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wevstc?
FOR REVIEW.
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
MUSICAL
INTERPRETATION
ITS LAWS AND PRINCIPLES, AND
THEIR APPLICATION IN
TEACHING AND PERFORMING
BY
TOBIAS MATTHAY
(professor, lecturer and fellow of the royal academy of music,
london, author of "the act of touch," "fir8t prin-
CIPLES," "some commentaries on piano playing,"
"relaxation studies," "the child's first
steps, ' ' ' 'the rotation element, 9 ' ETC.
FOUNDER OF THE TOBIAS MATTHAY
PIANOFORTE SCHOOL, LONDON.)
Sole Agents for U. S. A.
THE BOSTON MUSIC COMPANY
G. Scm&MXB, Inc., 88-38 West St., Boston, Mass.
vx.
\0<\
HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
SEP 20 1955
C«W*M
Copyright, 1913,
BY
TOBIAS MATTHAY
for all countries
B. M. Co. 3713.
Stanbope press
F. H.GILSON COMPANT
BOSTON. U.S.A.
PREFACE
Fob many years past I have been urged to put into a
permanent and available form my enunciation of those
Principles and Laws of Interpretation, knowledge of which
has proved to be one of the main causes of the success of the
army of teachers who have arisen from my school.
The first step towards this end was the preparation, in
the year 1909, of a set of Lectures covering this ground.
These I condensed later into a single lecture, and this was
first delivered publicly in Manchester to Dr. Carroll's Asso-
ciation of Teachers during the season of 1909-10. Subse-
quently, it was repeated to the Edinburgh Musical Education
Society, to the London Music Teachers' Association (in
1910) and its Branches; it was also given at the Royal
Academy of Music in the same year, and at my own School,
and elsewhere.
A full synopsis also appeared in the "Music Student" of
April, 1910, and elsewhere. I, nevertheless, still delayed
issuing the material in book form, as I felt, in view of the
extreme importance of the matters dealt with, that I would
like to expand it, but lack of time has prevented my doing so.
As, however, some of pur more up-to-date theorists are
now doing me the honor to apply, in their recent works,
some of the ideas first enunciated in these lectures of mine
(and in my "First Principles," 1905, and "Act of Touch,"
1903) such, for instance, as the vital one of recognizing in
Progression or Movement the actual basis of all Rhythm and
Shape in Music, I feel compelled to issue these lectures now
as originally delivered. Additional matter is given in the
form of Notes; and I leave for later on, perhaps, the issue
VI PREFACE
of a Supplement giving further details and illustrative
Examples.
It will be found, that while this work deals with the sub-
ject mainly from the pianist's point of view, nevertheless
most of the principles here formulated apply with equal
force to all other forms of musical performance. Many of
the same laws of Interpretation which apply to Piano-
forte playing also hold good whether we are players of
stringed instruments or wind instruments, or are vocalists,
organ-players or conductors. We cannot play even on
a penny whistle without coming under the sway of such
laws! Hence I hope that this little volume may prove
helpful to all music-teachers and would-be performers,
artists as well as students, whatever their specialty. 1
Some of the main points here dealt with are: [(a) the
difference between letting a pupil shift for himself and
helping him to learn; (6) the difference between mere
cramming and real teaching; (c) the difference between
merely making a pupil "do things" and teaching him to
think — to the end that he may know what to do, why to
do it, and how to do it; (d) the exposition of the true nature
of Rhythm and Shape in Music — as Progression or Move-
ment towards definite landmarks; (e) the true nature of
Rubato in all its forms, small and large, simple and com-
pound, and the laws of its application; (/) consideration
of the element of Duration, and, allied to this, rules as to
the application of the damper-pedal; also, rules as to the
application of Tone-variety, Fingering, Memorizing, etc.,
and some speculations as to the ultimate reason of the
power that Music has over us.
To prevent misunderstanding, I must at once state that
I do not claim that artists are "made" by the mere enun-
1 Helpful even to the operators of mechanical pianos.
PREFACE VU
ciation and teaching of such laws and principles as here
given, or by those of instrumental technique — although
.no success can be attained without obedience to these
same laws and principles. No, the really great artist
always has been, is now, and ever will be, a most rare
phenomenon. His advent depends on so many things
uniting in one single individual — the highest gifts of
imagination and invention, therefore high mental powers
(yes, the really great artist must also have high reasoning
power), physical and mental endurance, extreme enthusiasm
for his chosen art, good health, and the opportunities to
require the requisite skill to work in strict obedience to (he
laws of his art.
Hence, it is not claimed that the truthful Analysis and
Synthesis of art or its technique can transform dullards
into poets and seers, but what has been amply proven is,
that such teachings do inevitably help the ordinary student
to succeed in attaining to far higher ideals than he could
have reached without such help, and that the " heaven-
born" Genius (when he does appear) has many years of
useful life added to his career, years otherwise wasted in
futile experiments, while his path towards still higher per-
fections is thus rendered possible and easy — and his appre-
ciation of truth in art made more sound. Such teaching
therefore makes for Progress, not only in Music but in
life itself.
In thanking the many who have encouraged me to under-
take the publication of this little work, I must also again
thank Mrs. Kennedy-Fraser, of Edinburgh, for her invalu-
able help with my proofs.
Tobias Matthay
Haslbmbbb, September, 1912
CONTENTS
SECTION I
INTRODUCTORY
Some General Principles of Teaching and Learning paqb
Preface v
Points selected for elucidation 1
General attitude of the teacher 2
The learner can only be helped to learn 2
The first law of teaching 2
The most usual fault of the teacher 3
Both teacher and pupil must learn to think 3
How to practice 4
The danger of Automaticity 4
The danger of not really listening 5
"Listening" defined 5
Automatic practice useless, even for techniques 5
We do not really see or hear unless we analyse 6
As to ear-training, good and bad 7
Definition of real practice 8
Constant process of analysis proved necessary 9
"Genius" implies natural concentration on one's work 9
Practice implies study 9
By learning concentration we can all approximate to the Genius level 10
Not only concentration but imagination necessary 10
The imaginative power must be trained 10
The forms of analysis necessary in teaching 11
The use of Example 12
The artist as teacher 13
The informative and the non-informative types of mind 13
The teacher must be artistic 14
Why unaided example will not suffice . . . . 14
Example v. Explanation 15
The necessity of Enthusiasm 17
•
IX
X CONTENTS
PAGS
Bad and good teaching 18
Cramming v. real teaching 19
To render a pupil "musical" 20
Bad and good conducting 20
Teaching v. cramming again 21
Make sure of your diagnosis before correcting a fault 21
Concrete cases as examples 22
Correction of inaccuracy as to Time-details 24
Playing out of time implies lack of attention , 24
Uselessness of the Metronome as a Time-teacher 24
Faults arising from bad touch habits 25
How to correct a wrong tempo • 26
The causes of faults must always be made clear 26
True education 27
SECTION II
The Nature of Musical Attention and of Musical Shape
Attention through key-resistance and time 28
Meaning of "Time-spot" 29
The Act of Thought, or Attention, itself implies a rhythmical act 30
Also see pp. 41, 59, and section VI.
Similarity between playing out of time and playing out of tune 30
"Grip" in performance 31
As to Time-training 31
As to the interpretation of the tenn."Ithythm" 31
Correct ideas of Time and Shape in Music 32
Progression and movement analogous in Music and Painting 32
The origin of our sense of Pulse 32
The progressional view of music v. the old segmental view 34
The difference between the old segmental view of structure, and the pro-
gressional view of musical structure 35
Some examples of the Progressional view of structure 36
The incorrect notation of bar-lines 38
As to Nomenclature of structural details 39
Harmonic movement necessary 40
The process of Memorizing also depends upon Progression 41
Deliberate indefiniteness in composition 42
How to apply one's memory 42
Memory-failure 42
The various kinds of musical memory 43
The necessity of muscular memory and its dangers 43
CONTENTS XI
PAGB
Silent practice 43
To prevent slithering 44
Inaccuracy in the sub-divisions of the pulses owing to non-perception of
the Element of Progression 46
Progression always towards climax of phrase in spite of decrescendo 47
Passages broken between hands; correct thinking of them 49
Broken passages, technical errors 51
Wrong Bass notes — and other notes 53
Progression in its larger swings 54
Warning against purely mechanical "scanning" 54
To keep the whole in view is a question of memory 56
"Thinking the Whole" expounded 56
Perception of a new composition 57
The cause of stammering unmusically 59
SECTION III
The Element of Rubato
Tempo-continuity, why necessary 60
Continuity also depends upon tonal and emotional planning-out 60
True nature of Rubato usually quite misunderstood 61
Rubato is no mystery, it is not "silent-sound" not "telepathy" 61
Ritardandos and Acellerandos are not Rubato 62
The true rationale of Rubato 63
Time-curves constantly required 63
Rubato in modern music 64
Rubato in older music 65
Fallacy re the old masters being unemotional 65
In giving emotional life, Shape must not be lost sight of 66
When to teach and learn Rubato 67
The problem of music for Children 67
The two distinct fundamental forms of Rubato :
(I) The "leaning" Rubato 70
Rubato supplies the strongest forms of emphasis 70
(II) The "push-on" Rubato 71
The two forms may be combined 71
Ritardandos and Accellerandos marked in text, often found to be incor-
rectly noted Rubatos 71
The exact position of the return to the pulse must be noted 72
The cause of the Rubato also to be noted 72
Rubato allows a phrase-climax to be shown in decrescendo 72
XU CONTENTS
9AOM
Fallacy regarding position of phrase-climax 73
Attack of phrase 73
Various forms of Rubato illustrated:
(I) The more usual form, or "leaning" Rubato 74
All Means of Expression must always be applied solely to express Music
74, and pp. 79, 120, 121, and Section VI.
Tone-amount varies with note-lengths in uneven passages 75
In a slow movement, tone for the quicker notes is reduced from a high
background 76
In a quick movement the reverse process applies 76
Further examples of "leaning" Rubato 78
Rubato-inflections must always be carried out subtly 79
Example of Rubato-analysis — the first two bars of Chopin's ballade in
Aflat... 80
Example of Rubato showing trend of phrase in spite of diminuendo 82
Example of Rubato showing cross-accent 83
Again, the importance of "scanning" 84
Rubato required to depict agitation 86
Always shapef ul, however veiled the shapes 86
Definiteness, Decision, best expressed without Rubato inflections 87
Illustrations of these Distinctions emotionally 87-89
Mis-scanning of Chopin's Scherzos again 87, 89
Illustrations of Rubato continued:
(II) The push-on or inverted Rubato 92
Examples of the combination of the two forms of Rubato 97
Modern Rubato examples from Beethoven 102
Rubato can show accent on a rest or tied note 104
Rubato always in the nature of a curve, never a time-spike 104
Always keep in view Musical Purpose, during Rubato-inflections 105
Also see pp. 99, 79
SECTION IV
Concerning Certain Details in the Application of Tone-inflection
and the Bearing of Touch-teaching and Fingering, etc., on
Interpretation
The importance of Rubato does not detract from the importance of Tone
and Duration Contrasts 107
Lack of tone-variety often not realised by the teacher 107
Need of accurate listening and analysing again demonstrated 108
Want of true pp is mostly the cause of deficiency in coloring 109
• ••
CONTENTS XU1
PAOB
After a long note, the continuation of the same phrase is often played too
loudly 110
Cut away the tone to render certain notes prominent 110
The individualisation and balance of the constituent notes of chords,
octaves, etc 112
An exercise for tonal individualisation 112
Less force required to produce the higher notes than the lower notes of
the Piano 115
The tonal emphasising of melody notes should not lead to tasteless
agoggic accents 115
The bearing of the teaching of Touch, etc., upon the teaching of Inter-
pretation 117
Command over Interpretation implies command over technical resources 117
Obedience to the laws of Touch and Technique must constantly be in-
sisted upon 117
Knowledge of the laws of Touch and Technique necessary even for the
beginner 118
Points as to Touch requiring constant reminder 119
Musical and Technical Attention must never be allowed to flag while giv-
ing attention to the details of Muscular Education 120
The bearing of Fingering on Interpretation, and the learning of its laws . . 121
Fingering, also, must not be "crammed" 122
Its proper teaching 122
The Memorising of Fingering 122
Scale fingerings, single and double notes 123
SECTION V
As to Pedalling and the Element of Duration
Just as close attention required for the foot as for the finger 125
Most pedalling a mass of blemishes 125
Examples of bad pedalling 126
Not enough to feel the breaks between the phrasings clearly, one must
play them clearly 126
Inadequacy of Pedal-discontinuity 127
Accuracy in Duration-effects depends immediately upon accuracy in
listening 128-129
Value of Duration-contrasts insufficiently realised 129
Gradations of Tone and Duration contrasted 130
Pedal-durations more important than Finger-durations 130
Pedal enhances actual prolongation of sounds 131
"Syncopated" pedalling 131
XIV CONTENTS
FAGB
Why syncopated pedalling is required 132
Legatissimo pedalling 133
Echo-resonance of a Hall different from pedal continuity 133
Examples of Legatissimo Pedalling 133
Pedal must rise fully 134
Pedal must remain up long enough 134
Half-damping effects 135
The "Sostenente" Pedal 135
Half-pedalling applied to whole chords 136
Cessation of sound as a form of emphasis 136
Examples of this 137-140
Imperative to listen accurately and constantly to Duration 141
Various additional Pedalling examples 141-146
Chopin's Pedalling 143, 144 and 89
Listen both to finger and to foot-doings 146
Attention during Performance 147
SECTION VI
Thb Purpose of Abt-bxpression and Its Relation to the Infinite
The ever-present danger of forgetting the End over the Means , 148
The Purpose of Art is the expression of Feeling 148
Art-moods which make for Good and which make for Evil 149
Health and Mood 150
The nature of Music, its relation to all-pervading Rhythm, and its rela-
tion to the ultimately Unknowable 151
Summary: Report of Lecture on "The Principles of Teaching Interpre-
tation" 154-163
MUSICAL
INTERPRETATION
SECTION I
INTRODUCTORY
SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING
AND LEARNING
The teaching of Interpretation is so complex a problem
that at a first glance it seems hopeless to try to cover the
ground in one or two short lectures. All one can do is to
select some few of the more salient points, points in regard
to which the young teacher or performer (and often the
older one) is most apt to fail. This, then, is what I
propose doing, it being understood that no attempt is here
made to treat the subject exhaustively.
The main points I have selected are:
(1) The difference between Practice and mere Strum-
ming.
(2) The difference between Teaching and Cramming.
(3) How one's mind can be brought to bear upon one's
work.
(4) Correct ideas of Time and Shape.
(5) The element of Rubato and its application.
(6) The elements of Duration and Pedalling and their
application.
(7) Incidentally, some details as to the application of
the element of Tone-variety.
l
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
General at-
titude of
teacher.
The learner
can only be
helped to
learn.
The first law
of teaching.
It is impossible, however, to make clear even these par-
ticular essentials of teaching, without first taking a cursory
glance at the whole problem — the general attitude of the
teacher towards those he wishes to help. To begin with,
let us recognise the fact, that, accurately speaking, we
cannot "teach" anyone anything — in the sense of our
being able directly to lodge any knowledge of ours in another
mind.
All we can really do is to stimulate another mind to wish
to learn, and suggestively to place before that other mind
the things which it is desirable should be apprehended. It
is always the other mind which has to make the effort to
apprehend, and unless that effort is made nothing can be
learnt.
We cannot teach others, but we can help them to learn.
In fact, I will go so far as to say that unless we teachers do
recognise this fundamental truth, we cannot hope to begin
to succeed in our vocation. We shall also see that one of
the very points I wish to insist upon is closely allied to
this truth. Let me at once state it here:
Good teaching consists not in trying to make the pupil
do things so that the result of his efforts shall seem like play-
ing, but consists in trying to make him think, so that it shall
really be playing.
The good teacher does not try to turn his pupil into an
automaton, but tries to prompt him to grow into a living,
intelligent being. But more of this anon. 1
1 As I shall explain later, the fallacious attitude is, to endeavor to
use our will and intelligence so that the doings of our pupil's fingers may
sound plausible, whereas the correct attitude is to use our intelligence so
that the pupil will all the time use his own intelligence and his own will,
and may thus learn to guide his fingers correctly, alike musically, and
technically.
INTRODUCTORY 3
Undoubtedly, one of the first things we have to combat The most
in a pupil is the wish to be saved all trouble and effort, usual fault of
and to have the "learning" done by the teacher. Indeed, <he8tadent
the ordinary pupil invariably starts with the notion, that
all he has to do is to be passive and "receptive" — like
a laboratory funnel with mouth widely gaping, ready to
receive any chemicals (pleasant or otherwise) which the
operating chemist may see fit to pour in. This attitude
must be at once kindly but firmly combated, and the pupil
must be made to see, that it is for him to try to learn, for him
to try to apprehend and to assimilate those things to which
the teacher is anxious to call his attention.
Certainly, there are direct and there are indirect (or
empirical) methods of teaching in all branches of education;
and, as you know, I claim that my teaching-methods are
direct — but we now see that this "directness" can refer
solely to the method of placing things before a pupil.
The first general conclusion we are thus driven to accept Both teacher
is the need for purposeful brain-use, on the part of both ftnd ^ u ^
teacher and pupil. With regard to the pupa, not £^ leam to
only is brain-use (i.e. reasoning) imperative during lesson-
time, it is even more imperative during the practice-hour
when there is no help available from outside. How
often indeed do we find the pupil's work brought back
worse than at a preceding lesson, in spite of what would
seem to have been most judiciously thought-out and care-
fully worded advice! And why is this so? Simply, because
the pupil in the interval, instead of really practising, has
tried with might and main to make himself (or herself) into
an automatic strumming-maehine. Yes, often it is the
pupil's fault, he either will not, or cannot use his brains.
But believe me, far more often still, it is the teacher's
fault, owing to his not having correctly shown the student how
4 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
to use his brains during practice, or not having diplomati-
cally enough insisted on real practice, in place of such
mere gymnastic strumming.
How to prac- The first thing to do then, is to give the pupil a clear idea
tke. of what does constitute real practice. 1
The danger Remember that the mistaken desideratum with which the
of automa- student starts work is just this, it seems to him that the
^^* ideal state would be to be able to do vrithout thinking.
Often enough he does try his utmost to exercise his muscles
in his pieces, his studies and techniques — and he does so,
believing piano-playing to be a purely gymnastic pursuit like
walking and running, etc. Even admitting the necessity for
muscular automaticity, he does not realise that a certain
amount of reflection is imperative in acquiring it; that
walking, running, and breathing, purely automatic as they
must be injthe end, are all the better for a little reflection
on the right ways of doing them. 2
The average student then, if left to himself, will assuredly
try to make himself into a mere automaton in his practice-
hour, from sheer horror of the discomfort and irksomeness
of mental effort.
Therefore, this is the first and ever-present obstacle with
which we teachers have to contend. We must be prepared
to drive home to the pupil that the thing most to be avoided
is this very automaticity which seems so attractive to him,
1 Realise, that the average student has a fixed idea that Piano-practice
is a purely gymnastic exercise — he lives in the hope that by going over
the ground often enough, the piece may at last "do itself" without his
thinking about it at aU — a mere exercising therefore of the muscles con-
cerned.
1 Even the athlete must use his judgement, and those who are too
lazy or decadent to do their athletics personally must still give their
minds to the exhibited exercise, if they mean to derive any interest
from it.
INTRODUCTORY 5
and into which his natural bent will only too assuredly lead
him. We may use persuasion or threats, coaxing or snarl-
ing, sledge hammer or velvet paw upon him, but if any
good work is to be done, we must in some way or other
bring him to avoid automatic practice.
Really, there is nothing more fatal for our musical sense, The danger
than to allow ourselves — by the hour — to heat musical of not really,
sounds without really listening to them; and this holds true MWUB *
whether the sounds are made by ourselves or by others;
for unless we do listen attentively, we are at that moment
inevitably forming habits of lax attention. 1
Here I must digress for a moment, to make plainer what listening de-
is meant by "really listening," for we cannot get any **>*&*
further unless we are quite clear on this point. Let us, for
instance, take a page of print or music. If we turn our eyes
upon it, the light from the page pours in upon us, whether
we attend to its meaning or not. We may realize that it is
1 To sound the notes of a piece through as a mere physical exercise, Automatic
is not only useless but positively harmful musically; and this applies practice, use-
as much to the practice of Studies and Techniques as to that of pieces, le8 *>« veil * or
for in all repetitions we are always forming or fixing habits — musical tectmi Q uei '
ones and technical ones — and it behooves us, therefore, to see to it that
good habits and not bad ones are being insisted upon — habits of keen
attention, for instance, and not habits of laxity of attention. It must be
constantly insisted upon, that if we try to make the piece, or study, or tech-
nical exercise "go by itself/' this, so far from being "practice" is indeed
the opposite — it is un-practice. For in trying to turn ourselves into
human automata we are doing all we can to render it impossible for us
to acquire those habits of mind — of attention — which enable us to
play with success; and we shall, in the end, find our head listening merely
to the doings of our spine! And this is no mere figure of speech, for it
describes quite accurately what does occur in such cases; that is, we here
have the conscious, could-be intelligent brain engaged in merely noticing
(instead of directing) the clockwork doings of our spinal or ganglionic
centres!
6 MUSICAL INTERPBBTATION
a page of print, we may even read it out aloud, but it con-
veys no definite meaning until we do bring our minds upon
it. We derive no information from the constant stream of
varied light-impressions pouring in through the iris unless
we analyse the impressions made on our nerve-ends; unless
we (consciously or unconsciously) investigate the impressions
there received, we notice nothing, learn nothing, and do not
really see anything. 1
Precisely so is it with our ears, I might say it is even
more so, for we cannot shut our physical ears as we can
our eyes. All sounds that occur within earshot will cer-
tainly reach our ear-drums and the nerve-ends of the inner
ear, whether we "listen" or not. But we may derive from
this stream of sounds either a mere vague impression that
some sort of sound is occurring, or we may, if we turn our
minds upon the sound, discover definitely what it consists
of and means.
We do not We may, even without attention, realize the fact that
really see or gome music is being made, but~we shall certainly not un-
wTanalyse! derstand a no * e °f &> unless we do purposely, all the time,
notice and in fact analyse the stream of aural-impressions
pouring in upon us.
1 An excellent experiment is, to turn our eyes upon a window covered
by a light, diaphanous, gauzy curtain. We shall find, while keeping our
eyes quite stationary, that we can allow ourselves to become conscious
either of the pattern of the curtain, or of the trees or other objects out-
side the window. True, a slight focussing adjustment of the iris-muscles
occurs in this case, but the main, important fact taught us is, that we
may either notice the curtain itself or the things beyond it at will. Which
of the two we do thus observe depends upon the direction we give to our
powers of mental-analysis. Moreover, the things we do not thus ana-
lyse we also do not observe — and this, although the light rays do pour
in upon us all the time, both from the curtain and from the objects
beyond it!
INTRODUCTOKT 7
§
No one is quite so foolish as to try to write or draw with-
out at least taking the trouble to look at the paper he is
engaged upon. Nevertheless, most music-students fail to
realise that it is just as idiotic to try to play any musical
instrument without at least taking the trouble accurately
to listen to it — all the time. 1
Yes, that is where "Ear-training" comes in. But how As to ear-
much rubbish is written and talked in this cause — a most to** 1 ^
righteous cause, when really understood and not perverted g£ "*
into faddism. It would seem that many people imagine
" Ear-training " to be a process of actually training a por-
tion of one's brain (previously otherwise employed) to be
impressed by sounds, or a training of the nerve-ends of the
ear-organ itself! Or, perhaps even, a training of the skin
and flesh itself — the lobes of the outer ear!
1 This is one of the greatest difficulties the teacher has to contend with.
The average pupil does not in the least realise that he must bring
his aural consciousness on the work in hand; neither will he take the
trouble to judge what he should do, nor how he should do it, nor will he
deign to listen to the actual sounds he is making. Yet when he writes his
own name he takes care to "listen with his eyes" on the paper! And
even with the best intention to listen and attend properly, the student is
apt to fail. You must explain to him therefore, that listening does not
mean merely hearing what the automatic centres may manage to do, but
that effective listening implies pre-listening all the time as to what should
be. Explain to. him that he must certainly listen to all he is doing —
every note, but in the first place he must want every note aright. Say to
him "do want all the time — every note. " Be not taken up with the doing,
but on the contrary "let Music tell you what to do" — let the piece, as it
goes along, suggest to you what to do; then you may be sure that you are
using your Imagination as well as your Reason. When the music seems
to tell you what to do, then are you using your sub-conscious faculties as
you should do eventually.
In short: during Practice do not try to " do," but try to learn to see;
during Performance you may then be able to see Music — its Shape,
Feeling and Time-spot, while you compel your fingers to give all this.
8 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Granted, that training may possibly help to sensitise the
actual esx-maeMne or apparatus — granted, also, that there
may be a portion of our brain-matter more particularly
engaged in aural work — the main point remains, and that
is, that all ear-training in the first place signifies Mind-
training: training ourselves to observe and notice aural im-
pressions, training our mind to make use of the impressions
received through our ear-apparatus. In short, Ear-training
to be practical, must mean Mind-training, musically. Cer-
tainly, we should teach children Ear-attention from the
very beginning, and from the simplest steps upwards.
t But what is generally overlooked is, that every one
professing to teach any form of musical performance must
insist on such real Ear-training all day and every min-
ute of every day when engaged in teaching— if it is to be
real teaching at all. 1
Definition of A passage must therefore never be played through, no,
real practice. no j. even once through, except for the express purpose of
really knowing that passage better; for the purpose of
knowing it better not only physically, but also mentally —
knowing each bar better, and the piece as a Whole better.
First, that we mayknow it better as to its mv&ical content
— both as to Shape and as to Feeling; and secondly, that
1 Under the new faddism, I have heard of good teachers being turned
out of schools on the ground that they, personally, have not acquired
some particular stage of ear-discrimination, while no enquiry was made
whether they were successful or not in making their pupils use their
minds aurally. That the teacher possesses "absolute pitch" (relative
pitch is another matter!) is no guarantee whatever that the possessor is
in the least musical or observant aurally, or knows how to make others
observant.
To insist on such a test is sheer folly. What should be insisted upon
is, that the would-be teacher knows how to make his pupils use their own
ears.
INTRODUCTORY 9
we may know it better technically — which means, that each
playing through of it may help us to realize better what to
do physically, and what to avoid doing physically at the
keyboard. 1
All this implies a constant process of analysis — of minute Constant
analysis as to what should be done and what is being done ^ oc . essof ^
musically — and also, what should be done and is being nece ssary.
done technically.
Moreover, this again presupposes a high degree of con-
centration of mind on the part of the pupil, and that pre-
cisely is the requirement — full concentration of mind is
needed. Now, it is the teacher's very first duty (and con-
stant duty) to prompt the pupil in this direction.
True, such concentration may come almost " naturally " "Genius"
to the few possessors of that concatenation of various implies natu-
talents which the public loosely gathers up into the term 4,^^ on "
genius; and if we do possess this so-called "genius," then one's work.
1 Indeed, there is no practice worthy the name unless we are all the Practice im-
while really studying; studying (or analysing) with a most lavish, but plies study,
carefully directed expenditure of thought and reasoning — and not one
single note played without such expenditure. But a warning is also
necessary here. From sheer wish to do right one may err. One may
mistake cavtian for care. To be cautious — to be afraid of failing —
will only chill one musically, and thus cause one to fail.
To be afraid of failure does not constitute a care for Music at all; on
the contrary, it is again a form of selfishness, and as such must therefore
cause failure. To succeed in art as in anything else we must be "unselfish/*
— so far as that is possible to us humans — we must throw self overboard,
and really caring for art, we must wish to do well because art is so beauti-
ful, so worthy, that any service we can bring to its shrine is as nothing.
Thus we shall indeed take trouble, we shall be as keenly alert as lies
within our power, not for the sake of our own aggrandisement, but for the
sake of making the Beautiful attain to its highest possible perfection;
and our "carefulness" will thus, so far from chilling us, stimulate us
musically to ever increasingly effective efforts.
10 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
we may possibly succeed in giving such close attention with-
out apparent effort, for the simple reason, that our bias
towards Music is so extreme, and Music is such a keen
delight to us, such a matter of life-and-death, that it is easy
for us to be in this required state of keen engrossment, even,
maybe, without much prompting from the teacher. But
the teacher must ever be alert in such rare cases — for even
a genius, we find, has frequent lapses of attention !
By learning Now it also follows, that although our pupils may not
toweam ^ happen to be such "geniuses," we shall be able to bring
aiiapproxi- them considerably nearer the genius-status if we can but
mate to the manage to cultivate in them this habit of close attention.
genius level Anyway, to the extent that we do succeed in thus improving
their powers of musical attention or concentration, to that
extent they will certainly be more musical — and that is
the point of the argument.
Not only con- Please do not misunderstand me to maintain that such
centration power of absolute attention is the attribute which, alone,
tionneces^" constitutes genius. Far from it! To concentration we
sary. must add vividness of imagination. Here, indeed, we have
the most salient feature of genius and of real talent — Imagi-
nation, the ability keenly to visualise, or auralise things
apart from their actual physical happening outside of us.
Theimagi- This more subtle faculty, imaginativeness — this power
native power f pre-hearing — can also be cultivated in far greater meas-
trained. v™ *^ ian k generally suspected to be possible. Obviously
this also is a task which the teacher must set himself to
undertake, and must succeed in to some extent, if his pupils
are to provide any real pleasure to their listeners.
Again, since it is clear that good practice implies a con-
stant process of analysis, it must be still more clear that
teaching implies the same process, persistently and unre-
mittingly applied.
INTRODUCTORY 11
Now, in teaching, analysis implies (broadly speaking) The forms of
analysis in four distinct ways: St" 6 "
First, we must analyse what the pupil is actually teaching.
DOING.
Secondly, we must analyse the faults thereby
PERCEIVED.
Thirdly, we must analyse why the pupil is making
those faults; and
Lastly, we must analyse the pupil's attitude of
mind, so that we may know how to treat him.
But before we can form any judgement at all, we ourselves
must know the Music we wish to teach — we must have
analysed that.
To be explicit on these four points:
First: — We cannot become aware of all there is to
be corrected, of all the faults made — and the good
points made — unless we constantly analyse the impres-
sions received from the pupil's performance; and this
is what is implied by saying that the teacher must
"really listen" all the while. 1
Secondly: — The actual faults thus perceived (through
such close listening) we must again analyse, so that
we shall be able to diagnose them; for it is impossible
to correct a fault directly or with certainty, unless it
has been in the first place allocated either as a musical
fault or as a muscular fault, or as one of laxity of
attention, etc.
1 Not listening, but merely hearing a performance, is just as useless
in teaching as it is when examining, or learning, or practising. As I
have already said, it is not enough merely to "hear," we must really
listen, and plainly that means that we must all the while (to the best of
our capacity) analyse all we hear.
12 MUSICAL INTEKPBETATION
Thirdly: — We must analyse the particular pupil's
mental attitude in making the fault, so that the fault-
making may be corrected at its very root. For again,
the fault may have arisen, for instance, either from
inattention at the moment or inattention during
practice; or its cause may be traced to bad habits
muscularly, etc.
And here, especially, do not let us forget always to
insist that all corrections, whatever their nature, must
always be made strictly subservient to the musical
effects required at the moment; else we shall only
provoke self-consciousness in place of the desired
correction. For instance, a muscular fault must never
be corrected as such, but its musical bearing must
always be kept before the pupil in each and every case.
Finally: — We must all the time closely analyse the
pupil's general mental attitude, so that we may be .able
to judge how best to appeal to him (or impress him) so
that our advice may be received sufficiently seriously
as to lead to its being followed.
The use of While I thus insist that both teacher and pupil must
example. constantly apply the analytical faculty, while I insist that
reasons and causes must constantly be made clear to the
pupil (musically and technically) nevertheless I do not
maintain that actual Example, in the form of playing, is
to be contemned. On the contrary, Example is
most helpful when given in conjunction with explanation,
especially with those who have the imitative gift strongly
marked, or who can really feel Music keenly. Often, also,
as a last resort, it has excellent effect.
The mistake is to rely entirely upon Example. This can
lead only to subsequent disappointment, and with many
pupils even to disaster, for the tendency, here again, is to
INTRODUCTOBY 13
turn the pupil into an automatic machine, totally wanting
in initiative and in the where-with-all to acquire self-reliance.
Here we see the reason why the public artist is, as a rule, The artist as
so futile as a teacher — futile for the ordinary student, since teacher -
only the extremely gifted can learn anything whatever from
him. Such artist, as a rule, has usually not the remotest
notion how or why he does anything. Nor does he wish to
know; and he therefore has to rely in teaching solely and
entirely on this precarious device of exemplification. «
If he ever did reason while learning, long ago has he forgotten
the process of learning. In fact, nothing is more antipathetic
to such artist, usually, than to be asked to reason upon
anything. . . . Long habit has indeed made it seem to him
that his own doings have "come naturally" to him and
have not been learnt, and must not be taught — in the way
one has to learn everything else in life. In fact, that it is a
sort of sacrilege, ever to want to know or to investigate the
being of Art, and that all that anyone should ever venture
to do, is to listen reverently and without question to his —
the artist's — supposed, God-given messages ! l
For the ordinary student to derive any profit from any
such exhibition of what may possibly happen to be quite
correct "doing," however, it is evident that it is he himself
who will have to do all the reasoning and analysing unless
the processes are explained to him by some other teacher.
1 One can, in fact, divide minds into two distinct types, the informative The informa-
and the non-informative, in the sense of either wanting-to-know or not tiveandnon-
wanting-to-know. I fear the artist is too often of the last-named type; informative ;
he likes to feel and enjoy, but he loathes the troublesome process of learn- types of
ing to understand the working of his own machinery. His gorge usually nuad*
rises when there is any question of building-up or analysing anything in
his art hence, also, the few Beethovens, Bachs, and truly great
artists — and teachers! It is indeed a surprise and a delight to find
occasional exceptions to this rule.
14
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
A teacher
must be
artistic*
True, the student, if gifted with extreme musi-
fcal sensitiveness, may succeed in a measure in giving a
photograph of what he has heard, but even then it will
probably be but a pale or distorted version.
Such a great artist as Liszt, for instance, undoubtedly did
have an overwhelming influence, musically, on all who came
into contact with him. Nevertheless, he was not a real
"teacher" at all, in the strict sense in which the term is
here used — although he was truly a great seer. Indeed,
I doubt very much whether Liszt himself ever gave a single,
real "lesson" in his life. What he did often do, with his
overwhelming enthusiasm and wonderful personality, was
to stimulate an incipient, latent, and perhaps lukewarm
enthusiasm into a blazing flame.
Nevertheless, while the artist is thus, as a rule, the mo§t
feeble of teachers, no teacher on the other hand is worthy
the name unless he, himself, is also more or less an artist —
and a finely perceptive one, too! To be a really good
teacher, you must therefore possess, or at least you must
* have possessed a technique sufficiently ample to enable you
to give due expression to the artistic feeling which you must
have succeeded in cultivating in yourself. So that,
besides really teaching (i.e., explaining and showing), you
may also be able to stir artistic fire and enthusiasm in
others by actual example, when necessary. Only then
can you help your pupils in every way.
Why exam-] As to the appeal solely to the imitative faculty, it is clear
pie, unaided, enough why this so often leads the pupil astray — often
into sheer musical perversion; for indeed, a high degree of
nice judgement is needed to perceive what it is that renders
a musical performance good, or the reverse — to perceive
what is essential and what is unessential. How can such
nicety of judgement be expected from a mere School-
fice.
INTRODUCTORY
15
student, seeing that it is this very thing you have to teach
him? Indeed, he would require no teacher, did he already
possess such power of judgement'and of analysis.
Not possessing such highly cultivated power of observa-
tion or judgement, the student is almost bound to be capti-
vated by some of the more prominent means of expression
which you happen to employ in exemplifying to him, or
possibly by some details of expression merely differing from
those he has used. It is these which he will try to reproduce
— with the best of intentions no doubt — but with the con-
sequence that the picture will be quite out of focus, out of
drawing, a picture probably much worse than it was before
he tried to imitate that example which you gave him —
remember, an example given without explanation, without
the purpose and reason explained to him in so many words. 1
Let us now consider what happens if we merely play Example v.
through a passage to a pupil without explanation. I will explanation,
play the opening bars of Schumann's "Warum", with the
inflections of time and tone more or less correctly given,
thus:
Example 1.*
Rubatteriten. Jaecel
1 f'f [T
- . ritr-+Jeinpo
1 We must never forget the fact that the most difficult problem
for the pupil is to keep the picture in mind as a whole — as a continuous
progression — and not to allow the necessary attention to each detail, as
it comes along, to distract him from a persistent purpose to keep Shape
and Outline perfectly clear.
* These time-inflections must be applied very subtly — not in a way
so coarse as to call attention to themselves.
16
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Without explanation given to him, the pupil will try to
imitate the "means" — the expression-effects — he thinks
he has heard me employ, and the result will probably be a
frightful parody, with blind and futile changes of time and
tone, such as the amateur who wishes to appear "musical "
loves to make, something like this:
Example 2.
But I shall obtain quite another result from the pupil,
if I take the precaution thoroughly to explain the passage
to him, either before playing it, or afterwards. For in-
stance, I must first make the pupil scan the phrase cor-
rectly, so that he may understand its rhythmical structure
— where its culminating point is, rhythmically, where "it
goes to." Again, I must show him, that in music such
as this, unless I bend or inflect the time as well as the
tone (unless I give proper rubato to it) only squareness
will result; and I must even point out exactly how the
time is to be curved — where I must waste time to give
emphasis, and where I must hasten the time so as to
swing the rhythm back to the point where the phrase
reaches its little climax, and in the meantime, and beyond
all this, I must endeavor to convey to him its emo-
tional import, either by gesture or word. In this way, and
in this way only, the pupil will be made to understand
why he must use the particular expression-means I used
INTRODTTCTOBY 17
in exemplifying, and he will then also be able to use such
musical sense as he has to guide him to the required proper
proportions.
The result will now be a real performance, one prompted
by his own mind in the right way. Moreover, it will dis-
play his own individuality, and it will be satisfactory, just
because one can perceive in hearing it, that it is guided by
the performer's own intelligence.
Furthermore, the pupil will also have made a step forward
in his general knowledge of playing — a permanent step for-
ward. Or, at all events, he will have had the opportunity
of making it, provided his memory is good enough — for he
will have had a lesson in learning to analyse and to apply
means to an end.
There remains to be referred to, one more general charac- Necessity of
teristic which we, teachers, must cultivate in ourselves, and enflM,siMm *
it is an important one. I have insisted that we should do
our best to educate ourselves into being deft players as
well as analytical teachers, but our efforts will after all be
foredoomed to failure, if we expect our pupils in cold blood
to give such truly exhausting attention as I have proved
to be imperatively necessary. Such attention cannot be
given in response to mere cold reasoning by itself, however
logical; there must be a stronger motive force than this;
there must be an emotional driving force to enable us to give
this required attention — we must act under the stress of
Feeling or Emotion; in short we must be prompted by
Enthusiasm. '
Plainly, the teacher cannot hope in the least to stimulate
his pupils to do real, honest work, unless he, the teacher
himself, shows that the work matters to him, in fact, that
it is a matter of life-and-death to him, whether his pupil
18 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
V
does succeed or not, and whether the piece discussed is
rendered adequately or not.
Imagination, hard work, yes, they are the fuel, but
Enthusiasm is the spark which makes the whole leap into
flame.
But some will object that this is useless talk, that en-
thusiasm is purely a personal characteristic, and that we
are either made that way, or are not. . . . Well, one must
concede that there is some truth in this. But, on the
other hand, if we try to recognize the fact that we shall be
but miserably ineffective teachers unless we do summon up
some real interest in our work, it will at least make us try
better than before.
Again, the very fact of our thus trying to attend better
and more minutely will, in its turn, inevitably lead to our
finding it more and more easy to do so, since the exercise
of a faculty always increases its efficacy; and in the end
we may realise that it really is worth while trying to help
and improve others. . . . And our enthusiasm in our work
will assuredly grow, when we see better and better fruits
accrue from our better efforts.
The attempt to do work without giving one's whole mind
to it, is indeed a very Hell upon earth, and vice versa, there
is no finer Heaven, there is nothing more stimulating, than
just this feeling, that our whole life is in our work, and
that evidently we are of use to our fellows.
Bad and good I have dwelt upon the urgent necessity of the teacher
teaching. using his brains all the time; let us next consider how he
must use them. Just as important as actually giving
our mind to our work, is it, that we apply ourselves in the
right way. It is not enough to be thoroughly anxious to
help our pupil; our hard trying will after all end but in sore
INTRODUCTORY 19
disappointment unless we know what help to give and how
to give it.
Here we are face to face with one of the most subtle and
yet most radical of the distinctions between good teaching
and bad — one of the most radical distinctions between
the work of the inexperienced or foolish teacher, young or
old, and that of a real teacher, rich in correctly assimilated
experience. As I have said before : the bad teacher simply
tries to make the pupil do things — "things," points, effects
which the teacher feels are necessary; whereas the good
teacher tries to make the pupil see and think tilings, so
that, seeing their purpose, he can apply them by his own
choice. To be more explicit, simply to make the pupil Cramming v.
carry out the details of expression and interpretation which ****&*<*&*&•
seem desirable to you at the moment, only serves to con-
vert your pupil into an automaton, an automaton responsive
to your thoughts instead of his ovm — a Trilby to your
Svengalism. This is in fact sheer, miserable "cramming/'
Such cramming can have no abiding influence whatever
on the pupil, for you are not in the least educating him
— not in the least training his mind. It is doubtful,
indeed, whether you will obtain from him, in that way,
even one satisfactory performance. No, the only way
to establish any abiding improvement in your pupil, and
also the only way to obtain, immediately, a vivid perform-
ance, is patiently and ceaselessly to insist on the pupil
himself always using his own ears (upon the actual sounds,
and upon the sounds that should be), his own judge-
ment, his own reason and his own feeling; and this/ not
merely "in a general sort of way," but for every note,
intimately, so that the musical picture, as a whole, may
be successful.
This does not imply less attention on your part as teacher;
20 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
on the contrary, it implies far greater attention; for you
have to be as it were a vigilant policeman, constantly on
the alert, seeing to it that your pupil keeps his mind on his
work all the time, and does play every note as it should be
played. Instead of acting as a bad orchestral con-
ductor, you must act like a good conductor at rehearsal,
you must explain to your pupil the most intimate details
of structure and of feeling, so that he may musically be
able to see and feel rightly, and may therefore play rightly
because of thus seeing and feeling. 1
In short, instead of the pupil being made merely to carry
into effect the means of expression dictated by you, he must
be made to use his own musical imagination and judgement
all the time, and also, what is equally important, his physical
judgement in connection with the instrument he is using —
as Pianist he must be using his sense of key-resistance, etc.,
all the time.
You must insist on his doing this all the time he is in your
presence, and you must try to induce him to do so all the
time you are absent.
To render a A pupil generally plays badly, just because neither of
pupa " musi- these things are done — unless, of course, he has not mastered
the right ways of Technique itself, in which case he will
play badly for the simple reason that he is unable to express
what he does feel and think. But indeed you will often
find, that the moment you really succeed in making a pupil
Bad and good l The difference between a good and bad orchestral conductor depends
conducting, on the same laws: the bad conductor treats his men like machines —
tries to play on them, whereas the really great conductor tries to make
his men into intelligent artists, each one of them, tries to make them see
the music, and insists on their using their own musical feeling — in re-
sponse to his, it is true, but not in mechanical obedience to his orders, or
bandmasterly directions.
INTRODUCTOKY 21
attend musically and physically, that moment all his playing
becomes infinitely more musical. 1 Much that seemed hope-
lessly wrong from the very foundation upwards, at once
becomes better, and often to a quite surprising extent;
and a pupil who perhaps seemed "hopelessly unmusical "
gradually seems to become endowed with quite musical
instincts !
Before going any further, I must try to make this differ- Teaching
ence still clearer — the difference between Teaching and cramming
Cramming. I recur again and again to this point, and urge agtilL
upon my Teacher-students that we must do real teaching
and not mere illusive "cramming," and yet I find that the
temptation to act merely the Svengau tends to master us,
unless we constantly resist it. Indeed even the best of us
are often enough on the verge of falling into this trap, ever
ready for us. But remember, the moment we give way, that
moment we cease to be real teachers or educationists.
It is difficult to resist this temptation, and always carefully
to draw the line between merely conducting a performance of
our own through our pupil's fingers, and correctly teaching
him by prompting him to play by his own initiative, helped
by our constant, careful analysis of Shape and Feeling, and
by example when desirable.
The temptation is of course all the greater, when dealing
with exceedingly un-alert pupils, so-called "un-musical"
ones. This teaching-principle, however, applies every-
where. Always try to avoid making the pupils "do,"
always try to make them think. Again, in thus honestly Make sure
trying to help your pupils in better fashion, and really try- of your
ing to make them use their own brains, you are after all di ** ,108i, •
only scolding and finding fault, and are not really teaching,
1 By "physically" is here meant the use of one's outer ear, and one's
muscular sense — with regard to key-resistance, etc.
22
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Concrete
cases.
unless — and that is the crux of the thing — unless you
properly diagnose and make clear the true cause of each
fault. 1
And here we dare not be careless. It behooves us not to
accept too hurriedly the first explanation that offers, but
always to make sure that we have seen the true cause, the
ultimate cause of the pupil's going astray, for while there
may be many things that seem to be the cause, we may yet
fail to correct the pupil owing to our wrong diagnosis.
But all such generalities are not really helpful, since the
unanalytical person cannot apply them.
Let us therefore take a concrete example. Say, a pupil
plays a passage unrhythmically, such a very ordinary fault
as the following one for instance, in Chopin's Polonaise in A:
Example 3.
— the left hand is here often played as a quintuplet instead
of in the proper Polonaise-rhythm. It was thus misplayed
only the other day by a pupil, and as a number of listeners
1 Let me reiterate it, the radical difference between real teaching and
useless cramming is that in cramming you make the pupil parrot your
own thoughts more or less unintelligently, whereas, in really teaching, you
not only point out to the pupil where he is wrong and what the right
effects should be, but always point out also the cause, the why and
wherefore of all faults, and hence, the means of their immediate correction;
and you thus stimulate the pupil to use his own judgment and feeling all
the time — musically and technically.
INTRODUCTORY 23
were in the room (some of them teachers of some experience)
I thought I would ask these to explain the fault. Here
are some of the answers:
"Sounds sloppy" — "must be played with more spirit/'
— which was true enough, but was no explanation
of the fault, — any more than were the following
ones.
"Not enough accent in the right hand!"
"Not enough accent in the left hand!"
"Tone too much the same in both hands!" (True
enough, subsidiarily.)
Tone too heavy in left hand!" (Also true.)
It is clumsy — holds herself too stiffly."
Plays with too much arm-weight." (They thought
that would please me!) But the pupil continued to
play her quintuplet in the left hand. Then they got
warmer:
"Does not play rhythmically."
"Left hand is not in time."
"Does not hold the first quaver long enough" (perfectly
true, of course).
"Plays the two semiquavers too soon"
Nevertheless, none of these answers (not even the later
ones) formed any true correction or analysis of the cause
of the fault. None went to the root of the matter. True,
the result of the fault was plain enough all the time — its
ill-effect, and in the end the unmusical result was also cor-
rectly enough located. But the pupil was not told how the
fault had arisen, nor how to correct it. . . . Hence, none
of these tentative "corrections" formed any real teaching
of the pupil.
24
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
How to cor- The only possible direction to give to her, the only pos-
rcct inaccu- s iy e rea i teaching of this pupil, here, was simply to point out,
Mails. *" *^ ia * s ^ e ^^ fated to attend to time at that particular spot,
and had therefore omitted to notice where (in Time) the
first of those two semiquavers should occur:
Example 4.
FP^ 1
It sufficed to point out to her this lapse of Time-attention,
and of course the correction was instantaneously accom-
plished. It was now a true correction, it will be noticed,
because the pupil herself was made to think rightly, was
made to use her own judgement in the matter — for she
was shown where her own Time-attention had been slack
and was shown the consequences of such slackness. There-
fore, it was true teaching; for she had been shown not only
how to correct this particular fault, but, if she tried to profit
by this lesson, she had the opportunity of improving herself
abidingly, she had learnt something that might last her
lifetime.
Believe me, no one ever plays "out of time" if he really
attends to Time. The fault is that pupils do not attend, nay,
^attention. even ^d it impossible to attend — but only because they
have not learnt to do so. It is precisely such attention
which you have to teach them, every pupil you have, and
all the time. 1
Usele3sness 1 You see, therefore, how useless it is to hope to teach your pupils a
of the metro- sense of Time and Rhythm by merely beating time to their perform-
nome, as a ances, or making them listen to your exhibition of a Time-sense. True,
time-teacher, the force of example may have some little effect, and your pupils may
Playing out
of time
means lack
INTRODUCTORY 25
To take other and opposite instances, of technical short-
comings:
A comparatively musical pupil, who is obviously trying Faults aria- 1
hard to play a cantabile passage most soulfully and sym- m * irom ^
pathetically, fails sadly, however, owing to bad touch-
habits. Here it is of no use telling her to "sing the passage
better/' or to "play it more sympathetically. ,, The only
way to help her is to explain to her how to produce the sing-
ing effect easily and therefore successfully, i. e., by arm-lapse,
flat finger, and careful attention to the necessary crescendo
of speed during key-descent, and accurate "aiming" of
the key-motion, etc.
Or, in a related case, a pupil may play her passages
"stickily" or unevenly; here again, it is useless merely to call
attention to these defects — probably she notices them (to
her sorrow) as much as you do. The only true correction
play tolerably in time while you are "pumping" away, or counting or
shouting; but the moment they are left alone — as they have to be for
most of their playing-time — they play just as badly as before, since you
have not told them how to help themselves. The only way to teach
them, is unremittingly to insist on their attending to their own sense of
Time-throb or sense of Rhythm while you have the chance. Do
not allow their rhythmical attention to flag for a moment while they are
with you. Moreover, you, yourself, will have to be alert all the
time, else your own Imitative-sense will cause you unconsciously to follow
their lax pulse-feeling, and you, yourself, being misled, will fail to notice
their aberrations from Time-continuity. You must be alert all the while so
that your own Time-sense may remain unshaken, and so that you may com-
pare your pupils' doings (in this respect) with what you feel is imperative.
Hence, also, you realize the folly of imagining that a Metronome can
serve as a Time-teacher. You see, the pupil has to learn to play to a
pulse-throb of his own making all the while; it is therefore of very little
use indeed learning to pay obedience to an outside, machine-made Pulse-
throb. And in any case, a Metronome is apt to kill the finer Time-sense
implied by Rubato. But more about this anon.
26 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
is to show her the cause of her defects — probably a forearm
held stiffly, rotarily, and the rotary exertions not adjusted
accurately to each finger, or maybe, complete ignorance as
to the evil effects of "key-bedding." Or, it may even be
a case of one actually mistaught technically, a victim for
instance of the doctrine of "holding the knuckles in" —
the doctrine which has done such an inconceivable amount
of mischief at so many of our schools for girls, and music
schools here and elsewhere. In such case, it is of no use
saying "you must hold the knuckles up" — that would only
do harm. You must show and make clear, that if the
finger is properly exerted and the arm is not forced down,
the knuckles will then automatically assume their natural
level position; and you must demonstrate that it is just
as impossible to use one's fingers freely and easily at
the Piano under such absurdly unnatural and helpless
conditions, as it would be to take a walk with one's legs
doubled up at the knee — in the crouching position assumed
for a certain kind of comic race.
Correction of As two final instances : when a slow movement is played
incorrect too slowly, do not say "play quicker"; instead, try to make
tempi. ^ e p U pji think the music in longer phrases. Again, if a
quick movement is played too fast, you will only hamper
yourself, or your pupil, by telling him to "try to make the
piece go slower"; instead, here draw attention to the in-
between beats, or sub-divisions of these beats, and the result
is immediately attained and with certainty.
The causes No, teaching does not consist in merely pointing out the
of faults must existence of faults — not now-a-days — but in our always
m 7*J!.uL making clear the cause of each fault, and the direct means
of its correction. 1
1 In other words: it is not enough to notice the nature of each fault
and to point this out to the pupil, you must correctly diagnose the cause
of each fault and explain that to the pupil.
made clear.
INTRODUCTOBY 27
You have to teach people to attend, to analyse, to notice
on their own account — to notice and observe Time, and
also everything else, Tone and Duration, how they should
be, and also, how they really appear; and you also have to
teach people how to obtain the required tonal effects from
their instrument.
To teach people how to attend and how to do, — how to True educa-
feel and perceive, that alone is real teaching, and it is a tion -
proud thing to be engaged upon. It is never "hack-work"
— if you insist thus on really teaching people how to think,
and do not try to make them use their fingers in response
merely to your musical wishes. Only by bearing these
things in mind can you avoid being a "crammer," and can
you attain to being a true educaiionist.
SECTION II
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND OF
MUSICAL SHAPE
We have now realised how keenly close attention must
be striven for by the pupil; this brings us to a consideration
of the next practical question, how such attention is to be
brought about immediately and inevitably.
Attention The answer is the one I have already so often insisted
^^ key " u P on — *^ e on ^y possible way of attending to Music during
and time. Performance is through that duplex form of attention, atten-
tion through key-resistance, and attention through time.
Whatever the passage, whether of the slowest cantabiley
or the lightest and swiftest agility, we can only attend to it
by unremittingly giving our minds, in the first place, to the
requirements of the instrument itself, that is, to the constantly
varying resistance of the key itself during its descent, corre-
sponding to the various tones required.
And again, in the second place, it is only possible definitely
to guide the forces we are thus prompted to expend, by
definitely intending and accurately fulfilling a "Time-spot"
for each note. In short, to enable us to attend to musical
feeling we must (at the Piano) attend to the Key, through
its every motion being exactly chosen and timed. 1
1 Is not this a strange paradox, that to enable us to play musically we
must give close attention mechanically — through the key-lever; and in
the same way, the fiddler must attend through his bow-pressure. Or,
to be more accurate, in playing the Piano or Violin we must attend to
our tones through the controlled (accurately adjusted) relaxation of our
28
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 29
Here then, we have two most definite and tangible facts
upon which to keep the student's and artist's mind; and
the inevitable corrollary of his thus attending to key-motion
through time, is that he will also be compelled to give the
closest and most intimate attention to Music itself — to
musical Feeling and Shape. Concerning this question of
Time-spot, I have very much more to say today, but con-
cerning that of Key-resistance, I have so fully shown the
way in my "Relaxation Studies" and elsewhere, that I need
not enter further into this matter now, except perhaps to
point out, that these same "Relaxation Studies' ' are in-
deed, many of them, merely teaching-devices for this very
purpose — to teach the student how to attend to the key. 1
Now as to the question of "Time-spot" : if a violinist or Meaning of
singer does not give his mind to his work, his instrument M ^
warns him instantly and unmistakably, for his intonation l *
becomes faulty, and that is a result which, usually, annoys
him too much to be ignored.
Now at the Piano, inattention, it is true, may cause us
to play actual wrong notes; but besides such mere "wrong
notes," a far worse thing happens, for the very moment we
allow ourselves to become inattentive as to the precise
Time-spot of every note, that moment we do indeed play
arm-weight, and in singing through the controlled relaxation of our ribs.
(See the late John H. Kennedy's "Common Sense and Singing" — real
common sense on the subject.)
1 The most important of these Studies (bearing on this particular mat-
ter) are the " Besting " and "Aiming" exercises, "Throw-off," and "Agil-
ity" tests; and, most important of all perhaps, the "Rotation" exercises.
In fact, it is impossible to play at all, unless the technical ground covered
by such "tests" has been mastered to some extent. The extent of such
mastery may indeed be said to form the limit of our technical attainments;
which signifies, the elimination of all unnecessary exertions, and the accu-
rate timing and choice of the required ones.
30 MUSICAL INTEKPRETATION
"out of tune" in a sense — that is, out of tune as regards
time. And this is far less a mere figure of speech than it
would appear to be at first sight, since both are vibrational
experiences. 1
As I have before insisted upon, during performance it is
really impossible definitely to guide any note, unless we do
thus think of its Time-spot : the precise place in Time where
the sound is musically due to begin, and where the key's
motion is therefore due to finish its act of tone-production.
The most striking and most definite thing about a note is
the fact of its transition from non-existence to existence —
the moment of transition from Silence to Sound; for this
is an absolutely definite point of demarcation at the Piano,
as definite as the surface (or beginning) of a piece of wood
or stone. 2
The act of We cannot, therefore, definitely think a note in playing
thought or unless we thus think the time-place of its beginning — the
fStiues beginning of the sound. Moreover, we must try to
a rhythmical realise, that this law has a far deeper significance even than
act this. The fact is, we cannot experience any act of con-
sciousness, we cannot direct our minds and think about
Similarity 1 We all know that a musical sound is the effect produced upon our
between mind by the regular recurrence of impulses on our ear. What we call
playing out "Time" m Music is, however, quite a similar experience; the recurrence
of time and f pulse-throbs are similar to vibration-throbs, but in the first case the
Pjf ykjS cm * recurrences are enormously slower. Hence, it is useful and suggestive to
remember, that "playing out of time" is an evil effect belonging to the
same genus as playing out of tune; it is just as unclean, sordid and dis-
heartening, just as unnatural, unbeautiful, and un-godly!
2 In other words, the only way definitely to guide into existence any
note at the Piano is clearly to determine the moment when this transition
from Silence to Sound is musically due, and to see to it that we so carefully
guide the Piano key-lever that it will finish its work of tone-production
at that precise moment — the moment which we have in our mind musi-
cally.
of tune.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 31
or realise anything definitely, without just such an act of
timing — a timing of our consciousness. The act of bring-
ing or directing our thought or attention upon anything is
therefore a rhythmical process; Thought and Rhythm are
inseparable. Again, we see the reason why in the absence
of Rhythm there can only be Nothingness — emptiness,
non-being! 1
We must" insist, therefore, on the pupil clearly realising "Grip "in
that he can only obtain "grip" of what he is doing by P erformance -
means of close attention to this fact, that he must finish each
act of tone-production at the very moment his Time-sense
impels him to wish each note to begin. Having thus some-
thing definite to take hold of mentally, this will enable him
to think also of the colour he wishes to give each note, its
place in the phrase, its place as part of a whole.
Now here arises the question, how shall we make a pupil As to time-
understand Time and Rhythm, and why do so few seem to tramin «*
feel it at all? The fault usually arises either from the entire
want of, or fault in, early training in this respect.
The fact is, no child should ever be allowed to sound a
note at the Piano until his Time-sense has been thoroughly
aroused. It is the very first thing, and the most supremely
important thing to teach.
Before teaching the note-signs, or even the note-sounds,
we must teach attention to Pulse. We must make the
1 The term "Rhythm" is of course in this work used in its proper and As to the
all-embracing sense, its narrowest and its widest application, and including interpreta-
bar-rhythm, figure-rhythm, phrase-rhythm — the minute rhythm implied tion of the
in the ever-changing sub-divisions of the bar pulses, as well as the huge * erm
rhythmical swing of a whole phrase played as one single pulse in Rubato, " rhythm. 1
and the still greater Pulse of a real master-piece when this swings on to
its climax with unbroken continuity of purpose — a Whole, which, built
up of multifarious ideas and logical successions, is yet welded together as
we find it only in the works of the really great composers.
32 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
beginner realise that Pulse (the recurrence of time-distances)
is a material fact, quite easy to realise if only we attend to
it; and he should have considerable facility in the appre-
ciation of Pulse and its subdivision before he is allowed to
touch the keyboard at all. And when he does so, we must
from the first insist on his realising that every note he plays
must be accurately fitted into the particular Pulse-scheme
chosen by him as the canvas upon which to paint his musical
picture — and this, however simple the picture may be. 1
Correct idea This brings us to a very important matter: the correct
of time and outlook as to what is meant by Time in Music — important
musk." 1 indeed, for if this outlook is incorrect, our whole outlook on
Music will necessarily be based on a foundation of sand.
Now we shall find that although the arts of Music and
Painting seem so very different, yet we have here a strong
parallelism in the basis of both, inasmuch as both depend
upon Progression or Movement.
Progression In painting or drawing the movement is upon the canvas,
and move- an( j ^^g j^ a d ou bi e sense; for there is, first, an actual move-
gous in ment °f *ke painter's brush or pencil in the act of making the
music and picture; and secondly, an actual movement again, in viewing
painting. th e picture — an actual movement of our eyeballs in follow-
ing its lines, or at least a suggestion of such movement.
The origin of 1 That is, the pupil's mind must be brought to notice the phenomenon
our sense of Pulse or Beat. This is best done by calling attention to the swing of
of pulse. his stride in walking or running; and remember, he had to learn to feel
pulse in a measure before he could encompass either of those accomplish-
ments! Indeed, I opine, that in our gait, we have the origin of our feeling
of pulse in music. We imagine the swing of a walking or running stride;
we set one going for every piece we play, and imagining its continuance
it thus guides us. How vivid do the Beethoven themes become if we
hum them in our rambles through the woods — conceived as so many of
these themes doubtless were under a similar impression of fresh air and
the accompaniment of a healthy walking stride.
NATURE OP MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 33
In Music the distinction is, that the movement is upon
a time-surface, as it were — instead of upon a canvas.
Here then, we have two very close analogies in Music and
Painting, unexpected though they may be: (I) This sense
of Progression, or Movement, and (II) this necessity of some
medium upon which to fix our progressions.
In Music we choose some particular sequence of beats or
pulses, and upon this particular form of extension in space,
or Time-spacings, upon this thoroughly tangible time-canvas
of Pulse we lay out the progression of our musical picture,
whether as composers or players — just as the painter must
lay out his work on his canvas.
It may strike you at first that all this is "a very waste of
words" but I assure you we are here face to face with one
of the fundamental laws of our art, and the teaching of it.
Yes, even the uncultured members of an audience can quite
well feel the effect of rhythm, or its absence. When the
Rhythm is strong, they are impressed by the fact that the
piece is alive, but when the Rhythm is lax, or Time-con-
tinuity is broken up, they feel that it is " as dead as a door
nail"; and this, although quite unaware of the cause of
their comf ort or discomfort. Indeed, so strong is this
rhythmical need of the public, that when rhythmical grip
is lacking in a performer no other attractions offered by
him can save the piece. 1
Here we have indeed one of those f undamental facts which
we must drive home to every pupil, even beginners. It is
1 We also find that our musical ideas of "Time" and "Progression"
are closely correlated; since to enable us to determine the precise "time-
spot" of any note, we must think of music itself — in its aspect of pro-
gression or movement. And, vice versa, attention to musical Progression
will also, in its turn, compel our attention to the details of Time and
Pulse.
34 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
of no use trying to think Music unless you think of pro-
gression, that is, Movement towards something or other.
In fact, this forms the best definition of all Form or Shape
or Structure in Music, be it phrase, section, sentence or a
complete piece. This idea of Movement is the vitalizing
spark which turns mere notes into living music, this sense
of Purpose — this sense of progressing somewhere. 1
The pro- It is astounding that until lately none of the Theory-
gressional teachers seem to have put this fact into words; although, of
music v. the course > no rea l musician has ever felt music apart from an
old segmen- unconscious appreciation of this fact. 2
taiview. Instead of Progression — continuous, purposeful Move-
ment — they have tried to explain Music as consisting of
chunks or solid segments of accented bars and of unaccented
bars, thus giving the mis-impression to the learner, that
Music consists of dead, disconnected bits of sound-stone or
brick, instead of a living mass, a continuous swing and swirl
of Growth. 3
This idea of motion in Music, continuous Movement, we
must make clear to anyone and everyone, even to a child
at his very first lesson in Music.
Having applied this teaching principle for the last twenty
years or so, and knowing its electrifying effect on the student,
1 A phrase, for instance, may therefore in performance be defined as:
a growth, or progression of notes towards a cadence, shown by means of
Tone and Rubato inflections.
2 My old pupil, John B. McEwen, has of course adopted this teaching
of mine in his admirable "Phrasing"; and now, on going to press with
this ms. (October, 1912) I receive a copy of a new work of his just issued,
"The Thought in Music," a work full of original thought and research
wherein he develops this idea still further and with a masterly hand.
8 In the "Coda" of this work (Section IV) it will be seen why this pro-
gressional view of Music-structure is so vitalizing to the student, artist,
and teacher.
NATUKB OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 35
I tried to call attention to this necessity in the final chapter
of my "First Principles," page 126; but most people seem
to pass this passage by, without noting that it bears indeed
on all they do every day as teachers. This is what I mean
by "scanning" the music before trying to play it; the
rhythmical shape or progress of even the simplest phrase
must be understood, if we are to have any chance of playing
it correctly, and if our performance is not to drivel into mere
musical — or unmusical — babbling. 1
1 This doctrine of Progression or Movement, which I insist upon as the The differ-
basis of all Shape in performance, is indeed a most important teaching ence be-
principle — one might say perhaps the most important of all. The old tween the
way of teaching Form, Form-analysis, Structure, and Interpretation with °| d segmefUal
its false ideas of dead, disconnected segments of music (blocks or chunks) ^^J^V,
was perfectly useless, musically, to the student. It not only failed to give - *. '
h\m any real insight into what constitutes Music in the act of perform- . tssional
ance, but it failed to draw his attention to Movement as the basis of all view of musi-
Music, and it was therefore positively deadening from a performing point cal structure,
of view. The progression^, teaching of Musical Structure is on the con-
trary at once vital, helpful, and interesting to every Music-student, what-
ever his status, and whatever his branch of study. In my own personal
teaching and lectures, I had for many years enforced this principle of
"towardness" as the basis of all Music-shape — the basis of all music-
teaching, but the idea was not made public in printed form until the issue
of my "Act of Touch" (page 42) in 1903, and my "First Principles" in
1905 — see page 126, where the practical application of this study is sum-
marized. In the present lectures (written in 1909) it was of course devel-
oped and amplified still further. It is a source of great gratification
to me to find that it is now being generally accepted, at least by the more
up-to-date Theory teachers of this country. For instance, in a recently
issued work (1912) on "Phrasing and Form" I find the following — prac-
tically a quotation from a synopsis of this present lecture published in
"The Music Student" of April, 1911, and of which Synopsis a reprint is
given in the Appendix to this work: "The next matter to which attention
' ' must be directed in order to arrive at any intelligent basis for our phrasing
"is the fact that everything in music must be considered in the light of
"progression, or movement towards some more or less clearly defined desti-
36
MUSICAL INTEKPRETATTON
Some ex-
amples of
the pro-
gressional
view of
structure*
When we teach a baby to say "Mamma" and "Papa" we
do try at the earliest possible moment to make him realize
that "Papa" and "Mamma" do mean something definite;
in fact that these sounds stand for two very definite and
important people! Nevertheless, in teaching the child to
talk through the Piano, the inconceivable folly is com-
mitted of allowing him to babble — to make unmeaning
noises; and this, often until he is an adult, without any
attempt to make him realize that Music consists of words
and phrases — connected sound-movements — like any other
language! 1
As this idea of looking for Shape in the sense of progression
— or "scanning" — may be unfamiliar to many of you, let
me give you some examples of what I mean. Let us take
the first half of " God Save the King," as one of the simplest
of tunes. It consists as you know of three bits, each bit
with its little climax, and the third "bit" forming a capping
climax to the other two. That is, the first bar progresses to
"nation. This is true whether we have in our thoughts the gradual but
"inevitable working up of some extended passage towards a strong emo-
"tional climax, or of the no less essential 'trend' of some figure of a few
" notes towards the point where it finds its own completion/' etc. Further
quotations occur on subsequent pages; and finally, it is gratifying to find
in the preface of his work, that the author gracefully acknowledges the
source of these teachings, and that he has presented them with delightful
conciseness.
1 The root of the trouble is that children are taught Music the wrong
side up. The usual false beginning is to try to make them associate paper
signs with keyboard-places, instead of beginning, as one should do, by
trying to make them recognize actual sounds, actual Time, and Music-
shapes, — matters which are mostly left to dawn upon them later on,
as an afterthought 1 Mrs. Spencer Curwen, in her admirable "Child
Pianist," started the crusade against this topsy-turvydom, and her views
are more and more rapidly gaining ground, as we see by the various
imitators who have adopted her ideas.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 37
the second (at a), the third bar to the fourth (at b), and the
fifth bar to the sixth (at c), thus:
F,YA\TPT,Tn 5.
We find a similar structure, and it is a very usual one,
(two short, or less accented progressions capped by a longer
or stronger one) in the opening of Schumann's first Novel-
lette. From the barring of this (totally incorrect as it
is) one would imagine, that the piece was meant to sound all
upside-down musically, thus:
Example 6a.
Schumann's Novellette played with accentuation as barred in the
original.
But of course he did not mean this; therefore here, as so
often elsewhere, we must totally disregard the written bar-
lines (or written accentuation) and must be led by our own
musical sense; and we then find that this opening phrase
consists of three progressions, each moving towards its little
climax or crisis, and the three together moving or progressing
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
towards a more important climax — that of the complete
phrase. Thus:
Schumann's Novellettc, played with correct accentuation, requiring
the bar-places as denoted by the dotted lines at 6 (and not at a as in the
original). 1
Theincor- i Composers, in the past (and many in the present), do not seem to
red notation have realized the simple fact, that the only possible real use of a bar-line
of bar-Una*. - a to indi^te to the performer icAere the pulse-swing should be.
To prevent monotony, a musical composer will often purposely alter
the straight course of the accentuation, and an unmusical or inexpert
composer still more frequently does so from the want of fine feeling, or
from ignorance; but both types seem equally to be obsessed with the idea
that if bar-lines are but written down in unbroken sequence (so as to look
symmetrical) this will ensure symmetry, or that this will throw dust in
tie eyes of people, and make them believe the work to be symmetrically
perfect — like wallpaper! As a matter of fact, no musician does want
wall-paper patterns instead of music, nor does the placing of the bar-lines
where they are not wanted by the sense of the music, alter the accentuation
one jot. The only result such obsession, carelessness or ignorance can
have, is to puzzle the performer, and to ensure that unmusical players
will perform the piece musically "upside-down." Even many of the
great Masters have sinned sorely in this matter of the true notation of
their works, Schumann and Brahms perhaps most of all; whereas Beetho-
ven's notation is perhaps most free from this blemish. In the old poly-
phonic writing there was of course the difficulty, that bar-lines would have
been required separately for each part, certainly a chaos when four or
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 39
As one more example of this structure, let me quote from
the slow movement of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 2, No. 2, —
thus:
gpjjlpiy ii
a
1=£
Gi
Iff
f^n
Or pictorially, it might be shown thus:
All this shows us clearly how the idea of phrase, or sen-
tence, implies progression towards some more or less definite
point; by this sense of progression, of his being led some'
where, the listener's attention is attracted, and is retained. 1
more parts were written on two staves only; but why in such a case put
bar-lines at all, where they can only be mis-leading?
As one more glaring instance of such wrong barring see Chopin's Prelude
in C minor — the true bar-Kne occurs two pulses later than the written
bar-line. But such cases are innumerable.
1 As to the word "phrase" : it really does not signify whether we con- As to
eider the musical unit to be a "motif," "idea," "section," "phrase," or clatnreof
"sentence." All this is purely a matter of mere nomenclature, music- ■tractail
terminology — a point of exceedingly small importance artistically. What ™** ffl *"
does matter is, that bar-lines should be recognised as denoting the general
awing of the accentuation, and that Music-units (or the more complex
"phrase" or "sentence" organisms) are always in themselves again
a towards definite landmarks.
40
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Harmonic
movement
necessary.
We shall moreover find that this sense of going somewhere,
implies that there must be a succession of harmonies (actual
or implied) either forming or leading up to some form of
harmonic cadence; we must have this, if there is to be any
definite idea of Shape in what we accept as Music.
Let us now try to transcribe "God Save the King" so
that it shall suggest (as far as possible) only one harmony;
hear how this impoverishes the tune, thus:
Example 9.
f'fffl I flfl l ' li ll ill M'M
V fi'i njiH ii i pj^rmfrfipppi
Or better still, let us try to compose a theme solely on one
harmony, and we shall find that because it goes nowhere
harmonically, nothing seems to happen. (See Exp. 10a.)
Example 10a.
Allegro vivace - T.AM
Whereas, if we now alter the same theme slightly, so
that it may take harmonies, you will see how much more
clear and interesting it at once becomes:
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 41
Example 106.
You see now, that the term " harmonic progression' ' is
really a most apt and suggestive term; for you see, that a
mere succession of un-related or un-progressive sounds or
chords is quite meaningless. To have any meaning, musi-
cally, we require a progress of chords, intelligently leading
towards definite landmarks, the landmarks in key and
rhythm which we call "cadences." 1
1 Incidentally, you should here note, that the very process itself of
learning, or assimilating any knowledge, is of this very same nature — it
is but a form of progression.
Isolated facts mean nothing; to memorize anything the only possible
process is to bring the something you wish to memorize into some form of
progression, or sequence of thought. That is, you must chain the something
you want to fix in your mind to something already stored there; you must
make use of something you already know, so that it shall suggest (as a
mental progression) the something fresh which you want to fix in your
memory.
In a word, you must build-on to the knowledge you already do possess
further progressions of "onwardness," mentally.
In the case of Musical-memory, each note, each chord you play, must
The process
of memoriz-
ing also
depends
upon pro-
gression.
42 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Deliberate True, in some few isolated instances, the composer has
indefinite- purposely written unclear, shapeless, jelly-like music, and
composition. no * k^TOrtortly* as only too often happens. Wagner, for
be made to suggest the next note or chord, etc. And unless you have
made a perfect chain of such suggestion-connections, you do not remember
and cannot remember any piece. In short, remembrance of a piece means
that the suggestion-channels are all in good working order.
How to apply Vice versa, successfully to make use of the memory-connections thus
one's mem- stored in your mind, you must during performance allow the thing pres-
ory# ent and realised at the moment to suggest (as an automatic or reflex action)
the thing which is to follow on. That is, you must allow the memory of
each succeeding portion of the text to be automatically revived by the
rhythmic swing of the portion of the passage you are playing at the
moment, its melodic and harmonic progression, its mood, and each note
of it in succession.
In short, you must allow your memory-stream to flow in the channels
or courses you have previously made for it, and the only way to prompt
these memory-connections into action is by keeping your mind vividly
present on the actual thing you are doing at the moment; and you cannot
help your memory by trying to recall the thing ahead; since this will
disconnect or destroy the sequential action of your mind.
Memory The moment you begin to doubt your memory's capacity to "follow
failure. n," that moment you will hinder, if not completely stop its action. If
you commit the fatal blunder of trying to recall the next note, this will at
once paralyse the natural and safe action of the previously-made mem-
ory-channels; you will thus stop their flow, and your mind will seem to
be a blank as to what comes next. Here it is not a case of your
memory being incomplete or unreliable, but simply that you are prevent'
ing its natural action. Either the mental successions of "onwardness"
are there, or they are not. If they are complete they will act with cer-
tainty if you let them do so; whereas, if they are not properly fixed in
your mind, then no attempt to recall the next note will help you one
jot.
In other words, if these mental connections or chains have been prop-
erly linked-up, you can only stimulate them into action by bringing your
attention vividly upon the point you are engaged upon at each moment
during the performance of the piece — so that it may suggest what fol-
lows. Whereas you will inevitably paralyse this natural sequential action,
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 43
instance, has used this device in the Introduction to "Das
Rheingold" so as to give the vague, impalpable effect of
if you try to wrench your mind on to something ahead, — something
not yet actually due in performance.
On the other hand, if these progression-suggestions axe not firmly
fixed in your mind, you must take steps to strengthen them, on the
lines above indicated.
Here it is well to realise, that musical memory is a complex phenome- The various
non. We must take care to use aU the available memory channels; and kinds of
they can only be rendered available by the application of close analysis, mus fcal
consciously or unconsciously given. These components are on the one memot J*
side purely musical, but on the other side are technical, instrumental
and muscular, or gymnastical. Hence, we must analyse and thus
memorise the musical progressions of the piece, its rhythmical, melodic
and harmonic progressions, and above all things the inflections of its
moods or poetic curves. But besides this strictly-speaking musical
memorising of the piece we must also impress our eye-memory with the
written page, and with the lie of the music on the keyboard — as key-
board progressions.
Added to all this, we must also apply our muscular-memory — we The neces-
must fix in our mind the physical sensations of its note-successions upon &ty of mus-
the keyboard, and the technical methods of their execution. cularmemory
And it is just here where all the trouble begins: on the one hand, it ~~ te
is impossible to give one's mind to the musical interpretation of a quick aan £ ef8,
movement, unless we do know the notes of it so well that we need no
longer question what they are. To succeed in this, however, for a quick
movement, we must have repeated its note-successions often enough to
impress them thoroughly upon our automatic-centres, so that our fingers
may be able to find the road automatically. Now the imminent danger
always is, that in trying to acquire this necessary part of the performance-
memory, we may totally destroy all our musical control over the
piece. It is this same automatic necessity which so often leads
players astray into the acquisition of purely automatic and mechanical
methods of practice.
The only remedy and preventive is, constantly to insist on musical Silent
attention; and often to practice without touching the keyboard at aU. With practice,
our fingers upon the keyboard, it is only too easy to forget to direct
them; hence the great value of silent practice, with every note-inflection
44 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
water. It is all on the chord of E flat, you remember the
rising flowing figure:
Example 11.
'■' li''
He wishes to convey the idea of a mass of water, the
Itiiine, not seen as a definite sheet of water, but seen from
within the water, from inside the river; and he could not
have chosen a happier way of making the musical suggestion
than by the means used. It has no surface, no bottom,
and after ten minutes of it or so, you feel yourself floating
in the swirl of the river — with the Rhinemaidens — and
imagined, and its impossibility of allowing the attention to flag, even for
a moment. And when actual keyboard-practice is imperative during the
process of acquiring the necessary automaticity in respect to the key-
board successions of the notes, even in this case never to allow our
musical purpose to waver, never to allow our automatic, or gymnastic
faculty to gain the upper hand and to fulfil its sway without our con-
stantly directing and controlling it musically by our mind-centres — our
will-power, our musical imagination and judgement.
To prevent To ensure such control we must constantly re-analyse the rhythmical
"slithering." constituents, or rhythmical landmarks of every agility-piece, however
old an acquaintance it may be. The moment we thus insist on compelling
the automatic centres to fit their work to our rhythmical vision, that
moment the piece no longer seems to "run away," but is instead per-
fectly guided by our musical conscience. Hence, also in performance, we
must always insist on realising the time-place, for each note; and our
gymnastic faculty thus becomes our obedient servant and not our master.
See page 29 on "Time-spot," page 30 "The act of consciousness," and
page 53 "Wrong bass notes," also page 122 "On the memorising of
fingering." Also see Additional Note: "The cause of stammering un-
musically," page 59.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 45
cannot think of them as stage people, swinging about on
iron cages! 1
This law of Progression in Music applies not only in the
case of the phrase or the sentence, but applies universally,
as much to the smallest details of the music as to its largest
swings of form. As I have already pointed out in " First
Principles" and elsewhere, 2 no one (not even a child-
beginner) should be allowed to sound any succession of
sounds, however simple, without being made clearly to
understand that there must be some shape or progression
even in such primitive attempts; thus:
Not
Example 12.
but
— therefore in fact suggesting harmonies; for instance:
Example 13.
1 Someone has asked, "What should we call this passage, there is no
'phrase' really in question, there being no harmonic progression? " I
should define the figure as an idea-unit which, purposely, is not allowed
to become definite enough to form a "phrase."
Purposely, Wagner has left the Prelude ambiguous, sheer invertebrate
musical protoplasm, without any higher organization of definite shape;
its swelling, musically jelly-like indefinite mass thus accomplishes its
purpose dramatically and scenically.
* "First Principles of Pianoforte Playing," page 126, and in "The
Child's First Steps."
46
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Inaccuracy
in the sub-
divisions of
thepulses
also owing
to non-per-
ception of
the element
of pro-
gression.
You must next realize that it is from non-perception of this
very point (non-preception of the fact of progression) that
results all the rhythmical "sloppiness" so lamentably ram-
pant; I refer to that unclear playing of passage-work, unclear
execution of minute contrasts in the lengths of the notes,
details seemingly so insignificant, yet upon the accuracy of
which depends so much of our enjoyment of the music. 1
How often indeed do we find the inexperienced (or bad)
teacher's pupils playing triplets or quadruplets of notes all
clipped together, thus:
Example 14.
Do you see the cause of this fault?
" It is clear enough, when you realise that you cannot think
music (that is rhythm) unless you always definitely think of
its Progression — we are constantly compelled to come back
to this point!
To correct a fault of this nature, all you have to do then,
is to make the pupil realise that the triplet or quadruplet,
etc., does not finish with the beginning of the sound of its
last note, but, on the contrary, that the group lasts up to
the beginning of the first note of the next group — the next
pulse-throb. Thus:
Example 15.
1 In playing, the terms clearness and cleanliness refer to two distinct
things; "clearness" refers to rhythmical accuracy, while "cleanliness"
refers to the sounding of the right notes — without any "splitting" of
them, etc.
NATTJBE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 47
You must show him, that time in music always implies
the dividing up of Space; and in this particular concrete
case, that it means movement in equal divisions of time
always up to the next following pulse-throb.
In short, you must always think of the beat ahead, must
always lead up to it, divide up towards it, if the "inside"
notes of passages are to be clear to the listener.
And this rule applies not only when you have the "inside"
notes (or in-between notes) evenly distributed between the
pulses, but also when you have more complex rhythmical
figures providing the in-between sounds, such as:
Example 16.
Moreover, it applies when you have figures ending with Progression
unaccented notes; and it applies still with equal force even to JJJJJ g
when you have a whole phrase or sentence moving towards climax of
its rhythmical climax with a decrease of tone. 1 phrase in
Let me give you an example of both points: ^ lte of
In Chopin's first Prelude we have a figure with such
unaccented ending:
Example 17.
rubato
1 We shall see later on, that Rubato must here come to our aid to make
clear the onward striving of the phrase.
48
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
In the second subject, from Beethoven's Sonata Op. 22, we
have the second point illustrated, as well as the first :*
/V
$*-) if erase.
"Offi*?--** 1
tejnpoi
1 At first sight this Beethoven excerpt, from Op. 22, almost looks like
a case of misplaced bar-lines; but it is quite correctly barred, for the sfs
are here true syncopations, which are felt to go against the true rhythmical
pulse, and which last must persist in spite of these sfs. The bar-line (or
true pulse) may be shown by making the notes on it slightly staccato,
as I have suggested. The whole tune grows towards the chord of F at
(a). This is made clear by employing a very slight rvboto during the last
four bars — very slight indeed, so slight as to be unnoticeable even to
pedantically-inclined ears.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 49
Again, in Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor, we have
such figure with unaccented ending in the octave Varia-
tion:
Example 19.
You see, in all these cases, the figure falls away as it were
at its end, before reaching the next pulse. Nevertheless,
unless we keep that next pulse accurately in view — unless
we measure the places for the earlier notes as striving on
towards such pulse — we cannot accurately place them in
Time, and our performance will hence be inevitably ruined,
musically. .
Again, in passages divided (or broken) between the hands, Passages
such as octave-passages, etc., how often does the pupil spoil J^ ken 1 ^ da
these rhythmically, by clipping together the two successive _ correct
hands. thinking of
The remedy is simple enough, immediate, and again of <hem#
the same nature. Simply insist on the successive notes of
the passage being thought of as one continuous flow of (or
succession in) rhythm; it must not be thought as consisting
of two hands, each doing something different, and therefore
rhythmically disconnected.
For instance, the semiquaver octaves of the coda of
Mendelssohn's Rondo, Op. 14, are usually clipped thus:
50 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Example 20a.
(Incorrectly played.)
Do not allow yourself to think of the two hands, as each
one doing something independently, but insist on thinking
such a passage as continuous, rhythmically; think of it in
groups of six semiquavers, each one leading up to the begin-
ning of each next group, and the supposed "difficulty" at
once vanishes forever. Thus:
(Correctly played.)
The rule of course also holds good when the passage is of
single notes in each hand, instead of octaves; also, when
the alternations between the hands occur after several notes
have been taken successively by each hand — when the
alternations between the hands occur after whole groups of
notes.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 51
We must 9 however, bear in mind that such rhythmical Broken
faults do often and quite easily arise in such alternating P*******
passages from quite another cause, and that is from faulty errors.
Key-treatment — faulty Touch-habits.
In fact, such passages are often thus made "difficult,"
simply by disobedience to "the Law of Resting," which I
have so strongly insisted upon in my various works on
Touch and Technique. 1
Indeed, the law of continuously resting upon the keyboard
during the extent of each phrase may never be disregarded
with impunity, not even in the case of "divided" passages.
The point to remember therefore, is, that in all such passages
(passages divided between the hands) the keyboard must
never be quitted by one hand until the next hand has a finger
on its own first note; the passage is thus linked-up con-
tinuously in a chain of "Restings," alternately taken up by
the successive hands, and without break during the course
of each phrase. For instance:
Not thus:
Example 21a.
1 Refer also to page 53 re "Wrong Bass-notes," etc.
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
But thus:
Example 21b.
(Prelude and Fugue, Mendelssohn.)
(The lecturer here showed how each hood in succession curries on the
continuity of contact with the keyboard— the hands rising off the keyboard,
but each one remaining in contact with it until the next has found its note.)
The following two excerpts are also suggestive:
(From Concert-piece in A minor, Tobias Matthay. 1 )
1 By permission of Messrs. Bicordi.
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 53
CFrom Coda of Rhapsody, No. II, Liszt. 1 )
It is of no use trying to correct the playing of wrong notes Wrong b
or "split" notes merely by telling the pupil to be "more notes—
careful " — this may happen to have some result, or it may ° ™ no
simply make the pupil more nervous. The only true cor-
rection is always to point out the cause of the fault. In case
of passages lying under the fingers, or passages divided
between the hands, this cause may be found in neglect of
that law of "Resting" on the keyboard which should render
all such passages really continuous, physically on the key-
board. 1 But in the case of skips and bass notes an addi-
tional cause of error may occur:
Such wrong notes often arise from a jum^remembrance of
what should be the right notes, at the moment. The fault
here arises from a totally wrong musical outlook. First of
1 In this last illustration both bands should remain in contact with the
keyboard, at least so long as the passage remains pianissimo.
* Refer to page 61.
64 MUSICAL INTERPKETATTON
all, note that you should always think the music from the
bass upwards, and not from the treble downwards, and
secondly, note that you cannot recall a mentally-detached
bass note any more than you can recall or remember any
other fact or circumstance, if you detach it from its
memory-suggestions. The only true correction of such
bass-note guessing (and failing) is therefore to insist on
the musical-succession of the basses being always noticed
and noted. Here again, as everywhere else, you see the
fact of progression faces us; here it is the progression of
each sound from and to its neighboring one which must
be noted, and thus fixed in the memory — the only way in
which any sounds can be memorized musically. The basses,
in playing, must therefore be thought as such successions,
and not as a wild " grabbing" into unknown space (down-
wards from the melody) — in any case a proceeding totally
against all laws of Key-treatment! (Refer to pp. 41-44,
" On Memorizing.")
Progression We have now seen how the idea of progression will help
in its larger ug t understand the nature of Phrasing — the very life of
music; and how we cannot accurately " place" even the
inside notes of a Pulse (i. e., the notes between two pulse-
throbs) unless we constantly insist upon the keen realisation
of this element of "towardness" or "onwardness" (as one
may aptly term it) and further, that it still applies when
figures and phrases have unaccented endings. 1
A warning * In attempting thus to "scan" or analyse the structure of the Music
against one must, however, take care not to fall into the error of doing this
P ar ^y mechanically — solely by rule. So far from doing this, one must always
me chan ica l a u ow one > 8 judgement to be swayed by the feeling to be conveyed — else
scannin S- the result may after all be totally unmusical.
For instance, the rule is, that in a full close the tonic chord falls on the
more accented portion of the bar. It is a rule with many exceptions,
but it has led certain one-sided musicians totally to mis-scan Music; for
J
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 55
But not only must one think "towards" pulse, and
towards phrase-climax, one must also think towards the
greater crisis-points of the larger Shape-outlines, for the
same law applies with equal rigor in the performance of
the larger ideas of Shape and Form. Continuity in per-
formance (and in composition) still depends on the same
principle, carried out however on a larger scale. That is,
we must always have a continuous travelling towards well-
noted musical land-marks, and the proportions of the
smaller details of movement must nevertheless, all the time,
be strictly subservient to those larger outlines, themselves
wrought by this constant principle of progression.
instance, I have seen the Scherzo of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 28, made to
consist of four-bar phrases with the accent on the last bar, the tonic
chordl See Exp. 24, at b'
Example 24.
peA
a)p :
m
r
*
rtt
^
*)
£
If I 1 IJJ
i
m
m
£
m
m
eta
"a" correctly scanned rhythm.
"J* >*
b" incorrectly scanned rhythm.
As a matter of fact, the true accentuation here lies just the opposite
way — the dominant in the cadence each time carrying the accent, see " a."
It is this very "contrariness" of its harmonies which forms the basis of
the fun and humor of the movement. The proof of the correctness of
this scanning lies in the last octave of the piece, for this is the long deferred
resolution of the preceding cadences (so comically against-the-grain) it is
the solution of the rhythmical riddle, since this octave cannot be con-
strued as a syncopation. Whereas it would have to be so considered in
the fallacious reading alluded to.
56 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Indeed, in a really largely laid-out movement, such as
we find with Beethoven, or with Tschaikovsky, we must
often be content almost to gloss-over quite interesting points
of expression-detail, so that we may not risk blurring the
clearness of the large designs of these masters. 1
To keep the Now, success in this respect (to keep the outlines clear)
whole in view ^ j^e en( j resolves itself purely into a question of —
of memory!" 1 Memory. Whether we are laying out a large movement,
or a small one, it is absolutely essential that we should
vividly remember the exact proportion of musical importance
attaching to each of its component sections and climaxes, to
its variously contrasting subjects, sentences, phrases, ideas,
down to the actual importance of each note employed.
Only by such perfect memory of all its constituents can we
hope to produce a musical picture perfect in its perspective,
perfect in its outlines — perfect as a Whole. 2
1 Certainly, in a measure, the same care is required in works of smaller
calibre, although it is easier to keep Outline in view in a short movement.
The process of giving due proportion to the various sections of a large
design and to the details of a small movement does however not really
differ in principle from the process of giving a single phrase correctly.
Thinking of * In "thinking of the whole" this must not be misunderstood to mean
the " whole M that one should be aware of the whole piece all the time — at one time —
expounded, that is absurd and impossible. Again, when we realize that we "must
think of every note" this does not mean that we must think of all the notes
of the whole, all at one time — that is equally absurd.
What all this means is, that in thinking of each note as we come to it, we
may recognise and remember what its importance is relatively to the
picture as a Whole; we must remember the proportionate "value" of
each phrase, each bar, each note at the moment we are engaged in repro-
ducing it, and feeling it. In other words, we must have an accurate
memory of the "value" of each note relatively to the whole — from having
recognised what is required of each note-detail to build up that Whole
successfully; exactly as we must recognise what value to give to each
blob of color in painting a picture, if the result is to be harmonious;
NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 57
This kind of memory is, indeed, the hardest task of the
player — and I think it really is harder in our art than in
any other.
But although this is the most difficult thing to learn —
this necessity of constantly keeping in mind the Whole — the
teacher nevertheless must unremittingly insist on the pupil
attempting this task, from his veriest beginnings in the
simplest music. For this attitude is the only correct one
in Performance, just as it is also the only correct one in
Composition, in Painting, Sculpture and in fact in all the
arts. It is an attitude obviously in total antagonism to
that "doing of details for their own sake" which I have
already animadverted upon.
Thus we come back to the old truism — that we must
never allow ourselves to apply the Means of expression for
their own sake, but always for the sake of expressing some-
thing seen or felt .... not Doing for the sake of Doing,
but always Doing only for the sake of something beautiful
which we are perceiving at that moment. 1
and this recognition of the constituent values can only be derived from
an accurate memory of the Whole of these constituents, each one, as we
come to it.
1 Discussion of this necessity of attending to Shape, whether in play- Perception
ing or composing — and incidentally also when we are listening — here of anew
tempts me to a rather wide digression. We all know, or should know, composition,
how extremely difficult it is for us to take in a new musical work, how
we must hear it more than once before we can really see it — indeed, must
hear it many times before we can really perceive its sense, especially if it
is a work of any serious musical import.
Now we shall find, that really to perceive a new work at one hearing is
not at all a matter of difficulty, but is one of sheer impossibility — sheer
physical and psychical impossibility. The ground we have just gone
over yields us the explanation of this fact.
In viewing a picture which is new to us, we cannot realize what it
means until we perceive the relationships of its various parts; we cannot
58 MUSICAL INTEEPKETATION
perceive its general shape, nor the meaning of its details, except by com-
paring its various portions or constituents.
Necessarily, this implies that our eyes must run over its various out-
lines again and again, until the rapidly gained memory of these details
thus enables us to form a conception of the Whole.
In comparison with this process of perception, how extreme is the
disadvantage under which a new musical work is compelled to make its
first appeal to the public ear! Without our knowing what is going to
happen, the musical picture is unrolled before our mind at one single
glance! It is gradually unrolled and obscured again, beginning at one
corner and finishing at the other extreme corner.
Now, if it be a good composition, it is so on condition that the first bar
(and every subsequent bar) is in perfect relationship to every other bar of
the piece — even those bars as yet unheard. But as we cannot perceive
these relationships at a first hearing, we cannot possibly realise the mean-
ing of the major portion of the piece, however quick our perceptions, since
we cannot have any notion what the unheard portions are going to be
until they have actually been presented at least once to our ears. That is,
we cannot possibly perceive the various relationships of the details of
Shape and Progression of a piece until we have had the opportunity of
at least once hearing all and every part of it, seeing that the earlier portions
can only derive their true significance from the balance given them by
the later portions.
Here we clearly see why it is that a new musical work, even of the
highest merit — or because of that — takes so long before it is accepted.
In the case of lengthy works, there is no remedy available; it is not
practicable to repeat a "Gdtterd&mmerung" several times in one evening,
even were a hearer capable of enjoying the process, and so one must trust
to the audience taking the trouble to study such huge works before trying
to appreciate an actual "first performance."
But in the case of short instrumental or vocal works of serious content,
given for the first time in public, I do seriously put forward and plead
for the adoption of the custom of an immediate repetition of them;
such works should be performed at least twice in immediate succession.
This would give worthy new music a far better chance of being accepted
forthwith.
The old masters unconsciously felt this, when, in their Sonata move-
ments, they insisted on repeating all the subject-matter, before proceeding
to its amplification.
NATURE OP MUSICAL ATTENTION AND MUSICAL SHAPE 59
A musical work of serious import does not consist of a mere succession
of surprise-shocks to the musical ear, although there is also a demand and
place (happily limited) for such form of nerve-excitement or sensation-
mongery in music. The real backbone of any musical work, deserving
the name of composition, is (and ever will be) its Shapeliness, its archi-
tecture, its emotional and rhythmical continuity and strength; and this
element must necessarily largely remain hidden from us, when, at a first
performance, we are compelled to go forward step by step in the dark —
not having traversed the ground previously with our musical eyes.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
Much bad playing, stumbling and stuttering, often arises merely The cause of
from a non-realisation of the fact that all memorising, whatever its nature, stammering
can only be achieved by impressing upon our mind the requisite and unmusically,
correct progressions, sequences, continuities, or chains of succession of
the music in all its details.
The teacher must therefore never allow a pupil to try to "correct" a
fault, whether slip of the finger, wrong note, wrong time, tone or duration,
by his playing the right effect after the wrong one.
It must be made plain that so far from being a correction, such pro-
ceeding is indeed wn-practice. By playing the right note in succession
after the wrong one we tend to impress a totally wrong succession upon
our minds, and shall therefore risk repeating the blunder and its sup-
posed correction the very next time we play the passage; and if we re-
peat it we shall be a good way on towards ensuring a stumble or stutter
at that place.
The only true correction is to substitute the correct succession of sounds
— to go back and move across the damaged place while carefully omitting
the hiatus.
SECTION III
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
Tempo-con- One cause of the failure of the inexperienced to keep in
tinuity, why yj ew ^ e ^ftofe f a piece (while trying to be careful of its
necessary, details) lies in their non-realization of the fact already in-
sisted upon: that there must always be continuity in the
tempo if the course of the piece is to remain unbroken.
Remember, every time you change the tempo, your listener
has to start afresh with you, and has to readjust himself to
the new tempo. This engenders a complete disorganization
of the piece, if it is a continuous composition; and if this
varying of the tempo is persisted in, not only does it. lead
to discomfort, but to positive irritation, although the listener
may remain unaware of the actual cause of his troubles.
A simple cure in this case is to make your pupil walk
round the room several times, and to insist on his suddenly
altering his gait-tempo every few steps. This will make
him look and feel such a lunatic, that he will remember the
lesson for the rest of his days.
Continuity Continuity in performance, of course, does not depend
alS< to^ en< d s °kly on obedience to this law of continuity of tempo; it
emotional depends also upon the due planning-out of the Tone-values,
pianning-out and upon the correct planning-out of the emotional stress
of the piece.
In this planning-out a gradual increase and decrease
of tempo itself may often help as well as such variations
applied to tone-differences. But this leads me to the dis-
cussion of a detail of expression which, while it is one of the
60
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 61
most powerful and potent, is at the same time one of the
least understood. And it is one which is most rarely taught
correctly (even when the attempt is made) since it involves
a principle believed to be mysterious, although its compre-
hension is perfectly simple. I allude to the Principle of
Rubato. 1
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say, that Rubato is gen- True nature
erally quite misunderstood, even by those who may them- ^^ bat ^ ita
selves apply it correctly enough in their own performances, misunder
Often enough I hear of teachers who tell their pupils stood,
they "must not play Rubato. ' ' Such teachers find them-
selves compelled to take this step, simply because their pupils
have not been correctly shown how to keep time, nor the
real significance of Rubato; and because these pupils there-
fore play absurdly meaningless ritardos and accellerandos, in
place of the required musically-helpful and true Rubatos.
Again, it seems incredible that any musician in his senses
could make the absurd mistake of supposing that Rubato
implies any breaking of time. Yet I know of a number of
instances where quite well-known professors deliberately tell
their pupils: " You must not play Chopin in time!"
1 Since I first gave this lecture, an amusing case in point has pre- Rubato is no
sented itself. In a book recently published (apparently for the sole pur- mystery, it is
pose of abusing my technical teachings) the author realizes that there netth«
must be a something apart from tone-inflection, which plays a very import- ?^
ant part in musical expression; but, wanting as he is in that very faculty |J""| f* 01 ,,
of "analysis" which he so much deprecates and despises — that "ration- ^
alism" which he so vehemently girds against — he fails to diagnose what
is the true nature of this, to him, mysterious Something. Hence he
lands himself in quagmires of verbiage, in "telepathy," and in hibernian-
isms, such as "silent sound," etc. Not possessing this despised analyti-
cal faculty he, in his blindness, fails to run to earth and diagnose this
very "rational" but necessary element of Rubato, as the cause of his sup-
posed "silent sound" and "telepathic" effects!
62 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Of course, both these classes of professors are equally in
the wrong — those who object to Rubato, and those who
condone Time-breaking — and their teachings only prove
too conclusively how thoroughly they have failed to grasp
the true nature of Rubato as an important and all-pervad-
ing Means of Expression. True, their musical sense is
strong enough to make them feel that Time must often
diverge from a sheer straight line, but so little reasoning
power have these artists (yes, they play quite passably) that
they are quite unable to analyse what they, themselves,
unconsciously succeed in doing in order to prevent this very
" squareness' ' which they quite justly loathe; and such
teachers thus find themselves at an impasse, for they cannot
find a way of rectifying the musical chaos into which they
have misled their pupils!
It really amounts to crass stupidity in the case of men
who have worked at their profession for years, although it
may be regarded as a pardonable sin in the case of inex-
perienced young teachers.
Ritardos and Now, as I insist on the absolute necessity for continuity
Acceiieran- ^ ^ e performance of a continuously built-up composition,
Rubato. an( i M this can only be secured by insisting upon continuity
of tempo, it follows, that constantly recurring ritardos and
accellerandos are inadmissible as a means of expression. 1
Nevertheless, in playing, we are often compelled to adopt a
device employed in ordinary speech, a device to which we
resort when we wish to emphasize words without raising Hie
voice; for we are then compelled to give more
time to those words.
1 Ritardos and accellerandos (in place of Rubato) are often marked by
mistake by composers who have not carefully enough analysed the per-
formance of their own works. See Notes, pages 38, 71 and 89.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 63
Herein, then, we perceive the foundation and necessity The true
of Rubato : we wish to emphasize certain notes without giving ^ t £*!** e °*
them undue tonal emphasis and we then naturally dwell more
on those notes — we spend more time upon them than is their
natural due. But, as continuity in Tempo remains
inexorable the only way to reconcile these two apparently
opposite requirements (those of continuity and time-leaning)
is to bend the Time and not to break it. If, therefore, we
wish to give extra time to certain notes, we must correspond-
ingly take away time from other notes, to make up for the
extra time thus spent; or again, if we wish to hasten certain
notes of a passage, we must delay other notes correspondingly
for the same reason; and thus we shall be able rigidly to
keep to our Tempo outline, in spite of all this Time-bending
and swerving.
In fact, we may, and should in nearly all music, thus Time-curves
curve round the line of an otherwise straight-on Pulse, but cons ^ l y
while we do this we must never forget the line's true position
in Time-space. An analogy can be shewn to the eye by
contrasting a straight line with another drawn in curves or
otherwise ornamented, since such ornamentation need not
destroy the true basic linear progression. See a, b and c,
Exp. 25:
Example 25.
Q -wmmmmmmmmmmmmm—mmm^mm—mm—mmmm—mm
b
or
a, b and c in above example may be used to denote Rubato; whereas d is
a bad Rubato, since the space covered on each side of the horizontal line
does not here balance — does not " lead back to the pulse."
64
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Rubatoin
modern
music
Thus in Rubato, we may seemingly disregard the pulse,
or even the bar-lines for several recurrences, and yet we must
never, while giving such Time-curves, lose sight of the place
where the bar-line or pulse does recur at the end of such
Rubato. We see therefore that Rubato-playing, so far from
implying any weakness rhythmically, on the contrary de-
mands a particularly strongly cultivated feeling for Pulse.
Otherwise, when in a Rubato we are compelled to omit
allusion to the pulse for several of its normal recurrences-
places, we shall be unable to swing-back, or recur to it with
the requisite accuracy at the end of such Rubato. 1
No modern music is at all tolerable without the proper
application of Rubato — and much of it. To hear a Chopin
Nocturne for instance, or a more modern work, played with-
out Time-inflections is indeed (for anyone at all sensitive,
musically) a horrible experience. Let me give you a taste of
this, and show you what the absence of Rubato really signifies.
I will play a few bars from Chopin's F minor Nocturne, first
with the proper Rubato and then without it :
Example 26a.
Psenza Rubato
Example 266.
laccef.
tempo
1 Rubato, in fact, demands a Pulse-sense so strong and full of vitality,
that it will enable us to feel a pulse (or Beat) unwaveringly, although its
rhythmical recurrences may be so slow (or deferred) as to cover a whole
phrase at a time — nay, sometimes half -a-page or a whole page of Piano
music.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 65
But while it is clear enough that modern music is quite Rubato in
impossible without Rubato, we shall find that most of the older music#
older music also requires it in a measure — although very
subtly applied. Beethoven requires it less than
the other older great Masters, but even with him it is not
totally absent. Bach certainly admits it in a measure, and
Mozart obviously needs it quite markedly, although subtly
applied. We know from Mozart's own letters that he used
it greatly, and much to the astonishment, mystification,
and probable confusion of his contemporaries.
This leads me to a digression. I must protest against Fallacy r©
the tendency amongst some to imagine that because a great the J?^ ^
Master lived so many years ago, because his body has long ^ ^emo.
been dead and buried, his music must also be in a sense dead tionaL
— unemotional, un-alive and passionless. Could there be
a more fatuitous mistake! Surely, all these great Masters
were pulsating, living beings, at least quite as alive and
fervent as we are, as emotional, as full of passion, as full
of strong feeling and thought as the best of us to-day, and.
probably far more so! Indeed, is it not evident, that it is
just because they had such phenomenal Enthusiasm for their
art, because they had such phenomenal feeling and vitality
— and reasoning power — that they were able to give us such
masterpieces? Then again, the records we have of
their playing, are they records of Mendelssohnian cold glitter?
Do we not read just the contrary? Yet it is pretended
by some, to-day, that it is not "classical" to put any human
emotion into Beethoven or Bach! . . . Indeed, there are
some signs lately that Chopin — of all people — is soon to be
relegated to the realm of the cold and dead — and "classic." l
1 But what a misunderstanding of a term! Should not "classical"
signify that perfect balance of the emotional and the intellectual which is
the very foundation of all true art? There is no such "balance" if we
delete the emotional.
66
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
In giving Now, please do not misunderstand me to maintain that
emotional Beethoven and Bach are to be treated in the manner of
mi* rt to Schumann, Brahms, Chopin and Debussy! It is true, indeed,
lost sight of. that the more shapely, the more architectural the music,
the less ornately may it be treated. To smudge over the
majestic arches, columns and domes of a really fine cathedral
with tinselly colors and gew-gaws, is of course nothing
short of a crime. But do not let us pretend that we can
see the cathedral without light — without the strong shadows
and colors, and mysteries — and rhythm — which light
brings with it! As I have already said, in playing great
works, works continuous and large in their construction,
such as are Beethoven's, we must often restrain the im-
pulse to color each detail too strongly, lest we lose sight
of the larger shapes of the piece, its general feeling and
the majestic progression of its great proportions. We must
play Beethoven not sentimentally, but we must play him
with sentiment — with strong feeling, and dramatically.
Let me play you a few bars of the "Waldstein" Sonata as
I have heard them abused, and then with the correction of
this mawkishness. 1 Thus: (a) with Rubato — incorrect;
(b) almost without Rubato — correct.
Example 27. -*f\Jl/l/V—
5)-vV- senza Rubato
1 In these Rubato examples the -w\A/Vvv- sign is sometimes used for
time-inflection (analogously to the tone-inflection sign — = ==-). Where
the sign swells out the time broadens out. At other times a curve below
or above a horizontal line is employed to denote the Rubato.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 67
Seeing then the exceeding importance of Rub a to, it be- When to
hooves us to teach it as soon as practicable — even to the teadiand
learn
child. It should be taught as early as possible: first, be- R U bato.
cause a rhythmical sense can be acquired with comparative
ease while young; and secondly, because of the extreme
importance of Rubato in all modern music. And, of course,
the child must begin its musical experiences with music of
to-day and not of yesterday, for the average child cannot
easily learn to think in a past idiom until it has had consid-
erable experience of present day music. 1
1 This does not mean that we should feed his young mind on Freak- The problem
music, or on Flimsiness. Yet there is no greater mistake than to imagine of music for
that because music itself has appeared in a certain order of evolvement, children.
therefore it must be brought to the young mind in a similar order; and
that we must, therefore, begin with the most difficult and complex intel-
lectually, the most subtle emotionally, and the most wonderful of all the
great Masters, Bach — a fine topsy-turvydom indeed! I must confess,
for my own part, that I have still not entirely overcome my repugnance
to and prejudice against Milton's "Paradise Lost/' which was rammed
down my throat long before it could be possible for me to digest it, before
I could hope to see those beauties in it which I am quite prepared to believe
may be there, but which are still closed from my vision because of the
folly of my early teachers. Here, also, is the place to protest against the
folly of giving deadly-dull and unmusical pieces and studies to children.
How can the child learn to love music by being soaked in Non-music?
Leagues of such waste-material, supposed to be "easy," are turned out
and dumped upon the market as "teaching pieces" by the publishers —
sheer platitudes, without a spark of invention or imagination or rhythmi-
cal life, saying nothing and meaning nothing, and such stuff is supposed
to teach Music to children! No wonder so many look upon their practice-
hour with loathing! This crime could not be possible, were it not that
the average would-be teacher seems to be totally wanting in musical
judgment, and hence, quite fails to perceive the deadly-poisonous nature
of this commercial shoddy-material. For with a little trouble, there is
plenty of real music obtainable quite within the ordinary child's grasp,
and therefore stimulating to him — and also to the teacher; hence, there
68 MUSICAL INTERPKETATION
Almost every child can learn perfectly well to feel pulse,
to feel Time, if taught on the right lines — if taught from
the outset to see (as I have already . insisted) that music
consists of progression or movement, progression or move-
ment as regards Tune, progression as regards Harmony,
is no excuse for the use of material which is disheartening to and paralysing
in its influence on both.
We must always remember, too, that the child is more likely to be in
tune with present-day idiom than with that of a past generation. We
have masterpieces for children written by such natural musicians as
Poldini, and other foreign successful writers, such as Jensen, Godard,
Ole Olsen, Theo. Kullak, Grieg, etc., while many worthy modern British
names might also be mentioned, for instance, John Kinross, Felix Swin-
stead, Carlo Albanesi, Cuthbert Nunn, and many others. Some few
exceptional children also are open to an appeal from the classics (such as
Corelli, Scarlatti, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) but one should
be sure of this, before immersing them in an idiom far removed from that
natural to them.
If, however, such children obviously do enjoy the older classics, there is
no reason why they should not be allowed to become familiar with some
of the lighter works, or such a truly modem work as the Chromatic Fan-
tasia — although, of course, no child can possibly fully realize the subtle
feeling of such "grown-up" music.
In connection with all this, an interesting question was put to me at
one of my lectures. It was asked "at the same time is it not necessary
that music of the earlier writers should be brought before children as
literature, and in quantities large enough to leave a definite impression
of each great composer's characteristics?" The answer is, that each
case must be taken on its own merits — what is poison for some may be
meat for others. But no music, however good, should be forced upon
anyone before they are ready to enjoy it; else we always risk creating a
loathing for all music, instead of a love for it. One must therefore begin
gradually and tentatively. Give the children music which they can enjoy
(and that will probably be quite modern in feeling) and from this gradu-
ally lead them to perceive that which is in an idiom more difficult for
them, an older idiom, or one more complex, and hence more difficult to
master. Lead always from the simple to the complex in idiom, in con-
THE ELEMENT OP RUBATO 69
and above all things, progression as regards Pulse and
Rhythm. Obviously, it is also found quite easy for the
child to take the next step, and to learn to divide these
Pulses up into all kinds of details — always remember, de-
tails of progression. Now, if the child can learn to do all
this — and can learn to feel portions of time less than the
Pulse, surely, it is only one step further for the child to
learn accurately to notice the recurrence of more widely
distributed beats or pulses — those recurring at wider
intervals, while omitting for the moment any reference to
the in-between beats — as required in Rubato.
struction, and in feeling; lead from the idiom of to-day to an under-
standing of that of yesterday. Of course we find exceptional cases, as I
have said before, of little geniuses of nine or ten who are quite prepared
to love Bach and ready to see much of its true feeling.
As to trying to teach children the "characteristics" of the various great
composers, is this not somewhat on a par with teaching the events of His-
tory to children, and expecting them to learn the lessons and draw the
conclusions therefrom, conclusions which history may possibly teach to
a few of their elders, provided such historical successions of events are
analysed so as to lay bare the evolution of the race, of institutions, of
ideas, etc?
Is it not premature to try to make mere children realize the "distinctive
characteristics of style" say between a Shelley and a Browning, a Shakes-
peare and a Milton, a Swinburne and a Rosetti? Besides, where is the harm
if they do not so distinguish for a time? The main thing is to teach them
to enjoy and love Music. As to the teacher, that is another matter, the
various composers demand differences of treatment, hence, the teacher
must understand such distinctions.
70
MUSICAL INTERPKETATION
The two dis-
tinct funda-
mental forms
of Rubato:
(I) the
"Leaning
Rubato."
Rubato gives
the strongest
form of
emphasis.
To come to details: to begin with, we must notice that
Rubato can take two quite distinct forms. The most usual
is that in which we emphasize a note (or a number of notes)
by giving more than the expected Time-value, and then
subsequently make-up the time thus lost by accelerating
the remaining notes of that phrase or idea so as to enable
us accurately to return to the pulse. This return to the
pulse must always occur at the most important point or
note of the phrase — that is, near its end. Remember,
this law is inexorable, we must always look ahead, and
come back to the pulse at the chief syllable of the phrase,
however much we may have swerved from it beforehand.
Indeed, the very fact of our returning to the main pulse
after having swerved from it forms the strongest means of
emphasis we can give to any note.
For instance:
Example 28a. (Nocturne in F sharp — Chopin. 1 )
Rubato
..-••••'••••••'"•••...
*^r
«* ->n/|f|/tiv^
■••••••
&
•'nMV^mI'
1 Here we have a double Rubato: the main Rubato is caused by
wavering over the first notes of the phrase, and the delay thus caused
must be made up by hurrying over the first two quaver C sharps, so as to
bring us back to the pulse accurately at the bar-line — the chief syllable
of the phrase, with its resolution of the dominant harmony of the previous
bar; and a smaller, subsidiary Rubato then prevents the subsequent
demisemiquavers (32nd notes) from appearing square — this subsidiary
rubato being in the form of a slight lingering over the first C sharp of that
bar, while the time is again made up by a corresponding acceleration^
these demisemiquavers towards the final note of the phrase, which thus
forms an unaccented (or "feminine") phrase-ending. Played any other
way, the phrase would prove totally unmusical. Both time-swerves
(even the first one) are here most delicate and minute.
THE ELEMENT OP RUBATO
71
In the opposite form of Rubato (it might be termed (H) the
inverted rubato) we begin with a pushing-on or hurrying the a*^" 011 "
time. This we must necessarily follow up by retarding the
subsequent notes of the phrase. This retard serves (like
the corresponding swing-back of the first form of Rubato)
to bring us back again, at the phrase-climax, into unison
with our Pulse. And this phrase-climax, I would remind
you, is near the end of the phrase. See Exp. 286, and pp.
36 — 41, 70, 73.
"Valse noble" from Carnival, Schumann. 1
Example 285.
etc\
^v\\/vv*~ focoaccel.
Moreover, these two forms of Rubato may be combined The two
even in a single phrase. In fact, such compound Rubato is ^ ubat0
far more usual than the simple uncombined variety. be combined.
1 Here it is well to point out that we must not allow ourselves to Ritardos and
be misled by the inaccurate markings found in the texts of editors and Accelleran-
of the composers themselves. Chopin, Schumann and Brahms, for dos in text,
instance, are constantly found to have marked Ritardos, when they have often found
really meant the Rubato swinging-back of a rhythm after a preceding to be incor-
(but unmarked) accellerando; and vice versa, they have often marked Te ^7 noted
acceUerandos when they have failed to note the preceding causal ritardos. ^ u ^ atos «
The simple explanation is that they have failed properly to diagnose the
means of performance actually required for their own music!
Schumann, in his first Nachtstuck, for instance, could not have meant
a constant breaking up of the piece! No doubt in his own playing of
it, he had noticed certain places where ritardos apparently occurred and
he promptly noted these down. But he had failed to notice the precede
ing accelerandos, which are the cause of the swerve and balance in the
Time-pulses, and which enable the piece to be perfectly continuous, while
allowing a full portrayal of its agitated feeling.
72 MUSICAL INTERPKETATION
The exact Another noteworthy point is, that in teaching Rubato,
tiTetuni *^ e on ^ t^S we can determine with exactitude is the posi-
to the pulse i ^ on °f the return to the pulse; for the actual extent of a
must be rubato-curve may, and should vary with the mood of the
noto ^- performer, just as in the case of the analogous tone-curves.
The actual nature of the curve itself is also thus variable;
but not so the return to the pulse — that always has a defi-
nite and invariable position for each phrase.
The cause of We should also, in every case, note the cause of each
atotobe° -^ u ^ a *°> *^ e place where the Rubato is begun) that is,
noted. whether the Rubato is caused (in the earlier part of the
phrase) by a "leaning" emphasis or retardation, or by a
"push-on" or hurrying of the time, or whether the two
kinds of Rubato are combined in the phrase under consid-
eration.
Moreover, the actual extent of a Rubato-curve varies
greatly, since we may use a Rubato to emphasize a single
note only, or we may use it to give a graceful curve to a
whole phrase as in so many of Chopin's works, for instance
his Berceuse, C minor Nocturne, etc., or even to a whole
section of a movement as elsewhere in Chopin, for instance
in his F minor Ballade, Fantasie-Polonaise, etc.
Rubato Rubato, in fact, will enable us to make clear the climax
Jgj^ of a phrase even with a decrescent progression towards its
climax to be climax; for, as already pointed out, it is a most striking fact,
shown in that the return to the pulse (after having swerved away
decrescendo. f rom ^ forms the most potent kind of emphasis we can
give to any note. 1
In speaking of a Phrase-climax, it is of course understood
that this invariably occurs either at or near the end of the
1 Strictly speaking, there can be no Rubato "on one note"; but we
may draw attention to a single note by employing a Rubato before or
after it. See note, page 74.
or
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
73
phrase. This may seem unnecessary reiteration after what Fallacy
I have shown to be the nature of a phrase — its consisting te &^ in ^
always of a progression of notes leading up to a, cadence, but phrase.
I have found it gravely and deliberately mis-stated in some climax,
"instruction" books, that the accent of a phrase "is always
at its beginning ,, — than which there could not well be
anything further from the truth, musically! Possibly this
mistake has arisen from the fact that the first note of a Attack of
phrase does sometimes require a slight accent, to give the P" 1 * 86 *
effect of "good attack." Such slight accents are, of course,
in the nature of "cross accents," since they go against the
feeling of the straight-on progression. They are required
especially where the phrases and motives, etc., commence
against the grain (as it were) of the music, as so often found
in Bach, and the older Masters. Thus:
Example 29.
But always bear in mind, no amount of such "attack"
on a first note must be allowed to mar or weaken the sense
of progression of the phrase towards its climax or crisis. 1
1 Most of the music-material of the old Masters commences on an
unaccented portion of the rhythm. This rule often holds good even in
the case of apparent exceptions. For instance, the Fugue from Bach's
Chromatic Fantasia starts on a bar-line so far as eye-appearances are con-
cerned. It is written in f time, but the theme is truly in f time, and starts
with a half-bar of this time; hence there is here no exception after all.
74
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Various
forms of
Rubato
illustrated:
(I) The more
usual or
** leaning w
Rubato.
All means of
expression
must always
be applied
solely to
express
music.
We will now take some illustrations of these various f orms
of Rubato. First, we will take the single note emphasis,
and as so many people imagine Bach to be Rubato-less, let
us take his prelude in F sharp. The Rubato is here very
slight indeed. Probably, if I did not point it out, you
would not notice its influence — but then, Rubato-inflections
should never be applied so disproportionately as to become
noticeable as such. 1
The fact is, that no means of expression (whatever their
nature) must ever be allowed to force themselves upon the
attention. They must never be applied so coarsely as to
become obvious as such to the listener. 2 I will now play the
first bars of this Prelude, first with these so very necessary
(although slight) rubato-inflections, and then without them,
and you will realize how dismal and unmusically stiff the
effect is without Rubato — although it is Bach!
The lecturer here played the first bars of Bach's Prelude in F sharp,
with the proper (very slight) Time-leanings on the tied notes, thus: -•
Example 30.
Con mo to 'JJ3.)
1 Some even object that slight Rvbatos, such as here in question "are
not Rubato at all, but are merely a 'leaning' on a note"; these quite for-
get that unless every such leaning is rectified elsewhere in that phrase, it
must inevitably imply a playing out of time. Every such leaning, there-
fore, necessarily implies a true Rubato, although of very slight extent. See
note, page 72.
* See pages 79 and 120-1, and Section VI.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
75
He then played the same bars without these inflections, showing how
"wooden" the effect is without them.
Here it is well to call your attention to another matter, Tone-
although it forms a digression from that upon which we are "^^L^
immediately engaged. Notice that the tone-amount itself note-length
must also vary with the varying lengths of the notes in such in uneven
a passage. To be more explicit: passages.
When you play such a passage as we have just had,
a passage consisting of notes differing as to their time-
size — notes of various lengths — not only is it neces-
sary to treat it as we have done (giving slightly longer
time to the longer notes, and slightly shorter time to
the shorter notes than is their due according to the
written text) but we must also apply the tone-inflec-
tions in the same way — the shorter notes must be
somewhat shorn of their tone. In this way we shall
more nearly approximate the general effect to that of
a sustaining instrument. 1
1 For we find, with a sustaining instrument, such as the Voice or
Violin, etc., that the longer notes are bound to impress themselves upon
the ear far more than do the shorter ones, since the full volume of tone
may continue throughout the duration of the note on such instruments,
whereas with the Pianoforte the beginning of a note necessarily forms
a far stronger effect than does the remnant of tone which we, as pianists,
imagine to be a "sustaining" of the note — for even with the best carry-
ing, singing-touch quality, there remains always a certain amount of percus-
sion in every Piano-sound. See also page 110 on Phrase-continuations.
76
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
In a slow
movement,
the tone for
the quicker
notes is
reduced
from a high
background.
Now, in a slow movement, these tone-variations should
be thought of as being (for the quicker notes) a cutting away
of the tone from the general tone-level, as in the Bach
excerpt just given. That is, the main body of the passage
here requires a considerably high volume of singing-tone,
but we must relax from this normally high tone-level where-
ever the shorter notes occur. Listen to this Bach-passage
once again, and observe now the process — the mechanism —
of making a passage sound un^mechanicaL I will play it
slower, so that you may observe it better:
(The lecturer here repeated Exp. No. 30, pointing out the tone-inflec-
tions he used, all being of course quite minvte inflections.)
To prove the case, hear it once again, given with all
the notes of same tone value, and notice how ugly this
sounds:
In a quick
movement
the reverse
applies.
(The lecturer here once again played the bars in question, but with-
out tone-inflections, after which he repeated them with the proper
rendering.)
In a quick movement we have to do just the opposite.
Here, instead of thinking the passage as of a large tone-level
and cutting away (or lowering) the tone for the unimportant
and quicker notes, we must proceed on a much lighter foun-
dation, and must, in such quicker passages, add tone to this
normally low tone-level wherever the accented notes occur;
for instance the following, from Beethoven's "Waldstein"
Sonata. (See Exp. 31, next page) :
(The lecturer first played Exp. 31 with the requisite accentuation, then
played it with its soft foundation touch only, then again with the proper
accents added to this basis. He also gave as an example a few bars from
his own Concert-study, "Bravura.") See Exp. 32, page 78.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
77
Example 31.
(From Beethoven's " Waldstein " Sonata.)
78 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
(From "Bravura," — Tobias MaUhay. 1 )
Example 32.
- Here again, the accents are superimposed upon a light foundation .
But let us come back to our Rubato illustrations:
Further We had an example from Bach, let us now take one from
«Tanuw» Beethoven. The first subject from the last movement of
Rubato. th e "Waldstein" Sonata will serve quite well, although
the required Rubato is here quite slight and subtle. The
beginning of the phrase here requires emphasis towards the
second of the two Gs, while the further progress of the phrase
towards its little climax must nevertheless be made clear.
Now we should destroy the suave character of the tune, if
we tried to show both of these points purely by tone em-
phasis. This would make it sound rough and raw, thus:
Example 33a.
Hence we are compelled to resort to a slight — a very slight—
Rubato. We must give a very slight Time-leaning towards
and upon the second of the two Gs, and the extra time thus
spent we must make up during the next three melody notes,
so that we may regain the pulse precisely on the C — the
climax-note of the motif. Our return to the pulse at this
point will sufficiently emphasize it without any undue tonal
1 By permission of Messrs. Bicordi.
THE ELEMENT OF BTJBATO
emphasis; and it will incidentally also connect the two short
strains into one eight-bar phrase, thus:
Example 33b.
-^vuWWv*
For a Rvbato of slightly longer extent in Bach and Beethoven
let us take the second subject of Bach's Prelude in F minor
(from the "48"), and the opening of the Allegretto from
Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata. I will first play these,
trying to give them their proper feeling without the use of
Hubato, and you will see that it is impossible. I will then
play them both with the proper Time-curves (or Rubato)
and you will see how the phrases at once leap into life: 1
Example 34.
1 The reader, in trying to carry out these Rubato and Tone-inflections, Rubato
must always remember that they are to be extremely slight and subtle. Inflections
They must never become noticeable as such except to the analysing ear. mU8t ar**J«
See the remarks on this head on page 74. Remember Chopin's illustra- "* c * rrie »
tion to his pupil; he first blew gently upon the candle in front of him, subtly.
80
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Example 35.
Example of
Rubato
analysis.
n m jv i n m ~ t /f t /
As an example of a Rubato of similar character, but more
marked, let us consider for a moment the opening phrase of
Two bars of Chopin's Ballade in A flat. How rarely, indeed, is this
Chopin's phrase given satisfyingly, or convincingly, even by the best
J^ ein players, except by sheer accident! This uncertainty as to
success simply arises from the fact that the required Rubato
has not been properly analysed nor understood. It is, there-
fore, worth while to analyse the Rubato here required, as it
affords a striking instance of the supreme importance of
accurate study and analysis of this process.
The Rubato in question occurs within the first two bars,
but I will play four bars to give the phrase completeness, and
will first play it without any vestige of Rubato, and then with
it, thus:
Example 36a.
Allegretto
and, making it flicker, remarked: "See, that is my Rubato, 1 ' he then
blew the candle out, adding : "and that is your Rubato! " See note, p. 99.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
81
The Time-signature $- is misleading, it should really have
been notated as ^; and the piece, therefore, begins with a
half-bar of this -^ time. The structure of the phrase is a
swing towards the tonic chord; the opening E flat is there-
fore not a down-beat (as it looks in the original) but is an
up-beat — a syncopation in fact; and as such it requires
considerable tone and time-emphasis. This time-leaning
on the opening E flat is the cause of the Rubato, and we are
compelled to hasten the remaining quavers (eighth-notes)
of that bar, so that we may swing back to the Pulse at the
crisis of the phrase — the A-flat chord at the true bar-line. 1
In this way we are able to draw attention to it without
undue tonal emphasis, while yet rendering clear the true
rhythmical swing. This chief point of the phiase is fol-
lowed by a "feminine" ending, and here again a very slight
Rubato assists its rhythmical swing; and thus, you see, we
really have a double Rubato in this simple little phrase.
Here is another similar Rubato, from the same work:
Example 366.
-Mll(\J\/lJV^ — —
And here is yet another such "leaning" rubato, but in a
quicker movement:
The true bar-lines are here marked bolder than the false ones.
82
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
(From "Elves" — Tobias Matthay})
Example 36c.
For a somewhat more extended Rubato — a whole four-bar
phrase with a time-swell in the middle of it — let us take
Schumann's "Traumerei":
Example 37.
Rubato -W\Aa*~ — -^sVs/V^/W^
Remember, such Time-curves must only be gentle wavelets, they must
not be in the nature of earthquakes! See Note to Exp. 34, page 79.
Example of
Rubato
showing
trend of
phrase In
spite of a
dim.
To show you now how a Rubato will enable us to make
clear a phrase-climax, or a main bar-line accent, in spite of
a diminuendo, I will quote two themes from Beethoven and
one from Chopin. See Exps. 38, 39 and 40:
1 By permission of Messrs. Weekes and Co.
THE ELEMENT OF RXJBATO
83
Example 38.
«=
(From Beethoven's Op. 2, in C. 1 )
4*
ja.
din.
EXAMPLE 39.
(Prom Beethoven's Op. 31, in G. 1 )
Example 40.
(From Chopin's VaJse in A flat, Op. 34. 1 )
The three-bar rhythm of Chopin's Andante Spianato shows Example of
us how Rubato can make a phrase clear, in spite of its com- ******
mencing with a cross-accent. As before, I will first play cross-accent,
this without Rubato, and you will see how dead and stodgy
1 Without this slight Rubato the phrase-accent cannot be shown here,
since a crescendo towards it would be inappropriate; whereas its position
is easily made clear with the Rubato swinging back to it. But this
Rubato is again of a most diaphanous, gossamer type. See pp. 99 and 79.
84
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Again the'
importance
of scanning.
it remains; I will then add the proper Rubato, when at once
again, the phrase becomes alive — becomes vivid. 1
Example 41.
(From Andante Spianato — Chopin.)
l iJTlMOTm
Even in Beethoven we find exemplified this tendency to
give a "leaning accent" (i.e., a time or Rubato emphasis)
where the notes of a melody are syncopated; for instance,
take the first part of the first subject of the Sonata, Op. 90.
Here, again, you will realize how extremely important it
is always to scan each phrase before playing it. How often,
indeed, is the beautiful swing of this melody completely
ruined, simply because the correct rhythm has not been no-
ticed. Although written in f time, it is really in f time,
1 Note that this analysis of the structure of the phrase proves it really
to be in i time, instead of the i originally written. The phrase begins
with a cross-accent (or syncopation) delivered on the second bar of such
i time, and the true phrase-climax is thus thrown on to the first of the
next bar.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
85
with the accent always on the alternate (second) one of the
original £ bar-lines.
It must therefore not be played thus:
Example 42a.
ritard.
(Wrong Accentuation.)
But it should be accented thus:
Example 42b.
(Correct Scanning.)
Or, in place of such rough tone-accents, it is still better to
make this rhythm clear by means of slight rubatos; finally
thus: —
Example 42b.
focoaccd. - . . rit.
(The proper reading.)
86
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Rttbato
required to
depict
agitation.
Always
shapeful,
however
veiled the
shapes.
Here is a still longer form of "leaning accent."
"Love-phases" No. 3.— Tobias Matthay. 1
Example 43.
wvvVVVW/w^"*— ~*— wed' <
»•• *■*•••••
•«*
This leads me to point out that Rubato is most of all
required to enhance emotionally-agitated strains. Indefinite
emotions, such as persuasiveness, longing, yearning, etc., all
need for their due expression much "give" and curve in
their Pulse-progression. 2 An effect akin to fog, haze or
"atmosphere" is thus produced on the ear; for the details
here become in a measure veiled, as in an impressionist
picture. Much of Brahms, Debussy, etc., needs such
blurring by means of the Time-swerve — and also by means
of much ottfr-pedalling and AaZ/-pedalling; while Chopin
and Schumann are, of course, quite impossible without the
constant application of such Time-swerves. 3
1 By permission of Messrs. Joseph Williams.
2 Or, in other words, the elision (or omission) of the closely-reiterated
Pulse-throbs, and the substitution of Pulse-throbs recurring at far longer
intervals of time.
1 Such time-swerving, however, must be always in the nature of true
Rubato, and must never be allowed to deteriorate into time-breaking
and rhythmical chaos. Granted, that veiled shapes are beautiful, some-
times even more so than those of clear-cut definition, nevertheless it is
the presence of Shape, however veiled it may be, which renders them
beautiful.
The cry of some of our young tentative composers that Time and Key
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 87
On the other hand, when we do wish to express Definite- Definttenesa,
ness or Decision in Music, such as we find in all music which ded8k>n »] >e8t
expressed
is the expression of sheer vitality, aggressiveness, etc., then without
we must make each detail as clear as a sunlit day. For the Rubato in-
portrayai of such feelings we must avoid Rubato so far as flocti °ns.
possible; and thus it happens that the music of Beethoven,
with its appeal to all that is vital and fresh, and clean in
life, and great in the Universe, for the most part demands
almost the suppression of this far-reaching element, Rubato,
except in the quite subservient and minute fashion already
indicated, and except in the slow movements of his later
Sonatas, where the feeling approximates so much more than
in his earlier works to the intimate and immediate expres-
sion of self-mood — a characteristic of the so-called roman-
tic school.
To make these points of contrast clearer, let me give you, Dhistrations
as an example of the first kind, the wonderful time from ^J2a»Lns
Chopin's Scherzo in B flat minor, with its feelings of wild emotionally,
longing. Without Rubato it would be impossible to make
this rhythm clear — for this tune commences with a rising
inflection, or cross accent. Instead of the written f time,
this movement is really in -^ time; and the time corn-
are merely "the remnants of an old, exploded Scholasticism", of course
merely proves that they have failed to grasp the facts which form the
very basis of all musical art. Debussy himself, however, the strongest
exponent of this new modernism, whose mannerisms they all try to imitate,
has nevertheless a very fine sense both of Rhythm and of Key-relation-
ship, although he purposely and skilfully veils both in favor of the exigen-
cies of expression required by his musical individuality.
Another reason for the application of Rubato in such extremely emo-
tional music may perhaps be found in the fact that agitation causes our
heart-beats to vary — causes acceleration in the heart's action; and it
would therefore be but logical to swerve and hasten our musical Pulse-
beats when we wish to convey to the listener a sense of agitation.
88
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
mences at the half bar of this compound-quadruple time,
thus: —
Example 44.
pw Hijj Tj, j\ i Jj Ti>
To show how greatly Rubato does help us in such a case, it
is well to play through the whole tune, first without any
vestige of time-inflections, and then with these added,
thus: —
Example 45.
fi-Vr * ::7 mf wr rr7r\^^n-h \
ty^
■Vff fffTifT
i ■ i i I i
wel. . . . . . m rit :^. .rite*.**- - , . * . -acceL.
. * . . rando . .
. - . rit.
.^ordo - - • • -
Now let us contrast the wild feeling here portrayed by
the Time-swerve with an example from Chopin, where he
wishes to be decisive, one might say almost truculent — the
first subject from the Scherzo in C sharp minor:
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
89
Example 46.
occeL.Orit-*.]
ten. fen.
nonrvbato
See how untrue this rings if it is played with wild Rubatos,
as I have had it brought to me :
(Illustrated)
The effect of the absence of Rubato here is heightened by
the composer introducing this subject after a long Recita-
tive-like Introduction of an exceedingly free nature.
As I find this is so often misplayed and strummed through Mis-scan-
like a badly practised exercise, I will play it to you as I feel *?* ?*
it should be construed. Notice how the octave A in the scherzos
final Reczt. is really a syncopation. 1 See Exp. 47: again.
1 Apropos of this, and the inaccurate notation and phrasing of Chopin,
M. Peru "the only surviving pupil of Chopin" in an interview reprinted
in the "Musical Herald" says: "As to his methods of composition, they
were, contrary to popular opinion, most laborious. He had the habit of
first writing down his ideas, then trying over what he had written at
the piano and correcting it over and over until hardly a note of the
original remained." . . . "When asked to put in marks of expression
he put them in carelessly, never playing his pieces as they appeared
in print, and marking a pedal at the beginning of each bar without pay-
ing the least attention to the sense of the music. His own pedalling
was most extraordinary. His foot was constantly bobbing up and down
so as to produce the effect of constant pedal but also constant sharpness."
. . . "Chopin's interpretation of his own music was never twice alike,
yet always perfect. He played with very sudden and sharp nuances, and
frequent changes of time. As to what we call 'classical interpretation/
that had no meaning for him. Everything was beauty, and even a fugue
he made not a -dry exercise but a thing of genuine poetic charm . . ."
See also Notes, pp. 39, 71, and Section V, Pedalling.
90
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Example 47.
Presto
Hi.
lento ^
\ tempo (Presto)
wmm
4*W '"
"fW.
.._J
p
THE ELEMENT OF BXJBATO
91
Curious too, and unaccountable, the mis-scanning of the
Chorale later on in this work, even by otherwise capable
musicians. How often do I hear it played upside down,
rhythmically! (See a, Exp. 48.) Instead of, as it should
be, see 6, Exp. 48.
Example 48.
A /12\ 77: 777: TV I UJJ j lidLUJ ! kUUU j LLLLU
iw "j
„ arpeggio'
aywnmg accentuation.
/TV ^Jw "&*
Nw
S
m
b) correct
Accentuation p
One of the most wonderful Rubato effects is found in the
Chopin Berceuse. I will play this to you, and you will see
that the Rubato here often extends from the beginning to the
end of each two-bar phrase, sometimes indeed being spread
over four whole bars, and thus lengthening two short
phrases into one of double the length. Each four-bar phrase
is here transformed into one single bar — one single com-
plete pulsation, or Swing of Rhythm; each complete phrase
returning to the straight line of Pulse or Beat only once
92
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
during the life of this complete phrase — at its rhythmical
• climax. 1
Notice also, that while the right hand is thus at liberty
to follow the player's fancy (but always strictly within the
bounds of each complete phrase) the left hand, on the con-
trary, in the meantime keeps almost perfectly straight time
all through the piece — with almost accurate reiterations of
the three beats of each bar.
(The lecturer here played Chopin's Berceuse.)
illustrations So far, these examples have been in the more frequent
of Rubato f orm f Rubato, viz. : that beginning with an extra expendi-
(n) the push- * ure °f ti 1116 * which is subsequently balanced by an acceller-
on or in- ando back to the beat near the end of the motif or phrase.
We will now take some examples of the opposite, or "in-
verted" form of Rubato, wherein we commence by pushing-
on or hastening the time, and subsequently return to our
true pulse, by a proportionate slowing-up or retardation
toward the end of the phrase, etc. This device is particu-
larly required where Agitation is to be expressed. See Ex-
amples 49 to 56 :
From Beethoven's, Op. 31, in D min.
Example 49.
verted
Rubato.
P A J
(a) This sign jv. denotes a " half-pedalling " effect. See Section V.
1 Such instances of long Rubatos — and longer ones — abound in the
works of Chopin and Schumann, and more recent writers.
THE ELEMENT OF EUBATO
93
Chopin's Etude in E. 1
1
p*y*—
j— -i*y\vw*-
acca rit. .::
Example 51.
Episode from Chopin's Ballade in G minor.
u r ffrvftr i
T*
1 The dotted bar-lines here are Chopin's; they are quite misleading,
and the proper bar-lines and " scanning" are here indicated by ordinary
bar-lines.
94
MUSICAL rNTERPKETATTON
h > /h%fff
I
hf^VV'rr
f
This really begins with a half-bar of V time.
Example 52.
Chopin's Nocturne in G minor.
(according to mood!)
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 95
Second subject from Schumann's Sonata in G minor.
Episode from the last movement of same Sonata.
Nocturne from York Bowen's "Miniature Suite," No. I. 1
Example 54.
cantando
By permission of the composer (Avison Edition).
96
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
(Rubato: accel. . . .. .....r#,
tempo)
Example 55a.
Chopin's Mazurka in F sharp minor (Op. 59).
?*M\i*» —
Rubato: rit „. accel.pocoapoco . .!..._ r#. . . ~tew&>
(Redly one single "fulse" of eight J.s in duration J
Here we have an eight-bar Rubato, and the trio of the same
Mazurka shows us how two-bar phrases, or motifs, etc., can
be bound together into one four-bar phrase, thus :
Example 55b.
THE ELEMENT OF EXJBATO
97
The vertical arrows here denote the only places where the written
rhythm really coincides with the played " Time-spot " — all the remain-
ing bars and beats are off the straight-on line of beats.
Another, and to my mind very striking instance of this
form of Rubato, is found in the second strain of the second
subject of Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor. The whole of
these eight bars should be played without any recurrence
to the straighiron line of Pulse till the resolution of this
strain, which occurs upon the first note of the repetition of
the first strain of the subject, at the forte; thus:
Example 56.
w
j agitato— .foco a $oco un pochettinb accel . . tit . . . . . — ^
f dolce
■This complete sentence consists therefore of one single incomplete long
bar of V- time, finishing at /, and commencing on the fifth beat of this
6 Examples c
These two fundamental forms of Rubato are also often the com-
f ound in close combination, but the rules just given apply l ^ nation of
with equal force ; for we must always arrange to arrive iotms oi
"home" upon the pulse at the climax of the phrase, or Rubato.
98
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
section, or "motif " as the case may be. For instance, the
first strain of the Episode from Chopin's G minor Ballade,
which I quoted recently, is a case in point, for it really needs
such a combination of both forms of Rubato within its
short life. Refer to Exp. 51 on page 93.
Another very definite and yet closely condensed example
of such Compound-rubato, within the compass of one short
phrase, I feel in the opening bars of Brahms' Intermezzo in
E flat minor, Op. 118. To enable us to obtain the intensely
poignant effect of this phrase, we begin here with a "leaning
rubato," but instead of completing this as usual, by making
a corresponding acceleration straight back to the pulse at
the climax of the phrase, we must here push-on the time so
considerably as to swing back, not merely to the true pulse-
line, but beyond it, and thus induce a well-marked ritardo
upon the last two or three notes before finally regaining
the pulse at the climax-note. It is well first to play the
phrase through, perfectly non-rubato, and then to repeat
it, giving the required Compound-rubato, when you will
realise how these time-inflections really are part and parcel
of the musical sense:
Example 57a..
Andante largo e mesto
Rubato:
riten.accel. . rit\ . . fit. _ . accel. .....•„.. -fit. _
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO 99
Again, this Rubato-curve must be given most subtly — a life-giving
breath, not a scenery-rocking earthquake! Do not try to express the
rubaio, but use it to express the intense feeling concentrated in this
phrase. See pages 74 Text, and 79 Note.
The March-like episode (or Trio) of this Intermezzo,
with its fatalistic feeling, forms an instructive example of
sheer emotional effect gained by the absence of Rubato in
this case, for this strain should be given with hardly a
vestige of Rubato; and the contrast of its straightness and
squareness, after the preceding wild Rubatos, is most striking :
Example 576.
Non -rubato ■.«*-. *•
As another very instructive example of Compound-rubato,
let me play you a few bars from the wonderful Variations
from Benjamin Dale's Sonata in D minor:
■ By permission of the composer, (Avison Edition).
100
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Here we have a "leaning" Rubato combined with a
"push-on" Rubato in one single phrase, and the plus time
at its beginning and at its end must be precisely balanced
by the minus time in the centre of the phrase, so as to bring
us back to the pulse at the climax.
As further examples of Compound-rubato, here are three
from Schumann:
From Papillons (No. 10).
Example 59.
Dream
J'(j; T j'tf l f
S
P.. i P.
Rubafariten accel.....
m
SE
iHJ
###
33
.titard , accel
Riten accel.
titard.
THE ELEMENT OF RTJBATO
101
minus:
(Very slight rvbatosindeed)
From Kinderscenen ("Fast zu ernst").
Example 61.
Riten accel.... ^.^.ritardo
102
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
And here is one from Claude Debussy — his charming
Valse, "La plus que lente:" 1
Example 62.
MaUo rubato con^morbl
"La&useue
tint*
I minus:
Modem Even Beethoven understood the .value of a' true modern
Rubato ex- Rubato, in his later works. 2
£*£^ As examples of this, consider the Mowing two passages
from his Op. 110 and Op. Ill respectively, where he has
tried to notate such true Rubatos: —
Example 63.
From the Adagio of Op. 110, Beethoven,
p cantdbile
dbn, smorz.
Meno Adagio Adagio
\ (&us:
Xminust
¥H#$t
MiW i i
PPP
B
1 By kind permission of Durand et Cie., publishers and proprietors.
9 So did Bach — one has only to realise the true meaning, for instance,
of the Recitatives of his Chromatic Fantasia!
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
103
Example 6£
TemfoJ
From first movement of Op. Ill, Beethoven*
rfffri"fti> 1 r-,if L if i
Agitato* sligiUly'fushonlretardbackto'Pulse
smr.
poi......*. e..
poi\....~„ ~.i*. sen£re.-£iu~.-.Attegro
arthej?*
»••«••••••••••• •••••^ •••.»•••••••••••••••••
104
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Rubato To show you now, how a Rubato can enable us to show
shows accent a puig^ or accent, even in the absence of any note sounded
on the pulse, listen to the second subject from the last move-
ment of Schumann's Concerto, and the beginning of his
"Des Abends" from the Phantasiestucke :
Example 65.
tied note.
tocchettino tit. : acceK I
Example 66.
Sehr innig zu sfielen
unpocchettino , , 4
accel. *...«. ntardaJ
Rubato al- Another point, self-evident enough, which is only too often
ways in the overlooked in attempting to give Rubato, is, that Rubato
nature of a « « i • i « •
curve never mus * always be more or less m the nature of a curve — it
a time-spike, must be applied over more than one single note. Otherwise,
in place of a beautifully curved effect (the very purpose of
Rubato) we shall have time-spikes (notes actually out of
time) sticking out all over our performance — spikes just
as uncomfortable as physical spikes. 1 For instance, I have
1 See Notes, pp. 72 and 74.
THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
105
heard quite a good artist-pupil play the opening phrase of
Chopin's Nocturne in G in such spike-rubato fashion in
her attempts to supply the something felt to be necessary.
I will show you the fault and its correction: 1
Example 67.
a) Incorrect* C\Jemj>aJiUo...„.*„. rt ,.. C\.temfo.AUo..C\ tempo.
b) Correct Rubato
»-"aVWv** " ^wv\Aaa*v
To make such a mistake seems absurd enough, but it
really was a most honest endeavor, made by a thoroughly
earnest and in many ways experienced musician and teacher.
It arose from the fact that she had not been allowed to
apply Rubato when she was a young student, and could
easily have learnt its true application; but her teachers
had discountenanced such supposed frivolities — because
they knew not how to teach Rubato.
1 May I warn the reader once again to be careful, in giving the Rubato- Always keep
inflections shown in these examples, to render them all subtly — not as „ J!!^ ou -
gross, noticeable Ritardos and Accellerandos, but as gentle curves, quite pose, during
unnoticeable as such except to the earnestly analysing ear. See page 74 J^SSJ "^"
Text, and page 99 Note. flections.
106 MUSICAL INTERPBETATION
Hence, later on, when her natural musical feeling prompted
her to cut herself adrift from the miserable straight-laced-
ness of her schooling, she had no knowledge or experience
to guide her. All I had to do in her case was to make
clear the process really required, and that instead of a pause
on the first note alone, a soft time-curve was required, dis-
tributed over the whole bar; and immediately, in place of
her previous caricature of the Nocturne (or "affected read-
ing" as the Music-critic usually characterises any fault he
is unable exactly to diagnose) she gave me the passage with
due expression of the feeling which she had quite well per-
ceived, but which she had been unable to express before,
purely owing to her ignorance of the required process.
Here again, the moral is, that everyone should be taught
while still young enough to learn things easily, and should
be taught everything by direct, logical explanation of the
means of obtaining correct expression. Only too often is
the latent feeling and perception of a pupil left unexpressed,
solely owing to such interpretative-technical deficiencies as
we have just discussed.
SECTION IV
CONCERNING CERTAIN DETAILS IN THE APPLICA-
TION OF TONE-INFLECTION AND THE BEARING
OF TOUCH-TEACHING AND FINGERING, ETC., ON
INTERPRETATION.
*
I have here expatiated at such length on the subject of T^ fcipor-
Rubato, and its application in Interpretation, because I 2^^
have found that there is generally such extreme vagueness detract from
and misunderstanding with regard to these facts. But while the impor-
Rubato is, as I have shown, such an indispensable factor tance of ^ ne
in Interpretation, and calls for so much careful and detailed ^ ntras tg.
attention, this must not lead us to minimise the importance
of other factors, such as those of Tone-contrast (those of
Quantity as well as those of Quality), and those contrasts
of Duration, which, whether obtained by finger or foot,
are also, alas, so often lamentably overlooked — a point
upon which I shall have more to say presently, under
Pedalling.
The necessity for the application of all such color-effects Lack °* tene -
is patent to everyone who has the least claim to a musical JJSjJJ
ear. It is surprising, however, how frequently this im- by the
perative requirement of tone-inflection is, nevertheless, teacher.
overlooked by the inexperienced teacher, and this, although he
may be quite well aware of its importance! True,
he hears (or sometimes does not hear!) that his pupil's
performance is appallingly unmusical — sometimes enough
to make him almost shriek with the downright misery of
it — and the more musical he is himself, the greater the
107
108 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
misery for him. Yet he fails to observe the cause of his
misery, fails to notice that his pupil's performance is either
a mere stumbling, straight line of tone — totally devoid of
any inflections; or else that it is far worse, and is strewn
all over with supposed details of "expression/ 7 which are
all diametrically opposed to musical sense.
I find many a supposed teacher continually experiencing
this kind of torture without stirring a limb to save himself,
or making any attempt to stave off at least some of this
very real and intense suffering, but instead, accepting the
situation "as one of the inevitable drawbacks of our pro-
fession !"
Need of Of course, I should not say he "listens." Indeed,
j^"**k he does not listen any better than his pupil does; that is
analysing precisely where all the trouble begins, he merely "hears."
again demon- He hears sufficiently to make him sick at heart, but he
8trated - does not "listen" — does not analyse in the least what he
is hearing.
Not to notice that the source of his discomfort may
possibly be traced to the absence of any Rubato-inflections
is perhaps excusable in a measure, since these inflections
are comparatively subtle, and he may have been brought
up in the notion that such devices must not be taught, are
really "very sinful," and "only rarely" to be applied, and
still more rarely so by children, and never in the music of
a composer who has been dead for more than fifty years!
But with regard to tone-inflections the case is different.
Doubtless his up-bringing has insisted on the necessity of
these, even with children, so there is really no excuse for
his putting up with prison-like, brick walls of dull, un-
inflected sound, when perhaps, after all, only a little effort
is required from him, to enable the hitherto "unmusical"
pupil to supply the needful tone-inflections, and to apply
CONCERNING TONE-INFLECTION, ETC.
109
these correctly, thanks to a proper teaching of the analysis
of Music, and of Touch. The Means and Laws of tone-
inflection when thus taught, renders the teaching of Music
no longer an extreme misery to the teacher, but an extreme
delight to him, as it should be . . . not to speak of the
revelation it will be to his pupils!
In this connection there is another point which is often Want of true
overlooked by teachers. They do hear that the pupil is not & ta mostl y
giving sufficient variety of tone, but they try to make the deficiency in
correction at the wrong end. They try to insist on more tone coloring,
for the accents and the fortes, whereas, all the time, the
fault lies in the fact that the pupils never get within measur-
able distance of a true piano, not to speak of pianissimo!
For instance, they will begin the "Moonlight" Sonata
nearer mf than pp, thus : —
(The lecturer here played a few bars from the opening of Beethoven's Op. 27
in this way, and then with the correction; also he gave the Episode of
Chopin's D flat Prelude, with its long crescendo from pp 9 in further
illustration of this point.)
Or they play their accompaniments far too loudly. Let
me give you a few bars from Schumann's Concertstuck in
G, illustrating this point, thus:
Example 68.
(pppnotfrf)
Rubato: unfochettino acceh
„....~.......ritardo „7~...... acceL.„. tempo
110
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
After a long
note, the
continuation
of the same
phrase is
often played
too loudly.
After this it will not surprise you when I assert that
deficiency in tone-coloring is mostly due to lack of low
tints.
When you give your next lesson, just bear in mind what
I have said, and you will find that your pupils are every-
where lavishly throwing their chances away, and are wasting
tone, right and left! Say that a phrase comes out dull
and uninteresting (even with a pupil who is trying to "scan"
his phrases properly) ; in most cases you will find the fault
is, that the pupil begins the phrase with as much tone as he
should reserve for its climax.
Make him cut away the tone at the beginning of the
phrase, and at once the phrase will stand out clear as a
cameo. 1
Another fault of tone-balance, frequent in passages con-
sisting of notes of different lengths, is, after a long note
in such a passage, to commence the continuation with the
same tone that was given to the last long note. In
properly playing such continuation, we should take care to
give the note which starts the continuation with no more tone
(or hardly more tone) than the last preceding long note is
actually heard to give just before that continuation is due;
otherwise the beginning of the continuation will inevitably
sound like the beginning of a new phrase, and therefore
"out of focus." 2
Cut away the * A similar fault is apt to occur when trying to make a melody "stand
tone to ren- out" above its accompaniment, or when one note of a chord has to be
der certain sounded more strongly than the others. Mistakenly, the player tries
to give extra tone to these notes, instead of cutting away the tone of the
others, and thus leaving the unsubdued notes prominent.
1 Remember, the tone of the long note decreases from the moment of
its percussion, onwards. See also Section III, page 75, re the treatment
of passages consisting of notes of unequal lengths.
notes
prominent
CONCERNING TONE-INFLECTION, ETC.
Ill
Let me give you an illustration or two on this point :
g XAMpLB 6 g From the Adagio of the "Pathttique" Sonata.
foco rvbatoi
vtflftavv*-
In the above example the notes marked with a cross must not be
played with the same full tone as that given to the last preceding long note.
Example 70. ¥nm Ch °V™'* F^ 1 * 1 March.
Example 71.
From Chopin's Nocturne in F sharp minor.
mot
wmm
£.J P. ....:....._A_...~. JLJ £ J A.., r -A A — I
Rubato: imfiHxkettitioacctt
112
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
I f' 1 ]-
(Pmf)
• ••••^f»f*ft«
J y A l
The indi-
vidualization
and balance
of the con-
stituent
notes of
chords, oc-
taves, etc*
Another point with regard to tone-coloring, which re-
quires constant judgement, is the balancing of the tone in
chords, etc., — that is, the balancing of the tone of the
several notes constituting each separate chord. 1
Much variety of coloring is available by thus giving
greater or less prominence to the upper part, or lower part,
or inside notes of chords, etc. Every true artist, in fact,
unconsciously chooses the color for every note of every
chord he plays.
Even in the case of a single octave, three quite distinct
colorings can be given in this way; we can either make (a)
1 Each note of every chord must indeed be meant as accurately as the
note-details of every finger-passage. Do not play a chord as a lump of
sound with the arm "dabbed" down upon the key-board, but instead,
think of the three or four constituent sounds and fingers of each chord.
Witt the exact sound of each constituent note of each chord, its exact
quantity and quality of tone, and its precise duration in each case. Chord
passages, after all, are always "finger-passages" — in this sense, that the
requisite fingers have to be called upon to do their work individually,
each one in each chord, etc.
In this connection, the following is good exercise: hold a chord at key-
surface level firmly (but loosely) by means of finger-force only, and rotate
the forearm in the meantime both ways a few times, doing this quite freely
while thus keeping hold of all the notes of the chord by the individual
fingers — a capital " finger-individualization " study. See also: Relaxa-
tion Studies," pp. 102 and 120, for similar exercises.
CONCERNING TONE-INFLECTION, ETC.
113
the upper note prominent, or (6) the lower note prominent,
or (c) can give both with equal tone-amount; and octave
passages, when thus differently colored, have quite a differ-
ent effect, musically.
(This was illustrated.)
To show you how much depends upon such means of
coloring in octaves, etc., and the subtle effects thus avail-
able, I will play a few bars from the slow movement of
Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, Op. 27.
I will play the octaves in the right hand, at first with
equal tone for both the notes of the octave, then with the
lower note more prominent, and then with the upper note
more sung:
Example 72a.
I will now play you as another example of similar color-
ing, the coda of Debussy's "Reflets dans Peau." The last
two lines of this played with "solid" color, would to my
mind sound horrible. I prefer to play the right-hand part
quite ppp, and in the left-hand the lowest note of the low
chords more prominently — say mp, the upper notes pp;
while the lowest note of the upper (trebled) accompanying
114
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
melody should again be rather prominent. You remember
the passage:
Example 72b. 1
Lent (danstme sonoriiiharmonieuseetloMaine)
»ffut ii
Muvux. {aanstme warn*
Hardly any two successive harmonies are played alike,
in this sense, by a true artist or musical person — his sense
of harmonic values and progressions will unconsciously guide
him constantly to make subtle variations of tone-balance of
the constituent notes of each chord or harmony.
As an example of such varied chord-coloring, I will play
you the E minor Prelude of Chopin. Notice how the tone-
balance in the soft accompanying chords must be con-
stantly varied, by prominentising the interesting features
1 By kind permission of MM. Durand et fils, Paris, publishers and
proprietors.
CONCERNING TONE-INFLECTION, ETC. 115
of its harmonic progressions. This should be done, of
course, so slightly and subtly as not to draw attention to
this means of expression, as such. But I may have to
exaggerate the point here, slightly, so as to make it plain
to you.
(The lecturer here illustrated the Prelude in question.)
Still another point, often lost sight of by average players, l*ss force
sometimes even by those aspiring to the artist-status is, r6q J£^ tll
that far less force is required for the production of the high high notes
notes of the instrument, than that necessary to produce the than the low
middle or lower sounds. Such players fail to notice that "J*"* of *•
the same force which will produce merely a pleasant forte
in the bass of the piano, will produce a hideous shriek
when applied to the high treble notes.
To convince the student on this point, show him how
long and thick are the lower strings, and how thin and very
short are the higher ones — the sounding part of the highest
strings is only about two inches long! Hence, in playing a
rising passage, which is meant to be of even tone, we must
really play with a decrescendo of force, otherwise the highest
notes will be of undue tone-value. 1
Under "Rubato" we saw how we could give emphasis The tonal
to single notes by a slight "hanging round" them as to ^ el £* ng
Time — that is, by "agoggic" or time-accents, given either no te S should
before the sounding of such notes, or after sounding them, not lead to
We must however, as a rule, guard against a tendency tasteless
always to give such Rubato-accents just because we happen Accen xs.
to wish to make the notes of a melody tonally prominent in
passages where the accompaniment is played by the same
1 Obviously, it requires far less force to move a thin string, only two
inches in length, than to move the mass of a thick one, some six feet in
length.
116 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
hand. This constitutes a fault in taste (or technique)
often met with. Remember, to add a rvbato leaning to
notes already glaringly emphasized by their tonal contrast
to the accompaniment is only likely to lead to a very
mawkish effect. Therefore, do not play Chopin's A flat
Study thus: —
But thus:
ExAMPi.m 736.
Ir l *rllr l ,r l i'
W i' ^ jrfr^r H i
Here the flow of semiquavers (sixteenth notes) should
remain quite uninterrupted, in spite of the sounding of the
fona%-prominent melody notes and bass notes.
There is no difficulty in doing this, provided the laws as
to the rotational action of the Forearm are obeyed — and
provided, that the notes of the accompaniment are played
with those keys partially lowered before their actual final
swing-down in the act of tone-production. 1
1 See the author's "Some Commentaries on Pianoforte Playing,"
(Longmans), and "The Forearm Rotation Principle" (Williams).
THE TEACHING OF TECHNIQUE 117
Now, with regard to the teaching of the wherewithaU of The bearing
Tone-contrasts — the teaching of Touch, Agility, Key- ? f *? ****
i ^ ^ m . rog of Touch*
treatment, or whatever term you may prefer for this part etc#> ttpon
of the subject, I need not go into these matters here, as I the teaching
have been sufficiently explicit about them elsewhere — and of Inter "
at great length! It goes without saying, that during the * wtll,0IL
teaching of Interpretation, I insist that it is necessary all
the time to pay close attention, and to render the minutest
obedience to those laws of key-treatment and laws of mus-
cular action and inaction, which have been formulated in
my various books on Technique and Touch. 1
Unless the teacher is fully alive to the bearing of these Command
Laws, — and this, during every minute of his teaching hours, ov ^? ter "
he is not " teaching' ' Pianoforte-playing at all, in the true implies com-
sense of that word; for he is certainly not "helping his mandover
pupils to learn, ,, but is merely telling them to learn, which is fed" 1 *** 1
a totally different thing. resources.
The truly conscientious teacher indeed not only diagnoses Obedience
every detail of Rubato-inflection, but diagnoses also every *° the Uws
fault of Tone-inflection, every fault in duration, every sign technique
of weakness as regards Agility; and, whenever any of these must con-
faults are traceable to disobedience to the Laws of Touch, stantiybe
he, in each and every case, explains these laws and processes masted
to the pupil — while taking care in the meantime that the
immediate musical purpose is never lost sight of. This he
does, so that the pupil himself may learn to know how to
correct such faults directly in the future^- if he will but
1 Works which had been overdue for a century or more; therefore
the reader is here referred to the author's "Act of Touch," to the School
book, "First Principles," and to their Supplement: "Some Commen-
taries on Pianoforte Playing" (Longmans). Also: "Relaxation Studies"
(Bosworth); "A Child's First Steps," and "The Forearm Rotation
Principle," etc. (Joseph Williams, and the Boston Music Co.).
118 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
take the trouble to do so. In this way the pupil gradually
learns how every inflection and gradation of Tone and
Duration, and Speed-requirement is physically producible,
and producible with absolute certainty.
In this year of grace, in this country at least, 1 where such
"direct" teachings have already become practically com-
pulsory through public opinion, it is unnecessary to point
out that this "direct" teaching of the essentials of Key-
treatment is not only as important to the Pianist-student as
the teaching of Interpretation and Music, but that it is
really far more important to him. In this respect even
Germany, which has stood still for so many years, com-
placently and with such thoroughness insisting on the
interminable exercise-grinding and other monumental blun-
ders of certain of her schools, even Germany is at last
awakening. As I have already pointed out elsewhere, 2
healthily revolutionary writers there are now trying, with
trenchant pen, to bring their country up-to-date and to her
senses with regard to more common-sense methods of
teaching Technique and Touch. These German teachings,
although still tentative and erroneous in a measure, are at
least similar in tendency to those of ours, now so long estab-
lished and accepted here in England and elsewhere. 8
1 In Great Britain.
* See " Some Commentaries on Pianoforte Playing."
Knowledge ' Even with the beginner, even with the child, must these teachings of
of the laws Touch or Technique be insisted upon. It is easier to learn aright in the
of touch and first stages than later on, when various preconceptions and wrong habits
technique f m ind and body prove to be severe stumbling blocks and barriers
necessary difficult to surmount.
even e Harm only will result from practice unless the beginner understands
*& sm * at least the laws as to the key itself. For instance, he must understand
that he can only direct and produce tone by a careful "aiming" of the
key itself — each time for each note; that key-speed is tone, and that no
THE TEACHING OF TECHNIQUE 119
As with the beginner, so with the advanced performer,
while you are teaching the interpretation of Music, you
must meanwhile always insist on an accurate obedience to
all the laws of Touch, for on such obedience does accu-
racy in Interpretation intimately depend.
True, later on in the student's and artist's work, many of Points as to
these laws of Touch-procedure require but little reminder, ^T^ re "
_ quiring con-
provided they have been thoroughly mastered; that is, pro- stantre-
vided the correct actions have been made into unshakable minder,
habits. But there are always some particular points which
nevertheless require constant reminder, even with the best
players; and an unremittingly close and unswerving atten-
tion is therefore here required from the teacher, pupil, and
artist.
Let me go over these points; there are four such that seem
to stand out beyond all others; two are concerned with the
key itself, and two with the muscular apparatus.
With regard to the key: first, during performance, as I
have just said, we must insist on that constant observation
of key-resistance (before and especially during the key's
descent) without which aspect of attention we cannot arrive
anywhere near an accurate expression (or presentation)
of what we may feel or see musically. With regard
further tone can be produced, once the hopper has fulfilled its mission;
i.e., that sounds must be made through a purposed, felt and carefully
directed key-motion, each one accurately timed. Even points of mere
elementary knowledge such as these will save him years of time, otherwise
wasted in the unlearning of wrong habits. Moreover, he cannot
get much further, unless he also has some notion as to the function of
Armweight, and its almost complete elision between the successive tone-
makings; and he must, besides this, have a very solid understanding of
the function of Forearm Rotation, and how constant changes in such
rotary-activity are required of him — required indeed for each note, even
when he grapples with his first five finger exercise.
120 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
to the key: secondly, we must constantly insist on accuracy
in "aiming" each key-descent; that is, we must insist on
accuracy in timing the completion of each key-descent, and
without which aspect of attention, again, we shall lose all
accuracy of expression, and also all Agility-ease, and control
over Duration. 1
With regard to the muscular problem, the whole here
resolves itself ultimately into freedom of action, and the two
points which for this reason imperatively demand constant
attention and reminder are: first, insistance on a real free-
dom of the whole arm in all passages requiring Weight
during the moment of tone production, and the real elision
of all "down-arm" force (and excessive weight) between
the successive acts of tone production — that insistence
upon the freely-poised arm, without which, true Agility
ever remains impossible. Secondly, insistence on the al-
ways carefully applied Forearm-rotatory actions, inaccuracy
in which respect will vitiate practically every note we play.
Musical and Here I must re-iterate once again the warning which I
t !? 1 ^* 1 have so often urgently insisted upon, that in learning and
must never teaching the wherewithal of Technique or Touch, the
be allowed purpose of such learning must never be lost sight of for a
to flag, while momen t.2 At the Piano, the pupil must never, even for a
^^ Ui e " moment, be allowed to think of a muscular action (however
details of necessary) apart from the musical sense of the notes he is
muscular sounding. The necessary trend of the mind must always
uca on# be: (a) " Musical sense tells me this note must sound then,
and thus"; and (6) " I must be sure to feel the resistance of the
key during its down-movement so that I shall be able to give
1 Vide "Act of Touch" and "First Principles" for the various warn-
ings given under this head, especially pages 125 and 126 of the last-named
work; also " Child's First Steps " pages 2 and 19.
* We need not think of timing the beginning of the act of key-descent,
but we must think of timing key-descent to end at the right moment.
THE TEACHING OP FINGERING 121
the required tone, rightly timed " ; and finally, (c) " the mus-
cular requirements are such-and-such to enable me to suc-
ceed in this." That is, the mental impetus is in this order:
"Time-spot — Tone-kind — Key-need — Muscular-fulfil-
ment." It is but one flash of thought, thus built up. In
the end, Musical-feeling and Intelligence must auto-
matically prompt the taking of all these precautions, and it
seems but one act of consciousness — this giving oneself up
to musical feeling, emotion, rhythmical impulse and key
requirements. Nevertheless, timing and feeling can
never become an automatic act. It is always the act of
consciousness itself which makes Music through these, and
there is no real music without such, as there is no act of
conscious thought without a timing of it. See also, pp. 33
Text, 41 Note, 57 Text, and Section VI.
Closely connected with the question of Touch itself is The bearing
that of fingering. The older, and now out-of-date of ^f orin «
. , on Interpre-
teachers of course placed an absurdly high value on this tation, and
department of their work, and in fact seemed to rely on it the learning
as a cure for all ills — and some modern artists still exhibit of its laws *
the same failing. Granted, when your technique is ineffi-
cient, or your knowledge of its Laws is inadequate, that
choice of fingering assumes a vast importance, since it then
often means the difference between barely managing to
negotiate a passage, and not being able to encompass it at
all. With proper teaching, however, and knowledge of the
physical causes which render a passage "difficult" or the
reverse, choice of fingering is found to become a matter of
quite secondary importance, since a far greater number of
optional fingerings become practicable where the technical
habits are good. I have noted the main laws of fin-
gering in my "Relaxation Studies/' and in the special
122 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Fingering, excerpt from that book, published separately. 1 I need
* u J > !° lust not therefore go into these matters here, except to refer
« crammed" to one point there noted, and that is, that great care
must be exercised in Fingering as everywhere else, to
guard against a mere cramming of "things," in place of a
true teaching of abiding principles, and the nature of the
facts concerned. Thus, in merely jotting down the
required fingering for the pupil without comment or expla-
nation, you are not giving him any real education; it is of
no permanent value to the pupil to tell him merely to "put
the thumb here," or "the fifth finger there."
its proper No, instead of merely writing down the fingering of a
teaching. passage, you must always explain why it is chosen, and how
the choice is arrived at. The main principle which you
must here make clear to your pupil, is, that choice of fin-
gering consists in selecting such finger-groups which will most
easily lie over the piano-keys concerned, while at the same
time giving due consideration to the necessity of joining
such fingering-groups each one to the next or preceding
one, by means of the cementing action provided by the
passing-over or under of the thumb and other fingers.
The memor- The pupil will have no difficulty in remembering his finger-
isingof ings, once he grasps the fact, that it is not this finger or
fingering. ^^ finger which matters, but that it is always a finger-
group which is in question — either a complete group or an
incomplete one. In a word, the act of memorising finger-
ing consists in associating a certain set of fingers with a
certain set of notes ; this precisely defines the process, which
is therefore an act of mental association like every other
form of memorising.
Besides thus rendering it easy for the pupil to memorise
fingerings, and thus to speed-up the learning of passages,
1 "Fingering and Pedalling/' London, Bosworth and Co.
THE TEACHING OP FINGERING 123
such rational teaching will at the same time ensure his
learning how to set about the choice of fingering for
himself. This is an important point, since it is far more
easy to choose satisfactory fingering for oneself than to
have this done by anyone else — however expert the editor
or teacher. Each individual hand has its own idiosyn-
cracies; therefore, fingering chosen by another person
cannot be so appropriate as that of one's own choice, always
provided, of course, that one has acquired the requisite
mastery over this subject.
For instance, in teaching the scale fingerings, do not tell
your pupil where the thumb or other separate finger has
to go, but at once show him that all scales consist of two
groups of fingerings, a long one and a short one — the actual
lie of these two groups being determined for each particular
scale by the position of the black keys, and by the necessity
of choosing the easiest positions for turning the thumb
under, etc.
In the diatonic scale, for instance, we have the two groups :
123 and 1234, these two sets of finger-groups being then
mentally (and tonally) connected with the sets of three or
four notes which they respectively cover, in each scale,
the fingering and the notes of the scale are thus simul-
taneously memorised. 1
1 I consider it best to finger Double Thirds scales similarly in two
groups, a long one and a short one; viz.: R. H. { _ __ and L J\
(1126 (234
See "Double Thirds scales, their fingering and mastery" (Joseph Wil-
liams), where I have carried out this principle.
The repeated thumb presents no difficulty, unless one suffers from
the vicious habit of " key-bedding ;" and legato is less imperfect with
this fingering than with the old-fashioned three finger-groups in one
octave.
124 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
(The lecturer here illustrated this point, by taking the scale of B flat, and
showing where the two finger-groups occur in this scale, the place depending
not on the key-note, but on the position of the black keys relatively to the
white ones).
By thus learning where the whole finger-group each time
lies over the key-board, we necessarily also learn the place
for each individual finger. To try to learn fingering in
the opposite way — from the other end, as separate fingers
first — is impracticable, and in any case we shall certainly
not succeed in remembering where such separated fingers
occur, until we do notice where the complete finger-note-
group lies.
SECTION V
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
We will now pass on to another matter which is dis-
gracefully neglected by the average teacher and pianist, I
refer to the properly directed use of the Damper Pedal.
This neglect no doubt arises in the first instance from a Just as close
totally wtong outlook as regards the Piano itself. Those atte ntion
who thus misuse or neglect the Pedal evidently consider f^as for*
"Pedalling" to be something apart, separate and distinct finger,
from Piano-playing itself, instead of recognising the fact
that Piano-playing can only be successfully accomplished,
provided we superintend the doings of our right foot just
as minutely — and constantly — as we must the doings of
our fingers at the keyboard.
It is indeed no exaggeration to say that most of the Most pedal-
pedalling one hears, even from advanced players (aye, even *"* a n ^ a8S
from concert-pianists) is just about as bad as are the smears °
and blotches which a child makes in its first attempts to
paint a picture. While we are still mere babies, most of
us, however, have sufficient sense to feel deeply disgusted,
mortified and humiliated, when we see the color-messes
which result from our well-meant, hard striving to make
"a pretty picture."
Nevertheless, here at the Piano, we have fully grown-up
people, sometimes even quite musically gifted, who in spite
of all this, quite cheerfully misuse their piano exactly as
these children do their brush, and make a very quagmire of
sound, and notice nothing amiss — such is the force of habit.
125
126
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
I have repeated passages to artist-pupils and concert-
players, pedalled precisely as they have pedalled them —
with every vestige of phrasing completely wiped out by
the pedal, in spite of a beautiful display of rising hands,
etc.; and it has been difficult to make them believe they
could have shown themselves so unmusical. 1
Examples of For instance, I have heard them pedal the A flat Waltz
bjja^good of Chopin (0p # 42) thus (see a, Exp. 74), instead of doing
so properly in one of the alternate ways (see 6, c, and d 9
Exp. 74) :
Example 74.
d) £ £J
<^for the pp repetition of this theme)
tl
±X
Not enough
to feel the
breaks be-
tween the
phrasings
clearly, one
must play
them clearly.
1 As in speech, so also in Music, phrasing always implies a break in the
continuity of the legato. You must have commas, etc., in your speech,
and you must provide them also at the piano as a breaking of sound-
continuity, else your performance will sound like "Flora FinchingV
speeches in " Little Dorrit." Many players quite forget this necessity,
and mistakenly fancy their phrases to be quite well defined, while all the
time they are connecting each new phrase to each preceding one in an
unbroken continuity of legato, either by a careless finger, or more often
by a careless foot — to the complete obliteration of their phrasing. I
have even had such argue with me, that their phrases must be "quite
clear'' (in spite of such non-phrasing) because they themselves "/erf it
quite clearly" — as if the mere fact of realising or feeling a thing
sufficed for its expression to others!
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
127
Or we hear them pedal a passage with unbroken legato,
instead of giving life-giving contrasts to it as in Examples
75 and 76, thus: 1
From Garnival (Finale). Schumann.
Example 75.
^ -
J NoUt 1 £.
1 A mistake very often made even by advanced players is to continue Inadequacy
holding the Pedal far too much, thus making an unbroken legato in place of Pedal-
of that ever changing and contrasting variety of Duration required by discontinue
most music. They hold the Pedal wherever and whenever it can be held **!•
without producing actual harmonic cacophony, instead of being guided in
its use by the ever-changing and exact duration-needs of each note.
The wrong outlook is: "can I hold the pedal here?" Whereas the
right one is: " can I omit it here?"
Strict attention to the duration-needs of every note demonstrates
how surprisingly often one may and should omit or cut short the Pedal,
to the betterment of the piece.
How pathetic is it, for instance, to hear a concert-player giving a piece,
intended to be light and gossamer-like, with delightful lightness and
brilliancy of touch, and meanwhile totally ruining the effect of it, and
making it sound dull and heavy owing merely to a carelessly continuous
legato given to all the underlying harmonies and basses!
Realize, that a gossamer curtain or piece of lace seems "light" to our
eyes simply because of the spaces in its texture — the light-si'fences in it;
and that lightness in musical effect is similarly wrought by the lapses in
sound-continuity given to the texture of the music.
As examples play Chopin's two studies in G flat, and those in F minor
and F major, and pedal the bass first in unbroken legato, and then again
with as many air-spaces as possible in the harmonies and basses, and
realize how infinitely greater is the effectiveness and beauty thus obtained.
See Note, page 137.
128
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
76.
From ConcertetQck. Schumann.
jQlegro
bj£J £ l£i £ \£J £ \£-J£
J
(a) Legato, incorrect. (b) Varied, correct.
Or again, we hear what should be detached chords, draggled
along by the pedal, thus :
From "Moods of a Moment," 1 No. 2. Tobias Matthay.
Example 77.
Slowly
Correct :.£
No d6ubt, the fault is often due to the fact that even the
best of us do so often allow ourselves to play without really
listening to the actual sounds emanating from {he instrument,
although our musical intentions may be keen enough.
As I have already said here, a very great deal of unmusical
playing arises purely from this very fact; for we may be
meaning things, musically, quite meritoriously, but they
cannot " arrive " unless we take the very simple and common-
sense precaution to listen accurately to what we are doing;
1 By permission of Messrs. Ascherberg & Co.
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION 129
and this applies with redoubled force when it is a question Accuracy in
Of DURATION. 1 dl S5to*- d °"
Unless we have our minds constantly fixed (through our me diateiy
physical ears) upon the actual sounds emanating from the upon
Piano, we have no inducement to let go either the keys or accuracy In
the Pedal — or to put this down. 2 A simple cure for in- magm
attentive pedalling is often f ound, in merely insisting on the
passage or whole piece, thus mispedalled, being carefully
played through without any pedal whatever; close attention
to the actual sounds being insisted upon in the meantime.
It often proves to be a most startling revelation to the
would-be player, when he thus discovers that till then he
had been playing practically without really listening in the
least to the actual duration of the notes played!
Indeed, far too little attention is given to the whole ques- Val *e of
tion of duration. No one has pleaded more vehemently than ^jf ^
I have for close attention to the inexorable need for Tone- insufficiently
variety — whether of quality or quantity; but while we are realised,
thus attending to this particular requirement, vital as it is,
do not let us in the meantime forget the vast contrasts
of Expression to be found in contrasts of mere Duration
— contrasts extending in compass from the sharpest stacco-
tissimo up to the fullest legato or tenuto, and not only thus
far, but further; for the contrasts to be obtained from vary-
ing degrees of legatissimo (or the overlapping of sounds) are
indeed not the least important of this wonderful element
of Duration. 8
1 Remember what I have said re " Listening,"?pp. 5 and 128-9, etc.
* How dismally dry is a singing passage when the pedal is not used
as it should be, almost for each note!
8 A good Scarlatti Technique, for instance (in the modern playing of
him), depends greatly upon a full appreciation of the required nicety in
Duration-values, just as a Chopin Technique so greatly depends on Tone-
values, and nicety of Rubato-inflections — and Pedalling.
130
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Gradations
of tone and
duration
contrasted*
Let us now try the effect of a simple succession of sounds,
first given with gradations of Tone-quantity only, and sec-
ondly, with gradations of Duration only:
Example 78a.
$ jf fuf i ' i ffl i iffiffi fn ffi lr fiiff iif f i j7 f i J i
Pedal-
duration
more im-
Example 78^
;t • f ^ ^ ^^ — ^ -./— n jt» •
Notice, that this last example is given without the aid of
any Pedalling. As an example of the application of this
principle of Duration, see the slow movement from Beetho-
ven's Sonata in G, Op. 14, where we have such contrasts
beautifully applied and particularly noted by the master
himself; notice the carefully planned sequence of the
contrasts :
(The lecturer here played the second movement of this little Sonata, so
simple and yet so full of delicate charm when adequately performed.)
Example 79.
mezzo stiacc.
Really, when one sees how often it is quite overlooked, one
feels inclined to assert that variety of Duration is even of
greater importance than variety of Tone itself! Again,
the effects of Foot-duration are even more striking than
those of Finger-duration. The sustaining and mellowing
m ^ 1 ?than of notes by means of the Pedal is an iridescence hardly ever
Wr-dura- absent in a modern composition. 1 This enhancement of
1 See note as to Chopin's pedalling, p. 89, Note.
finger-dura
tion.
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OP DURATION 131
the Duration-contrasts by the Pedal, however, is not owing
solely to the greater resonance thus obtained, as you might
at first suppose. . . . True, a somewhat greater resonance
does result when the Pedal is depressed, and for this reason :
that when we sound a note with all the dampers raised by
the pedal, the sympathetically-inclined higher strings are
roused into action, while the lower ones in addition give
the sounded note as a harmonic. Listen to the effect of a
chord played without pedal, and then with pedal :
(The lecturer here illustrated this point.)
The fact of more strings vibrating in sympathy with those Pedal en -
sounded does therefore certainly contribute to a greater actu ^ Dro _
resonance, but besides this it also contributes to an actual longation of
prolongation of the sounds, and consequent richness in the sounds.
Singing effects. Moreover, when a legato is evolved
solely by the fingers, it is mostly a case of Legato or Lega-
tissimo between single notes, whereas with the pedal any
number of notes can be thus rendered legato or legatissimo.
Although I have noted some of the details of Pedalling
in the last chapter of my "Relaxation Studies" 1 I must
nevertheless glance at some of the chief points here:
I think it may be taken for granted, that even the most " Synco-
primitive and antediluvian of teachers have now at least ***? *"
some hazy sort of notion as to the nature and impor-
tance of "syncopated" pedalling. The reason of this re-
quirement of course lies in the fact, that if you hold a key
down by the finger, and then connect that finger (in legato)
to the next note you play, a bad smudge will result if you
put the pedal down at the same instant that you depress
that next key. For, in a finger passage, you will necessarily
be holding up the damper of the first note with one finger,
1 "Relaxation Studies " (Bosworth & Co.).
132
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Why it is
required*
until the very moment when you sound the next note with the
next finger; therefore, if the pedal is made to raise all the
dampers at that very moment, this will prevent the previous
note's damper from descending and cutting off the tone,
hence the smudge and cacophony.
For example, play a simple scale in both hands, quite
slowly and legato, and depress the pedal for each note at
the same moment with the descending keys, and the whole
passage is badly smudged.
(Illustrated.)
Whereas, if you pedal properly (with the pedal moving
down after the sounding of the notes, and going up at the
sounding of the next ones) you obtain a perfectly clean
legato.
(Illustrated.)
You see therefore, that in all legato passages, the pedal must
rise as the next legato-note goes down — that is, unless the
two sounds bear sounding together. In short, the dampers
must reach the strings of the notes to be damped, at the very
moment that the hammers reach the next notes. That is,
the Pedal goes up as the next finger goes down. Now let
us hear a chord-progression rendered Legato, solely by
foot-duration. I will choose the very simplest progression,
see A, Exp. 80: —
Example 80.
Slowly
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
133
But in addition to this unbroken legato we may have
considerable gradations of Duration beyond legato, that is,
gradations of Legatissimo — or an overlapping of the sounds,
see B, Exp, 80.
In a large room or hall, the resonance or echo always
causes a more or less faint or incipient legato or legatissimo.
But the difference in pedal-effect is even then quite marked
- for the ear distinguishes between the resonance of the
room and the resonance of the Piano. Let me play both
effects once again, and you will realise the contrasts better:
(Illustration repeated.)
To ensure your realising how this legatissimo effect is
produced, and what enormous control it gives us over
sound-effect, I will now so exaggerate this "overlapping"
that you can hear the pedal stop the previous chord con-
siderably after the appearance of the next one — and
thus of course producing a slight cacophony for the
moment :
Legatissimo
pedalling.
Echo-res-
onance of a
hall is dis-
tinct from
pedal
continuity.
Example 81.
Quite slowly
cnesc.
«*• u^u-m-kj-
Numberless examples might be quoted of such "over- Eiamplesof
lapping" effects, even extreme ones, but I will select one le ^^ l °
only — and a very beautiful one — from Schumann's Con-
certstlick in G; I have shown the place by an asterisk: —
134
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
And as an example of that rarer effect, the extreme over-
lapping, I quote a few bars from my own "Moods of a
Moment," No. 2; —
Pedal must In teaching these up-goings of the pedal, be most careful
™ fuUy " to insist that the pedal is always allowed to rise sufficiently,
fully to damp the intended sounds, otherwise they will con-
tinue to sound in spite of the pedal having moved up —
satisfactorily to the foot, but not to the ear, thus: —
(The lecturer illustrated Que.)
Pedal must Also insist on your pupil allowing the pedal to remain up
long enough to stop the vibrations of all the strings — includ-
ing the lower and more powerful ones, else unwittingly, a
so-called "half-damping" effect will result. This means
1 By permission of Messrs. Aacherberg & Co.
long enough. ,
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION 135
that the lower strings of the instrument will continue to
sound (will remain un-damped) while the upper ones are
silenced.
(Illustrated.)
Sometimes, however, it happens that this " half-damping" Half-damjH
(or rather, "half-pedalling") effect is actually required. in « effect8 '
It is required somewhat frequently, not only in modern
music, but also in the older masters. Now remember, when
you do require such "half-damping," it is obtained by pur-
posely giving the otherwise faulty action bi the pedal-foot
which I have just been warning you against. That is, you
must not here leave the pedal up long enough to kill all
the previous sounds; to obtain "half-pedalling" effects,
the pedal must be allowed to jump up only for an instant,
and while this momentary touching of the strings is suf-
ficient to stop the sounding of the higher strings, it
hardly affects the lower ones at all, and we are thus
enabled to play changing harmonies in the upper registers
of the instrument, while retaining the sound of a low bass
note, etc. 1
Let me give you a simple example, where a bass is held
through such changes of harmonies : 2
1 The so-called sostenente pedal allows such sustaining of any note or Th e
notes, while not affecting the other portions of the keyboard. This pedal " S 08 * 611 "
is used exactly as in the process of ordinary "syncopated" pedalling. en P edaL
The device has been applied by several makers; it is of course an extra
expense in manufacture, which fact no doubt sufficiently accounts for its
not being adopted generally; also, it is inclined to make the touch of the
instrument a little more clumsy and uneven for the time being — that is,
while this pedal is held down. Musically, however, there would be a
distinct advantage in having it on all pianos.
3 A familiar example is found in the well-known Rachmaninoff
Prelude.
136
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Balf-
pedaOing
applied to
whole
chords.
Example 84.
Slowly
Th e A A_ mark in the Pedal line is meant to suggest the momen-
tary rising action of the foot in those places— the " half-damping" effect.
Whole chords, low down, may also be somewhat similarly
"half -damped;" only a small remainder of the full sustaining
power being thus left after a strong percussion. It is rather a
striking effect, but only rarely applicable. Liszt's Sonata
in B minor offers us a striking instance :
Example 85.
jfftesante
\\ if i ifTfrfi i
&L-K-1P ~k
Ll 4L-Uf> A I £A I
Cessation of
sound as a
form of
emphasis.
Another point as to Duration, which I find is so often
overlooked both by players and teachers, is the fact that
we can produce an actual emphasis by making a large body
of sound cease accurately and sharply on a beat or pulse.
I mean, that we can call attention to a pulse-place (and
thus give it emphasis) if, after sounding and holding a strong
chord with the pedal, we release it quite suddenly, and
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
137
precisely on such pulse. Take for instance, a final chord,
thus:
Example 86.
We also employ this device of detachment as a form of em-
phasis in ordinary speech at times, when we wish to be par-
ticularly assertive; for instance, instead of gliding over
the phrase " NowCmindC^ouCdoOthisC " we ejaculate:
"Now! mind — you — do — this!" . . . We do not legato
the ejaculation "Lookoutacariscoming," but we empha-
sise it by a staccato " Look-out !" from the rest of the
shriek. 1
To show you how passages can be enhanced in their
emphasis by such cutting short of the note-durations, I
will give you the first entries of the Solo Piano in several of
the Concertos — passages meant to be as emphatic and as-
sertive as possible. I will first play them Pedal-legato, and
you will see how ineffective they are thus, and I will then
play them with the proper detached emphasis — by judicious
raising of the Pedal, thus :
1 Mozart said, "Silence is the greatest effect in Music." Indeed, he
well knew the value not only of Duration-varieties, but the value of
rests. We, now-a-days, hardly ever have the courage to wait a bar or
two in complete, striking silence, to enable the ear to look forward to the
next sound!
138 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
From Schumann's Concerto.
JB6- ..£= " * _ K . " " ft A r f ■£-!
From Grieg's Concerto.
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION 139
From Rubinstein's D minor Concerto.
From A. C. Mackenzie's "Scottish Concerto. " :
1 By kind permission of the composer.
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
From Liszt's Concerto in E flat.
Thus: £J £ A I AJ-2J &-1 f_J £ A-
Sbt! *S.«fcn ^ 1 ^ * —
(as usually played)
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
141
J6J PJ pL\ P
P—l P P P
j£_j P.
Indeed, quite an extraordinary number of distinct effects
can be produced, simply by careful foot-cessations, if only
we give the requisite study to this important matter which
it so urgently needs, and closely attend — and listen — to
Duration all the time we are playing and studying, and are
Teaching. 1
Let me give you a few further examples bearing on these
points. For varieties of short basses:
Example 92.
From D flat Waltz, Chopin.
Imperative
to listen
accurately
and con-
stantly to
duration.
Various
additional
pedalling
examples.
Thus:j£j
Not;. £-.
1 While it is not accurate to assert (as has been done by an enthusiast
on his first beginning to realise the potency of Pedalling) that "Seventy-
five per cent of good playing is correct pedalling," it is imperative to
recognise that bad pedalling (and inaccuracy in Duration-values generally)
will indeed only too easily ruin "75%" — and much more — of ones
playing!
142
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Example 93.
From F minor Study, Chopin.
Thus:
or: £
But Mb £
To give the " feathery" effect to the little arpeggio in the
right hand:
From Beethoven's Rondo in G.
Example 94.
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION 143
As examples of "half -pedalling" or "half -damping":
From G minor Ballade, Chopin.
Remember the Note as to Chopin's pedalling, page 89!
1 ' From Album bind in R flat, Grieg.
Example 96a.
144
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
And from the same little piece :
Example 966.
£J±-JL
As an example of many similar half -pedalling effects re-
quired in Brahms :
Example 97a.
Episode from Rhapsody in G minor, Brahms.
Not £
The impressive effect of this passage would be lost were the Bass ped-
alled legato. Sustaining the pedal to the third beat would still sound
clumsy; hence the only solution is to " half-pedal" at the second beat, and
to make a complete break before the fourth beat, as notated.
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OP DURATION 145
Example 97b.
Coda from the same Rhapsody.
A— A_A_A_ A
Chopin also well understood this effect :
From Coda of Prelude in A flat, Chopin.
Example 98.
sottovocc
146
MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
As an example of Cessation-emphasis:
Example 99.
Ballade from Op. 118, Brahms.
Finally, the lecturer (to show varieties of Pedal-effect) played some pages
of Brahms' Rhapsody in B minor:
Example 100.
■ * T fi
I V
tj y ■ iti hJ^ ^
Pedal thus: p I
K not a continuous Ugato)
iL_J_£-J & — l_£_l
Listen both I think I have shown you enough to convince you how
to finger and imperative it is not only to " listen with your fingers," as
foot doings. ^ e empiric phrase has it (and a very useful old empiric
PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION 147
phrase it is) but also, that you must strive to "listen"
just as accurately, definitely, and purposefully with your
foot. 1
It is not a complex problem at all if we only cease making
distinctions which do not really exist! Be it right hand or
left hand, or any finger-tip of either, or be it our right foot,
they are all but part of us — part of our body, why then
delude ourselves into considering them to be separate
"things"? All are able to send sense-impressions to our
brain from resistances experienced outside our bodies, and
all must help in providing the required effects.
Evidently, whether we touch the piano (and act upon it) Attention
with a finger or a foot, it is always "we" — ourselves, who ^**y**'
are thus deriving impressions from the instrument (the
piano itself) and ordering actions outside of us (and within
us) in consequence. Why then have bits of "we," a right
hand bit, or a left hand bit, or a foot bit? Instead of all
such distinctions, let us thoroughly realise that we must
all the time be keenly alert to what our sensation-apparatus
as a whole conveys to us from the Piano, so that we may
properly order and time the musical and muscular doing.
The sensation of key-resistance and the sensation of pedal-
resistance, these are both but part and parcel of that single
thought and purpose, summed up as "performing-atten-
tion" — and that means: attention to Music — through
OUR INSTRUMENT.
1 Foot and finger together make up the musical effect we need, there-
fore do not let us separate these into distinct and often conflicting depart-
ments, but let them always act in consonance, indeed as one person.
At the piano, we must know no distinction or separateness between our
right and left hands, neither may we make these distinct from our right
Foot
SECTION VI
THE PURPOSE OF ART-EXPRESSION AND ITS
RELATION TO THE INFINITE
The era- Coming back to Nature — to the stillness of the country,
J* 6 * 011 * to sky-expanse and wind-driven cloud, to the magic of the
fonetting woods and the mystery of the starlit-nights — a funda-
tfaft end oyer mental truth is ever insinuatingly and forcibly driven home
the meant, to us. There is a paralysing mistake which all of us are
only too liable to make in our art-efforts. In giving the
necessarily close attention to the wherewithal of Expres-
sion, be it in composition or in performance, painting or
poetising, or in the teaching of these things, there is always
this great danger lurking for us, that we are liable not
only to forget Art in the doing of it, but liable to forget
what should 6e t he purpose of Art — the very purpose of our
pursuit!
Brought back into close contact with unsullied, un-brick-
poisoned Nature, that purpose reasserts itself in tones that
refuse to be passed by unheeded.
The purpose If we are impressionable — and we cannot be artists
of art is the un j egg we sae — we g^ ^at ^j^gg ^ Nature and in
expression of , .
feeling. Humanity around us impress us strongly, m various
ways, and arouse in us vivid feelings, or moods. Now,
the purpose of Art, whatever its form, is primarily and
mainly the expression of Moods and Feelings, thus en-
gendered.
If then we would be Artists, we must earnestly and
honestly strive to do neither more nor less than to give
148
PURPOSE OF ART-EXPRESSION 149
expression to such emotional states, moods, or feelings. We
must use our intelligence so that our feelings shall be duly
expressed. And if we do use all our technical resources for
this sole purpose, we may possibly succeed in producing a
real, living work of Art, which, being vivid, may in its turn
impress others with a mood, feeling or emotional state —
possibly of a like nature.
The attempt to write notes, or play them, or sing them,
or to recite, or paint, or versify, unless under such emotional
stress, can only lead to failure — sheer waste of time, sheer
folly so far as true Art is concerned. "Nothing can only
produce — Nothing!"
Of course it does not follow, that even if we do try our
utmost to attend to the mood induced in us by Nature
herself, by human feeling, or by some real work of art, that
therefore we ourselves shall succeed in producing a real
work of art; but we shall know, at least, that we are on the
right track. The other ever remains empty Nothingness,
mere pretence and hypocrisy — Artisanship maybe, but not
Art!
Also there always remains the question, what mood? — Art-moods
but that is another story! There are moods that raise us or Y^^ 1 T ** k \
. for good And
help us to raise others, — moods that help us to live and think ^^^ m^
better; or, on the other hand, there are moods which have for evfl.
quite the reverse effect. . . . Thus we may have Art which
is a mere pandering to self and morbidity, or we may
have Art which raises our thoughts beyond the daily neces-
sity (and struggle very often) of making our daily bread.
Art, which may help us to see the great wonder of Nature
around us, and to see how, in our own lives, we can be more
or less in harmony with it, if we but try. And our thoughts
revert to those real masterpieces of Nature-music of which
150 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Beethoven and Bach, for instance, have given us so
many. 1
Health and l The fact of our being at all "in the mood" to compose or perform is,
mood. however, a question quite distinct from this one.
After all that has been formulated as to the facts of doing, we are
nevertheless helpless, unless we happen to be in such a performing or
composing "mood" or humor — helpless, so far as the attainment of any
really valuable artistic result is concerned.
True, a knowledge of the facts and laws of Expression and Technique
will enable us to lessen the evil effect of "non-mood," and also such knowl-
edge will enable us better to express ourselves during the stress of so-called
"Inspiration," but the exceedingly exasperating fact remains, that in
the end we remain very much at the mercy of our bodily moods — physi-
cal moods wrought by our precise state of health! The whole question
resolves itself ultimately into one of Vitality. It is possible that we may
be "in the mood" or "inspired" when the thermometer of our vitality is
high, but we cannot be when it is low — notwithstanding what seem to
be occasional exceptions to this rule, when a feverish state of over-excite-
ment stimulates our imagination, and simulates the effects of true vigor-
ous vitality. It is when our vitality-thermometer is high that we feel
alert and keen mentally, find ourselves open to new impressions, and
alive to the promptings of a healthy imagination vividly active for the
time. But when the tide of vitality is at its lower ebb, neither can we
assimilate new impressions, nor will our brain provide any. Moreover,
these mental states re-act with redoubled effect muscularly. Remember,
the "natural" state of the muscles is one of tenseness, not one of relaxa-
tion; this is the meaning of "rigor mortis." In order to relax our muscles
we must use up vital energy. Take away that energy and they close up
and tighten.
Thus it happens, when our vitality is at a lower ebb, that all the mus-
cles of our body tend to approximate to the state of death; there be-
comes evident in them a tendency towards less promptitude and less ease
in relaxation than obtains during our moments of full vital energy. Any
gymnastic action or exertion (such as Pianoforte playing or Singing, etc.)
which we may undertake under such unfavorable conditions of mind
and body, will have to be fulfilled while the "opposite" or "contrary"
muscles remain more or less active — tense and impedimental therefore.
Here we see why it is, that when we are not in a musical mood (i.e.,
PURPOSE OF ART-EXPRESSION 151
Now, these thoughts can be profitably pursued still The nature
further, and to good practical purpose. In the factor fj^!^^
which all sane musicians hold and consider to be the most all-pervading
striking manifestation of Music, the very basis, the very rhythm and
life of it, we shall find a good foundation for the belief tottieul -
that Music is intimate with Nature herself. This factor km^abie.
is what we term Pulse, Time, Accent, that is — Rhythm.
It has been conceded by many that Music is the most
powerful of the arts, that it is the art which brings us
most intimately into communion with the Ultimate Un-
knowable in Nature, that it seems to be the form of human
thought which brings us nearest to an overcoming of the
very limitations of our Thought-mechanism . . . — that
it brings us most nearly into contact with that which must
forever remain outside the grasp of our Mind.
Now the reason why Music is thus the most powerful of
the Arts lies surely in its immediate relationship (through
Pulse, Time and Accent) to the cosmic all-pervading Rhythm
— its relationship to the ultimate Fact and Being of the
Universe?
Most of us, I hope, do recognise that Music is indeed
dead as a door-nail unless the keenest sense of Pulse and
Accent is kept alive and insisted upon by teacher, pupil
not in a state of general alertness) our Technique also is found to be un-
responsive, woefully impoverished and nullified.
It is our vitality which is the ultimate cause of our seeing vividly what
to do, our vitality again which leaves our muscles unfettered by their
fellows.
If we bear these facts in mind, we can however in some measure lessen
the evil effects of the muscular tension of a low vitality, by inhibiting the
wrong exertions, by trying to be effortless, by trying to remember the
sensation of ease experienced at more favorable times, coupled with keen
rhythmical alertness, and thus recall somewhat the feeling of unrestrained,
vigorous rhythmical doing associated with our moments of bright vitality.
152 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
and performer. Sounds, however finely we may inflect
their tone and duration, signify nothing unless the vital-
ising basis of Rhythm is insisted upon — in the form of a
well-defined Pulse, and in the form of constantly-continued
accentuational growth.
It is indeed solely through its direct appeal to our sense
of Pulse-throb, sense of rhythmical growth and Progression,
that music rouses us to a sense or feeling of something vital
and alive. 1
Through this supreme fact of its manifestation, Music,
indeed, brings infinitude itself within our ken. It is easy
to realise why this is so. . . .
i Glibly enough do we speak of the ultimate unknowables,
Time and Space. But we do not always realise, that while
we cannot think of any manifestation of Energy or Matter
without the element of extension in Space, nevertheless, all
manifestations (whatever their nature, including those of
Thought and Consciousness itself) must ultimately resolve
themselves into manifestations of Pulse *— or Extension in
time! Pulse — Vibration — Rhythm, indeed pervades every-
thing; and, in fact, constitutes the ultimate of all that is K
I If we look around us, all that which we call "life"
exists solely by nature of this vitalising element of Pulse,
from Humanity down to the mere Diatom. Again, if
we look outside that limited series of manifestations called
1 Omit this, and music is indeed dead and useless — merely a succession
of "pretty noises." But give it, and then with it, and through it we have
the strongest appeal to the very fundamentals of our nature — always
provided that the hearer is a Seer in a measure, and is not stone-blind
or deaf to musical feeling and human emotion. Thus we gain a vision, a
faint one maybe, but a convincing one, of the Something which is the very
basis of Nature, outside our thought and sense-perceptions. Such is the
wonderful power which Music can have over us — the power of opening
up to us a glimpse of the beyond I
PURPOSE OF ART-EXPRESSION 153
•
life, and on a starry night realise the unthinkable, stupefying
infinitudes of the star-depths, we become all the more
conscious of this persistence of the element of Pulse, or
Rhythm! If we turn to a consideration of the various
manifestations of Energy — Sound, Light, Heat and Elec-
tricity — again are we brought face to face with the almighty
doingg of Pulse, — Pulse, in the form of infinitely quick vi-
brations, still more overpowering in their grandeur. Nay,
the very thing we call Matter, the very substances which
form our seemingly inert Earth (with all its metals, its
rocks, and its gases) do we not find that even this seem-
ingly "dead" matter in the end probably resolves itself
into variously constituted manifestations of pulse — the
Rhythm of "vortex atoms?"
Here then, we are face to face with that One, Allpervad-
ing, ultimate Something — the vitalising, palpitating factor,
which, although forever incomprehensible, is tremendous
in its Almightiness. In a word, we are fain to feel
that we are here face to face with that ultimate, Unknow-
able Fact, or Presence which the older Religions have
with one accord recognised — which they have indefinitely
felt themselves conscious of — and which they have all tried
to sum up in the same Word. . . .
Because it is the essential manifestation of thai prime fact,
because Pulse is Life, therefore it is that we feel Music to
be alive when in its pursuit we do act in consonance and
harmony with that Supreme Fact ... and are therefore in
harmony with Nature herself!
SUMMARY
THE PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING INTERPRETATION
By TOBIAS MATTHAY
(Report of a Lecture delivered before the Manchester and the Edinburgh
Music Teachers' Associations in March, 1910, and before the London Music
Teachers' Association in February, 1911, etc. This appeared in The Music
Student of April, 1911, and is here reprinted verbatim.)
Mr. Matthay remarked that his lecture consisted really
of six lectures compressed into one, and it would therefore
be of inordinate length. For this reason, also, we can give
but a r£sum6 of this lecture.
Six Important Points for Piano Teachers
He said: "The pursuit implied by the term Piano-teach-
ing is so enormously complex, that at first glance it seems
hopeless to try to cover the ground in one short discourse.
All one can do is to select some of the more salient points
where the young teacher (and often the old one also) is
apt to fail. It is therefore understood that no attempt is
here made to deal exhaustively with the subject. I have
selected the following points: (1) the difference between
Practice and mere Strumming; (2) the difference between
Teaching and Cramming; (3) how the pupil's mind can
be brought upon his work; (4) correct ideas of Time and
Shape; (5) the element of Rubato; and (6) the element of
Duration and Pedalling/'
154
SUMMARY 155
What is Good Teaching?
Mr. Matthay continued, that it would be impossible to
make clear even these particular essentials of teaching,
without first taking a preliminary, cursory glance at the
whole problem of teaching. To begin with, we could not,
accurately speaking, "teach" anyone anything, in the sense
of being able directly to lodge any knowledge of ours in
another mind. One could only stimulate another mind
to wish to learn, and place before that other mind the things
desirable to be learnt. We cannot teach others, but we
can help them to learn.
Here we come at once to one of the special points to be
discussed, the difference between good teaching and bad
teaching, viz., that good teaching consists not in trying to
make the pupil "do things" so that it may seem like playing,
but in trying to make him think, so that it may really be
playing. In the first place we try to turn out an automaton,
but in the second case we prompt the pupil to be a living
intelligent being.
Pupils usually do not realise that it is they who have to
make the effort to learn; hence, that is the first thing to
make plain to them. True, there are "direct" and empiric
methods of teaching, but such directness can only refer to
the method of placing things before a pupil. Work is often
brought back worse than at the preceding lesson, owing to
practice having been purely automatic. Often this is the
pupil's fault, but more often still, the teacher's, owing to
his not having shown the pupil how to apply his brains
during practice.
The Necessity of Attention
Practice should not consist in trying to "make the piece
go better," but in trying to make oneself see it better —
156 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
understand it better musically and technically. This im-
plies a constant process of analysis during practice, musical
analysis and technical analysis. This means we must really
listen, both outwardly and inwardly. Nothing is more fatal
musically than omitting to do this.
To try to draw without looking at the paper is no worse
than trying to play without careful aural attention. This
is where "Ear-Training" comes in. But Ear-Training
should always mean training the mind to observe and analyse
Fitch and Time so as to understand Music better, and should
never be conducted without that immediate purpose in
view. There can be no real practice, nor real lesson, without
insistence all the time on such real Ear-Training. All this
implies the closest possible attention during the practice-
hour. Such close attention, in conjunction with a keen
imagination, is the distinguishing feature between the work
of the talented and un-talented person. One can therefore
raise one's status, musically, simply by insisting on close
attention to what one is doing, and more important still,
to what one should be doing, musically and technically.
Such persistent use of the judgement and imagination is
not only required from the pupil, but also from the teacher.
As teachers, our powers must be applied, analytically, in a
two-fold direction. First, we must analyse the music we
wish to teach, its Structure and its Feeling; and, secondly,
we must analyse the pupil's doings, comparing them to this
ideal we have formed, so that we can diagnose exactly where
the pupil fails, and why he fails. Such analysis comes under
four headings : (a) we must analyse what the pupil is actually
doing; (6) we must analyse the faults thereby perceived;
(c) we must analyse why the pupil is making those faults;
and (4) we must analyse the pupil's attitude of mind, so
that we may know how to treat him.
SUMMARY 157
The Use and Misuse of Example
The lecturer here took these matters in detail. He then
pointed out that teachers must learn to explain every point,
and must besides educate themselves as musicians and as
actual performers, so as to be able to demonstrate the
various points by actual example when necessary. Ex-
ample, by itself, however, was shown to be useless, as its
tendency is here again to turn the pupil into "an automatic
ape" — example should always be accompanied by full
explanation as to shape and feeling, the purpose of the
means of expression applied. The opening bars of Schu-
mann's Warum were here played, and it was shown how
an inexperienced pupil would turn this into a laughable
parody unless such explanations were given.
Enthusiasm
Allusion was then made to the necessity for enthusiasm,
for unless the teacher could all the time show himself really
interested in his work, he could not expect his pupils to
give the truly exhausting attention required if really good
work was to be accomplished. And enthusiasm would
grow in us, if we but tried our best all the time. Enthusiasm,
however, would not suffice by itself. The teacher must not
only be willing to help, but must know how to do so, other-
wise his work would after all prove a failure.
Cramming v. the Cultivation of Judgement and of
Mr. Matthay next considered the radical distinction
between useful teaching and useless teaching.
The wrong attitude is, to try to make the pupil directly
imitate the musical effects, the "points," etc., which your
musical sense tells you are required, but without explaining
158 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
the why and wherefore musically. Thus you turn your pupil
into a mere responsive automaton; a Trilby to your Sven-
galism. This is sheer "cramming," and can have no abiding
influence educationally.
The right attitude is to insist on your pupil trying to see
for himself all the time, to the best of his capacity, musically
and technically. You must force him to use his own judge-
ment and imagination, so that that may prompt him all the
time; and you must guide that judgement and imagination
all the time, so that right seeing and thinking is learnt.
In the first case you teach your pupil to play without
thinking, whereas in the second case you teach him to
play because he is thinking, and is thinking rightly.
Two Main Points — " Key-Resistance" and the "Time-Spot"
To bring your pupil's mind on his work, you must insist
on two main points. You must teach him to attend, in
the first place, to "Key-resistance," and, in the second place,
to "Time-spot," and by this means you ensure musical
attention — attention to musical shape and feeling.
By attention to key-resistance is meant a constant atten-
tion to the obstruction the key offers before and during its
descent. As this resistance varies with every difference in
the tone you are making, you can thus judge (and by this
means only) what force to apply, so that you may obtain
the tone musically desired.
By attention to "Time-spot" is meant that you must
realise that all music implies Progression, and you must use
your inward ear and your outer physical ear to determine
where in the musical progression each and every sound is
precisely due. You must make clear to the pupil that
sounds have no musical significance whatever unless they
are made to suggest Progression: there must airways be a
SUMMABY 159
sense of Progression, or movement towards definite landmarks
— a growth with a definite purpose, a rhythmical and
emotional purpose. This principle of progression applies
equally to the smallest segments of music, and to the largest ;
—it applies whether we deal with a progression merely of
three notes, or a complete phrase, or a whole movement. No
child should ever be allowed to touch the piano without being
at once shown how this principle of progression onwards,
towards cadences, etc., applies everywhere. Mr. Matthay
illustrated all these points and went into a mass of detail; he
also said that he had pointed out the importance of this
idea of progression and "scanning" of the music during the
last 20 years of his teaching life, and in his First Principles
(Advice to Teachers), but that the passage was often passed
by, without its being realized that it applies during every
minute of one's teaching life. He pointed out, further,
that only by strict attention to this principle of progression
could one ensure the correction of "sloppiness" in passage-
work, and learn to play the notes in between the pulses
accurately and musically.
This matter was illustrated, as also the fact that octave
passages, etc., divided between the two hands, still depended
on the same mental principle; unless indeed, the student
had not learnt the right ways of Technique, had not mas-
tered the "Act of Resting," when he would here fail owing
to his being unable to express himself properly. It was
pointed out that to keep this principle of progression in view
while playing a long extended movement, is indeed the hard-
est task a player has to deal with; and that success here
depends, mainly, on an accurate memory of the proportionate
importance of all the component progressions of the piece;
and upon a constant self-control in executing the musical
picture thus to be realised as a perfect whole.
160 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
Continuity and Rubato
Mr. Matthay then showed, that to enable one to ren-
der a piece continuous in performance, the tempo must be
continuous, although it also depended on a correct laying
out of tone-values and of the emotional stress. "Remem-
ber," he said, "a new Tempo means a new piece — a new
train of thought, and that each change of Tempo needs a
new adjustment of the listener's attention. Constantly re-
curring ritardos, and accellerandos, unless on a large scale,
are therefore fatal to Continuity. But we cannot express
ourselves adequately without Time-inflections, hence the
necessity of Rubato" Rubato was shown to be requisite
in all music, although some of the older masters required
it less than do our modern composers. Rubato should be
taught even to children — real Rubato, not playing out of
time.
The illustrations of Rubato were specially chosen to prove
their necessity even in Beethoven and Bach, although
Rubato requires subtle application in these masters. L Rubato
might extend over a few notes only, or over whole phrases.
Rubato was shown to be of two distinct kinds: (a) where,
for the sake of emphasising a note or several notes, we delay
the time, and must then make good the time by hastening
the subsequent notes so as to return to the pulse at the
crisis of the phrase, etc. ; and (b) where, for the sake of the
agitato effect, we begin by hastening the phrase, and must
then delay the subsequent notes so as to bring us back
again to the pulse at the chief syllable of the phrase — near
its end. These two forms can be combined even during
the course of a single phrase, and often are. In all cases
it is of primary importance to determine exactly where we
must return to the pulse, and also to determine the cause
SUMMAKY 161
of the Rubato — whether caused in the first instance by a
retardation or by an acceleration. The actual degree and
curve of the Time-swerve must, however, be left to the
fancy of tl^e moment, and the effects must never be applied
so as to become noticeable as such. These points were
made clear by the lecturer by means of short excerpts, show-
ing, for instance, how impossible a Chopin Nocturne would
be without Rubato.
The next point, likewise brought home by examples,
was to prove how a Rubato would serve to make clear the
climax of a phrase in spite of a diminuendo. It was pointed
out that the most striking emphasis we can give to any note
is its coincidence with the pulse after that has been swerved
from during a Rubato.
It was also shown, by examples from Chopin, etc., how
Rubato is required to depict agitated feelings — whereas,
to give the effect of decision, calmness, truculence, etc., we
must avoid Rubato for the moment.
In passages consisting of notes of contrasting length, the
tendency should be to emphasise these differences by giving
proportionately more time to the longer notes and less to
the shorter ones; and incidentally we should find that the
same rule applies with regard to tone-variety, the tone vary-
ing somewhat in accordance with the length of the notes.
A somewhat related tonal effect is required when we
continue a phrase after a long note or rest — we must re-
start the continuation with far less tone than was given to
the last long note, otherwise we should have the effect of
a new phrase there.
Tone Contrasts
Mr. Matthay, after exemplifying this, said the importance
of Rubato does not minimise the importance of Tone-
162 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
contrasts and contrasts of Duration; but the absence of
both these last is also often overlooked by the teacher.
Although made miserable by their absence in the pupils 9
performances, the teacher, owing to his not noticing the
real reason of his discomfort failed to make the slight effort
necessary to remedy these things. Most of the failure does
not arise from paucity of tone, but from the absence of low
tints. Most students, in fact, never get near a pianissimo,
and accompaniments are always played far too loudly;
this was exemplified by a few bars from the opening of the
"Moonlight " Sonata, it being pointed out that the difference
between the good and evil rendering was attributable solely
to the " cutting away " of tone in the first instance. Students
also invariably played the beginnings of phrases far too
high up in tone, hence their failure to show the climaxes.
With regard to the actual teaching of the wherewithal
of tone-contrasts — the teaching of Touch, the rationale of
the processes of producing Tone, Duration and Agility,
there could of course be no teaching worthy the name unless
these things were all the time most fully explained and made
clear to the pupil. Even Germany, where instruction in
these matters had been so hideously bad, even Germany was
now waking up to these requirements of the present day.
Pedalling
The lecturer then went on to the subject of Pedalling,
which he said was mostly so badly overlooked that even
artists' performances were often no better than a child's
daubs. It was pitiable to see the amount of care sometimes
bestowed on making the fingers execute good phrasing,
duration and coloring, when in the meantime the whole
effect was wiped out by the right foot. The fault could in
most cases be again traced to sheer non-attention to the
SUMMARY 163
actual sounds coming from the piano — playing being too
often regarded as a mere muscular exercise instead of the
making of musical sounds for a musical purpose.
Mr. Matthay here demonstrated the striking contrasts
to be obtained merely by varying the duration of sounds;
and pointed out, as to the details of pedalling, that we have
to learn to syncopate the pedal in legato and in legatissimo,
and further to learn the value of incomplete tenuti, empha-
sis by the cutting short of a sustained effect at a pulse, and
half-pedalling effects, all of which matters received full illus-
tration. This matter was summed up by saying that we
must always remember that music depends not only on our
fingers but also on our right foot.
Sincere Art
In his peroration, Mr. Matthay indicated how Musical
Art was always on the wrong path unless it was employed
to depict things felt and experienced. To be sincere, Art
must always be used for the purpose of expressing Mood or
Feeling. But it did not follow that by making this en-
deavor we should succeed, although we should be working
in the right direction. Also, there was the question as to
the appropriateness of the moods chosen to be expressed.
Mr. Matthay then tried to show that in the true basis of
Music — Pulse, Rhythm, Progression — we could find the
reason of its great power over the emotions, this basis
bringing it into intimate union with all the vital manifesta-
tions of Nature, and with the ultimate hidden facts of the
Universe and Infinitude itself.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS FOR PIANOFORTE BY
TOBIAS MATTHAY
With 22 Illustrations. 8vo. pp. xlii-f 3*8. $1.60.
THE ACT OF TOUCH
Put I.
Part IL
PartHL
Part IV.
IN ALL ITS DIVERSITY.
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The Muscular Aspect of Key-Treatment.
On Position.
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COMMENTARIES
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RELAXATION STUDIES
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ments of Percussion
623 Part Vn. Harp, Mandolin, Zither, Guitar, Piano, (Cembalo),
Organ and Harmonium
63 The Rightly-Produced Voice N E. Davidson Palmer
64 Pianist's Manual M. Arnold
65 Catechism of Pianoforte Playing H. Riemann
66 An Introduction to the Study of Theory. (A Sequel to the "Elements
of Music") Franklin Peterson
67 The Student's Handbook of Musical Knowledge
68 Catechism of Music
69 The Appreciative Aspect of Music Study 5. Macpherson
70 Harmony, its Theory and Practice Ebenezer Proul
71 Double Counterpoint and Canon "
72 Harmony Simplified (also published in German and French) H. Riemann
73 Dictionary of Music
74 Catechism of Musical Aesthetics
75 Musical Biographies of Composers, Classified in Centennial Periods
A. M. Browne
76 A Practical Guide to Violin Playing
77 Summary of the Principal Rules of Strict Counterpoint n
78 Common Sense and Singing
79 Practical Elements of Thorough-Bass
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80 Wagner and the Reform of the Opera
H. Wessdy
S. Macpherson
John Kennedy
W. A. Mowrt
E. Dannreuther
Net.
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1.50
1. 00
•So
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10.00
2.00
2.00
1.25
1.25
1-25
2.25
2.00
1.00
.50
1.00
•75
•75
1.00
.50
2.00
2.00
2.00
4.50
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.50
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.50
.50
.75
2.00
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