in sight-reading?
+
+The best way to become a quick reader is to read as much as possible.
+The rapidity of your progress depends upon the state of your general
+musical education, for the more complete this is the better you will be
+able to surmise the logical sequel of a phrase once started. A large
+part of sight-reading consists of surmising, as you will find upon
+analyzing your book-reading.
+
+[Sidenote: _To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading_]
+
+What is a good plan to pursue to improve the facility in sight-reading?
+
+Much reading and playing at sight and as fast as possible, even though
+at first some slight inaccuracies may creep in. By quick reading you
+develop that faculty of the eye which is meant by "grasp," and this, in
+turn, facilitates your reading of details.
+
+
+ACCOMPANYING
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning To Accompany at Sight_]
+
+How can one learn to accompany at sight?
+
+Develop your sight-reading by playing many accompaniments, and
+endeavour--while playing your part--also to read and inwardly hear the
+solo part.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Art of Accompanying a Soloist_]
+
+How should one manage the accompaniment for a soloist inclined to play
+rubato?
+
+Since you cannot make a contract of artistically binding force with a
+soloist you must take refuge in "following." But do not take this word
+in its literal meaning; rather endeavour to divine the intentions of
+your soloist from moment to moment, for this divining is the soul of
+accompanying. To be, in this sense, a good accompanist, one must have
+what is called in musical slang a good "nose"--that is, one must
+musically "scent" whither the soloist is going. But, then, the nose is
+one of the things we are born with. We may develop it, as to its
+sensitiveness, but we cannot acquire a nose by learning. Experience will
+do much in these premises, but not everything.
+
+[Sidenote: _Learning the Art of Accompanying_]
+
+Wishing to become an accompanist I anticipate completing my studies in
+Berlin. What salary might I expect and what would be the best "course"
+to pursue?
+
+An experienced and very clever accompanist may possibly earn as much as
+fifty dollars a week if associated with a vocal, violin, or 'cello
+artist of great renown. Usually, however, accompanists are expected to
+be able to play solos. There are no special schools for accompanists,
+though there may be possibly some special courses in which experience
+may be fostered. If you come to Berlin you will find it easy to find
+what you seem to be seeking.
+
+
+TRANSPOSING
+
+[Sidenote: _The Problem of Transposing at Sight_]
+
+What, please, is the quickest and safest way of transposing from one key
+to another? I have trouble, for instance, in playing for singing if the
+piece is in A major and the singer wants it in F major.
+
+The question of transposing hinges on the process of hearing through the
+eye. I mean by this that you must study the piece until you learn to
+conceive the printed music as sounds and sound groups, not as key
+pictures. Then transfer the sound picture to another tonality in your
+mind, very much as if when moving from one floor to another with all
+your household goods you were to place them on the new floor as they
+were placed on the old. Practice will, of course, facilitate this
+process very much. Transposition at sight is based on somewhat different
+principles. Here you have to get mentally settled in the new tonality,
+and then follow the course of intervals. If you find transposition
+difficult you may derive consolation from the thought that it is
+difficult for everybody, and that transposing at sight is, of course,
+still more difficult than to transpose after studying the piece
+beforehand.
+
+
+PLAYING FOR PEOPLE
+
+[Sidenote: _When to "Play For People"_]
+
+During the period of serious study may I play for people (friends or
+strangers) or should I keep entirely away from the outside world?
+
+From time to time you may play for people the pieces you have mastered,
+but take good care to go over them afterward--the difficult places
+slowly--in order to eliminate any slight errors or unevenness that may
+have crept in. To play for people is not only a good incentive for
+further aspirations; it also furnishes you with a fairly exact estimate
+of your abilities and shortcomings, and indicates thereby the road to
+improvement. To retire from the outside world during the period of study
+is an outlived, obsolete idea which probably originated in the endeavour
+to curb the vanity of such students as would neglect their studies in
+hunting, prematurely, for applause. I recommend playing for people
+moderately and on the condition that for every such "performance" of a
+piece you play it afterward twice, slowly and carefully, at home. This
+will keep the piece intact and bring you many other unexpected
+advantages.
+
+[Sidenote: "_Afraid to Play Before People_"]
+
+I can never do myself justice when playing for people, because of my
+nervousness. How can I overcome it?
+
+If you are absolutely certain that your trouble is due to "nervousness"
+you should improve the condition of your nerves by proper exercise
+in the open air and by consulting your physician. But are you
+quite sure that your "nervousness" is not merely another name for
+self-consciousness, or, worse yet, for a "bad conscience" on the score
+of technical security? In the latter case you ought to perfect your
+technique, while in the former you must learn to discard all thought of
+your dear self, as well as of your hearers in relation to you, and
+concentrate your thinking upon the work you are to do. This you can well
+achieve by will-power and persistent self-training.
+
+[Sidenote: _Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often_]
+
+I have heard artists play the same piece year after year, and each time
+as expressively as before. After a piece has been played several hundred
+times it can hardly produce on the player the same emotional effect that
+it originally did. Is it possible for a player by his art and technical
+resources so to colour his tones that he can stimulate and produce in
+his audience an emotional condition which he himself does not at the
+time feel?
+
+In music emotion can be conveyed only through the means and modes of
+expression that are peculiar to music, such as dynamic changes,
+vacillations of tempo, differences of touch and kindred devices. When a
+piece is played in public very often on consecutive occasions--which
+artists avoid as much as they can--these expressions gradually assume a
+distinct form which is quite capable of preservation. Though it will in
+time lose its life-breath, it can still produce a deception just as (to
+draw a drastic parallel) a dead person may look as if he were only
+asleep. In this parallel the artist has, however, one great advantage.
+Since he cannot play a piece very often without having a number of
+errors, rearrangements, slight changes creeping into it, he must, in
+order to eliminate them and to cleanse the piece, return from time to
+time to slow practice in which he also refrains almost entirely from
+expression. When in the next public performance the right tempo and
+expression are added again they tend strongly to renew the freshness of
+the piece in the player's mind.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself_]
+
+I love music dearly and my teacher is always satisfied with my lessons,
+but when I play for my friends I never make a success. They compliment
+me, but I feel that they do not care for my playing; even my mother says
+that my playing is "mechanical." How can I change it?
+
+It is just possible that your friends and your mother may not be
+amenable to the high class of music which you play, but if this is not
+the case your affliction cannot be cured offhand. If the lack of
+expression in your playing should emanate from a lack of feeling in
+yourself, then your case would be incurable. If, however, you play
+"mechanically" because you do not know how to express your emotions in
+your playing--and I suspect it to be so--then you are curable, although
+there are no remedies that would act directly. I suggest that you form
+close associations with good musicians and with lovers of good music. By
+looking well and listening you can learn their modes of expression and
+employ them first by imitation until the habit of "saying something"
+when you play has grown upon you. I think, though, that you need an
+inward change before there can be any outward change.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Art of Playing With Feeling_]
+
+In the musical manifestations of feeling how does the artist chiefly
+differ from the amateur?
+
+The artist expresses his feelings with due deference to the canons of
+art. Above all, he plays correctly without allowing this ever-present
+correctness to make his playing seem lacking in feeling. Without unduly
+repressing or suppressing his individuality he respects the composer's
+intentions by punctiliously obeying every hint or suggestion he finds in
+the annotations, concerning speed, force, touch, changes, contrasts,
+etc. He delivers the composer's message truthfully. His personality or
+individuality reveals itself solely in the way he understands the
+composition and in the manner in which he executes the composer's
+prescriptions.
+
+Not so the amateur. Long before he is able to play the piece correctly
+he begins to twist and turn things in it to suit himself, under the
+belief, I suppose, that he is endowed with an "individuality" so strong
+as to justify an indulgence in all manner of "liberties," that is,
+licence. Feeling is a great thing; so is the will to express it; but
+both are worthless without ability. Hence, before playing with feeling,
+it were well to make sure that everything in the piece is in the right
+place, in the right time, strength, touch, and so forth. Correct
+reading--and not only of the notes _per se_--is a matter that every good
+teacher insists upon with his pupils, even in the earliest grades of
+advancement. The amateur should make sure of that before he allows his
+"feelings" to run riot. But he very seldom does.
+
+[Sidenote: _Affected Movements at the Piano_]
+
+Is there any justification for the swaying of the body, the nodding of
+the head, the exaggerated motion of the arms, and all grotesque actions
+in general while playing the piano, so frequently exhibited not only by
+amateurs but by concert players, too?
+
+All such actions as you describe reveal a lack of the player's proper
+self-control when they are unconsciously indulged in. When they are
+consciously committed, which is not infrequently the case, they betray
+the pianist's effort to deflect the auditors' attention from the
+composition to himself, feeling probably unable to satisfy his auditors
+with the result of his playing and, therefore, resorting to
+illustration by more or less exaggerated gesture. General
+well-manneredness, or its absence, has a good deal to do with the
+matter.
+
+
+ABOUT THE PIANO PER SE
+
+[Sidenote: _Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?_]
+
+Do you believe that the piano is the most difficult of all instruments
+to master--more so than the organ or the violin? If so, why?
+
+The piano is more difficult to master than the organ, because the
+tone-production on the piano is not so purely mechanical as it is on the
+organ. The pianist's touch is the immediate producer of whatever variety
+or colour of tone the moment requires, whereas the organist is powerless
+to produce any change of tone colour except by pulling a different stop.
+His fingers do not and cannot produce the change. As to string
+instruments, their difficulties lie in an entirely different field, and
+this fact precludes comparison with the piano. Technically, the string
+instrument may be more difficult, but, to become an exponent of musical
+art on the piano requires deeper study, because the pianist must
+present to his hearers the totality of a composition while the string
+instruments depend for the most part upon the accompaniments of some
+other instruments.
+
+[Sidenote: _Piano Study for Conductor and Composer_]
+
+Being a cornet player, and wishing to become a conductor and composer, I
+should like to know if the study of the piano is necessary in addition
+to my broad, theoretical studies and a common college course.
+
+It depends upon what you wish to conduct and what to compose. With no
+other means of musically expressing yourself than a cornet it is highly
+improbable that you will be able to write or conduct a symphony. But you
+may be able to lead a brass band and, perhaps, to write a march or dance
+piece. If your musical aims are serious by all means take to the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why the Piano Is So Popular_]
+
+Why do more people play the piano than any other instrument?
+
+Because the rudimentary stages of music study are easier on the piano
+than on any other instrument. The higher stages, however, are so much
+more difficult, and it is then that the piano gets even with the bold
+aggressor. A violinist or 'cellist who can play a melody simply and with
+good tone is considered a fairly good amateur, for he must have mastered
+the difficulty of tone-production; he must have trained his right arm. A
+pianist who can play a melody equally well is the merest tyro. When he
+approaches polyphony, when the discrimination begins between the various
+parts speaking simultaneously, aye, then the real work begins--not to
+speak of velocity. It is, perhaps, for this reason that in reality there
+are a great many more violinists than pianists, if by either we mean
+persons who really master their instrument. The number of 'cellists is
+smaller, but the reason for this is to be found in the small range of
+'cello literature and also, perhaps, in the comparative unwieldiness of
+the instrument, which does not admit of technical development as, for
+instance, the more handy violin. If all beginners at the piano realized
+what exasperating, harassing, discouraging, nerve-consuming difficulties
+await them later and beset the path to that mastery which so few
+achieve, there would be far fewer piano students and more people would
+study the violin or the 'cello. Of the harp and the wind instruments I
+need not speak, because they are to be considered only in matters
+orchestral and not--seriously--as solo instruments.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Genuine Piano Hand_]
+
+What shape of hand do you consider the best for piano playing? Mine is
+very broad, with rather long fingers.
+
+The best piano hand is not the popular, pretty, narrow hand with long
+fingers. Nearly all the great technicians had or have proportioned
+hands. The genuine piano hand must be broad, in order to give each
+finger a strong base for the action of its phalanges and to give this
+base space enough for the development of the various sets of muscles.
+The length of the fingers must be in proportion to the width of the
+hand, but it is the width which I consider most important.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Composition Must Fit the Player_]
+
+Would you advise players with small hands to attempt the heavier class
+of the compositions by Liszt?
+
+Never! Whether the hands are too small or the stretch between the
+fingers too narrow--if you attempt a piece which for these or other
+physical reasons you cannot fully master, you always run the serious
+risk of overstraining. This, however, should be most carefully avoided.
+If you cannot play a certain piece without undue physical strain, leave
+it alone and remember that singers choose their songs not because they
+lie within their compass, but because they suit their voice. Do
+likewise. Be guided by the nature and the type of your hand rather than
+by its rapidity of execution.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist_]
+
+What physical exercises are most advantageous to be taken in connection
+with piano practice? I have been swinging clubs to strengthen wrists and
+arms, but have imagined it stiffened my fingers.
+
+I am inclined to think that what you imagined was not far from the
+truth. Can you not replace the real clubs by imaginary ones? Since
+club-swinging tends to develop the agility of the arms and wrists rather
+than their strength you can easily make the same motions without the
+clubs; for all exertion of force that keeps the hands in a closed
+condition is bound to have a bad effect on piano playing. Undoubtedly
+the best exercise of all, however, is brisk walking in the open air, for
+it engages every part and every organ of the body, and by compelling
+deep breathing it fosters the general health through increased
+oxygenation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers_]
+
+My teacher objects to my riding horseback; not altogether, but he says I
+overdo it and it stiffens my fingers. Is he right?
+
+Yes, he is. Every abuse carries its own punishment in its train. The
+closed position of the hand, the pressure of the reins upon the fingers,
+as constant as it is the case in horseback riding, is surely not
+advantageous for the elasticity of the fingers. You should, therefore,
+allow the effect of one ride upon your fingers to disappear completely
+before you indulge in another.
+
+[Sidenote: _When to Keep Away from the Piano_]
+
+Do you think I should play and study the piano just because it is asked
+of me, and when I take no interest in it?
+
+Most emphatically, no! It would be a crime against yourself and against
+music. What little interest in music you may have left would be killed
+by a study that is distasteful to you, and this would be, therefore,
+bound to lead to failure. Leave this study to people who are sincerely
+interested in it. Thank heaven, there are still some of those, and there
+always will be some! Be sure, however, that you are really not
+interested, and discriminate well between a lack of interest and a mere
+opposition to a perhaps too strenuous urging on the part of your
+relatives. My advice would be to quit the study for a time entirely; if,
+after a while, you feel a craving for music you will find the way to
+your instrument. This advice, of course, holds good also for violin
+students or any type of music student.
+
+
+BAD MUSIC
+
+[Sidenote: _The Company That One Keeps in Music_]
+
+Must I persist in playing classical pieces when I prefer to play dance
+music?
+
+If, in your daily life, you wish to be regarded as a lady or a gentleman
+you are obliged to be careful as to the company you keep. It is the same
+in musical life. If you associate with the noble thoughts that
+constitute good--or, as you call it, classical--music, you will be
+counted with a higher class in the world of music. Remember that you
+cannot go through a flour-mill without getting dusty. Of course, not all
+pieces of dance music are bad; but the general run of them are such
+poor, if not vulgar, stuff as hardly to deserve the name of
+"compositions." Usually they are mere "expositions" of bad taste. Of
+these I warn you for your own sake, and if you wish to avoid the danger
+of confounding the good and the bad in that line it is best to abstain
+from it entirely. If dance music it must be, why, have you never heard
+of the waltzes and mazurkas by Chopin?
+
+[Sidenote: _Why Rag-Time Is Injurious_]
+
+Do you believe the playing of the modern rag-time piece to be actually
+hurtful to the student?
+
+I do, indeed, unless it is done merely for a frolic; though even such a
+mood might vent itself in better taste. The touch with vulgarity can
+never be but hurtful, whatever form vulgarity may assume--whether it be
+literature, a person, or a piece of music. Why share the musical food
+of those who are, by breeding or circumstance, debarred from anything
+better? The vulgar impulse which generated rag-time cannot arouse a
+noble impulse in response any more than "dime novels" can awaken the
+instincts of gentlemanliness or ladyship. If we watch the street-sweeper
+we are liable to get dusty. But remember that the dust on the mind and
+soul is not so easily removed as the dust on our clothes.
+
+
+ETHICAL
+
+[Sidenote: _What the Object of Study Should Be_]
+
+How can we know that our talent is great enough to warrant us in
+bestowing year after year of work upon its development?
+
+Pleasure and interest should be such that it is in the actual working
+that one is repaid. Do not think so much of the end of your work. Do not
+force your work with the one view of becoming a great artist. Let
+Providence and the future decide your standing in music. Go on studying
+with earnestness and interest, and find your pleasure in the endeavour,
+not in the accomplishment.
+
+
+PITCH AND KINDRED MATTERS
+
+[Sidenote: _The International Pitch_]
+
+What is meant by "pitch" as regards piano tuning? People say that a
+certain piano is pitched lower than another. Would E on one piano
+actually sound like F on another?
+
+Yes, it would if the pianos were not pitched alike. It is only recently
+that an international pitch has been established which was adopted
+everywhere except in England. In the international pitch the A in the
+second space of the treble staff makes 435 vibrations a second.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "International" Piano Pitch_]
+
+Which piano pitch is preferable, "concert" or "international"?
+
+By all means the "international," because it will fit your piano to be
+used in conjunction with any other instrument, no matter whence it may
+come. Besides, the international pitch was decided upon as far back as
+1859, in Paris, by a government commission, numbering among its members
+such men as Auber, Halevy, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Ambroise Thomas,
+and many physicists and army generals. You can easily infer from this
+that, in determining that the A in the second space of the treble staff
+should have 435 vibrations a second, all phases of music--vocal,
+instrumental, string, brass, wood, wind--have been duly considered.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Well-Tempered Piano Scale_]
+
+Is there really a difference of three-eighths of a tone between A-sharp
+and B-flat on the piano?
+
+There is no difference on the piano. But acoustically there is a
+difference, over which, however, I would waste no time, since the
+evenly-tempered scale has been generally adopted, and every composition
+from Bach's time to the present day has been thought and written in it.
+
+[Sidenote: _The "Colour" of Various Keys_]
+
+Is it not a mistaken idea that any one particular key is more or less
+rich or melodious than another?
+
+The effect of a tonality upon our hearing lies not in its signature (as
+even Beethoven seemed to believe) but in the vibration proportions. It
+is, therefore, irrelevant whether we play a piece upon a high-pitched
+piano in C, or upon a low-pitched piano in D flat. There are certain
+keys preferable to others for certain colours, but I fear that the
+preference is based not upon acoustic qualities but rather upon a
+fitness for the hand or voice. We apply the word "colour" as much to
+tone as the painters apply "tone" to colour, but I hardly think that
+anybody would speak of C major as representing black, or F major green.
+
+
+THE STUDENT'S AGE
+
+[Sidenote: _Starting a Child's Musical Training_]
+
+At what age should a child begin the study of instrumental music? If my
+daughter (six years old) is to study the violin should she first spend a
+few years with the piano, or _vice versa_?
+
+The usual age for a child to begin the study of music is between six and
+seven years. A pianist hardly needs to learn another instrument to
+become a well-rounded musician, but violinists, as well as the players
+of all other instruments, and also vocalists, will be much hampered in
+their general musical development if they fail to acquire what may be
+called a speaking acquaintance with the piano.
+
+[Sidenote: _Age of the Student is Immaterial_]
+
+I am not longer in my first youth, cannot take more than one hour's
+lesson a week, and cannot practise more than three hours a day. Would
+you still advise me to begin the study of the piano?
+
+Provided there is gift and intelligence, the will, and the opportunity
+to study, age need not stand in your way. If your three hours of study
+are properly used, and your hour's lesson a week is with a good teacher,
+you should not become discouraged.
+
+[Sidenote: _Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin_]
+
+Do you think that mastery of the piano is unlikely or impossible when
+the beginner is twenty-five years of age?
+
+It is neither unlikely nor impossible. Your age will to some degree
+handicap you, because from purely physical causes the elasticity of the
+fingers and wrists could be developed much more quickly if you were ten
+years younger. If, however, you are endowed with strong musical gifts in
+the abstract you will achieve results superior to those attained by
+younger people with less talent. In overcoming the difficulties due to a
+late beginning you will find great inward satisfaction, and your
+attainments are bound to be a source of joy to you.
+
+
+TEACHERS, LESSONS AND METHODS
+
+[Sidenote: _The Importance of the Right Teacher_]
+
+I have a son who is very desirous of learning to play the piano. I have
+been advised that an ordinarily good teacher is good enough to begin
+with. Others tell me a beginner should get the best teacher possible.
+Which would you advise? I live in a small town.
+
+The seriousness of your question is aggravated by the statement that you
+live in a small town, and that there is possibly no teacher of ability
+to be found in your town. And yet it is only such a one that I can
+recommend for your son. For nothing is more dangerous for the
+development of a talent than a bad foundation. Many people have tried
+all their lives to rid themselves of the bad habits acquired from an
+ignorant teacher in the rudimentary stages of their studies, and have
+failed. I should advise you to try your best to send your boy to some
+near-by city where there is an excellent teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _Nothing But the Best Will Do_]
+
+Wishing to begin the study of the piano now, in my twenty-fourth year,
+just for the sake of my great love for music, and knowing not even the
+notes, is it necessary to go to an expensive teacher at once or would a
+cheaper teacher do for the beginning?
+
+If music is to be merely a pastime, and you content yourself with a
+minimum of knowledge, the cheaper teacher will do; but if you aspire to
+become musical in a better sense, why, by all means, apply to a teacher
+of the better class. The maxim: "For the beginning this or that is good
+enough," is one of the most harmful fallacies. What would you think of
+an architect who says: "For the foundation loam is good enough; we put a
+sandstone house over it, any way." Remember also, that the road a
+cheaper teacher has led you to take must usually be retraced when your
+aspirations rise toward the better in music.
+
+[Sidenote: _Music Schools and Private Teachers_]
+
+Shall I take my lessons in a music school or from a private teacher?
+
+Music schools are very good for acquiring a general musical education.
+For the higher study of an executive specialty (piano, violin, the
+voice, etc.) I should naturally prefer private instruction from a
+specialist, because he can give more attention to each individual pupil
+than is possible under the wholesale system followed, not by all, but by
+the majority of music schools. What I should advise would be a
+combination: General matters--harmony, counterpoint, forms, history, and
+aesthetics--in a music school; and private lessons for your specialty
+from a teacher who has an established name as an executive artist. The
+best music schools have such a man at their head, and in these you find
+the best combination.
+
+[Sidenote: _Individual Teacher, or Conservatory?_]
+
+After taking lessons for five years and a half from a good teacher,
+would you advise a continuance with the individual teacher or attendance
+at a college of music or conservatory?
+
+For a general musical education I always recommend a good music school
+or conservatory. For the study of the piano I think it best to take
+private lessons from an artist who is experienced both as an executant
+and as a teacher. Some music schools have such men on their staff, if
+not, indeed, at their head.
+
+[Sidenote: _Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable_]
+
+Having had twenty months' lessons and having now mastered Etudes by
+Berens, opus 61, by Heller, opus 47, and Smith's Octave Studies, do you
+think I am justified in continuing my lessons?
+
+Assuming that you have really "mastered" the works you mention I can
+only encourage you to continue your lessons; I would, however, advise
+you to obtain an experienced pianist's criticism in order to assure
+yourself that your idea of "mastering" is right.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Sex of the Piano Teacher_]
+
+Is there any preference as to sex in the question of choosing a piano
+teacher; in other words, is a woman teacher preferable for any reason
+for a girl and a man teacher for a man?
+
+Your question does not admit of generalization from a purely musical
+point of view. It must be--on this premise--decided by the quality, not
+by the sex, of the teacher. A good feminine teacher is better than a bad
+masculine one, and _vice versa_. The question of sex does not enter
+into the matter. Of course, the greater number of eminent teachers are
+found on the masculine side.
+
+[Sidenote: _Too Much "Method"_]
+
+My recently engaged teacher says that the word "method" jars on her
+nerves. Kindly advise me whether a method is not the best thing for a
+novice, and, if so, which one?
+
+Your teacher, while possibly a little over-sensitive, is not wrong.
+America is the most method-ridden country in the world. Most of the
+methods in vogue contain some good points--about a grain of truth to a
+ton of mere ballast. Your teacher's utterance makes me think that you
+were lucky in finding her, and that you have excellent reason to trust
+in her guidance.
+
+[Sidenote: _What the Leschetizky Method Is_]
+
+How does the Leschetizky method rank with other methods, and in what
+respect does it differ from them?
+
+There are but two methods in all the arts: a good one and a bad one.
+Since you do not specify with what "other" methods you wish to compare
+that of Leschetizky I cannot answer you with definiteness. There are,
+alas, so many "methods"! But the majority of them are based upon a
+deliberate disregard for that reverence which is due to great
+compositions and to the example of their rendition given by great
+interpreters. I have not studied with Leschetizky, but I think that he
+believes in a very low position of the hand and a sort of
+super-energetic tension of the tendons of the arms and hands.
+
+[Sidenote: _Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial_]
+
+Has a young pupil, after studying the piano irregularly for two months,
+tested fairly a teacher's ability?
+
+Of course not! Altogether I do not like the idea of a pupil's testing
+his teacher's ability, rather the reverse. He may possibly find his
+teacher unsympathetic, but even this matter he is apt to judge
+prematurely. In most cases of irregularly attended or poorly prepared
+lessons the lack of sympathy means nothing more than that the pupil is a
+trifler and the teacher's honesty of purpose is not to his taste.
+
+[Sidenote: _Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One_]
+
+I have a "Piano Method," left over from lessons with my first teacher;
+it was very expensive, and I learned only a few pages of it. We moved to
+a different city and my new teacher objects to using the book, or, as
+she says, any such book. I do not know what to do about it, and would
+thank you for your advice.
+
+When you apply to a teacher for instruction you must, first of all,
+decide in your own mind whether you have or have not absolute confidence
+in his ability. If you trust him you must do as you are advised to do;
+if not, you must apply to another teacher. A book, costing much or
+little, plays no part in the matter. By what you say of the new teacher,
+however, I am disposed to think that he is better than the first one.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Proper Course For a Little Girl_]
+
+Commencing piano lessons with my seven-year-old daughter, should I
+devote my efforts to the development of the fingers and hands, or retard
+such development so as to keep pace with the expansion of the mind?
+
+Your question is interesting. But if your mind is clear on that
+point--and it seems to be--that a one-sided development (in this case
+technical) is dangerous to the "musical" talent of your little daughter,
+why, then, your little girl is, indeed, "out of danger." Your very
+question is a credit to your insight.
+
+[Sidenote: _Frequent Lessons and Shorter_]
+
+Is it better for a young student to take one hour lesson or two
+half-hour lessons a week?
+
+Since young students are liable to form bad habits it is essential that
+they should come under the teacher's eye as frequently as possible.
+Hence, it is preferable to divide the hour into two equidistant parts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Number of Lessons Depends on Progress_]
+
+Which plan is better for a child of eleven or twelve years: to take a
+one-hour lesson or two half-hour lessons a week?
+
+The child's age is not the determining factor in this matter; it is his
+musical status.
+
+[Sidenote: _One Lesson a Week_]
+
+Is one lesson a week inadequate for a piano student?
+
+It will be sufficient in the more advanced stages of piano study. In
+the earlier stages, however, where the danger of forming bad habits is
+greatest, it is best to bring the pupil under his teacher's eye twice a
+week at the very least.
+
+[Sidenote: _Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"_]
+
+What little classics are best for a child after six months' lessons?
+
+There are collections without number of facilitated or simplified
+arrangements of classic pieces, but I do not altogether approve of them.
+Let the classics wait until the child is technically--and, above all,
+mentally--ripe to approach such works as they are written.
+
+[Sidenote: _Can Music Be Studied in America?_]
+
+Is it necessary for me to go to Europe to continue my music studies?
+
+If you have very much money to spare, why not? You will see much, also
+hear much--and some of it not quite so sublime as you anticipated--and,
+last but not least, you will have "studied abroad." While this slogan
+still exercises a certain charm upon some people in America, their
+number is growing less year by year, because the public has begun to
+understand that the United States affords just as good instruction in
+music as Europe does. It has also been found out that to "study abroad"
+is by no means a guarantee of a triumphant return. Many a young student
+who went abroad as a lamb returned as a mutton-head. And why should
+there not be excellent teachers in America by this time? Even if you
+should insist upon a European teacher you can find many of the best in
+America. Is it not simpler that one teacher from Europe go to America to
+teach a hundred students than that a hundred students should make the
+trip for the sake of one teacher? I should advise you to stay where you
+are or go to Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, where you can find
+excellent teachers, native, resident Americans and foreigners. To quote
+a case in point, let me say that in Berlin I found Godowsky's pupils to
+be almost exclusively Americans. They came from various sections of
+America to study with him and with no one else. But during the eighteen
+years he spent in Chicago they did not seem to want him. Perhaps he was
+too near by! Why this self-deception? Without mentioning any names I
+assure you that there are many teachers in America now who, if they
+should go to Europe, would draw a host of students after them, and some
+of these excellent men I know personally. It is high time to put an end
+to the superstitious belief in "studying abroad."
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS
+
+[Sidenote: _Organizing a Musical Club_]
+
+Please give me the name of a good book on musical history and advise me
+how to organize and conduct a musical club among my pupils. Also give me
+a name, please.
+
+You will find the "History of Music," by Baltzell, a serviceable book.
+As a name for your club I suggest that of the patron saint of
+music--Saint Cecilia--perhaps, or that of a great composer. Ask the
+secretaries of a number of musical clubs for their constitutions and
+by-laws and then adapt these to your locality and circumstances. Make
+your pupils feel that it is their club and act, yourself, as secretary,
+if possible.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to Get Music Published_]
+
+Please explain how to go about publishing a piece of music, and also
+give the name of some good publishing houses.
+
+It is very easy to publish a piece of music if the publisher sees any
+merit in it. Send your piece to any publishing house whose name you find
+on the title pages of your sheet music. The readers or advisers of the
+house will report to their chief as to the merit of your piece, and he
+will then decide and negotiate with you, if his decision is favourable.
+If he should not care for it he will return your manuscript and you may
+try some other house. I advise you, however, to obtain the opinion of a
+good musician before you send your piece to a publisher.
+
+[Sidenote: _"Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"_]
+
+What is the difference between playing "in time" and playing "in
+rhythm"?
+
+Playing in rhythm refers to the inner life of a composition--to its
+musical pulsation. Playing in time means the prompt arrival upon those
+points of repose which are conditioned by the rhythm.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music_]
+
+I find great difficulty in playing anything that goes quick, though in a
+more moderate tempo I can play my pieces faultlessly. Every teacher I
+had promised to develop my speed, but they all failed. Can you give me
+a hint how to overcome my difficulty?
+
+Quickness of action, of motion, even of resolution, cannot be acquired
+by training alone; it must partly be inborn. I assume that your
+piano-playing is one phase of a general slowness. There is but one
+remedy for that. You have relied upon your teachers to develop your
+speed--you should have relied upon your own will-power. Try to will it
+and to will it often; you will see the ability keep step with the
+exertions of your will.
+
+[Sidenote: _"Wonder-Children" as Pianists_]
+
+My child of five years of age shows signs of great talent for music. He
+has a keen, true ear, and plays rather well for his age. Does this
+justify me in hoping that something out of the ordinary will become of
+him? They say that so-called "wonder-children" never amount to anything
+in later life.
+
+That "wonder-children" never amount to anything in later life is not
+borne out by history. If some are disappointments it is either because
+they astonished by mere executive precocity, instead of charming by
+their talent, or because they were ruined by unscrupulous parents or
+managers who confounded the promise of a future with its realization.
+But, aside from these few, all great musicians were "wonder-children,"
+whether they became composers, pianists, violinists, 'cellists, or what
+not. The biographies of our great masters of the past centuries as well
+as those of more recent times (Mendelssohn, Wagner, Chopin, Schumann,
+Liszt, Rubinstein, and all the others), will bear me out in this
+statement. If your child shows more than mere precocity--if, for
+instance, he does not merely play in his fifth year what others play in
+their tenth, but shows qualities of musical superiority--then you may
+with a fair degree of certainty feel hopeful of a fine musical future
+for him.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Value of Going to Concerts_]
+
+Shall I attend orchestra concerts or shall I give preference to
+soloists?
+
+By all means attend orchestra and chamber-music concerts! For these will
+acquaint you with those works which are, after all, of the greatest
+importance to the student. Besides, you will usually hear more correct
+interpretations than from soloists. The latter, with some luminous
+exceptions, overestimate their own authority and take such unseemly
+liberties that in many cases you hear more Smith, Jones, or Levy than
+Beethoven, Schumann, or Chopin. Individuality in a soloist is certainly
+a great quality, but only if it is tempered by a proper deference to the
+composer of the work in hand. If you cannot hear a soloist who is
+capable of sinking his individuality in the thought, mood, and style of
+the composer he is interpreting--and this is given to only the very
+greatest--you do far better to prefer to the "individual" renditions of
+a soloist the "collective" renditions of the orchestra or string
+quartette. The synthetic nature of the orchestra forestalls the
+extravagances of so-called individuality and insures, generally
+speaking, a truthful interpretation. The very worst conductor imaginable
+cannot do as much harm to a composition as can a mediocre soloist, for
+an orchestra is a large body and, therefore, not so easily moved and
+shifted from the path of musical rectitude as is a single voice or an
+instrument. A really great soloist is, of course, the finest flower of
+the garden of applied music, for his touch with the instrument is
+immediate and he needs no middleman to express the finest shades of his
+conceptions; while the conductor--and even the best--has to impart his
+conception (through the baton, facial expression, and gesture) to other
+people before it can become audible, and on this circuitous route much
+of the original fervour and ardour may be lost. But there are more good
+orchestras than great soloists, and hence you are safe in attending
+orchestra and chamber-music concerts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Books That Aid the Student Working Alone_]
+
+Compelled to study without a teacher for two years before I can go to a
+conservatory, what method should I study for my technique and what
+pieces?
+
+You fail to say whether you are a beginner or already somewhat advanced.
+Still, I think it safe to recommend Mason's "Touch and Technique,"
+Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66; and select your pieces from the graded
+catalogues which any publisher will be glad to send you.
+
+[Sidenote: _Music as a Profession or as an Avocation_]
+
+Would you advise a young man with a good foundation to choose
+music--that is, concertizing--as a career, or should he keep his music
+as an accomplishment and avocation?
+
+Your distinguishing between music and concertizing gives direction to my
+reply; that the question was not answered by your own heart before you
+asked it prompts me to advise music for you as an avocation. The
+artist's career nowadays is not so simple as it appears to be. Of a
+thousand capable musicians there is, perhaps, one who attains to a
+general reputation and fortune. The rest of them, after spending money,
+time, and toil, give up in despair, and with an embittered disposition
+take up some other occupation. If you do not depend upon public
+music-making for a living; if your natural endowments are not of a very
+unusually high order, and if your entire personality does not imply the
+exercise of authority over assemblages of people--spiritual authority, I
+mean--it were better to enjoy your music in the circle of your friends.
+It is less risky and will, in all probability, give you much greater
+satisfaction.
+
+[Sidenote: _How Much You Can Get From Music_]
+
+When I hear a concert pianist I want to get more from his playing than
+aesthetic ear enjoyment. Can you give me a little outline of points for
+which to look that may help me in my piano study?
+
+There is no pleasure or enjoyment from which we can derive more than we
+bring with us in the way of receptiveness. As you deepen your study of
+music and gain insight into its forms, contrapuntal work and harmonic
+beauties you will derive more and more pleasure from listening to a good
+pianist the deeper your studies go. What their playing reflects of
+emotional life you will perceive in the exact measure of your own grasp
+upon life. Art is a medium connecting, like a telegraph, two stations:
+the sender of a message and the receiver. Both must be pitched equally
+high to make the communication perfect.
+
+[Sidenote: "_It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than Sharps!_"]
+
+You would confer a favour upon a teacher by solving a problem for her
+that has puzzled her all her life; why do all pupils prefer flats to
+sharps? I am not at all sure that I do not, in some degree, share this
+preference. Is it a fault of training, or has it any other cause?
+
+Your question is both original and well justified by frequent
+observation, for it is quite true that people prefer to read flats to
+sharps. But note it well that the aversion to sharps refers only to the
+reading, not to the playing. If any one should find it harder to _play_
+in sharps, say, after knowing the notes well, it would be a purely
+subjective deception, due to a mental association of the note-picture
+with the respective sounds. My personal belief is that the aversion to
+the _reading_ of sharps is caused by the comparative complexity of the
+sign itself, and this leads me to think that the whole matter belongs
+rather to ophthalmology than to either acoustics or music.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rubinstein or Liszt--Which the Greater?_]
+
+As between Liszt and Rubinstein, whom do you consider the greater?
+
+Rubinstein I knew very well (I was his pupil), and have heard him play a
+great many times. Liszt, who died when I was sixteen years old and had
+not appeared in public for some twenty years previously, I never met
+and never heard. Still, from the descriptions which many of my friends
+gave me of him, and from the study of his works, I have been able to
+form a fair idea of his playing and his personality. As a virtuoso I
+think Liszt stood above Rubinstein, for his playing must have possessed
+amazing, dazzling qualities. Rubinstein excelled by his sincerity, by
+his demoniacal, Heaven-storming power of great impassionedness,
+qualities which with Liszt had passed through the sieve of a superior
+education and--if you understand how I mean that term--gentlemanly
+elegance. He was, in the highest meaning of the word, a man of the
+world; Rubinstein, a world-stormer, with a sovereign disregard for
+conventionality and for Mrs. Grundy. The principal difference lay in the
+characters of the two. As musicians, with regard to their natural
+endowments and ability, they were probably of the same gigantic calibre,
+such as we would seek in vain at the present time.
+
+[Sidenote: _As to One Composer--Excluding All Others_]
+
+If I am deeply interested in Beethoven's music can I not find in him all
+that there is in music, in both an aesthetic and a technical sense? Is
+any one's music more profound?
+
+You imagine yourself in an impenetrable stronghold whence, safe from all
+attacks, you may look upon all composers (except Beethoven) with a
+patronizing, condescending smile. But you are gravely in error. Life is
+too rich in experience, too many-sided in its manifestations, to permit
+any one master, however great, to exhaust its interpretation through his
+art. If you base your preference for Beethoven upon your sympathies, and
+if, for this reason, his music satisfies you better than that of any
+other composer, you are to be complimented upon your good taste. But
+that gives you no right to contest, for instance, the profoundness of
+Bach, the aesthetic charm of Chopin, the wonders of Mozart's art, nor the
+many and various merits of your contemporary composers. The least that
+one can be charged with who finds the whole of life expressed in any
+one composer is one-sidedness, not to speak of the fact that the
+understanding cannot be very deep for one master if it is closed to all
+others. One of the chief requirements for true connoisseurship is
+catholicity of taste.
+
+[Sidenote: _A Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure_]
+
+I am fifty-six years old, live in the mountains sixty-five miles from
+any railroad, alone with my husband, and I have not taken lessons in
+thirty-five years. Do you think "Pischna" would help me much to regain
+my former ability to play? If not, what would you advise me to do?
+
+Refrain from all especially technical work. Since your love of music is
+strong enough to cause you to resume your playing you should take as
+much pleasure in it as possible and work technically only in the pieces
+you play--that is, in those places which offer you difficulties. Decide
+upon a comfortable fingering first, and practise the difficult places
+separately and slowly until you feel that you can venture to play them
+in their appropriate speed.
+
+[Sidenote: _First Learn to Play Simple Things Well_]
+
+What pieces would you advise me to memorize after Rachmaninoff's Prelude
+in C-sharp minor and Chopin's A-flat Ballade? These pieces do not appeal
+to the majority of people, but I enjoy them.
+
+If such a work as Chopin's Ballade in A-flat does not "appeal to the
+majority"--as you say--the fault cannot lie in the composition, but must
+be sought in the interpretation. Why not try a few pieces of lesser
+complexity and play them so perfectly that they do appeal to the
+majority. Try Chopin's Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2; Schumann's Romanza,
+opus. 28, No. 2; or his "Traumerei," or some of the more pretentious
+"Songs Without Words" by Mendelssohn.
+
+[Sidenote: _About Starting on a Concert Career_]
+
+I am twenty-four, have had four years' rigorous work in a conservatory
+and a partial college training. My technique is adequate for Brahms's
+Rhapsody in G minor and McDowell's Sonatas. I have good health and am
+determined not to grow self-satisfied. Is there a place on the concert
+stage--even if only as an accompanist--for a woman thus equipped?
+
+Any public career must begin by earning the good opinion of others.
+One's own opinion, however just, is never a criterion. My advice is that
+you speak to some of the prominent concert agents, whose names and
+addresses you find in every well-accredited music paper. Play for them.
+They are usually not connoisseurs by actual knowledge, but they have
+developed a fine instinct for that which is of use to them, and you are,
+of course, aware that we must be of use to others before we can be of
+use to ourselves. If the right "stuff" is in you you will make your way.
+People of ability always do. That there is room for women on the concert
+stage is proved by the great array of meritorious women pianists.
+Especially for accompanying women are in demand--that is, for _good_
+accompanying. But I would not start out with the idea of accompanying.
+It seems like going to a commercial school to study be to an "assistant"
+bookkeeper. Become a fine, all-round musician, a fine pianist, and see
+what the tide of affairs will bring you. The proper level for your
+ability is bound to disclose itself to you.
+
+[Sidenote: _Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering_]
+
+Should an accompanist precede or follow the soloist on the stage in a
+concert or recital, and should sex be considered in the matter?
+
+If the soloist be a man the accompanist should precede him on the stage
+in order to arrange his music, the height of his seat or whatever may be
+necessary, during which time the soloist salutes the audience. For these
+reasons it should be the same when the soloist is a woman, but as women
+are of the feminine persuasion it will, perhaps, look better if the
+accompanist yields precedence to her.
+
+
+
+
+ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF
+QUESTIONS
+
+
+                                                       PAGE
+
+  About Starting On a Concert Career                    162
+
+  Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata                        70
+
+  Accompanist Usually Precedes Soloist at Entering      164
+
+  Action of a Beginner's Piano, The                      87
+
+  Action of the Little Finger, The                       17
+
+  Advantage of Legato over Staccato, The                 22
+
+  Affected Movements at the Piano                       126
+
+  "Afraid to Play Before People"                        121
+
+  Age of the Student is Immaterial                      139
+
+  Always Keep in Touch With Bach                         81
+
+  Art of Accompanying a Soloist, The                    118
+
+  Art of Playing With Feeling, The                      124
+
+  As to one Composer--Excluding All Others              160
+
+  As to Playing Rubato                                  100
+
+  As to the Bach Fugues                                  88
+
+
+  Bach's Music Necessary to Good Technique               80
+
+  Bach's Preludes and Fugues                             82
+
+  Beethoven Sonata with a Pastoral Character, The        84
+
+  Beginner in Bach Music, The                            80
+
+  Best Physical Exercise for the Pianist, The           181
+
+  Best Way to Improve Sight-Reading, The                117
+
+  Best Way to Work Up a Quick Tempo, The                 54
+
+  Better Not Give the Child "Modified Classics"         148
+
+  Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch               19
+
+  Books that Aid the Student Working Alone              155
+
+  Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage                20
+
+
+  C-Scale Fingering for All Scales, The                  28
+
+  Can Music be Studied in America?                      148
+
+  Cantabile Passages                                      7
+
+  Charm of Chopin's Touch, The                           86
+
+  Chopin's Barcarolle                                    88
+
+  Chopin's Works for a Popular Concert                   88
+
+  "Colour" of Various Keys, The                         187
+
+  Company that One Keeps in Music, The                  188
+
+  Composition Must Fit the Player, The                  130
+
+  Conditions Which Dictate Speed in Playing, The         53
+
+  Counting Out Loud                                      50
+
+
+  Difference Between Conception and Rubato, The         102
+
+  Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other
+    Kinds, The                                         22
+
+  Difference Between Major and Minor Scales, The        109
+
+  Difference in Playing Trills, The                      74
+
+  Different Conceptions May be Individually
+    Correct                                           102
+
+  Difficulty of Playing Repetition Notes, The            34
+
+  Disputed Chopin Reading, A                             78
+
+  Do not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff                    10
+
+  Do not Injure the Hand by Stretching It                13
+
+  Do not Over-Use the Soft Pedal                         44
+
+  Do not Raise the Piano-Stool too High                   4
+
+  Do not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest                   99
+
+  Do not Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales              9
+
+  Do not Use a Piano Extreme in "Action"                 36
+
+  Double Sharp Misprinted for Double Flat                65
+
+
+  E Sharp and B Sharp and the Double Flat                64
+
+  Easiest Way to Memorize, The                          113
+
+  Effect of Double Flats, The                            65
+
+  Effect of Playing the Same Piece Often, The           122
+
+  Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One            146
+
+  Etudes for Advanced Players to Work At                 94
+
+  Exercises for the Beginner to Practise                 93
+
+
+  Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching                       12
+
+  Few Sonatas of Beethoven, Well Played,
+    Are Enough, A                                      85
+
+  Fingering the Chromatic Scale                          28
+
+  Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent, The                  28
+
+  Firm and Crisp Legato Touch, The                       24
+
+  First Learn to Play Simple Things Well                162
+
+  Four Ways to Study a Piano Piece                       52
+
+  Fourth and Fifth Fingers, The                          16
+
+  Frequent Lessons and Shorter                          147
+
+
+  General Rule About the Pedal, A                        39
+
+  Genuine Piano Hand, The                               130
+
+  Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial                        145
+
+  Good Finger Exercises                                  93
+
+  Good Intermediate Books of Etudes                      94
+
+  Greatest Composers as Pianists, The                    91
+
+
+  Hearing a Piece Before Studying It                    104
+
+  Height of the Piano Seat, The                           5
+
+  Horseback Riding Stiffens the Fingers                 132
+
+  How a Tie and a Slur Differ                            63
+
+  How Are Syncopated Notes to be Played?                 71
+
+  How Best to Play the Octaves                           29
+
+  How Grace Notes Are Played                             61
+
+  How Long an Accidental Affects a Note                  64
+
+  How Much You Can Get from Music                       157
+
+  How Organ Playing Affects the Pianist                  26
+
+  How Tight to Keep the Piano's Action                   37
+
+  How to Get Music Published                            150
+
+  How to Hold the Thumb                                  16
+
+  How to Improve the Technique                            4
+
+  How to Play Passages Marked "Rubato"                  100
+
+  How to Use the Pedal                                   39
+
+  How Waltz, Menuet, Mazurka and Polonaise Differ       111
+
+
+  Importance of Studying With the Right Teacher,
+    The                                               140
+
+  Incorrect Position of the Fingers, An                   8
+
+  Individual Teacher or Conservatory?                   142
+
+  In Order to Memorize Easily                           115
+
+  In Playing a Sonata                                    75
+
+  "International" Piano Pitch, The                      136
+
+  International Pitch, The                              136
+
+  Is the Piano the Hardest to Master?                   127
+
+  "It is So Much Easier to Read Flats Than
+    Sharps!"                                          157
+
+
+  Kind of Piano Upon Which to Practise, The              35
+
+  Kullak's "Method of Octaves" Still Good                34
+
+
+  Learning the Art of Accompanying                      118
+
+  Learning to Accompany at Sight                        117
+
+  Learning to Modulate                                  107
+
+  Let Your Ear Guide Your Pedalling                      41
+
+  Loose Wrist, The                                        9
+
+
+  Masters Cannot be Studied In Order                     90
+
+  Meaning and Use of "Motif," The                        68
+
+  Meaning of Solfeggio, The                              74
+
+  Meaning of "Toccata," The                             111
+
+  Memorizing Quickly and Forgetting as Readily          115
+
+  Metronome Markings, The                                57
+
+  Metronome Markings May Better be Ignored               59
+
+  Modern Piano Music                                     92
+
+  Mood and Tempo in the A Flat Impromptu                 87
+
+  More Technique the More Practice, The                   3
+
+  Morning is the Best Time to Practise                   46
+
+  Morning Practice on the Piano, The                     45
+
+  Music as a Profession or as an Avocation              156
+
+  Music Schools and Private Teachers                    141
+
+
+  No Necessity to Watch the Fingers                      19
+
+  Not Playing the Two Hands at Once                      25
+
+  Nothing But the Best Will Do                          141
+
+  Number of Lessons Depends on Progress, The            147
+
+
+  Old Problem of Duple Time against Triple, The          98
+
+  Omitting One Note in a Chord                           89
+
+  Once More the "Soft" Pedal                             44
+
+  One Lesson a Week                                     147
+
+  Only Kind of Practice Worth While, The                 47
+
+  Order of Studying Beethoven's Sonatas                  83
+
+  Organ Playing and the Piano Touch                      26
+
+  Organizing a Musical Club                             150
+
+
+  Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse        101
+
+  Personal Element and the Metronome, The                58
+
+  Pianist Who Fails to Express Herself, The             123
+
+  Piano Study for Conductor and Composer                128
+
+  Play Chords With a Loose Arm                           11
+
+  Playing Duple Time Against Triple                      96
+
+  Playing from Memory is Indispensable                  112
+
+  "Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"             151
+
+  Playing of Double Thirds, The                          35
+
+  Playing of Slurred Notes, The                          62
+
+  Playing On a Dumb Piano                                38
+
+  Playing the "Melody in F"                              79
+
+  Playing the "Spring Song" too Fast                     77
+
+  Playing with Cold Hands                                49
+
+  Point in Playing the "Moonlight Sonata," A             76
+
+  Position of Auxiliary Note in a Trill                  72
+
+  Position of the Turn over a Note, The                  71
+
+  Position of the Wrist, The                             10
+
+  Practising Eight Hours Instead of Four                 48
+
+  Practising the Two Parts Separately                    52
+
+  Premature Fatigue in the Arms                          33
+
+  Problem of Transposing at Sight, The                  119
+
+  Proper Course for a Little Girl, The                  146
+
+
+  Rapid Octaves                                          30
+
+  Real Meaning of Speed Terms, The                       60
+
+  Relation of Harmony to Piano Playing, The             105
+
+  Rests Used under or over Notes                         62
+
+  Results Count, Not the Methods, The                     6
+
+  Rolled Chord Marked "Secco," A                         70
+
+  Rubinstein or Liszt--Which is the Greater?            158
+
+  Rule for Selecting the Speed, A                        60
+
+
+  Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand, A               13
+
+  Sensible Scheme of Playing for Pleasure, A            161
+
+  Sex of the Piano Teacher, The                         143
+
+  Should Piano Students Try to Compose?                 108
+
+  Slurs and Accents Not Related                          63
+
+  Small Notes under Large Ones                           70
+
+  Some Pieces for a Girl of Fourteen                     75
+
+  Speed and Smoothness in Trilling                       73
+
+  Staffs are Independent of Each Other, The              66
+
+  Starting a Child's Musical Training                   138
+
+  Stiff Wrists in Playing Octaves                        33
+
+  Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music, The               151
+
+  Student Who Wants to Compose, The                     108
+
+  Student with a Fondness for the Pedal, The             42
+
+  Study of Mendelssohn, The                              85
+
+  Study of Operatic Transcriptions, The                  91
+
+  Study of the Scales, The                               51
+
+  Study of the Scales is very Important, The             50
+
+  Studying Counterpoint by One's Self                   107
+
+
+  Take a Month's Rest Every Year                         56
+
+  Taking Liberties With the Tempo                        89
+
+  "Tenuto" Dash and Its Effect, The                      69
+
+  Text-books on Harmony                                 106
+
+  There Are Dangers in Using a Metronome                 59
+
+  There Is Only One Minor Scale                         109
+
+  Tied Staccato Notes                                    69
+
+  Tilt of the Hand in Playing Scales, The                 6
+
+  Time to Devote to Technical Exercises                  47
+
+  To Gain Facility in Sight-Reading                     117
+
+  To Keep Errors from Creeping in                       116
+
+  To Play a Glissando Passage                            29
+
+  To Prevent Sore Finger-tips After Playing              20
+
+  To Produce a Softer Tone                               43
+
+  To Produce Good Legato                                 23
+
+  To Strengthen the Weak Finger, Use It                  18
+
+  To Work up a Fast Tempo                                53
+
+  Too Much "Method"                                     144
+
+  Trill Begins on the Melodic Note, A                    72
+
+  Twenty-five Not Too Late to Begin                     139
+
+  Two Hands Playing Difficult Rhythms, The               97
+
+
+  Universal System of Marking Fingering, The             27
+
+  Use of the Pedal for Colouring, The                    39
+
+  Use Pedal With Caution In Playing Bach                 41
+
+  Using the Two Pedals at Once                           48
+
+
+  Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day, The               95
+
+  Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing, The            98
+
+  Value of Going to Concerts, The                       153
+
+  Value of Heller's Studies, The                         93
+
+
+  Watch Your Breathing                                   55
+
+  Weak Fingers of the Left Hand, The                     18
+
+  Well-Tempered Piano Scale, The                        137
+
+  What a Dot May Mean                                    77
+
+  What a Double Dot Means                                62
+
+  What Does "Technique" Mean?                             3
+
+  What Is the Best of Chopin?                            86
+
+  What Is the Difference Between the Major and
+    Minor Scales?                                     110
+
+  "What Is the Matter with My Scales?"                   14
+
+  What the Leschetizky Method Is                        144
+
+  What the Object of Study Should Be                    135
+
+  What to Do with an Unemployed Hand                     21
+
+  When an Accidental Is in Parentheses                   66
+
+  When Playing Octaves                                   31
+
+  When Reading Over a New Piece                          51
+
+  When the Fingers Seem Weak                             18
+
+  When to Keep Away from the Piano                      132
+
+  When to Play for People                               120
+
+  When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing                   11
+
+  When Two Fingers Have the Same Note                    79
+
+  Where Outside Criticism Is Desirable                  143
+
+  Where the Accent Should Be Placed                      78
+
+  Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?                   16
+
+  Which Should Come First--Conception or
+    Technique?                                        103
+
+  Why Rag-time Is Injurious                             134
+
+  Why So Many Different Keys?                           105
+
+  Why the Pianist Should Study Harmony                  104
+
+  Why the Piano Is So Popular                           128
+
+  Why Two Names for the "Same" Key?                      67
+
+  "Wonder Children" as Pianists                         152
+
+  Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo                         21
+
+  Wrist Stroke In Long Octave Passages                   32
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A flat, key of, 67.
+  Impromptu in, 78, 87.
+  Chopin's Ballade in, 162.
+
+A sharp, key of, 67.
+  difference between, and B flat, 137.
+
+Accent, where the, should be placed, 78.
+
+Accenting a mordent, 70.
+
+Accents, slurs and, not related, 68.
+
+Accidental, how long an, affects a note, 64.
+  when an, is in parentheses, 66.
+
+Accompaniment, 118.
+
+Accompaniments, in left-hand waltz, 17.
+
+Accompanist, 118, 119, 164.
+
+Accompanying, at sight, 117.
+  a soloist, 118.
+  the art of, 118.
+
+Action, of the wrist, 9.
+  of the arm, 11.
+  of the little finger, 17.
+  a piano extreme in, 36.
+  how tight to keep the piano's, 37.
+  of a beginner's piano, 37.
+  a too heavy, 38.
+  too light an, 38.
+
+Adagio, 60.
+
+Advantage, of legato over staccato, 22.
+  of universal fingering, 27.
+
+Affected movements at the piano, 126.
+
+Age, and physical development of the beginner, 138, 139.
+
+Age of the student, immaterial, 139.
+
+Aid, books that, the student working alone, 155.
+
+Allegretto grazioso, 77.
+
+Allegro, 60.
+
+America, can music be studied in, 148.
+
+"American" fingering, 27.
+
+Andante, 60.
+
+Appassionata, the last movement of the, 76.
+
+Appoggiatura, 72.
+
+Arm, action of the, 11.
+  play chords with a loose, 11.
+
+Arms, premature fatigue in the, 33.
+
+Arpeggio, 3, 9.
+
+Art, of accompanying, the, 118.
+  the canons of, 125.
+
+Attention, which fingers demand most, 16.
+
+Auber, 136.
+
+Auxiliary, position of, note in a trill, 72.
+
+Average, speed, 59.
+  tempo, 60.
+
+Avocation, music as a profession or as an, 156.
+
+
+B flat minor, Chopin's Prelude in, 95.
+
+B sharp, 64, 65.
+
+Bach, use pedal with caution in playing, 41.
+  the beginner in, music, 80.
+  in touch with, 81.
+
+Bach, Philipp Emanuel, 88.
+
+Bach's, music, 80, 81.
+  preludes, 67, 82.
+  fugues, 67, 82, 83.
+
+Bad music, 183.
+
+Baermann, Carl, 94.
+
+Ballade, Chopin's, in A flat, 102.
+
+Baltzell, "History of Music," by, 150.
+
+Barcarolle, Chopin's, 88.
+
+Beethoven, the sonatas of, 83, 85.
+
+Beethoven's Sonatina, opus 49, 59.
+  Fifth Symphony, 69.
+  Sonata Pathetique, 70.
+  "Moonlight Sonata," 76.
+  sonatas, 83.
+  order of studying, sonatas, 83.
+  Sonata, opus 28, 84.
+  style, 85.
+  first and last sonatas, 90.
+
+Beginner's, the action of a, piano, 37.
+
+Bendel's "Zephyr," 53.
+
+Berceuse, Chopin's, opus 57, 86.
+
+Berens, 95, 143.
+
+Berlin, 118.
+
+Berlioz, 91, 136.
+
+Best, how to play the octaves, 29.
+  morning is the, time to
+  practise, 46.
+  way to work up a quick tempo, 54.
+  what is the, of Chopin, 86.
+  the, book of instruction for a beginner, 93.
+  the, way to improve sight-reading, 117.
+  the, piano hand, 130.
+  the, physical exercise for the pianist, 131.
+  nothing but the, will do, 141.
+
+Biting the finger-nails, 19.
+
+Blumenstuck, Schumann's, 79.
+
+"Blurring," 23.
+
+Body, general position of the, 4.
+
+Books, of Etudes, 93, 94.
+  that aid the student working alone, 155.
+
+Brahms, 162.
+
+Breathing, 55.
+
+Broad-tipped fingers, 20.
+
+Bulow, 17.
+
+Buessler, 106.
+
+
+C flat, 67.
+
+C sharp, key of, 67.
+
+C sharp major, Bach's fugue in, 83.
+
+C sharp minor movement, the, 58.
+
+Cantabile passages, 7.
+
+Cantata, 112.
+
+Chaminade, Toccata by, 111.
+
+Chaminade's "Air de Ballet," No. 1, 70.
+
+Chopin, Polonaise, opus 53, 74.
+  a disputed, reading, 78.
+  Life of, 86.
+  the best of, 86.
+  Etude by, 94.
+  Etudes in C minor, 95.
+
+Chopin's works, 23, 79.
+  Prelude, No. 15, 58.
+  Valse, opus 42, 61.
+  Polonaise, opus 58, 74.
+  Polonaise, opus 26, No. 1, 77.
+  Nocturne in F sharp, 78.
+  Impromptu in A flat, opus 29, 78, 87.
+  charm of, touch, 86.
+  Chants Polonais, 88.
+  Fantasy Impromptu, 88, 97.
+  Barcarolle, 88.
+  Nocturne, opus 27, No. 2, 88, 162.
+
+Chopin's works for a popular concert, 88.
+  Ballade in A flat, 162.
+
+Chord, rolled, marked "secco," 70.
+  in the Waltz in E minor, 89.
+
+Chords, play, with a loose arm, 11.
+
+Chromatic,
+  the, scale 28.
+  thirds, 35.
+  accidental, signs, 66, 67.
+
+Classics, "modified," 148.
+
+Clementi, 81.
+
+Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum," 95.
+  Sonatina, opus 37, 96.
+
+"Colour," of various keys, 137.
+
+Colouring, 39, 44, 137.
+
+Composer, piano-study for, 128.
+  as to one, 160.
+
+Composers, the greatest, as pianists, 91.
+
+Composition, 108, 130.
+
+Conception, difference between, and rubato, 102.
+
+Conceptions, different, 102.
+
+Concert, Chopin's works for a popular, 88.
+  etudes, 94.
+  work, 156.
+  career, 162.
+
+Concerto, the Grieg, 35.
+
+Concerts, the value of going to, 153.
+
+Conservatory, individual teacher or, 142.
+
+Conductor, piano-study for, 128.
+
+Correct practice of phrasing, 98.
+
+Counterpoint, studying, 107, 142.
+
+Cramer Etudes, the, 17, 45.
+
+C-scale fingering, 28.
+
+Counterpoint, studying, by one's self, 107.
+
+Counting, 50.
+
+Course, proper, for a little girl, 146.
+
+Criticism, where outside, is desirable, 143.
+
+Curved fingers, 6, 7.
+
+Czerny, 45, 81.
+
+
+D flat, key of, 67.
+  arrangement of Bach's Fugues, 83.
+
+Damper pedal, the, 43.
+
+Dance, music, 134.
+  Liszt's, of the Gnomes, 58.
+
+Dangers in using a metronome, 59.
+
+Dash, "tenuto," and its effect, 69.
+
+Diatonic, thirds, 35.
+  sequel, 73.
+
+Different, conceptions, 102.
+  rhythms, 97.
+  keys, 105.
+
+Difference, between "finger staccato" and other kinds, 22.
+  in playing trills, 74.
+  between conception and rubato, 102.
+  between major and minor scales, 109.
+
+Difficulty of playing repetition notes, 34.
+
+Doppio movement, in Chopin's Nocturne in F sharp, 78.
+
+Dot, double, 62.
+  what a, may mean, 77.
+
+Double notes, 35.
+  thirds, 35.
+  dot, 62.
+  flat, 64, 65.
+  flats, 65.
+  sharp, 65.
+
+Dumb piano, playing on a 38.
+
+Duple time, 96, 98.
+
+
+E minor, Waltz in, 89.
+
+E sharp, 64.
+
+Ear, let your, guide your pedalling, 41.
+
+Easiest way to memorize, 113.
+
+Edition, Peters's, of Chopin, 79.
+
+Edition, Steingraeber, of Beethoven, 84.
+
+Education, general musical, 141.
+
+Element, personal, and the metronome, 58.
+
+"English" fingering, 27.
+
+Erlking, Liszt arrangement of the, 32.
+
+Errors, to keep, from creeping in, 116.
+
+Ethical, 135.
+
+Etudes, Cramer, 17, 45.
+  octave, 30.
+  for advanced players, 94.
+  good intermediate books of, 94.
+  by Ruthardt, 94.
+  twelve, for technique and expression, 94.
+  concert, 94.
+  by Baermann, 94.
+  of Chopin, 95.
+  by Kessler, 95.
+  by Berens, 95, 143.
+  by Heller, 143.
+  Sternberg's, 155.
+
+Example, force of, 104.
+
+Exercise, best physical, 131.
+
+Exercises, stretching, 12, 13.
+  technical, 47.
+  for the beginner, 93.
+  good finger, 93.
+
+
+F, Melody in, 79.
+
+F minor, Chopin's Ballades in, 86.
+
+F sharp, key of, 67.
+  Chopin's Nocturne in, 78.
+
+Fantastic Fairy Tales, 92.
+
+Fantasy Impromptu, Chopin's, 88, 97.
+
+Fatigue, premature, in the arms, 33.
+
+Faulty touch, 8, 43.
+
+Fifth Symphony, Beethoven's, 69.
+
+Finger, the middle, 16.
+  technique, 16.
+  the little, 17.
+  the weak, 18.
+  touch, 19.
+  staccato, 22.
+  exercises, 93.
+
+Fingering, English, 27.
+  universal, 27.
+  American, 27.
+  the chromatic scale, 28.
+  C-scale, 28.
+
+Finger-nails, biting the, 19.
+
+Fingers, position of, 6.
+  the other, 16.
+  fourth and fifth, 16.
+  weak, 18.
+  broad-tipped, 20.
+  needed to play a mordent, 28.
+
+Finger-stroke, high, 7, 23, 24.
+
+Finger-tips, sore, 20.
+  "wiping" the keys with the, 35.
+
+Firm legato touch, 24.
+
+Flat, double, 65.
+
+Flats, double, 65.
+
+Fugue, definition of a, 82.
+
+Fugues, Bach's, 82.
+
+
+G flat, key of, 67.
+
+G minor,
+  Chopin's Ballade in, 86.
+  Brahms's Rhapsody in, 162.
+
+Gavotte in A, the, 44.
+
+General, technique, 3.
+  rule about the pedal, 39.
+  musical education, 141.
+
+Glissando, the, 29.
+  to play a, passage, 29.
+
+Gluck-Brahms, 44.
+
+Godowsky, transcriptions by, 23.
+
+Godowsky's pupils, 149.
+
+Going to concerts, value of, 158.
+
+Grace notes, 61.
+
+"Gradus ad Parnassum," Clementi's, 95.
+
+Grieg Concerto, the, 35.
+
+
+Halevy, 136.
+
+Hand, position of, 6.
+  stretching the, 12.
+  small, 13.
+  unemployed, the, 21.
+  genuine piano, 130.
+
+Hands, two at once, 25.
+  playing with cold, 49.
+
+Harmonic, clarity, 41.
+  turns, 105.
+
+Harmony, study of, 104.
+  relation of, to piano-playing, 105.
+  textbooks on, 106.
+
+Haydn, 75.
+
+Heller, etudes by, 143.
+
+Heller's studies, value of, 93.
+  opus 154, 94.
+
+"History of Music," 150.
+
+
+Importance of the right teacher, 140.
+
+Impromptu, Chopin's, in A flat, 78.
+  Chopin's Fantasy, opus 66, 88, 97.
+
+Instrument, the, 35.
+
+Intermediate, good, books of etudes, 94.
+
+International piano pitch, 136.
+
+International pitch, 136.
+
+
+Key, two names for the same, 67.
+
+Keys, why so many different, 105.
+  "colour" of various, 187.
+
+Kuhlau Sonatinas, 75.
+
+Kullak's, Octave School, 31.
+  "Method of Octaves," 34.
+
+
+Learning, to modulate, 107.
+  to accompany at sight, 117.
+  the art of accompanying, 118.
+
+Legato, 22, 23.
+  advantage of, 22.
+  touch, 24.
+  meaning of, 24.
+
+Leschetizky method, the, 144.
+
+Lessons, teachers, and methods, 140.
+  number of, depends on progress, 147.
+  frequent, and shorter, 147.
+
+Liadow, "Music Box" by, 92.
+
+"Life of Chopin," the, 86.
+
+"Limping," 25.
+
+Liszt, 130, 158.
+
+Liszt's, Dance of the Gnomes, 58.
+  transcription of Chants Polonais, 88.
+
+Little finger, action of the, 17.
+
+Loud counting, 50.
+
+
+MacDowell, Sonatas, 162.
+
+Major, difference between, and minor scales, 109, 110.
+
+Marking a rest, in, 99.
+
+Marks and Nomenclature, 57.
+
+Mason's "Touch and Technique", 155.
+
+Masters cannot be studied in order, 90.
+
+Mazurka, 111.
+
+Mazurkas, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Melody in F, the, 79.
+
+Memorize, easiest way to, 113.
+  in order to, easily, 115.
+
+Memory, playing from, 112.
+  the, 112.
+
+Mendelssohn, the study of, 85.
+
+Mendelssohn's "Spring Song," 77.
+
+Menuet, 111.
+
+Method, too much, 144.
+  Leschetizky, 144.
+
+Methods, teachers, lessons and, 140.
+
+Metronome, markings, 57, 59.
+  personal element and the, 58.
+  dangers in using a, 59.
+
+Meyerbeer, 136.
+
+Minor, difference between major and, scales, 109.
+  only one, scale, 109.
+
+Miscellaneous questions, 150.
+
+"Modified Classics," 148.
+
+Modulate, learning to, 107.
+
+Mood and tempo in the A flat Impromptu, 87.
+
+"Moonlight Sonata," the, 76.
+
+Mordent, fingers needed to play a, 28.
+  accenting a, in a sonata, 70.
+
+Morning practice on the piano, 45.
+
+Moscheles, Etudes by, 94.
+
+Motif, meaning and use of, 68.
+
+"Moto perpetuo," 112.
+
+Mozart, 46, 75.
+
+Mozart's art, 160.
+
+Music, the beginner in Bach, 80.
+  modern piano, 92.
+  bad, 133.
+  the company that one keeps in, 133.
+  can, be studied in America, 148.
+  how to get, published, 150.
+  as a profession, 156.
+  how much you can get from, 157.
+
+"Music Box," the, 92.
+
+Music schools and private teachers, 141.
+
+
+Nocturne, Chopin's, in F sharp, 78.
+  opus 27, No. 2, 88, 162.
+
+Nocturnes, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Nomenclature, marks and, 57.
+
+Note, auxiliary, 72.
+  when two fingers have the same, 79.
+
+Notes repetition, 34.
+  double, 35.
+  slurred, 62.
+  tied staccato, 69.
+  small, under large ones, 70.
+  syncopated, 71.
+
+
+Object of study, 135.
+
+Octave, chords, 11.
+  Kullak's, School, 31.
+  in extended, playing, 32.
+  passages, 32.
+
+Octaves, 29.
+  rapid, 30.
+  when playing, 31.
+  wrist, 31, 32.
+  arm, 31.
+  stiff wrists in playing, 33.
+
+Operatic transcriptions, 91.
+
+Order of studying Beethoven's Sonatas, 83.
+
+Other fingers, the, 16.
+
+Organ, touch, 26.
+  playing, 26.
+
+
+Pachulski, 92.
+
+Pedal, a general rule about the, 39.
+  how to use the, 39.
+  use of the, for colouring, 39.
+  use, with caution in playing Bach, 41.
+  the "soft," 43, 44.
+  a constant use of the soft, 45.
+
+Pedalling, let your ear guide your, 41.
+
+Pedals, the, 39.
+  using the two, at once, 43.
+
+"Perpetuum Mobile," Weber's, 112.
+
+Peters's Edition, 79, 82.
+
+Phrasing, value and correct practice of, 98.
+
+Physical exercise, best, for the pianist, 131.
+
+Pianists, the greatest composers as, 91.
+  "wonder-children" as, 152.
+
+_Pianissimo_ touch, the, 44.
+
+Piano, height of the, seat, 5.
+  touch, 26.
+  kind of, upon which to practise, 35.
+  extreme in action, 36.
+  action of a beginner's, 37.
+  playing on a dumb, 38.
+  affected movements at the, 126.
+  about the, per se, 127.
+  genuine, hand, 130.
+  when to keep away from the, 132.
+
+"Piano Playing," 35.
+
+"Pischna," exercises of, 93, 161.
+
+Pitch, international, 136.
+
+Pitch and kindred matters, 136.
+  international piano, 136.
+
+Play for people, when to, 120.
+
+Playing for pleasure, 161.
+
+Polonaise, Chopin, opus 53, 74.
+  Chopin, opus 26, No. 1, 77.
+
+Polonaises, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Polyrhythms, 96.
+
+Popular concert, Chopin's works for a, 88.
+
+Position, of the body, 4.
+  of the hand, 6.
+  of the fingers, 6, 8.
+  of the wrist, 10.
+  of the thumb, 16.
+  of the turn over a note, 71.
+  of auxiliary note in a trill, 72.
+
+Practice, morning, on the piano, 45.
+  the only kind of, worth while, 47.
+  of phrasing, 98.
+  of constructing, 108.
+
+Practise, kind of a piano upon which to, 35.
+  exercises for the beginner to, 93.
+
+Practising, eight hours instead of four, 48.
+  the two parts separately, 52.
+
+Precision, 25.
+
+Prelude, the B flat minor, 95.
+  in C sharp minor, 162
+
+Preludes, Bach's, 82.
+  Chopin's, 86.
+
+Private teachers, 141.
+
+Profession, music as a, 156.
+
+
+Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, 162.
+
+Rag-time, why, is injurious, 134.
+
+Repetition, technique, 34.
+  notes, 34.
+
+Rests used under or over notes, 62.
+
+Rhapsody, Brahms's, in G minor, 162.
+
+Rhythm, accents relate to, 62.
+  playing in, 151.
+
+Richter, E. F., 106.
+
+Romanza, Schumann's, 162.
+
+Rossini, 136.
+
+Rubato, as to playing, 100.
+  passages marked, 100.
+  difference between conception and, 102.
+
+Rubinstein, 158.
+
+Rubinstein's "Melody in F," 79.
+
+Russian piano music, 53.
+
+Ruthardt, "Etudes" by, 94.
+
+
+Scale, fingering the chromatic, 28.
+  only one minor, 109.
+  the well-tempered piano, 137.
+
+Scale playing, in, 16.
+
+Scales, tilt of the hand in playing the, 6.
+  the practising of, 14, 51.
+  the study of the, 50, 51.
+
+Scherzo, Chopin's, opus 31, 88.
+
+Schubert-Liszt's "Auf dem Wasser zu singern," 53.
+
+Schumann's "Blumenstuck," 79.
+  Romanza, opus 28, No. 2, 162.
+  "Traumerei," 162.
+
+"Secco," a rolled chord marked, 70.
+
+Seeling, Hans, 94.
+
+Sex of the teacher, 143.
+
+Sight-reading, 117.
+
+Slur, how a tie and a, differ, 63.
+
+Slurred notes, the playing of, 62.
+
+Slurs, 63.
+
+Smith's Octave Studies, 143.
+
+Solfeggio, meaning of, 74.
+
+Soloist, 118, 164.
+
+Sonata, accenting a mordent in a, 70.
+  in playing a, 75.
+  Moonlight, 76.
+  Beethoven, with a pastoral character, 84.
+  meaning of, 112.
+
+Sonatina, Beethoven's, 59.
+
+Sonatas of Beethoven, the, 83, 85.
+
+"Songs without Words," Mendelssohn's, 86, 162.
+
+Speed, gradual increase of, 54.
+  average, 59.
+  meaning of, terms, 60.
+  rule for selecting the, 60.
+  and smoothness in trilling, 73.
+
+"Spring Song," the, 77.
+
+Staccato, wrist, at a high tempo, 21.
+  finger, 22.
+  arm, 22.
+
+Staffs, the, 66.
+
+Starting, about, on a concert career, 162.
+
+Steingraeber Edition of Beethoven's Sonatas, 84.
+
+Sternberg's Etudes, opus 66, 155.
+
+Stretching, 12, 13.
+
+Student, age of, immaterial, 139.
+  books that aid the, working alone, 155.
+
+Students, piano, 108.
+
+Studies, Heller's, 93.
+
+Study, object of, 135.
+
+Studying, importance of, with the right teacher, 140.
+
+Syncopated notes, 71.
+
+System, universal, of fingering, 27.
+
+
+Teachers, lessons, and methods, 140.
+
+Technical, exercises, 47.
+  work, 18, 45, 46.
+  studies, 46.
+  results, 48.
+
+Technique, a generic term, 3.
+  how to improve the, 4.
+  a precise finger, 16.
+  of the fingers, 22.
+  repetition, 34.
+  a "musical," 38.
+
+Tempo, wrist staccato at a high, 21.
+  to work up a fast, 53, 54.
+  average, 60.
+  in the A flat Impromptu, 87.
+  taking liberties with the, 89.
+  rubato, 100, 101.
+
+"Tenuto" dash, the, 69.
+
+Textbooks on harmony, 106.
+
+Thalberg, 91, 92.
+
+Theory, 104.
+
+Thirds, double, 35.
+  diatonic, 35.
+  chromatic, 35.
+
+Thomas, Ambroise, 136.
+
+Thumb, the, 14.
+  how to hold the, 16.
+
+Tie, a, 63.
+
+Time, duple, against triple, 96, 98.
+  playing in, 151.
+
+Toccata, meaning of, 111.
+
+Touch, faulty, 8, 43.
+  finger, 19, 50.
+  biting the finger-nails spoils the, 19.
+  legato, 24, 63.
+  crisp legato, 24.
+  piano, 26.
+  organ, 26.
+  repetition, 34.
+  charm of Chopin's, 86.
+  and Technique, 155.
+
+Training, a child's musical, 138.
+
+Transcriptions, study of operatic, 91.
+
+Transposing at sight, 119.
+
+Tremolo, 11.
+
+Trill, position of auxiliary note in a, 72.
+
+Trills, on the melodic note, 72.
+  extended, 72.
+  difference in playing, 74.
+
+Triple time, 96, 98.
+
+"Twelve Etudes for Technique and Expression," 94.
+
+
+Universal system of marking fingering, 27.
+
+
+Valse, Chopin's, opus 42, 61.
+  opus 64, No. 2, 88.
+
+
+Waltz, a chord in the, in E minor, 89.
+
+Waltzes, Chopin's, 86.
+
+Weak fingers, 18.
+
+Weber's "Storm," 41.
+  pianos of, time, 41.
+  "Perpetuum Mobile," 112.
+
+"Wonder-children" as pianists, 152.
+
+Wrist, action of the, 9.
+  the loose, 9.
+  position of the, 10.
+  stiffness in the, 10.
+  octaves, 31, 32.
+  stroke in long octave passages, 32.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Punctuation has been made consistent.
+
+Other changes:
+
+Page iv and Index--'POLYRYTHMS' changed to 'POLYRHYTHMS.'
+
+Page xi--'As a matter _or_ course' changed to 'As a matter _of_ course.'
+
+Page 12--'I stretch _beween_ my fingers' changed to 'I stretch
+_between_ my fingers.'
+
+Page 43--'expresson' changed to 'expression.'
+
+Page 47--'_ti_ would take considerable time' changed to '_it_ would take
+considerable time.'
+
+Page 50--'rhymthic' changed to 'rhythmic.'
+
+Page 78--'Doggio' changed to 'Doppio.'
+
+Page 93--'_or_ which one is abridged' changed to '_of_ which one is
+abridged.'
+
+Page 123--'feel _they that_ do not care for my playing' changed to 'feel
+_that they_ do not care for my playing.'
+
+Page 140--'be be' changed to 'be.'
+
+Page 158--'Rubenstein' changed to 'Rubinstein.'
+
+Index--'F major, key of, [no page #]' removed.
+
+Index--'Gradus and Parnassum' corrected to 'Gradus ad Parnassum.'
+
+Index--'Hadyn' corrected to 'Haydn.'
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO PLAYING***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 39211.txt or 39211.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/2/1/39211
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions 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-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/39211.zip b/39211.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7567ffd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39211.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bed6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #39211 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39211)