Great Pianists On Piano Playing Study Talks With Foremost Virtuosos

GREAT PIANISTS ON
PIANO PLAYING

STUDY TALKS WITH
FOREMOST VIRTUOSOS

BY

JAMES FRANCIS COOKE

A SERIES OF PERSONAL EDUCATIONAL CON-
FERENCES WITH RENOWNED MASTERS
OF THE KEYBOARD, PRESENTING THE
MOST MODERN IDEAS UPON THE
SUBJECTS OFTECHNIC, INTER-
PRETATION, STYLE AND
EXPRESSION

THEO. PRESSER CO.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

, 1913, BY TBEEO- I^R-RSSER Co.

, IP 17, BY THEO- I^RJBSSEIt

CONTENTS

1. THE ARTIST'S LITE 5

2. ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 24

3. THE STORY or A WONDER-CBHD. . .Pepito Arricla 41

4. THE PIANIST or TOMORROW Wtthetm Backaus $2

5. ARTISTIC ASPECTS or PIANO STUDY. .Harold Bauer 64

6. APPEARING m PUBLIC FannieBkomfidd-Zd$kr So

7. IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY Ferruccio Busoni 97

8. DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING Teresa Camfio . . .109

9. ESSENTIALS or TOUCH Ossip GabrUowitsch . , , 122

10. THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE or TECHNIC Leopold Godowsky 133

11. ANALYZING MASTERPIECES Katharine Goodson 144

i*. PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY Josef Hofmnn 158

13. PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA Josef Lktoinne . ... 170

14. SEEKING ORIGINALITY Vladimir de Pachminn.ifa

15. MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS Max Pauer 197

16. ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING. . .S. V, Rachmaninoff . . .208

17. SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING A* Reisenaucr 222

18. THE TRAINING or THE VIRTUOSO. . . .E.Sauer 236

19. ECONOMY IN Music STUDY X. Scharwcnka 252

20. LEARNING A NEW PIECE E. SchdLing 267

21. WHAT INTERPRETATION RJCALLY Is. . 5. Stojowski 279

22. BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART Igna* Jtm Paderewski. 290

23. THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN Music

STiflDY Yolando Mcro 302

24. OPPORTUNITY AND LIMITATIONS IN

PIANOKJRTE PLAYING Rudolph Gam , ,311

25. UNIVERSALITY m PIANO TEACHING

MEESODS * Ernest Butcksw 322

26. CONCENTRATION m Music STUDY. . ,0/go Samarojf 334

27. INSURING PROGRESS IN Music STUDY. Mark Eambwg 349

28. MODBSNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY, .Percy Grawgcr 364

29. PROIITABLB PRACTICE versus WASTED

PIACUCE Alexander Lambert 383 ,

30. NEBVOTTSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING. . .Alberto Jonas 398

3

THE ARTIST'S LIFE

THE VIRTUOSO'S CAREER AS IT REALLY Is
THE father of a young woman who was preparing
to become a virtuoso once applied to a famous musical
educator for advice regarding the future career of his
daughter, "I want her to become one of the greatest
pianists America has ever produced/' he said. "She has
talent, good health, unlimited ambition, a good gen-
eral education, and she is industrious." The educator
thought for awhile, and then said, "It is very likely
that your daughter will be successful in her chosen field,
but the amount of grinding study she will be obliged
to undergo to meet the towering standards of modern
pianism is awful to contemplate. In the end she will
have the flattery of the multitude, and, let us hope,
some of their dollars as well. In return, she may have
to sacrifice many of the comforts and pleasures which
women covet. The more successful she is, the more of
a nomad she must become. She will know but few days
for years when she will not be compelled to practice
for hours. She becomes a kind of chattel of the musi-
cal public. She will be harassed by ignorant critics
and perhaps annoyed by unreliable managers* In re-
turn she has money and fame, but, in fact, far less of
the great joy and purpose of life than if she followed
the customary domestic career with some splendid man

6 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

as her husband. When I was younger I used to preach
quite an opposite sermon, but the more I see of the
hardships of the artist's life the less I think of the dol-
lars and the fame it brings. It is hard enough for a
man, but it is twice as hard for a woman."

GOLDEN BAIT

Some cynic has contended that the much-despised
"Almighty Dollar" has been the greatest incentive
to the struggling virtuoso in European music centers.
Although this may be true in a number of cases, it is
certainly unjust in others. Many of the virtuosos find
travel in America so distasteful that notwithstanding
the huge golden bait, the managers have the greatest
difficulty in inducing the pianists to come back. In-
deed, there are many artists of great renown whom the
managers would be glad to coax to our country but
who have withheld tempting offers for years. One of
these is Moritz Moszkowski, probably the most popular
of modern pianoforte composers of high-class music.
Grieg, when he finally consented to make the voyage
to America, placed his price at two thousand five hun-
dred dollars for every concert a sum which any man-
ager would regard prohibitive, except in the case of
one world-famous pianist. Grieg's intent was ob-
vious.

The inconveniences of travel in America have been
ridiculously exaggerated in Europe, and many vir-
tuosos dread the thought of an American trip, with
the great ocean yawning between the two continents,

THE ARTIST'S LITE 7

and red-skinned savages just beyond New York or
certainly not far from Chicago. De Pachmann detests
the ocean, and when he comes over in his favorite
month of June he does not dare return until the follow-
ing June. Others who have never visited America
must get their idea of American travel from some such
account as that of Charles Dickens in his unforgivable
American Notes (1842), in which he said, in describing
one of our railroads:

"There is a great deal of jolting, a great deal of noise, a great deal
of wall, not much window, a locomotive engine, a shriek and a bell.
The cars are like shabby omnibuses holding thirty, forty, fifty people.
In the centre of the carriage there is usually a stove, fed with charcoal
or anthracite coal, which is for the most part red hot. It is insuf-
ferably close, and you sec the hot air fluttering between yourself and
any other object you may happen to look at. "

There could have been but little improvement in our
railroads in 1872 when Rubinstein came to America,
for although he accepted $40,000 for 215 concerts dur-
ing his first trip, he refused an offer of $125,000 for only
50 concerts when a manager tried to persuade him to
return.

American railroads now present the acme of com-
fort, convenience, and even luxury in travel, yet the
European artist has difficulty in adjusting himself to
journeys of thousands of miles crowded in a short
winter season when he has been accustomed to little
trips of a few hundred kilometers. He comes to dread
the trains as we might a prison van. Paderewski re-
sorts to a private car, but even this luxurious mode of
travel may be very monotonous and exhausting,

3 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

The great distances must certainly account for some
of the evidences of strain which deform the faces and
exhaust the minds of so many virtuosos. The travel-
ing salesman seems to thrive upon miles of railroad
travel as do the crews of the trains, but the virtuoso,
dragged from concert to concert by his showman,
grows tired oh, so tired, pale, wan, listless and indif-
ferent! At the beginning of the season he is quite
another person. The magnetism that has done so much
to win him fame shines in his eyes and seems to ema-
nate from his finger-tips, but the difference in his physi-
cal being at the end of the season is sickening. Like
a bedraggled, worn-out circus coming in from the wear
and tear of a hard season, he crawls wearily back to
New York with a cinematographic recollection of
countless telegraph poles flying past the windows, au-
dience after audience, sleeping cars, budding geniuses,
the inevitable receptions with their equally inevitable
chicken salad or lukewarm oysters, and the "sweet
young things," who, like Heine's mythical tribe of
Asra, must love or perish. Some virtuosos have the
physical strength to endure all this, even enjoy it, but
many have confessed to me that their American tours
have been literal nightmares.

One of the greatest pianists was obliged to stay in
New York for a while before attempting the voyage
homeward. At the time he was so weak from the rigors
of the tour that he could scarcely write his name. His
haggard face suggested the tortures of a Torquamada
rather than Buffalo, Kansas City, Denver and Pitts-

THE ARTIST'S LITE 9

burgh. His voice was tired and faltering, and his chief
interest was that of the invalid getting home as soon
as possible. To have talked with him upon music at
that time would have been an injustice. Accord-
ingly, I led him away from the subject and dwelt
upon the woes of his native Poland, and, much to his
surprise, left him without the educational material
of which I had been in quest. He asked the reason,
and I told him that a musical conference at that time
could serve no purpose.

As men and women, aside from the attainments
which have made them illustrious, virtuosos are for
the most part very much like ordinary mortals who
have to content themselves at the foot of Parnassus.
It has been my privilege to know thirty or more of
the most eminent artists, and some have become
good personal friends. It is interesting to observe
how several very different types of individuals may
succeed In. winning public favor as virtuosos. Indeed,
except for the long-haired caricature which the
public accepts as the conventional virtuoso there is
no "virtuoso type." Here is a business man, here
an artist, here an engineer, here a jurist, here an actor,
here a poet and here a freak, all of them distinguished
performers. Perhaps the enthusiastic music-lover
will resent the idea of a freak becoming famous as a
pianist, but I have known no less than three men who
could not possibly be otherwise described, but who
have nevertheless made both fame and fortune as
virtuosos.

10 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

FREAK PIANISTS

The anthropologist who chooses to conduct special
investigations of freaks can find no more entertaining
field than that of the remarkable freaks of the brain,
shown in the cases of some astonishing performers
whose intelligence and mental capacity in other ways
has been negligible. The classic case of Blind Tom,
for instance, was that of a freak not so very far re-
moved in kind from the Siamese Twins, or General
Tom Thumb. Born a slave in Georgia, and wholly
without what teachers would term a musical education,
Blind Tom amazed many of the most conservative
musicians of his time. It was possible for him to re-
peat difficult compositions after hearing them played
only once. I conversed with him a number of years
ago in New York, only to find that intellectually and
physically he was allied to the cretin.

Blind Tom's peculiar ability has led many hasty
commentators to conclude that music is a wholly
separate mental faculty to be found particularly in a
more or less shiftless and irresponsible class of gifted
but intellectually limited human beings. The few
cases of men and women whose musical talent seems
to eclipse their minds so that they remain in utter
darkness to everything else in life, should not be taken
as a basis for judging other artists of real genius and
undisputed mental breadth. I have in mind, however,
the case of one pianist who is very widely known and
highly lauded, but who is very slightly removed from

THE ARTIST'S LITE n

the class of Blind Tom. A trained alienist, one
acquainted with the difference between the eccen-
tricities which frequently accompany greatness and
the unconscious physical and psychical evidences of
idiocy which so clearly agree with the antics of the
chimpanzee or the droll Capuchin monkeys, might
find in the performer to whom I refer a subject for
some very interesting, not to say startling reflections.
Few have ever been successful in inducing this pianist
to talk upon any other subject than, music for more
than a few minutes at a time. Another pianist, who
was distinguished as a Liszt pupil, and who toured
America repeatedly, seemed to have a hatred for the
piano that amounted to an obsession. "Look,"
he exclaimed, "I am its slave. It has sent me round
and round the world, night after night, year after
year. It has cursed me like a wandering Jew. No
rest, no home, no liberty. Do you wonder that I
drink to forget it?"

A PATHETIC EXAMPLE

And drink he did in Bacchanalian measure! One
time he gave an unconscious exhibition of his technical
ability that, while regrettable, would have been of im-
mense interest to psychologists who are seeking to
prove that music depends upon a separate operation
of a special " faculty." During his American tours I
called frequently upon this virtuoso for the purpose of
investigating his method of playing. He was rarely
free from the influence of alcohol for more than a few

12 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

hours at a time. One morning it was necessary for
me to see him professionally, and when I found him
at his hotel he was in a truly disgraceful condition. I
remember that he was unable to stand, from the fact
that he fell upon me while I was sitting in a Morris
chair. He was barely able to talk, and just prior to
my leaving he insisted upon scrawling upon his visit-
ing card, "Zur freundlichen Errinerung, auf einen
sehr spaten Abend. " (Friendly remembrances of a
very late evening.) Since it was still very early in the
morning, it may be realized that he had lost all idea of
his whereabouts. Nevertheless, he sat at the piano
keyboard and played tremendously difficult composi-
tions by Liszt and Brahms compositions which com-
pelled his hands to leap from one part of the keyboard
to the other as in the case of the Liszt Campaiidla.
He never missed a note until he lost his balance upon
the piano stool and fell to the floor. Disgusting and
pathetic as the exhibition was, I could not help feeling
that I was witnessing a marvelous instance of au-
tomatism, that wonderful power of the mind working
through the body to reproduce, apparently without
effort or thought, operations which have been repeated
so many times that they have become "second nature. "
More than this, it indicated clearly that while the
better part of the man's body was "dead to the
world," the faculty he had cultivated to the highest
extent still remained alive. Some years later this
man succumbed to alcoholism.

THE ARTIST'S LIFE 13

THE PIANIST or TO-DAY

Contrasted with a type of this kind may be men-
tioned such men as Sauer, Rachmaninov, d'Albert,
Paderewski, Godowsky, Bachaus, Rosenthal, Pauer,
Joseffy, Stojowski, Scharwenka, Gabrilowitsch, Hof-
mann, Bauer, Lhevinne, to say nothing of the ladies,
Bloomfield-Zeisler, Carreno, Goodson, et d., many of
whom are intellectual giants. Most all are exceed-
ingly regular in their habits, and at least two are strong
temperance advocates. Intellectually, pianists of
this class represent a very remarkable kind of men-
tality. One is impressed with the surprising quick-
ness with which their brains operate even in ordinary
conversation. Speaking in alien languages, they
find comparatively little difficulty in expressing them-
selves with rapidity and fluency. Very few great
singers ever acquire a similar case. These pianists
are wonderfully well read, many being acquainted
with the literature of three or more tongues in the
original. Indeed, it is not unusual to find them skip-
ping through several languages during ordinary con-
versation without realizing that they are performing
linguistic feats that would put the average college
graduate to shame* They are familiar with art,
science, politics, manufactures,- even in their most
recent developments. "What is your favorite type
of a&roplane?" asked one some years ago in the
kindergarten days of cloud navigation. I told him
that I had made no choice, since I had never seen a

14 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

flying machine, despite the fact that I was a native
of the country that gave it birth. He then vouch-
safed his opinions and entered into a physical and
mechanical discussion of the matter, indicating that
he had spent hours in getting the whole subject
straightened out in his mind. This same man, a
German, knew whole cantos of the Inferno by heart,
and could repeat long scenes from King Lear with a
very creditable English accent.

The average American "tired business man" who is
inclined to look upon the touring virtuoso as "only a
pianist" would be immensely surprised if he were
called upon to compare his store of "universal"
information with that of the performer. He would
soon see that his long close confinement behind the
bars of the dollar sign had made him the intellectual
inferior of the musician he almost ignores. But it is
hardly fair to compare these famous interpreters
with the average "tired business man." They are
the Cecil Rhodes, the Thomas Edisons, the Maurice
Maeterlincks of their fields. It is easy enough to find
musicians of smaller life opportunities basking in their
ignorance and conceit.

While the virtuoso may be described as intellectual
in the broader sense of the term, he usually has a
great fear of becoming academic. He aspires to be
artistic rather than scholarly. He strives to elevate
rather than to teach in the strictly pedagogical
sense. Some of the greatest performers have been
notoriously weak as teachers* They do not seek the

THE ARTIST'S LIFE 15

walls of the college, neither do they long for the cheap
Bohcmianism that so many of the French feuilletonists
delight in describing. (Why should the immorality
of the artist's-life be laid at the doors of fair Bohemia?)
The artist's life is wrapped up in making his readings
of master works more significant, more eloquent,
more beautiful. He is interested in everything that
contributes to his artistry, whether it be literature,
science, history, art or the technic of his own inter-
pretative development. He penetrates the various
mystic problems which surround piano playing by the
infallible process of persistent study and reflection.
The psychical phase of his work interests him im-
mensely, particularly the phenomena of personal at-
tractionoften called magnetism.

THE MAGIC OF MAGNETISM
Magnetism is surely one of the most enviable pos-
sessions of the successful pianist. Just what magne-
tism is and how it comes to be, few psychologists
attempt to relate. We all have our theories, just
why one pianist who often blunders as readily as a
Rubinstein, or who displays his many shortcomings at
every concert can invariably draw larger audiences
and arouse more applause than his confrere with
weaker vital forces, although he be admittedly a bet-
ter technician, a more highly educated gentleman
and perhaps a more sensitive musician.

Charles Frohman, keenest of theatrical producers,
attributed the actor's success to "vitality," and in

1 6 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

doing this he merely chose one of the weaker synonyms
of magnetism. Vitality in this sense does not imply
great bodily strength. It is rather soul-strength,
mind-strength, life-strength. Professor John D . Quack-
enbos, A.M., M.D., formerly of Columbia Uni-
versity, essays the following definition of magnetism
in his excellent Hypnotic Therapeutics:

"Magnetism is nothing more than earnestness and sincerity,
coupled with insight, sympathy, patience and tact. These QF$C nlials
cannot be bought and cannot be taught. They arc 'born by nature/
they are dyed with 'the red ripe of the heart > "

But Dr. Quackenbos is a physician and a philoso-
pher. Had he been a lexicographer he would have
found the term magnetism far more inclusive. lie
would at least have admitted the phenomenon which
we have witnessed so often when one possessed with
volcanic vitality overwhelms a great audience.

The old idea that magnetism is a kind of invisible
form of intellectual or psychic electricity has gone
down the grotesque phrenological vagaries of Gall as
well as some of the pseudoscientific theories of that
very unusual man, Mesmer. We all possess what is
known as magnetism. Some have it in an unusual
degree, as did Edwin Booth, Franz Liszt, Phillips
Brooks and Bismarck. It was surely neither the
art nor the ability of Daniel Webster that made his
audiences accept some of his fatuous platitudes as
great utterances, nor was it the histrionic talent
alone of Richard Mansfield that enabled him to wring
success from such an obvious theatrical contraption

THE ARTIST'S LIFE 17

as Prince Karl Both Webster, with his fathomless
eyes and his ponderous voice, and Mansfield, with his
compelling personality, were exceptional examples of
magnetism.

A NOTABLE EXAMPLE

Among virtuosos Paderewski is peculiarly forceful
in the personal spell he casts over his audience.
Someone has said that it cost one hundred thousand
dollars to exploit his hair before he made his first
American tour. But it was by no means curiosity
to see his hair which kept on filling auditorium after
auditorium. I attended his first concert in New
York, and was amazed to see a comparatively small
gathering of musical zealots. His command of the
audience was at once imperial. The critics, some of
whom would have found Paderewski's hirsute crown
a delightful rack upon which to hang their ridicule,
went into ecstasies instead. His art and his striking
personality, entirely apart from his appearance, soon
made him the greatest concert attraction in the musi-
cal world. Anyone who has conversed with him for
more than a few moments realizes what the meaning
of the word magnetism is. His entire bearing his
lofty attitude of mind, his personal dignity all con-
tribute to the inexplicable attraction that the arch
hypnotist Mesmer first described as animal magnetism.

That magnetism of the pianist must be considered
wholly apart from personal beauty and great physical
strength is obvious to anyone who has given the

1 8 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

subject a moment's thought. Many of the artists
already mentioned (in this book) who possess magnet-
ism similar to that of Paderewski could surely never
make claim for personal beauty. Neither is mag-
netism akin to that attraction we all experience when
we see a powerful, well-groomed horse, a sleek hound,
a handsome tiger that is, it is not mere admiration
for a beautiful animal. Whether it has any similarity
to the mysterious charm which makes the doomed
bird lose control of its wings upon the approach of a
snake is difficult to estimate. Certainly, in the
paraphernalia of the modern recital with its lowered
lights and its solitary figure playing away at a polished
instrument one may find something of the physical
apparatus employed by the professional hypnotist
to insure concentration but even this can not
account for the pianist's real attractiveness. If
Mr. Frohman's "vitality" means the "vital spark/'
the "life element," it comes very close to a true
definition of magnetism, for success without this
precious Promethean force is inconceivable. It may
be only a smouldering ember in the soul of a dying
Chopin, but if it is there it is irresistible until it be-
comes extinct. Facial beauty and physical prowess
all made way for the kind of magnetism that Socrates,
George Sand, Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, Paganiru,
Emerson, Dean Swift or Richard Wagner possessed.
More wonderful still is the fact that magnetism is
by no means confined to those who have finely trained
intellects or who have achieved great reputations.

IHE ARTIST'S LITE 19

Some vaudeville buffoon or some gypsy fiddler may
have more attractive power than the virtuoso who had
spent years in developing his mind and his technic.
The average virtuoso thinks far more of his "geist,"
his "talent" (or as Emerson would have it, "the
shadow of the soul the otherwise") than he does of
his technic, or his cadenzas. By what mystic means
magnetism may be developed, the writer does not
pretend to know. Possibly by placing one's deeper
self (shall we say "subconscious self") in closer
communion with the great throbbing problems of the
invisible though perpetually evident forces of nature
which surround us we may become more alive, more
sensitively vivified. What would it mean to the
young virtuoso if he could go to some occult master,
some seer of a higher thought, and acquire that lode-
stone which has drawn fame and fortune to the blessed
few? Hundreds have spent fortunes upon charlatans
in the attempt.

All artists know the part that the audience itself
plays in falling under the magnetic spell of the per-
former. Its connection with the phenomena of auto-
suggestion is very clear. Dr. Wundt, the famous
German psychologist, showed a class of students how
superstitions unconsciously acquired in early life
affect sensible adults who have long since passed the
stage at which they might put any credence in omens.
At a concert given by a famous player, the audience
has been well schooled in anticipation. The artist
always appears under a halo his reputation has made

I

20 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

for him. This very reputation makes his conquest far
easier than that of the novice who has to prove his
ability before he can win the sympathy of the audience.
He is far more likely to find the audience en rapport
than indifferent. Sometime, at the play in a theater,
watch how the audience will unconsciously mirror the
facial expressions of the forceful actor. In some simi-
lar manner, the virtuoso on the concert platform
sensitizes the minds and emotions of the sympathetic
audience. If the effect is deep and lasting, the artist
is said to possess that Kohinoor of virtuosodom
magnetism.

Some widely read critics have made the very
natural error of confounding magnetism with person-
ality. These words have quite different connota-
tions personality comprehending the more subtle
force of magnetism. An artist's individual worth is
very closely allied with his personality that is, his
whole extrinsic attitude toward the thought and action
of the world about him. How important personality
is may be judged by the widely advertised efforts of
the manufacturers of piano-playing machines to
convince the public that their products, often aston-
ishingly fine, do actually reproduce the individual
effects which come from the playing of the living
artist. Piano-playing machines have their place,
and it is an important one* However, wonderful
as they may be, they can never be anything but
machines. They bring unquestioned joy to thousands,
and they act as missionaries for both music and the

THE ARTIST'S LIFE 21

music-teacher by taking the art into countless homes
where it might otherwise never have penetrated, thus
creating the foundation for a strong desire for a
thorough study of music. The piano-playing machine
may easily boast of a mechanism as wonderful as
that of a Liszt, a d' Albert or a Bachaus, but it can no
more claim personality than the typewriter upon
which this article is being written can claim to repro-
duce the individuality which characterizes the hand-
writing of myriads of different persons. Personality,
then, is the virtuoso's one great unassailable strong-
hold. It is personality that makes us want to hear a
half dozen different renderings of a single Beethoven
sonata by a half dozen different pianists. Each has
the charm and flavor of the interpreter.

But personality in its relation to art has been so
exquisitely defined by the inimitable British essayist,
A. C Benson, that we can do no better than to quote
his words:

"I have lately come to perceive that the one thing
which gives value to any piece of art, whether it be
book, or picture, or music, is that subtle and evasive
thing which is called personality. No amount of labor,
of zest, even of accomplishment, can make up for the
absence of this quality. It must be an almost in-
stinctive thing, I believe. Of course, the mere pres-
ence of personality in a work of art is not sufficient,
because the personality revealed may be lacking in
charm; and charm, again, is an instinctive thing.
No artist can set out to capture charm; he will toil

22 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

all the night and take nothing; but what every artist
can and must aim at is to have a perfectly sincere
point of view. He must take his chance as to whether
his point of view is an attractive one; but sincerity
is the one indispensable thing. It is useless to take
opinions on trust, to retail them, to adopt them;
they must be formed, created, felt. The work of a
sincere artist is almost certain to have some value;
the work of an insincere artist is of its very nature
worthless."

Mr. Benson's " charm " is what the virtuoso feels
as magnetism. It puts something into the artist's
playing that he cannot define. For a moment the
vital spark flares into a bewildering flame, and all his
world is peopled with moths hovering around the
"divine fire."

THE GREATEST THING or ALL
If we have dwelt too long upon magnetism, those
who know its importance in the artist's life will readily
perceive the reason. But do not let us be led away
into thinking that magnetism can take the place of
hard work. Even the tiny prodigy has a career of
work behind him, and the master pianist has often
climbed to his position over Afatterhorns and ML
Blancs of industry. Days of practice, months of
study, years of struggle are part of the biography of
almost every one who has attained real greatness.
What a "pity to destroy time-old illusions! Some
prefer to think of their artist heroes dreaming their

THE ARTIST'S LIFE 23

lives away in the hectic caf6s of Pesth or buried in the
melancholy, absinthe and paresis of some morbid
cabaret of Paris. As a matter of fact, the best
known pianists live a totally different life a life of
grind, grind, grind incessant study, endless practice
and ceaseless search fWMWeans to raise their artistic
standing. In some quiet country villa, miles away
from the center of unlicensed Bacchanalian revels,
the virtuoso may be found working hard upon next
season's repertoire.

After all, the greatest thing in the artist's life is
W-O-R-K.

II

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE?

SOME years ago the Director of the Leipsic Con-
servatorium gave the writer a complete record of the
number of graduates of the conservatory from the
founding to the late nineties. Of the thousands of
students who had passed through the institution only
a few had gained wide prominence. Hardly one stu-
dent in one hundred had won his way into the most
voluminous of the musical biographical dictionaries.
The proportion of distinguished graduates to those
who fail to gain renown is very high at Leipsic com-
pared with many other institutions. What becomes
of the thousands of students all working frantically
with the hope of becoming famous pianists? Surely,
so much earnest effort can not be wasted even though
all can not win the race? Those who often convince
themselves that they have failed go on to perform
a more useful service to society than the laurel-
crowned virtuoso. Unheralded and unapplauded,
they become the teachers, the true missionaries of
Frau Musik to the people.

What is it then, which promotes a few "fortunate"
ones from the armies of students all over America and
Europe and makes of them great virtuosos? What
must one do to become a virtuoso? How long must
one study before one may make a debut? What does

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 25

a great virtuoso receive for his performances? How
long does the virtuoso practice each day? What
exercises does he use? All these and many more
similar questions crop up regularly in the offices of
music critics and in the studios of teachers. Un-
fortunately, a definite answer can be given to none,
although a great deal may be learned by reviewing
some of the experiences of one who became great.

Some virtuosos actually seem to be born with the
heavenly gift. Many indeed are sons and daughters
of parents who see their own demolished dreams rea-
lized in the triumphs of their children. When little
Nathan creeps to the piano and quite without the
help of his elders picks out the song he has heard his
mother sing, all the neighbors in Odessa know it
the next day. "A wonder child perhaps!" Oh
happy augury of fame and fortune! Little Nathan
shall have the best of instruction. His mother will
teach him at first, of course. She will shape his little
fingers to the keyboard. She will sing sweet folk mel-
odies in his ear, songs of labor, struggle, exile. She
will count laboriously day after day until he "plays in
time. " All the while the little mother sees far beyond
the Ghetto, out into the great world, grand audi-
toriumSj breathless crowds, countless lights, nobles
granting trinkets, bravos from a thousand throats,
Nathan surrounded by endless wreaths of laurel, Oh,
it is all too much," Nathan ! Nathan ! you are play-
ing far too fast. One, two, three, four, one, two, three,
four, there, that is the tempo dementi would have

26 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

had it Fine! Some day, Nathan, you will be a great
pianist and JJ etc., etc.

Nathan next goes to the great teacher. He is
already eight years old and fairly leaping out of his
mother's arms. Two years with the teacher and
Nathan is probably ready for a debut as a wonder
child. The critics are kind, If his parents are very
poor Nathan may go from town to town for awhile
being exhibited like a trained poodle or a tiny acro-
bat. The further he gets from home the more severe
his critics become, and Nathan and his mother hurry
back to the old teachers, who tell them that Nathan
must still practice long and hard as well as do some-
thing to build up his general education. The world
in these days looks askance at the musician who aside
from his keyboard accomplishments is a numskull
More sacrifice for Nathan's mother and father,
but what are poverty and deprivation with such a
goal in sight? Nathan studies for some years in the
schools and in the high schools as well as at the con-
servatory. In the music school he will doubtless
spend six years in all, two years in the post-graduate
or master classes, following the regular four-year
course. When sufficiently capable he will take a
few pupils at a kopeck or so per lesson to help out with
the family expenses,

Nathan graduates from the conservatory with
high honors. Will the public now receive him as a
great pianist? A concert is planned and Nathan
plays. Day and night for years his whole family

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 2 7

have been looking forward to that concert. Let us
concede that the concert is a triumph. Does he
find fame and fortune waiting for him next morning?
No indeed, there are a thousand Nathans all equally
accomplished. Again he must work and again he
must concertize. Perhaps after years of strife a
manager may approach him some day with a contract.
Lucky Nathan, have you not a thousand brothers
who may never see a contract? Then, "Can it be
possible Nathan, is it really America, America
the virtuoso's Golconda!" Nathan makes a glorious
tournk. Perhaps the little mother goes with him.
More likely she stays at home in Odessa waiting with
glistening eyes for each incoming mail. Pupils come
to Nathan and he charges for each lesson a sum equal-
ing his father's former weekly wage. Away with the
Ghetto! Away with poverty! Away with oblivion!
Nathan is a real virtuoso, a veritable Meistert

THE AMERICAN VIRTUOSO OF TO-DAY
How does the American aspirant compete with
Nathan? Are there not as fine teachers here in
America as in Europe? Is it really necessary to go
to Europe to "finish" one's musical education?
Can one not become a virtuoso in America? more
questions with which editors and teachers are con-
stantly plied. Can one who for years has waged a
battle for the American teacher and American musical
education answer this question without bias? Can
we who trace the roots of our lineage back to barren

28 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Plymouth or stolid New Netherland judge the question
fairly and honestly?

One case suffices to show the road which the Ameri-
can virtuoso is likely to travel. She is still a young
woman, in her twenties. Among her teachers was
one who ranks among the very best in America. Her
general education was excellent, in fact far superior
to that of the average young lady of good family in
continental Europe. While in her early teens she
became the leading feature at conservatory concerts,
Her teacher won many a profitable pupil through her
brilliant playing. She studies, as do so many Ameri-
can pupils, without making a regular business of it.
Compared with the six year all day, week in and week
out course which Nathan pursued in Odessa our little
compatriot was at a decided disadvantage. But
who ever heard of a music student making a regular
business of learning the profession as would a doctor
or a lawyer? Have not students contented them-
selves with two lessons a week since time immemorial?
Need we go further to discover one of the flaws in
our own educational system, a flaw that is not due to
the teacher or to the methods of instruction, but
rather to our time-old custom. Two lessons a
week are adequate for the student who does not
aspire to become a professional, but altogether in-
sufficient for the student who must accomplish a vast
amount of work in a comparatively small number of
years. She requires constant advice, regular daily
instruction and careful attention under experienced

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 29

Instructors. Teachers are not to be blamed if she
does not receive this kind of attention, as there are
abundant opportunities now in America to receive
systematic training under teachers as thorough, as
able and as inspiring as may be found in Europe.
The excuse that the expense is greater in America
falls when we learn the very high prices charged by
leading teachers in Germany, Austria and France.
To go back to our particular case, the young lady
is informed at the end of a course of two or three
lessons a week during two or three years, that she is
a full-fledged virtuoso and may now enter the con-
cert field to compete with Carreno, Bloomfield-
Zeisler or Goodson. Her playing is obviously supe-
rior to that of her contemporary students. Some one
insists upon a short course of study abroad, not
because it is necessary, but because it might add to her
reputation and make her first flights in the American
concert field more spectacular. Accordingly she
goes to Europe, only to find that she is literally sur-
rounded by budding virtuosos, an army of Nathans,
any one of whom might easily eclipse her. Against
her personal charm, her new-world vigor, her Yankee
smartness, Nathan places his years of systematic
training, his soul saturated in the music and art of
past centuries of European endeavor and perhaps his
youth of poverty which makes success imperative.
The young lady's European teacher frankly tells her
that while her playing is delightful for the salon or
parlor she will never do for the great concert hall.

30 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

She must learn to play with more power, more virility,
more character. Accordingly he sets her at work
along special muscle-building, tone-cultivating, speed-
making lines of technic in order to make up for the
lack of the training which the young lady might
easily have had at home had her parents been schooled
to systematic daily study as a necessity. Her first
technical exercises with the new teacher are so simple
that the young woman is on the verge of despair
until she realizes that her playing is really taking on a
new and more mature character. She has been lift-
ing fifty pound weights occasionally. Her teacher
is training her to lift one hundred pound weights every
day. She has been sketching in pastels, her teacher
is now teaching her how to make Velasquez-like
strokes in oils. Her gain is not a mere matter of
loudness. She could play quite as loud before she went
to Europe. There is something mature in this new
style of playing, something that resembles the play-
ing of the other virtuosos she has heard. Who is the
great European master who is working such great
wonders for her? None other thin a celebrated
teacher who taught for years in America,- a master
no better than dozens of others in America right
now. Can the teachers in America be blamed if the
parents and the pupils fail to make as serious and
continued an effort here? Atmosphere, bosh! Work,
long, hard and unrelenting, that is the salvation of
the student who would become a virtuoso. With our
increasing wealth and advancing culture American

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 31

parents are beginning to discover that given the
same work and the same amount of instruction musi-
cal education in America differs very slightly from
musical education abroad.

But we are deserting our young virtuoso most
ungallantly. In Berlin she hears so many concerts
and recitals, so many different styles of playing, that
she begins to think for herself and her sense of artistic
discrimination interpretation, if you will becomes
more and more acute. Provided with funds for at-
tending concerts, she does regularly, whereas in
America she neglected opportunities equally good.
She never realized before that there could be so much
to a Brahms Inkrmezw or a Chopin Ballade, At the
end of her first year her American common-sense
tells her that a plunge into the concert field is still
dangerous. Accordingly she remains two, or possibly
three, more years and at the end if she has worked hard
she is convinced that with proper management she
may stand some chance of winning that fickle treasure,
public favor.

"But," persists the reader, "it would have been
possible for her to have accomplished the same work
at home in America." Most certainly, if she had
had any one of the hundred or more virtuoso teachers
now resident in the United States all of whom are
capable of bringing a highly talented pupil to virtuoso
heights, and if in their teaching they had exerted
sufficient will-power to demand from the pupil and
the pupil's parents the same conditions which would

32 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

govern the work of the same pupil studying in Europe.
Through long tradition and by means of endless
experiences the conditions have been established in
Europe. The student who aspires to become a pro-
fessional is given a distinctively professional course.
In America the need for such a training is but scantily
appreciated. Only a very few of us are able to ap-
praise the real importance of music in the advance-
ment of human civilization, nor is this unusual, since
most of us have but to go back but a very few genera-
tions to encounter our blessed Puritan and Quaker
ancestors to whom all music, barring the lugubrious
Psalm singing, was the inspiration of the devil. The
teachers, as has been said before, are fully ready and
more than anxious to give the kind of training re-
quired. Very frequently parents are themselves to
blame for the slender dikttantc style of playing which
their well-instructed children present. They measure
the needs of the concert hall by the dimensions of the
parlor. The teacher of the would-be professional
pupil aspires to produce a quantity of tone that will
fill an auditorium seating at least one thousand people.
The pupil at home is enjoined not to u bang" or
" pound." The result is a feeble, characterless tone
which rarely fills an auditorium as it should. The
actor can not forever rehearse in whispers if he is to
fill a huge theater, and the concert pianist must have a
strong, sure, resilient touch in order to bring about
climaxes and make the range of his dynamic power
all-comprehensive, Indeed, the separation from home

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 33

ties, or shall we call them home interferences, is often
more responsible for the results achieved abroad than
superior instruction.

Unfortunately, the number of virtuosos who have
been taught exclusively in America is really very
small. It is not a question of ability upon the
part of the teacher or talent upon the part of the
pupil. It is entirely a matter of the attitudes of
the teacher, the pupil and the pupil's home advisers.
Success demands strong-willed discipline and the most
lofty standards imaginable. Teachers who have
taught for years in America have returned to Europe,
doubled and quadrupled their fees, and, under old-
world surroundings and with more rigid standards of
artistic work, have produced results they declare
would have been impossible in America. The author
contends that these results would have been readily
forthcoming if we in America assumed the same
earnest, persistent attitude toward the work itself.
If these words do no more than reach the eyes of some
of those who are advising students wrongly in this
matter they will not have been written in vain. The
European concert triumphs of Mrs. H. H. A. Beach,
whose training was received wholly in the United
States, is an indication of what may be achieved in
America if the right course is pursued. Conditions
are changing rapidly in our country, particularly in
the wonderful West and Middle-West. It seems
likely that many pianists without foreign instruction
of any kind will have as great success in our concert

8

34 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

field as have many of our best opera singers who have
never had a lesson "on the other side. "

Our little pianist has again been playing truant
from our manuscript. Let us see what happens to
her when she finished her work with the famous
teacher abroad. Surely the making of a virtuoso is
an expensive matter. Let us take the estimate of
the young pianist's father, who practically mortgaged
his financial existence to give his daughter the right
musical trailing.

Lessons with first teacher at $1,00 a lesson*

Eighty lessons a year for four years. , , $140 oo
Lessons "with second American teacher for two

years at $2.00 a lesson 320,00

Lessons with third Amencan teacher at $4.00 a

lesson for one year and six months 480,00

Music, books, etc 160.00

Piano .., 7$Q-oo

Maintenance for eight years at $200.00 a year

(minimum estimate) 1600,00

Four years in Europe, travel, board, instruction,

advertising, etc 6000 oo

TOTAL $0550 oo

But the expense has only begun, if you please.
The harvest is still a long way off. According to the
fine traditions established by the late P. T. Barnum,
there must be a European furore to precede the
American advent of the musical star. The journal-
istic astronomers must point their tcle?copes long and
steadily at the European firmament and proclaim
their discovery in the columns of their pape$. Again,
furores are expensive. One must hire an auditorium,
hire an orchestra, and, according to some very frank

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 3$

and disgusted young virtuosos who have failed to
succeed, hire a critic or so like the amusing Trotter in
Fanny's First Play. What with three and four
concerts a night why should not the critics have a
pourboire for extra critical attention? Fortunately
the best papers hold their criticisms above price.
Bought criticisms are very rare, and if the young
pianist or any representative approaches certain
critics with any such suggestion, she may count upon
faring very badly in cold type on the following day,
If Miss Virtuoso makes a success, her press notices
are sent to her American concert managers, who
purchase space in some American musical news-
papers and reprint these notices. Publicity of this
kind is legitimate, as the American public knows that
in most cases these press notices are reprinted solely
as advertising. It is simply the commercial process of
"acquainting the trade" and if done right may prove
one of the most fortunate investments for the young
artist. Do not imagine, however, that the pianist's
American manager speculates in the problematical
success of the coming virtuoso. On the contrary, his
fee for putting the artist on his "list" and promoting
her interests may range from five hundred dollars to
two thousand dollars in advance. After that the
manager usually requires a commission on all engage-
ments "booked." Graft? Spoils? Plunder? Not
a bit of it. If the manager is a good one that is,
if he is an upright business man well schooled in his
work the investment should prove a good one.

36 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Exploiting a new artist is a matter demanding brains,
energy, ingenuity and experience. A manufacturing
firm attempting to put some new product upon an
already crowded market would spend not $2000.00
a year in. advertising, but $100,000,00. The manager
must maintain an organization, he must travel, he
must advertise and he too must live. If he succeeds
in marketing the services of the young virtuoso at one
or two hundred dollars a concert, the returns soon
begin to overtake the incessant expenses. However,
only the most persistent and talented artists survive
to reap these rewards. The late Henry Wolfsohn,
one of the greatest managers America has ever pro-
duced, told the writer frequently that the task of
introducing a new artist was one of the most thankless
and uncertain undertakings imaginable.

Does the work, the time, the expense frighten you,
little miss at the keyboard? Do you fear the grind,
the grueling disappoints, the unceasing sacrifices?
Then abandon your great career and join the army of
useful music workers who are teaching the young
people of the land to love music as it should be loved,
not in hysterical outbursts in the concert hall but in
the home circle. If you have the unextinguishable
fire within your soul, if you have the talent from on
high, if you have health, energy, system, vitality,
nothing can stop you from becoming great. Advice,
interferences, obstacles will be nothing to you. You
will work day and night to reach your goal. What
better guide could you possibly have than the words

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 37

of the great pianists themselves ? While the ensuing
pages were compiled with the view of helping the
amateur performer quite as much as the student who
would become a professional pianist, you will never-
theless find in the expressions of the really great
virtuosos a wealth of information and practical ad-
vice.

Most of the following chapters are the results of
many different conferences with the greatest living
pianists. All have had the revision of the artists in
person before publication was undertaken. In order
to indicate how carefully and willingly this was done
by the pianists it is interesting to note the case of the
great Russian composer-virtuoso Rachmaninoff. The
original conference was conducted in German and in
French. The material was arranged in manuscript
form in English. M. Rachmaninoff then requested
a second conference. In the mean time he had had the
better part of the manuscript translated into his
native Russian. However, in order to insure accu-
racy in the use of words, the writer translated the
entire matter back into German in the pianist's pres-
ence. M. Rachmaninoff did not speak English and
the writer did not speak Russian.

The chapter relating to Harold Bauer is the result
of a conference conducted in English. Mr. Bauer's
use of his native tongue is as fluent and eloquent as a
poet or an orator. In order that his ideas might have
the best possible expression the entire chapter was

38 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

written several times in manuscript and carefully
rearranged and rephrased by Mr. Bauer in person.

Some of the conferences lasted well on through the
night. The writers twenty years' experience in
teaching was constantly needed to grasp different
shadings of meaning that some pianists found difficult
to phrase. Many indeed have felt their weakness in
the art of verbal expression and have rejoiced to have
their ideas clothed with fitting words. Complete
frankness and sincerity were encouraged in every
case. The results of the conference with Wilhehn
Bachaus, conceded by many other pianists to be the
foremost "technicalist" of the day, are, it will be
observed, altogether different in the statement of
teaching principles from those of Harold Bauer,
Each is a sincere expression of individual opinion ami
the thoughtful student by weighing the ideas of both
may reach conclusions immensely to his personal
advantage.

No wider range of views upon the subject of
pianoforte playing could possibly come between the
covers of a book. The student, the teacher, and the
music lover who acquaints himself with the opinions
of the different masters of the keyboard can not fail
to have a very clear insight into the best contemporary
ideas upon technic, interpretation, style and expression.
The author or shall he call himself a collector?'
believes that the use of the questions following each
chapter will be found practical and useful in the work
of both clubs and classes* Practice, however, is still

ARE PIANISTS BORN OR MADE? 39

more important than precept. The student might
easily learn this book "by heart" and yet be unable
to play a perfect scale. Let him remember the words
of Locke:

"Men of much reading are greatly learned, but may be
little knowing "

After all, the virtuoso is great because he really
knows and W-0-R-K-S,

PEPITO ARRIOLA

BIOGRAPHICAL

Pepito Arriola was born on the i4th of December,
1897. A careful investigation of his ancestry reveals
that no less than twelve of his forefathers and relations
have been pronouncedly musical. His father was a
physician, but his mother was a musician. His early
musical training was given to him exclusively by his
mother. The following was prepared when he was
twelve years old and at that time he was apparently
a perfectly healthy child, with the normal activity
of a boy of his age and with a little more general edu-
cation in addition to his music than the average
child at fifteen or sixteen possesses. He spoke French,
German (fluently) and Spanish, but little English.
Despite the fact that he had received numerous honors
from European monarchs and famous musicians, he
was exceptionally modest. In his playing he seemed
never to miss a note in even very complicated com-
positions and his musical maturity and point of view
were truly astonishing. The following is particularly
valuable from an educational standpoint, because of
the absolute unaffectedness of the child's narrative of
his own training,

(The following conference was conducted in German
and French.)

40

PEPITO ARRIOLA

m

THE STORY OF A WONDER CHILD

PEPITO ARRIOLA

MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS
So much that was of interest to me was continually
occurring while I was a child that it all seems like a
kind of haze to me. I cannot remember when I
first commenced to play, for my mother tells me that
I wanted to reach out for the keyboard before I was
out of her arms. I have also learned that when I was
about two and one-half years of age, I could quite
readily play after my mother anything that the size
of my hand would permit me to play.

I loved music so dearly, and it was such fun to run
over the keyboard and make the pretty sounds, that
the piano was really my first and best toy. I loved to
hear my mother play, and continually begged her to
play for me so that I could play the same pieces after
her. I knew nothing of musical notation and played
entirely by ear, which seemed to me the most natural
way to play. At that time, word was sent to the
King of Spain that I showed talent, and he became
interested in me, and I played before him.

MY FRIENDSHIP WITH ARTHUR NIKISCH
A short time afterward, Heir Arthur Nikisch, con-
ductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra at Leipsic, and

41

42 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

at one time conductor of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra in America, came to Madrid to conduct the
Philharmonic Orchestra for a special concert. Some
one told him about my playing and I was permitted to
play for him. He became so interested that he in-
sisted upon my being taken to Leipsic fo r further
study. I was then four years of age, and although
musical advantages in Spain are continually increas-
ing, my mother thought it best at the time that she
should follow the great musician's advice and that I
should be taken to the German city.

I want to say that in my earliest work, my mother
made no effort to push me or urge me to go ahead.
I loved to play for the sake of playing, and needed no
coaxing to spend time at the keyboard. In my very
early years I was permitted to play in public very
little, although there were constant demands made
to engage me. I was looked upon as a kind of curi-
osity and my mother wanted me to study in the
regular way with good masters, and also to acquire
more strength before I played in public very much.

I did, however, play at the great Albert Hall in
London. The big building holds Sooo people, but
that was so long ago that I have almost forgotten all
about it, except that they all seemed pleased to see a
little boy of four playing in so very big a place, I
also played for royal personages, including the
Kaiser of Germany, who was very good to me and
gave me a beautiful pin. I like the Kaiser very much.
He seems like a fine man.

THE STORY OF A WONDER CHILD 43

MY FIRST REGULAR INSTRUCTION
My first teacher, aside from my mother, was a
Herr Dreckendorf, of Leipsic. He was very kind to
me and took the greatest pains, but the idea of learn-
ing the notes was very distasteful to me. I was ter-
ribly bored with the technical exercises he gave me,
but have since learned that one can save much time
by practicing scales and exercises. Although I do
not like them, I practice them every day now, for a
little while, so as to get my fingers in good working
order.

In about six weeks I knew all that was expected
of me in the way of scales in octaves, sixths, thirds,
double thirds, etc., and my teacher commenced to
turn his attention to studies and pieces. For the
first time I found musical notation interesting, for
then I realized that it was not necessary for me to
wait until some one else played a piece before I could
begin to explore its beauties. Ah! it was wonderful,
those first days with the pieces. I was in a new
country and could hardly wait to master one at a
time, so eager was I to reach the next one and see
just what it was like.

Herr Dreckendorf gave me some studies by Dussek,
Cramer, the Inventions of Bach, etc,, but before long
the fascination of playing beautiful pieces was so
great that he found it hard to keep me away from them.

44 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

EARLY REPERTORY

So hungry was I to find new musical works that
when I was eight and a half years old I could play
from memory such pieces as the B flat minor Scherzo,
the A flat major Polonaise, and most of the Valses
and Etudes of Chopin. I also played the Sixth
Rhapsody of Liszt and the C minor Concerto of Beet-
hoven.

In the mean time we moved to Berlin and this has
been our home ever since, so you see I have seen
far more of Germany than of my native country,
Spain. In fact, it seems more natural for me to speak
German than Spanish. At the age of seven it was
my good fortune to come under the instruction of
Alberto Jonas, the Spanish virtuoso, who for many
years was at the head of a large music school in
America. I can never be grateful enough to him, for
he has taught me without remuneration and not
even a father could be kinder to me. When I left
Berlin for my present tour, tears came to our eyes,
because I knew I was leaving my best friend. Most
of my present repertory has been acquired under
Jonas and he has been so, so exacting.

He also saw to it that my training was broad, and
not confined to those composers whose works ap-
pealed most to me. The result is that I now ap-
preciate the works of all the composers for the piano.
Beethoven I found very absorbing. I learned the
Appassionato Sonata in one week's time, and longed

THE STORY OF A WONDER CHILD 45

for more. My teacher, however, insisted upon my
going slowly, and mastering all the little details.

I have also developed a great fondness for Bach,
because I like to find how he winds his melodies in
and out, and makes such beautiful things of them, I
play a great deal of Bach, including the G minor
organ Fugue, which Liszt played the devil with in
arranging it for the piano. Goodness knows, it was
difficult enough for the organ in its original form!
I don't see why Liszt wanted to make it more difficult.

Liszt is, of course, considered a great master for
the piano, and I play his works with great delight,
especially the Campanella with its beautiful bell
effect, but I cannot look upon Liszt as a pianistic
composer in the same way that one thinks of Chopin
as a pianistic composer. The piano was Chopin's
natural tongue. Liszt's tongue, like that of Beet-
hoven, was the orchestra. He knew no difficulties,
according to the manner in which he wrote his own
works. Consequently one must think of the orchestra
in playing Liszt's works, while the works of Chopin
suggest only the piano.

MY DAILY PRACTICE

During most of my life my practice has never
exceeded two hours a day. In this country, while
on tour, I never practice more than one and one-half
hours This is not necessary, because of the concerts
themselves, which keep up my technical work. I
never worry about my fingers. If I can think the

46 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

pieces right, my fingers will always play the notes.
My mother insists upon my being out in the open
air all the time I am not studying and practicing,
and I am out the better part of the day.

At my practice periods, I devote at least fifteen
or twenty minutes to technical exercises, and strive
to play all the scales, in the different forms, in all
the keys, once each day. I then play some of my
concert numbers, continually trying to note if there
is any place that requires attention. If there is, I
at once spend a little time trying to improve the
passage.

It is very largely a matter of thinking the musical
thought right, and then saying it in the right way.
If you think it right, and your aim at the keyboard is
good, you are not likely to hit the wrong notes, even
in skips such as one finds in the Rubinstein Valse
in E flat. I do not ever remember of hitting the
upper note wrong. It all seems so easy to me that
I am sure that if other children in America would
look upon other examples in the same way, they
could not find their work so very difficult. I love to
practice Chopin, One cannot be so intimate with
Bach; he is a little cold and unfriendly until one
knows him very well

GENERAL EDUCATION

I have said that we play as we think. The mind
must be continually improved or the fingers will
grow dull. In order to see the beauties in music

THE STORY OF A WONDER CHILD 47

we must see the beauties in other studies. I have
a private teacher who comes to me in Berlin and
teaches me different studies, I have studied some
Latin, French, and the regular school studies. Elec-
tricity interests me more than I can tell you and I
like to learn about it, but my greatest interest is in
the study of astronomy. Surely nothing could be
finer than to look at the stars, I have friends among
the astronomers of Berlin who let me look through
their telescopes and tell me all about the different
constellations and the worlds that look like moons
when you see them enlarged. It is all so wonderful
that it makes one never cease thinking.

I also like to go to factories and learn how different
things are made. I think that there are so many
things that one can learn outside of a school-room.
For instance, I went to a wire factory recently, and
I am sure that I found out a great many things I
might never have found out in books. One also
learns by traveling, and when I am on my tours
I feel that I learn more of the different people and the
way they live than I ever could from geographies.
Don't you think I am a lucky boy? One must study
geography, however, to learn about maps and the
way in which countries are formed. I have toured in
Germany, Russia, and England, and now in America.
America interests me wonderfully. Everything seems
so much alive and I like the climate very much.

48 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

THEORETICAL STUDIES

Musical theory bores me now, almost as much as
my first technical studies did. Richard Strauss, the
great German composer, has very kindly offered to
teach me. I like him very much and he is so kind, but
his thundering musical effects sometimes seems very
noisy to me. I know many of the rules of harmony,
but they are very uncomfortable and disagreeable to
me.

I would far rather write my music as it comes to
me* Herr Nikisch says that when I do it that way, I
make very few blunders, but I know I can never be a
composer until I have mastered all the branches of
musical theory. I am now writing a symphony. I
played some parts for Herr Nikisch and he has agreed
to produce it. Of course, the orchestral parts will have
to be written for me, but I know what instruments I
want to express certain ideas.

Putting down the notes upon paper is so tiresome.
Why can't one think the musical thoughts and have
them preserved without the tedious work of writing
them out! Sometimes before I can get them on paper
they are gone no one knows where, and the worst of
all is that they never come back. It is far greater
fun to play the piano, or play football, or go rowing.

READING AND STUDY

I love to read, and my favorite of all books is The
Three Musketeers. I have also read something of

THE STORY OF A WONDER rmr.Ti 49

Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, and many other writers.
I like parts of the great Spanish novel Don Quixote,
but I find it hard to read as a whole. I think that
music students ought to read a great deal. It makes
them think, and it gives them poetical thoughts.

Music is, after all, only another kind of poetry, and
if we get poetical ideas from books we become more
poetical, and our music becomes more beautiful. The
student who thinks only of hammering down keys at
the piano cannot play in a manner in which people
will take pleasure. Piano playing is so much more
than merely pressing down keys. One has to tell
people things that cannot be told in words that is
what music is.

AT THE CONCERT

I do not know what it is to be nervous at concerts.
I have played so much and I am always so sure of
what I am going to play that nervousness is out of the
question. Of course, I am anxious about the way in
which audiences will receive my playing. I want to
please them so much and don't want them to applaud
me because I am a boy, but would rather have them
come as real music-lovers to enjoy the music itself.
If I cannot bring pleasure to them in that way I do
not deserve to be before the public.

My concerts are usually about one hour in length,
although I sometimes play encores for some time after
the concert. I make it a practice not to eat for a few
hours before the concert, as doctors have told my

4

SO GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

mother that my mind will be in better shape. I want
to thank the many friends I have made among the
students who have come to my concerts, and I hope
that I may have told them some things which will
help them in their work.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC or PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES I

PEPITO ARRIOLA

1. Should the talented child be urged or pushed
ahead?

2. In what period of time should a very talented
child master the elementary outlines of technic?

3. Can Liszt be regarded as a pianistic composer in
the same sense as that in which Chopin is considered
pianistic?

4. How should a very talented child's practice
time be divided?

5. What part does right thinking play in execution?

6. How should the child's general education be
conducted?

7. Should the education be confined to the class*
room?

8. Should the musical child be encouraged to read
fiction?

9. Does music resemble poetry?

10. Should one be careful about the body before
concerts?

, X

WILHELM BACHAUS

WILHELM BACHAUS

BIOGRAPHICAL

Wilhelm Bachaus was born at Leipsic, March
24, 1884, two years before the death of Franz Liszt.
Nine years younger than Josef Hofmann and a trifle
more than one-half the age of Paderewski he rep-
resents a different decade from that of other pian-
ists included in this work. Bachaus studied for nine
years with Alois Reckendorf, a Moravian teacher
who was connected with the Leipsic Conservatory for
more than thirty years. Reckendorf had been a stu-
dent of science and philosophy at the Vienna and the
Heidelberg Universities and was an earnest musician
and teacher with theories of his own. He took an
especial interest in Bachaus and was his only teacher
with the exception of one year spent with d'Albert
and "three lessons with Siloti." Although Bachaus
commenced playing when he was eight years old he
feels that his professional d&ut was made in London
in June, 1 901, when he played the tremendously difficult
Brahms-Paganini Variations. In 1905, when Bachaus
was only twenty-one, he won the famous Rubinstein
Prize at Paris, This consists of 5000 francs offered
every five years to young men between, the ages of
twenty and twenty-six*

(The following conference was conducted in English
and German.)

IV
THE PIANIST OF TO-MORROW

WILHELM BACHAUS

TO-DAY, YESTERDAY AND TO-MORROW
"It is somewhat surprising how very little difference
exists between the material used in piano teaching
to-day and that employed forty or fifty years ago.
Of course, there has been a remarkable amount of
new technical material, exercises, studies, etc., devised,
written and published, and some of this presents the
advantage of being an improvement upon the old
an improvement which may be termed an. advance
but, taken all in all, the advance has been very slight
when compared with the astonishing advances made
in other sciences and other phases of human progress
in this time.

" It would seem that the science of music (for the
processes of studying the art are undoubtedly scien-
tific) left little territory for new explorers and in-
ventors. Despite the great number of Studes that
have been written, imagine for one moment what a
desert the technic of music would be without Gzerny,
Clementi, Tausig, Pischna to say nothing of the
great works of Scarlatti and Bach, which have an
effect upon the technic, but are really great works of
musical art

2

THE PIANIST OF TO-MORROW 53

THE WONDERFUL EFFICACY OF SCALES
" Personally, I practice scales in preference to all
other forms of technical exercises when I am prepar-
ing for a concert. Add to this arpeggios and Bach,
and you have the basis upon which my technical
work stands. Pianists who have been curious about
my technical accomplishments have apparently been
amazed when I have told them that scales are my great
technical mainstay that is, scales plus hard work,
They evidently have thought that I had some kind of
alchemic secret, like the philosopher's stone which was
designed to turn the baser metals into gold. I possess
no secrets which any earnest student may not acquire
if he will work in the laboratory of music long enough.
There are certain artistic points which only come with
long-continued experiment.

"As the chemist finds the desired result by inter-
minable heart-breaking eliminations, so the artist
must weigh and test his means until he finds the one
most likely to produce the most beautiful or the most
appropriate result. But this seeking for the right
effect has little to do with the kind of technic which
necessitates one to keep every muscle employed in
piano-playing properly exerdsed, and I may reiterate
with all possible emphasis that the source of my
technical equipment is scales, scales, scales. I find
their continued daily practice not only beneficial, but
necessary- I still find it desirable to practice scales
for half an hour a day.

54 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIAHO PLAYING

BACH MUSICALLY OMNIPOIENT
"It seems almost foolish to repeat what has been
said so many times about the wonderful old cantor
of Leipsic, Johann Sebastian Bach. However, there
may still be some who have not yet become acquainted
with the indisputable fact that the practice of Bach is
the shortest, quickest road to technical finish. Busoni
has enlarged upon Bach, impossible as that may seem;
but as a modern bridge is sometimes built upon won-
derful old foundations, Busoni has taken the idea of
Bach and, with his penetrative and interpretative
ability, has been able to make the meaning more clear
and more effective. Any young pianist who aspires
to have his hands in condition to respond to the subtle
suggestions of his brain may acquire a marvelous
foundation by the use of scales, Bach and arpeggios.

THE OLD THAT is EVER NEW
"I have seen many ways and means tried out. Some
seem like an attempt to save time at the expense of
thoroughness. Furthermore, the means which have
produced the great pianists of the past are likely to
differ but little from those which will produce the
pianists of the future.

"The ultra-modern teacher who is inclined to think
scales old-fashioned should go to hear de Pachmann*
who practices scales every day. De Pachmann, who
has been a virtuoso for a great many years, still finds
daily practice necessary, and, in addition to scales,

THE PIANIST OP TO-MOKROW 55

he plays a great deal of Bach. To-day his technic is
more powerful and more comprehensive than ever,
and he attributes it in a large measure to the simplest
of means.

DIFFICULTIES IN NEW PIANOFORTE COMPOSITIONS
"I have often been asked if the future of pianoforte
composition seemed destined to alter the technic of the
instrument, as did the compositions of Liszt, for
instance. This is a difficult question, but it would
seem that the borderland of pianistic difficulty had
been reached in the compositions and transcriptions
of Busoni and Godowsky. The new French school of
Debussy, Ravel and others is different in type, but
does not make any more severe technical demands.

" However, it is hard for one to imagine anything
more complicated or more difficult than the Godowsky
arrangements of the Chopin studies. I fail to see
how pianoforte technic can go much beyond these,
unless one gets more fingers or more hands. Godow-
sky's treatment of these studies is marvelous not
only from a technical standpoint, but from a musical
standpoint as well. He has added a new flavor to the
individual masterpieces of Chopin. He has made
them wonderfully clever and really very interesting
studies in harmony and counterpoint, so that one
forgets their technical intricacies in the beauty of the
compositions. One cannot say that their original
beauty has been enhanced, but he has made them
wonderfully fascinating compositions despite their
aggravating complications for the student.

56 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

MERE DIFFICULTY NO LONGER ASTOUNDS
"The day when the show of startling technical
skill was sufficient to make a reputation for a pianist
is, fortunately, past. The mechanical playing devices
have possibly been responsible for this. The public
refuses to admire anything that can be done by a
machine, and longs for something finer, more subtle,
more closely allied to the soul of the artist. This does
not mean, however, that the necessity for a compre-
hensive technic is depreciated. Quite the contrary
is true. The need for an all-comprehensive technic
is greater than ever before. But the public demand
for the purely musical, the purely artistic, is being
continually manifested.

"Modern composers are writing with this in view
rather than huge technical combinations. The giant
of to-day, to my mind, is indisputably Rachmaninoff.
He is writing the greatest original music for piano
of any living composer. All of his compositions arc
pianistic and he does not condescend to pander to a
trifling public taste. He is a man with a great mind,
and, in addition to this, he has a delightful sense of
proportion and a feeling for the beautiful, all of which
makes him a composer of the master mould. His
compositions will endure as long as music.

MODERN COMPOSITIONS

"For others of the type of Scriabirte I care less,
although I am sensible to the beauty of many of their

THE PIANIST OF TO-MORROW 57

compositions. They have not, however, the splendid
mould of Rachmaninoff, nor have they his vigorous
originality. Doubtless some of these men will pro-
duce great original compositions in the future. Com-
positions that are simply not bad are hardly worth the
paper they are written upon, for they will not last as
long. The composition that will last is a great, new,
original thought, inspired, noble and elemental, but
worked out with the distinctive craftsmanship of the
great master.

"I am very partial to Debussy. He has an extra-
ordinary atmosphere, and, after one has formed a taste
for him, his compositions are alluring, particularly
his Homage d Rameau, Jardins SOILS la pluie and D'un
cahier d'esquisses, which I have been playing upon my
American tour.

THE MOST DEFFICTJLT COMPOSITIONS
"I have continually been asked, 'What is the most
difficult composition?' The question always amuses
me, but I suppose it is very human and in line with
the desire to measure the highest building, the tallest
mountain, the longest river or the oldest castle. Why
is such a premium put upon mere difficulty? Strange
to say, no one ever seems to think it necessary to
inquire, 'What is the most beautiful piece?'

"Difficulty in music should by no means be esti-
mated by technical complications. To play a Mozart
concerto well is a colossally difficult undertaking,
The pianist who has worked for hours to get such a

58 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

composition as near as possible to his conception of
perfection is never given the credit for his work, except
by a few connoisseurs, many of whom have been
through a similarly exacting experience. Months
may be spent upon comparatively simple compositions,
such as the Haydn Sonatas or the Mozart Sonatas,
and the musical public is blind to the additional
finish or polish so evident to the virtuoso.

PRAISE THAT IRRITATES

"The opposite of this is also true. A little show of
bravura, possibly in a passage which has not cost the
pianist more than ten minutes of frivolous practice,
will turn many of the unthinking auditors into a
roaring mob. This is, of course, very distressing to
the sincere artist who strives to establish himself by
his real worth.

"Of course, there are some compositions which
present difficulties which few work hard enough to
surmount. Among these might be mentioned the
Godowsky-Chopin Studes (particularly the tiude in
A flat, Opus 25, No. i, which is always especially
exasperating for the student sufficiently advanced to
approach it); the Don Juan Pwtasie of Liszt; the
Brahms-Paganini variations and the Beethoven, Opus
106, which, when properly played, demands enormous
technical skill. One certainly saves a lot of bother
when one discards it from one's repertoire. If these
four pieces are not the most difficult pieces, they are
certainly among the most difficult.

THE PIANIST OP TO-MORROW 59

WHY NOT SEEK THE BEAUTIFUL?

"But why seek difficulty when there is so much that
is quite as beautiful and yet not difficult? Why try
to make a bouquet of oak trees when the ground is
covered with exquisite flowers? The piano is a solo
instrument and has its limitations. Some piano
music is said to sound orchestral. As a matter of
fact, a great deal of it would sound better with the
orchestra.

" Real piano music is rare. The piano appears to be
too small for some of our modern Titans among the
composers. When they write for the piano they seem
to be exhibiting a concealed longing for the one
hundred or more men of the modern orchestra. One
of the reasons why the works of Debussy appeal to
me is that he manages to put so much color into his
piano pieces without suggesting the orchestra. Much
of his music is wonderful in this respect, and, moreover,
the musicians of the future will appreciate this fact
more and more,

EXERCISES THAT GIVE IMMEDIATE HELP
"No one exercise can be depended upon to meet all
the varied conditions which arise in the practice of the
day, but I have frequently employed a simple exercise
which seems to 'coax ? the hand into muscular activity
in a very short time. It is so simple that I am diffi-
dent about suggesting it. However, elemental proc-
esses lead to large structures sometimes. The

60 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Egyptian pyramids were built ages before the age of
steam and electricity, and scientists are still wondering
how those massive stones were ever put in place.

"The exercise I use most, apart from scales, is really
based upon a principle which is constantly employed
in all scale playing and in all piano playing, that of
putting the thumb over and under the lingers. Did
you ever stop to think how continually this is em-
ployed? One hardly goes one step beyond the
elemental grades before one encounters it. It de-
mands a muscular action entirely different from that
of pressing down the keys either with the finger, fore-
arm or arm motion.

" Starting with the above-named principle and
devising new exercises to meet the very human need
for variety, I play something like this:

"The next form would employ another fingering

L.B.

"The next form might be

H * R

i -*

utt

THE PIANIST OF TO-MORROW 6l

"These I transpose through several keys, for in-
stance

tt) B.&

L.R

"\\> =^= r ;- J>- ' "

r tf 1 .1 * I 1 I * ^

"Note that I am not giving an arbitrary exercise,
but simply suggesting the plan upon which the student
may work. There is a great deal of fun in devising
new exercises. It assists in helping the student to
concentrate. Of course, these exercises are only at-
tempted after all the standard exercises found in
books have been exhausted.

AVOID Too COMPLICATED EXERCISES
"I often think that teachers make a great mistake
by giving too complicated exercises. A complicated
exercise leads away from dear thinking and concen-
tration. The simple exercise will never seem dull or
dry if the pupil's ambition is right. After all, it is
not so much what is done as how it is done. Give
less thought to the material and more to the correc-
tion of the means with which one plays. There
should be unceasing variety in studies. A change at
every practice period is advisable, as it gives the pupil
new material for thought. There are hundreds of

62 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

different exercises in the different books, and the stu-
dent has no reason for suffering for want of variety/'

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OP PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES II

WILHELM BACHAUS

1. Does the technical material of to-day differ
greatly from that of forty or fifty years ago?

2. State something of the efficacy of scales.

3. State three sources of technical material sure
to interest the student.

4. Do celebrated virtuosos use scales regularly?

5. State what else besides technical skill is re-
quired in these days to gain recognition as a virtuoso
pianist.

6. Why does Rachmaninoff excel as a composer
for pianoforte?

7. State what may be considered the most difficult
of piano compositions.

8. Wherein does the appeal of Debussy He?

9. Give some simple exercises suitable for daily
practice.

10. Why are too complicated exercises undesirable?

to

HAROLD BAUER

HAROLD BAUER
BIOGRAPHICAL

Harold Bauer was born in London, England, April
28, 1875, His father was an accomplished amateur
violinist. Through him, the future virtuoso was
enabled to gain an excellent idea of the beautiful
literature of chamber music. When a boy Mr.
Bauer studied privately with the celebrated violin
teacher, Politzer. At the age of ten he became so
proficient that he made his dflmt as a violinist in
London, Thereafter in his tours of England he met
with great success everywhere.

In the artistic circles of London Mr, Bauer met a
musician named Graham Moore, who gave him some
idea upon the details of the technic of pianoforte
playing, which Mr. Bauer had studied or rather
"picked up" by himself, without any thought of ever
abandoning his career as a violinist, Mr. Moore had
expected to rehearse some orchestral accompaniments
on a second piano with Paderewski, who was then
preparing some concertos for public performance.
Mr. Moore was taken ill and sent his talented musical
friend, Mr, Bauer, in his place. Paderewski immedi-
ately took an interest in his talented accompanist and
advised him to go to Paris to continue his studies with
Gorski.

After many privations in Paris Mr. Bauer, unable
to secure engagements as a violinist, went on a tour
of Russia as an accompanist of a singer. In some of
the smaller towns Bauer played an occasional piano
solo. Returning to Paris, he found that he was still
unable to secure engagements as a violinist His
pianistic opportunity came when a celebrated virtuoso
who was to play at a concert was taken ill and Bauer
was asked to substitute. He gradually gave more
attention to the piano and rose to a very high posi-
tion in the tone world.

63

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY
HAROLD BAUER

THE IMMEDIATE RELATION or TECHNIC TO Music
"WHILE it gives me great pleasure to talk to the
great number of students studying the piano, I
can assure you that it is with no little diffidence that
I venture to approach these very subjects about
which they are probably most anxious to learn. In
the first place, words tell very little, and in the second
place, my whole career has been so different from the
orthodox methods that I have been constantly com-
pelled to contrive means of my own to meet the
myriads of artistic contingencies as they have arisen
in my work. It is largely for this reason that I felt
compelled recently to refuse a very flattering offer
to write a book on piano playing* My whole life
experience makes me incapable of perceiving what the
normal methods of pianistic study should be- As a
result of this I am obliged with my own pupils to
invent continually new means and new plans for work
with each student.

"Without the conventional technical basis to work
upon, this has necessarily resulted in several aspects
of pianoforte study which are naturally somewhat
different from the commonly accepted ideas of the
technicians. In the first place, the only technical

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 65

study of any kind I have ever done has been that
technic which has had an immediate relation to the
musical message of the piece I have been studying.
In other words, I have never studied technic inde-
pendently of music. I do not condemn the ordinary
technical methods for those who desire to use them and
see good in them. I fear, however, that I am unable
to discuss them adequately, as they are outside of
my personal experience.

THE AIM or TECHNIC

"When, as a result of circumstances entirely beyond
my control, I abandoned the study of the violin in
order to become a pianist, I was forced to realize, in
view of my very imperfect technical equipment, that
in order to take advantage of the opportunities that
offered for public performance it would be necessary
for me to find some means of making my playing
acceptable without spending months and probably
years in acquiring mechanical proficiency. The only
way of overcoming the difficulty seemed to be to
devote myself entirely to the musical essentials of
the composition I was interpreting in the hope that
the purely technical deficiencies which I had neither
time nor knowledge to enable me to correct would
pass comparatively unnoticed, provided I was able to
give sufficient interest and compel sufficient attention
to the emotional values of the work. This kind of
study, forced upon me in the first instance through
reasons of expediency, became a habit, and gradually

66 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

grew into a conviction that it was a mistake to practice
technic at all unless such practice should conduce
to some definite : specific and immediate musical result.

"I do not wish to be misunderstood in making this
statement, containing, as it does, an expression of
opinion that was formed in early years of study, but
which, nevertheless, I have never since felt any reason
to change. It is not my intention to imply that
technical study is unnecessary, or that purely muscular
training is to be neglected. I mean simply to say that
in every detail of technical work the germ of musical
expression must be discovered and cultivated, and that
in muscular training for force and independence the
simplest possible forms of physical exercises arc all
that is necessary.

"The singer and the violinist are always studying
music j even when they practice a succession of single
notes. Not so with the pianist, however, for an
isolated note on the piano, whether played by the most
accomplished artist or the man in the street, means
nothing, absolutely nothing.

SEEKING INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION
"At the time of which I speak, my greatest difficulty
was naturally to give a constant and definite direction
to my work and in my efforts to obtain a suitable
muscular training which should enable me to produce
expressive sounds, while I neglected no opportunity of
closely observing the work of pianoforte teachers and
students around me. I found that most of the tecbni-

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 67

cal work which was being done with infinite pains and
a vast expenditure of time was not only non-productive
of expressive sounds, but actually harmful and mis-
leading as regards the development of the musical
sense. I could see no object in practicing evenness in
scales, considering that a perfectly even scale is essen-
tially devoid of emotional (musical) significance, I
could see no reason for limiting tone production to a
certain kind of sound that was called 'a good tone/
since the expression of feeling necessarily demands in
many cases the use of relatively harsh sounds. More-
over, I could see no reason for trying to overcome
what are generally called natural defects, such as the
comparative weakness of the fourth finger for example,
as it seemed to me rather a good thing than otherwise
that each finger should naturally and normally possess
a characteristic motion of its own.

"It is differences that count in art, not similarities.
Every individual expression is a form of art; why not,
then, make an artist of each finger by cultivating its
special aptitudes instead of adapting a system of train-
ing deliberately calculated to destroy these individual
characteristics in bringing all the fingers to a common
level of lifeless machines?

''These and similar reflections, I discovered, were
carrying me continually farther away from the ideals
of most of the pianists, students and teachers with
whom I was in contact, and it was not long before I
definitely abandoned all hope of obtaining, by any
of the means I found in use, the results for which I was

68 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

striving. Consequently, from that time to the present
my work has necessarily been more or less independent
and empirical in its nature, and, while I trust I am
neither prejudiced nor intolerant in my attitude to-
wards pianoforte education in its general aspect, I
cannot help feeling that a great deal of natural taste
is stifled and a great deal of mediocrity created by the
persistent and unintelligent study of such things as an
'even scale' or a 'good tone/

"Lastly, it is quite incomprehensible to me why any
one method of technic should be superior to any other,
considering that as far as I was able to judge, no
teacher or pupil ever claimed more for any technical
system than that it gave more technical ability than
some other technical system. I have never been able
to convince myself, as a matter of fact, that one system
does give more ability than another; but even if there
were one infinitely superior to all the rest, it would
still fail to satisfy me unless its whole aim and object
were to facilitate musical expression.

"Naturally, studying in this way required my
powers of cgncentration to be trained to the very
highest point. This matter of concentration is far
more important than most teachers imagine, and the
perusal of some standard work on psychology will
reveal things which should help the student greatly,
Many pupils make the mistake of thinking that only a
certain kind of music demands concentration, whereas
it is quite as necessary to concentrate the mind upon

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 69

the playing of a simple scale as for the study of a
Beethoven sonata.

THE RESISTANCE OF THE MEDIUM
"In every form of art the medium that is employed
offers a certain resistance to perfect freedom of ex-
pression, and the nature of this resistance must be
fully understood before it can be overcome. The
poet, the painter, the sculptor and the musician each
has his own problem to solve, and the pianist in partic-
ular is frequently brought to the verge of despair
through the fact that the instrument, in requiring the
expenditure of physical and nervous energy, absorbs,
so to speak, a large proportion of the intensity which
the music demands.

"With many students the piano is only a barrier
a wall between them and music. Their thoughts
never seem to penetrate farther than the keys. They
plod along for years apparently striving to make
piano-playing machines of themselves, and in the end
result in becoming something rather inferior*

" Conditions are doubtless better now than in former
years. Teachers give studies with some musical value,
and the months, even years, of keyboard grind without
the least suggestion of anything musical or gratifying
to the natural sense of the beautiful are very probably
a thing of the past. But here again I fear the teachers
in many cases make a perverted use of studies and
pieces for technical purposes. If we practice a piece
of real music with no other idea than that of develop-

70 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ing some technical point it often ceases to become a
piece of music and results in being a kind of technical
machinery. Once a piece is mechanical it is difficult
to make it otherwise. All the cogs, wheels ; bolts and
screws which an overzealous ambition to become per-
fect technically has built up are made so evident that
only the most patient and enduring kind of an audi-
ence can tolerate them,

THE PERVERSION OF STUDIES
"People talk about 'using the music of Bach 1 to
accomplish some technical purpose in a perfectly
heart-breaking manner. They never seem to think
of interpreting Bach, but, rather, make of him a kind
of technical elevator by means of which they hope to
reach some marvelous musical heights. Wo even hear
of the studies of Chopin being perverted in a similarly
vicious manner, but Bach, the master of masters, k
the greatest sufferer.

"It has become a truism to say that technic is only
a means to an end, but I very much doubt if this
assertion should be accepted without question,
suggesting as it does the advisability of studying some-
thing that is not music and which is believed at some
future time to be capable of being marvelously trans-
formed into an artistic expression. Properly under-
stood, kchnic is art f and must be studied as such.
There should be no technic in music which is not music
in itself.

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 71

THE UNIT OF MUSICAL EXPRESSION
"The piano is, of all instruments, the least expressive
naturally, and it is of the greatest importance that the
student should realize the nature of its resistance.
The action of a piano is purely a piece of machinery
where the individual note has no meaning. When the
key is once struck and the note sounded there is a
completed action and the note cannot then be modified
nor changed in the least. The only thing over which
the pianist has any control is the length of the tone,
and this again may not last any longer than the natural
vibrations of the strings, although it may be shortened
by relinquishing the keys. It makes no difference
whether the individual note is struck by a child or by
Paderewski it has in itself no expressive value. In
the case of the violin, the voice and all other instru-
ments except the organ, the individual note may be
modified after it is emitted or struck, and in this modi-
fication is contained the possibility of a whole world
of emotional expression.

"Our sole means of expression, thfen, in piano play-
ing lies in the relation of one note to the other notes in
a series or in a chord. Herein lies the difficulty, the
resistance to perfect freedom of which I have spoken
before, the principal subject for intelligence and care-
ful study, and yet so few students appear to under-
stand it. Their great effort seems to be to make all
the noise in a given series as much alike as coins from
a mint They come to the piano as their only instru-

72 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ment, and never seek to take a lesson from the voice
or from the other instruments which have expressive
resources infinitely superior to those possessed by the
piano. The principal charm of the piano lies in the
command which the player has over many voices
singing together.- But until the pianist has a regard
for the individual voice in its relation to the ensemble
he has no means with which to make his work really
beautiful.

" There is a great need for more breadth in music
study. This, as I know, has been said very often, but
it does not hurt to say it again. The more a man
knows, the more he has experienced, the wider his
mental vision in all branches of human information,
the more he will have to say. We need men in music
with big minds, wide grasp and definite aims. Musi-
cians are far too prone to become overspecialfoed.
They seem to have an unquenchable thirst to master
the jargon and the infinite variety of methods which
are thrust upon us in these days rather than a genu-
ine desire to develop their musical aims. Music is
acquiring a technology as confusing and as extensive
as bacteriology. There seems to be no end to the new
kinds of methods in the minds of furtive and fertile
inventors. Each new method in turn seems to breed
another, and so on ad nauseam.

"Among other things I would suggest the advisa-
bility for pianists to cultivate some knowledge of the
construction of their instrument. Strange as it may
seem, it is nevertheless a fact that the average pianist

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 73

knows practically nothing of a piano, being in many
cases entirely unaware of such simple things as how
the tone is produced. The function of the pedals is
as unknown to them as geology is to the coal heaver.
This ignorance leads frequently to the employment
of motions and methods that can only be characterized
as ridiculous in the extreme,

Music FIRST, THE INSTRUMENT AITERWABDS
"From the manner in which many ambitious and
earnest students play, it would seem that they had
their minds fixed upon something which could not be
conveyed to the world in any other form than that of
the sounds which come from the piano. Of course, the
piano has an idiom peculiarly its own, and some com-
posers have employed this idiom with such natural
freedom that their music suffers when transposed for
any other instrument. The music of Chopin is pecul-
iarly pianistic, but it is, first of all, music, and any one
of the wonderful melodies which came from the fertile
brain of the Polish-French genius could be played
upon one of many different instruments besides the
piano. The duty of the interpreter should surely be to
think of the composition as such, and to interpret it
primarily as music, irrespective of the instrument.
Some students sit down before the keyboard to 'play J
the piano precisely as though they were going to play
a game of cards. They have learned certain rules
governing the game, and they do not dare disobey
these rules. They riifrt. of rules rather than of the

74 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ultimate result the music itself. The Idiom of the
Italian language is appropriate here. The Italians do
not say 'I play the piano/ but rather f l sound the
piano. 7 (Suono il pianoforte.) If we had a little
more 'sounding' of the piano, that is, producing
real musical effects, and a little less playing on ivory
keys, the playing of our students would be more
interesting.

VARIETY THE SPICE OP ART
"It can hardly be questioned that the genesis of all
musical art is to be found in song, the most natural,
the most fluent and the most beautiful form of musical
expression. How much every instrumentalist can
learn from the art of singing!

"It is a physical impossibility for the voice to pro-
duce two notes in succession exactly alike. They
may sound very similar, but there is a difference quite
perceptible to the highly trained ear. When a singer
starts a phrase a certain amount of motive power is
required to set the vocal apparatus in vibration, After
the first note has been attacked with the full force of
the breath, there is naturally not so much weight or
pressure left for the following notes. It is, however,
possible for the second note to be as loud, or even
louder, than the first note. But in order to obtain
the additional force on the second note, it is neces-
sary to compensate for the lack of force due to the loss
of the original weight or pressure by increasing what
might be called the nervous energy; that is to say,

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 75

by expelling the breath with proportionately greater
speed.

MUSCULAR AND NERVOUS ENERGY
"The manifestation of nervous energy in this man-
ner is quite different from the manifestation of mus-
cular energy, although both are, of course, intimately
connected. Muscular energy begins at its maximum
and gradually diminishes to the point of exhaustion,
whereas nervous energy rises in an inconceivably
short space of time to its climax, and then drops
immediately to nothing. Nervous energy may be
said to be represented by an increased rapidity of
emission. It is what the athlete would call a 'spurt.'
"What I have said about the voice applies equally
to all other instruments, the piano and the organ alone
excepted. It is obvious that the playing of the wind
instruments must be subjected to the limitations of the
breath, and in the case of the violin and the other
stringed instruments, where the bow supplies the
motive power, it is impossible for two notes played in
succession to sound absolutely alike. If the first
note of a phrase is attacked with the weight of the
whole bow behind it, the second note will follow with
just so much less weight, and if the violinist desires to
intensify any of the succeeding tones, he must do so
by the employment of the nervous energy I have men-
tioned, when a difference in the quality of tone is
bound to result. The pianist should closely observe
and endeavor to imitate these characteristics, which so

76 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

vividly convey the idea of organic life in all its infinite
variety, and which are inherent in every medium for
artistic expression.

PHRASING AND BREATHING
"It would take a book, and by no means a small one,
to go into this matter of phrasing which I am now
discussing. Even in such a book there would doubtless
be many points which would be open to assaults for
sticklers in psychological technology. I am not
issuing a propaganda or writing a thesis for the purpose
of having something to defend, but merely giving a
few offhand facts that have benefited me in my
work. However, it is my conviction that it is the
duty of the pianist to try to understand the analog}'
to the physical limitations which surround the more
natural mediums of musical expression the voice
and the violin and to apply the result of his obser-
vations to his piano playing,

THE NATURAL EFFECT OF EMOTIONS
"There is another relation between phrasing and
breathing which the student may investigate to
advantage. The emotions have a direct and imme-
diate effect upon the breath, and as the brain informs
the nervous system of new emotional impressions
the visible evidences may be first observed in the
breathing. It is quite unnecessary to go into the
physiology or psychology of this, but a little reflection
will immediately indicate what I mean.

ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF PIANO STUDY 77

"It is impossible to witness a disastrous accident
without showing mental agitation and excitement in
hurried breathing. Joy, anger, fear, love, tranquillity
and grief all are characterized by different modes of
breathing, and a trained actor must study this with
great closeness.

"The artist at the piano may be said to breathe
his phrases. A phrase that is purely contemplative
in character is breathed in a tranquil fashion with-
out any suggestion of nervous agitation. If we go
through the scale of expression, starting with con-
templative tranquillity, to the climax of dramatic
intensity, the breath will be emitted progressively
quicker and quicker. Every musical phrase has
some kind of expressive message to deliver. If a
perfectly tranquil phrase is given out in a succession
of short breaths, indicating, as they would, agitation,
it would be a contradiction, just as it would be per-
fectly inhuman to suppose that in expressing dramatic
intensity it would be possible to breathe slowly.

"In conclusion, I would urge students to cultivate
a very definite mental attitude as to what they really
desire to accomplish. Do you wish to make music?
If so, think music, and nothing but music, all the
time, down to the smallest detail even in technic.
Is your ambition to play scales, octaves, double notes
and trills? Then by all means concentrate your mind
on them to the exclusion of everything else, but do
not be surprised if, when, later on, you want to com-
municate a semblance of life to your mechanical

78 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

motions, you succeed in obtaining no more than the
jerky movements of a clock-work puppet. "

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES in

HAROLD BAUER

1. What is the nature of the technical study done
by Harold Bauer?

2. Should immediate musical results be sought in
technical study?

3. Upon what principle is expression in art based?

4. Is the utmost concentration necessary in all
piano playing?

5. How may the piano become a barrier between
the student and musical expression?

6. In what spirit should all studies be played?

7. Is the piano an expressive instrument?

8. Should pianists acquire a knowledge of the main
feature in the construction of their instrument?

9. How may variety in piano playing be achieved?
10. How is phrasing related to breathing?

F. BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER

FANNY BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mrs. Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler was born at Beilitz,
Austrian Silesia, July 16, 1866. Two years later
her parents took her to Chicago. Her first teachers
in Chicago were Bernhard Ziehn and Carl Wolfsohn.
At the age of ten she made a profound impression at a
public concert in Chicago. Two years later she had
the good fortune to meet Mme. Essipoff, who advised
her to go to Vienna to study with Theodore Lesche-
tizky. Accordingly she was taken to the Austrian
capital and remained under the instruction of the noted
pedagogue for five years. Starting with the year 1883,
she commenced a series of annual recitals and con-
certs in different American cities which made her very
famous. In 1893 she toured Europe, attracting even
more attention than in the homeland. Since then she
made several tours of Europe and America, arousing
great enthusiasm wherever she appeared. Her emo-
tional force, her personal magnetism and her keen
processes of analysis compelled critics everywhere to
rank her with the foremost pianists of the day.

VI

APPEARING IN PUBLIC

FANNY BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER

"THE secret of success in the career of a virtuoso
is not easily defined. Many elements have to be con-
sidered. Given great talent, success is not by any
means assured. Many seemingly extraneous qual-
ities must be cultivated; many mistakes must be
avoided.

"Let me start out with a caution. No greater mis-
take could possibly be made than to assume that
frequent public appearances or extended concert
touring in early youth is essential to a great career
as a virtuoso. On the contrary, I would say that
such a course is positively harmful. The 'experi-
ence' of frequent playing in public is essential if one
would get rid of stage fright or undue nervousness
and would gain that repose and self-confidence with-
out which success is impossible. But such experi-
ence should be had only after the attainment of
physical and mental maturity. A young boy or girl,
though ever so much of a prodigy, if taken on an ex-
tensive concert tour, not only becomes unduly self-
conscious, conceited, vain and easily satisfied with his
or her work, but and this is the all-important point
runs the risk of undermining his or her health. The
precious days of youth should be devoted primarily to

80

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 8l

the storing up of health, without which lasting success is
impossible. Nothing is more harmful to sound physical
development and mental growth than the strain of
extensive tours. It is true that one great virtuoso
now before the public pkyed frequently before large
audiences as an infant prodigy. But, happily, wise
and efficient influences served to check this mad
career. The young artist was placed in the hands of a
great teacher and given a chance to reach full physical
maturity and artistic stature before resuming public
appearances. Had it been otherwise, it is a matter
of common belief that this great talent would have
fizzled out.

" By this I do not mean that the pupil should be
prevented from playing at recitals in the home city.
Playing of this kind gives the pupil confidence and
smooths the way for his work as a mature artist,
These performances should be rare, except in the
case of performances given in the home of the pupil
or at the teacher's home. What I object to is the
exploitation on a large scale of the infant prodigy.

THOROUGH PREPARATION NECESSARY
" One of the real secrets of success in public appear-
ance is thorough preparation. In fact there is no
talisman, no secret that one can pass over to an-
other and say, 'Here is my secret, go thou and do
likewise/ What a valuable secret it would be the
mysterious secret processes of the Krupp Gun Works
in Germany would be trifling in comparison. Genu-

82 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ine worth is, after all, the great essential, and thorough
preparation leads to genuine worth. For instance,
I have long felt that the mental technic that the study
of Bach's inventions and fugues afford could not be
supplied by any other means. The peculiar poly-
phonic character of these works trains the mind to
recognize the separate themes so ingeniously and
beautifully interwoven and at the same time the
fingers receive a kind of discipline which hardly any
other study can secure.

" The layman can hardly conceive how difficult it
is to play at the same time two themes different in
character and running in opposite directions. The
student fully realizes this difficulty when he finds that
it takes years to master it. These separate themes
must be individualized; they must be conceived as
separate, but their bearing upon the work as a whole
must never be overlooked.

" The purity of style to be found in Bach, in con-
nection with his marvelous contrapuntal designs,
should be expounded to the student at as early an
age as his intellectual development will permit. It
may take some time to create a taste for Bach, but
the teacher will be rewarded with results so sub-
stantial and permanent that all the trouble and time
will seem well worth while.

" There is also a refining influence about which I
would like to speak, The practice of Bach seems
to fairly grind off the rough edges, and instead of
a raw, bungling technic the student acquires a kind

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 83

of finish from the study of the old master of Eisenach
that nothing else can give him,

"I do not mean to be understood that the study of
Bach, even if it be ever so thorough, suffices in itself
to give one a perfect technic. Vastly more is
necessary. The student who would fit himself for
a concert career must have the advice of a great
teacher and must work incessantly and conscientiously
under his guidance. I emphasize the study of Bach
merely because I find it is not pursued as much as it
deserves. That technical finish is of the very essence
of success in public appearance, goes without saying.
It is not only indispensable for a creditable perform-
ance, but the consciousness of possessing it contrib-
utes to that confidence of the player without which
he cannot hope to make an impression upon his
audience.

LESCHETIZKY AND 'METHOD'

" Speaking about teachers reminds me to put forth
this caution: Do not, pin your faith "to a method.
There is good and, alas! some bad in most methods.
We hear a great deal these days about the Lesche-
tizky method. During the five years I was with
Leschetizky, he made it very plain that he had up
fixed method in the ordinary sense of the word. Like
every good teacher, he studied the individuality of
each pupil and taught him according to that indi-
viduality. It might almost be said that he had a
different method for each pupil, and I have often

84 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

said that Leschetizky's method is to have no fixed
method. Of course, there are certain preparatory
exercises which with slight variations he wants all his
pupils to go through. But it is not so much the
exercises in themselves as the patience and painful
persistence in executing them to which they owe their
virtue. Of course, Leschetizky has his preference
for certain works for their great educational value.
He has his convictions 35 to the true interpretation to
be given to the various compositions, but those do not
form what may properly be called a method. Per-
sonally, I am rather skeptical when anybody announces
that he teaches any particular method. Leschetizky,
without any particular method, is a great force by
virtue of his tremendously interesting personality
and his great qualities as an artist. He is himself a
never-ending source of inspiration. At eighty he
was still a youth, full of vitality and enthusiasm.
Some student, diffident but worthy, was always
encouraged; another was incited by sarcasm; still
another was scolded outright. Practical illustration
on the piano, showing 'how not to do it/ telling of
pertinent stories to elucidate a point, are among the
means which he constantly employed to bring out the
best that was in his pupils. A good teacher cannot in-
sure success and Leschetizky has naturally had
many pupils who will never become great virtuosos.
It was never in the pupils and, no matter how great
the teacher, he cannot create talent that does not exist,
"The many books published upon the Leschetia-

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 85

ky system by his assistants have merit, but they by
no means constitute a Leschetizky system* They
simply give some very rational preparatory exercise
that the assistants give in preparing pupils for the
master. Leschetizky himself laughs when one speaks
of his ' method' or c system.'

" Success in public appearance will never come
through any system or method except that which
works toward the end of making a mature and genuine
artist.

WELL-SELECTED PROGRAMS
"Skill in the arrangement of an artist's programs
has much to do with his success. This matter has
two distinct aspects. Firstly, the program must
look attractive, and secondly, it must sound well in
the rendition. When I say the program must look
attractive, I mean that it must contain works which
interest concert-goers. It should be neither entirely
conventional, nor should it contain novelties exclu-
sively. The classics should be represented, because
the large army of students expect to be especially
benefited by hearing these performed by a great artist.
Novelties must be placed on the program to make
it attractive to the maturer habitu6s of the concert
room.

"But more important, to my mind, is the other
aspect of program making which I have mentioned.
There must be contrasts in the character and tonal
nature of the compositions played. They must be so

86 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

grouped that the interest of the hearers will be not
only sustained to the end, but will gradually in-
crease, It goes without saying that each composition
should have merit and worth as musical literature.
But beyond that, there should be variety in the char-
acter of the different compositions: the classic, the
romantic, and the modern compositions should all be
given representation. To play several slow movements
or several vivacious movements in succession would
tend to tire the listener. Anti-climaxes should be
avoided.

"It may truly be said that program making is in
itself a high art. It is difficult to give advice on this
subject by any general statement, Generalizations
are too often misleading. I would advise the young
artist to study carefully the programs of the most
successful artists and to attempt to discover the prin-
ciple underlying their arrangement.

" One thing which should never be forgotten is that
the object of a concert is not merely to show off
the skill of the performer ? but to instruct, entertain
and elevate the audience. The bulk of the program
should be composed of standard works, but novelties
of genuine worth should be given a place on the pro-
gram.

PERSONALITY

"The player's personality is of inestimable impor-
tance in winning the approval of the public, I do
not refer particularly to personal beauty, although it

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 87

cannot be doubted that a pleasing appearance is help-
ful in conquering an audience. What I mean is
sincerity, individuality, temperament. What we
vaguely describe as magnetism is often possessed by
players who can lay no particular claim to personal
beauty. Some players seem fairly to hypnotize their
audiences yes, hypnotize them. This is not done by
practicing any species of black art, or by consciously
following any psychological formula, but by the sheer
intensity of feeling of the artist at the moment of
performance.

"The great performer in such moments of passion
forgets himself entirely. He is in a sort of artistic
trance. Technical mastery of the composition being
presupposed, the artist need not and does not give
thought to the matter of playing the notes correctly,
but, re-creating in himself what he feels to have been
the mood of the composer, re-creates the composition
itself. It is this kind of playing which establishes
an invisible cord, connecting the player's and the
hearers' hearts, and, swayed himself by the feelings of
the moment, he sways his audience. He makes the
music he draws from the instrument supreme in every
soul in the audience; his feeling and passion are con-
tagious and carry the audience away. These are the
moments, not only of the greatest triumph, but of
the greatest exultation for the artist; He who cannot
thus sway audiences will never rise above mediocrity.

88 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Do NOT ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE
"To those who are still in the preparatory stage
of development I am glad to give one word of advice.
Do not play pieces that are away beyond your grasp.
This is the greatest fault in our American musical
educational systems of to-day. Pupils are permitted
to play works that are technically impossible for
them to hope to execute without years of preparation.
What a huge blunder this is!

"The pupil comes to the teacher, let us say, with
the Second Hungarian Rhapsody of Liszt. It takes
some fortitude for the conscientious teacher to tell the
pupil that she should work with the C Major Sonata
of Haydn instead. The pupil, with a kind of confi-
dence that is, to say the least, dangerous, imagines that
the teacher is trying to keep her back, and often goes
to another teacher who will gratify her whim*

"American girls think that they can do everything.
Nothing is beyond them. This is a country of great
accomplishment, and they do not realize that in music
'Art is long. ' The virtuoso comes to a great metrop-
olis and plays a Moszkowski concerto of great difficulty.
The next day the music stores exhaust their stocks
of this work, and a dozen misses, who might with
difficulty play a Mendelssohn Song With Word$>
are buried in the avalanche of technical impossibili-
ties that the alluring concerto provides.

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 89

FOREIGN DEBUTS

" Unfortunately, a foreign d&nA seems to be neces-
sary for the artist who would court the favor of
the American public. Foreign pianists get engage-
ments long before their managers in America ever
hear them. In the present state of affairs, if an
American pianist were to have the ability of three
Liszts and three Rubinsteins in one person, he could
only hope for meager reward if he did not have a
great European reputation behind him.

" The condition is absurd and regrettable, but never-
theless true. We have many splendid teachers in
America as fine as there are in the world.

"We have in our larger cities musical audiences
whose judgment is as discriminating as that of the best
European audiences. Many an artist with a great
European reputation has come to this country, and,
failing Ho make good' in the judgment of our critics
and audiences, went back with his reputation seriously
impaired. Nevertheless, as I have stated, the
American artist without a European reputation,
has no drawing power and therefore does not interest
the managers and the piano manufacturers, who nowa-
days have largely supplanted the managers. This
being so, I can only advise the American artist to do
as others had to do. Go to Europe; give a few
concerts in Berlin, London, Vienna or Paris. Let
the concert director who arranges your concerts
paper the house, but be sure you get a few critics in

90 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

the audience. Have your criticisms translated, and
get them republished in American papers. Then, if
you have real merit, you may get a chance.

"The interest in music in the United States at the
present time is phenomenal. European peoples
have no conception of it. Nowhere in the world can
such interest be found. Audiences in different parts
of the country do not differ very greatly from the
standpoint of intelligent appreciation. When we
consider the great uncultured masses of peasants in
Europe and the conditions of our own fanners,
especially in the West, there is no basis of comparison.
America is already a musical country, a very musical
country. It is only in its failure to properly support
native musicians that we are subject to criticism.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

"To the young man or woman who would learn
'The Secret of Public Appearance ' I would say:

" i. Look deeply into your natural qualifications.
Use every morsel of judgment you possess to en*
deavor to determine whether you are talented or
simply 'clever' at music. Court the advice of un-
biased professional musicians and meditate upon the
difficulties leading to a successful career, and do not
decide to add one more musician to the world until
you are confident of your suitability for the work.
Remember that this moment of decision is a very
important time and that you may be upon the thresh-
old of a dangerous mistake. Remember that there

APPEARING IN PUBLIC pi

are thousands of successful and happy teachers for
one successful virtuoso.

" 2. After you have determined to undertake the
career of the concert performer let nothing stand
in the way of study, except the consideration of
your health. Success with a broken-down body
and a shattered mind is a worthless conquest. Re-
member that if you wish a permanent position you
must be thoroughly trained in all branches of your
art.

" 3. Avoid charlatanism and the kind of advertise-
ment that will bring you notoriety at the sacrifice of
your self-respect and the respect of your best friends.
Remember that real worth is, after all, the thing that
brings enduring fame.

"4. Study the public. Seek to find out what
pleases it, but never lower the standards of your art.
Read the best literature. Study pictures. Travel.
Broaden your mind. Acquire general culture.

" 5. Be careful of your stage deportment. En-
deavor to do nothing at the keyboard that will em-
phasize any personal eccentricity. Always be sin-
cere and true to your own nature, but within these
limits try to make a pleasing impression.

"6. Always be your own severest critic. Be not
easily satisfied with yourself. Hitch your wagon to
a star. Let your standard of perfection be the very
highest. Always strive to reach that standard.
Never play in public a piece that you have not
thoroughly mastered. There is nothing more valuable

92 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

than public confidence. Once secured, it is the great-
est asset an artist can possess.

"I have repeatedly been asked to give ten rules for
practice.

"It is not possible to formulate ten all-comprehen-
sive rules that could be applied in every case, but the
following suggestions will be found valuable to many
students:

" i . Concentrate during every second of your prac-
tice. To concentrate means to bring all your think-
ing powers to bear upon one central point with the
greatest possible intensity. Without such concentra-
tion nothing can be accomplished during the practice
period. One hour of concentrated thinking is worth
weeks of thoughtless practice. It is safe to say that
years are being wasted by students in this country
who fail to get the most out of their practice because
they do not know how to concentrate. A famous
thinker has said: 'The evidence of superior genius
is the power of intellectual concentration. '

" 2. Divide your practice time into periods of not
more than two hours. You will find it impossible to
concentrate properly if you attempt to practice more
than two hours at a time. Do not have an arbitrary
program of practice work, for this course is liable to
make your work monotonous. For one who practices
four hours (and that is enough for almost any student),
one hour for purely technical work, one hour for Bach,
and two hours for pieces is to be recommended.
"3. In commencing your practice, play over your

APPEASING IN PUBLIC 93

piece once or twice before beginning to memorize.
Then, after working through the entire composition,
pick out the more difficult passages for special at-
tention and reiteration.

"4. Always practice slowly at first. This is

**" * * ", /' <*+ ***"* w ~

simply another way of telling the pupil to concentrate.
Even after you have played your piece at the re-
quired speed and with reasonable confidence that it
is correct, never fail to go back now and then and
play it at the speed at which you learned it. This
is a practice which many virtuosos follow. Pieces
that they have played time and time again before
enthusiastic audiences are re-studied by playing them
very slowly. This is the only real way to undo mis-
takes that are bound to creep into one's performance
when pieces are constantly played in a rapid tempo.

" 5. Do not attempt to practice your whole piece
at first. Take a small section or even a phrase. If
you take a longer section than say sixteen bars, you
will find it difficult to avoid mistakes. Of course, when
the piece is mastered you should have all these sec-
tions so unified that you can play the entire com-
position smoothly and without a break.

" 6. First memorize mentally the section you have
selected for study, and then practice it. If you do
not know it well enough to practice it from memory,
you have not grasped its musical content, but are
playing mechanically.

"7. Occasionally memorize backwards, that is,
take the last few measures and learn them thoroughly,

94 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

then take the preceding measures and continue in
this way until the whole is mastered. Even after
you have played the piece many times, this process
often compels a concentration that is beneficial.

"8. When studying, remember that practice is
simply a means of cultivating habits. If you play
correctly from the start you will form good habits;
if you play carelessly and faultily your playing
will grow continually worse. Consequently, play so
slowly and correctly from the start that you may
insure the right fingering, phrasing, tone, touch
(staccato, legato, portamento, etc.), pedaling and
dynamic effects. If you postpone the attainment of
any of these qualities to a later date they are much
more difficult to acquire.

" 9. Always listen while you are playing, Music is
intended to be heard. If you do not listen to your
own playing it is very probable that other people
will not care to listen to it either.
, " 10. Never attempt to play anything in public
that you have just finished studying. When you arc
through working upon a piece, put it away to be
musically digested, then after some time repeat the
same process, and again the third time, when your
piece will have become a part of yourself,"

APPEARING IN PUBLIC 95

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES IV
FANNY BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER

i. How should the public appearances of talented
children be controlled?

2* What is the best material for the development
of a mental technic?

3. Should one pin one's faith to any one method?

4. What combines to make a program attractive?

5. What should be artist's main object in giving
a concert?

6. What part does personality play in the per-
former's success?

7. What is one of the greatest faults in musical
educational work in America?

8. How should practice time be divided?

9. May one memorize "backwards"?
10. Why should one listen while playing?

FERRUCCIO BENVENUTO BUSONI

BlOGEAPKECAL

Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni was born at Empoli,
near Florence, Italy, April i, 1866. His father was a
clarinetist and his mother whose maiden name was
Weiss, indicating her German ancestry was an ex-
cellent pianist. His first teachers were his parents.
So pronounced was his talent that he made his dbut
at the age of eight in Vienna, Austria. He then stud-
ied in the Austrian city of Graz with W. A. Remy,
whose right name was Dr. Wilhelm Mayer. This
able teacher aside from being a learned jurist was also
devoted to music and had among his other pupils
no less a person than Felix Weingartnen

In 1881 Busoni toured Italy and was made a mem-
ber of the Reale Accademia Filharmonica at Bologna*
In 1886 he went to reside at Leipsic. Two years
later he became teacher of pianoforte at the Helsing-
fors Conservatory in the Finnish capital. In 1890
he captured the famous Rubinstein prizes for both
pianoforte and composition. In the same year he
became Professor of pianoforte playing at the Moscow
Imperial Conservatory. The next year he accepted
a similar position in the New England Conservatory
at Boston, returning to Europe for another tour in
1893. After many successful tours he accepted the
position of director of the Meister-schule at the
Imperial Conservatory in Vienna. His compositions
include over one hundred published opus numbers,
the most pretentious probably being his Choral
Concerto. His editions of Bach are masterpieces of
technical and artistic erudition.

(The following Conference was conducted in
English.)

FERRUCCIO B. BUSONI

vn

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY

FERRUCCIO BENVENUTO BUSONI

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DETAIL
"SOME years ago I met a very famous artist whose
celebrity rested upon the wonderful colored glass win-
dows that he had produced. He was considered by
most of his contemporaries the greatest of all makers
of high-art windows. His fame had extended through-
out the artistic circles of all Europe. A little remark
he made to me illustrates the importance of detail
better than anything of which I can think at present.
"He said ? 'If a truly great work of art in the form
of a stained glass window should be accidentally
shattered to little bits, one should be able to estimate
the greatness of the whole window by examining one
of the fragments even though all the other pieces were
missing.'

"In fine piano playing all of the details are im-
portant. I do not mean to say that if one were in
another room that one could invariably tell the
ability of an artist by hearing him strike one note,
but if the note is heard in relation to the other notes
in a composition, its proportionate value should be
so delicately and artistically estimated by the highly
trained performer, that it forms part of the artistic
whole.

7 97

98 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

"For instance, it is quite easy to conceive of com-
positions demanding a very smooth running per-
formance in which one jarring or harsh note indi-
cating faulty artistic calculation upon the part of
the player would ruin the entire interpretation. As
examples of this one might cite the Bach Choral Vor->
spiel, Nun Freut euch, of which I have made an ar-
rangement, and such a composition as the Chopin
Prelude Opus 28, No. 3, with its running accom-
paniment in the left hand.

"It is often perfection in little things which dis-
tinguishes the performance of the great pianist from
that of the novice. The novice usually manages to
get the so-called main points, but he does not work
for the little niceties of interpretation which are
almost invariably the defining characteristic of the
interpretations of the real artist that is, the per-
former who has formed the habit of stopping at noth-
ing short of his highest ideal of perfection.

LEARNING TO LISTEN

"There is a detail which few students observe which
is of such vast importance that one is tempted to say
that the main part of successful musical progress
depends upon it. This is the detail of learning to
listen. Every sound that is produced during the
practice period should be heard. That is, it should
be heard with ears open to give that sound the intelli-
gent analysis which it deserves.

"Anyone who has observed closely and taught

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY 99

extensively must have noticed that hours and hours
are wasted by students strumming away on key-
boards and giving no more attention to the sounds
they produce than would the inmates of a deaf and
dumb asylum. These students all expect to become
fine performers even though they may not aim to
become virtuosos. To them the piano keyboard is
a kind of gymnasium attached to a musical instru-
ment. They may of course acquire strong fingers,
but they will have to learn to listen before they can
hope to become even passable performers.

"At my own recitals no one in the audience listens
more attentively than I do. I strive to hear every
note and while I am playing my attention is so con-
centrated upon the one purpose of delivering the
work in the most artistic manner dictated by the
composer's demands and my conception of the piece,
that I am little conscious of anything else. I have
also learned that I must continually have my mind
alert to opportunities for improvement. I am always
in quest of new beauties and even while playing in
public it is possible to conceive of new details that
come like revelations.

"The artist who has reached the period when he
fails to be on the outlook for details of this kind and
is convinced that in no possible way could his per-
formances be improved, has reached a very dangerous
stage of artistic stagnation which will result in the
ruin of his career. There is always room for improve-
ment, that is the development of new details, and it is

100 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

this which gives zest and intellectual interest to the
work of the artist. Without it his public efforts would
become very tame and unattractive.

SELF DEVELOPMENT

"In my own development as an artist it has been
made evident to me, time and time again, that suc-
cess comes from the careful observance of details.
All students should strive to estimate their own
artistic ability very accurately. A wrong estimate
always leads to a dangerous condition. If I had
failed to attend to certain details many years ago, I
would have stopped very far short of anything like
success.

"I remember that when I concluded my term as
professor of piano at the New England Conservatory
of Music I was very conscious of certain deficiencies
in my style. Notwithstanding the fact that I had
been accepted as a virtuoso in Europe and in America
and had toured with great orchestras such as the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, I knew better than
anyone else that there were certain details in my play-
ing that I could not afford to neglect.

"For instance, I knew that my method of playing
the trill could be greatly improved and I also knew
that I lacked force and endurance in certain pas-
sages. Fortunately, although a comparatively young
man, I was not deceived by the flattery of well-
meaning, but incapable critics, who were quite will-
ing to convince me that my playing was as perfect as

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY 101

it was possible to make it. Every seeker of artistic
truth is more widely awake to his own deficiencies
than any of his critics could possibly be.

"In order to rectify the details I have mentioned
as well as some I have not mentioned, I have come
to the conclusion that I must devise an entirely new
technical system. Technical systems are best when
they are individual. Speaking theoretically, every
individual needs a different technical system. Every
hand, every arm, every set of ten fingers, every body
and, what is of greatest importance, every intellect
is different from every other. I consequently en-
deavored to get down to the basic laws underlying
the subject of technic and make a system of my own.

"After much study, I discovered what I believed to
be the technical cause of my defects and then I re-
turned to Europe and for two years I devoted myself
almost exclusively to technical study along the in-
dividual lines I had devised. To my great delight
details that had always defied me, the rebellious
trills, the faltering bravura passages, the uneven
runs, all came into beautiful submission and with them
came a new delight in playing.

FINDING INDIVIDUAL FAULTS
"I trust that my experience will set some ambi-
tious piano students to thinking and that they may
be benefited by it. There is always a way of cor-
recting deficiencies if the way can only be found.
The first thing, however, is to recognize the detail

102 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

itself and then to realize that instead of being a de-
tail it is a matter of vast importance until it has
been conquered and brought into submission. In
playing, always note where your difficulties seem to
lie. Then, when advisable, isolate those difficulties
and practice them separately. This is the manner in
which all good technical exercises are devised.

"Your own difficulty is the difficulty which you
should practice most. Why waste time in practicing
passages which you can play perfectly well? One
player may have difficulty in playing trills, while to
another player of equal general musical ability trills
may be perfectly easy. In playing arpeggios, how-
ever, the difficulties which prove obstacles to the
players may be entirely reversed. The one who
could play the trill perfectly might not be able, under
any circumstance, to play an arpeggio with the re-
quisite smoothness and true legato demanded, while
the student who found the trill impossible possesses
the ability to run arpeggios and cadenzas with the
fluency of a forest rivulet.

"All technical exercises must be given to the pupil
with great discretion and judgment just as poisonous
medicines must be administered to the patient with
great care. The indiscriminate giving of technical
exercises may impede progress rather than advance
the pupil. Simply because an exercise happens to
come in a certain position in a book of technical ex-
ercises is no reason why the particular pupil being
taught needs that exercise at that particular time.

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY 103

Some exercises which are not feasible and others
which are inexpedient at a certain time, may prove
invaluable later in the pupil's progress,

"Take the famous Tausig exercises, for instance.
Tausig was a master of technic who had few, if any,
equals in his time. His exercises are for the most
part very ingenious and useful to advanced players,
but when some of them are transposed into other
keys as their composer demands they become practi-
cally impossible to play with the proper touch, etc.
Furthermore, one would be very unlikely to find
a passage demanding such a technical feat in the
compositions of any of the great masters of the
piano. Consequently, such exercises are of no practi-
cal value and would only be demanded by a teacher
with more respect for tradition than common sense,

DETAILS OF PHRASING AND ACCENTUATION
"Some students look upon phrasing as a detail
that can be postponed until other supposedly more
important things are accomplished, The very mu-
sical meaning of any composition depends upon the
correct understanding and delivery of the phrases
which make that composition. To neglect the
phrases would be about as sensible as it would be
for the great actor to neglect the proper thought
division in the interpretation of his lines. The
greatest masterpiece of dramatic literature whether
it be Romeo and Juliet, Antigone, La Malade Imagin-
aire or The DoWs House becomes nonsense if the

104 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

thought divisions indicated by the verbal phrases are
not carefully determined and expressed.

"Great actors spend hours and hours seeking for
the best method of expressing the author's meaning.
No pianist of ability would think of giving less care-
ful attention to phrasing. How stupid it would be
for the actor to add a word that concluded one sen-
tence to the beginning of the next sentence. How
erroneous then is it for the pupil to add the last note
of one phrase to the beginning of the next phrase.
Phrasing is anything but a detail,

"Fine phrasing depends first upon a knowledge of
music which enables one to define the limitations of
the phrase and then upon a knowledge of piano-
forte playing which enables one to execute it properly.
Phrasing is closely allied to the subject of accentuation
and both subjects are intimately connected with
that of fingering. Without the proper fingers it is
often impossible to execute certain phrases correctly.
Generally, the accents are considered of importance
because they are supposed to fall in certain set parts
of given measures, thus indicating the meter.

"In instructing very young pupils it may be neces-
sary to lead them to believe that the time must be
marked in a definite manner by such accents, but as
the pupil advances he must understand that the
measure divisions are inserted principally for the
purpose of enabling him to read easily. He should
learn to look upon each piece of music as a beau-
tiful tapestry in which the main consideration is

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY 105

the principal design of the work as a whole and not
the invisible marking threads which the manufac-
turer is obliged to put in the loom in order to have
a structure upon which the tapestry may be woven.

BACH, BACH, BACH

"In the study of the subject of accentuation and
phrasing it would not be possible for anyone to
recommend anything more instructive than the
works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The immortal
Thiiringian composer was the master-weaver of all.
His tapestries have never been equalled in refine-
ment, color, breadth and general beauty. Why is
Bach so valuable for the student? This is an easy
question to answer. It is because his works are
so constructed that they compel one to study these
details. Even if the student has only mastered the
intricacies of the Two Voice Inventions, it is safe to
say that he has become a better player. More than
this, Bach forces the student to think.

"If the student has never thought before during
his practice periods, he will soon find that it is quite
impossible for him to encompass the difficulties of
Bach without the closest mental application. In fact,
he may also discover that it is possible for him to
work out some of his musical problems while away
from the keyboard. Many of the most perplexing
musical questions and difficulties that have ever
confronted me have been solved mentally while I

106 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

have been walking upon the street or lying in bed at
night.

"Sometimes the solution of difficult details conies
in the twinkling of an eye. I remember that when
I was a very young man I was engaged to play a
concerto with a large symphony orchestra. One
part of the concerto had always troubled me, and I
was somewhat apprehensive about it. During one
of the pauses, while the orchestra was playing, the
correct interpretation came to me like a flash. I
waited until the orchestra was playing very loud
and made an opportunity to run over the difficult
passage. Of course, my playing could not be heard
under the tutti of the orchestra, and when the time
came for the proper delivery of the passage it was
vastly better than it would have been otherwise.

"I never neglect an opportunity to improve, no
matter how perfect a previous interpretation may
have seemed to me. In fact, I often go directly home
from the concert and practice for hours upon the
very pieces that I have been playing, because during
the concert certain new ideas have come to me. These
ideas are very precious, and to neglect them or to
consider them details to be postponed for future de-
velopment would be ridiculous in the extreme."

IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PIANO STUDY I0y

QUESTIONS ON STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANO PLAYING

SERIES V
FERRUCCIO BE1STVENUTO BUSONI

1. What is it which distinguishes the performance
of the great pianist from that of the novice?

2. Upon what detail of interpretation does musi-
cal performance most depend?

3. Should the student continually estimate his
own ability?

4. Which difficulty should you practice most?

5. What was the principle which made the Tausig
exercises valuable?

6. Upon what does fine phrasing depend?

7. Why is it that the compositions of Johann
Sebastian Bach are so useful in piano study?

8. How may complex musical problems be solved
mentally?

9. Is it advisable to isolate difficulties and practice
them separately?

10. How should one seize opportunities to improve?

TERESA CARRE&O

BIOGRAPHICAL

Teresa Carreno was born at Caracas, Venezuela,
December 22, 1853. She descended from one of the
foremost families of Spanish America, which boasted
of Simon Bolivar " the Washington of South America ? '
as one of its members. Artists have been known
among her ancestors as far back as the fourteenth
century when the famous painter Carreno lived in
Spain.

Mme. Carreno's first teacher was her father.
Later she studied with a German teacher in her
native country. At seven she played the Rondo
Capriccio of Mendelssohn with great iclat. A revolu-
tion obliged the Carreno family to move to New York.
The death of a friend to whom funds had been en-
trusted placed the party of eighteen refugees in dire
straits and a concert was arranged at which the tiny
Teresa came to the front and secured sufficient means
for their existence.

Gottschalk, then in the height of his fame in New
York, became the child's next teacher. She remained
with him for two years. Then she went to Paris
and became a pupil of Georges Mathias ? the famous
disciple of Chopin. Her success as a virtuoso pianist
in Europe excited the attention of Rubinstein who
devoted a great deal of time to giving her invaluable
advice and instruction in interpretation. Indeed
Rubinstein was so proud of her that he repeatedly
introduced her as his daughter in art and would
jokingly say "Are not our hands exactly alike?"

Mme. Carreno's brilliance, force, breadth of thought
and almost sensuous love for the beautiful made her
numerous tours through all of the music-loving coun-
tries remarkably successful.

10$

V jf

*

'.**
-**

TERESA CARRENO

vm

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING

TERESA CARREftO

EARLY EVIDENCES OF INDIVIDUAIJTY
IT is difficult for me to discuss the subject of in-
dividuality without recollecting one of the most im-
pressive and significant events of my entire career.
When I was taken to Europe as a child, for further
study, it was my good fortune to meet and play for
the immortal Franz Liszt. He seemed deeply inter-
ested in my playing, and with the kindliness for which
he was always noted he gave me his blessing, a kind of
artistic sacrament that has had a tremendous influence
upon all my work as an artist. He laid his hand upon
my head and among other things said: " Little girl,
with time you will be one of us. Don't imitate anyone.
Keep yourself true to yourself. Cultivate your
individuality and do not follow blindly in the paths
of others. "

In this one thought Liszt embodied a kind of a
pedagogical sermon which should be preached every
day in all the schools, conservatories and music
studios of the world. Nothing is so pitiful as the
evidences of a strong individuality crushed out by an
artificial educational system which makes the system
itself of paramount importance and the individual of
microbic significance.

109

110 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

The signs of individuality may be observed in little
folks at a very early age. With some children they
are not very pronounced, and the child seems like
hundreds of others without any particular inclination,
artistic or otherwise. It is then that the teacher's
powers of divination should be brought into play.
Before any real progress can be made the nature of
the child must be studied carefully. In the case of
other children, the individuality is very marked at an
early age. As a rule, the child with the marked in-
dividuality is the one from whom the most may be
expected later in life. Sometimes this very individ-
uality is mistaken for precocity. This is particularly
the case with musicians. In a few instances the
individuality of the master has been developed late
in life, as was the case of Richard Wagner, whose
early individual tendencies were toward the drama
rather than music.

NEW PROBLEMS AT EVERY STEP
The teacher in accepting a new pupil should realize
that there at once arises new problems at every step.
The pupil's hand, mind, body and soul may be in
reality different from those of every other pupil the
teacher has taught. The individual peculiarities of
the hand should be carefully considered. If the hand
has long, tapering fingers, with the fingers widely
separated, it will need quite different treatment from
that of the pupil with a short, compact, muscular
hand. If the pupil's mind indicates mental lethargy

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING III

or a lack of the proper early educational training, this
must be carefully considered by the teacher.

If the pupil's body is frail and the health uncertain,
surely the teacher will not think of prescribing the
same work she would prescribe for a robust, energetic
pupil who appears never to have had a sick day. One
pupil might be able to practice comfortably for four
and five hours a day, while another would find her
energy and interest exhausted in two hours. In fact, I
would consider the study of individuality the principal
care or study of the teacher,

The individuality of different virtuoso performers
is very marked. Although the virtuoso aspires to
encompass all styles that is, to be what you would
call an "all-around" player it is, nevertheless, the
individuality of the player that adds the additional
charm to the piano-recital. You hear a great master-
piece executed by one virtuoso, and when you hear
the same composition played by another you will
detect a difference, not of technical ability or of artistic
comprehension, but rather of individuality. Rem-
brandt, Rubens and Vandyke might have all painted
from the same model, but the finished portrait would
have been different, and that difference would have
been a reflection of the individuality of the artist.

THE TEACHER'S RESPONSIBILITY
Again let me emphasize the necessity for the correct
"diagnosis" of the pupil's individuality upon the part
of the teacher. Unless the right work is prescribed

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

by the teacher, the pupil will rarely ever survive
artistically. It is much the same as with the doctor.
If the doctor gives the wrong medicine and the patient
dies, surely the doctor is to blame. It makes no differ-
ence whether the doctor had good intentions or not.
The patient is dead and that is the end of all. I have
little patience with these people who have such
wonderful intentions, but who have neither the ability,
courage nor willingness to carry out these intentions.
Many teachers would like to accomplish a very great
deal for their pupils, but alas! they are either not able
or they neglect those very things which make the
teacher's work a mission. One of the teacher's great-
est responsibilities lies in determining at first upon a
rational educational course by divining the pupil's
individuality. Remember that pupils are not all
like sheep to be shorn in the same identical fashion
with the same identical shears.

EDWARD MACDOWELL'S INDIVIDUALITY
One of the most remarkable cases of a pronounced
musical individuality was that of the late Edward
MacDowell, who came to me for instruction for a
considerable time. He was then quite youthful,
and his motives from the very first were of the highest
and noblest. His ideals were so lofty that he required
little stimulation or urging of any kind, Here it was
necessary to study the pupil's nature very carefully,
and provide work that would develop his keenly artis-
tic individuality. I remember that he was extremely

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING 113

fond of Grieg, and the marked and original character
of the Norwegian tone-poet made a deep impression
upon him. He was poetical, and loved to study and
read poetry. To have repressed MacDowell in a
harsh or didactic manner would have been to have
demolished those very characteristics which, in later
years, developed in such astonishing fashion that his
compositions have a distinctiveness and a style all
their own.

It gives me great pleasure to place his compositions
upon my programs abroad, and I find that they are
keenly appreciated by music lovers in the old world.
If MacDowell had not had a strong individuality, and
if he had not permitted this individuality to be de-
veloped along normal lines, his compositions would
not be the treasures to our art that they are.

DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH POETRY
If the teacher discovers a pupil with apparent mu-
sical talent, but whose nature has not been developed
to appreciate the beautiful and romantic in this
wonderful world of ours, he will find it quite impossible
to alter the pupil's individuality in this respect by work
at the keyboard alone. The mundane, prosaic in-
dividual who believes that the sole aim of musical
study is the acquisition of technic, or the magic of
digital speed, must be brought to realize that this is
a fault of individuality which will mar his entire career
unless it is intelligently corrected. Years and years
spent in practice will not make either a musician or a

114 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

virtuoso out of one who can conceive of nothing more
than how many times he can play a series of notes
within the beats of the metronome, beating 208 times
a minute,

Speed does not constitute virtuosity, nor does the
ability to unravel the somewhat intricate keyboard
puzzles of Bach and Brahms make in itself fine piano
playing. The mind of the artist must be cultured;
in fact, quite as cultured as that of the composer who
conceived the music. Culture comes from the ob-
servation of many things: Nature, architecture,
science, machinery, sculpture, history, men and
women, and poetry. I advise aspiring music students
to read a great deal of poetry.

I find great inspiration in Shakespeare, inspiration
which I know is communicated to my interpretations
of musical masterpieces at my concerts. Who can
remain unmoved by the mystery and psychology of
Hamlet, the keen suffering and misery of King Lear,
the bitter hate and revenge of Othello, the sweet de-
votion of Romeo and Juliet, the majesty of Richard
III, and the fairy beauty of A Midsummer Night's
Dream? In this wonderful kaleidoscope of all the
human passions one can find a world of inspiration.
I am also intensely fond of Goethe, Heine, and Alfred
de Musset. It gives me pleasure to compare them to
the great masters of music. Shakespeare I compare
to Brahms, Goethe to Bach and Beethoven, and Heine
and Musset to Chopin and Liszt.

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING

CULTIVATING VIVACITY AND BRILLIANCY
Vivacity and brilliancy in playing are largely mat-
ters of temperament and a fluent technic. I owe
a great deal in this respect to Gottschalk. When
he came back to America fresh from the hands of
the inimitable Chopin, he took the most minute
pains to cultivate this characteristic in my playing.
Chopin's own playing was marked by delicacy and
an intensity that was apart from the bravura playing
of most of the artists of his time. Gottschalk was a
keen observer, and he did everything possible to
impart this style to me. I have used the studies of
Czerny, Liszt, Henselt and dementi to develop
brilliancy with pupils.

It should be remembered that the root of all brilliant
playing lies in one thing accuracy. Without ac-
curacy any attempt at brilliancy must result in " mussi-
ness." It is impossible to explain these things by
means of books and theories. Remember what
Goethe says: "Alle Theorie is grau, mein Freund"
(all theory is foggy or hard to comprehend). One
can say fifty times as much in twenty minutes as one
can put in a book. Books are necessary, but by no
means depend entirely upon books for technical
instruction.

Individuals who are careless possess a trait that
will seriously mar their individuality as musicians
and artists. Carelessness is so often taken for
"abandon" in playing. "Abandon" is something

Il6 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

quite different and pertains to that unconsciousness
of technical effort which only comes to the artist
after years of practice. To play with " abandon"
and miss a few notes in this run, play a few false notes
in the next, strike the wrong bass note here and
there, mumble trills and overlook the correct phrasing
entirely, with the idea that you are doing the same
thing you have seen some great virtuoso do, is simply
the superlative degree of carelessness.

To one whose individuality is marred by careless-
ness let me recommend very slow playing, with the
most minute attention to detail. Technically speak-
ing, Czerny and Bach are of great value in correcting
carelessness. In Czerny the musical structure of
the compositions is so clearly and openly outlined
that any error is easily detected, while in Bach the
structure is so close and compact that it is difficult
to make an error without interrupting the movement
of some other voice that will reveal the error. The
main consideration, however, is personal carefulness,
and it makes little difference what the study is, so
long as the student himself takes great pains to see
that he is right, and exactly right, before he attempts
to go ahead. Most musicians, however, would say
that Bach was the one great stone upon which our
higher technical structure must firmly stand.

Some individuals are so superficial and so "frothy"
that it is difficult to conceive of their doing any-
thing serious or really worth while. It is very hard
for the teacher to work with such a pupil, because

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING 117

they have not realized themselves as yet. They
have not looked into their lives and discerned those
things which make life of most importance. Life
is not all play, nor is it all sorrow. But sorrow
often does much to develop the musician's character,
to make him look into himself and discover his more
serious purposes. This might also be accomplished
by some such means of self -introspection as " Christ-
ian Science." Although I am not a "Christian
Scientist," I am a great believer in its wonderful
principles.

The greatest care must be taken in developing
the individualities of the superficial pupils. To give
them Bach or Brahms at the outstart would be to
irritate them. They must be led to a fondness for
music of a deeper or more worthy character by
gradual steps in that direction. In my own case
I was fortunate in having the advice of mature and
famous musicians, and as a child was given music
of a serious order only. I have always been grateful
for this experience. At one of my first New York
concerts I had the honor of having Theodore Thomas
as first violinist, and I well remember his natural
bent for music of a serious order, which was in a
decided contrast to the popular musical taste of the
times,

THE IMPORTANCE OP STUDYING MUSICAL HISTORY

Every composer has a pronounced individuality.

To the experienced musician this individuality be-

Il8 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

comes so marked that he can often detect the com-
poser's style in a composition which he has never
heard. The artist studies the individuality of the
composer through the study of his biography, through
the study of musical history in general and through
the analysis of individual compositions.

Every music student should be familiar with the
intensely necessary and extremely valuable subject
of musical history. How else can he become familiar
with the personal individualities of the great com-
posers? The more I know of Chopin, Beethoven,
Scarlatti or Mendelssohn as men, and the more I
know of the times in which they lived, the closer I
feel to the manner in which they would have wished
their compositions interpreted. Consider how mark-
edly different are the individualities of Wagner and
Haydn, and how different the interpretations of the
works of these masters should be.

Strauss and Debussy are also very different in
their methods of composition. Strauss seems to
me a tremendous genius who is inventing a new
musical language as he goes. Debussy does not
appeal to me in the same manner. He always seems
to be groping for musical ideas, while with Strauss
the greatness of his ideas is always evident and all*
compelling.

In closing, let me say that Tim, Experience and
Work are the moulders of all individuality. Few of
us close our days with the same individualities which
become evident in our youth. We are either grow-

DISTINCTIVE PIANO PLAYING 1 19

ing better or worse all the time, We rarely stand
still. To the musician work is the great sculptor
of individuality. As you work and as you think, so
will you be. No deed, no thought, no hope is too
insignificant to fail to influence your nature. As
through work we become better men and women,
so through work do we become better musicians.
Carlyle has beautifully expressed this thought in
"Past and Present 37 thus: "The latest Gospel in this
world is, 'Know thy work and do it. ? Blessed is he
who has found his work; let him ask no other
blessedness. He has a WORK, a life purpose; he
has found it and will follow it. "

QUESTIONS ON STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC or PIANO PLAYING

SERIES VI
TERESA CARREftO

1. Why should imitation be avoided?

2. Should individuality in playing be developed
at an early age?

3. Should individual physical peculiarities t)e
taken into consideration?

4. In what way was Edward MacDowelFs individ-
uality marked?

5. How may individuality be developed through
poetry?

120 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

6. What studies are particularly useful in the
cultivation of brilliant playing?

7. What is the best remedy for careless playing?

8. How must superficial pupils be treated?

9. Why is the study of musical history so im-
portant?

10. What may be called the sculptor of individual-
ity in music?

4
S

' ;

.' A"'-.f

..*

O. GABRILOWITSCH

OSSIP GABRILOWITSCH

BIOGRAPHICAL

Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born in St. Petersburg,
February 8, 1878. His father was a well-known
jurist of the Russian capital. His brothers were
musical and his first teacher was one of his brothers.
Later, he was taken to Anton Rubinstein who earnestly
advocated a career as a virtuoso. Accordingly he
entered the classes of Victor Tolstoff at the St. Peters-
burg Conservatory, then under the supervision of
Rubinstein himself. His frequent personal con-
ferences with the latter were of immense value to
him. Thereafter he went to Vienna and studied
with Leschetizky for two years. He has made many
tours of Europe and America as a piano virtuoso
and has also appeared as an orchestral conductor
with pronounced success. He was a great friend of
the late Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) and
married one of his daughters.

(The following conference was conducted in English.)

121

IX

ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH
OSSEP GABRILOWITSCH

"MODERN pianoforte teachers in many instances
seem to make deliberate attempts to complicate the
very simple matter of touch. In the final analyses
the whole study of touch may be resolved into two
means of administering force to the keyboard, i. e.,
weight and muscular activity. The amount of pres-
sure brought to bear upon the keys depends upon
the amount of arm weight and upon the quickness
with which the muscles of the hand, forearm, full-
arm and back permit the key to be struck. Upon
these two means of administering force must de-
pend whatever differentiation in dynamic power and
tonal quality the player desires to produce. The
various gradations of tone which the virtuoso's hand
and arm are trained to execute are so minute that
it is impossible for me to conceive of a scientific
instrument or scale to measure them. Physiologists
have attempted to construct instruments to do this,
but little of value has come from such experiments.

A RIGID ARM UNDESIRABLE

"Only a comparatively few years ago thousands
of teachers were insisting upon having their pupils

keep the arms in a still, even rigid, condition during

122

ESSENTIALS OP TOUCH 123

practice. This naturally resulted in the stiffest
imaginable kind of a touch, and likewise in a mechani-
cal style of playing that made what has come to be
known in later days as 'tone color' impossible.

"At this day the finger touch as it was formerly
known has almost gone out of existence. By finger
touch I refer to the old custom of holding the hand
and forearm almost rigid and depending upon the
muscular strength of the fingers for all tonal effects.
In fact, I so rarely employ the finger touch, except
in combination with the arm touch, that it is almost
an insignificant factor as far as my own playing is
concerned. By this the reader must not think that
the training of the fingers, and particularly the finger
tips, is to be neglected. But this training, to my
mind, is not so much a matter of acquiring digital
strength to produce force as to accustom the fingers
to strike the notes with the greatest possible accuracy
and speed. This belongs rather to the realm of
technic than to that of touch, and behind all technic
is the intellect of the player. ^JTechnic is a matter of
training the finger tips to attack and leave the keys
under the absolute discipline of the brainjji Touch
has a much broader and wider significance. It is
touch that reveals the soul of the player.

TOUCH A DISTINGUISHING

"Touch is the distinguishing characteristic which

makes one player's music sound different from that

of another, for it is touch that dominates the player's

124 GEEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

means of producing dynamic shading or tone quality.
I know that many authorities contend that the
quality of tone depends upon the instrument rather
than upon the performer. Nevertheless, I am
reasonably confident that if I were to hear a number
of pianists play in succession upon the same instru-
ment behind a screen and one of these performers
were to be my friend, Harold Bauer, I could at once
identify his playing by his peculiarly individual touch.
In fact, the trained ear can identify different indi-
vidual characteristics with almost the same accuracy
that we identify different voices. One could never
forget Leschetizky's touch, or that of many another
contemporary pianist.

"No matter how wonderful the pianist's technic
that is, how rapidly and accurately he can play pas-
sages of extraordinary difficulty, it is quite worth-
less unless he possesses that control over his touch
which enables him to interpret the composer's work
with the right artistic shading. A fine technic with-
out the requisite touch to liberate the performer's
artistic intelligence and 'soul' is like a gorgeous
chandelier without the lights, Until the lights are
ignited all its beauty is obscured in darkness. With
an excellent technic and a fine touch, together with
a broad musical and general education and artistic
temperament, the young player may be said to be
equipped to enter the virtuoso field.

ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH 125

COMBINING DIFFERENT TOUCHES
"As I have intimated, if the fingers are used ex-
clusively a terribly dry tone must result. The full-
arm touch, in which I experience a complete relaxa-
tion of the arm from the shoulder to the finger tips,
is the condition I employ at most times. But the
touches I use are combinations of the different finger,
hand and arm touches. These lead to myriads of
results, and only the experienced performer can
judge where they should be applied to produce de-
sired effects.

"You will observe by placing your hand upon my
shoulder that even with the movement of the single
finger a muscular activity may be detected at the
shoulder. This shows how completely relaxed I keep
my entire arm during performance. It is only in
this way that I can produce the right kind of singing
tone in cantabile passages. Sometimes I use one
touch in one voice and an entirely different touch
in another voice. The combinations are kaleido-
scopic in their multiplicity.

MECHANICAL METHODS DANGEROUS
"I have never been in favor of the many auto-
matic and mechanical methods of producing touch.
They are all dangerous to my mind. There is only
one real way of teaching, and that is through the
sense of hearing of the pupil. The teacher should
go to the piano and produce the desired tonal effect,

126 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

and the pupil should listen and watch the teacher.
Then the pupil should be instructed to secure a
similar result, and the teacher should persevere until
the audible effect is nearly the same. If the pupil,
working empirically, does not discover the means
leading to this effect, the teacher should call the
pupil's attention to some of the physical conditions
leading to the result. If the teacher is unable to
play well enough to illustrate this, and to secure
the right kind of touch from his pupils, he has no
business to be a teacher of advanced students. All
the theory in the world will never lead to the proper
results.

"Rubinstein paid little or no attention to the
theory of touch, and, in fact, he frequently stated
that he cared little about such things, but who could
hear Rubinstein's touch without being benefited?
I believe that in teaching touch the teacher should
first give his model of the touch required and then
proceed from this positive ideal, by means of the so-
called Socratic method of inducing the pupil to produce
a similar result through repeated questions. In this
way the pupil will not be obliged to resign his indi-
viduality, as would be the case if he followed strict
technical injunctions and rules.

STUDENTS SHOULD HEAR VIRTUOSOS
"For the same reason it is advisable for the pupil
to hear many fine pianists. He should never miss
an opportunity to attend the concerts of great virtuo-

ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH 127

sos. I can frankly say that I have learned as much
from hearing the concerts of great performers as I
have from any other source of educational inspiration.
The pupil should listen intelligently and earnestly.
When he hears what appeals to him as a particu-
larly fine tonal effect, he should endeavor to note
the means the pianist employs to produce this effect.
"He must, however, learn to discriminate between
affection or needless movement and the legitimate
means to an end. Consequent upon a relaxed full
arm is the occasional dropping of the wrist below the
level of the keyboard. A few great players practice
this at a public recital, and lo! and behold! a veritable
cult of ' wrist-droppers' arises and we see students
raising and lowering the wrist with exaggerated mech-
anical stiffness and entirely ignoring the important
end in which this wrist dropping was only an incident.

METHODS, AND STILL MORE METHODS
"I am continually amused at the thousand and
one different ways of striking the keys that teachers
devise and then attach with the label 'method.'
These varied contortions are, after all, largely a
matter of vision, and have little effect upon the real
musical results that the composition demands.
Touch, as I have previously said, all comes down
to the question of the degree of weight applied to the
keyboard and the degree of quickness with which
it is applied. In rapid octave and staccato passages
the hand touch is largely used. This is the touch

128 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

most dependent upon local muscular activity. Aside
from this the combination of muscular and weight
touch almost invariably obtain.

DON'T NEGLECT EAR TRAINING
"I desire to reiterate that if the ideal touch is
presented to the pupil's mind, through the medium
of the ear, he will be much more successful in attain-
ing the artistic ends required, The pupil must
realize dearly what is good and what is bad, and his
aural sense must be continually educated in this
respect. He should practice slowly and carefully at
the keyboard until he is convinced that his arm is
at all times relaxed. He cannot make his sense of
touch too sensitive. He should even be able to sense
the weight or upward pressure which brings the
pianoforte key back into position after it has been
depressed. The arm should feel as if it were floating,
and should never be tense.

"When I am playing I do not think of the arm
motion. I am, of course, absorbed in the composi-
tion being performed. A relaxed arm has become
second nature to me. It comes by itself. Players
are rarely able to tell just how they produce their
results. There are too many contributing factors.
Even with the best-known performers the effects
differ at different performances. It is impossible
for the performer to give a program repeatedly in
identically the same manner. If he did succeed in

ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH 129

doing this, his playing would soon become stereo-
typed.

"The teacher should, from the very beginning, seek
to avoid stiffness and bad hand positions, such as
crooked fingers or broken-in knuckles. If these de-
tails are neglected the pupil is liable to go through
his entire musical career greatly hampered. I would
earnestly advise all teachers to discourage the efforts
of pupils to attain virtuoso heights unless they are
convinced beyond the possibility of a doubt that the
pupil has marvelous talent. The really great per-
formers seem to be endowed with a 'God-given*
insight in the matter of both technic and touch. They
are unquestionably bora for it. They possess the
right mental and physical capacity for success. No
amount of training would make a Normandy dray
horse that could compete with a Kentucky thorough-
bred on the race course. It is a pitiful sight to watch
students who could not possibly become virtuosos slave
year after year before an ivory and ebony tread-mill,
when, if they realized their lack of personal qualifica-
tions, they could engage in teaching or in some other
professional or mercantile line and take a delight in
their music as an avocation that they would never
find in professional playing.

ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION PARAMOUNT
"To some, the matter of touch is of little sig-
nificance. They are apparently born with an ap-
preciation of tonal values that others might work

130 CHEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

years to attain in vain. Those who imagine that
touch is entirely a matter of finger tips are greatly
mistaken. The ear is quite as important as the
organs employed in administering the touch to the
keyboard. The pianist should in reality not think
of the muscles and nerves in his arm, nor of the
ivory and ebony keys, nor of the hammers and strings
in the interior of the instrument. He should think
first and always of the kind of tone he is eliciting
from the instrument, and determine whether it is
the most appropriate tonal quality for the proper
interpretation of the piece he is playing. He must,
of course, spend years of hard thought and study
in cultivating this ability to judge and produce the
right touch, but the performer who is more concerned
about the technical claims of a composition than its
musical interpretation can only hope to give an un-
interesting, uninspired, stilted performance that
should rightly drive all intelligent hearers from his
audience hall. "

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES vn

OSSIP GABRILOWITSCH

1. What are the two means of administering touch?

2. State the effect of a rigid arm upon piano
playing.

ESSENTIALS OF TOUCH 13!

3. Can a pianist's playing be distinguished by
touch?

4. How do the muscles of the shoulder come into
action in piano playing?

5. How should the sense of hearing be employed
in piano playing?

6. How did Rubinstein regard the theory of touch ?

7. When is the hand touch generally employed?

8. How should the arm feel during the act of
touch?

9. Does the virtuoso hamper himself with details
of technic during a performance?

10. What should be the pianist's first thought dur-
ing the moment of performance?

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY

BIOGRAPHICAL

Leopold Godowsky was born at Wilna, Russia
(Russian Poland), February 13, 1870. His father
was a physician. When Godowsky was nine years
old he made his first public appearance as a pianist
and met with instantaneous success success so
great that a tour of Germany and Poland was
arranged for the child. When thirteen he entered
the Royal High School for Music in Berlin as the
protege of a rich banker of Konigsberg. There he
studied under Bargeil and Rudorff. In 1884 he toured
America together with Ovide Musin, the violin
virtuoso. Two years later he became the pupil of
Saint-Saens in Paris. In 1887 and 1888 he toured
France and visited London, where he received a com-
mand to appear at the British Court. In 1890 he
returned to America and made this country his home
for ten years, appearing frequently in concert and
engaging in several tours. In 1894-1895 he became
head of the piano department of the South Broad
Street Conservatory, Philadelphia. He then became
director of the Piano Department of the Chicago
Conservatory and held this position for five years.
In 1900 Godowsky appeared in Berlin and was im-
mediately recognized as one of the great piano masters
of his time. In 1909 he became director of the Master
School of Piano Playing connected with the Imperial
Conservatory of Vienna (a post previously held by
Emil Sauer and F. B. Busoni). His success as a
teacher has been exceptional. His compositions,
particularly his fifty studies upon Chopin Etudes,
have won the admiration of the entire musical world.

133

ifrVirtir

^-- ,. - . ..." ,-^-*r jM(

-,/'s1SS^-----^:;A':-.

V#> 'V-

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY

X

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TECHNIC

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY

IDEAS UPON TECHNIC OPTEN ERRONEOUS
"Ii is quite impossible in a short talk to earnest
music students to do more than discuss a few of the
more important points in the subject proposed. It
may safely be said at the start, however, that the
popular conception of technic is quite an erroneous
one and one that deserves correction. It is highly
necessary that the student should have a correct
attitude of mind regarding this matter. First of all,
I distinguish between what might be called mere
mechanics and technic.

"The art of piano playing as a whole seems to divide
itself into three quite distinct channels when it is con-
sidered from the educational standpoint. The first
channel is that of mechanics. This would naturally
include all that pertains to that branch of piano
study which has to do with the exercises that develop
the hand from the machine standpoint that is, make
it capable of playing with the greatest possible
rapidity, the greatest possible power, when power is
needed and also provide it with the ability to play
those passages which, because of fingering or unusual
arrangement of the piano keys, are particularly
difficult to perform.

188

134 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

THE BRAIN SIDE or PIANO STUDY
"In the second channel we would find the study of
the technic of the art of playing the instrument.
Technic differs from the mechanics of piano playing in
that it has properly to do with the intellectual phase of
the subject rather than the physical. It is the brain
side of the study not the digital or the manual. To the
average student who is short-sighted enough to spend
hours hammering away at the keyboard developing
the mechanical side of his work, a real conscious
knowledge of the great saving he could effect through
technic, would be a godsend. Technic properly has
to do with Rhythm, Tempo, Accent, Phrasing,
Dynamics, Agogics, Touch, etc.

"The excellence of one's technic depends upon the
accuracy of one's understanding of these subjects and
his skill in applying them to his interpretations at the
keyboard. Mechanical skill, minus real technical
grasp, places the player upon a lower footing than the
piano-playing machines which really do play all the
notes, with all the speed and all the power the operator
demands. Some of these instruments, indeed, are so
constructed that many of the important considerations
that we have placed in the realm of technic are repro-
duced in a surprising manner.

THE EMOTIONS IN PIANO PLAYING
"However, not until man invents a living soul, can
piano playing by machine include the third and vastly

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OP TECHNIC 135

important channel through which we communicate
the works of the masters to those who would hear
them. That channel is the emotional or artistic
phase of piano playing. It is the channel which the
student must expect to develop largely through bis
own inborn artistic sense and his cultivated powers
of observation of the playing of master pianists.
It is the sacred fire communicated from one art genera-
tion to the next and modified by the individual emo-
tions of the performer himself.

"Even though the performer may possess the most
highly perfected mechanism, technical mastery which
enables him to play great masterpieces effectively, if
he does not possess the emotional insight, his perform-
ances will lack a peculiar subtlety and artistic power
that will deprive him of becoming a truly great pianist.

INSPIRING THE STUDENT

"Exercises for the mechanical side of pianoforte
playing abound. Czerny alone wrote over one
thousand opus numbers. There have also been valu-
able attempts to provide books to assist the student
in his technical work, but it should always be remem-
bered that this depends first of all upon understanding
and then upon the ability to translate that understand-
ing to the instrument.

"There can never be any exercises in the emotional
side of the student's work other than the entire litera-
ture of the instrument. One may as well try to cap-
ture the perfume of the flower as define the require-

136 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ments of the emotional in pianoforte playing. A great
deal may be done to inspire the student and suggest
ideas which may bring him to the proper artistic
appreciation of a passage, but it is this very indefin-
ability which makes the emotional phase one of the
most important of all. Attendance at the recitals
of artistic pianists is of great help in this connection.
"The student, however, may learn a vast amount
about real piano technic and apply his knowledge to
his playing through the medium of the proper studies.
For instance, in the subject of touch alone, there is a
vast store of valuable information which can be gained
from a review of the progressive steps through which
this significant phase of the subject has passed during
the last century. The art of piano playing, considered
apart from that of the similar instruments which pre-
ceded the piano, is very little over one hundred years
old.

CHANGES IN THE MECHANISM OF THE INSTRUMENT

"During this time many significant changes have
been made in the mechanism of the instrument and in
the methods of manufacture. These changes in the
nature of the instrument have in themselves doubtless
had much to do with changes in methods of touch as
have the natural evolutions coming through countless
experiments made by teachers and performers. Thus
we may speak of the subject of touch as being divided
into three epochs, the first being that of Czerny
(characterized by a stroke touch), the second being

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TECHNIC 137

that of the famous Stuttgart Conservatory (character-
ized by a pressure touch), and the third or new epoch
which is characterized by weight playing. All my
own playing is based upon the last named method, and
I had the honor of being one of the first to make appli-
cation of it when I commenced teaching some twenty
years ago.

THE SIGNIFICANCE or WEIGHT PLAYING
"In this method of playing, the fingers are virtually
'glued to the keys' in that they leave them the least
possible distance in order to accomplish their essential
aims. This results in no waste motion of any kind,
no loss of power and consequently the greatest possible
conservation of energy. In this manner of playing
the arm is so relaxed that it would fall to the side if the
keyboard were removed from beneath it. Since the
hand and the arm are relaxed the back (top) of the
hand is almost on a level with the forearm.

"The high angular stroke which characterized the
playing of the Czerny epoch and which could hardly
fail to cause tired muscles and unbearably stiff playing,
is seen very little in these days. By means of it the
student was taught to deliver a blow to the keyboard
a blow which permitted very little modification to the
requirements of modern technic.

"In my experience as a pianist and as a teacher, I
have observed that the weight touch allows the greatest
possible opportunity for the proper application of those
all-important divisions of technic without which piano

138 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

playing is not only inartistic, but devoid of all interest.
Weight playing permits nothing to interfere with dis-
criminative phrasing, complicated rhythmical prob-
lems, the infinitely subtle variation of time for ex-
pressive purposes now classed under the head of
agogics, all shades of dynamic gradation; in fact
everything that falls in the domain of the artist
pianist,

MOULDING THE FINGERS To THE KEYS
"In weight playing the fingers seem to mould the
piano keys under them, the hand and arm are related,
but never heavy. The maximum of relaxation results
in the minfmnTn of fatigue. In legato playing, for
instance, the fingers rest upon the fleshy part behind
the tip rather than immediately upon the tip as they
would in passage work when the player desired to have
the effect of a string of pearls. The sensation in
legato playing is that of polling back rather than
striking the keys. In passages where force is required
the sensation is that of pushing.

"Much might be said of the sensibility of the finger
tips as they come in contact with the ivory and ebony
keys. Most every artist has a strong consciousness
that there is a very manifest relation between his emo-
tional and mental conditions and his tactile sense, that
is his highly developed sense of feeling at the finger
tips on the keyboard. However, the phenomena
may be explained from the psychological standpoint,
it is nevertheless true that the feeling of longing,

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TECHNIC 139

yearning, hope or soulful anticipation, for instance,
induces a totally different kind of touch from that of
anger, resentment or hate.

"The artist who is incapable of communicating his
emotions to the keyboard or who must depend upon
artifice to stimulate emotions rarely electrifies his
audiences. Every concert is a test of the artist's
sincerity, not merely an exhibition of his prowess, or
his acrobatic accomplishments on the keyboard. He
must have some vital message to convey to his audi-
ence or else his entire performance will prove meaning-
less, soulless, worthless.

"That which is of great importance to tnm is to
have the least possible barrier between his artistic
conception of the work he would interpret and the
sounds that are conveyed to the ears of his audience.
If we obliterate the emotional side and depend upon
artifice or what might be called in vulgar parlance
"tricks of the trade/' pianism will inevitably descend
to a vastly lower level. By cultivating a sensibility
in touch and employing the technical means which
will bring the interpreter's message to the world with
the least possible obstruction, we reach the highest
in the art. Those who would strain at gnats might
contend that with the machinery of the instrument
itself, intervening between the touch at the keyboard
and the sounding wires, would make the influence of
the emotions though the tactile sense (sense of touch)
is wholly negligible. To this I can only reply that
the experience of the artist and the teacher is always

140 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

more reliable, more susceptible to finer appreciations
of artistic values than that of the pure theorist, who
views his problems through material rather than
spiritual eyes. Every observing pianist is familiar
with the remarkable influence upon the nerves of the
voice-making apparatus that any emotion makes*
Is it not reasonable to suppose that the finger tips
possess a similar sensibility and that the interpreta-
tions of any highly trained artist are duly affected
through them?

INDIVIDUALITY, CHARACTER AND TEMPERAMENT
"Indeed, Individuality, Character and Tempera-
ment are becoming more and more significant in the
highly organized art of pianoforte playing. Remove
these and the playing of the artist again becomes little
better than that of a piano-playing machine. No
machine can ever achieve the distinguishing charm
that this trinity brings to pianoforte playing.
Whether the performer is a 'genius' who has carefully
developed the performance of a masterpiece until it
evidences that distinguishing mark of k the authorita-
tive interpretation, or whether he is a 'talent' who
improvises as the mood of the moment inspires him
and never plays the same composition twice in any-
thing like a similar manner, he need not fear the rivalry
of any machine so long as he preserves his individual-
ity, character and temperament.

THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TECHNIC 141

GENIUS AND WORK

"The fault with many students, however, is the
very erroneous idea that genius or talent will take
the place of study and work. They minimize the
necessity for a careful painstaking consideration of
the infinite details of technic. To them, the signifi-
cance of the developments of Bach, Rameau, and
Scarlatti in fingering means nothing. They are
content with the superficial. They are incapable of
comparing the value of the advances made by Von
Billow, Tausig and other innovators whose lives were
given to a large extent to the higher development
of the technic of the instrument. They struggle
laboriously at the keyboard, imagining that they are
dealing with the problem of technic, when in reality
they are doing little more than performing a drill
in a kind of musical gymnasium a necessary drill to
be sure, but at the same time quite worthless unless
directed by a brain trained in the principles of the
technic of the art.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES vm

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY

i. How may the mechanics of playing be dis-
tinguished from the larger subject of technic?

142 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

2. With what has technic to do?

3. What channel in the study of pianoforte must
the pupil develop most thoroughly?

4. Name three epochs into which the subject of
touch may be divided.

5. How does weight playing differ from the high
angular playing of the Czerny epoch?

6. How should the fingers rest in legato playing?

7. What may be said of the sensitiveness of the
finger tips?

8. By what device may pianism descend to a
lower level?

9. What qualities must the student preserve above
all things?

10. Will genius or talent take the place of study and
work?

* i

I

; ;. 7

**>-, ' '^. -

KATHARINE GOODSON

KATHARINE GOODSON

BIOGRAPHICAL

Miss Katharine Goodson was born at Watford,
Herts, England. She commenced the study of music
at so very youthful an age that she made several
appearances in the English Provinces before she
was twelve years of age. Her talent aroused such
interest that she was sent to the Royal Academy of
Music in London. There she was placed under the
artistic guidance of one of the foremost English
teachers of pianoforte, Oscar Beringer, with whom she
remained for six years. This was followed by four
years under Leschetizky in Vienna.

Leschetizky saw splendid opportunities in such
talented and regularly trained material and is said to
have given particularly careful attention to Miss
Goodson. It is not surprising that upon her return
to London Miss Goodson made a profound impression
upon the musical public and laid the foundation for a
splendid reputation. She toured in England, Ger-
many, Austria and America with great success. In the
Grove Dictionary, her playing is described in the
following manner: "It is marked by an amount of
verve and animation that are most rare with the
younger English pianists. She has a great command
of tone gradation, admirable technical finish, genuine
musical taste and considerable individuality of style."
In 1903 Miss Goodson married Mr. Arthur Hinton,
one of the most brilliant of modern English composers.

U3

XI

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES
KATHARINE GOODSON

THE NATURAL TENDENCY TO ANALYZE
"Judging from the mischievous investigations of
things in general, which seem so natural for the small
boy to make, it would appear that our tendency to
analyze things is innate. We also have innumerable
opportunities to observe how children, to say nothing
of primitive people, struggle to construct to put this
and that together for the purpose of making something
new in other words, to employ the opposite process to
analysis, known as synthesis. Moreover, it does not
demand much philosophy to perceive that all scientific
and artistic progress is based upon these very proc-
esses of analysis and synthesis. We pull things apart
to find out how they are made and what they are made
of. We put them together again to indicate the
mastery of our knowledge.

"The measure of musicianship is the ability to do.
All the analyzing in the world will not benefit the
pupil unless he can give some visible indications of his
proficiency. Indeed, important as the process is,
it is possible to carry it to extremes and neglect the
building process which leads to real accomplishment.

144

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 145

THE FIRST STEP IN ANALYZING A NEW PIECE

" A great many of the pupils who have come to me
indicate a lamentable neglect in an understanding of
the very first things which should have been analyzed
by the preparatory teachers. It is an expensive
process to study with a public artist unless the pre-
paration has been thoroughly made. Reputation
naturally places a higher monetary value upon the
services of the virtuoso, and for the student to expect
instruction in elementary points in analysis is obvi-
ously an extravagance. The virtuoso's time during
the lesson period should be spent in the finer study of
interpretation not in those subjects which the ele-
mentary teacher should have completed. Often the
teacher of an advanced pupil is deceived at the start
and assumes that the pupil has a knowledge, which
future investigations reveal that he does not possess.

"For instance, the pupil should be able to deter-
mine the general structure of a piece he is undertaking
and should be so familiar with the structure that it
becomes a form of second nature to him. If the
piece is a sonata he should be able to identify the
main theme and the secondary theme whenever they
appear or whenever any part of them appears. In-
ability to do this indicates the most superficial kind of
study.

"The student should know enough of the subject of
form in general to recognize the periods into which

the piece is divided. Without this knowledge how
10

146 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

could he possibly expect to study with understanding?
Even though he has passed the stage when it is neces-
sary for him to mark off the periods, he should not
study a new piece without observing the outlines the
architectural plans the composer laid down in con-
structing the piece. It is one thing for a Sir Chris-
topher Wren to make the plans of a great cathedral
like St. Paul's and quite another thing for him to get
master builders to carry out those plans. By study-
ing the composer's architectural plan carefully the
student will find that he is saving an immense amount
of time. For example, let us consider the Chopin F
Minor Fantasie. In this composition the main theme
comes three times, each time in a different key.
Once learned in one key, it should be very familiar
in the next key.

"The student should also know something of the
history of the dance, and he should be familiar with
the characteristics of the different national dances.
Each national dance form has something more than a
rhythm it has an atmosphere. The word atmos-
phere may be a little loose in its application here, but
there seems to be no other word to describe what I
mean. The flavor of the Spanish bolero is very differ-
ent from the Hungarian czardas, and who could
confound the intoxicating swirl of the Italian taran-
tella with the stately air of cluny lace and silver rapiers
which seems to surround the minuet? The minuet,
by the way, is frequently played too fast. The
minuet from Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is a

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 147

notable example. Many conductors have made the
error of rushing through it. Dr. Hans Richter con-
ducts it with the proper tempo. This subject in
itself takes a tremendous amount of consideration and
the student should never postpone this first step in
the analysis of the works he is to perform.

THE POETIC IDEA OF THE PIECE
"Despite the popular impression that music is
imitative in the sense of being able to reproduce differ-
ent pictures and different emotions, it is really very
far from it. The subject of program music and illus-
trative music is one of the widest in the art, and at the
same time one of the least definite. Except in cases
like the Beethoven Pastoral Symphony, where the
composer has made obvious attempts to suggest rural
scenes, composers do not as a rule try to make either
aquarelles or cycloramas with their music. They
write music for what it is worth as music, not as scen-
ery. Very often the public or some wily publisher
applies the title, as in the case of the Moonlight
Sonata or some of the Mendelssohn Songs Without
Words. Of course there are some notable exceptions,
and many teachers may be right in trying to stimulate
the sluggish imaginations of some pupils with fanciful
stories. However, when there is a certain design in a
piece which lends itself to the suggestion of a certain
idea, as does, for instance, the Liszt-Wagner Spinning
Song from the Flying Dutchman, it is interesting to
work with a specific picture in view but never for-

148 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

getting the real beauty of the piece purely as a beauti-
ful piece of music.

"Some pieces with special titles are notoriously
misnamed and cany no possible means of definitely
intimating what the composer intended. Even some
forms are misleading in their names. The Scherzos of
Chopin are often very remote from the playful
significance of the word a significance which is
beautifully preserved in the Scherzos of Mendelssohn.

STUDYING THE RHYTHM

"A third point in analyzing a new piece might be
analyzing the rhythm. It is one thing to understand
or to comprehend a rhythm and another to preserve
it in actual playing. Rhythm depends upon the
arrangement of notes and accents in one or two
measures which give a characteristic swing to the
entire composition. Rhythm is an altar upon which
many idols are smashed. Sometimes one is inclined
to regard rhythm as a kind of sacred gift. Whatever
it may be, it is certainly most difficult to acquire or
better to absorb. A good rhythm indicates a finely
balanced musician one who knows how and one who
has perfect self-control. All the book study in the
world will not develop it. It is a knack which seems
to come intuitively or 'all at once' when it does come.
My meaning is clear to anyone who has struggled with
the problem of playing two notes against three, for
at times it seems impossible, but in the twinkling
of an eye the conflicting rhythms apparently jump

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 149

into place, and thereafter the pupil has little difficulty
with them.

"Rhythmic swing is different from rhythm, but is
allied to it as it is allied to tempo. To get the swing
the impelling force the student must have played
many pieces which have a tendency to develop this
swing. The big waltzes of Moszkowski are fine for
this. If one of Leschetizky's pupils had difficulty
with rhythm he almost invariably advised them to go
to hear the concerts of that king of rhythm and dance,
Eduard Strauss. Dances are invaluable in develop-
ing this sense of rhythm^wift-moving dances like
the bolero and the tarantella are especially helpful.
Certain pieces demand a particularly strict obser-
vance of the rhythm, as does the Opus 42 of Chopin,
in which the left hand must adhere very strictly to
the Valse rhythm.

THE ANALYSIS or PERASES
"The ability to see the phrases by which a composi-
tion is built, clearly and readily, simplifies the study
of interpretation of a new piece wonderfully. This,
of course, is difficult at first, but with the proper
training the pupil should be able to see the phrases at a
glance, just as a botanist in examining a new flower
would divide it in his mind's eye into its different
parts. He would never mistake the calyx for a petal,
and he would be able to determine at once the pecu-
liarities of each part. In addition to the melodic
phrases the pupil should be able to see the metrical

150 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

divisions which underlie the form of the piece. He
should be able to tell whether the composition is one
of eight-measure sections or four-measure sections, or
whether the sections are irregular.

"What a splendid thing it would be if little children
at their first lessons were taught the desirability of
observing melodic phrases. Teachers lay great stress
upon hand formation, with the object of getting the
pupil to keep the hand in a perfect condition a con-
dition that is the result of a carefully developed habit.
Why not develop the habit of noting the phrases in the
same way? Why not a little mind formation? It is
a great deal nearer the real musical aim than the mere
digital work. The most perfectly formed hand in the
world would be worthless for the musician unless the
mind that operates the hand has had a real musical
training."

STUDYING THE HARMONY

" Every piano student ought to have a knowledge
of harmony. But this knowledge should be a practi-
cal one. What do I mean by a practical knowledge
of harmony? Simply this a knowledge of harmony
which recognizes the ear as well as the eye. There
are students of harmony who can work out some har-
monic problem with the skill of an expert mathemati-
cian and yet they never for one single moment think
of the music their notes might make. This is due to
the great neglect of the study of ear-training in early
musical education.

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 151

" To be able to recognize a chord when you see it on
paper is not nearly such an acquisition as the ability
to recognize the same chord when it is played. The
student who can tell a diminished seventh, or an aug-
mented sixth at a glance, but who could not identify
the same chords when he saw them through his ears
instead of his eyes is severely handicapped. But how
many musicians can do this? Ear-training should be
one of the first of all studies. It may be acquired
more easily in childhood if the student is not naturally
gifted with it, and it is the only basis of a thorough
knowledge of harmony. The piano teacher cannot
possibly foad time to give sufficient instruction in the
subject of harmony at the piano lesson. It demands
a separate period, and in most cases it is necessary
and advisable to have a separate teacher; that is,
one who has made a specialty of harmony.

"The piano itself is of course a great help to the
student in the study of harmony, providing the stu-
dent listens all the time he is playing. Few adult
piano students study string instruments, such as the
violin or 'cello instruments which cultivate the per-
ception of hearing far more than can the piano.
For this reason all children should have the advantage
of a course in ear-training. This should not be train-
ing for pitch alone, but for quality of tone as well-
It may be supplemented with exercises in musical
dictation until the pupil is able to write down short
phrases with ease after he has heard them once, A
pupil who has bad such a training would make ideal

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

material for the advanced teacher, and because of the
greatly developed powers of the pupil would be able
to memorize quicker and make much better progress.
In fact, ear-training and harmony lead to great
economy of time. For instance, let us suppose that
the pupil has a chord like the following in a sonata:

If the same chord appeared again in the piece it
would probably be found in the key of the dominant,
thus:

It seems very obvious that if the pupil could per-
ceive the harmonic relationship between these two
chords he would be spared the trouble of identifying
an entirely different chord when he finds the repetition
of it merely in another key. This is only one of
scores of instances where a knowledge of the harmonic
structure proves to be of constant importance to the
student,

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 153

A CABEFUL ANALYSIS OF TOUCH EFFECTS
"Here again we find an interminable subject.
Although there are only a few principal divisions
into which the subject of touch might be divided,
the number of different subdivisions of these best
known methods of striking the keys to produce
artistic effects is very considerable. The artist work-
ing day in and day out at the keyboard will discover
some subtle touch effects which he will always associ-
ate with a certain passage. He may have no logical
reason for doing this other than that it appeals to his
artistic sense. He is in all probability following no
law but that of his own musical taste and sense of
hearing.

It is this more than anything else which gives indi-
viduality to the playing of the different virtuosos
and makes their efforts so different from the playing
of machines. Time and time again mechanical
efforts have been made to preserve all these infinite
subtilities and some truly wonderful machines have
been invented, but not until the sculptor's marble can
be made to glow with the vitality of real flesh can
this be accomplished. Wonderful as the mechanical
inventions are there is always something lacking.

"Here, again, ear-training will benefit the pupil
who is studying with a virtuoso teacher. It is im-
possible to show exactly how certain touches pro-
duce certain effects. The ear, however, hears these
effects, and if the pupil has the right kind of per-

154 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

sistence he will work and work until he is able to
reproduce the same effect that he has heard. Then
it will be found that the touch he employs will be
very similar to that used by the virtuoso he has heard.
It may take weeks to show a certain pupil a kind
of touch. The pupil with the trained ear and the
willingness to work might be able to pick up the
same touch and produce the same effect after a few
days. A highly developed sense of hearing is of
immense value to the student who attends concerts
for the purpose of promoting his musical knowl-
edge.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TEACHER
"The more one contemplates this subject the more
one realizes the responsibilities of the teacher in
the first years of music study. Of all the pupils
who commence in the art there are but few who make
it a part of their lives; many of those who do continue
find themselves handicapped when they reach the
more advanced stages of the journey, owing to
inefficient early training. At the period when their
time is the most valuable to them they have to take
up studies which should have been mastered eight or
ten years before. The elementary teachers all over
the world have a big responsibility. If they belittle
their work with children and pine for the kind of
teaching which the virtuosos attempt to do, let them
realize that they are in a sense the foundation of the
structure, and although perhaps not as conspicuous as

ANALYZING MASTERPIECES 155

the spire which towers up into the skies, they are
certainly of equal importance/'

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC or PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES IX
KATHARINE GOODSON

1. Is analysis natural to children?

2. When should the first steps in analysis be made?

3. Why is a knowledge of the different dance forms
desirable?

4. What may be said of the poetic idea of the piece?

5. What indicates a finely balanced musician?

6. Should phrase analysis be taught at an early
age?

7. Is the ability to identify a chord by hearing
more important than the ability to identify it by sight?

8. Does a trained ear help in the acquisition of
touch?

9. What may the pupil learn from concerts?
10. When is the teacher's responsibility greatest?

JOSEF HOFMANN

BIOGRAPHICAL

Josef Hofmann was born at Cracow, Russia, Jan-
uary 20, 1877. His father was an exceptionally suc-
cessful teacher and was for a time Professor of
Harmony and Composition at the Warsaw Conserva-
tory. The elder Hofmann's talents were by no means
limited to teaching, however, since he conducted the
Opera at Warsaw for many performances. He
undertook the training of his son with great care and
since the child showed remarkable promise the musi-
cians of Russia took an extraordinary interest in him.
He appeared in public at the age of six and before he
was ten years of age he was the most celebrated child
prodigy of his time. He traveled thousands of miles,
including tours of America, playing complicated
classical compositions in a manner which surprised
musicians everywhere. Fortunately for his health
and education his tours were terminated in time for
him to study for the advanced work of the more
mature artist. Accordingly he was placed with the
great Anton Rubinstein with whom he remained for
two years. At seventeen he resumed his concert
work again appearing in Dresden in 1894. By
thoroughly dignified methods, scholarly analysis, and
his natural poetical sense Hofmann introduced new
ideas in virtuosoship which made him immensely popu-
lar at once.

156

JOSEF HOFMANN

xn

PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY

JOSEF HOFMANN

THE question of progress in pianoforte playing is
one that admits of the widest possible discussion.
One is frequently asked whether the manner of play-
ing the pianoforte has undergone any change since
the time of Hummel, and, if it has advanced, of
what nature are the advances, and to what particular
condition are the advances due. Johann Nepomuk
Hummel, it will be remembered, was contemporary
with Beethoven, and was, in fact, a kind of bridge
between the old and the new. He made his d6but
at a concert given by Mozart at Dresden. For a
time he was a kind of assistant kapellmeister to Haydn,
and indeed many at that time thought bis works
were quite on a par with those of the great master,
Beethoven. Hummel was a really great virtuoso,
and was noted for his remarkable improvisations.
His style of playing was taken as a model in his time,
and consequently we may safely start with this epoch
by way of example.

WHAT DETERMINES CHANGES IN PLAYING
It is sometimes said that the changes in the con-
struction of the piano have caused a different treat-
ment of it, but this reasoning is superficial, inasmuch

WT

158 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

as the structural changes of the instrument itself are
called forth by the ever-increasing demands of the
composer made upon the instrument. So long as the
tone quality, action and nature of the instrument
sufficed for compositions of the type of those of
Domenico Scarlatti, or Francois Couperin, or Rameau,
there was little need for change, but as the more
modern composers longed for new and more compre-
hensive effects, the piano-makers kept up with their
desires and aims. Thus it is that after all is said and
done, the composer, and the composer only, is re-
sponsible for the changes. The literature of the
piano determines them. It is the same in the ad-
vancement of piano technic and interpretation. The
composers conceive new and often radically different
musical ideas. These in turn demand a new manner
of interpretation. This kind of evolution has been
going on continually since the invention of the instru-
ment and is going on to-day, only it is more difficult
for us to see it in the present than it is to review it
in the past.

The general mental tendencies of the times, the
artistic and cultural influences of the world taken as
a whole, have also had a conspicuous though some-
what less pronounced share in these matters since
they inevitably exert an influence upon the inter-
preter. Speaking from a strictly pianistic point of
view, it is the player's individuality, influenced by
the factors just stated, which is the determining ele-
ment in producing new pianistic tendencies* It is

PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY 159

thus very evident that progress in piano playing since
the epoch of Hummel has been enormous.

THE NEW TECHNIC AND THE OLD
You ask me what are the essential differences
between the modern technic and the technic of the
older periods? It is very difficult to discuss this
question off-hand and it is one which might better
be discussed in an article of a different character.
One difficulty lies in the regretable tendency of
modern technic toward being a purpose in itself.
Judging from the manner in which some ambitious
young players work, their sole aim is to become
human piano-playing machines quite without any
real musical consciousness. Before radically con-
demning this tendency, however, it should be remem-
bered that it has brought us many undeniable advan-
tages. It cannot be doubted that we owe to the
ingenious investigators of technical subjects greater
possibilities in effective polyphonic playing, economy
of power and arm motion, larger participation of
the mind in the acquisition of technic, and numerous
other praiseworthy factors in good piano playing.
In the olden days, while technical exercises were by
no means absent, they were not nearly so numerous,
and more time was given to the real musical elements
in the study of the musical compositions themselves,
If the excellent technical ideas to be found in some of
the systems of to-day are employed solely to secure
real musical and artistic effects that is, effects based

l6o GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

upon known aesthetic principles the new technic
will prove valuable, and we should be very grateful
for it. However, as soon as it becomes an objective
point in itself and succeeds in eclipsing the higher pur-
poses of musical interpretation, just so soon should
it be abolished. If the black charcoal sketch which
the artist puts upon canvas to use as an outline shows
through the colors of the finished painting, no master-
piece will result. Really artistic piano playing is an
impossibility until the outlines of technic have been
erased to make way for true interpretation from the
highest sense of the word. There is much more in
this than most young artists think, and the remedy
may be applied at once by students and teachers in
their daily work.

TECHNIC SINCE LISZT

Again you ask whether technic has made any sig-
nificant advance since the time of Franz Liszt. Here
again you confront me with a subject difficult to
discuss within the confines of a conference. There
is so much to be said upon it. A mere change in
itself does not imply either progress or retrogression.
It is for this reason we cannot speak of progress since
the time of Liszt. To play as Liszt did that is,
exactly as he did, as a mirror reflects an object
would not be possible to anyone unless he were en-
dowed with an individuality and personality exactly
like that of Liszt. Since no two people are exactly
alike, it is futile to compare the playing of any modern

PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY l6l

pianist with that of Franz Liszt. To discuss accur-
ately the playing of Liszt from the purely technical
standpoint is also impossible because so much of
his technic was self-made, and also a mere manual
expression of his unique personality and that which
his own mind had created. He may perhaps never
be equalled in certain respects, but on the other hand
there are unquestionably pianists to-day who would
have astonished the great master with their technics
I speak technically, purely technically.

DEFINITE METHODS ARE LITTLE MORE
THAN STENCILS

I have always been opposed to definite "methods"
so-called when they are given in an arbitrary
fashion and without the care of the intelligent teacher
to adapt special need to special pupils. Methods of
this kind can only be regarded as a kind of musical
stencil, or like the dies that are used in factories to
produce large numbers of precisely similar objects.
Since art and its merits are so strangely dependent
upon individuality (and this includes anatomical
individuality as well as psychological individuality),
an inflexible method must necessarily have a deadening
effect upon its victims.

The question of whether special technical studies
of an arbitrary nature, such as scale studies, should be
extensively used is one which has been widely debated,
and I fear will be debated for years to come. Let us

understand first, there is a wide difference between
11

1 62 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

studying and practicing. They resemble each other
only in so far as they both require energy and time.
Many sincere and ambitious students make the great
mistake of confounding these two very essential
factors of pianistic success. Study and practice
really are quite widely removed from each other, and
at the same time they are virtually inseparable. The
real difference lies in the amount and quality of the
two elements. Practice means a large number of
repetitions, with a fair amount of attention to mere
correctness of notes, fingering, etc. Under ordinary
drcumstances and conditions it usually means a great
sacrifice of time and a comparatively small investment
of mentality.

Study, on the contrary, implies first of all mental
activity of the highest and most concentrated type.
It presupposes absolute accuracy in notes, time, finger-
ings, etc., and implies the closest possible attention to
those things which are generally, though erroneously,
regarded as lying outside of technic, such as tonal
beauty, dynamic shading, rhythmical matters, and the
like. Some have the happy gift of combining practice
with study, but this is rare.

Hence, in the question of scale exercises, etc., if the
word "study" is meant in the true sense, I can only
say that the study of scales is more than necessary
it is indispensable. The pedagogical experts of the
world are practically unanimous upon this subject.
The injunction, "study," applies not only to scales,
but to all forms of technical discipline, which only too

PROGRESS IN PIANO STTJDY 163

often are " practiced" without being studied. I will
not deny that mere practicing, as I have defined it,
may bring some little benefit, but this benefit is gained
at an enormous expenditure of time and physical and
mental exertion. Oh! the endless leagues that
ambitious fingers have traveled over ivory keys!
Only too often they race like automobiles on a race-
course in a circle and after having gone innumerable
miles, and spent a tremendous amount of energy,
they arrive at the same point from which they started,
exhausted and worn, with very little to show for their
work, and no nearer their real goal than when they
started. The proportion in which mental and physi-
cal activity is compounded, determines, to my mind,
the distinction between practicing and real study.
One might also say that the proportion in which real
study enters into the daily work of the student deter-
mines the success of the student.

THE STUDY or DETAILS IMPERATIVE
Study demands that the student shall delve into the
minute details of his art, and master them before he
attempts to advance. Only the most superficial
students fail to do this in these days. All of the better
trained teachers insist upon it, and it is hard for the
pupil to sHm through on the thinnest possible theoreti-
cal ice, as they did in past years. The separate study
of embellishments, for instance, is decidedly necessary,
especially in connection with the embellishments
introduced by the writers of the early eighteenth cen-
tury.

164 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

In the study of embellishments it is vitally im-
portant for the student to remember one or two very
important points in connection with his investigation,
One point is the understanding of the nature of the
instrument for which the composer wrote when he
had the embellishment in mind. The instruments of
the early eighteenth century were characterized by a
tone so thin and of such short duration that the com-
posers and players (and it should be remembered that
in those days practically all of the great composers
played, and most of the great performers were com-
posers) had to resort to all kind of subterfuges and
tricks to produce the deception of a prolonged tone.
For instance, they had a method of moving the finger
to and fro (sideways) upon a key after it was struck.
Thus they produced a sort of vibrato, not unlike that
of which we have received an overdose in recent years
from violinists and 'cellists. This vibrato (German,
Bebung) was marked like our modern "shake," thus,

Written

but if we interpret it as a "shake" we commit a grave
error. We ought never to regard it as a "shake,"
unless it is obviously an integer of the melody.
The other point to be considered in the study of

PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY 165

embellishments is taste, or rather, let me say, "f ash-
ion, " for the fashion of those times which over-in-
dulged in ornamentation and over-loaded everything
with it, from architecture to dress, was by no means an
insignificant factor in music. The point is important
because it involves the element of "concessions"
which the composers, voluntarily or from habit,
made to the public of their day. I seriously question
the necessity of retaining these often superabundant
embellishments in their entirety, for I contend that
we study antique works on account of their musical
substance and not for the sake of gewgaws and frills
which were either induced by the imperfections of the
instrument or by the vitiated taste of times to which
the composer had to yield willy-nilly.

It is, of course, a very difficult and responsible task
to determine what to retain and what to discard.
This, to a large extent, must depend upon what part
the ornament plays in the melody of the composition,
whether it is really an integral part or an artificial
excrescence. By all means never discard any embell-
ishment which may serve to emphasize the melodic
curve, or any one which may add to its declamatory
character. A well-educated taste assisted by experi-
ence will be a fairly reliable guide in this matter.
However, it is haidly advisable for amateurs with
limited training to attempt any home editing of this
kind.

Those embellishments which we do regain should in
all cases be executed as the composer of the piece

1 66 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

would desire to hear them executed if he could be-
come acquainted with the instruments of to-day.
This, of course, places the study of ornamentation
with the many auxiliary musical branches which
demand special and separate attention. Johann
Sebastian Bach's son, Phillip Emanuel Bach, realized
this, and gave years to the proper exposition of
embellishments. However, the student should realize
that the study of embellishments is only a part of the
great whole and he should not be misled into accepting
every little shake or other little frippery, and then
magnifying it into a matter of more vital importance
than the piece itself.

WELL-MEANING ADVISERS

The student should form the habit of determining
things for himself. He will soon find that he will be
surrounded with many well-meaning advisers who, if
they have their own way, may serve to confuse him.
Some virtuosos regard their well-meaning admirers
and entertainers as the worst penalties of the virtuoso
life. Whether they are or are not must, of course,
depend upon the artist's character. If he accepts
their compliments and courtesies as an expression of
the measure of pleasure they derived from his playing,
he has tacitly allowed for that share in their pleasure
which is due to their power of appreciation, and he can
therefore only rejoice in having provided something
worthy of it, The manner of their expression, the
observations they make, the very wording of their

PROGRESS IN PIANO STUDY 167

compliments will reveal, quickly enough, whether he
has a case of real appreciation before him, or a mere
morbid mania to hobnob with celebrities, or at least
with people who by nature of their professional work
are often compelled against their own desires to hold a
more or less exposed position in the public eye. If
he deals with the latter and still allows their compli-
ments to go further than the physical ear, he must be
a man of a character so weak as to make it doubtful
that he will ever produce anything worthy of sincere
and earnest appreciation. More young students are
misled by blatant flattery than anything else. They
become convinced that their efforts are comparable
with those of the greatest artist, and the desire for
improvement diminishes in direct ratio to the rate in
which their opinion of their own efforts increases.
The student should continually examine his own work
with the same acuteness that he would be expected to
show were he teaching another.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC or PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES X
JOSEF HOFMANN

1. Has piano playing progressed since the time of
Hummel?

2. How have the changes in the structure of the
instrument affected pianistic progress?

l68 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

3. Why should students avoid becoming "piano-
playing machines'?

4. What must be the sole aim in employing a
technical exercise?

5. Will the technic of Liszt ever be excelled?

6. Why are stencil-like methods bad?

7. Is scale study indispensable?

8. Must the student know the characteristics of
the instrument for which the composer wrote?

9. What part did fashion play in the introduction
of embellishments?

10. Why should the student determine problems
for himself?

JOSEF LHEVINNE

JOSEF LHfiVINNE

BIOGRAPHICAL

Josef Lhvinne is one of the last noted Russian
pianists to attain celebrity in America. At his first
appearance in New York he amazed the critics and
music lovers by the virility of Ms style, the comprehen-
siveness of his technic and by his finely trained artistic
judgment. Lhevinne was born at Moscow, in 1874.
His father was a professional musician, playing " all in-
struments except the piano, " It is not surprising that
his four sons became professional musicians. Three
are pianists and one is a flutist. When Josef was four
his father discovered that he had absolute pitch, and
encouraged by this sign of musical capacity placed the
child under the instruction of some students from the
conservatory. At six Lhevinne became the pupil of a
Scandinavian teacher named Grisander. When eight
he appeared at a concert and aroused much enthusiasm
by his playing. At twelve he became the pupil of the
famous Russian teacher, Wassili Safonoff , at the con-
servatory at Moscow, remaining under his instruction
for six years. At the same time bis teachers in theory
and composition were Taneieff and Arensky. In
1891 Rubinstein selected him from all the students
at the conservatory to play at a concert given under
the famous master's direction. After that Lh6vinne
had frequent conferences with the great pianist, and
attributes much of his success to his advice. In 1895
he won the famous Rubinstein Prize in Berlin. From
1902 to 1906 he was Professor of Piano at the Con-
servatory at Moscow. One year spent in military
service in Russia proved a compulsory setback in his
work, and was a serious delay in his musical progress.
Lh6vinne came to America in 1907 and has been here
five times since then, His wife is also an exceptionally
fine concert pianist.

169

xm

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA

JOSEF LHfiVINNE

RUSSIA'S MANY KEYBOAJUD MASTERS
" RUSSIA is old, Russia is vast, Russia is mighty.
Eight and one-half million square miles of empire
not made up of colonies here and there all over the
world, but one enormous territory comprising nearly
one hundred and fifty million people, of almost as
many races as one finds in the United States, that is
Russia. Although the main occupation of the people
is the most peaceful of all labor agriculture Russia
has had to deal with over a dozen wars and insur-
rections during a little more than a century. In the
same time the United States has had but five. War is
not a thing to boast about, but the condition reflects
the unrest that has existed in the vast country of the
Czar, and it is not at all unlikely that this very unrest
is responsible for the mental activity which has
characterized the work of so many artists of Russian
birth.

Although Russia is one of the most venerable of the
European nations, and although she has absorbed other
territory possessed by races even more venerable than
herself, her advance in art, letters and music is com-
paratively recent. When Scarlatti, Handel, and Bach
were at their height, Russia, outside of court circles,

170

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA 171

was still in a state of serfdom. Tolstoi was born as
late as 1828, Turgenieff in 1818 and Pushkin, the
half-negro poet-humorist, was born in 1799. Con-
temporary with these writers was Mikhail Ivanovitch
Glinka the first of the great modern composers of
Russia. Still later we come to Wassili Vereschagin,
the best known of the Russian painters, who was not
born until 1842. It may thus be seen that artistic
development in the modern sense of the term has
occurred during the lifetime of the American republic.
Reaching back into the centuries, Russia is one of the
most ancient of nations, but considered from the art
standpoint it is one of the newest.

The folk songs that sprang from the hearts of the
people in sadness and in joy indicated the unconceal-
able talent of the Russian people. They were longing
to sing, and music became almost as much a part of
their lives as food. It is no wonder then that we find
among the names of the Russian pianists such celeb-
rities as Anton Rubinstein, Nicholas Rubinstein,
Essipoff, Siloti, Rachmaninoff, Gabrilowitsch, Scria-
bin, de Padunanu, Safonoff, Sapelbikoff and many
others. It seems as though the Russian must be
endowed by nature with those characteristics which
enable him to penetrate the artistic maze that sur-
rounds the wonders of music. He comes to music
with a new talent, a new gift and finds first of all a
great joy in his work. Much the same might be said
of the Russian violinists and the Russian singers,
many of whom have met with tremendous success.

172 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

WITH THE MUSICAL CHILD IN RUSSIA
The Russian parent usually has such a keen love for
music that the child is watched from the very first for
some indication that it may have musical talent. The
parent knows how much music brings into the life of
the child and he never looks upon the art as an accom-
plishment for exhibition purposes, but rather as a
source of great joy. Music is fostered in the home
as a part of the daily existence. Indeed, business is
kept far from the Russian fireside and the atmosphere
of most homes of intelligent people is that of culture
rather than commerce. If the child is really musical
the whole household is seized with the ambition to
produce an artist. In my own case, I was taught the
rudiments of music at so early an age that I have
no recollection of ever having learned how to begin.
It came to me just as talking does with the average
child. At five I could sing some of the Schumann
songs and some of those of Beethoven.

THE KIND or Music THE RUSSIAN CHILD HEARS
The Russian child is spared all contact with really
bad music. That is, he hears for the most part either
the songs of the people or little selections from classi-
cal or romantic composers that are selected especially
with the view of cultivating his talent. He has prac-
tically no opportunity to come in contact with any
music that might be described as banal. America is
a very young country and with the tension that one

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA 173

sees in American life on all sides there comes a ten-
dency to accept music that may be most charitably
described as " cheap." Very often the same themes
found in this music, skilfully treated, would make
worthy musical compositions. " Rag-time,' 3 and by
this I refer to the peculiar rhythm and not to the bad
music that Americans have come to class under this
head, has a peculiar fascination for me. There is
nothing objectionable about the unique rhythm,
any more than there is anything iniquitous about the
gypsy melodies that have made such excellent material
for Brahms, Liszt and Sarasate. The fault lies in the
clumsy presentation of the matter and its associations
with vulgar words* The rhythm is often fascinating
and exhilarating. Perhaps some day some American
composer will glorify it in the Scherzo of a Symphony.
In Russia, teachers lay great stress upon careful
grading. Many teachers of note have prepared
carefully graded lists of pieces, suitable to each stage
of advancement. I understand that this same
purpose is accomplished in America by the publi-
cation of volumes of the music itself in different grades,
although I have never seen any of these collections.
The Russian teacher of children takes great care that
the advancement of the pupil is not too rapid. The
pupil is expected to be able to perform all the pieces
in one grade acceptably before going to the next grade.
I have had numerous American pupils and most of
them sefem to have the fault of wanting to advance to a
higher step long before they are really able. This

174 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

is very wrong, and the pupil who insists upon such a
course will surely realize some day that instead of
advancing rapidly he is really throwing many annoy-
ing obstacles directly in his own path,

INSTRUCTION BOOKS

Many juvenile instruction books are used in Russia
just as in America. Some teachers, however, find
that with pupils starting at an advanced age it is
better to teach the rudiments without a book. This
matter of method is of far greater importance than the
average teacher will admit. The teacher often makes
the mistake of living up in the clouds with Beethoven,
Bach, Chopin, and Brahms, never realizing that the
pupil is very much upon the earth, and that no matter
how grandly the teacher may play, the pupil must have
practical assistance within his grasp. The main duty
in all elementary work is to make the piano study
interesting, and the teacher must choose the course
likely to arouse the most interest in the particular
pupil.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR VIRTUOSO-STUDENTS IN RUSSIA
It may surprise the American student to hear that
there are really more opportunities for him to secure
public appearances right here in his own country than
in Russia. In fact, it is really very hard to get a start
in Russia unless , one is able to attract the attention
of the public very forcibly. In America the standard
may not be so high as that demanded in the musical

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA 175

circles of Russia, but the student has many chances
to play that would never come to him in the old world.
There, the only chance for the young virtuoso is at the
conservatory concerts. There are many music schools
in Russia that must content themselves with private
recitals, but the larger conservatories have public con-
certs of much importance, concerts that demand the
attendance of renowned artists and compel the serious
interest of the press. However, these concerts are few
and far between, and only one student out of many
hundreds has a chance to appear at them.

One singular custom obtains in Russia in reference
to concerts. The pianist coming from some other
European country is paid more than the local pianist.
For instance, although I am Russian by birth, I
reside in Germany and receive a higher rate when I
play in Russia than does the resident artist. In fact,
this rate is often double. The young virtuoso in the
early stages of his career receives about one hundred
roubles an appearance in Russia, while the mature
artist receives from 800 to xooo. The rouble, while
having an exchange value of only fifty cents in United
States currency, has a purchasing value of about one
dollar in Russia.

WHY RUSSIAN PIANISTS ARE FAMED FOR TECHNIC
The Russian pianist is always famed for his techni-
cal ability. Even the mediocre artists possess that.
The great artists realize that the mechanical side of
piano playing is but the basis, but they would no

1 76 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

sooner think of trying to do without that basis than
they would of dispensing with the beautiful artistic
temples which they build upon the substantial
foundation which technic gives to them. The
Russian pianists have earned fame for their technical
grasp because they give adequate study to the matter.
Everything is done in the most solid, substantial
manner possible. They build not upon sands, but
upon rock. For instance, in the conservatory ex-
aminations the student is examined first upon technic.
If he fails to pass the technical examination he is
not even asked to perform his pieces. Lack of pro-
ficiency in technic is taken as an indication of a lack of
the right preparation and study, just as the lack of
the ability to speak simple phrases correctly would
be taken as a lack of preparation in the case of the
actor.

"Particular attention is given to the mechanical side
of technic, the exercises, scales and arpeggios. Ameri-
can readers should understand that the full course at
the leading Russian conservatories is one of about
eight or nine years. During the first five years, the
pupil is supposed to be building the base upon which
must rest the more advanced work of the artist. The
last three or four years at the conservatory are given
over to the study of master works. Only pupils who
manifest great talent are permitted to remain during
the last year. During the first five years the backbone
of the daily work in all Russian schools is scales and
arpeggios. All technic reverts to these simple mater-

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA 177

ials and the student is made to understand this from
his very entrance to the conservatory. As the time
goes on the scales and arpeggios become more difficult,
more varied, more rapid, but they are never omitted
from the daily work. The pupil who attempted
complicated pieces without this preliminary technical
drill would be laughed at in Russia. I have been
amazed to find pupils coming from America who have
been able to play a few pieces fairly well, but who
wonder why they find it difficult to extend their
musical sphere when the whole trouble lies in an al-
most total absence of regular daily technical work
systematically pursued through several years.

"Of course, there must be other technical material
in addition to scales, but the highest technic, broadly
speaking, may be traced back to scales and arpeggios.
The practice of scales and arpeggios need never be
mechanical or uninteresting. This depends upon the
attitude of mind in which the teacher places the pupil.
In fact, the teacher is largely responsible if the pupil
finds scale practice dry or tiresome. It is because
the pupil has not been given enough to think about
in scale playing, not enough to look out for in nuance,
evenness, touch, rhythm, etc., etc,

MODERN RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN MUSICAL ART
"Most musicians of to-day appreciate the fact that in
many ways the most modern effects sought by the
composers who seek to produce extremely new effects

have frequently been anticipated in Russia. How-
12

178 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ever, one signal difference exists between the Russians
with ultra-modem ideas and the composers of other
nations. The Russian's advanced ideas are almost
always the result of a development as were those of
Wagner, Verdi, Grieg, Haydn and Beethoven. That
is, constant study and investigations have led them to
see things in a newer and more radical way. In the
case of such composers as Debussy, Strauss, Ravel,
Reger and others of the type of musical Philistine
it will be observed that to all intents and purposes,
they started out as innovators. Schonberg is the
most recent example. How long will it take the
world to comprehend his message if he really has one?
Certainly, at the present time, even the admirers of
the bizarre in music must pause before they confess
that they understand the queer utterings of this
newest claimant for the palm of musical eccentricity.
With Debussy, Strauss and others it is different, for
the skilled musician at once recognizes an astonishing
facility to produce effects altogether new and often
wonderfully fascinating. With Reger one seems to be
impressed with tremendous effort and little result.
Strauss, however, is really a very great master; so
great that it is difficult to get the proper perspective
upon his work at this time. It is safe to say that all
the modern composers of the world have been influ-
enced in one way or another by the great Russian
masters of to-day and yesterday. Tchaikovsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Glazounov, Rachmaninov,
Moussorgsky, Arensky, Scriabine and others, have all

PIANO STUDY IN RUSSIA 179

had a powerful bearing upon the musical thought of
the times. Their virility and character have been
due to the newness of the field in which they worked.
The influence of the compositions of Rubinstein and
Glinka can hardly be regarded as Russian since they
were so saturated with European models that they
might be ranked with Gluck, Mendelssohn, Liszt
and Meyerbeer far better than with their fellow-
countrymen who have expressed the idiom of Russia
with greater veracity."

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNTC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XI

JOSEF LHfiVINNE

1. Is music a part of the daily life of the child in
the Russian home?

2. In what does the Russian teacher of children
take great care?

3. Why are Russian pianists famed for their
technical ability?

4. How are examinations conducted in Russia?

5. What would be thought of the Russian pupil
who attempted pieces without the proper preliminary
scale work?

6. Need the practice of scales be mechanical and
uninteresting?

l8o GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

7. Why do some pupils find technical studies
tiresome?

8. How does Russian musical progress in composi-
tion differ from that of other musical nations ?

9. Has Russian music influenced the progress of
other musical nations?

10. How may the compositions of Rubinstein and
Glinka be regarded?

*'*: -.

<"-

V. DE PACHMANN

VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN

BIOGRAPHICAL

Vladimir de Pachmann was born at Odessa,
Russia, July 27, 1848. His first teacher was his
father, who was a musical enthusiast and a fine per-
former upon the violin. The elder de Pachmann was a
Professor of Law at the University of Vienna and at
first did not desire to have his son become anything
more than a cultured amateur. In his youth de
Pachmann was largely self taught and aside from
hearing great virtuosos at concerts and modeling his
playing to some extent after theirs he had no teachers
until 1866 when he went to the Vienna Conservatory
to study with the then celebrated teacher, Joseph
Dachs. Dachs was a concert pianist of the old school.
Academic perfection was his goal and he could not
understand such a pupil as de Pachmann who was
able to get results by what seemed un-academic
means. After one year with Dachs de Pachmann
toured Russia with great success and since then has
made repeated tours of the entire musical world.
He never gave any serious attention to musical
composition. As an interpreter of the works of
Chopin no one in recent times has ever excelled de
Pachmann, but he also gave numerous recitals show-
ing a great breadth of style in the performances of
works of the other great masters particularly Brahms
and Liszt.

(The following conference was conducted in English,
German, French and Italian.)

181

XIV

SEEKING ORIGINALITY

VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN

THE MEANING OF O:RIGINALITY
" ORIGINALITY in pianoforte playing, what does it
really mean? Nothing more than the interpretation
of one's real self instead of the artificial self which
traditions, "mistaken advisors and our own natural
sense of mimicry impose upon us. Seek for originality
and it is gone like a gossamer shining in the morning
grass. Originality is in one's self. It is the true
voice of the heart. I would enjoin students to listen
to their own inner voices. I do not desire to deprecate
teachers, but I think that many teachers are in error
when they fail to encourage their pupils to form their
own opinions.

"I have always sought the individual in myself.
When I have found him. I play at my best. I try to
do everything in my own individual way. I work for
months to invent, contrive or design new fingerings
not so much for simplicity, but to enable me to manipu-
late the keys so that I may express the musical thought
as it seems to me it ought to be expressed. See my
hand, my fingers the flesh as soft as that of a child,
yet covering muscles of steel. They are thus because
I have worked from childhood to make them thus.
"The trouble with most pupils in studying a piece

182

SEEKING ORIGINALITY 183

is that when they seek individuality and originality,
they go about it in the wrong way, and the result
is a studied, stiff, hard performance. Let them
listen to the voice, I say; to the inner voice, the voice
which is speaking every moment of the day, but to
which so many shut the ears of their soul,

"Franz Liszt ah, you see I bow when I mention the
name you never heard Franz Liszt? Ah, it was the
great Liszt who listened listened to his inner voice.
They said he was inspired. He was simply listening
to himself.

MACHINE TEACHING

"Nun, passen Sie md aufl I abominate machine
teaching. A certain amount of it may be necessary,
but I hate it. It seems so brutal so inartistic*
Instead of leading the pupil to seek results for himself,
they lay down laws and see that these laws are obeyed,
like gendarmes. It is possible, of course, by means of
systematic training, to educate a boy so that he
could play a concerto which he could not possibly
comprehend intelligently until he became at least
twenty years older; but please tell, what is the use
of such a training? Is it artistic? Is it musical?
Would it not be better to train him to play a piece
which he could comprehend and which he could ex-
press in his own way?

"Of course I am not speaking now of the boy
Mqzarts, the boy Liszts or other freaks of nature, but
of the children who by machine-made methods are

184 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

made to do things which nature never intended that
they should do. This forcing method to which some
conservatories seem addicted reminds one of those men
who in bygone ages made a specialty of disfiguring
the forms and faces of children, to make dwarfs,
jesters and freaks out of them* Bah!

OHGINAIITY THE ROAD To PERMANENT FAME

" Originality in interpretation is of course no more
important than originality in creation. See how the
composers who have been the most original have been
the ones who have laid the surest foundation for
permanent fame. Here again true originality has
been merely the highest form of self-expression, Non
e vero? When the composer has sought originality
and contrived to get it by purposely taking out-of-the-
way methods, what has he produced? Nothing but a
horrible sham a structure of cards which is destroyed
by the next wind of fashion.

"Other composers write for all time. They are
original because they listen to the little inner voice,
the true source of originality. It is the same in archi-
tecture. Styles in architecture are evolved, not
created, and whenever the architect has striven for
bizarre effects he builds for one decade only. The
architects who build for all time are different and yet
how unlike, how individual, how original is the work
of one great architect from that of another.

SEEKING ORIGINALITY l8$

THE MOST ORIGINAL COMPOSERS
" The most original of all composers, at least as they
appear to me, is Johann Sebastian Bach. Perhaps
this is because he is the most sincere. Next I should
class Beethoven, that great mountain peak to whose
heights so few ever soar. Then would come in order
Liszt, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, Weber, and
Mendelssohn. Schumann more original than Chopin?
Yes, at least so it seems to me. That is, there is
something more distinctive, something more indicative
of a great individuality speaking a new language,

" Compare these men with composers of the order of
Abt, Steibelt, Thalberg, and Donizetti, and you will
see at once what I mean about originality being the
basis of permanent art. For over twenty years my
great fondness for mineralogy and for gems led me to
neglect in a measure the development of the higher
works of these composers, but I have realized my error
and have been working enormously for years to attain
the technic which their works demand. Some years
ago I felt that technical development must cease at a
certain age. This is all idiocy. I feel that I have now
many times the technic I have ever had before and I
have acquired it all in recent years.

SELF-HELP THE SECRET OF MANY SUCCESSES
"No one could possibly believe more in self-help
than I. The student who goes to a teacher and
imagines that the teacher will cast some magic spell

l86 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

about him which, will make him a musician without
working, has an unpleasant surprise in store for him.
When I was eighteen I went to Dachs at the Vienna
Conservatory. He bade me play something. I played
the Rigoletto paraphrase of Liszt. Dachs commented
favorably upon my touch but assured me that I was
very much upon the wrong track and that I should
study the Woltetnperirtes Klavier of Bach. He assured
me that no musical education could be considered
complete without an intimate acquaintance with the
Bach fugues, which of course was most excellent
advice.

"Consequently I secured a copy of the fugues and
commenced work upon them. Dachs had told me to
prepare the first prelude and fugue for the following
lesson. But D achs was not acquainted with my meth-
ods of study. He did not know that I had mastered
the art of concentration so that I could obliterate
every suggestion of any other thought from my mind
except that upon which I was working. He had no
estimate of my youthful zeal and intensity. He did
not know that I could not be satisfied unless I spent
the entire day working with all my artistic might and
main.

"Soon I saw the wonderful design of the great
master of Eisenach. The architecture of the fugues
became plainer and plainer. Each subject became a
friend and each answer likewise. It was a great joy
to observe with what marvelous craftsmanship he had
built up the wonderful structures. I could not stop

SEEKING ORIGINALITY 18)

when I had memorized the first fugue, so I went to the
next and the next and the next.

A SURPRISED TEACHER

"At the following lesson I went with my book under
my arm. I requested him to name a fugue. He did,
and I pkced the dosed book on the rack before me,
After I had finished playing he was dumfounded.
He said, Tou come to me to take lessons. You al-
ready know the great fugues and I have taught you
nothing/ Thinking that I would find Chopin more
difficult to memorize, he suggested that I learn two of
the etudes. I came at the following lesson with the
entire twenty-four memorized. Who could with-
stand the alluring charm of the Chopin etudes?
Who could resist the temptation to learn them all
when they are once commenced?

"An actor learns page after page in a few days, and
why should the musician go stumbling along for
months in his endeavor to learn something which he
could master in a few hours with the proper interest
and the burning concentration without which all
music study is a farce?

"It was thus during my entire course with Dachs.
He would suggest the work and I would go off by
myself and learn it. I had practically no method.
Each page demanded a different method. Each page
presented entirely new and different technical ideas."

1 88 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

DEEP THOUGHT NECESSARY
"As a rule piano students do not think deeply
enough. They skim over the really difficult things
and no amount of persuasion will make them believe
some very simple things difficult. Take the scale of
C Major, for instance. This scale is by far the most
difficult of all. To play it with true legato, at any
desired degree of force or speed, in any desired
rhythm and with any desired touch, is one of the most
difficult achievements in all music. Yet the young
pupil will literally turn up his nose at the scale of C
Major and at the same time claim that he is perfectly
competent to play a Beethoven Sonata,

"The scale of C should be learned step by step until
the practice habits are so formed that they will reign
supreme while playing all the other scales. This is
the way to secure results go deep into things. Pearls
lie at the bottom of the sea. Most pupils seem to ex-
pect them floating upon the surface of the water.
They never float, and the one who would have his
scales shine with the beauty of splendid gems must
first dive deep for the gems.

"But what is the use of saying all this? To tell it
to young pupils seems to be a waste of words. They
will go on making their mistakes and ignoring the
advice of their teachers and mentors until the great
teacher of all experience forces them to dive for
the hidden riches.

SEEKING ORIGINALITY 189

TAKE TIME To Do THINGS WELL
"Every pianist advances at a rate commensurate
with his personal ability. Some pianists are slow in
development. Others with wonderful natural gifts
go ahead very quickly. The student will see some
pianist make wonderful progress and will sometimes
imitate him without giving the time or effort to study
that the other pianist has given. The artist will
spend months upon a Chopin valse. The student
feels injured if he cannot play it in a day.

"Look, I will play the wonderful Nocturne of Chopin
in G, Opus No. 2. The legato thirds seem simple?
Ah, if I could only tell you of the years that are
behind those thirds. The human mind is peculiar
in its methods of mastering the movements of the
fingers, and to get a great masterpiece so that you can
have supreme control over it at all times and under all
conditions demands a far greater effort than the
ordinary non-professional music lover can imagine.

MASTERING ARTISTIC DETAILS
"Each note in a composition should be polished
until it is as perfect as a jewel as perfect as an Indian
diamond those wonderful scintillating, ' ever-chang-
ing orbs of light. In a really great masterpiece each
note has its place just as the stars, the jewels of heaven,
have their places in their constellations. When a
star moves it moves in an orbit that was created by
nature.

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

"Great musical masterpieces owe their existence to
mental forces quite as miraculous as those which put
the heavens into being. The notes in compositions
of this kind are not there by any rule of man. They
come through the ever mystifying source which we
call inspiration. Each note must bear a distinct
relation to the whole.

"An artist in jewels in making a wonderful work of
art does not toss his jewels together in any haphazard
way. He often has to wait for months to get the
right ruby, or the right pearl, or the right diamond to
fit in the right place. Those who do not know might
think one gem just like another, but the artist knows.
He has been looking at gems, examining them under
the microscope. There is a meaning in every facet,
in every shade of color. He sees blemishes which the
ordinary eye would never detect.

"Finally he secures his jewels and arranges them in
some artistic form, which results in a masterpiece.
The public does not know the reason why, but it will
instantly realize that the work of the artist is in some
mysterious way superior to the work of the bungler.
Thus it is that the mind of the composer works spon-
taneously in selecting the musical jewels for the dia-
dem which is to crown him \vith fame. During the
process of inspiration he does not realize that he is
selecting his jewels with lightning rapidity, but with a
highly cultivated artistic judgment. When the musi-
cal jewels are collected and assembled he regards the
work as a whole as the work of another. He does not

SEEKING ORIGINALITY IQI

realize that he has been going through the process of
collecting them. Schubert failed to recollect some
of his own compositions only a few days after he had
written them.

SOMETHING No ONE CAN TEACH
"Now the difficulty with students is that they do
not take time to polish the jewels which the composers
have selected with such keen aesthetic discernment.
They think it enough if they merely succeed in playing
the note. How horrible! A machine can play the
notes, but there is only one machine with a soul and
that is the artist To think that an artist should play
only the notes and forget the glories of the inspiration
which came in the composer's mind during the moment
of creation.

"Let me play the D flat Chopin Nocturne for you.
Please notice how the notes all bear a relation to each
other, how everything is in right proportion. Do you
think that came in a day? Ah, my friend, the polish-
ing of those jewels took far longer than the polishing
of the Kohinoor. Yet I have heard young girls
attempt to play this piece for me expecting appro-
bation, of course, and I am certain that they could
not have practiced upon it more than a year or so.
They evidently think that musical masterpieces can
be brought into being like the cobwebs which rise
during the night to be torn down by the weight of the
dew of the following morning. Imbecittitd!

192 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

THE BEST TEACHER

"They play just as their teachers have told them to
play, which is of course good as far as it goes* But
they stop at that, and no worthy teacher expects his
pupil to stop with his instruction. The best teacher
is the one who incites his pupil to penetrate deeper
and learn new beauties by himself. A teacher in the
highest sense of the word is not a mint, coining pupils
as it were and putting the same stamp of worth upon
each pupil.

"The great teacher is an artist who works in men
and women. Every pupil is different, and he must be
very quick to recognize these differences. He should
first of all teach the pupil that there are hundreds of
things which no teacher can ever hope to teach.
He must make his pupil keenly alert to this. There
are hundreds of things about my own playing which
are virtually impossible to teach. I would not know
how to convey them to others so that they might be
intelligently learned. Such things I have found out
for myself by long and laborious experimentation.
The control of my fifth finger in certain fingerings
presented endless problems which could only be worked
out at the keyboard. Such things give an individual-
ity to the pianist's art, something which cannot be
copied.

"Have you ever been in a foreign art gallery and
watched the copyists trying to reproduce the works
of the masters? Have you ever noticed that though

SEEKING ORIGINALITY 193

they get the form, the design, and even tne colors and
also that with all these resemblances there] is some-
thing which distinguishes the work of the master
from the work of the copyist, something so wonderful
that even a child can see it? You wonder at this?
Pourquoi? No one can learn by copying the secret
the master has learned in creating.

THE BASIS or GREATNESS

"Here we have a figure which brings out very clearly
the real meaning of originality in piano playing and
at the same time indicates how every pupil with or
without a teacher should work for himself. Why was
the great Liszt greater than any pianist of his time?
Simply because he found out certain pianistic secrets
which Czerny or any of Liszt's teachers and contem-
poraries had failed to discover.

"Why has Godowsky Achl Godowsky, der i$t
wirklich ein grosser Talent how has he attained his
wonderful rank? Because he has worked out certain
contrapuntal and technical problems which place fa'
in a class all by himself. I consider him the greatest
master of the mysteries of counterpoint since the
heyday of classical polyphony. Why does Busoni
produce inimitable results at the keyboard? Simply
because he was not satisfied to remain content with
the knowledge he had obtained from others.

"This then is my life secretwork, unending work.
I have no other secrets. I have developed myself
along the lines revealed to me by my inner voice. I

13

194 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

have studied myself as well as my art. I have learned
to study mankind through the sciences and through
the great literary treasures, you see; I speak many
languages fluently, I have stepped apace with the
crowd, I have drunk the bitter and the sweet from the
chalices of life, but remember, I have never stopped,
and to-day I am just as keenly interested in my prog-
ress as I was many years ago as a youth. The new
repertoire of the works of Liszt and Brahms and other
composers demanded a different technic, a bigger
technic. What exquisite joy it was to work for it.
Yes, mio amico, work is the greatest intoxication, the
greatest blessing, the greatest solace we can know.
Therefore work, work, work. But of all things, my
good musical friends in America, remember the old
German proverb:

" 'Das mag die besfc Musik sein
Wenn Hers und Mund stimmt uberein.'"

(" Music is best when ihe heart and lips (mouth)
speak together.")

SEEKING ORIGINALITY 195

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OP PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XH

VLADIMIR DE PACEMANN

1. What does originality in pianoforte playing
really mean?

2. State something of the evils of the forcing
methods of training applied to young children.

3. Have the compositions of the most original
composers been the most enduring?

4. Name seven of the most original composers for
the pianoforte.

5. Must the pupil continually help himself?

6. What is considered the most difficult scale to
learn?

7. Is a great virtuoso obliged to practice years
in order to secure results?

8. How may piano study be compared with the
polishing of beautiful jewels?

9. Tell what characteristics a great teacher must
have.

10. What lies at the foundation of pianistic great-
ness?

MAXPAUER

BIOGRAPHICAL

Prof. Max Pauer was born in London, England,
October 31, 1866, and is the son of the eminent
musical educator, Ernst Pauer, who settled in Eng-
land in 1851, and aside from filling many of the fore-
most positions in British musical life, also produced a
great number of instructive works, which have been
of immeasurable value in disseminating musical
education in England. His work on Musical Forms
is known to most all music students. Prof* Max
Pauer studied with his father at the same time his
parent was instructing another famous British-born
pianist, Eugen d'Albert. At the age of fifteen he
went to Karlsruhe, where he came under the instruc-
tion of V. Lachner. In 1885 he returned to London
and continued to advance through self-study. In 1887
he received the appointment at the head of the piano
department in the Cologne Conservatory. This
position he retained for ten years, until his appoint-
ment at Stuttgart, first as head teacher in the piano
department and later as director of the School
During this period the organization of the famous old
conservatory has changed totally. The building
occupied was very old and unfit for modern needs.
The new conservatory building is a splendid structure
located in one of the most attractive parts of the city.
The old methods, old equipment, old ideas have been
abandoned, and a wholly different atmosphere is said
to pervade the institution, while all that was best in
the old rigime has been retained. Prof. Pauer made
his dtbut as a virtuoso pianist in London. Since then
he has toured all Europe except the Latin countries.
He has published several compositions for the piano.
His present tour of America is his first in the New
World

196

*', '/'*

4

* /

MAX PAUER

XV
MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS

MAX PAUER

ACQUIRING TEE REQUISITE TECENIC
preservation of one's individuality in playing
is perhaps one of the most difficult, and at the same
time one of the most essential tasks in the study of
the pianoforte. The kind of technical study that
passes the student through a certain process, ap-
parently destined to make him as much like his pre-
decessors as possible, is hardly the kind of technic
needed to make a great artist. Technical ability,
after all is said and done, depends upon nothing more
than physiologically correct motion applied to the
artistic needs of the masterpiece to be performed.
It implies a clear understanding of the essentials in
bringing out the composer's idea. The pupil must not
be confused with inaccurate thinking. For instance,
we commonly hear of the ' wrist touch/ More
pupils have been hindered through this clumsy
terminology than I should care to estimate. There
cannot be a wrist touch since the wrist is nothing
more than a wonderful natural hinge of bone and
muscle. With the pupil's mind centered upon his
wrist he is more than likely to stiffen it and form
habits which can only be removed with much difficulty
by the teacher. This is only an instance of one of the
loose expressions with which the terminology of tech-

197

IpS GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

nic is encumbered. When the pupil comes to recog-
nize the wrist as a condition rather than a thing he
will find that the matter of the tight, cramped wrist
will cease to have its terrors. In fact, as far as touch
itself is concerned, the motion of the arm as a whole
is vastly more important than that of the wrist.
The wrist is merely part of the apparatus which com-
municates the weight of the arm to the keyboard.

INNOVATORS SHOULD BE PIANISTS
"In my opinion the technical needs of the piano
are likely to be far better understood by the virtuoso
pianist than by one who has never been through the
experiences which lead to the concert platform.
Please do not infer that I would say that all teachers
should be virtuoso pianists. I am referring partic-
ularly to the makers of methods. I am continually
confronted in my teaching with all manner of absurd
ideas in piano technic. For instance, one pupil will
come and exhibit an exercise which requires her to
press hard upon the keyboard after the note is struck.
Just why there should be this additional waste of
nerve force when it can have no possible effect upon
the depressed key I have never been able to find out.
There is enough nervous energy expended in piano-
forte study as it is without exacting any more from
the pupil. Pupils are frequently carried away with
some technical trick of this kind like a child with a
new toy. They do these things without ever con-
sulting their own judgment. "

MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS 199

The whole idea of technic then is to achieve a
position through conscious effort, where one may
dispense with conscious effort* Not until this can be
accomplished can we hope for real self-expression in
playing. Nothing is so odious as the obtrusion of
technic in any work of art* Technic is the trellis
concealed beneath the foliage and the blossoms of the
bower. When the artist is really great all idea of
technic is forgotten. He must be absorbed by the
sheer beauty of his musical message, his expression
of his musical self. In listening to Rubinstein or to
Liszt one forgot all idea of technic, and it must be so
with all great artists in every branch of art in every
age. What we claim when we attend a recital is
the individual artist, unrestrained by mechanical
bonds.

Very few of the great masters of pianoforte playing
have delved very deeply into the technical pedagogical
side of their art, as for instance have Tausig, Ehrlich
or Joseffy, all of whom have produced remarkable
works on technic. Liszt's contribution to the technic
of the instrument was made through his pieces, not
through exercises; his contributions to the Lebert
and Stark Stuttgart Conservatory method consist of
two well-known concert studies. Personally, I am
opposed to set methods, that is, those that pretend to
teach the pupil factory-wise. Of what value is the
teacher if he is not to apply his knowledge with the
discretion that comes with experience?

Deppe's influence to this day is far more theoretical

200 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

than practical. This does not imply that Deppe did
not evolve some very useful ideas in pianoforte work.
All of present technic is a common heritage from many
investigators and innovators. Pianoforte teaching,
as a matter of fact, is one of the most difficult of all
tasks. It is easy to teach it along conventional
"cut and dried" method lines, but the teachers of
real importance are those who have the ability, the
gift, the inclination and the experience to make a
brand new method for every pupil.

In order to develop the means to communicate
one's message through one's art with the greatest
effectiveness, there must be a mastery of the delicate
balance between natural tendencies and discipline,
If the student is subjected to too much discipline,
stiff, angular results may be expected, If the student
is permitted to play with the flabby looseness which
some confuse with natural relaxation, characterless
playing must invariably result. The great desidera-
tum is the fine equilibrium between nature and dis-
cipline. This may seem an unnecessary observation
to some, but many students never seem to be able to
strike the happy medium between marching over the
keys like a regiment of wooden soldiers, or crawling
over them like a lot of spineless caterpillars.

AVOID MACHINE-LIKE PLAYING
There is a certain "something" which defines the
individuality of the player, and it seems well nigh
impossible to say just what this something is. Let us

MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS 201

by all means preserve it. Imagine the future of music
if every piece were to be played in the selfsame way
by every player like a series of ordinary piano playing
machines. The remarkable apparatus for recording
the playing of virtuosos, and then reproducing it
through a mechanical contrivance, is somewhat of a
revelation to the pianist who tries it for the first time.
In the records of the playing of artists whose inter-
pretations are perfectly familiar to me, there still
remain unquestioned marks of individuality. Some-
times these marks are small shortcomings, but which,
nevertheless, are so slight that they do no more than
give character. Look at a painting by Van Dyke,
and then at one upon a similar subject by Rembrandt,
and you will realize how these little characteristics
influence the whole outward aspect of an art work.
Both Van Dyke and Rembrandt were Dutchmen, and,
in a sense, contemporaries. They used pigments
and brushes, canvas and oil, yet the masterpieces
of each are readily distinguishable by any one slightly
familiar with their styles. It is precisely the same
with pianists. All of us have arms, fingers, muscles
and nerves, but what we have to say upon the key-
board should be an expression of our own minds, not a
replica of some stereotyped model.

When I listened to the first record of my own play-
ing, I heard things which seemed unbelievable to me.
Was I, after years of public playing, actually making
mistakes that I would be the first to condemn in any
one of my own pupils? I could hardly believe my

202 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ears, and yet the unrelenting machine showed that
in some places I had failed to play both hands exactly
together, and had been guilty of other errors no less
heinous, because they were trifling. I also learned
in listening to my own playing, as reproduced, that
I had unconsciously brought out certain nuances,
emphasized different voices and employed special
accents without the consciousness of having done so,
Altogether it made a most interesting study for me,
and it became very clear that the personality of the
artist must permeate everything that he does. When
his technic is sufficiently great it permits him to speak
with fluency and self-expression, enhancing the value
of his work a thousandfold.

BROAD UNDERSTANDING NECESSARY

"It would be a great mistake for the student to
imagine that by merely acquiring finger dexterity and
a familiarity with a certain number of pieces he may
consider himself proficient There is vastly more to
piano-playing than that. He must add to his digital
ability and his repertoire and comprehensive grasp of
the principles of music itself. The pupil should strive
to accomplish as much as possible through mental
work. The old idea of attempting to play every
single study written by Czerny, or Cramer or the other
prolific writers of studies is a huge mistake. A judi-
cious selection from the works of these pedagogical
writers is desirable but certainly not all of them. They
are at best only the material with which one must work

MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS 203

for a certain aim, and that aim should be high artistic
results. It should be realized by all students and
teachers that this same study material, excellent in
itself, may actually produce bad results if not properly
practiced. I have repeatedly watched students
practicing industriously, but becoming worse and
worse and actually cultivating faults rather than
approaching perfection. The student must always
remember that his fingers are only the outward
organs of his inner consciousness, and while his work
may be mechanical in part he should never think
mechanically. The smallest technical exercise must
have its own direction, its own aim. Nothing should
be done without some definite purpose in view. The
student should have pointed out to him just what the
road he must travel is, and where it leads to. The
ideal teacher is the one who gives the pupil something
to take home and work out at home, not the one who
works out the student's lesson for him in the class
room. The teacher's greatest mission is to raise the
consciousness of the pupil until he can appreciate his
own powers for developing an idea.

FREEDOM FROM CONVENTION
"Oh the horror of the conventional, the absolutely
right, the human machine who cannot make an error!
The balance between the frigidly correct and the
abominably loose is a most difficult one to maintain.
It is, of course, desirable that the young student pass
through a certain period of strict discipline, but if

204 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

this discipline succeeds in making an automaton, of
what earthly use is it? Is it really necessary to in-
struct our little folks to think that everything must be
done in a " cut and dried" manner? Take the simple
matter of time, for instance. Listen to the playing
of most young pupils and you will hear nothing but a
kind of "railroad train " rhythm. Every measure
bumps along precisely like the last one. The pupil
has been taught to observe the bar signs like stone
walls partitioning the whole piece off into sections.
The result as a whole is too awful to describe. As a
matter of fact, the bar signs, necessary as they are as
guide-posts when we are learning the elements of
notation, are often the means of leading the poorly
trained pupil to a wholly erroneous interpretation.
For instance, in a passage like the following from
Beethoven's F minor Sonata, Opus 2, No. i (dedicated
to Joseph Haydn), Beethoven's idea must have been
the following:

before it was divided into measures by bar lines as
now found printed:

MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS 205

The trouble with the pupil in playing the above is that
he seems inclined to observe the bar lines very care-
fully and lose all idea of the phrase as a whole. Music
should be studied by phrases, not by measures. In
studying a poem you strive first of all to get the poet's
meaning as expressed in his phrases and in his sen-
tences; you do not try to mumble a few words in an
arbitrary manner. The pupil who never gets over the
habit of playing in measures, who never sees the com-
poser's message as a whole rather than in little seg-
ments can never play artistically. Many students fail
to realize that in some pieces it is actually misleading
to count the beats in the measure. The rhythm of the
piece as a whole is often marked by a series of meas-
ures, and one must count the measures as units rather
than the notes in the measures. For instance, the
following section from a Chopin Valse, Opus 64, No.
i (sometimes called the Minute Vdse), may best be
counted by counting the measures thus :

Every pupil knows that the first beat in each ordinary
measure of four-quarter time carries a strong accent,
the third beat the next strongest,^and the second and
fourth beats still weaker accents^ In a series of meas-

206 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ures which may be counted in fours, it will be found
that the same arrangement often prevails. The pupil
will continually meet opportunities to study his work
along broader lines, and the wonderful part of it all
is that music contains so much that is interesting and
surprising, that there need be no end to his investiga-
tions. Every page from a master work that has been
studied for years is likely to contain some unsolved
problem if the student can only see it right and hunt
for it

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC or PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES xm

MAXPAUER

1. Define technical ability.

2. Describe some useless technical tricks.

3. Do great pianists devote much time to writing
upon piano technic?

4. State the evils of too much discipline.

5. How may machine-like playing be avoided?

6* State how faults axe most frequently developed.

7. Why must one seek to avoid conventions?

8. Should music be studied by phrases or measures?

9. Play the Chopin Valse Opus 64, No i, indicating
how it may best be counted.

10. Where must the student find his problems?

S. V. RACHMANINOFF

S. V. RACHMANINOFF

BIOGRAPHICAL

Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff was born at Nov-
gorod, Russia, April ist, 1873. At the Moscow
Conservatory he was placed under the instruction
of Siloti who had been one of the favorite Russian
pupils of Franz Liszt. This master imparted a very
facile technic to Rachmaninoff and made him so
thoroughly acquainted with the best literature of
the instrument that his compositions became recog-
nized at once as those of a thorough master of the
keyboard. His teacher in composition was Arensky,
who in addition to his skill in the technic of the art
had a fund of melody which is a delight to all those
who know his works. In 1891 Rachmaninoff won
the great gold medal at the Moscow Conservatory
and his work as a composer commenced to attract
favorable attention throughout all Europe. In addi-
tion to this his ability as a pianist attracted wide
notice and his tours have been very successful. His
compositions have been cast in many different forms
from opera to songs and piano pieces. His most
popular work is tlie Prelude in C Sharp Minor which
is in the repertoire of all advanced students. His
appointment as Supervisor General of the Imperial
conservatories of Russia was one of the highest di&-
tinctions that could be conferred in the land of the
Czar. The correct pronunciation of the name as
given by the composer is Rokh-mahn-ee-noff.

(The following conference was conducted in
German.)

907

XVI
ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING

S. V. RACHMANINOFF

FORMING TEE. PROPER CONCEPTION or A PIECE
IT is a seemingly impossible task to define the
number of attributes of really excellent pianoforte
playing. By selecting ten important characteristics,
however, and considering them carefully, one at a
time, the student may learn much that will give him
food for thought. After all, one can never tell in
print what can be communicated by the living
teacher. In undertaking the study of a new com-
position it is highly important to gain a conception
of the work as a whole. One must comprehend the
main design of the composer. Naturally, there are
technical difficulties which must be worked out,
measure by measure, but unless the student can
form some idea of the work in its larger proportions
his finished performance may resemble a kind of
musical patchwork. Behind every composition is
the architectural plan of the composer. The student
should endeavor, first of all, to discover this plan,
and then he should build in the manner in which the
composer would have had him build.

You ask me, "How can the student form the
proper conception of the work as a whole? J) Doubt-
less the best way is to hear it performed by some

208

ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING 209

pianist whose authority as an interpreter cannot be
questioned. However, many students are so situated
that this course is impossible. It is also often quite
impossible for the teacher, who is busy teaching
from morning to night, to give a rendering of the
work that would be absolutely perfect in all of its
details. However, one can gain something from the
teacher who can, by his genius, give the pupil an idea
of the artistic demands of the piece.

If the student has the advantage of hearing neither
the virtuoso nor the teacher he need not despair,
if he has talent. Talent! Ah, that is the great thing
in all musical work. If he has talent he will see with
the eyes of talent that wonderful force which pene-
trates all artistic mysteries and reveals the truths as
nothing else possibly can. Then he grasps, as if by
intuition, the composer's intentions in writing the
work, and, like the true interpreter, communicates
these thoughts to his audience in their proper form.

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY

It goes without saying, that technical proficiency
should be one of the first acquisitions of the student
who would become a fine pianist. It is impossible
to conceive of fine playing that is not marked by
dean, fluent, distinct, elastic technic. The technical
ability of the performer should be of such a nature
that it can be applied immediately to all the artistic
demands of the composition to be interpreted- Of
course, there may be individual passages which re-

14

210 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

quire some special technical study, but, generally
speaking, tedroic is worthless unless the hands and
the mind of the player are so trained that they can
encompass the principal difficulties found in modern
compositions.

In the music schools of Russia great stress is laid
upon technic. Possibly this may be one of the rea-
sons why some of the Russian pianists have been
so favorably received in recent years. The work in
the leading Russian conservatories is almost entirely
under supervision of the Imperial Musical Society,
The system is elastic in that, although all students are
obliged to go through the same course, special attention
is given to individual cases. Technic, however, is at
first made a matter of paramount importance. All
students must become technically proficient. None
are excused. It may be interesting to hear something
of the general plan followed in the Imperial music
schools of Russia. The course is nine years in dura-
tion. During the first five years the student gets
most of his technical instruction from a book of studies
by Hanon, which is used very extensively in the con-
servatories. In fact, this is practically the only
book of strictly technical studies employed. All of
the studies are in the key of "C." They include
scales, arpeggios, and other forms of exercises in
special technical designs.

At the end of the fifth year an examination takes
place. This examination is twofold. The pupil is
examined first for proficiency in technic, and later

ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING 211

for proficiency in artistic playing pieces, studies,
etc. However, if the pupil fails to pass the technical
examination he is not permitted to go ahead. He
knows the exercises in the book of studies by Hanon
so well that he knows each study by number, and the
examiner may ask him, for instance, to play study 17,
or 28, or 32, etc. The student at once sits at the key-
board and plays.

Although the original studies are all in the key of
"C," he may be requested to play them in any other
key. He has studied them so thoroughly that he
should be able to play them in any key desired. A
metronomic test is also applied. The student knows
that he will be expected to play the studies at certain
rates of speed. The examiner states the speed and the
metronome is started. The pupil is required, for
instance, to play the E flat major scale with the met-
ronome at 120, eight notes to the beat. If he is
successful in doing this, he is marked accordingly,
and other tests are given.

Personally, I believe this matter of insisting upon
a thorough technical knowledge is a very vital one.
The mere ability to play a few pieces does not con-
stitute musical proficiency. It is like those music
boxes which possess only a few tunes. The student's
technical grasp should be all-embracing.

Later the student is given advanced technical
exercises, like those of Tausig. Czerny is also very
deservedly popular. Less is heard of the studies of
Henselt, however, notwithstanding his long service

212 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

in Russia. Henselt's studies are so beautiful that
they should rather be classed with pieces like the stud-
ies of Chopin.

PROPER PHRASING

An artistic interpretation is not possible if the
student does not know the laws underlying the very
important subject of phrasing, Unfortunately many
editions of good music are found wanting in proper
phrase markings. Some of the phrase signs are
erroneously applied. Consequently the only safe
way is for the student to make a special study of
this important branch of musical art. In the olden
days phrase signs were little used. Bach used them
very sparingly. It was not necessary to mark them
in those times, for every musician who counted him-
self a musician could determine the phrases as he
played. But a knowledge of the means of defining
phrases in a composition is by no means all-sufficient.
Skill in executing the phrases is quite as important.
The real musical f eeling must exist in the mind of the
composer or all the knowledge of correct phrasing
he may possess will be worthless.

REGULATING THE TEMPO

If a fine musical feeling, or sensitiveness, must
control the execution of the phrases, the regulation
of the tempo demands a kind of musical ability no
less exacting. Although in most cases the tempo
of a given composition is now indicated by means

ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING 213

of the metronomic markings, the judgment of the
player must also be brought frequently into requisi-
tion. He cannot follow the tempo marks blindly,
although it is usually unsafe for him to stray very
far from these all-important musical sign-posts.
The metronome itself must not be used "with closed
eyes/' as we should say it in Russia. The player
must use discretion. I do not approve of continual
practice with the metronome. The metronome is
designed to set the time, and if not abused is a very
faithful servant. However, it should only be used
for this purpose. The most mechanical playing
imaginable can proceed from those who make them-
selves slaves to this little musical clock, which was
never intended to stand like a ruler over every minute
of the student's practice time.

CHARACTER IN PLAYING

Too few students realize that there is continual
and marvelous opportunity for contrast in playing.
Every piece is a piece unto itself. It should, there-
fore, have its own peculiar interpretation. There
are performers whose playing seems all. alike. It
is like the meals served in some hotels Every-
thing brought to the table has the same taste. Of
course, a successful performer must have a strong
individuality, and all of his interpretations must
bear the mark of this individuality, but at the same
time he should seek variety constantly. A Chopin
ballade must have quite a different interpretation

214 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

from a Scarlatti Capriccio. There is really very lit-
tle in common between a Beethoven Sonata and a
Liszt Rhapsody. Consequently, the student must
seek to give each piece a different character. Each
piece must stand apart as possessing an individual
conception, and if the player fails to convey this
impression to his audience, he is little better than
some mechanical instrument. Josef Hofmarm has
the ability of investing each composition with an
individual and characteristic charm that has always
been very delightful to me.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PEDAL
The pedal has been called the soul of the piano,
I never realized what this meant until I heard Anton
Rubinstein, whose playing seemed so marvelous to
me that it beggars description. His mastery of the
pedal was nothing short of phenomenal. In the last
movement of the B flat minor sonata of Chopin he
produced pedal effects that can never be described,
but for any one who remembers them they will
always be treasured as one of the greatest of musical
joys. The pedal is the study of a lifetime. It is
the most difficult branch of higher pianoforte study.
Of course, one may make rules for its use, and the
student should carefully study all these rules, but, at
the same time, these rules may often be skilfully
broken in order to produce some very charming effects.
The rules represent a few known principles that are
within the grasp of our musical intelligence. They

ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLATING 21$

may be compared with the planet upon which we live,
and about which we know so much. Beyond the rules,
however, is the great universe the celestial system
which only the telescopic artistic sight of the great
musician can penetrate. This, Rubinstein, and some
others, have done, bringing to our mundane vision
undreamt-of beauties which they alone could perceive.

THE DANGER OF CONVENTION
While we must respect the traditions of the past,
which for the most part are very intangible to us
because they are only to be found in boob, we must,
nevertheless, not be bound down by convention.
Iconoclasm is the law of artistic progress. All great
composers and performers have built upon the ruins
of conventions that they themselves have destroyed.
It is infinitely better to create than to imitate. Before
we can create, however, it is well to make ourselves
familiar with the best that has preceded us. This
applies not only to composition, but to pianoforte
playing as well. The master pianists, Rubinstein
and Liszt, were both marvelously broad in the scope
of their knowledge. They knew the literature of the
pianoforte in all its possible branches. They made
themselves familiar with every possible phase of musi-
cal advancement. This is the reason for their gi-
gantic prominence. Their greatness was not the hollow
shell of acquired technic. THEY KNEW. Oh, for
more students in these days with the genuine thirst

2 1 6 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

for real musical knowledge, and not merely with the
desire to make a superficial exhibition at the keyboard!

REAL MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING
I am told that some teachers lay a great deal of
stress upon the necessity for the pupil learning the
source of the composer's inspiration. This is inter-
esting, of course, and may help to stimulate a dull
imagination. However, I am convinced that it
would be far better for the student to depend more
upon his real musical understanding. It is a mis-
take to suppose that the knowledge of the fact that
Schubert was inspired by a certain poem, or that
Chopin was inspired by a certain legend, could ever
make up for a lack of the real essentials leading to
good pianoforte playing. The student must see,
first of all, the main points of musical relationship
in a composition. He must understand what it is
that gives the work unity, cohesion, force, or grace,
and must know how to bring out these elements.
There is a tendency with some teachers to magnify
the importance of auxiliary studies and minimize
the importance of essentials. This course is wrong,
and must lead to erroneous results.

PLAYING TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC

The virtuoso must have some far greater motive

than that of playing for gain. He has a mission,

and that mission is to educate the public. It is quite

as necessary for the sincere student in the home

ESSENTIALS OP ARTISTIC PLAYENG 217

to carry on this educational work. For this reason
it is to his advantage to direct his efforts toward
pieces which he feels will be of musical educational
advantage to his friends. In this he must use judg-
ment and not overstep their intelligence too far.
With the virtuoso it is somewhat different. He ex-
pects, and even demands, from his audience a certain
grade of musical taste, a certain degree of musical
education. Otherwise he would work in vain. If
the public would enjoy the greatest in music they must
hear good music until these beauties become evident.
It would be useless for the virtuoso to attempt a
concert tour in the heart of Africa. The virtuoso
is expected to give his best, and he should not be
criticized by audiences that have not the mental
capacity to appreciate his work. The virtuosos look
to the students of the world to do their share in the
education of the great musical public. Do not waste
your time with music that is trite or ignoble. Life
is too short to spend it wandering in the barren Saharas
of musical trash.

THE VITAL SPARK

In all good pianoforte playing there is a vital spark
that seems to make each interpretation of a master-
piece a living thing. It exists only for the moment,
and cannot be explained. For instance, two pianists
of equal technical ability may play the same composi-
tion. With one the playing is dull, lifeless and sapless,
with the other there is something that is indescribably

2l8 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

wonderful. His playing seems fairly to quiver with
life. It commands interest and inspires the audience.
What is this vital spark that brings life to mere notes?
In one way it may be called the intense artistic interest
of the player. It is that astonishing thing known as
inspiration.

When the composition was originally written the
composer was unquestionably inspired; when the
performer finds the same joy that the composer found
at the moment the composition came into existence,
then something new and different enters his playing.
It seems to be stimulated and invigorated in a manner
altogether marvelous. The audience realizes this
instantly, and will even sometimes forgive technical
imperfections if the performance is inspired. Rubin-
stein was technically marvelous, and yet he admitted
making mistakes. Nevertheless, for every possible
mistake he may have made, he gave, in return, ideas
and musical tone pictures that would have made up for
a million mistakes. When Rubinstein was over-
exact his playing lost something of its wonderful
charm. I remember that upon one occasion he was
playing Balakireff's Islamei at a concert. Something
distracted his attention and he apparently forgot the
composition entirely; but he kept on improvising in
the style of the piece, and after about four minutes the
remainder of the composition came back to him and he
played it to the end correctly. This annoyed him
greatly and he played the next number upon the pro-
gram with the greatest exactness, but, strange to say,

ESSENTIALS OF ARTISTIC PLAYING 2IQ

it lost the wonderful charm of the interpretation of
the piece in which his memory had failed him. Rubin-
stein was really incomparable, even more so perhaps
because he was full of human impulse and his playing
very far removed from mechanical perfection.

While, of course, the student must play the notes,
and all of the notes, in the manner and in the time
in which the composer intended that they should be
played, his efforts should by no means stop with notes.
Every individual note in a composition is important,
but there is something quite as important as the notes,
and that is the soul. After all, the vital spark is
the soul. The soul is the source of that higher ex-
pression in music which cannot be represented in
dynamic marks. The soul feels the need for the
crescendos and diminuendos intuitively. The mere
matter of the duration of a pause upon a note depends
upon its significance, and the soul of the artist dic-
tates to him just how long such a pause should be held.
If the student resorts to mechanical rules and depends
upon them absolutely, his playing will be soulless.

Fine playing requires much deep thought away
from the keyboard. The student should not feel
that when the notes have been pkyed his task is
done. It is, in fact, only begun. He must make the
piece a part of himself. Every note must awaken in
him a kind of musical consciousness of his real artistic
mission.

\

\ '
\

A. REISENAUER

ALFRED REISENAUER

BIOGRAPHICAL

AlfredReisenauerwasbornat Konigsberg, Germany,
Nov. ist, 1863. He was a pupil of his mother, Louis
Kohler, and Franz Liszt. His dbut as a pianist was
made in Rome, in 1881, at the palace of Cardinal
Hohenlohe. After a concert tour in Germany and a
visit to England he studied Law for one year at the
Leipsic University. Not finding this altogether to
his liking he resumed his concert work and commenced
a long series of tours which included all the nooks and
corners of the world where one might find a musical
public. He was an accomplished linguist, speaking
many languages very fluently. His work as a com-
poser was not significant but in certain branches of
pianoforte playing he rose to exceptional heights.
He died October 3ist, 1907.

321

XVII

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING

ALFRED REISENAUER

"I CAN never thani my mother enough for the
splendid start she gave me in my early musical life.
She was a wonderful woman and a veritable genius
as a teacher. See, I have here today on my piano
a copy of the Schumann Sonata in F sharp minor
which she herself used and which she played with a
feeling I have never heard equaled. There is one
thing in particular for which I am everlastingly grate-
ful to her. Before I was taught anything of notes or
of the piano keyboard, she took me aside one day and
explained in the simple and beautiful tongue which
only a mother employs in talking to her child, the
wonderful natural relationships of tones used in mak-
ing music. Whether this was an inspiration, an
intuition, or a carefully thought out plan for my
benefit, I cannot tell, but my mother put into practice
what I have since come to consider the most important
and yet the most neglected step in the education of
the child. The fault lies in the fact that most teachers
at the start do not teach music, rather musical notation
and the peculiarities of the instrument,

Nothing could possibly be more stultifying to the
musical instinct of the child. For instance, the plan

generally pursued is to let the child grope over the

222

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 223

white keys of the piano keyboard and play exercises
in the scale of C, until he begins to feel that the whole
musical world lies in the scale of C, with the scales of
F and G as the frontiers. The keys of F sharp, B, D
flat and others are looked upon as tremendously
difficult and the child mind reasons with its own pecu-
liar logic that these keys being so much less used, must,
of course be less important. The black keys upon
the keyboard are a 'terra incognita.' Consequently
at the very start the child has a radically incorrect
view of what music really is.

"Before notation existed, before keyboards were
invented, people sang, Before a child knows any-
thing of notation or a keyboard, it sings. It is fol-
lowing its natural, musical instinct. Notation and
keyboards are simply symbols of music cages in
which the beautiful bird is caught. They are not
music any more than the alphabet is literature.
Unfortunately, our system of musical symbols and
the keyboard itself are very complex. For the young
child it is as difficult as are Calculus and Algebra for
his older brother. As a matter of fact, the keys of F
sharp, B, and D flat major, etc,, are only difficult
because fate has made them so. It would have served
the musical purpose just as well if the pitch of the
instruments employed had been adjusted so that what
is now F sharp, would be the key of C major. That,
however, would not have simplified matters and we
have to receive our long established musical notation
until we can exchange it for a better one,

224 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

"At a very early age, I was taken, to Franz Liszt
by my mother. Liszt immediately perceived my
natural talent and strongly advised my mother to
continue my musical work. At the same time he said
'As a child I was exposed to criticism as a Wunder-
kind (prodigy), through the ignorance of my parents,
long before I was properly prepared to meet the in-
evitable consequences of public appearance. This
did incalculable damage to me. Let your child be
spared such a fate. My own experience was disas-
trous. Do not let your son appear in public until he is
a mature artist/

"My first teacher, Louis Kohler, was an artist and a
great artist, but he was an artist-teacher rather than
an artist-pianist. Compared with many of his con-
temporaries his playing suffered immensely, but he
made an art of teaching as few other men have done.
He did not play for his pupils to any extent, nor did
he ask them to imitate him in any way. His playing
was usually confined to general illustrations and sug-
gestions. By these means the individuality of his
pupils was preserved and permitted to develop, so
that while the pupil always had an excellent idea of
the authoritative traditions governing the interpreta-
tion of a certain piece, there was nothing that sug-
gested the stilted or wooden performance of the brain-
less mimic. He taught his pupils to think. He was
an indefatigable student and thinker himself. He
had what many teachers would have considered pecu-
liar ideas upon technic.

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 225

KOELER'S TECHNICAL SCHEME
"While he invented many little means whereby
technical difficulties could be more readily overcome
than by the existing plan he could not be called in any
way radical. He believed in carrying the technical
side of a pupil's education up to a certain point along
more or less conventional lines. When the pupil
reached that point he found that he was upon a
veritable height of mechanical supremacy. There-
after Kohler depended upon the technical difficulties
presented in the literature of the instrument to con-
tinue the technical efficiency acquired. In other
words, the acquisition of a technic was solely to enable
the pupil to explore the world of music equipped in
such a way that he was not to be overcome by any-
thing. The everlasting continuance of technical
exercises was looked upon by Kohler as a ridiculous
waste of time and a great injury.

"I also hold this opinion. Let us suppose that I
were to sit at the piano for six or seven hours and do
nothing but play conventional finger exercises. What
happens to my soul, psychologically considered,
during those hours spent upon exercises which no man
or woman could possibly find anything other than an
irritation? Do not the same exercises occur in thou-
sands of pieces but in such connection that the mind
is interested? Is it necessary for the advanced
pianist to punish himself with a kind of mental and

physical penance more, trying, perhaps, than the de-
is

226 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

vices of the medieval ascetics or the oriental priests
of to-day? No, technic is the Juggernaut which has
ground to pieces more musicians than one can imagine.
It produces a stiff, wooden touch and has a tendency
to induce the pianist to believe that the art of piano-
forte playing depends upon the continuance of tech-
nical exercises whereas the acquisition of technical
ability should be regarded as the beginning and not
the end. When pupils leave your schools you say
that they are having a f Commencement. ' The
acquisition of a technic is only the commencement,
unfortunately too many consider it the end. This
may perhaps be the reason why our conservatories
turn out so many bright and proficient young people
who in a few years are buried in oblivion.

WITH LISZT

"When I had reached a certain grade of advance-
ment it was my great fortune to become associated
with the immortal Franz Liszt. I consider Liszt the
greatest man I have ever met. By this I mean that
I have never met, in any other walk of life, a man
with the mental grasp, splendid disposition and
glorious genius. This may seem a somewhat extrava-
gant statement. I have met many, many great men,
rulers, jurists, authors, scientists, teachers, merchants
and warriors, but never have I met a man in any posi-
tion whom I have not thought would have proved the
inferior of Franz Liszt, had Liszt chosen to follow
the career of the man in question. Liszt's personality

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 227

can only be expressed by one word, 'colossal.' He had
the most generous nature of any man I have ever met.
He had aspirations to become a great composer,
greater than his own measure of his work as a composer
had revealed to him. The dire position of Wagner
presented itself. He abandoned his own ambitions
ambitions higher than those he ever held toward piano
virtuosity abandoned them completely to champion
the difficult cause of the great Wagner. What Liszt
suffered to make this sacrifice, the world does not
know. But no finer example of moral heroism can
be imagined. His conversations with me upon the
subject were so intimate that I do not care to reveal
one word.

LISZT'S PEDAGOGICAL METHODS
His generosity and personal force in his work with
the young artists he assisted are hard to describe.
You ask me whether he had a certain method. I
reply, he abhorred methods in the modern sense of the
term. His work was eclectic in the highest sense. In
one way he could not be considered a teacher at all.
He charged no fees and had irregular and somewhat
unsystematic classes. In another sense he was the
greatest of teachers. Sit at the piano and I will in-
dicate the general plan pursued by Liszt at a lesson.
Reisenauer is a remarkable and witty mimic of
people he desires to describe. The present writer sat
at the piano and played at some length through several
short compositions, eventually coming to the inevit-

228

GBEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

able "Chopin Valse, Op. 69, No. i, in A fiat major."
In the meanwhile, Reisenauer had gone to another
room and, after listening patiently, returned, imi-
tating the walk, facial expression and the peculiar
guttural snort characteristic of Liszt in his later years.
Then followed a long " kindly sermon " upon the
emotional possibilities of the composition. This was
interrupted with snorts and went with kaleidoscopic
rapidity from French to German and back again
many, many times. Imitating Liszt he said,

" First of all we must arrive at the very essence of
the thing; the germ that Chopin chose to have grow
and blossom in his soul. It is, roughly considered, this :

Chopin's next thought was, no doubt:

But with his unerring good taste and sense of
symmetry he writes it so:

Now consider the thing in studying it and while play-
ing it from the composer's attitude. By this I mean

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 229

that during the mental process of conception, before
the actual transference of the thought to paper, the
thought itself is in a nebulous condition. The com-
poser sees it in a thousand lights before he actually
determines upon the exact form he desires to per-
petuate. For instance, this theme might have gone
through Chopin's mind much after this fashion:

"The main idea being to reach the embryo of
Chopin's thought and by artistic insight divine the
connotation of that thought, as nearly as possible in
the light of the treatment Chopin has given it.

" It is not so much the performer's duty to play mere
notes and dynamic marks, as it is for him to make an
artistic estimate of the composer's intention and to
feel that during the period of reproduction he simu-
lates the natural psychological conditions which af-
fected the composer during the actual process of
composition, In this way the composition becomes
a living entity a tangible resurrection of the soul of
the great Chopin. Without such penetrative genius
a pianist is no more than a mere machine and with it
he may develop into an artist of the highest type."

230 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

A UNIQUE ATTITUDE

Reisenauer's attitude toward the piano is unique
and interesting* Musicians are generally understood
to have an affectionate regard for their instruments,
almost paternal. Not so with Reisenauer. He even
goes so far as to make this statement: "I have
aways been drawn to the piano by a peculiar charm I
have never been able to explain to myself. I feel that
I must play, play, play, play, play. It has become a
second nature to me. I have played so much and so
long that the piano has become a part of me. Yet I
am never free from the feeling that it is a constant
battle with the instrument, and even with my techni-
cal resources I am not able to express all the beauties
I hear in the music. While music is my very life, I
nevertheless hate the piano. I play because I can't
help playing and because there is no other instrument
which can come as near imitating the melodies and the
harmonies of the music I feel People say wherever
I go, 'Ah, he is a master/ What absurdity! I the
master? Why, there is the master (pointing to the
piano), I am only the slave."

THE FUTURE OF PIANOFORTE Music
An interesting question that frequently arises in
musical circles relates to the future possibilities of
the art of composition in its connection with the piano-
forte. Not a few have some considerable apprehen-
sion regarding the possible dearth of new melodic

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 231

material and the technical and artistic treatment
of such material. "I do not think that there need be
any fear of a lack of original melodic material or
original methods of treating such material. The
possibilities of the art of musical composition have by
no means been exhausted. While I feel that in a
certain sense, very difficult to illustrate with words, one
great 'school' of composition for the pianoforte ended
with Liszt and the other in Brahms, nevertheless I
can but prophesy the arising of many new and wonder-
ful schools in the future. I base my prophecy upon
the premises of frequent similar conditions during the
history of musical art.

"Nevertheless, it is yet my ambition to give a
lengthy series of recitals, with programs arranged to
give a chronological aspect of all the great master-
pieces in music, I hope to be enabled to do this
before I retire. It is part of a plan to circle the world
in a manner that has not yet been done." When
asked whether these programs were to resemble
Rubinstein's famous historical recitals in London,
years ago, he replied: "They will be more extensive
than the Rubinstein recitals. The times make such
a series possible now, which Rubinstein would have
hesitated to give."

As to American composers, Reisenauer is so thor-
oughly and enthusiastically won over by Mac-
Dowell that he has not given the other composers
sufficient attention to warrant a critical opinion. I
found upon questioning that he had made a genuinely

332 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

sincere effort to find new material in America, but he
said that outside of MacDowell, he found nothing but
indifferently good salon-music. With the works of
several American composers he was, however, un-
familiar. He has done little or nothing himself as a
composer and declared that it was not his forte.

AMERICAN MUSICAL TASTE
"I find that American musical taste is In many
ways astonishing. Many musicians who came to
America prior to the time of Thomas and Dam-
rosch returned to Europe with what were, no doubt,
true stories of the musical conditions in America at
that time. These stories were given wide circulation
in Europe, and it is difficult for Europeans to under-
stand the cultured condition of the American people
at the present time. America can never thank Dr.
Leopold Damrosch and Theodore Thomas enough for
their unceasing labors. Thanks to the impetus that
they gave the movement, it is now possible to play
programs in almost any American city that are in no
sense different from those one is expected to give in
great European capitals. The status of musical edu-
cation in the leading American cities is surprisingly
high. Of course the commercial element necessarily
affects it to a certain extent; but in many cases this
is not as injurious as might be imagined. The future
of music in America seems very roseate to me and I
can look back to my American concert tours with
great pleasure.

SYSTEMATIC MUSICAL TRAINING 233

CONCERT CONDITIONS IN AMERICA
"One of the great difficulties, however, in concert
touring in America is the matter of enormous dis-
tances. I often think that American audiences rarely
hear great pianists at their best. Considering the
large amounts of money involved in a successful
American tour and the business enterprise which
must be extremely forceful to make such a tour
possible, it is not to be wondered that enormous
journeys must be made in ridiculously short time.
No one can imagine what this means to even a man
of my build." (Reisenauer is a wonderfully strong
and powerful man.) "I have been obliged to play
in one Western city one night and in an Eastern city
the following night. Hundreds of miles lay between
them, In the latter city I was obliged to go directly
from the railroad depot to the stage of the concert
hall, hungry, tired, travel worn and without practice
opportunities. How can a man be at his best under
such conditions? yet certain conditions make these
things unavoidable in America, and the pianist must
suffer occasional criticism for not playing uniformly
well. In Europe such conditions do not exist owing
to the closely populated districts. I am glad to have
the opportunity to make this statement, as no doubt
a very great many Americans fail to realize under
what distressing conditions an artist is often obliged
to play in America, "

234 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OP PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XV

ALFRED REISENAUER

1. What should be the first step in the musical
education of the child?

2. Why was Kohler so successful as a teacher?

3. Did Liszt follow a method in teaching or was
his work eclectic?

4. Give Liszt's conception of how Chopin de-
veloped one of his Valses,

5. Have the possibilities of the art of musical
composition been exhausted?

6. Are other great schools of pianoforte playing
likely to arise?

7. What was Reisenauer's opinion of the works of
MacDowell?

8. What may be said of musical taste in America
when Reisenauer was touring this country.

9. What may be said of the status of American
musical education?

10. What great difficulties do the virtuosos visiting
America encounter?

EMIL SAUER

BIOGRAPHICAL

Emil Sauer was born in Hamburg, Germany,
October 8, 1862. His first teacher was Ms mother,
who was a fine musician, and who took exceptional
pains with her talented son. From 1879 to ^Si he
studied with Nicholas Rubinstein, brother of the
famous Anton Rubinstein. Nicholas Rubinstein was
declared by many to be a far abler teacher than his
brother, who eclipsed him upon the concert platform.
From 1884 to 1885 Sauer studied with Franz Liszt.
In his autobiographical work, "My Life," Sauer
relates that Liszt at that time had reached an age
when much of his reputed brilliance had disappeared,
and the playing of the great Master of Weimar did
not startle Sauer as it did some others. However,
Liszt took a great personal interest in Sauer and pro-
phesied a great future for him.

In 1882 Sauer made his first tour as a virtuoso, and
met with such favor that numerous tours of the
music-loving countries ensued. The critics praised
his playing particularly for his great clarity, sanity,
symmetrical appreciation of form, and unaffected
fervor. For a time Sauer was at the head of the
Meisterschule of Piano-playing, connected with the
Imperial Conservatory in Vienna.

(The following conference was conducted in
German and English,)

335

xvm

THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO

EMIL SAUER

ONE of the most inestimable advantages I have
ever had was my good fortune in having a musical
mother. It is to her that I owe my whole career
as an artist. If it had not been for her loving care
and her patient persistence I might have been en-
gaged in some entirely different pursuit. As a child
I was very indifferent to music. I abhorred practice,
and, in fact, showed no signs of pronounced talent
until my twelfth year. But she kept faithfully
pegging away at me and insisted that because my
grandfather had been a noted artist and because
she was devoted to music it must be in my blood.

My mother was a pupil of Deppe, of whom Miss
Amy Fay has written in her book " Music Study in
Germany." Deppe was a remarkable pedagogue
and had excellent ideas upon the foundation of a
rational system of touch. He sought the most
natural position of the hand and always aimed to
work along the line of least resistance. My mother
instilled Deppe's ideas into me together with a very
comprehensive training in the standard etudes and
classics within my youthful technical grasp. For
those years I could not have had a better teacher.
Lucky is the child, who like Gounod, Reisenauer and

236

**.

EMIL SAUZR

THE TRAINING OP THE VIRTUOSO 237

others, has had the invaluable instruction that a
patient, self-sacrificing mother can give. The mother
is the most unselfish of all teachers, and is painstaking
to a fault.

SLOW SYSTEMATIC PRACTICE
She insisted upon slow systematic regular prac-
tice. She knew the importance of regularity, and
one of the first things I ever learned was that if
I missed one or two days' practice, I could not hope
to make it up by practicing overtime on the following
days. Practice days missed or skipped are gone for-
ever. One must make a fresh start and the loss is
sometimes not recovered for several days.

I was also made to realize the necessity of fresh-
ness at the practice period. The pupil who wants
to make his practice lead to results must feel well
while practicing. Practicing while tired, either men-
tally or physically, is wasted practice.

Pupils must learn to concentrate, and if they have
not lie ability to do this naturally they should have
a master who will teach them how. It is not easy
to fix the mind upon one thing and at the same time
drive every other thought away. With some young
pupils this takes much practice. Some never ac-
quire it it is not in them. Concentration is the
vertebrae of musical success. The student who can-
not concentrate had better abandon musical study.
In fact, the young person who cannot concentrate
is not likely to be a conspicuous success in any line

238 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

of activity. The study of music cultivates the
pupil's powers of concentration perhaps more than
any other study. The notes to be played must be
recognized instantaneously and correctly performed.
In music the mind has no time to wander. This is
one of the reasons why music is so valuable even
for those who do not ever contemplate a professional
career.

One hour of concentrated practice with the mind
fresh and the body rested is better than four hours
of dissipated practice with the mind stale and the
body tired. With a fatigued intellect the fingers
simply dawdle over the keys and nothing is accomp-
lished, I find in my own daily practice that it is
best for me to practice two hours in the morning
and then two hours later in the day. When I am
finished with two hours of hard study I am exhausted
from close concentration, I have also noted that any
time over this period is wasted. I am too fatigued
for the practice to be of any benefit to me.

THE NECESSITY FOR A GOOD GENERAL EDUCATION
Parents make a great mistake in not insuring the
general education of the child who is destined to
become a concert performer. I can imagine nothing
more stultifying or more likely to result in artistic
disaster than the course that some parents take
in neglecting the child's school work with an idea
that if he is to become a professional musician he
need only devote himself to music. This one-sided

TEE TRAINING OP THE VIRTUOSO 239

cultivation should be reserved for idiots who can
do nothing else. The child-wonder is often the victim

of some mental disturbance,

j.

I remember once seeing a remarkable child mathe-
matician in Hungary. He was only twelve years of
age and yet the most complicated mathematical
problems were solved in a few seconds without re-
course to paper. The child had water on the brain
and lived but a few years. His usefulness to the world
of mathematics was limited solely to show purposes.
It is precisely the same with the so-called musical
precocities. They are rarely successful in after life,
and unless trained by some very wise and careful
teacher, they soon become objects for pity*

The child who is designed to become a concert
pianist should have the broadest possible culture.
He must live in the world of art and letters and
become a naturalized citizen. The wider the range
of his information, experience and sympathies, the
larger will be the audience he will reach when he
comes to talk to them from the concert platform.
It is the same as with a public speaker. No one
wants to hear a speaker who has led a narrow, crabbed
intellectual existence, but the man who has seen and
known the world, who has become acquainted with
the great masterpieces of art and the wonderful
achievements of science, has little difficulty in secur-
ing an audience providing he has mastered the means
of expressing his ideas.

240 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

CLEAN PLAYING vs. SLOVENLY PLAYING
In the matter of technical preparation there is,
perhaps, too little attention being given to-day to
the necessity for clean playing. Of course, each
individual requires a different treatment. The pupil
who has a tendency to play with stiffness and rigidity
may be given studies which will develop a more fluent
style. For these pupils' studies, like those of Heller,
are desirable in the cases of students with only moder-
ate technical ability, while the splendid "etudes"
of Chopin are excellent remedies for advanced pupils
with tendencies toward hard, rigid playing. The
difficulty one ordinarily meets, however, is ragged,
slovenly playing rather than stiff, rigid playing. To
remedy this slovenliness, there is nothing like the
well-known works of Czerny, Cramer or dementi.
I have frequently told pupils in my " Meisterschule"
in Vienna, before I abandoned teaching for my work
as a concert pianist, that they must learn to draw
before they learn to paint. They will persist in try-
ing to apply colors before they learn the art of making
correct designs. This leads to dismal failure in al-
most every case. Technic first then interpretation.
The great concert-going public has no use for a player
with a dirty, slovenly technic no matter how much he
strives to make morbidly sentimental interpretations
that are expected to reach the lovers of sensation.
For such players a conscientious and exacting study
of Czerny, Cramer, dementi and others of similar

THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO 241

design is good musical soap and water. It washes
them into respectability and technical decency.
The pianist with a bungling, slovenly technic, who
at the same time attempts to perform the great
masterpieces, reminds me of those persons who at-
tempt to disguise the necessity for soap and water
with nauseating perfume*

HEALTH A VITAL FACTOR

Few people realize what a vital factor health is
to the concert pianist. The student should never
fail to think of this. Many young Americans who go
abroad to study break down upon the very vehicle
upon which they must depend in their ride to success
through the indiscretions of overwork or wrong
living. The concert pianist really lives a life of pri-
vation. I always make it a point to restrict myself
to certain hygienic rules on the day before a concert,
I have a certain diet and a certain amount of exercise
and sleep, without which I cannot play successfully.

In America one is overcome with the kindness of
well-meaning people who insist upon late suppers,
receptions, etc. It is hard to refuse kindness of this
description, but I have always felt that my debt to my
audiences was a matter of prime importance, and while
on tour I refrain from social pleasures of all kinds.
My mind and my body must be right or failure will
surely result.

I have often had people say to me after the per-
formance of some particularly brilliant number "Ah!

242 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

You must have taken a bottle of champagne to give
a performance like that." Nothing could be further
from the truth. A half a bottle of beer would ruin
a recital for me* The habit of taking alcoholic
drinks with the idea that they lead to a more fiery
performance is a dangerous custom that has been
the ruin of more than one pianist. The performer
who would be at his best must live a very careful,
almost abstemious life. Any unnatural excess is
sure to mar his playing and lead to his downfall with
the public. I have seen this done over and over again,
and have watched alcohol tear down in a few years
what had taken decades of hard practice and earnest
study to build up.

JUDICIOUS USE or TECHNICAL EXERCISES
The field of music is so enormous that I have
often thought that the teacher should be very care-
ful not to overdo the matter of giving technical ex-
ercises. Technical exercises are, at best, short cuts.
They are necessary for the student. He should have
a variety of them, and not be kept incessantly pound-
ing away at one or two exercises. As Nicholas
Rubinstein once said to me, "Scales should never be
dry. If you are not interested in them work with
them until you become interested in them. " They
should be played with accents and in different rhythms.
If they are given in the shapeless manner in which
some teachers obliged their unfortunate pupils to
practice them they are worthless. I do not believe

THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO 243

in working out technical exercises at a table or with a
dumb piano. The brain must always work with the
fingers, and without the sound of the piano the ima.giTi.a-
tion must be enormously stretched to get anything
more than the most senseless, toneless, soulless touch.

Technic with many is unmistakably a gift. I say
this after having given the matter much careful
thought. It is like the gift of speech. Some people
are fluent talkers, precisely as some people can do
more in two hours' technical work at the keyboard
than others could accomplish with four. Of course,
much can be accomplished with persistent practice,
and a latent gift may be awakened, but it is certainly
not given to all to become able technicalists. Again
some become very proficient from the technical stand-
point, but are barren, soulless, uninspired and vapid
when it comes to the artistic and musicianly inter-
pretation of a piece.

There comes a time to every advanced pianist
when such exercises as the scales, arpeggios, the studies
of Czerny and Cramer are unnecessary. I have not
practiced them for some years, but pray do not
t.b'nk that I attempt to go without exercises. These
exercises I make by selecting difficult parts of famous
pieces and practicing them over and over. I find
the concertos of Hummel particularly valuable in
this connection, and there are parts of some of the
Beethoven concertos that make splendid musical
exercises that I can practice without the fatal dimi-
nution of interest which makes a technical exercise
valueless*

244 GSEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

STUDY ABROAD

In the matter of foreign study I think that I may
speak without bias, as I am engaged in teaching and
am not likely to resume for some years, I am absolutely
convinced that there are many teachers in America
who are as good as the best in Europe. Neverthe-
less, I would advise the young American to secure
the best instruction possible in his native land, and
then to go abroad for a further course. It will serve
to broaden him in many ways.

I believe in patriotism, and I admire the man who
sticks to his fatherland. But, in art there is no such
thing as patriotism. As the conservatory of Paris
provides, through the "Prix de Rome," for a three
years' residence in Italy and other countries for the
most promising pupil, so the young American music
students should avail themselves of the advantages of
Old World civilization, art, and music. There is
much to be learned from the hustle and vigorous
wholesome growth of your own country that would
be of decided advantage to the German students who
could afford a term of residence here. It is narrowing
to think that one should avoid the Old World art
centers from the standpoint of American patriotism.

VERSATILITY

Few people recognize the multifarious require-
ments of the concert pianist. He must adjust him-
self to all sorts of halls, pianos and living conditions.

THE TRAINING OP THE VIRTUOSO 245

The difference between one piano and another is
often very remarkable. It sometimes obliges the
artist to readjust his technical methods very materi-
ally. Again, the difference in halls is noteworthy.
In a great hall, like the Albert Hall of London, one
can only strive for very broad effects. It is not pos-
sible for one to attempt the delicate shadings which
the smaller halls demand. Much is lost in the great
hall, and it is often unjust to determine the pianist's
ability by his exclusively bravura performances in
very large auditoriums.

CULTIVATING FINGER STRENGTH
The concert pianist must have great endurance.
His fiuagers must be as strong as steel, and yet they
must be as elastic and as supple as willow wands.
I have always had great faith in the "Kleine Pischna"
and the "Pischna Exercises" in cultivating strength.
These exercises are now world famous, and it would
be hard for me to imagine anything better for this
particular purpose. They are somewhat voluminous,
but necessarily so. One conspicuous difficulty with
which teachers have to contend is that pupils attempt
pieces requiring great digital strength without ever
having gone through such a course as I advocate
above. The result is that they have all sorts of troub-
les with their hands through strain. Some of these
troubles are irremediable, others are curable, but cause
annoying delays. I have never had anything of this
sort and attribute my immunity from weeping sinews,

246 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

etc., to correct hand positions, a loose wrist and slow
systematic work in my youth.

VELOCITY

Velocity depends more upon natural elasticity than
strength. Some people seem to be born with the
ability to play rapidly. It is always a matter of the
fingers, but is more a matter of the brain. Some
people have the ability to think very rapidly, and
when these people have good supple hands they seem
to be able to play rapidly with comparatively little
study. When you fail to get velocity at first, do not
hesitate to lay the piece aside for several weeks,
months or years. Then you will doubtless find that
the matter of velocity will not trouble you. Too
much study upon a piece that fails for the time being
to respond to earnest effort is often a bad thing,
Be a little patient. It will all come out right in the
end. If you fuss and fume for immediate results
you may be sadly disappointed.

TALENT

Talent is great and immutable. Take the case of
Liszt, for instance. I recently heard from a reliable
source the following interesting story: One day
Liszt was called away from his class at Wiemar by
an invitation to visit the Grand Duke. Von Bttlow,
then a mature artist, was present, and he was asked
by Liszt to teach the class for the day. Liszt left
the room, and a young student was asked to play

THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO 247

one of Liszt's own compositions. Von Billow did
not Eke the youth's interpretation, as he had been
accustomed to play the same work on tour in a very
different manner. Consequently he abused the stu-
dent roundly, and then sat at the keyboard and was
playing to his great satisfaction when the tottering
old master broke in the room and with equal severity
reprimanded Von Billow, and sat down at the key-
boaid and gave an interpretation that was infinitely
superior to that of Von Billow. It was simply a case
of superiority of talent that enabled the aged and
somewhat infirm Liszt to excel his younger contem-
porary.

BE NATURAL

In closing, let me enjoin all young American music
students to strive for naturalness. Avoid ostenta-
tious movements in your playing. Let your playing
be as quiet as possible. The wrist should be loose.
The hands, to my mind, should be neither high nor
low, but should be in line with the forearm. One
should continually strive for quietness. Nothing
should be forced. Ease in playing is always admir-
able, and comes in time to all talented students who
seek it. The Deppe method of hand position, while
pedantic and unnecessarily long, is interesting and
instructive.

Personally, I advocate the use of the Etudes of
Chopin, Moscheles and the Etudes Transcendante to
all advanced pupils. I have used them with pupils

248 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

with invariable success. I have also a series of thir-
teen Etudes of my own that I have made for the
express purpose of affording pupils material for
work which is not adequately covered in the usual
course.

Young Americans have a great future before them.
The pupils I have had have invariably been ones
who progress with astonishing rapidity. They show
keenness and good taste, and are willing to work
faithfully and conscientiously, and that, after all,
is the true road to success.

TALENT COUNTS

If you think that talent does not count you are
very greatly mistaken. We not infrequently see
men who have been engaged in one occupation with
only very moderate success suddenly leap into fame
in an entirely different line. Men who have struggled
to be great artists or illustrators like du Maurier
astonish the world with a previously concealed liter-
ary ability. It is foolish not to recognize the part
that talent must play in the careers of artists. Some-
times hard work and patient persistence will stimu-
late the mind and soul, and reveal talents that were
never supposed to exist, but if the talent does not
exist it is as hopeless to hunt for it as it is to seek for
diamonds in a bowl of porridge.

Talented people seem to be born with the knack
or ability to do certain things twice as well and twice
as quickly as other people can do the same things.

THE TRAINING OF THE VIRTUOSO 249

I well remember that when all Europe was wild
over the "Diabolo" craze my little girl commenced to
play with the sticks and the little spool. It looked
interesting and I thought that I would try it a few
times and then show her how to do it. The more I
tried the more exasperated I became. I simply
could not make it go, and before I knew it I had wasted
a whole morning upon it. My little daughter took
it up and in a few minutes' practice she was able to do
it as well as an expert. It is precisely the same at the
keyboard. What takes some pupils hours to accom-
plish others can do in a few seconds with apparently
less effort. The age of the pupil seems to have little
to do with musical comprehension. What does
count is talent, that peculiar qualification which seems
to lead the student to see through complex problems
as if he had been solving them through different
generations for centuries.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XV

EMTL SAUER

1. Can missed practice periods ever be made up?

2. Does piano study cultivate concentration?

3. What is a good arrangement of practice hours?

4. What are some remedies for slovenly playing?

5. How is one's playing affected by health?

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

6. Are stimulants good or bad?

7. Is listening important in pianoforte playing?

8. How may finger strength be cultivated?

9. Upon what does velocity depend?

10. What part does talent play in the artist's suc-
cess?

'

y

v,

X. SCHAR\VENKA

XAVER SCHARWENKA

BIOGRAPHICAL

Franz Xaver Scharwenka was born at Samter,
Posen (poUsh Prussia), January 6, 1850, He was a
pupil of Kulkk and Wiirst at Kullak's Academy in
Berlin, from which he graduated in 1868. Shortly
thereafter he was appointed a teacher in the same
institution. The next year he made his d6but as a
virtuoso at the Singakademie. For many years
thereafter he gave regular concerts in Berlin in con-
nection with Sauret and Griinfield. In 1874 he
gave up bis position in the famous Berlin music
school and commenced the career of the touring
virtuoso. In 1880 he founded the Scharwenka
Conservatory in Berlin together with his brother
Philipp Scharwenka, an able composer.

In 1891 Scharwenka came to New York to establish
a conservatory there. This, however, was closed in
1898 when Scharwenka returned to Berlin as Direc-
tor of the Klindworth-Scharwenka conservatory.
He has been the recipient of numerous honors from the
governments of Austria and Germany. He received
the title of "Professor" from the King of Prussia
(Emperor Wilhehn II) and that of Court Pianist
from the emperor of Austria.

His many concert tours in America and in Europe
have established his fame as a pianist of great intel-
lectual strength as well as strong poetical force.
His compositions, including his four Concertos, have
been widely played, and his opera, Mataswntha, has
received important productions, One of his earlier
works, the Polish Dance, has been enormously popular
for a quarter of a century.

(The following conference was conducted in Ger-
man and English.)

251

XIX
ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY

XAVER SCHARWENKA

IT is somewhat of a question whether any time
spent in music study is actually wasted, since all
intellectual activity is necessarily accompanied by an
intellectual advance. However, it soon becomes ap-
parent to the young teacher that results can be
achieved with a great economy of time if the right
methods are used. By the use of the words "right
methods" I do not mean to infer that only one right
method exists. The right method for one pupil might
be quite different from that which would bring about
the best results with another pupil. In these days
far more elasticity of methods exists than was generally
sanctioned in the past, and the greatness of the teacher
consists very largely of his ability to invent, adapt,
and adjust his pedagogical means to the special
requirements of his pupil Thus it happens that the
teacher, by selecting only those exercises, etudes and
teaching pieces demanded by the obvious needs of
the pupil, and by eliminating unnecessary material,
a much more rapid rate of advancement may be
obtained. One pupil, for instance, might lack those
qualities of velocity and dexterity which many of the
etudes of Czerny develop in such an admirable manner,
while another pupil might be deficient in the singing

252

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 253

tone, which is almost invariably improved by the

study of certain Chopin etudes.

TIME LOST IN EARLY STUDY
Although my educational work for many years has
been almost exclusively limited to pupils preparing
for careers as teachers and as concert pianists, I
nevertheless have naturally taken a great interest
in those broad and significant problems which un-
derlie the elementary training of the young music
student, I have written quite extensively upon the
subject, and my ideas have been quite definitely
expressed in my book, Methodik des Klavierspiels:
Systematische Darstettung der technischen und cesthet-
ischen Erfordernisse fur einen rationelkn Lehrgang.
I have also come in close contact with this branch of
musical work in the Klindworth-Scharwenka Con-
servatory in Berlin.

My observations have led to the firm conviction
that much of the time lost in music study could be
saved if the elementary training of the pupil were
made more comprehensive and more secure. It is
by no means an economy of time to hurry over the
foundation work of the pupil. It is also by no means
an economy of money to place the beginner in the
hands of a second-rate teacher. There is just as
much need for the specialist to train the pupil at
the start as there is for the head of the "meister-
schule" to guide the budding virtuoso. How can
we expect the pupil to make rapid progress if the

254 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

start is not right? One might as well expect a
broken-down automobile to win a race. The equip-
ment at the beginning must be of the kind which will
carry the pupil through his entire career with success.
If any omissions occur, they must be made up later
on, and the difficulty in repairing this neglect is twice
as great as it would have been had the student received
the proper instruction at the start.

EAR-TRAINING

The training of the ear is of great importance, and
if teachers would only make sure that their pupils
studied music with their sense of hearing as well as
with their fingers, much time would be saved in
later work. Young pupils should be taught to
listen by permitting them to hear good music, which
is at the same time sufficiently simple to insure
comprehension. Early musical education is alto-
gether too one-sided. The child is taken to the
piano and a peculiar set of hieroglyphics known as
notation is displayed to him. He is given a few
weeks to comprehend that these signs refer to certain
keys on the keyboard. He commences to push down
these keys faithfully and patiently and his musical
education is thus launched in what many consider
the approved manner. Nothing is said about the
meaning of the piece, its rhythm, its harmonies, its
aesthetic beauties. Nothing is told of the composer,
or of the period in which the piece was written. It
would be just about as sensible to teach a pupil

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 255

to repeat the sounds of the Chinese language by
reading the Chinese word-signs, but without com-
prehending the meaning of the sounds and signs.
Is it any wonder that beginners lose interest in their
work, and refuse to practise except when compelled
to do so?

I am most emphatically in favor of a more rational,
a more broad, and a more thorough training of the
beginner. Time taken from that ordinarily given to
the senseless, brainless working up and down of
the fingers at the keyboard, and devoted to those
studies such as harmony, musical history, form, and
in fact, any study which will tend to widen the pupil's
knowledge and increase his interest, will save much
time in later work,

WASTE IN TECHNICAL STUDY
Geometrically speaking, the shortest distance be-
tween two points is a straight line. Teachers should
make every possible effort to find the straight line
of technic which will carry the pupil from his first
steps to technical proficiency without wandering
about through endless lanes and avenues which lead
to no particular end. I suppose that all American
teachers hear the same complaint that is heard by
all European teachers when any attempt is made to
insist upon thorough practice and adequate study
from the dikttante. As soon as the teacher demands
certain indispensable technical studies, certain nec-
essary investigations of the harmonic, aesthetic or

556 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

historical problems, which contribute so much to
the excellence of pianistic interpretations, he hears
the following complaint: "I don't want to be a com-
poser" or "I don't want to be a virtuoso I only
want to play just a little for my own amusement."
The teacher knows and appreciates the pupil's attitude
exactly, and while he realizes that his reasoning is
altogether fatuous, it seems well-nigh impossible to
explain to the amateur that unless he does his work
right he will get very little real pleasure or amusement
out of it.

The whole sum and substance of the matter is that
a certain amount of technical, theoretical and his-
torical knowledge must be acquired to make the
musician, before we can make a player. There is
the distinction. Teachers should never fail to re-
member that their first consideration should be to make
a musician. All unmusical playing is insufferable.
No amount of technical study will make a musician,
and all technical study which simply aims to make the
fingers go faster, or play complicated rhythms, is
wasted unless there is the foundation and culture
of the real musician behind it.

To the sincere student every piece presents tech-
nical problems peculiar to itself. The main objec-
tion to all technical study is that unless the pupil
is vitally interested the work becomes monotonous.
The student should constantly strive to avoid mo-
notony in practicing exercises. As soon as the exer-
cises become dull and uninteresting their value im-

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 257

mediately depreciates. The only way to avoid this
is to seek variety. As I have said in my Methodik
des Klaverspiels: "The musical and tonal monotony
of technical exercises may be lessened in a measure
by progressive modulations, by various rhythmical
alterations, and further through frequent changes
in contrary motion." Great stress should be laid
upon practice in contrary motion. The reason for
this is obvious to all students of harmony. When
playing in contrary motion all unevenness, all breaks
in precision and all unbalanced conditions of touch
become much more evident to the ear than if the same
exercises were played in parallel motion. Another
important reason for the helpfulness of playing in
contrary motion is not to be undervalued. It is
that a kind of physical ' sympathy' is developed be-
tween the fingers and the nerves which operate them
in the corresponding hands. For instance, it is much
easier to play with the fifth finger of one hand and
the fifth finger of the other hand than it is to play
with the third finger of one hand and the fifth finger
of another."

WASTE IN UNIMPORTANT SUBJECTS
There is a general impression among teachers to-
day that much time might be saved by a more care-
ful selection of studies, and by a better adaptation
of the studies to particular pupils. For instance,
Carl Czerny wrote over one thousand opus numbers.
He wrote some of the most valuable studies ever

17

258 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

written, but no one would think of demanding a
pupil to play all of the Czerny studies, any more than
the student should be compelled to play everything
that Loeschhorn, Cramer and dementi ever wrote.
Studies must be selected with great care and adapted
to particular cases, and if the young teacher feels
himself incapable of doing this, he should either use
selections or collections of studies edited by able
authorities or he should place himself under the
advice of some mature and experienced teacher until
the right experience has been obtained. It would
not be a bad plan to demand that all young teachers
be apprenticed to an older teacher until the right
amount of experience has been obtained* The com-
pletion of a course in music does not imply that the
student is able to teach. Teaching and the matter
of musical proficiency are two very different things,
Many conservatories now conduct classes for teachers,
which are excellent in their way. In the olden days
a mechanic had to work side by side with his master
before he was considered proficient to do his work by
himself. How much more important is it that our
educators should be competently trained. They do
not have to deal with machinery, but they do have to
deal with the most wonderful of all machines the
human brain,

Some studies in use by teachers are undeserving
of their popularity, according to my way of thinking.
Some studies are altogether trivial and quite dispen-
sable. I have never held any particular fondness for

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 259

Heller for instance. His studies are tuneful, but they
seem to me, in many cases, weak imitations of the
style of some masters such as Schumann, Mendelssohn,
etc., who may be studied with more profit. I believe
that the studies of Loeschhorn possess great pedagogi-
cal value. Loeschhorn was a born teacher: he knew
how to collect and present technical difficulties in a
manner designed to be of real assistance to the student.
The studies of Kullak are also extremely fine.

This is a subject which is far more significant
than it may at first appear. Whatever the student
may choose to study after he leaves the teacher, his
work while under the teacher's direction should be
focused upon just those pieces which will be of most
value to him. The teacher should see that the course
he prescribes is unified. There should be no waste
material. Some teachers are inclined to teach pieces
of a worthless order to gain the fickle interest of some
pupils. They feel that it is better to teach an oper-
atic arrangement, no matter how superficial, and re-
tain the interest of the pupil, than to insist upon what
they know is really best for the pupil, and run the
risk of having the pupil go to ( another teacher less con-
scientious about making compromises of this sort.
When the teacher has come to a position where he is
obliged to permit the pupil to select his own pieces
or dictate the kind of pieces he is to be taught in order
to retain his interest, the teacher will find that he has
very little influence over the pupil. Pupils who insist
upon mapping out their own careers are always stumb-

260 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ling-blocks. It is far better to make it very clear to the
pupil in the first place that interference of this kind
is never desirable, and that unless the pupil has
implicit confidence in the teacher's judgment it is
better to discontinue.

BRAIN TECHNIC VERSUS FINGER TECHNICS
Few pupils realize that hours and hours are wasted
at the piano keyboard doing those things which we
are already able to do, and in the quest of something
which we already possess, When we come to think
of it, every one is born with a kind of finger dexterity.
Any one can move the fingers up and down with great
rapidity; no study of the pianoforte keyboard is
necessary to do this. The savage in the African
wilds is gifted with that kind of dexterity, although
he may never have seen a pianoforte. Then why
spend hours in practicing at the keyboard with the
view of doing something we can already do? It
may come as a surprise to many when I make the
statement that they already possess a kind of dexter-
ity and velocity which they may not suspect. One
does not have to work for years to make the fingers go
up and down quickly. It is also a fact that a few
lessons under a really good teacher and a few tickets
for high-class piano recitals will often give the feeling
and "knack" of producing a good touch, for which
many strive in vain for years at the keyboard.

No, the technic which takes time is the technic
of the brain, which directs the fingers to the right

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 261

place at the right time. This may be made the
greatest source of musical economy. If you want
to save time in your music study see that you compre-
hend your musical problems thoroughly. You must
see it right in your mind, you must hear it right, you
must feel it right. Before you place your fingers on
the keyboard you should have formed your ideal
mental conception of the proper rhythm, the proper
tonal quality, the aesthetic values and the harmonic
content. These things can only be perfectly compre-
hended after study. They do not come from strum-
ming at the keyboard. This, after all, is the greatest
possible means for saving time in music study.

A great deal might be said upon the subject of
the teacher's part in saving time. The good teacher
is a keen critic. His experience and his innate ability
enable him to diagnose faults just as a trained medical
specialist can determine the cause of a disease with
accuracy and rapidity. Much depends upon the diag-
nosis. It is no saving to go to a doctor who diagnoses
your case as one of rheumatism and treats you for
rheumatic pains, whereas you are really suffering
from neurasthenia. In a similar manner, an unskilled
and incompetent teacher may waste much treasured
time in treating you for technical and musical deficien-
cies entirely different from those which you really
suffer. Great care should be taken in selecting a
teacher for with the wrong teacher not only time is
wasted, but talent, energy, and sometimes that jewel
in the crown of success "ambition."

262 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

A CASE IN POINT

An illustration of one means of wasting time is
well indicated in the case of some pedagogs who
hold to old ideas in piano-playing simply because
they are old. I believe in conservatism, but at the
same time I am opposed to conservatism which
excludes all progressiveness. The world is con-
tinually advancing, and we are continually finding
out new things as well as determining which of the
older methods will prove the best in the long run.
All musical Europe has been upset during the last
quarter of the century over the vital subject of
whether the pressure touch is better than the angular
blow touch* There was a time in the past when an
apparent effort was made to mate everything per-
taining to pianoforte technic as stiff and inelastic as
possible. The fingers were trained to hop up and down
like little hammers the arm was held stiff and hard
at the side. In fact, it was not uncommon for some
teachers to put a book under the armpit and insist
upon their pupils holding it there by pressing against
the body during the practice period.

H. Ehrlich, who in his day was a widely recognized
authority, wrote a pamphlet to accompany his edition
of the Tausig technical studies in which this system
is very dearly outlined. He asserts that Tausig
insisted upon it. To-day we witness a great revolution,
The arms are held freely and rigidity of all kind is
avoided. It was found that the entire system of

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 263

touch was under a more delicate and sensitive control
when the pressure touch was employed than when the
mechanical "hitting" touch was used. It was also
found that much of the time spent in developing the
hitting touch along mechanical lines was wasted, since
superior results could be achieved in a shorter time
by means of pressing and "kneading" the keys,
rather than delivering blows to them. The pressure
touch seems to me very much freer and I am em-
phatically in favor of it. The older method pro-
duced cramped unmusical playing and the pupil was
so restricted that he reminded one for all the world
of the new-fangled skirts ("hobble-skirts") which
seem to give our ladies of fashion so much difficulty
just now.

The American pupils who have come to Germany
to study with me have been for the most part ex-
ceedingly well trained. In America there are in-
numerable excellent teachers. The American pupil
is almost always very industrious. His chief point
of vantage is his ability to concentrate* He does
not dissipate his time or thought. In some instances
he can only remain in Europe for two years some-
times less. He quite naturally feels that a great deal
must be done in those two years, and consequently
he works at white heat. This is not a disadvantage,
for his mental powers are intensified and he is faithful
to his labor,

The young women of America are for the most part
very self-reliant. This is also very much to their

264 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

advantage. As a rule, they know how to take care
of themselves, and yet they have the courage to
venture and ask questions when questions should be
asked. My residence in America has brought me
many good friends, and it is a pleasure to note the
great advance made in every way since my last visit
here. I am particularly anxious to have some of my
later compositions become better known in America,
as I have great faith in the musical future of the
country. I wish that they might become familiar
with such works as my Fourth Concerto. I should
deeply regret to think that Americans would judge
my work as a composer by my "Polish Dance" and
some other lighter compositions which are obviously
inferior to my other works.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XVH
XAVER SCHARWENKA

1. Is any time spent in music study really wasted?

2. How may the pupil's elementary work be made
more secure?

3. State the importance of ear-training.

4. What additional musical studies should be
included in the work of the pupil?

5. What should be the teacher's first considera-
tion?

ECONOMY IN MUSIC STUDY 265

6. Why must monotony be avoided in technical
study?

7. State the value of practice in contrary motion.

8. May time be wasted with unprofitable studies?

9. What is the difference between brain technic
and finger technic?

10, State how a revolution in methods of touch has
come about

ERNEST SCHELLING

BIOGRAPHICAL

Ernest Schelling was born at Belvidere, New Jer-
sey, 1875. His first musical training was received
from bis father. At the age of four and one-
half years he made his d6but at the Phikdelphia
Academy of Music. At the age of seven he entered
the Paris Conservatoire, with the famous Chopin
pupil, Georges Mathias, as his teacher. He re-
mained with Mathias for two years. However, he
commenced giving concerts which took him to France,
England, and Austria when he was only eight years old.
At ten he was taken to Stuttgart and placed under the
educational guidance of Pruckner and the American
teacher, Percy Gotschius, who attained wide fame
abroad. Shortly thereafter he was placed for a short
time under the instruction of Leschetizky, but this
was interrupted by tours through Russia and other
countries. At twelve he was taken to Basle, Switzer-
land, and Hans Huber undertook to continue his already
much varied training. Here his general education
received the attention which had been much neglected.
At fifteen he went to study with Earth in Berlin, but
the strain of his previous work was so great that at
seventeen he was attacked with neuritis and abandoned
the career of a virtuoso. An accidental meeting
with Paderewski led to an arrangement whereby
Paderewski became his teacher for three years during
which time Paderewski had no other pupils. Since
then Schelling has made numerous tours at home and
abroad.

206

ERNEST SCHELLING

XX

LEARNING A NEW PIECE

ERNEST SCHELLING

PRELIMINARY STUDY

IN studying a new musical composition experience
has revealed to me that the student can save much
time and get a better general idea of the composition
by reading it over several times before going to the
instrument. While this is difficult for very young
pupils to do before they have become accustomed to
mentally interpreting the notes into sounds without
the assistance of the instrument, it is, nevertheless, of
advantage from the very start. It saves the pupil
from much unprofitable blundering. To take a piece
right to the keyboard without any preliminary con-
sideration may perhaps be good practice for those who
would cultivate ready sight reading, but it should be
remembered that even the most apt sight readers will
usually take the precaution of looking a new piece
through at least once to place themselves on guard
for the more difficult or more complicated passages.
By forming the habit of reading away from the piano
the pupil soon becomes able to hear the music without
making the sounds at the keyboard and this leads to a
mental conception of the piece as a whole, which
invariably produces surprisingly good results.

267

268 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

THE TECHNICAL DEMANDS OF THE PIECE
"The next consideration should be the execution
of the right notes. A careless prima-vista reading
often leads the pupil to play notes quite different
from those actually in the piece. It is astonishing
how often some pupils are deceived in this matter.
Until you have insured absolute accuracy in the mat-
ter of the notes you are not in condition to regard
the other details. The failure to repeat an accidental
chromatic alteration in the same bar, the neglect of a
tie, or an enharmonic interval with a tie are all common
faults which mark careless performances. After the
piece has been read as a whole and you have deter-
mined upon the notes so that there is no opportunity
for inaccuracy from that source you will find that the
best way to proceed is to take a very small passage
and study that passage first. For the inexperienced
student I should suggest two measures or a phrase of
similar length. Do not leave these two measures
until you are convinced that you have mastered them.
This will take a great amount of concentration.
Many pupils fail because they underestimate the
amount of concentration required. They expect re-
sults to come without effort and are invariably dis-
appointed. After the first two measures have been
mastered take the next two measures and learn these
thoroughly. Then go back and learn measures two
and three so that there may be no possibility of a
break or interruption between them. Next proceed

LEARNING A NEW PIECE 269

in the same way with the following four measures and
do not stop until you have completed the piece.

This kind of study may take more time than the
methods to which you have become accustomed, but
it is by all means the most thorough and the most
satisfactory. I found it indispensable in the prepara-
tion of pieces for public performances* It demands
the closest kind of study, and this leads to artistic
results and a higher perception of the musical values
of the composition being studied. Take for instance
the C Major Fantasie of Schumann, one of the most
beautiful and yet one of the most difficult of all
compositions to interpret properly. At first the whole
work seems disunited, and if studied carelessly the
necessary unity which should mark this work can
never be secured* But, if studied with minute re-
gard for details after the manner in which I have
suggested the whole composition becomes wonder-
fully compact and every part Is linked to the other
parts so that a beautiful unity must result.

FORMAL DIVISIONS

"Many works have formal divisions, such as those
of the sonata, the suite, etc. Even the Liszt 'Rhapso-
dies' have movements of marked differences in tempo
and style. Here the secret is to study each division in
its relation to the whole. There must be an internal
harmony between all the parts. Otherwise the inter-
pretation will mar the great masterpiece. The dif-
ficulty is to find the bearing of one movement upon

270 CHEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

another. Even the themes of subjects of the conven-
tional sonata have a definite interrelation. How to
interpret these themes and yet at the same time pro-
duce contrast and unity is difficult. It is this differ-
ence of interpretation that adds charm to the piano
recitals of different virtuosos. There is no one right
way and no one best way, but rather an indefinite
margin for personal opinion and the exhibition of
artistic taste. If there was one best way, there are
now machines which could record that way and there
the whole matter would end. But we want to hear
all the ways and consequently we go to the recitals
of different pianists. How can I express more em-
phatically the necessity for the pianist being a man of
culture, artistic sensibilities and of creative tendencies?
The student must be taught to think about his inter-
pretations and if this point is missed and he is per-
mitted to give conventional, uninspired performances
he need never hope to play artistically,

THE TOUCH REQUIRED

"In studying a new piece, as soon as the style of
the piece has been determined and the accuracy of
the notes secured, the pupil should consider the
all-important matter to touch. He should have been
previously instructed in the principles of the dif-
ferent kinds of touch used in pianoforte playing. I
am a firm believer in associating the appropriate
kind of touch with the passage studied from the very
beginning. If the passage calls for a staccato touch

LEARNING A NEW PIECE 271

do not waste your time as many do by practicing it
legato. Again, in a cantabile passage do not make
the mistake of using a touch that would produce the
wrong quality of tone. The wrists at all times
should be in the most supple possible condition.
There should never be any constraint at that point.
When I resumed my musical studies with Paderewski
after a lapse of several years he laid greatest emphasis
upon this point. I feel that the most valuable years
for the development of touch and tone are those
which bind the natural facility of the child hand with
the acquired agility of the adult, To my great mis-
fortune I was not able to practice between the ages
of twelve and eighteen. This was due to excessive
study and extensive concert tours as , a prodigy.
These wrecked my health and it was only by the
hardest kind of practice in after life that I was able
to regain the natural facility that had marked my
playing in childhood. In fact I owe everything to the
kind persistence and wonderful inspiration of M.
Paderewski.

THE RIGHT TEMPO

"The right tempo is a very important matter for
the student. First of all, he must be absolutely
positive that his time is correct. There is nothing
so barbarous in all piano-playing as a bad conception
of time. Even the inexperienced and unmusical
listener detects bad time. The student should con-
sider this matter one of greatest importance and de-

2>J2 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

mand perfect time from himself. With some students
this can only be cultivated after much painful effort.
The metronome is of assistance, as is counting, but
these are not enough. The pupil must create a
sense of time, he must have a sort of internal metro-
nome which he must feel throbbing within all the
time.

"Always begin your practice slowly and gradually
advance the tempo. The worst possible thing is to
start practicing too fast. It invariably leads to bad
results and to lengthy delays. The right tempo
will come with time and you must have patience
until you can develop it. In the matter of 'tempo
rubato' passages, which always invite disaster upon
the part of the student, the general idea is that the
right hand must be out of time with the left. This
is not always the case, as they sometimes play in
unison. The word simply implies 'robbing the time/
but it is robbed after the same manner in which one
'robs Peter to pay Paul/ that is, a ritard in one part of
the measure must be compensated for by an accelera-
tion in another part of the measure. If the right
hand is to play at variance with the left hand the latter
remains as a kind of anchor upon which the tempo
of the entire measure must depend. Chopin called
the left hand the chef tforchestre and a very good
appellation this is. Take, for instance, his B flat
minor Prelude, In the latter part of this wonderful
composition the regular rhythmic repetition in octaves

LEARNING A NEW PIECE 273

in the bass makes a rhythmic foundation which the
most erratic and nervous right hand cannot shake.

RHYTHMIC PECULIARITIES
"Rhythm is the basis of everything. Even the
silent mountain boulders are but the monuments of
some terrible rhythmic convulsion of the earth in
past ages. There is a rhythm in the humming bird
and there is a rhythm in the movements of a giant
locomotive. We are all rhythmic in our speech, our
walk, and in our life more or less. How important
then is the study of the rhythmic peculiarities of the
new piece. Every contributing accent which gives
motion and characteristic swing to the piece must be
carefully studied. It is rhythm which sways the
audience. Some performers are so gifted with the
ability to invest their interpretations with a rhythmic
charm that they seem to fairly invigorate their audi-
ences with the spirit of motion, I cannot conceive
of a really great artist without this sense of rhythm.

THE COMPOSER'S INSPIRATION
"Personally I believe in 'pure music/ that is music
in the field of pianoforte composition that is sufficient
unto itself and which does not require any of the
other arts to enhance its beauty. However, in the
cases of some of our modern composers who have
professedly drawn their musical inspiration from tales,
great pictures or from nature, I can see the desira-
bility of investigating these sources in order to come

18

274 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

closer to the composer's idea. Some of the works of
Debussy demand this. Let me play you his 'Night
in Granada,' for instance. The work is most subtle
and requires an appreciation of Oriental life, and is
indeed a kind of tonal dream picture of the old fortified
palace of Moorish Spain, I feel that in cases of this
kind it helps the performer to have in mind the com-
poser's conception and in playing this piece in public
I always follow this plan.

STUDYING THE PHRASING

"Each phrase in a piece requires separate study.
I believe that the student should leave nothing un-
done to learn how to phrase or rather to analyze a
piece so that all its constituent phrases become dear
to him. Each phrase must be studied with the same
deference to detail that the singer would give to an
individual phrase. This is by no means an easy
matter. More important still is the interrelation of
phrases. Every note in a work of musical art bears
a certain relation to every other note. So it is with
the phrases. Each phrase must be played with
reference to the work as a whole or more particularly
to the movement of which it is a part

MARKING THE FINGERING

"It seems hardly necessary to say anything about

the fingering when so much attention is being given

to the matter by the best teachers of the country,

but certainly one of the most essential considerations

LEARNING A NEW PIECE 275

in the study of a new piece is the study of the finger-
ing. A detailed study of this should be made and
it should be clearly understood that the fingering
should be adapted to fit the hand of the player. It
is by no means necessary to accept the fingering
given in the book as 'gospel 5 The wise student
will try many fingerings before deciding upon the
one that suits him best. Students who go to these
pains are the ones who invariably succeed. Those
who take anything that is presented to them with-
out considering its advisability rarely attain lofty
musical heights.

"When a fingering has once been determined upon
it should never be changed. To change a fingering
frequently means to waste many hours of practice.
This may be considered a mechanical method but
it is the method invariably employed by successful
artists. Why? Simply because one fingering closely
adhered to establishes finger habits which give
freedom and certainty and permits the player to
give more consideration to the other details of artistic
interpretation.

"I ofttimes find it expedient to adapt a more diffi-
cult fingering of some given passage for the reason
that the difficult fingering frequently leads to a
better interpretation of the composer's meaning. I
know of innumerable passages in the piano classics
which illustrate this point. Moreover a fingering
that seems difficult at first is often more simple than
the conventional or arbitrary fingering employed

276 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

by the student, after the student has given sufficient
time to the new fingering. The required accent often
obliges the performer to employ a different fingering.
The stronger fingers are naturally better adapted to
the stronger accents. Otherwise it is best to use a
similar fingering for similar passages.

MEMORIZING

"I should like to add a few words with regard to
committing pieces to memory. There are three
ways, i, By sight; that is, seeing the notes in your
mind's eye; 2, memorizing by 'ear/ the way which
comes to one most naturally; 3, memorizing by the
fingers, that is training the fingers to do their duty
no matter what happens. Before performing in
public the student should have memorized the com-
position in all of these ways. Only thus can he be
absolutely sure of himself. If one way fails him the
other method comes to his rescue.

"After careful attention has been given to the
various points of which I have spoken and the details
of the composition satisfactorily worked out the stu-
dent should practice with a view to learning the
piece as a whole. Nothing is so distressing to the
musician as a piece which does not seem to have
coherence and unity. It should be regarded aurally
as the artist regards his work visually. The painter
stands off at some distance to look at his work in
order to see whether all parts of his painting har-
monize, The pianist must do much the same thing.

LEARNING A NEW PIECE 277

He must listen to his work time and time again and
if it does not seem to Tiang together' he must unify
all the parts until he can give a real interpretation
instead of a collection of disjointed sections. This
demands grasp, insight and talent, three qualifica-
tions without which the pianist cannot hope for
large success. "

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XVm
ERNEST SCHELLING

1. What should be the preliminary study of a new
composition'?

2. How should the mechanical difficulties of the
piece be studied?

3. How may one find the bearing of one movement
upon another?

4. State the importance of deciding upon the
appropriate touch.

5. How may the right tempo be established?

6. What did Chopin call the left hand?

7. What is it in playing that sways the audience?

8. How should the fingering of a new piece be
studied?

9. Why is a more difficult fingering~sometimes pref-
erable?

10. Give a practical plan for memorizing.

SIGISMUND STOJOWSKI

BIOGRAPHICAL

Sigismund Stojowski was born at Strelce, Poland,
May 2, 1870. He studied piano with L. Zelenski at
Cracow and with Di6mer at the Paris Conserva-
toire. At the same institution he studied composi-
tion with L6o Delibes. His talent both as a com-
poser and as a pianist was considered extraordinary
at that time and he was successful in carrying off
two first prizes, one for piano and one for compo-
sition (1889). At that time Stojowski's great fellow
countryman, Paderewski, assumed the educational
supervision of his career and became his teacher in
person.

Stojowski's orchestral compositions attracted wide
attention in Paris and he met with pronounced suc-
cess as a virtuoso. Mr. Stojowski came to America
in 1906 and he entered immediately into the musical
life of the country, taking foremost rank as a composer,
pianist and teacher. Aside from his musical talent
he is a remarkable linguist and speaks many languages
fluently. His articles written in English, for instance,
are unusually graphic and expressive. Once when
complimented upon his linguistic ability he remarked
"We Poles are given the credit of being natural
linguists because we take the trouble to learn many
languages thoroughly in our youth." In 1913 Mr.
Stojowski made a highly successful tour abroad, his
compositions meeting with wide favor.

If

>r

S. STOJOWSKI

XXI
WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS

SIGISMUND STOJOWSKI

THE COMPOSER'S LIMITATIONS IN His MEANS

OF EXPRESSION

IT is difficult for some people who are not versed
in the intricate mysteries of the art of music to realize
how limited are the means afforded the composer for
communicating to the interpreter some slight indica-
tion of the ideal he had in mind when writing the com-
position. It may be said that, while every great com-
poser feels almost God-like at the moment of creation,
the merest fraction of the myriad beauties he has in
mind ever reach human ears. The very signs with
which the composer is provided to help Kim put his
thoughts down on paper are in themselves inade-
quate to serve as a means of recording more than a
shadow of his masterpiece as it was originally con-
ceived. Of course, we are speaking now in a large
sense we are imagining that the composer is a Beet-
hoven with an immortal message to convey to pos-
terity. Of all composers, Beethoven was perhaps
the one to employ the most perfect means of expres-
sion. His works represent a completeness, a poise
and a masterly finish which will serve as a model for
all time to come. It must also be noted that few com-

270

280 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

posers have employed more accurate marks of expres-
sionsuch as time marks, dynamic marks, etc.

In all these things Beethoven was obliged to adhere
to the conventions adopted by others for this purpose
of attempting to make the composer's meaning clearer
to other minds. These conventions, like all conven-
tions, are partly insufficient to convey the full idea
of the composer, and partly arbitrary, in that they do
not give the interpreter adequate latitude to introduce
his own ideas in expression. The student should
seek to break the veil of conventions provided by
notation and seek a clearer insight into the compo-
ser's individuality as expressed in his compositions.
From this point of view the so-called subjective inter-
pretation seems the only legitimate one. In fact,
the ones who pretend to be objective in the sense of
being literal and playing strictly according to the
marks of expression and admitting little elasticity
in the interpretation of these are also, as Rubinstein
pointed out, subjective at heart. This may be more
concisely expressed thus: Since all things of perma-
nent value in music have proceeded from a fervid
artistic imagination, they should be interpreted with
the continual employment of the performer's imagi-
nation.

On the other hand, the subjective method, right
as it is in principle, can become, of course, accord-
ing to the Italian saying, Traduttore, traditore
that is, an absolute treachery to the composer's ideal,
if the performer's understanding and execution of

WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS 281

the composition is not based upon long and careful
investigation of all the fundamental laws and asso-
ciated branches of musical study, which are designed
to give him a basis for forming his own opinions upon
the best method of interpreting the composition. In-
adequate training in this respect is the Chinese Wall
which surrounds the composer's hidden meaning. This
wall must be torn down, brick by brick, stone by
stone, in a manner which we would call " analytical
practice." It is the only way in which the student
may gain entrance to the sacred dty of the elect, to
whom the ideal of the composer has been revealed.

THE INTERPRETER MUST COOPERATE WITH THE
COMPOSER

In a certain sense the interpreter is a cooperator
with the composer, or, more definitely expressed,
he is the "continuer" along the line of the musical
thought and its adequate expression. Music, of all
arts, is the unfinished ait. When a great painting
is completed, time, and time only, will make the
changes in its surface. When the great masterpieces
left the brushes of Raphael, Rubens, Holbein, Cor-
reggio or Van Dyck they were finished works of art.
When Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Brahms put
their thoughts down upon paper they left a record
in ink and paper which must be born again every
time it is brought to the minds of men. This rebirth
is the very essence of all that is best in interpretative
skill. New life goes into the composition at the very

282 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

moment it passes through the soul of the master
performer. It is here that he should realize the great
truth that in music, more than in any other art, " the
letter kills and the spirit vivifies." The interpreter
must master the "letter" and seek to give "rebirth"
to the spirit. If he can do this he will attain the
greatest in interpretative ability.

From the literal or objective standpoint, then, an
insight is gained into the nature of the composer's
masterpiece, by close and careful study of the work
itself, by gaining a knowledge of the musical laws
underlying the structure and composition of a work
of its kind as well as the necessary keyboard technic
to give expression to the work, but the veil is torn
from the composer's hidden meaning, only becoming
intimate with Ms creative personality as a master,
by studying his life environments, by investigating
the historical background of the period in which he
worked, by learning of his joys and his sufferings, by
cultivating a deep and heartfelt sympathy for his
ideals and by the scrupulous and constant revision
of one's own ideals and conceptions of the standards
by which his masterpieces should be judged.

STUDYING THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
To exemplify what I mean, I could, for instance,
refer to Paderewski's interpretations of Liszt and
Chopin. During the time I was associated with the
master pianist as a pupil I had abundant opportuni-
ties to make notes upon the very individual, as well

WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS 283

as the highly artistically differentiated expressions of
his musical judgment. It was interesting to observe
that he played the Rhapsodies with various extensions
and modifications, the result of which is the glorifica-
tion of Liszt's own spirit. On the contrary, in order
to preserve Chopin's spirit, the master would always
repudiate any changes, like those of Tausig, for in-
stance; by which some virtuosos pretend to "empha-
size" or "modernize" Chopin's personal and perfect
pianism. Differences in treatment are the outcome
of deep insight as well as the study of the time and
conditions under which the work was produced.

The study of musical history reveals many very
significant things which have a direct bearing not only
upon the interpretation of the performer, but upon
the degree of appreciation with which the listener is
able to enjoy a musical work. It was for this reason
that I prefaced the first two recitals of my course of
historical recitals given at Mendelssohn Hall, New
York, during the past season, with a lecture upon the
historical conditions which surrounded the masters at
the time the compositions were composed.

THE INADEQUACY or MUSICAL SIGNS

I have already referred to the inadequacy of musi-
cal signs. Even the mechanical guide, the metronome,
is not always to be depended upon to give the exact
tempo the composer had in mind. Let me cite a little
instance from the biography of Ries, the friend of
Beethoven, Ries was preparing to conduct a per-

284 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

formance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony. He
requested Beethoven to make notes upon paper re-
garding the metronomic marks of speed at which the
composition should be played, The metronome at
that time was a comparatively new instrument.
Maelzel, its inventor (or, rather, its improver, since the
principle of the metronome was of Dutch origin), was
a friend of Beethoven. At times they were on the
best of terms, and at other times they were literally
"at swords' points/ 7 Nevertheless, Maelzel, who
had a strong personality, succeeded in inducing Bee-
thoven to put metronomic markings upon several of
his compositions. Naturally, the metronome was im-
mediately accorded an important place in the musical
world even at that day. Ries was consequently very
anxious to give the Choral Symphony according to
Beethoven's own ideas. Beethoven had complied
with the publisher's desire and sent a slip of paper
with the tempi marked metronomically. This slip
was lost. Eies wrote to Beethoven for a duplicate.
Beethoven sent another. Later the lost slip was found,
and, upon comparing it with the second slip, it was
found that Beethoven had made an entirely different
estimate of the tempi at which he desired the Sym-
phony to be played.

Even with the most elaborate and complete marks
of expression, such as those, for instance, employed
by Beethoven and by Wagner, the composer is con-
fronted with his great poverty of resources to pre-
sent his views to the mind of the interpreter. Ex-

WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS 285

tensive as some of the modern dictionaries of musical
terminology seem to be, they are wholly inadequate
from the standpoint of a complete vocabulary to give
full expression to the artist's imagination. It also
gives full scope to an infinite variety of error in the
matter of the shades or degrees of dynamic force at
which the conventional marks may be rendered.

One might venture to remark that composers are
the most keen, most conscious judges of their own
works, or, rather, of the garments which fit them
best. There is in all composition a divine part and
also a conscious part. The divine part is the in-
spiration. The conscious part has to do with dress-
ing the inspiration in its most appropriate harmonic,
polyphonic, and rhythmic garments. These gar-
ments are the raiment in which the inspiration will be
viewed by future generations. It is often by these
garments that they will be judged. If the garments
are awkward, inappropriate and ill-fitting, a beautiful
interpretation of the composer's ideal will be impos-
sible. Nevertheless, it is the performer's duty in each
case to try to see through even unbecoming garments
and divine the composer's thought, according to the
interpreter's best understanding.

LEARNING THE MUSICAL LANGUAGE

Where interpretation is concerned, one is too often

inclined to forget that while there is a higher part,

the secrets of which are accessible only to the elect,

there is also an elementary part which involves the

286 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

knowledge of musical grammar, and beyond that
the correct feeling of musical declamation since
music, after all, is a language which is at all times
perfectly teachable, and which should be most care-
fully and systematically taught. I consider the
book of Mathis Lussy, Rhythm and Musical Expres-
sion, of great value to the student in search of truths
pertaining to intelligent interpretation, Lussy was a
Swiss who was born in the early part of the last cen-
tury. He went to Paris to study medicine, but,
having had a musical training in the country of his
birth, he became a good pianoforte teacher and an
excellent writer upon musical subjects. While teach-
ing in a young ladies' school, he was confronted with
the great paucity of real knowledge of the rudiments
of expression, and he accordingly prepared a book
upon the subject which has since been translated into
several languages. This book is most helpful, and I
advocate its use frequently. It should be in the
hands of every conscientious piano student.

MISTAKES PECULIAR TO THE PIANOFORTE

PLAYER

The nature of the keyboard of the piano, and the
ease with which certain things are accomplished,
make it possible for the performer to make certain
errors which the construction of other instruments
would prevent. The pianist is, for instance, entirely
unlike the violinist, who has to locate his keyboard
every time he takes up his instrument, aad, more-

WHAT INTERPRETATION REALLY IS 287

over, locate it by a highly trained sense of position.
In a certain way I sometimes feel somewhat ashamed
for the pianist profession when I hear players, even
those with manifest technical proficiency, commit
flagrant mistakes against elementary rules of accen-
tuation and phrasing, such as, for instance, an average
violinist acquainted with good bowing is accordingly
prevented from making upon his instrument.

The means of discovering the composer's hidden
meaning are, in fact, so numerous that the con-
scientious interpreter must keep upon continuous voy-
ages of exploration. There are many easily recogni-
zable paths leading to the promised land one is the
path of harmony, without an understanding of which
the would-be performer can never reach his goal;
another is musical history; others are the studies of
phrasing, rhythm, accentuation, pedaling, etc., etc.,
ad infinitum. To fail to traverse any one of these
roads will result in endless exasperation. Find your
guide, press on without thinking of failure, and the
way to success may be found before you know it.

288 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OP PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XIX
SIGISMUND STOJOWSKI

1. What composer preserved the most perfect bal-
ance between artistic conception and expression?

2. How may the student break the veil of conven-
tions?

3. What fundamental laws should underlie inter-
pretation?

4. How may master works be born again?

5. Is one ever warranted in altering a masterpiece?

6. Tell of Beethoven's attitude toward the met-
ronome.

7. How may errors arise in the use of the terms of
expression?

8. How may one be helped in learning the musical
language?

9. State some mistakes peculiar to the pianoforte.
10, What voyages of exploration must the student

make?

'*':

*:

^ '* s

/

.&

IGNAZ JAN PADEREWSKI

IGNAZ JAN PADEREWSKI
BIOGRAPHICAL

Ignaz Jan Paderewski was born at Kurylowka, Podolia,
Poland, November 6, 1860. At the Warsaw Conservatory
he was a pupil of Raguski. His first concert tour occurred
when he was sixteen years of age. Three years later he
became a teacher at the Warsaw Conservatory. There-
after he went to Berlin where he studied under Urban
and Wuerst. He did not go to Leschetizky until he was
twenty-four years of age. For a short time he was a
professor at the Strasburg Conservatory at a very small
salary. He returned to Leschetizky, and shortly there-
after he commenced making public appearances. His suc-
cess was soon triumphant. In 1890 he made his first ap-
pearances in England, and became immensely popular. In
1891 he visited America, and has since made many tours
of the United States. His pianoforte playing has been
so frequently appraised by great critics that it is unneces-
sary to comment upon it here. By many he is regarded
as the greatest composer of his race with the exception of
Chopin. His many noteworthy compositions for the piano
are heard far too rarely from the keyboards of other vir-
tuosos. There is a charm and originality about his works
such as the Chants du Voyager, the Concerto in A Minor,
the Humoresques and the Toccata that command permanent
attention from the musical world. His^ opera Manru has
been given occasionally in Europe and in America. It is
a work of force and distinctiveness. His Symphony in B
Minor, first given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in
1909, is a work of large dimensions and fresh inspiration.
During the great war Paderewski gave enormously from
his wealth and income to stricken Poland. In 1900 Pa-
derewski gave by Deed of Trust a sum of $10,000 to es-
tablish a prize to be given every three years for the
best compositions submitted^by native Americans. Among'
those who have woa the prizes in the past have been H.
K. Hadley, H. W. Parker, Arthur Bird and Arthur
Shepherd,

289

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART

IGNAZ JAN PADEREWSKI
THE call for breadth in musical art has been
insistent since the earliest days of its history. Yet
one can not help being conscious of the fact that
the public in general is inclined to look upon all
art workers as idealists confined to a narrow road
very much apart from the broad pathway of life
itself. As a matter of fact, the art-worker never
approaches the great until he has placed himself in
communication with life in all its wonderful mani-
festations. Take, for instance, the case of the re-
markable Florentine painter Leonardo da Vinci.
The average reader would probably remember him
as the creator of the much discussed Mona Lisa,
but he was far more than a painter. He was an
architect, an engineer, a sculptor, a scientist, a
mechanician, and he even made excursions into the
art of music, to say nothing of that of aerial navi-
gation Da Vinci lived over four centuries ago,
and yet even in our own time, one now and then
finds well meaning individuals who fait to realize
that unless the artist has the element of breadth in
all his work, his productions must be, to say the
least, transient in value.

Again, we encounter the case of another great
Italian artist, Michelangelo, painter, sculptor, ar-

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART 2pl

chitect and poet Could the creator of so many
amazingly beautiful art works have been as great
had he not possessed the universal quality of mind
which must have compelled him to develop the
technic of expression in many different forms of
his art? This can not be attributed so much to a
kind of natural versatility as to his great breadth
of vision, his communion with life in many differ-
ent forms. The case of Richard Wagner is like-
wise one in which our attention is drawn to a re-
markable exhibition of breadth. In his earliest
works Wagner followed the traditions of the
Italian and French opera composers. Rienzi is
quite as spectacular in its m$e en scene as anything
that Meyerbeer ever wrote, but Wagner's broad
outlook upon life soon led him to reach out for
larger works. While it is frequently averred by
man-critics that Wagner's music is greatly superior
to his verse, we must nevertheless remember that
the music of one of his earlier operas was rejected
at the Paris opera and the libretto accepted for the
use of another composer. In Wagner one finds not
only the composer, but the poet and the creator
of immortal stage pictures.

Many of the great composers of the past have
been men of such pronounced musical breadth that
they could not have confined themselves to the
creative branches of their work Bach, Handel,
Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Mendelssohn, Brahms

292 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

and others took great pride in their public per-
formances. Indeed, in the early days of musical
art, when the literature of the piano, for instance,
was insignificant in comparison with its great pres-
ent wealth, the interpreter was in many cases identi-
cal with composer. Interest centered in him be-
cause of the fact that he was gifted with the crea-
tive faculty. Bach, indeed, was not only a masterly
organist but could play the violin and the clavichord
in a manner which attracted wide attention. Since
the time of Bach, however, the score of music has
increased so enormously that if one masters the
literature of one instrument he will have accom-
plished a great task. But he should not, however,
permit this accomplishment to obliterate everything
else in his life, as so many apparently think he must
do. If he possesses the mind of a creator he owes it
to himself and to society to develop that as well. He
must keep in touch with the great movements of his
time and of the past in art, science, history and
philosophy. The student who sacrifices these things
can never hope to climb to fame on a ladder of
technic,

SERIOUS INTEREST IN STUDY

The need for technic must, nevertheless, not be
underrated. Technic demands patient, painstaking,
persistent study. Art without technic is inverte-
brate, shapeless, characterless. You ask me

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART 293

whether the Poles, for instance, are a musical
people. I can only say that one constantly meets
in Poland young men and women with the most
exceptional musical talent but what is talent with-
out serious, earnest study leading to artistic and
technical perfection?

For more than one hundred years Poland has
been woefully restricted in its devlopment. With-
out national resources and with limited school
facilities little progress of a broad character has
been possible. In the conservatory at Warsaw, for
instance, we meet at once a decided difference be-
tween that institution and the great music schools
at Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the Russian
conservatories general educational work goes hand
in hand with music, and the result is that the stu-
dents receive a comprehensive course leading to
high culture. If the same studies were introduced
in the Warsaw schools, instruction would have to
be in the Russian language and the Polish opposi-
tion to this is so great that such a plan could only
meet with failure. One can but take pride in a
nation that has been divided for a century, yet still
maintains the integrity of its mother tongue.

As a consequence of the educational conditions in
Poland there has been in the past what might be
described as a lack of ambition to develop serious
works of art. The people strive to be light-hearted
and much of the music one hears in the home takes

294 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

its complexion from this spirit. However, there
has developed in Poland during the last twenty or
twenty-five years what many now regard as the
new Polish school of music. Much of this is due
to the efforts of that remarkable man Sigismund
Noszkowski.

Noszkowski was born in 1848. He was early
fired with an intense zeal to develop the melodic re-
souftes of his native land. For a time he studied
unde? Kiel and Raif at Berlin, but in the late
eighties he became a professor at the Warsaw Con-
servatory. His noble attitude toward his art may
be estimated from the fact that his efforts for a
time were confined to the invention of a system of
musical notation for the blind. His example soon
inspired many younger men to work at musical
creation and as a result we can point at the present
moment to distinguished younger composers with
really remarkable accomplishments as musicians.
Among the best known I may quote such names as
Szymanowski, Rozycki, Melcer. The composer
Fitelberg is frequently classed among the members
of the new Polish school, despite the fact that he
is properly of Russian-Jewish origin.

By the use of themes suggesting those of the folk
music of Poland, these younger men, all finely
equipped for their careers through exhaustive tech-
nical training, have produced new musical works
which must contribute much to the fame of Poland

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART 295

and to the pride of the Poles. This has been ac-
complished, it should be remembered, despite the
political and educational restrictions and notwith-
standing the fact that the scarcity of means for
promoting musical culture in Poland is almost lu-
dicrous. The conservatory, for instance, has a
subvention of only about four thousand dollars
a year.

BREADTH THROUGH PRACTICE
While there are many extremely gifted musicians
in Poland, the young people, like the young people
of many lands, are far too inclined to look upon
music as a pastime rather than as a serious study.
This does not mean that the student should elimi-
nate the joy or the pleasure from his work at the
keyboard, but he should rather find his true happi-
ness in labor of a more serious kind. In Poland
the general state of the musical development is not
very great, but this is not due to lack of talent In
fact the quantity of talent is in some cases surpris-
ingly high. This is particularly the case among
executive artists. They have rich imaginations and
great temporary zeal, but lack the inclination or
ability to regard music as a serious art worthy of a
great life struggle.

Students spend too much time in playing and too
little in work. It seems beyond the comprehension
of many that hour after hour may be thrown away

296 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

at the keyboard and little or nothing accomplished.
The very essence of success is, of course, practice.
But students who are gifted are very likely to be so
enchanted with a composition that they dream away
the priceless practice minutes without any more
definite purpose than that of amusing themselves.
It is human to crave pleasure and the more musical
the student the more that student is inclined to revel
in the musical beauties of a new work rather than
to devote the practice time to the more laborious but
vastly more productive process of real hard music
study.

Music STUDY Is WORK

This is often especially true of exercises, scales,
arpeggios, etc. Students with monstrous technical
shortcomings neglect all exercises with the sublime
conceit that they are different from other mortals
and can afford to do without them. They are quite
willing to attempt the most difficult things in the
piano repertoire. The highest peaks are nothing to
them. They will essay anything before they are
able to climb and the result is almost invariably
disastrous. Music study is work. Those who work
are the only ones in any art who ever win the great-
est rewards. What could be more obvious? Still
it is one of the greatest truths in all music study.
It is very delightful to sit at the keyboard and revel
in some great masterpiece, but when it comes to the

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART 297

systematic study of some exacting detail of finger-
ing, pedaling, phrasing, touch, dynamics: that is
work, and nothing but work. One can not be too
emphatic on this point,

PRACTICE THAT LEADS TO BREADTH
One is often importuned for suggestions to help
aspiring pianists in their practice. While one may
welcome an opportunity to help others in this par-
ticular, there is very little that can be said System
is perhaps the most essential thing in practice. I
do not mean a system that is so inelastic that it can
not be instantly adapted to changing needs, but I
do refer to the fact that the student who wishes
to progress regularly must have some system in his
daily work He must have some design, some
chart, some plan for his development. A bad plan
is better than no plan. In his daily practice, how-
ever, he should see to it that he does not narrow
himself. His plan should be a comprehensive one
and should embrace as many things as he can
possibly do superlatively well, and no more.

MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE HOME
Music in itself is one of the greatest forces for
developing breadth in the home. Far too many stu-
dents study music with the view to becoming great
virtuosi. Music should be studied for itself without
any great aim In view except in the cases of marvel-

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ously talented children. Again, many children
might be developed into teachers or composers who
would never make virtuosos. This should be very
carefully considered, Most of the students assume
that the career of the virtuoso is easier, more illus-
trious, and last but not least, more lucrative than
that of the composer. But is it not better to start
out to be a great composer or a great teacher and
become one, rather than to strive to be a virtuoso
and prove a fiasco?

The intellectual drill which the study of music
gives the child is of great educational value. There
is nothing which will take its place and it is for this
reason that many of the greatest educators have
advocated it so highly. In addition to this the ac-
tual study of music results in almost limitless grati-
fication in later life in the understanding of great
musical masterpieces.

I am very much impressed with the educational
value of the mechanical means for representing
music, such as the best piano players with the best
rolls and the sound-reproducing machines with the
best records. I know of one instance of a man who
possessed a high class player-piano. At first he re-
fused to have anything to do with music except
that of the most popular description, such as popu-
lar songs and light operas. Gradually his taste was
revolutionized and now he will not permit any
trashy music in his home. This was accomplished

BREADTH IN MUSICAL ART 299

in such a short time that I was astonished Natur-
ally such a man would want his children, or anyone
in whom he was interested, to attend the best con-
certs, the best operas and secure instruction in the
art of music. In other words, a person addicted to
very trivial music was won over to music of the
best description. His whole outlook upon the art
was changed and he was made a broader man in
this sense.

I can not but feel that these mechanical means
of reproducing music, in addition to carrying mas-
terpieces to thousands who might not otherwise be
able to become acquainted with them, will at the
same time develop a more widespread demand for
musical instruction, for the mysteries of the most
beautiful of arts will always have their fascination
as well as their educational benefits.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XX

IGNAZ JAN PADEREWSKI

1. How does the art worker approach the great
in his art?

2. Name seven master composers who were also
noted for their ability at the keyboard?

3. What instruments did Bach play?

300 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

4. How has the conservatory at Warsaw dif-
fered in the past from the leading conservatories of
Russia?

5. What is the essence of pianistic success?

6. What is one of the dangers of gifted
students ?

7. State the value of a plan in piano study*

8. What should be the principal aim of music in
the home?

9. Of what value as an Intellectual drill is
music?

10. Is there any subject that will take the place
of music in general educational work?

MME. YOLANDO MERO

YOLANDA MERO

BIOGRAPHICAL

Although Mme. Hero's first American tour was
as recent as 1910, she has already become one of
the best known of the artists touring America.
This is particularly noteworthy, as she came to this
country unsupported by the name of any famous
teacher to help her in gaining recognition with the
American public. She was not a pupil of Liszt
or of Leschetizky or Rubinstein, but of teachers
whose names are known to but very few Americans.
Unknown, she won upon her own merits, and her
position has constantly advanced by the same means,
Her career is an illustration of the fact that the
teacher with a great career is not necessary to the
student's success. Mme. Mero was born in Buda-
pest in 1887. Her first teacher was her father. At
six she entered the National Concervatory and re-
mained there for eight years. Her pianoforte
teacher was Augusta Rennebaum, a pupil of Liszt.
Mme. Mere has met with significant success in all
of the European music centres. Just at this time,
when the world is amazed at the wonderful effi-
ciency of the methods in all phases of activity in
the countries under Teutonic influence, the follow-
ing interview should prove very interesting indeed.

801

THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN MUSIC
STUDY

MME, YOLANDO M1ERO

COMPARATIVELY few American tourists visit
Budapest after the manner in which they go in
veritable droves to London, Berlin, Paris, Munich,
Venice and Nuremberg. The reason probably is
that the city is something over one hundred miles
further than Vienna, and American tourists are
fearful that they might not be so readily under-
stood. As a matter of fact Budapest is the most
hospitable of cities and the tourist has less difficulty
there in making himself understood than he does
in some of the western centres of culture in Europe.

Musically speaking, Budapest has the advantage
of the so-called German efficiency and the Hun-
garian Zal, or spirit which is eternally identified
with all phases of Magyar art. Part of the Hun-
garian capital reaches back to the middle ages, and
other parts are as modern, or if you please as "up-
to-date," as any American city. Education is re-
vered and the University has in the vicinity of five
thousand students. It is a city of very nearly one
million inhabitants and what an interesting city it
is with its cosmopolitan ancestry and its cosmo-
politan present. Life lacks little in variety and
color in the old city on the Danube. There people

302

THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN MUSIC STUDY 303

of all nations meet, The predominating spirit is
Hungarian, although there are thousands of Ger-
mans and Austrians in the city, as indeed there are
French and English and orientals, Please get out
of your head the idea that Hungarians are neces-
sarily gipsies. As a matter of fact the gipsy popu-
lation of Hungary is comparatively small. There
are, however, many influences from the Orient
which one cannot fail to note. As late as the time
of the birth of Bach, Budapest was under Turkish
control and was the seat of a Turkish Pasha. It is
desirable to review the character of Hungary in
order to understand the nature of Hungarian musi-
cal education. In no city of the world do exactly
the same conditions exist.

HUNGARY'S GREAT Music SCHOOLS
In Budapest there are two great musical institu-
tions both of which were founded by Franz Liszt.
One is the Royal Academy and the other is the
National Conservatory. Liszt's pupil, Count Zichy,
who in young manhood lost his right arm and then
startled the world with his wonderful left hand
playing, has been the artistic executor of Liszt in
these great undertakings in that he has given of his
time and energies in a most generous manner to
the National Conservatory of which he is the presi-
dent
While there are many private teachers in Buda-

304 GKEAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

pest, the government institutions set the standard
and all other teachers are obliged to live up to that
standard. The schools begin at the very beginning.
Every step is taken up and nothing is left out. The
pupil is not permitted to advance until the exam-
iners have become convinced that everything has
been comprehended. Women have played a very
interesting part in Hungarian musical education.
Lina Ramann, although born in Bavaria, devised a
system of training for the young which has influ-
enced Hungarian music teachers in that it de-
manded that little children should sing songs as a
part of their training, Lina Ramann was a pupil
of Liszt and was his biographer. It is under-
stood that she was advised by Liszt in many of the
reforms that she instituted. My own teacher, Mme.
Augusta Rennebaum, had the greatest regard for
her common sense ideas pointing to musical devel-
opment along artistic lines. Unfortunately her
valuable essays upon elementary musical training
have not been translated into English.

While the general line of musical instruction in
the Hungarian schools is not so very different from
that of the German schools, the pupils are charac-
terized by the enthusiastic Hungarian temperament
and the interest in the work is intense in the ex-
treme. There is constant rivalry among the pupils
even in such matters as technic or simple scale play-
ing- The pupils are kept at a white heat of interest

THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN MUSIC STUDY 30$

and competition is very severe. The concerts that
occur with great frequency are of immense help to
the student How is the student to gain his or-
chestral repertoire unless he has a chance to per-
form his concertos with orchestras? This oppor-
tunity the Budapest conservatories give in liberal
measure. When I went out into the professional
world I did not have merely a theoretical knowledge
of the actual work of the concert platform for I
had played the great works with the conservatory
orchestra, not an amateur orchestra stumbling
along with me as a hindrance but a finely drilled
body of players capable of taking the most difficult
music and doing it well. It is one thing to be able
to play the Liszt E flat major Concerto or the
Chopin F minor Concerto with a second piano
accompaniment and quite another thing to play
them with a full orchestra, There are great num-
bers of most excellent teachers in America includ-
ing some of the finest living masters, but the stu-
dent who aspires to play with the great orchestras
of the country (every touring virtuoso of the pre-
sent day must do that in addition to his solo play-
ing) should have practical drill with a real orches-
tra or run the chance of making a fiasco at the
first concert.

A FAULT IN AMERICAN MUSICAL TRAINING
One fault I would find with American musical

306 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

training, and that is that the pupils run after so
many different teachers. I saved years by sticking
to one good teacher, American music students
should cultivate more respect for their teachers and
teachers should be so thorough and so sincere that
they will command respect. A teacher is not a suit
of clothes that can be changed every day or every
half hour. The selection of a good teacher is a
serious problem but once you have found a good
one and find yourself progressing properly, don't
think of changing because someone suggests that
you might do better under another teacher. The
Hungarian musical students are spared such un-
fortunate changes because their musical training is
intelligently guided. The parents have respect for
the judgment of musicians of established reputa-
tion and do not as a rule attempt to interfere in
things about which they know little or nothing. I
have a feeling that many American parents of pu-
pils who could be put to shame musically by Hun-
garian parents of the same station meddle need-
lessly with the musical education of their children,
sending them from teacher to teacher until the child
has nothing but a muddled idea of what he is doing.
Why cannot Americans see fit to leave the direction
of the careers of their children to specialists?

In much the same manner Americans have been
sent in hordes to Europe for the benefits of the
efficient training in some centers only to find that

THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN MUSIC STUDY 307

they could have accomplished as much if they had
gone to the right teachers in America. Why send
pupils to Europe half-trained to have the thorough
European teachers laugh at them and gain a con-
temptuous idea of American musical training when
as a matter of fact the right teachers in America
would have given them quite as thorough a drilling
as they could have gotten in any European country.

THE LAND OF LISZT

It is natural that in the land of Liszt the piano
should be the most popular instrument. The in-
teresting cembalo that one sees in Hungarian bands
is comparatively rare, as the zither is rare in mod-
ern Germany. It is a national instrument, but the
most popular instrument of Hungary is unquestion-
ably the piano, with the violin as second. Pianists'
concerts in Budapest are attended with the same in-
terest with which the people of New York flock to
the opera. The student is of course influenced by
this. If one lives in a community where the piano
is respected only as a piece of machinery, as one
would respect a steam boiler or a threshing-ma-
chine, the interest in the instrument is not likely to
be very uplifting to the student. Liszt was, and
still is, one of the great national heroes 01 Hun-
gary, and Liszt was first and foremost a pianist.
In no country of the world has the piano a higher
station than it has in Hungary. The interest in

308 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

everything pianistic is serious and deep. The
pianist is somebody. This principle needs no ex-
planation. It is human to crave appreciation. No-
body is impelled to spend a lifetime in developing
something that will be rejected by the public. For
this reason the Hungarian music student, even
though he is at the same time a violinist, usually
plays the piano and plays it welL

GIPSY INFLUENCES

In Hungary the peasants still invent folk songs
for their own entertainment They have no idea
of ever doing anything more than amusing their
own circle of friends with the pretty tunes. Many
of the themes that are believed by the public to be
Gipsy themes are no more nor less than these Mag-
yar folk songs that have been appropriated by the
Gipsies and played by them as they roamed around
the country. The Hungarian themes have had a
great influence upon Hungarian music of the more
developed kind. Liszt was among the first to utilize
this material. But it is a great mistake to believe
that the themes are Gipsy in their origin. One
hears it said that modern Hungarian composers
such as Bartok and Kedaly, who are as advanced in
their methods as Debussy, have employed Gipsy
themes. They have been subject to Hungarian in-
fluences but their Gipsy influence is limited to the
exploitation of Hungarian themes by the roaming

THOROUGHNESS IN HUNGARIAN MUSIC STUDY 309

Gipsy players. This is a distinction which Hun-
garians are proud to make as they do not wish to
be classed as nomads any more than the Bohemians
wish to be thought the free and easy habitues of
the studio districts which the misuse of the name
Bohemian has given to them

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXI

MME. YOLANDO HERO

1. Who founded the leading musical institutions
of Hungary?

2. What famous Bavarian woman had much to
do with the development of music in Hungary?

3. State one of the advantages of public per-
formance in Hungarian conservatories?

4. What is one of the serious faults in American
musical education?

5. What is one of the dangers in sending Ameri-
can pupils to Europe?

6. How is the piano regarded in Hungary?

7. Have the Hungarian Folk Themes originated
in Gypsy music?

RUDOLF GANZ

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr. Rudolph Ganz has made repeated tours of
the United States, gaining continual favor every
year. He has the unique distinction of being one
of the few musicians of Swiss birth who have come
to renown in the United States. Mr. Ganz was
born in Zurich, February 24, 1877. His first
studies in music were received at the Zurich Con-
servatory under Robert Freund (piano) and Joh,
Hegar ('cello). He was then placed under the
instruction of his uncle, Carl Eschmann-Dumur, in
Lausanne. It was at this time that he made his
first appearance as a pianist, a 'cellist and organist
and as a composer. Then he went to Strasburg,
where he became the pupil of Fritz Blumer at the
local conservatory. Thereafter he went to Berlin
and studied a short time with Ferruccio Busoni.
His teachers in composition were Charles Blanchet
(at Lausanne) and Heinrich Urban (at Berlin).
In 1899 he appeared several times as a pianist with
the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and also directed
his own First Symphony. In 1900 he was called
to Chicago, where he remained for five years as a
teacher in a leading conservatory. Then he re-
turned to Europe with the view of giving more time
and attention to his concert work and to composi-
tion. He has produced many original works, in-
cluding a Konsertstiick for piano and orchestra,
numerous male choruses and many songs. He has
given particular attention on his concert programs

to the works of modern masters,
810

r..

RUDOLF GANZ

OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS IN
PIANOFORTE PLAYING

RUDOLF GANZ

CHANGING CONDITIONS IN PIANOFORTE PLAYING
THE tendency in modern pianoforte playing is to
bring about the best results with the least possible
effort. Twenty-five years ago it really seemed as
though the opposite were true. Then the virtuous
student was estimated by the huge amount of prac-
tice that was done. Whether that practice was
really aimed at any definite accomplishment seemed
to matter very little indeed. It was done like pen-
ance, and each repetition was supposed to expiate
some technical sin. The result was that with that
kind of practice and very arbitrary courses of study
the pupil was able to do a certain number of set
tasks and nothing else. There was not enough
musical or pianistic culture. The pupils were a
manufactured product and little else. Like all
fabricated contrivances, they were limited to one
set of operations and lacked independence. In this
manner these pupils could play certain set sonatas,
certain etudes and certain brilliant concert pieces,
but the moment they ventured beyond this limited
repertoire they were miserably lost. Indeed, the
training of some teachers and some schools was so

arbitrary that it was easily possible for an acute

an

312 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

observer to determine the identity of the teacher
by hearing a pupil play a given work. I know of
one teacher whose pupils play a certain Beethoven
sonata so much after the same fashion that one
might think that they had swallowed the same
piano-player roll, and that the perforations were
going through their automatic intellects with the
same mechanical precision that they would through
a piano-player. It seemed to be a case of making
pupils out of would-be-young-artists instead of
making young artists out of pupils, which is the new
idea of teaching.

For instance, the theme of the Rondo in the
Sonata Opus 53 of Beethoven is as follows:

No. I.

I have heard this Sonata played by innumerable
pupils of a great European teacher and they invari-
ably play it thus;

There is no aesthetic reason why the passage
should be altered, but that is not the main question
here, but rather to demonstrate the deadly uniform-

OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS 313

ity of set or forced interpretation. It is as though
a teacher of acting with a peculiar nasal whine
should insist upon the pupil imitating him in every
detail.

THE RIGHTFUL PRESCRIPTION OF TECHNTC
One cannot always prescribe technic as one does
medicine, but there are certain things which the
teacher should take into account in rounding out
the pupil's work. For instance, the pupil with an
inclination to be sentimental is to be developed by
having music that is heroic in style. Again the
pupil who is robust and ponderous in type should
have the delicate side of his nature cultivated. At
all times, however, the semblance of the machine
in playing should be fought through the culture of
personality, individuality. Let the teacher ask the
pupil (I am speaking here of the well-prepared and
well-advanced student): "What is your feeling
about this passage ? In the light of what you know,
how do you think it ought to be interpreted?" In
almost every case this will bring about a far better
and higher form of interpretation than if the
teacher lays down ironclad rules and insists upon
their observance,

THE LIMITATIONS OF THE PIANOFORTE
Some piano enthusiasts seem to be happiest when
they are trying "to make the piano whisper" or

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

make it sound like a cyclone. After all, so few
have considered the individuality of the piano itself
and the gentle art of making it sound like a piano.
Indeed, there is a difference in pianos, and the
different pianos and the different auditoriums in
which they are heard all require a different treat-
ment The parlor grand is to my mind the best
balanced instrument, more so than the great concert
grand. The piano is suited to medium-sized halls
far better than large halls, and when one plays in
such a great room as Carnegie Hall the nature of
the piano is necessarily strained. The player must
be able to adapt himself to his instrument and the
size of his instrument. Some do this and some
never think of it. The huge concert hall is only
suitable for d fresco playing and such sensational
performances should be given in a great winter
garden,

There is a need for more reserve and sensitive-
ness in piano playing, so that the pianistic values
may be better observed. The piano is not an anvil,
as many seem to imagine. It is not the poor piano's
fault that it is a piano, and it shouldn't be made to
suffer for it. Why deceive our ears and our in-
telligence about musical instruments, when their
characteristics are so very obvious to all? I can
always get far more out of the treble in a parlor
grand than I can out of the treble in a concert grand
because the proportion of tone between treble and

OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS 315

bass is more even. I have, however, great faith in
the new invention of an Englishman (Clutsam)
called the "cradle key" action, which has been ap-
plied to different pianos of different makes as an
experiment, and which should become the piano
action of the future. This is a real innovation to
my mind, and induces far greater sensitiveness of
touch with much less effort than any previous form
of action.

OPPORTUNITIES IN TONE VALUE
This is an age of tone values in piano playing.
To my mind, Busoni is the only one of the modern
pianists who has introduced new tone values. He
has not a "touch;" he has "touches." He realized
that there was no expression in touch per se, but
that expression comes from regulating tonal values
in a series of notes. No painter can take a brush ,
and splash one brushful of color on a canvas and
express anything by it, at least he cannot express
anything that anyone other than a futurist would
recognize as beautiful. He needs to make innum-
erable strokes all of varying color values, and the
result is an artistic whole. So in piano playing, the
study of each note struck and the manner in which
it is struck depends upon the relation of that tone
to the whole.

In Thalberg's day it was doubtless possible to
sing far more readily at the keyboard than in this

316 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

day, when the actions of pianos are very much
heavier. This is the principal reason for the com-
plete revolutionizing of ideas in playing; instead of
so-called perfect relaxation we have weight playing
and "set finger/' "wrist/' "forearm/' etc., positions.

TASTE

As certain classes of cultured people are trained
to love Chopin, Schumann and Debussy, so there
will always be hordes of people climbing up the
cultural staircases, who for the time being must
survive on music very near to their intellectual and
emotional capacity. It is well for them to be frank
about their likes and dislikes, and I have far more
respect for the man who candidly says that he pre-
fers Lange's Flower Song to Richard Strauss'
Elektra than I have for the individual who endures
Elektra like a surgical operation merely because it
is fashionable to do so, The need for the music
of yesterday is shown in a remarkable way by the
tremendous amount of piano player records of old-
fashioned pieces. I have recently heard pieces on
the piano player that I imagined were extinct, only
to learn that there is a great market for such pieces
among purchasers who have had no specific training
in piano playing. Think of it! So much bad music
is written and not enough to supply the market ! It
does not pay for anyone to be snobbish or "patron-
ize" the musical taste of others. This is a big

OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS 317

world, and while it is incumbent upon all artists to
help in raising the taste of the public as a whole, it
is not going to be done by snatching away Gott-
schalk's Dying Poet or Jungmann's Heimweh from
the person who is reveling in them, but by leading
them to see that the music of abler composers has
a refinement and character absent in the pieces of
the more superficial writers.

OPPORTUNITIES IN SHADING
The pianist is learning new ideas upon the sub-
ject of shading. There was a time in our art when
nothing but a very definite tune would satisfy the
taste of the cultured musician. The day of melody
is not past by any means, and Wagner, Schumann
and Brahms showed us that the definition of a tune
was a very elastic one. It remained for Debussy
and his confreres, however, to point out that there
was a beauty in atmosphere and color just as there
is a beauty in masses of clouds or in sunsets. I
have all of my pupils play the Debussy Preludes,
and the Ravel and Scott pieces so that they may
learn that one kind of beauty may be obtained by
the exquisite shading of tone masses in what might
be termed fluid form. From these they learn how
to shade in Chopin. Without shading the modern
French is nothing. Ravel in some ways is greater
than Debussy in the opportunity his works offer
for polyphonic and polyharmonic shading. This is

318 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

instanced in his wonderfully exotic Le Gibet, which
I consider the most complete example of modem
music It is one of the most ambitious things ever
written for the instrument. Indeed, it would seem
to me one of the most difficult compositions of all
pianoforte literature, much more difficult for the
interpreting musician than the famous Don Juan
Fantaisie of Mozart as arranged by Liszt.

OPPORTUNITIES IN PHRASING
There are, of course, no new opportunities in
phrasing except that the student of today realizes
the necessity for intelligent phrasing far more than
the student of twenty years ago. There are, how-
ever, still some people who believe that anyone can
play the piano without being a musician. That is,
they seem to think that all one need do is to culti-
vate a digital cleverness to succeed as a pianist Of
course, one may learn a great deal from certain
books on phrasing, but the master pianist gets his
outlook upon phrasing by being as familiar with
the laws of the composer as the composer himself.
A smattering of information on the subject will
never satisfy him. I advise my pupils to go to
hear the concerts of great orchestras and learn how
to listen to the careful phrasing of each instrument
The playing of concertos with accompaniment of
the teacher at the second piano is to be recom-
mended most highly. The standard of musical in-

OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS 319

terpretation lies within the performances of a per-
fect orchestral organization.

OPPORTUNITIES IN PEDALING
I pedal Chopin quite differently since I have
played the compositions of the modern French
school. It is strange how the new illuminates the
old. There were certain prescribed methods which
held me back from playing the new things to my
satisfaction until I felt the new "light." The idea
of pedaling for what is known as atmosphere was
new and not easy to master. Just as the master
artist disdains the sharp, definite outline of the
photographic lines and seeks the softness of an
artistic blending of his surfaces and colors, so does
the pianist of the modern school pedal his works
at times so that the tone masses are blended without
being blurred. Indeed, even a blur of tone is now
conceded to have its artistic values when properly
introduced, and I personally make it a point to
teach with utter enjoyment what years ago I
considered to be "bad" pedaling. The modern mu-
sician must be able to "hear with his eyes" and "see
with his ears." He then can live in the new con-
quered land.

32O GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXII

RUDOLF GANZ

1. What is the tendency of modem pianoforte
playing?

2. What danger should the student fight in his
piano playing?

3. What type of piano is the best-balanced instru-
ment?

4. Upon what does the manner of striking a sin-
gle note depend?

5. Has the day of melody passed?

6. What is Debussey's signal accomplishment ?

7. How does the master pianist get his artistic
outlook ?

8. Why are orchestral concerts desirable for the
piano student ?

9. How has the modern French school affected
the study of pedaling?

fc

l<

I

ERNEST HUTCHESON

ERNEST HUTCHESON

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr. Ernest Hutcheson is one of a group of young
men who have within recent years brought the
name of Australia into the musical firmament Al-
though the better part of his life has been spent in
foreign lands, Mr. Hutcheson is a native of Mel-
bourne, where he was born July 20, 1871. He was
a pupil of the Rev. G. W. Torrance, Mus.Doc.
(Dublin), and of Max VogricL At the age of
fourteen he went to the Leipsic Conservatory, where
he studied under Zwintscher, Reinecke and Jadas-
sohn, remaining under these masters for four years.
Thereafter he went to Weimar, where he placed
himself under the tuition of Stavenhagen, the well-
known Liszt pupil. Although he had played all
over Australia at the age of five as a child pianist,
his mature debut was made in Berlin, 1894. After
successful appearances abroad he came to America,
where he was engaged for some time teaching at
the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and at
Chautauqua, New York. He then returned to Ger-
many, where he remained for some years teaching
and playing. In America he has appeared with all
of the leading orchestras and in a great number of
recitals.

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING
METHODS

ERNEST HUTCHESON

THE NEED FOR PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION
WHEN one contemplates the vast number of
things that have been said about piano playing and
piano study one is tempted to be silent upon the sub-
ject, but as a matter of fact there is still a great
deal that one may observe and a great deal that one
may say. The tendency just now is away from
theory, in piano pedagogical matters. People do
not ask to know useless opinions upon piano technic,
but rather prefer to find out how the best playing
is done from actual observation.

The need for practical instruction has in a way
created a new class of piano teachers who do not
write essays about what they intend to do, but who
actually play and teach, and through their experi-
ences evolve means of their own to fit particular
needs.

Leschetizky has been called the greatest piano
teacher of the nineteenth century and this is no
exaggeration. He was great because he was al-
ways practical. He indicated certain methods for
help in establishing the main priciples of elementary

technic, but beyond that he was above methods.
322

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING METHODS 323

TECHNIC REQUIRED

Technic has always adapted itself to the need of
the times and to the character of the instrument.
In the early days of keyboard instruments the
action and the music to be played made little de-
mands upqn the strength of the player; accordingly,
with the spinet we find that it was the custom to
play with extended fingers, the motion coining prin-
cipally from the nailjoint, and to avoid the thumbs.
The spinet was a delicate instrument meant for deli-
cate ears. It tinkled delightfully but had little
sonority. A few modern chords would smash such
an instrument.

At the next step of the historical development of
the instrument a newer and stronger technic came
in vogue through the use of the harpsichord and
early pianoforte, coincidently with the writings of
Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Freer use of the thumb, a stronger finger-action
(from the knuckle-joint, with curved fingers), and
the hand-action from the wrist for staccato work
characterize the progress of this period.

Finally came the technic of Franz Liszt, and with
it a piano of iron and steel frame, deepened touch
and immensely magnified resources of tone. Again
pianists modified their methods, the chief points of
novelty being an arched position of the hand (to
give greater scope to the finger-action), and the
free use of the upper arm.

324 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Piano touch, however, is merely a necessary
means of creating piano tone, and in considering
the external movements of the arms and fingers
it is all too easily possible to lose sight of their true
object.

After all, music is the art of the ear. It reaches
the individual solely through that organ, and that
being the case the first consideration of the pianist
should be beautiful, varied and expressive tone.

THE STUDY OF TONE

The analysis of tone must be an ear analysis.
No matter how carefully the student may have at-
tended to all the outward technical directions re-
garding hand position, fingers, etc., if the tone is
not right his whole technic is faulty. I rarely
watch the fingers of a pupil, nor indeed do I watch
my own fingers very closely when playing, but I
listen incessantly. If I hear a particular kind of
tone I know that the elbow is stiff another kind
might betray wobbly fingers, and so on.

"One of the most common defects in the technic
of the average pupil is lack of freedom in the upper
arm. It is surprising what mischief can be brought
about by a tightness of the muscles above the elbow.
It prohibits a proper concentration of weight in the
finger tips and infallibly hardens the tone in forte
passages of all kinds, especially strong chords and
octaves. Save for quite extraordinary effects, the

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING METHODS 325

whole playing mechanism except the nail-joints
should be in a state of relaxation.

It is important to observe that the physical free-
dom of the player is directly communicated to the
action of the instrument itself. The sensitiveness
of the piano is, I am convinced, seldom realized by
the student or the public. The tone of a piano is
affected by cold or heat, by dampness or dryness of
the air, by its acoustic surroundings, and not least
by the physical expression of the player's mood.
Treat a piano badly, and it will sulkily lock up its
treasures of tone. Treat it lovingly and under-
standingly, and it is one of the most responsive of
instruments ; its harp of over two hundred strings,
its great sounding board and frame, and its system
of pedals are all susceptible to the minutest varia-
tions of sound for musical purposes, to such a de-
gree that very slight and apparently unimportant
motions at the keyboard affect the tonal mass.

THE SENSITIVENESS OF THE PIANO
The sensitiveness of the piano, then, is one of
the first things which should command the attention
of the student. As long as he regards it as a kind
of tub or as an anvil which may be drummed on or
hammered at pleasure he will not secure musical
results. On the other hand, respect for the instru-
ment is no small step toward a better understand-
ing and treatment of it.

326 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

I am often asked why pianists move the wrist up
and down after playing a note; it is agreed that
nothing can be done to modify the tone when the
key is held down. First, I answer, practically all
pianists do it, therefore it is prima facie right and
must have a meaning. Secondly, a tone undoubt-
edly can be modified in many ways after its initial
sounding, by pedalling, by 'Bebung' and echo ef-
fects, and by this very oscillation of the wrist Just
watch me for a moment while I do it and then
watch that vase of flowers on the other end of the
piano. You see that every rose nods its head in
sympathy with my slight movements. That means
that I am communicating vibration to the entire
case of the piano and reinforcing the effect of the
sounding board. Again, do you know that the
thunderous, echoing roll of big chords in a great
concert hall is largely caused by strong vibration
imparted to the whole body of the piano by pedal
action? Once more, are you aware that if one note
is played with singing tone and another lightly, as
in accompaniment, the hammers may seem to be-
have differently after leaving the strings ? But now
let us leave these instances of the delicacy of the
instrument and return to technic.

TYPICAL TOUCHES

The student, in my opinion, should begin by
mastering certain typical forms of touch which may

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING METHODS 327

at first be definitely associated with simple move-
ments. These touches are what might be called the
primary colors of piano playing and they should
be understood by the player and intelligently ap-
plied. I have often found the following table of
great use to beginners:

These, of course, are only the broadest of types,
and I do not mean to say that a portamento cannot
be executed by the fingers, or that the wrist takes
no part in legato playing. A staccato, for instance,
may be performed by finger-acticfti, by hand-action
from the wrist, by movement of the wrist itself, by
arm-action from the elbow or shoulders, or by com-
bined action of finger and hand or hand and arm.
In fact, an almost infinite variety of touch is
possible, according to the tonal effect desired, and
it is largely this which gives charm to expressive
interpretation. Nevertheless, the three typical
touches should first be studied and developed, not
only in technical exercises but also in musical per-
formance. The study of Mozart's Fantasias and
Sonatas may be especially recommended in this
connection.

The extension of piano literature has made a
giant technic necessary. Yet it is obviously im-
possible to prepare for every difficulty which may
occur in modern music. Teachers now realize that
a command of certain technical formulae and ele-
mentary principles opens the way to the more in-

328 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

tricate problems. They know that technic is at
best a means to an end. They consider how the
exercises and scales are played rather than the mere
task of playing them an infinite number of times.
Any fool can play a five-finger exercise but it takes
a wise man to adapt what he has learned from play-
ing such an exercise to the uses of his interpretative
work.

It is surprising how certain pedagogical materials
survive in the pianoforte study of today. Of
course, new and excellent materials come from the
printing presses all the time, but only the best sur-
vives. Take the case of Czerny and Cramer.
Teachers find themselves turning back to those able
etude writers all the time. Czerny was a contem-
porary of both Hummel and Steibelt and in their
day Hummel and Steibelt were looked upon as the
equals of Beethoven. Now their music is largely
a memory but Czerny and Cramer are both used to
this hour.

So it is with scales and arpeggios. The wise
teacher is the experienced teacher, and the exper-
ienced teacher knows that a certain fluency and
easiness and general intuitive intimacy with the key-
board can be obtained through the use of these
materials that cannot be obtained as easily in other
ways. In other words, the pianist's mind has to be
hitched up to the instrument so that he is able to do
a great deal of his keyboard work without conscious

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING METHODS 329

effort. Drill in scale playing seems to accomplish
this. Scales and arpeggios seem to do away with
the incessant need for watching the keys and give
the player a grasp upon the possibilities of his in-
strument. There is really nothing like them for
this purpose, and if they are not used some other
much longer and much more circuitous path must
be taken. Don't sniff at the man who swears by
Cramer, Czerny, scales and arpeggios. He is dan-
gerous only when his vision stops with these purely
technical means to an end.

Modern technic aims to free the player from me-
chanical bonds so that his musical intuitions may
be given the widest reign. The mind acts subcon-
sciously to the great advantage of the student who
has put the necessary technical work behind him in
his race for musical success. I am told by a man
who uses a typewriter constantly in his daily work,
that the warning bell which indicates that the end
of a line is reached, may ring a thousand times and
not be noted audibly by the person operating the
machine. Nevertheless the bell makes an impres-
sion and the operator unconsciously or subcon-
sciously obeys it and sends the carriage back for
the beginning of a new line. This is illustrative of
the many acts which the pianist must do and which
becomes habitual.

The human mind is not great enough to carry
consciously more than a mere fraction of the many

330 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

things which a pianist must remember in playing a
complicated masterpiece. The mind must direct at
all times, but its chief concern must be the artistic
import of the passage and never the mechanical de-
tails. All modern methods recognize this and seek
to have these details accomplished by wisely planned
technical drill This in a measure accounts for the
great improvement in pianoforte playing in general
during the last twenty-five years.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXIII

ERNEST HUTCHESON

I. Why was Leschetizky regarded as the greatest
piano teacher of the nineteenth century?

z State the differences in the touch demanded by
the spinet, the harpsichord and the piano,

3. How must tone be analyzed?

4. What is the effect of tightening the muscles
above the elbow?

5. What should the student know about the sen-
sitiveness of the piano?

6. How is the piano tone affected by pressure
upon the keys after they have been struck?

7. State the characteristic touches of the fingers,
the hand and the arm.

UNIVERSALITY IN PIANO TEACHING METHODS 331

8. What is the value of scales and arpeggios in
piano practice?

9. State how the subconscious mind helps in piano
study.

I

o $

^^4 Ml

O A

PI

.s

i 1

j

H

&

^ i

^

$

^

2

s

* ^

^

fi

1

s v *

!i!

tned of their
disconnected

'S

Q

^ i ^

^

^

^ ^A

iii

II

"* 8

I 1
*1

o s

^

Q

Typical MoYcment

I

1

I
1

I

(\

(

1

k

1

1

?

K

>s

^

&

^S

8

I

^

V

u

a

^

3

Ql

fj

W

a

H

du

CO

i

n:

OLGA SAMAROFF

OLGA SAMAROFF
BIOGRAPHICAL

Olga Samaroff (Mrs, Leopold Stokowski) was born on
August 8, 1882, in San Antonio, Texas. Her mother, the
daughter of George Loening, a native of Bremen, Ger-
many, was born in Munich but educated in America. Her
father is of Holland Dutch extraction. Mme. Samaroff
received her first instruction from her maternal grand-
mother and mother, both fine musicians. At the age of
fourteen she entered the Paris Conservatory, being, so far
as^ the writer knows, the first American woman to be ad-
mitted to the classes of that famous institution. After
graduating from, the Paris Conservatory she studied with
Jedliczka (a pupil of Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky) in Ber-
lin. It may be mentioned that at various times Mme.
Samaroff studied the piano for a short time under Con-
stantin von Sternberg, Ludovic Breitner, Ernest Hutche-
son, and the organ with Hugo Riemann.
^In spite of^her serious studies and ever prominent pas-
sion for music Mme. Samaroff did not intend to make a
public career. It was not until January 18, 1905, that she
made her first appearance on any stage, at Carnegie Hall
in New York, with the New York Symphony Orchestra.
Her success was so rapid that many concert-goers are
under the impression that she has played for a much longer
period. It was not until her success was thoroughly es-
tablished in America that she played in Europe, and it
is significant of the prestige which an American success
now gives an artist that Mme. Samaroff at once obtained
engagements with the leading orchestras in the cities
where she played, and made her d#>wf in Paris, Vienna,
London, Munich and elsewhere as soloist at the most im-
portant orchestral concerts of those cities.

After this single season in Europe and four seasons in
America, Mme. SamarofFs career was interrupted by a
very serious illness, which forced her to abandon all con-
cert work for nearly four years. Three years ago she
became the wife of Leopold Stokbwski, then conductor
of the Cincinnati Orchestra, now filling the same position
with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It may be added that
the very Russian sounding name of Olga Samaroff is a
nom de Plume name the name of Mme. SamarofFs ma-
ternal great-grandmother, who was a Russian,

833

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY

OLGA SAMAROFF

THE subject of concentration in music study has
been discussed so many times that it would seem
well nigh impossible to say anything about it ap-
proaching novelty. Yet concentration is a matter
of such great consequence to all students, particu-
larly music students, that there are few artists who
would hesitate to place it at the very foundation of
all serious work Successful concentration is a
mental process attained only after much intellectual
effort There is unfortunately a tendency among
certain American students to look upon anything
intellectual connected with music with more or less
contempt, They do not hesitate to criticize certain
great artists in such a way that one readily dis-
covers that the students make "intellect" synonym-
ous with inferiority. One realizes how absurd this
is when one remembers that all higher musical work
is based upon a development of the individual's in-
tellectuality.

The precious divine spark which the artist must
keep flaring on his high altar is not to be dimmed
by higher mental culture. But the emotional con-
tent of the artist's interpretation will not be lessened
because he uses his brain every second during his

study hours, It is true that we often hear music per-
334

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY 335

formed with a kind of technical coldness which
many ascribe to a superior intellectual attitude the
divine spark quite extinct. We can but say that
the warmth of emotion, the fervor of interpreta-
tive genius, never existed in the soul of the per-
former. If it had, no amount of so-called "intel-
lectual effort" would have done away with it The
bete noir "intellect 1 ' has misled many a careless stu-
dent who has imagined that by some mysterious
process musical success will come to him without
any special mental industry. I would in fact almost
be inclined to say that while an intellectual "per-
former" may lack the divine spark, the performer
with the divine spark in the highest sense cannot
be lacking in intellect, but on the contrary is one
of the highest manifestations of the possibilities of
intellectual achievement

We have today, as there have been in the past,
artists who have attained wide popularity through a
certain instinctive musical quality such as that one
often finds in the Italian and Slavic peasants. Their
music seems to come to them apparently without
study, as though they work entirely through the
sub-conscious mind, Such musicians combine a
certain amount of fire and natural breadth of tone,
and, for want of a better term, "magnetism/' Of-
ten such a musician succeeds in casting a spell over
an audience, particularly an undiscriminating one.
Such a performer was Blind Tom, a mere freak of

336 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

nature. To my mind, however, these performers
do not deserve to be seriously considered as artists.
The truly great artist is one who not only possesses
all the gifts which the natural performer may have,
but who also combines these with intellectual
breadth achieved through years of intelligent study
and experience.

MAKING ONE'S PRACTICE A THOUSANDFOLD MORE
VALUABLE

The student then should have a high regard for
all intellectual work demanded by his music study,
technical mastery, and all those faculties which
make for a refined understanding of music consid-
ered from the highest aspect Let us repeat to
those who hesitate to consider the intellectual pro-
cesses in their work if the flame of genius within
the musician is so feeble that it could be extin-
guished by the development and use of his grey
matter it would scarcely in any case be capable of
producing distinguished artistic results. Of all the
intellectual processes none is more helpful to the
student than concentration directing one's think-
ing powers toward one thing and keeping them
upon that thing until some definite purpose is ac-
complished. The student should always fasten
upon the conviction that whatever is his in the way
of natural talent is there to remain. Concentration
upon technical details will enhance the value of his

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY 337

natural talent a thousand fold. There are doubt-
less hundreds of students now who are struggling
along hopelessly because they do not know how to
concentrate their forces. Why will some students
persist in being so short-sighted in this particular?
The playing of Bach demands concentration in a
remarkable degree. Yet I have students come to
me and say, "If I play Bach I shall not be able to
play Chopin/* One might as well say, "If I read
Shakespeare I shall not be able to read Maeter-
linck." Can anyone imagine anything more ab-
surd? The qualities which one develops through
playing Bach are of incalculable benefit in playing
Chopin.

No PATENT RULES FOR CONCENTRATION
By concentration the student must not imagine
that I have any proprietary methods in mind.
There are no patents, no rules, no schemes. What
is needed is everyday common sense. Common
sense ought to reveal to the average student that if
he can play a passage once correctly he should be
able to play it again and again correctly, if only he
reproduces the same degree of concentration which
insured perfection in the first case. That is to say,
if the student's technical ability and musical under-
standing encompass a passage in question once, it
is largely a matter of mind control if the student
succeeds in reproducing the passage without the

338 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

customary needless and wastful repetitions through
which so many students go before they seem to get
results. Every time the passage you have selected
for practice fails to "go right" after you have once
succeeded in playing it to your satisfaction, just tell
yourself that you are not concentrating. Some mis-
guided young musicians seem to fail in realizing that
in order to insure results one must invariably pre-
serve that intimate connection between the brain and
the fingers that spells concentration. They seem to
think that they may dream away at the keyboard and
let their blundering digits take care of themselves.
Years of study are wasted in this way and the ears
of students, to say nothing of others who are obliged
to listen, are tortured by bungling practice that never
in all the world can possibly lead to real success.

The first mistake, like all first offences, is the be-
ginning of the end unless the student takes great
care to avoid such a custom. Mistake making in
most cases is an entirely avoidable habit, often re-
sulting from not checking the matter at the very
start. If the student would only learn to stop the
very moment that the first mistake is made and
give himself a severe lecture on the lack of concen-
tration he would stand a far better chance of ulti-
mate success than if he blindly continued to conceal
his blunders under that most deceptive of legends
"Practice makes Perfect" Practice does make per-
fect, it is true, but only right practice brought about

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY 339

by concentration can lead to the perfection which
all young musicians aspire to attain. It is not lack
of talent, not lack of opportunity, not lack of
atmosphere which stands in the way of many stu-
dents it is wool-gathering. In the olden time the
shepherd boys used to run far and wide over the
hills and dales for little clumps of wool left hang-
ing on bushes. It was a task with slender profit
that demanded thousands of steps for very little
wool In some similar manner some pupils run
through miles of scales, arpeggios and finger pas-
sages in order to get very little out of them. The
successful performer has not time for this wasteful
practice. He must get his results with as few
wasted notes as possible.

A FAMOUS ACTOR'S POWER OF CONCENTRATION
This does not mean, however, that numerous re-
pititions are undesirable or unnecessary. I recollect
a story told to me by an old friend, Ernest Coquelin,
the famous French actor, which illustrates how a
great artist, even in another branch of interpreta-
tive art, realizes the necessity for concentration
upon detail. In the play of "Thermidor," in which
Coquelin gave a really marvelous performance,
there was a little passage in which he was obliged
to get up and walk around a chair. All the while
he was obliged to signify the dawning realization
of a great danger. Coquelin told me that in order

340 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

to master the ways and means leading to an im-
pressive theatrical effect that the audience would at
once perceive and comprehend, he once practiced
the little bit some two hundred times. With every
repetition he became more and more absorbed, so
that he entirely forgot everything else. Not only
did several important engagements escape his mind,
but he also failed to remember that he was to take
a certain train for the south of France, where he
was engaged to appear, thus losing his last chance
for a lucrative performance. It seems needless to
say that all those who saw his performance were
especially impressed by this particular passage.

To the artist who has once gained complete con-
trol of himself and his medium there is such a thing
as a sub-conscious governing or directing by the
mind which gives him sureness and a kind of
technical liberty, permitting his imagination to have
the freest possible play. But this sub-conscious
governing of our work comes only with the com-
plete control resulting from years and years of
right practice habits at the keyboard. Most of the
problems confronting the average student and per-
former may be solved by the kind of concentrated
thinking which comes through the habit of collect-
ing one's thoughts and focusing them upon one
point until something is actually accomplished.

In preparing a passage for public performance
the student should endeavor to keep in mind the

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY 34!

ultimate manner in which the passage will be per-
formed. That is to say, he will gain nothing by
practicing the passage in any other way. The idea
surprisingly advocated by some otherwise fine
teachers of always practicing things as they are not
to be played eventually, has always struck me as
preposterous. Some teachers tell their pupils to
disregard the phrasing, the pedaling, the expression
marks, etc. It is easy to see how the student can,
by giving special attention to any one of these
phases of his playing through concentration de-
velop that phase, but at the same time he must
realize that in playing a single measure he is called
upon not to do one thing only, but to control many
different things all occurring at the same instant
That is one of the things that makes music study
so fascinating. The mind is given one short mo-
ment to perform a number of different actions and
these must be executed with perfection of digital
detail, fine appreciation of artistic values and cor-
respondence with the rest of the composition. The
artist with the brush may stand before his easel
for months, painting, painting, painting, erasing
one color here and supplying a line there, but he
has all eternity in which to complete his task if he
chooses to take it The canvas of the interpreta-
tive musician is the attention of his listener. He
paints at a miracuously rapid rate and his mind
must be trained to think with a speed demanded in

342 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

no other art except perhaps that of the stage. This
in itself should emphasize the necessity for concen-
tration in study so that the student will realize how
very vital it is to his progress.

I find pupils who will completely learn and pro-
duce the notes of a work and expect by some mys-
terious means to be able to supply all the fine points
of phrasing, accenting, pedaling and correct tempo,
at the moment of playing, without any detailed con-
centration upon these matters before the hour of
the concert. Before the student permits his work
to reach the ears of the auditor he must have studied
it not only in all its parts but he must have played
it many, many times just as he expects to play it on
the evening of its ultimate performance. He must
concentrate upon his work so that he can sit at the
keyboard with supreme confidence and paint a tonal
picture that will leave a permanent artistic impres-
sion upon the mind of the hearer. If the student
would only keep before him the fact that he has
such a very short time in which to create a master
work in interpretation, he will surely see that he
can not afford to waste any moments during his
practice periods in wool-gathering,

DON'T TRY To Do Too MUCH AT ONCE
Some students attempt to learn a whole composi-
tion at one time. This usually results in a succes-
sion of disasters. The student works prodigiously

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY

343

and produces nothing. For instance, in the Bee-
thoven Sonata in D Minor (Opus 31, No. 2), there
are 232 measures in the first movement The right
way to proceed after a general idea of the move-
ment has been obtained through a cursory survey of
the piece is to take, let us say eight measures. In
this case we will take the first eight measures which
appear thus:

Largo f J = UM^ = 88) Allegro ( J * tos)

t .V* ? T ml*

Very simple you will say, but let us make a little
catalog of the things you must observe in this little
passage which takes only a few seconds to play,
Considering them in order we must learn;

344 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Seventy-three notes.

Thirteen marks of phrasing.

Three marks of tempo.

Three important pedaling marks.

Sixteen marks indicating a certain kind of touch.

Nine marks pertaining to dynamics (cres., sf.,

etc.).

Twenty-three fingerings specified by some pains-
taking editor.

Two significant pauses.

An embellishment which must be properly inter-
preted. And all in eight measures! Yet the stu-
dent has only skimmed over the surface of the
measures. He must study the nature of the phras-
ing not indicated in the phrasing marks; he must
know how the opening arpeggio is to be played ; he
must note the extent of the main theme before the
second theme is introduced ; in fact there are many
things yet to be considered in this little passage of
eight measures. Some people have the gift of ob-
serving, comprehending and fixing these technical
and artistic points so that they are able to do the
work in a much shorter time. These people are
those who have learned to concentrate.

How CONCENTRATION" HELPS MEMORIZING
Concentration helps immensely in memorizing
indeed it hardly seems necessary to mention this
very obvious fact. One little device I have em-

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY

345

ployed in memorizing may be of assistance to the
student. In studying a new phrase with the view
to fixing it in the mind one should not merely study
the phrase alone but also part of the preceding
phrase. The actor in studying his parts lays great
stress upon his cues. He learns the last words of
the previous speech so that the moment he hears
them his own lines come out automatically that is
without apparent thought or effort. In memoriz-
ing, I apply a similar method which seems to help
me immensely in works of a complicated nature.
In studying a new phrase I always commence in the
middle of the previous phrase. For instance, in
a section of the sonata to which we have just re-
ferred we find these two phrases:

In memorizing the second phrase I would prac-
tice it as follows:

346

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

ULl J ----s
*=-* ^ . it 1 :

T f

This gives to the musical memory the same as-
sistance upon which the actor depends for his se-
curity in reciting his lines on the stage.

A great deal may be gained by watching the
fingers on the keyboard. Of course this refers only
to the work of the pianist playing from memory.
It may be necessary at the outstart for the student
to practice with his eyes away from the keyboard,
but after the student has gained a sense of location
he will find that his eyes will help him immensely
in preserving accuracy. One famous virtuoso, one
of the very greatest, always keeps his eyes upon the
keys. The superficial student might think that this
would make the playing of the virtuoso stilted, and
lacking in the abandon of the old type of pianist,
who focused his eyes on the ceiling, and his fingers
on the wrong notes. However, there is something
in the attraction of the keyboard that becomes al-
most hypnotic and the eye learns to help make the
playing more definite, more dependable, while at
the same time the poet interpreter's imagination is
not robbed of any of its phantasy.

It is gratifying to note that American artists are
gaining more and more recognition in their own

CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC STUDY 347

land. No symbol of our musical progress could be
more wholesome and the American's ability to focus
his efforts upon the business at hand has had much
to do with this change in public musical apprecia-
tion.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXIV

OLGA SAMAROFF

1. What qualities must the truly great artist
possess ?

2. Which composer's works demand a superior
degree of concentration?

3. What is usually the trouble when passages fail
to go right?

4. State one way in which the work of the painter
differs from that of the pianist.

5. Give a good way of classifying difficulties.

6. How does concentration help the student to
memorize ?

7. Should the pianist watch the fingers at the
keyboard?

MARK HAMBOURG

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mark Hambcmrg is a member of a very musical
family. His father, Michael Hambourg, is himself
a noted teacher; his brother Boris is a 'cellist of re-
nown, while another brother of Mark is the brilliant
violinist, Jan Hambourg. Mark Hambourg was
born at Bogutchar, Southern Russia, June 1st, 1879.
At first the pupil of his father, he became the pupil
of Leschetizky at the age of twelve. As a prodigy
he made numerous very successful appearances, but
his parents wisely foresaw the necessity of develop-
ing his general education until he became a mature
artist. Accordingly he was withdrawn from public
work for many years, but since then he has toured
all of the civilized countries, meeting with great
success. In 1907 he married Dorothea, daughter
of Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie, G. C B., Perma-
nent Clerk to the House of Lords.

348

I 'A

MARK HAMBOURG

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY

MARK HAMBOURG

IN these days of dreadnaught technique, when
the modern pianist must have an equipment as
powerful and as invulnerable as a battleship, to
ward off the projectiles of the critical public and
press, there is so very much to be accomplished that
not a moment's time must be lost if the career of
the virtuoso is chosen as a life work. The standard
of playing has become high because one part of
the public has been educated to expect perfection
and because another part has a really well developed
appreciation of what is and what is not good taste
in interpretation. Therefore it may easily be seen
that the career of the virtuoso is becoming more
and more exacting as time goes on. Think for a
moment of the immense number of pieces with
which the successful pianist must be familiar to say
nothing of those which he must have at his finger's
ends his repertoire. Nowadays one must have a
veritable library not on one's bookshelves but in
one's head, In what other profession are such
enormous demands made upon the memory alone?
The work before the student, then, is staggering in
its aspects. No wonder many are discouraged be^
fore they have traveled more than a short distance

along the road. If real progress is to be insured

349

350 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

no time at all can be wasted* The need for expert
instruction in the case of the student expecting to
become a virtuoso is really very great. A poor
teacher wastes not only time but that more scarce
if not more valuable commodity, money. The good
teacher uses only what is needed in each particular
case; and thus the pupil is not weighted down with
a vast amount of unnecessary luggage.

ESSENTIALS THAT COUNT
Great erudition and great keyboard skill never
make a successful teacher unless there is that pre-
cious gift for divining just what is right at the right
time. Common sense in little things in teaching is
far better than a complicated view of musical com-
plexities. For instance, the pupil should learn at
the outstart that he has four main channels through
which his musical training may be brought to him,
namely

Visual
Aural
Harmonic
Mechanical

That is, he must use his eyes to fix in his mind
everything that can be determined by the eye.
Nothing on the printed page must escape him
nothing in hand, arm and body position must elude
the close scrutiny of his eyes. His eyes must be

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 35 1

like two ever-present teachers making every hour
of practice an instructive hour and nothing but an
instructive hour. His ears are likewise teachers,
and when the aural sense is so developed that he can
hear music when he sees it, as though it was being
played and enjoy it with the same ease with which
he reads a book, he is to be congratulated. By syn-
chronizing as it were the visual sense and the aural
sense a vast amount of waste time may be saved.
Yet thousands struggle with the keyboard for years
and never acquire this sense.

Next, the student must understand the family of
chords and know how they are related. Practice
in harmony should be as regular as practice in key-
board exercises. The brain must have a kind of
harmonic technic. The reason why I emphasize
this is simply because with such a technic the stu-
dent can save hours of silly finger dawdling at the
keys hours that never produce anything but cal-
loused finger tips.

Finally, we have the mechanical, which, indispen-
sable as it is, sometimes results in excesses alto-
gether unwarranted, Please do not think that I
am trying to say anything so stupid as declaring
that keyboard practice and lots of it is not neces-
sary. Quite the contrary is true. What I am try-
ing to point out is that it is not the time that one
spends at the keyboard that counts but what is
brought to the keyboard by the brain of the pupil,

352 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

and how the time is spent at the keyboard. I do
my best practice away from the keyboard. That is,
I work out the musical problems and get them
straight in my mind so that no time is lost in fumb-
ling over keys.

A CONVINCING ILLUSTRATION
In order to point out very clearly what I mean
when I say that it is what is done at the keyboard
rather than how much time is spent there that
really counts, one need not go any further than the
case of the child prodigy. Here we have an in-
stance where there has not been time for an enorm-
ous amount of practice yet there are continually
brought before the public children of ten, eleven
and twelve with astonishing technical ability. In
my own case I remember very well that my father,
a very busy man, let me have as a first teacher one
of his own pupils who was gifted in playing rather
than teaching. This was a well meaning person of
eighteen or twenty who took a perfunctory interest
in teaching, but did not do everything possible to
advance me. Consequently, I came to hate my
music lessons and detested practice. This hate be-
came so violent that I remember as a very little tot
running splinters into my fingers to prevent taking
a music lesson. My father was quick to note my
attitude and soon took me in hand himself. He
was a natural born teacher who loved children, and

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 353

inside of a few weeks my enthusiasm was so great
that it was difficult to keep me away from the piano.
In a little more than a year I acquired a technic
which seems surprising to me at this day. In a
very short time I was considered ready to make a
public appearance and soon found myself before
the public playing in many cities with success.
Obviously, it was not years that gave me that
technic but a well-planned course carefully worked
out and filled full of that priceless enthusiasm with-
out which musical success is unthinkable. My
father's logical explanations instead of dogmatic di-
rections gave me delight in everything I did. In no
other way could I have been enabled to play with
orchestra at the age of eight. Ordinary instruction
was carrying me farther and farther away from
the right path. MORAL: Have as good a teacher
as you can possibly secure and afford. It always
pays in the end.

How REFLECTION SAVES TIME
In studying a new piece, experience has shown
me that it is possible to save a great deal of time
through reflection. First I play the piece through
carefully to hear how it sounds. Then I analyze it
carefully down to its finest points. This serves to
fix the piece in the mind and saves hours of prac-
tice drudgery. Then comes the practice itself which
is followed by a period of reflection. During this

354 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

period of reflection the piece is, as it were, digested
musically. It is only by some such process that the
student can really be said to master a work. The
great trouble is that the fingers are magnified in
their importance and the brain is minimized.

Teachers seem to fail to realize that pupils have
brains, and that these brains must be directed as
carefully in music as in any educational work. More
"talents" have been ruined by failing to consider
the brain side of the work than in any other way.
In no other art but music is anybody and everybody
permitted to teach. To preserve the talent of the
child and insure regular progress, by all means se-
cure a good teacher at the start Forget about the
method that the teacher teaches and see that you
get the right individual. Of -course, the work must
be methodical but it need not be somebody's patent
plan that is supposed to apply in all cases with magic
precision. With all other thinking pianists, Les-
chetizky included, I am emphatically against the
proprietary method idea in music study. A poor
teacher with the best method in the world could not
produce good results. To paraphrase a line of
Shakespeare "The teacher's the thing/' and by this
I mean the individual. To hold to a weak teacher
with a much advertised method would be like re-
taining an incompetent doctor in a dangerous case
just because he was a homeopathist, an allopath
or a Christian Scientist The main thing is to get

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 355

the right individual who has repeatedly shown his
efficiency so that there can be no mistaking his
claims. Let proprietary methods go to the wind.
All really good teachers use much from many, many
different methods.

ADVANCED WORK

Naturally the pupil must expect to work with a
teacher who will criticize his efforts with relentless
severity, if he expects his advanced work to be
profitable. Anyone who has faced the fire of
Leschetizky has always realized that after this ex-
perience one was ready to face almost anything.
Nothing could have been more exacting than the de-
mands of Leschetizky. Yet everything he said was
tempered with such good common sense, and often
with biting wit, that part of the sting was taken
away. While with him I always tried to create op-
portunities to play. Every week I learned a new
piece and it seemed as though Leschetizky was
equally caustic with each one. There is no way in
which the aspiring young student who hopes to be-
come a virtuoso can go ahead faster than by playing
a great deal for different people who are frank
enough to speak out their minds and who are in-
telligent and experienced enough to give criticisms
of value. In other words these beneficent critics by
their constant pounding enable the student to get
new angles of vision upon his own work.

356 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

CRITICS WHO HELP

No one is a better critic than the fellow pupil.
Often he sees things which the teacher does not. I
value the criticisms of my fellow artists very highly.
In an assembly of pupils, however, where rivalry
runs high and tongues are loosened by good-natured
familiarity, criticisms of real worth are bound to be
received. It is next to useless for the pianist to
play before his so-called friends. The pupils' re-
cital before smiling perfumed audiences of parents,
aunts, brothers and admirers are usually misleading
as far as their educational effect is concerned. They
may have some value in accustoming the pupil to
public appearance and exhibiting the teacher's work
but they are likely to be wholly misleading to the
pupil. The studios are filled with somewhat ghastly
examples of young people who have been cajoled
into believing that they have already made quite a
respectable climb up Parnassus, when they have
really not touched the foot hills. Flattery is the
bomb that demolishes more honest effort than any-
thing else.

Criticism that is well meant is easily detected
from that which is merely empty praise or on the
other hand stupid fault-finding. During all the
time I was with Leschetlzky, standing up under a
bombardment of criticisms, I knew that he had only
my good at heart When he came to me as I was
about to start upon my career as an artist he had

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 357

a box in his hand. In that box he had deposited
every coin I had paid him for my lessons. Not one
was missing. He knew that I had a struggle ahead
of me to get a start and he offered me back every
Heller I had ever given him. Such a man was
Leschetizky!

SINCERITY

What is the virtuoso's most indispensable attri-
bute? I should say "sincerity." If the artist is
not sincere he is nothing more than a showman.
Every time he goes to the platform he should go
with a message. If this spirit is cultivated during
the student days all the better. The public has a
right to expect sincerity from the artist. If the
artist falls before the blandishments of the public,
and plays merely to catch pennies, he will surely
suffer in the long run. The public now is too highly
educated not to distinguish clap-trap. The student
should be encouraged to approach every piece with
all possible sincerity and earnestness. Do not think
that anything that Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schu-
mann or Chopin has seen fit to write is too little to
deserve your very best Be sincere in all you do
and your art will advance finely.

TASTE IN THE ARTIST'S WORK
The artist should unceasingly strive to get down
to his own ideas find out what he himself really

358 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

thinks. Someone has said that we continually think
the thoughts of other people because we are too lazy
to think our own. Of course the public has certain
natural and human appetites which no virtuoso is
foolish enough altogether to disregard, yet every
program should be representative of the artist's in-
dividual character. This does not mean that he
should emphasize his whims or exaggerate his per-
sonal prejudices but with all good sense he should
strive to have every program he presents be him-
self in person and not some model after whom all
others are foolishly copying.

Program-making is a distinctive art. It is con-
ceivable that an artist who makes no effort to have
his personal taste represented in his programs but
who simply follows the conventions of another day
may so stultify his work that progress would be im-
possible. In the olden days at the Leipsic Conserva-
tory conventions were so strictly defined that Liszt
and Chopin were practically debarred from many
programs; and Liszt, to this day, from the Hoch-
schule in Berlin! Conventions, then, should not be
the main factor in making a good program. There
are certain intellectual needs of a musical kind, as
well as emotional demands, and these should be con-
sidered above all things. For instance, in consider-
ing variety the performer is often inclined to let it
go with a variety of different names upon the pro-
gram, whereas the main consideration is the variety

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 359

which should come to the ear of the audience. Even
leaving out of consideration those members of the
audience who are ignorant of the significance of
the names of great masters, there are still those
musically trained people who are quite as human in
their aural appetites and who will respond to a well
ordered program and reject a poorly arranged pro-
gram. Of course the virtuoso has to play a number
of works which a certain portion of the musical
public wants to hear. As a rule such works are
those with which the public already has some
familiarity or those by composers sufficiently dis-
cussed in print to have aroused a real curiosity to
become acquainted with the compositions. After
these considerations, the next would be variety in
keys and modes, and then variety in forms. Who
in the world would want to listen to three sym-
phonies in G Major, one right after the other?
Variety may be obtained from pieces in markedly
different rhythms and metres. Certain pianists
have, of course, given historical recitals, at which
for instance have been performed a long series of
Beethoven Sonatas. These have an educational
value for the student and the professional, but with
the general public six Beethoven Sonatas one right
after the other would be like eating six big beef-
steaks at one meal ! The following would in many
ways comply with the conditions which go to make
a varied high-class program of the present day.

360

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Note the constant change of key. It is neither the
conventional "historical" program, nor is it ec-
centric,

SPECIAL PROGRAM

KEY

F. Major J. S. BACH

Italian Concerto

L. VAN BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op Io6 or in

CJ Minor F. CHOPIN

E Major
A Minor
CJt Minor
Ft Major
B b Minor
A Minor
F J Minor

E Major } M. RAVEL
Eh Minor CYIIL SCOTT

M. MOSZKOWSKI

DEBUSSY

II
Scherzo

Etude (No. 10)

Etude (No a)

Etude (No 4)

Prelude

Prelude

Mazurka

Polonaise

III

Jeud'Eaux
Lotos Land
Venusberg music from
Tannhavser arranged
from Wagner.
Suite

CHARACTER

Representing
the severely
classical style

Romantic and

Brilliant,

Slow Melodic

Playful

Brilliant

Slow

Rapid

Reflective

Magnificent

Atmospheric
Atmospheric

Dramatic
Characteristic

Of course this is only one of a great many dif-
ferent programs which would exhibit equal variety.
There is so much to choose from that there is no
need for monotony at any time. Of the new things
of the above program, the Venusberg arrangement
which Moszkowski has been good enough io dedi-
cate to me is one of the most difficult pieces ever
written for the piano. It is filled with the genius
and fire of the original orchestral score and makes

INSURING PROGRESS IN MUSIC STUDY 361

a fine number for the antepenult position on the
program. Also it will be noticed that I finish the
program with the Debussy suite. Time was when
it seemed 1 the custom to end the program with a
kind of musical shock which consisted of bringing
forward the player's most brilliant exhibition of
bravura work, his tour de force as it were. This,
however, is not altogether an artistic arrangement.
In the good drama the climax is not reserved for
the last curtain but usually comes at some previous
moment Consequently such a number as the De-
bussy after the gorgeous Moszkowski-Wagner num-
ber makes a better program. The artist who bar-
ters his art for easy ways to get applause must
inevitably fall in the opinion of thinking people.

THE TEACHER'S OPPORTUNITY
Those who have realized their hopes of becoming
great virtuosos often find at the end of the journey
that their goal was by no means what they had an-
ticipated. The work is hard, unceasingly hard, and
though the emoluments are frequently great, all
human happiness is largely a matter of compara-
tive degrees of satisfaction. The teacher who has
not the fame and the income of the virtuoso also
does not have the terrific strain, the disappoint-
ments, the gruelling criticism. Whether it is better
to be the oak battling with the hurricane or the
lovely rose in a pleasant shelterd garden must be

362 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

decided by the individual starting out upon a career.
To my mind it is far better to be one live, active,
helpful teacher than two struggling, impotent, un-
successful virtuosi. The teaching field is enormous.
The virtuoso field is very small. Do not belittle
the work of the teacher. It is upon the teacher's
shoulders that civilization advances. If you are a
teacher, be proud of it rejoice in it, for there is
no nobler occupation.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXV

MARK HAMBOURG

1. What are the four channels through which
musical training comes to the pupil?

2. What is the chief value of harmony to the
piano student?

3. Through what may much time be saved in the
study of a new piece?

4. State an indispensable attribute of the vir-
tuoso.

5. What should be the main factor in making a
good recital program?

6. State how variety may be obtained in a pro-
gram.

7. Compare the teacher's career with that of the
virtuoso.

PERCY GRAINGER

PERCY GRAINGER

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr. Grainger was born at Brighton, Melbourne, Au-
stralia, July 8, 1882. His mother was his first teacher.
Thereafter he studied with Louis Pabst of Melbourne.
He then set out to earn the means of travel to Germany
and after several highly successful recitals and a large ben-
efit concert, organized by Australia's greatest musician and
composer, Professor Marshall Hall, had his wish gratified.
In Germany he studied for six years with Professor James
Kwast, and finally with the great Busoni. In 1900 he ap-
peared in London as a virtuoso, and at once scored great
successes. Thereafter he toured Great Britain, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa, and more recently Germany,
Holland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Bohemia and
Switzerland. His fondness for things Scandinavian began
as a child, and was beautifully rewarded by Grieg's ad-
miration for the young Australian, about whom he wrote
enthusiastically and prophetically in the European press,
and whom he chose to play his Pianoforte Concerto at the
great Leeds Musical Festival. After Grieg's death the
widow of the Norwegian genius sent his walch and chain
to Mr. Grainger as a souvenir of Grieg's affectionate
friendship for him. Mr. Grainger's reverent admiration
for Grieg's adaptations of Norwegian folk-music prompted
him to explore the beauties of British folk-songs, as Grieg
had done those of Norway. The result has been that Mr.
Grainger has made vocal and pianoforte arrangements of
many of these pieces arrangements altogether unique in
their charm and appropriateness. In 1914 Mr. Grainger
came to this country, primarily for the purpose of com-
pleting some large orchestral and choral compositions al-
ready begun. But his great musical gifts were soon dis-
covered, especially his talents as a piano virtuoso, and he
found himself in great demand as a concert pianist, ap-
pearing with many of the Symphony Orchestras. At the
same time, his compositions were more and more fre-
quently placed on orchestral programs.

363

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY

PERCY GRAINGER

NEW EFFORTS WITH OLD MEANS
JUST at the moment when the musical pessimists
were declaring that pianistic resources were coming
to an end, we find ourselves on the doorstep of new
forms of pianism, which, while they in no sense do
away with the old means of interpretation, aid the
pianist in bringing new effects even to the master-
pieces of yesterday. It is interesting to think that
with the advance of the art one's resources become
more and more refined. Twenty years ago the
whole aim of many pianoforte students seemed to
be speed or the art of getting just as many notes as
possible in a given space of time. With the com-
ing of such composers as Debussy, Cyril Scott,
Ravel and others, we find a grateful return of the
delicate and refined in piano playing. There is a
coming up again of the pianissimo. More and more
artists are beginning to realize the potency of soft
notes rightly shaded and delivered artistically.

The modern composer has a new reverence for
the piano as an instrument. The great composers,
such as Bach and Beethoven, thought of the piano
as a medium for all-round expression; but perhaps
they did not so often feel inspired by Its specifically
pianistic attributes as do several of the moderns.
Many of the Beethoven Sonatas could be orches-

864

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 365

trated and a symphonic effect produced. In other
words, the magnificent thoughts of most of the great
masters of the past were rarely peculiarly pianistic,
though Scarlatti, Chopin, and 1 Liszt in their day
(just as Debussy, Albenez, Ravel and Cyril Scott
today) divined the soul of the piano and made the
instrument speak its own native tongue.

THE MODERN PIANO A PERCUSSION

INSTRUMENT

Indeed the real nature of the modern piano as an
instrument is in itself more or less of a modern
discovery. No one would be altogether satisfied by
trumpet passages played upon a violin, because the
violin and the trumpet have characteristics which
individualize them. In precisely the same fashion
the piano has individual characteristics. The piano
is distinctly an instrument of percussion a beating
of felt-covered hammers upon tightened wires.
Once we realize this, a great deal may be learned.
Debussy has retained in his pianistic vocabulary
many of the beautiful kaleidoscopic effects a gifted
child strumming upon the piano would produce,
but which our overtrained ears might have rejected
in the past. Thus his methods have implied a study
of the problem of just how much dissonance can
be artistically applied and yet keep his work within
the bounds of the beautiful. It has been said that
Debussy learned much from a Javanese instrument

366

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

called a Gamalan. This instrument is a kind of
orchestra of gongs. I have been told that when
the players from the far East performed at one
of the Paris expositions, Debussy was greatly at-
tracted by their music, and lingered long near them
to note the enchanting effect of the harmonics from
the bells. There can be no doubt that he sought to
reproduce such an effect on that other instrument of
percussion, the piano, when he wrote his exquisite
Reflets dans I'eau, and the following significant
measures in Pagodes:

No. I.

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 367

In all gong effects we hear one note louder than
the surrounding "aura" of ethereal harmonies.
This suggests many new and delightful effects upon
the piano, for all the past pianists have been ac-
customed to playing all the notes of a chord, for
instance, with more or less the same degree of force.
It seldom seemed to occur to the average piano
student that it is possible to play chords in succes-
sion and at the same time bring out some inner
voice so that the whole effect is delightfully altered.

Indeed, we are coming to a day when the pianist
will more and more be expected to play melodies
concealed in masses of chords. Busoni in his edi-
tion of the Bach Chorals (Breitkopf & Haertel,
Volksansgafo, No, 1916) gives us a splendid in-
stance of an inner voice carrying the melody in the
Nun freut euch, Helm Christen (No. 4), The fol-
lowing measures serve to illustrate this- Any one
who has hearcl Mr. Busoni play this will find it
difficult to forget the clear sonority with which he

368 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

plays the melody and how delicate and exquisitely
subdued is the lace-like embroidery which surrounds
the melody.

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 369

In playing chords so that one note may stand out
above the others we confront what many seem to
think is a really difficult task, but as a matter of
fact it is not. It is a habit easily acquired.

What is the need for ever making a note in a
chord stand out above its fellows? In all good
part-writing, whether for the piano or other instru-
ments or for voices, each voice in a sequence of
chords has some melodic value. Many voices have
a distinctive melodic value. In the orchestra or in
a quartet of strings or of human voices each part
has a certain tone color which gives it individuality
and distinguishes it from the other parts. But on
the piano we have no such contrasting tone colors
or lone qualities to work with. What in the or-
chestra, for instance, is accomplished largely by
contrasts of qmlity we on the piano must accom-
plish by contrasts of quantity, or different sound
strengths. Don't you see that the only recourse is
to individualize the melody in an internal voice by
making that melody louder, or by subduing the
other notes in the chords? It is quite possible to
play a chord in the following fashion:

No. 3.

370

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

That is, the E flat is loud and the D flat and B
flat are soft. Nothing is simpler. My own method
is to hold my fingers rigidly; with the second finger,
which would play the E flat, protruding downwards,
while the thumb and fifth finger, which are to play
the D flat and B flat, are kept high, so that the force
of the blow descends on to the E flat key (which is
pressed down as far as it will go), while the other
two keys are only lightly struck (and pressed down
only one-third or one-half of the tonal distance they
could descend).

This opens up interesting vistas even yet not fully
explored. It would be more profitable for many
of our students to spend a little more time upon the
quality of effects and a little less time in trying to
clamber over an immense amount of technic work.
Playing two such chords as the following in the
manner indicated requires an amount of thought,
hand control, far in excess of that demanded by
many supposedly difficult technical exercises.

No. 4.

mf

-MS?

li

-J3t

IS!

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY

371

AN INTERESTING ARTISTIC APPLICATION
It is possible to show how this plan of bringing
out the middle voice may be employed by quoting
my pianistic setting of the lovely Irish Tune from
County Deny. The melody is believed to be very
old and was collected by Miss J. Ross, of Limavady,
County Derry, and the melody was first published
in the Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of
Ireland. It is a tune very susceptible to modern
harmonic treatment, and if the student will play
the first measures with the method of bringing out
the melody notes in the inner part as we have de-
scribed it, he will see that very rare effects may be
produced,

No* 5t Slowish, but not dragged, and wayward in time.

M, M, ^ '* between 72 and 104.
Rvbdo H fempo, e no* troppo lento.

Eightlidt f up -}-}.- ;h-'rr-*r
WiL Uownl l/UL_l/i iA-lLJ-J/l

GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

..f\

_IHlO A JTO ^ sA*A ;A:A JA

NEW EFFECTS WITH THE PEDAL
Modern pianism has brought into vogue certain
pedal effects which were only employed by the most
iconoclastic a few decades ago. A very striking
effect of diminuendo, for instance, can be produced
by what I call "half -pedaling." The problem is to
melt from forte to pianissimo through the use of
the pedal. By 'Tialf-pedaling" I mean repeatedly
lifting up the damper pedal just so high that the
dampers only partially arrest the vibrations of the
strings, thereby accomplishing a gradual diminu-
endo. In the following three last measures of my
Colonial Song for piano the notes marked with
stars are gradually melted away by this process in
the second bar of the example, though this is not
the case with the other six notes, the keys of which
are pressed down silently before the half-pedaling
begins, so their dampers are not affected by the
movements of the damper pedal These six notes
are thus heard vibrating on to the very end of the
piece.

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY

373

^ o

cr*

o S
3 to

o .

^3

o o

Cu -*

2-e
-S.

f

li

5' 2.

I S.

n

D

374 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

It seems to me that we live in an age in which
the piano has again come very much into its own.
The developments of the last fifteen or twenty years
seem to me enormous. Again let me say that this
is a period in which the piano is not merely a prac-
tical and serviceable medium for expressing noble
and touching musical feelings of a nature not es-
pecially limited or adapted 1 to the piano or any other
particular instrument, but in which the very soul
and body of the instrument, all its most individual
peculiarities and idiosyncracies, are especially
catered for, and in which the technical aspects of
the piano are developed to a degree and in a manner
so that they are able to play an emotional and highly
soulful role.

AN INSPIRED PERIOD

Composers such as Scarlatti, Couperin, Qinpm
and Liszt at once leap to one's mind as creative
geniuses of this particularly high pianistic type.
They have not only written great music for the
piano, such as the giants Bach, Beethoven, Brahms,
but the greatness of their achievement lies in the
peculiarly pianistic note of their style and of the
elements contained in their works that prove un-
usually stimulating and developing to pianists play-
ing them. Though personally I feel perhaps the
deepest attraction in the works of men such as
Bach, Wagner, Grieg and Frederick Dclius, in

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 375

whose creations the inventive germ and the inner
musical idea and emotion comes always first, and
the instrument or instruments employed are com-
paratively secondary considerations (men who com-
pose much the same kind of music whether they
write it for organ or chorus or piano) ; still I feel
we can hardly ever value the refreshing stimulating
incentive (especially for the executive artists per-
forming such works) found in the work of men
whose gifts lie to a great extent in the power to
concentrate on the physical nature of the particular
instrument employed and who are capable of quaff-
ing technical and color resources to the very dregs
as it were.

It seems to me we live in a period in which such
technically inspired composers for the piano
abound, and I think the results to pianists of all
the new and fresh and lovely and startling piano
creations that have appeared in print since, let us
say, about 1900, have been extremely rich and their
importance and benefit impossible to exaggerate.
Pianistically speaking, it seems as if there never
had existed a more prolific period than the present.
What diversity ! What contrasts between the work
of Albcniz and Cyril Scott, Debussy, Ravel, Schon-
berg and Qrnstein.

PIONEERS IJT A NEW FIELD
At the risk of mentioning a very incomplete list,

376 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

I wish to specialize on those composers whose piano-
forte works I have had the pleasure of being the
first to introduce into many different countries on
my tours in various parts of the world, as follows:
Debussy, Ravel, Cyril Scott, Frederick Delius, Al-
beniz. At various times I have had the joy of in-
troducing these men for the first time to audiences
in England, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, and I know no privilege more
enticing and no event connected with a performer's
career more satisfying and exciting and worth while
than being able to introduce the torch-bearing works
of new iconoclasts to broad-minded audiences all
over the world, hungry and eager for beautiful new
things.

The soulfully sensuous and wistfully tender and
pathetic creations of the modern French composers
have occasioned a reaction against "banging" and
over-energetic virtuoso playing in general for which
we can never be too thankful They have rcintro-
duced certain types of charmful pianism that had
been neglected since the days of Coupcrin ami
Scarlatti. They have also opened our eyes to the
entrancing beauties of certain long pedal effects,
which are particularly convincing in Debussy's
Reflets dans I 3 em, Pagodcs, and in Ravel's J>w.r
d'eau and Oudines. There are, after all, many very
purely percussive and bell-like and gong-like effects
peculiarly native to the nature of the metallic mod-

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 3/7

ern piano which lay dormant until so wonderfully
developed by Ravel and Debussy, which no doubt
they owe in part, if not chiefly, to their contact with
Gamalans and other Eastern instruments and mu-
sics.

CYRIL SCOTT'S UNIQUE ACHIEVEMENTS
There are certain possibilities of the modern
pianoforte that it seems to me only Cyril Scott has
known how to utilize to their fullest extent. Mod-
ern musicians have long been profoundly attracted
to irregular rhythms of every kind. As early as
1899 I was myself busy evolving a style of rhyth-
mically irregular music in which every bar-length,
every beat-length, could have a duration that had
no regular relation whatever to those preceding or
following it. If our present system can be described
as "meter in music/' then what I was attempting
might be termed "prose in music/' These experi-
ments of mine led Cyril Scott to pursue highly or-
iginal developments of his own,

It is one thing to write highly irregular rhythms
for chorus or orchestra or chamber combinations;
it is another tiling to get such rhythms accurately
performed, with complete unanimity between the
different j>erfonncrs! Cyril Scott realized that the
absolute solo nature of the piano offered unique
op;ortrniti<s, It is far easier for a single per-
fon,, * t " lce complex rhythms than for

378 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

several musicians playing or singing together to do
so. Therefore the most successful and revolution-
ary developments of irregular rhythms yet in print
can be studied in Cyril Scott's piano works, such
as his great Sonata, Op. 66, his Suite, Op. 75, and
such entrancing and highly original and significant
smaller numbers as the following from his Poctns
for piano The Garden of Soul-sympathy, Bells,
The Twilight of the Year, Paradise Birds, etc.

As a pianistic colorist he has exploited the metal-
lic, bell-like, clanging upper octaves of the piano in
ways no other composer has, producing brittle iri-
descent cascades of chord-sounds that have a capti-
vating charm wholly their own.

Apart from all this, Cyril Scott's music most
soulfully expresses one of the most interesting,
noble and poetic artistic personalities of our age.

THE INFLUENCE OF SPANISH GIPSY Music
It is highly interesting to trace the influence of
guitars, mandolins, etc,, in such pieces as Debussy's
La Soiree dans Grenade and Minstrels, Ravel's
Alborada el Graziosa, and Albeniz's Iberia. Albcniz
developed the "two-hand" technic perhaps more'
than anyone else. His piano style might also be
nicknamed a "concertina" style, so much does it
consist of "right, left, right, left," devices, Al-
beniz seems to me to give us a volume of sonority,
a dashing intensity and glowing brilliancy that have

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 379

been lacking in composers for the piano since Liszt
and Balakirew, and without which we should be
very much the poorer. At other times the vibrating
gloom of his music suggests old Spanish pictures.
But in all his phases he appears to me a real genius,
occupying a wholly unique and precious niche
amongst the greatest pianistic composers of all time.

A NOTABLE CONCERTO

Frederick Delius's Pianoforte Concerto in C
Minor is to my mind the most important, the most
deeply musical and emotionally significant concerto
produced for several decades. It is not merely a
fine pianistic concerto, but apart from all that a
glowing representative work by one of the greatest
creators of all time. To many keen observers of
modem compositional developments, the great
Frederick Delius seems to tower above most or all
of his contemporaries because of the irresistible
emotional power, passion, and inner sincerity of
his creations, A wizard in orchestration, a harmon-
ist second to none, it is the human soul behind all
his other marvelous qualities that marks him out
as a genius among geniuses, and makes him so par-
ticularly touching and endearing, and accounts for
the unique position among modern composers held
by Delius in England, Germany, Holland and else-
where, and the extraordinary international vogue
of such complex creations as Brigg Fair, Paris*

380 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

Dance Rhapsody, Sea-drift, Appalachia, Mass of
Life, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, etc.
His polyphony is marvelous and 1 has an indefin-
able Bach-like quality that is no less noticeable in
his emotional make-up and in the non-effect-seeking
sincerity and depth of his whole being and utter-
ance. His artistic soul is akin to great cosmic men
such as Bach, Wagner, Goethe, Walt Whitman,
Milton he is most at home in great broad lines,
and his work glows with a great lovingness, almost
religious, in its all-embracing and cosmic breadth.

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXVI

PERCY GRAINGER

1. Give some of the chief differences between
piano playing of twenty years ago and the piano
playing of today.

2. Give the names of some composers whose com-
positions are peculiarly pianistic.

3. In what class of instruments does the piano
properly belong?

4. From what oriental instrument did Debussey
learn much?

5. Why is it desirable to emphasize certain notes
in chords?

MODERNISM IN PIANOFORTE STUDY 381

6. What have been some of the chief innovations
of Cyril Scott?

7. Tell something of the pianistic accomplish-
ments of Albeniz.

ALEXANDER LAMBERT

BIOGRAPHICAL

Alexander Lambert was born at Warsaw, No-
vember i, 1863. His first teacher was his father,
Henry Lambert At the age of ten Alexander
played for Rubinstein, who was much impressed
with his talent, and gave the boy's father a letter
to Julius Epstein at the Vienna Conservatory. At
the conservatory he remained for four years, gradu-
ating with a medal shortly after he was sixteen
years of age. When seventeen he moved to Am-
erica, whither his parents had come. Here he de-
veloped his repertoire, through self-study, for three
years. When twenty he returned to Europe, and
toured Germany and Russia with the great Joachim,
Moszkowski then took a great interest in the young
pianist, and, in addition to dedicating a work to
him, advised him to go to Weimar to study with
Liszt. At Weimar he remained for many months,
under the direct guidance of Liszt Returning to
America he appeared as a soloist with the orchestras
of Seidl, Damrosch, Van der Stucken, and made
highly successful appearances in recitals in New
York, Boston, Chicago, and other cities. At the
age of twenty-three, Lambert started in to teach,
and soon found himself at the head of the highly
successful New York College of Music, where he
remained as director for eighteen years, Severn!
of his pupils have appeared at important concerts
here and abroad with notable success.

382

AI -KX AN DICK J < A M BICRT

PROFITABLE PRACTICE

Venus
WASTED PRACTICE

ALEXANDER LAMBERT

WASTED PRACTICE AT THE OUTSTART
THE more experienced the teacher the more evi-
dent it is to him that no one can make a set of
practice rules or a practice plan that would cover
all cases. It is extremely difficult to get away from
generalities, because each individual pupil is dif-
ferent from any and every other pupil and to
make a hard-and-fast law for practice that would
fit all would be like making one pair of spectacles
and expect that pair to fit the eyes of many dif-
ferent people. The simile is an interesting one for
if there can be so much difference in the focus of
different eyes imagine what an immense difference
there must bo in the mental focus.

The first general rule for the teacher to observe
in the practice of the beginner is to leave nothing
undone to make the practice interesting and en-
thusiastic. The pupil should go to the keyboard
alive with interest. It does not make much dif-
ference how the teacher accomplishes this so long
as he really does it You will find hundreds and
hundreds of theories about how to teach, but they

883

384 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

are all worthless unless the teacher has the power
to grasp the essentials in connection with each case.

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE CHILD
The teacher must, of course, see the interesting
side of music himself. That is, he must see it
through the eyes of the child. The pupil comes
with a face that is a picture of unwillingness. He
should leave the studio with a face beaming with
the excitement of having learned something beauti-
ful and profitable. Some people are able to do this
and some are not Those who can create that kind
of enthusiasm which charges the pupil with the de-
sire to work and work hard until the next lesson
are the successful teachers. They outstrip many
who may have better technical equipment and who
wonder why they do not succeed by parading the
fact that their training has been the most elaborate
of any of the teachers in town.

After all, the one great thing in all education is
simply results. If you want to know the greatest
secret of how to become a successful teacher, pro-
duce results, not ordinary, mediocre results, but re-
sults that are so artistic and so thorough that they
cannot fail to command respect and attention. My
friends used to say to me when I was director of
the New York College of Music, "Mr, Lambert,
you are very successful you are a good business
man," It always made me laugh, as I never felt

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 385

that I was a good business man at all I simply
worked for results and saw that the practice of my
pupils was resultful.

Before leaving the subject of enthusiasm, we
might note that the pupil's attitude toward practice
should have the serious attention of the teacher at
all times. Most of the difficulties are easily remed-
ied if the teacher is watchful. He should by no
means glue his eyes on the keyboard alone. For
instance, the face is a good barometer of the pupil's
mental and nervous condition. Making faces indi-
cates a nervous strain which, if not eradicated at
once, will prevent one later on from acquiring an
easy and graceful way of playing.

AN UNDISTURBED STUDY PLAN
The need for a good study plan or course is very
important, and once the pupil has been advised that
a certain course is best suited to his needs let him
keep steadfastly on until he reaches some definite
aim. Much time is wasted because the pupil is
twisted one way and the other by people, who, how-
ever well meaning, are upsetting the teacher's plans
and the pupil's work. Some pupils hold their ears
open for all the foolish criticism imaginable.

''Why, my clear, you are practicing all wrong.
The $XYZWX$ method would never permit you
to practice in that way!"
The pupil thinks a moment and replies, "But

386 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

my teacher has been turning out successful pupils
for years/'

Then the "well-meaning" friend answers:
'That has nothing to do with it. Nobody thinks
of studying by any other method than the
$XYZWX$ method in these days/'

The pupil runs off to the brand new and incom-
parable method. After a little while some other
well-meaning friend comes along with another in-
fallible method, and the pupil is again torn up from
her regular practice, "by the roots" as it were, and
planted in a new educational hot-box guaranteed to
produce results finer than anything ever produced
before. For this reason I have made it a practice
not to criticize pupils of other teachers. All teachers
have their own ideas and are entitled to think as
their judgment prompts. It is most unjust to
criticise the work of another teacher in good stand-
ing, as one may not perceive the purposes for which
the other teacher is working. By criticising un-
fairly, all the pupil's confidence in his teacher (and
therefore the confidence he should have in his prac-
tice periods) is distorted, and instead of an cajjer,
positive, active pupil, we have a weak, listless wan-
dering student who never reaches his goal"

REDUNDANCY IN PRACTICE
In the early stages of musical progress the pupil
should be counseled to watch his own work so care-

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 387

fully that he may determine at home whether he
works correctly or not which passage needs repe-
tition and which does not. And often even a simple
little melody requires hard work. Good practice is
intelligent repetition, but there is little intelligence
in repeating anything without concentration of
mind. Concentrate upon the difficult passages and
work on them until they sound as fluent and simple
as the ones that are now easy to you.

Indeed, one of the chief aims during practice is
to develop the critical sense* Have you ever
thought of it in that way? All the time you are
working with your fingers at the keyboard you
should be busy in your brain building up those
faculties which discriminate very nicely indeed be-
tween what is artistic, effective, or beautiful, and
that which is weak, banal or ugly. After all, the
sum and substance of your musicianship apart from
your actual keyboard work depends upon the mental
balance or artistic right and artistic wrong which
you should be building every moment during your
practice.

Of course the advice of your teacher is in the
first place of great value, in informing you upon
those art principles which define beautiful playing
and careless playing. There are certain laws of ex-
pression which have to do with form and design
with which every teacher should acquaint his pupils,
but the working out of these principles is done in

388 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

the pupil's own mind and nowhere else. Practice
that does not lead to this is certainly worthless.

If you were to listen to someone else playing you
would be "all ears" for false notes, bad phrasing,
poor pedaling. Listen to yourself in the same way,
as though a stranger were playing one might al-
most say as though a rival were playing. This
makes for concentration and is always profitable.

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

The student should constantly realize how thor-
oughly practice is a matter of body building and
brain building. There are times when practice is
more injurious than beneficial. If the bodily health
is bad the student should lessen his practice efforts
or even stop entirely until better physical conditions
are obtained. No teacher is smart enough to give
a music lesson to a headache, a bad case of indiges-
tion or la grippe. If any one of your pupils happen
to be the victim of "legitimate," sickness let him
stop until he recovers. You may lose a little in
lesson fees, but why waste your time, your strength
and your knowledge trying to teach when teaching
is impossible?

The capacity of some students is limited That
is, they can take just so much at a time and do it
well. It is much the same with the practice period.
Practice as long at one time as you can practice
well, and do not try to crowd one or two months'

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 389

work into one hour. Do everything you do as
finely as you possibly can, even though you succeed
in learning no more than a few measures. You
may be very fond of ice cream soda, but if you
attempt to devour five or six glasses of soda water,
one right after the other, the result will be painful.
Yet pupils are constantly doing much the same
thing in their practice periods. I wonder whether
it is not the American spirit of restlessness? We
find it hard to concentrate long upon one thing.

Too much work is worse than too little. The
pupil who spends so many hours a day at the key-
board that he is obliged to put himself in the hands
of the doctor or the masseur loses all the time and
money he has spent upon his music and accom-
plishes nothing in the bargain.

KEEPING THE RIGHT MENTAL ANGLE
It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that
years are wasted every minute through unintelli-
gent practice. This is by no means always the fault
of the teacher, as he cannot supply intelligence. He
can merely strive to set up habits which will make
the student more exacting.

When the student starts to practice that is,
practice in such a way that he will get something
out of his work, he should direct his mind as
definitely and as certainly as though he were taking
it to another room a kind of chamber of practice.

390 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

While his mind is in that imaginary room there
should be no intrusions from the outside, no looking
out of the mental windows. This does not apply
only to pieces and to studies alone, but to all modes
of practice everything.

For instance, my experience has shown me that
scales are invaluable and I use them constantly with
all pupils in all grades. The pupils are taught from
the very first to concentrate upon the scales, just as
though they were playing the most difficult piece.
Their eyes never leave the fingers and the mind is
constantly at work disciplining the fingers, insisting
upon correct hand positions, controlling the touch,
etc. Variety is to be had by practicing scales with
special attention to any of the following matters,
all equally important:

TOUCH

STRENGTH

SPEED

LIGHTNESS

SURETY

LOOSENESS, ETC.

Any one who has practiced scales right in these
ways never professes to be bored with them. Many
of the great pianists feel the necessity for a thor-
ough and continual playing of the scales. The
student who tries to do without them is making a
very serious mistake indeed.

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 39!

PRACTICE MUSICALLY

The worst kind of practice is perfunctory prac-
tice. The key board is a kind of treadmill for
thousands of students. They play and play and
play, and never consider the musical side of their
work In fact, there is very little difference be-
tween their work and that of an actor who might
take Hamlet and recite it with the same sing-song
that children use in saying the multiplication tables.
In all your practice with pieces, every note, every
motive, every phrase, every section you play, should
be filled to the utmost with musical expression. That
is, you should not leave a phrase pass under your
fingers unless it has meant something to you. It
should have passed 1 through your consciousness and
should carry a message to other ears, a message
which is a part of you.

Do not do this in the hardest possible way. Take
the natural, simple way be yourself. Some un-
fortunate pupils imagine great effort, wrinkled
foreheads and nervous anxiety will lead to results
in practice* Quite the opposite is really true. Let
your mind and your fingers do the work, not your
face. If you wanted to walk gracefully you would
not begin by putting your feet and legs in outrag-
eous shapes and staggering along like a cripple.
Learning to play is in some ways like learning to
walk, Don't learn to stagger and stumble by per-
mitting yourself repeatedly to stagger and stumble.

392 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

All work at the keyboard is for control. Control
does not come about by forgiving little slips, getting
stupidly excited or making blunders. Every pupil
can get hold of himself and retain that hold so that
mistakes become the exception instead of the rule,

REGULARITY IN PRACTICE
The great virtuoso who may never have given a
lesson in his life and may have forgotten all about
the conditions which existed during his student
days, who may have been so talented that his case
was no criterion by which the work of other less
gifted pupils might be judged, often gives the fol-
lowing advice:

ef Practice when you feel like it 9 '

That is all very well for the virtuoso who has
already acquired a giant technic, but over thirty
years of experience with pupils in all grades, dur-
ing which I have given personally thousands of
lessons, has shown me that the only safe course for
the average pupil is to

"Practice regularly or not at all"

Young pupils should report for their practice
hours every day, just as they report for their school
work. Pupils think that they can skip a day now
and then without affecting their work so long as
they "make up" by practicing three or four hours

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 393

on one day. Absurd! This is like going without
food for a week and then eating ten dinners one
right after the other to catch up.

In fact, the main advantage in regular practice is
that the mind goes to it after regular periods of
rest The mind must be fresh and clear every mo-
ment Constant watch must be kept for unneces-
sary movements. In these days of efficiency in
manufacture we learn that all unnecessary move-
ment is waste. Any intelligent piano teacher could
have told the so-called efficiency engineers that all
good music pedagogs have been fighting to do away
with unnecessary movements for years. Indeed, it
has gotten down to such a fine point now that the
fingers are never raised higher than just enough to
strike the notes effectively. There was a day when
the fingers were lifted to exaggerated heights, but
then men began to think in this way the high step-
ping horse is rarely the strong horse or the very
fast horse. Indeed, the race horse is almost never
a high stopper when he is at his best. If we wanted
to learn to run we would not start by lifting our
knees to our noses.

The amount of practice to be done each day Is
something which is wholly a matter of the teacher's
discretion. Each teacher has his ideas upon this
subject, and does things in his own way, so I feel
a little delicate about telling my own, but I never
permitted any of my pupils to practice over foqr

394 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

hours. My only advice to pupils upon assigning
work to be studied is to say, "Do as much as you
can learn perfectly/' If the pupil docs only three
measures I am satisfied so long as those measures
are as nearly perfect as possible. For the average
pupil of eighteen, in good health, three, or, at most,
four hours a day is ample. More is likely to be in-
jurious. Some years ago I prepared a card giving
advice to students upon the subject of practice.
This is so nearly identical with what I am giving
tod'ay that it may be interesting to reprint this card.
It has gone into the hands of thousands. Indeed, I
see nothing in my advice of two decades ago that
I would care to alter very radically today.

ADVICE TO STUDENTS

Always practice systematically.

Seldom practice over four hours a day. Don't
think that by practicing six or seven hours a day
you will become a greater artist than he who prac-
tices four hours a day. Your fingers cannot stand
so long a strain, and if you persist, they will take
their revenge a few years later, when your fingers
will begin to lose their strength and surety, A
student who cannot accomplish much in four hours,
will not in six,

Divide your hours for practicing thus; one hour
and 1 a half in the morning; the same in the after*
noon, and one hour in the evening,

PROFITABLE PRACTICE VERSUS WASTED 395

In the morning devote half an hour to five-finger
exercises and scales, half an hour to your etudes
and half an hour to your sonata or piece. Do the
same in the afternoon. The hour in the evening
may be devoted to reviewing your last lesson,

Do not practice your whole lesson every day;
divide it into equal parts. You can learn one page
a day, where you could not learn two or three.

Always practice slowly and carefully. If you
come across a difficult passage, practice it with each
hand separately, repeating the passage first slowly
and with strength, and then faster and more softly
until you have mastered it

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECIINIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXVII

ALEXANDER LAMBERT

L What is the first general rule in all pianoforte
practice?

2, How may a pupil's mental and nervous condi-
tion Ixi readily detected?

3, What should be one of the chief aims during
practice?

4, How should the pupil listen during practice?

5, How should physical health govern practice?

6, State six things which should be considered
during scale practice.

396 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

7. Why should the pupil endeavor to discover
the easiest form of practice?

8. What are the great advantages of regularity
in practice?

9. How long should one practice daily?

10. How should difficult passages be conquered?

ALBERTO JOXAS

ALBERTO JONAS

BIOGRAPHICAL

Sefior Jonas is known as a Spanish virtuoso, but
in reality he is a cosmopolitan in every sense of
the word 1 . He has lived in nearly all the capitals
of Europe, and also he resided for many years in
America. His learning is wide and comprehensive
in other lines than music. The fact that he speaks
Spanish, French, German and English with equal
facility has enabled him to make researches in many
departments of science and literature in many coun-
tries. He has devoted much special attention to the
nerves in pianoforte playing and has a thorough
understanding of the physiological aspect of the
subject, Senor Jonas was born at Madrid, June 8,
1868. After study in Spain he graduated at the
Brussels Conservatory, winning the first prize in
pianoforte playing and two first prizes in harmony,
Later he studied with Anton Rubinstein in St.
Petersburg, and made an international reputation
as a pianist

397

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING

ALBERTO JONAS

NEURASTHENIA, THE AMERICAN DISEASE
MUSICIANS, notably music teachers, have the
reputation of being nervous, and since America has
been called by many "the country of nerves" it
would seem that American music workers should
be sufferers. This, however, is by no means an
exclusively American disease nor are the only vic-
tims to be found among the American musicians,
Pathologists, nevertheless, acknowledge that there
is a great amount of nervousness in America and
this is not said in the way of being a slur upon the
country or its people. Inasmuch as an American
physician, Dr. George M. Beard, as long ago as
1881 wrote a book entitled American XcrrmtsncM,
Its Causes and Consequences, in which he dwells
upon the fine organization of native Americans,
their delicate skin, hair of soft texture and small
bones, there can be no offense when American nerv-
ousness is discussed.

MUSICIANS USUALLY KNOW Limp. OF CAUSE

Musicians who know little of other professional

work than their own, naturally have only a very

vague idea of the nature of nervousness or its

causes. They do not realize that nervousness is in

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 399

part the result of heredity, of environment, of per-
sonal habits and of mental attitude, With heredi-
tary nervousness, the musician has little to do. He
may guard his own habits of health to protect the
nervous organization of his descendants, but it is
only disconcerting to learn that he may himself have
had an ancestry tending to predispose him towards
nervousness. His environment, however, is a very
different matter, That at least is partly open to his
control, and moreover his habits may be regulated
so that many "acquired" forms of nervousness may
be avoided,

The musician should also know that the normal
cure for nervous conditions is not to be found so
much in medicine bottles as in work accomplished
without hurry or flurry, but with care and a happy
mind plenty of rest, the right food and the right
mental attitude (state of mind). The healthy, well-
balanced person whose nerves begin to give way un-
consciously seeks rest or finds a remedy. The
musician, however, is kept up to a high tension by
the enthusiasm for his work and his ambition to
excel He forgets his health and before one knows
It there is a disastrous breakdown which enforces
months of idleness. When he does discover that he
is nervous, he promptly sets out to nurse his nerv-
ousness and ultimately makes it much like some
grievance or some trouble for which he feels him-

400 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

self in no way responsible and for which he is
ready to blame any person or any thing,

A SELF SUGGESTED COMPLAINT
Putting aside heredity and pathological condi-
tions, nervousness comes under the head of self-
suggested complaints. If one were to isolate the
microbe of nervousness it would probably be found
that it was nothing other than the magnification of
self, although on the contrary in some cases it
might be laid to the neglect of self.

Take the matter of food, for instance. Musicians
eat at all hours, consume rich viands, often hurry
through their meals and some unfortunately are ad-
dicted 1 to the over use of alcohol I do not refer
now to those who indulge in wine or beer occasion*
ally, but to those who consume the very strong
drinks. As a matter of fact, there is less alcohol
in a glass of well-brewed beer (German beer has
3 1 /2%) than in a poorly cooked potato, A raw po-
tato contains 65 $> of alcohol. Nevertheless, tin*
books by specialists on nervousness are filled with
injunctions against the abuse of alcohol which i* a
most excellent fuel and motive power for machin-
ery other than the human stomach.

I have seen American musicians rush back to
work directly after a meal just like their brethren
in the American business world. The German or
the Frenchman rests after his meals, rests for per-

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 401

haps half an hour and then returns refreshed with
his digestion undisturbed by business cares. There
can be no question that dyspepsia and nervousness
are closely connected in many cases. Get the best
book you can upon diet and eating, the right selec-
tion of food's, etc., and then use all of your will
power to create habits of correct eating. This may
show in your playing and study. Who knows, it
may be just what you need most to get rid of
nervousness.

THE AMERICAN TEMPERAMENT AND NERVES
America is a land of such amazing opportunity
that the musician, like the business man, keeps him-
self constantly under a great strain to get ahead.
No one can tell me that the Americans are not
temperamental but many misconstrue the meaning
of temperament and imagine it must be a form of
nervous agitation. On the contrary it is a highly
developed nervous organism under adequate control
of the will It is a lively exuberance and forceful
expression of the feelings, In music it includes
enthusiasm and the ardent desire to do justice to
the beauties of a composition, The temperamental
player will put more emphatic force in his strong
utterances. He will give more passionate expres-
sion to phrases of love, sorrow, courage and despair.
On the other hand, he is by the very nature of his
art apt to step over the bounds. This exaggeration,

402 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

which is ruinous to the interpretation of a great
master work, is quite as apt to come from lack of
the right artistic balance or judgment as it is from
lack of a strong nervous system, but it probably
comes more frequently from the latter.

SOME WONDERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
In order that the musician may gain a better idea
of the marvels of the nervous system and perhaps
a higher respect for the wonderful piece of physio-
logical machinery which we all have within us, I
would suggest that he secure some good simple
work upon the nerves and do a little close reading.
In the first place, the number of nerve cells in the
body is prodigious. Of course they have never
been counted because it would be almost as easy to
count the stars in the firmament. Estimates, how-
ever, place the number of nerve cells in the human
body at hundred's of millions. Yet all these are
connected in some mysterious and wonderful man-
ner with the brain and the spinal cord. Sever cer-
tain nerves in your arm and you may apply a burn-
ing brand to your hand without feeling it. This
illustrates how closely connected is (he nervous
system with the brain, Although you seem to feel
pain in your finger when it is pricked with a pin,
the sense of pain is after all in the brain, This is
a very important fact for musicians to note. There
are inferences which might be drawn therefrom

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 403

which if properly understood would easily show
how the pupil may be saved hours of labor by the
right mental control

Each nerve cell or neurone may be said to be
independent, an anatomical physiological unit living
by itself but at the same time connected with other
nerve cells in a manner so marvelous that it is be-
yond the province of words to describe it. Nervous
breakdown is usually caused by the slow disintegra-
tion of the nerve cells and nerve fibre. In some
cases this disintegration has no serious outward
signs. In other cases the hair commences to fall
very rapidly, muscular action is less coordinate, at
times even erratic, and the memory commences to
weaken* Beware of these signs of nerve decay. It
is time for you, Mr. Pianist, to investigate yourself
and strive to build up your nervous organism.

SOME THINGS THE PIANIST SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT NERVES

The pianist should know first of all that every
effort requires nervous expenditure. That is, the
something which caused the effort that was con-
sumed in making it It then becomes necessary for
new nerve force to form. Just as a storage battery
which has been used up needs to be charged again,
the nerves must be re-charged with force for future
endeavors. The storage battery gets its re-charge
from the dynamo; but whence comes the force

404 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

which re-charges the nerve cells no one really
knows. The nutrition of the nerve cell is, however,
in large measure dependent upon the blood supply
and it may be assumed that anything which will
improve the condition of the blood will at the same
time make for better nerves. It may also be seen
that the circulation of the blood must be kept in
the very best possible condition.

There is no more stupid way in which the pianist
or the piano student can waste his time than by
long continued 1 periods of practice without relaxa-
tion, general bodily exercise and plenty of deep
breathing. A quick walk around the block, inter-
spersed with good full breaths, often restores the
nerve force and insures progress. For that reason
short practice periods and many of them are better
than one long period.

ARE PIANISTS ESPECIALLY LIABLE TO

NERVOUSNESS?

I do not think that pianists are more liable to
nervousness than people in other professions as a
result of the fact that the pianist is continually hit*
ting with his highly sensitized finger tips all day
long. As a matter of fact, the violinist exerts far
more pressure upon the fingerboard of the violin.
In other words, note for note the physical force de-
manded in the case of the violinist is greater than
in the case of the pianist Piano playing in itself

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 405

does not promote nervousness. One has only to
judge by the well-known performers. Most of the
virtuosos I have known are exceptionally strong
persons, with hearty appetites and good nerves. The
great pianist must have fine nerves. He would
never be able to stand the strain otherwise.

Nervousness comes to those who have not yet
learned how to control themselves mentally and
physically. The little teacher who worries and
frets all the time who tortures her life with imag-
ining that awful things may occur and who takes
every set-back as a calamity she is the one who is
the victim of neurasthenia. The teacher imagines
that because success does not come at once she
must be lacking in talent or is going behind. Real
success in music study is at the end of a long
journey. The piano student must learn to control
his nerve-breaking eagerness to rush ahead.

SOMK THINGS THE PARENT SHOULD KNOW
Nervousness at the practice hour is by no means
unusual, and piano practice in itself may be made a
source of nervousness if proper conditions are not
observed 1 . The pupil should always practice in a
room alone. There is nothing which makes the
pupil more nervous than petty disturbances such as
people passing in and out of the room, annoying
parental admonitions, other children playing in
neighboring rooms, I insist upon the pupil having

406 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

a comfortable chair during practice. There are cer-
tain positions in sitting and standing which are a
great strain upon the nervous system. Ease at the
keyboard can never be attained unless the pupil
learns to sit easily and comfortably during practice,
not on a revolving stool balanced like a performer
in the circus, but upon a substantial comfortable
chair.

Another matter which has to do with nerve strain
is vision. See to it that the distribution of light in
the practice room is right The windows (and like-
wise the artificial light) should be behind or at the
side of the performer, never in front of him. Eye
strain may tire the pupil ancf lead to nervousness
almost as quickly as in any other way. Many peo-
ple are nervous and yet do not know that the cause
could be removed by a good oculist. Another cause
of nervousness which very few might suspect is the
position of the music on the music rack* In the
case of the grand piano the music is somewhat
higher than in the case of the upright piano. Con-
sequently when the music rack is too high the
player's neck is held in a strained position. For
this reason also (and for other reasons too), I dis-
courage sitting too low at the piano. It forces the
player to strain his neck, when reading music. All
the great network of nerve ganglia located at the
back of the neck is then strained

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 407

THE NERVOUS PUPIL AT PRACTICE
When playing, the Inexperienced pianist with ten-
dencies toward nervousness seems for the most
part afraid of missing notes or of forgetting some
complicated passage. He does not seem concerned,
however, over the equally important subject of
whether his tone will be uniformly fine or whether
his touch will be beautiful, whether the dynamic
treatment will prove effective and within the canons
of well-poised aesthetic judgment, whether the
pedals are well employed, whether his playing will
show a clear "distribution" or outline as regards the
proper distinction of phrases, sections, periods,
episodes, also of contrasts and climaxes. Yet were
he to give serious, conscientious thought to all this
while playing, he xvould in all probability not have
time nor inclination to fret about accuracy or mem-
ory. Nervousness is often nothing more than self-
consciousness unduly magnified over the real signifi-
cance of the player's artistic message.

All this presupposes, of course, that the per-
former has completely mastered his piece. Mastery,
that is a wonderful insurance against nervousness.
I <Io not mean to say that anyone who has mastered
a piece can not be nervous, but mastery brings a
confidence hard to describe in any other way, When
the pianist knows that he can play a work accurately
and safely, and also beautifully, he should not fret

408 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

If he does fret, he should look to the piece quite as
much as to his own nerves.

But if one searches deeper, particularly into the
psychological aspects of the subject, one will often
find that underlying it all is a wrong, and let it be
said frankly, not very noble attitude of mind. The
performer is afraid because he consciously or un-
consciously craves the applause and flattery of the
listener. This should not be so and indeed is never
the case with the true artist. He is, of course, glad
if the audience understands him, he is also glad of
the success and for all the good it may bring with
it But should the audience fail to respond and the
apparent success not yet be his, then he should
quietly investigate whether he has accomplished
what he had set out to do, or whether the selections
he had played were too deep, too abstract, or too
new for the average audience to understand. There
is certainly no real occasion for nervousness. The
performer will honestly and sincerely criticize this
performance with a view to future improvement
and there will be no sterner nor fairer judge than
he.

Therein lies the strength of the true artist with
the view to future improvement. That thought will
ever console him, for the artist lives in a world of
ideals which he strives to reach, knowing full well
that he will never quite attain them. Often an artist
is greeted with great applause after the perform-

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 409

ance of a piece, but at the same time he realizes that
he has not done his best. The true artist will forget
the enthusiasm of the audience and set out to im-
prove the defective passages even though the audi-
ence was mistaken.

Therefore whether the artist plays well or not
well he will always strive to improve his work,
cither by keeping it up to the fine standard he
usually attains or by endeavoring to excel his own
past at future performances. The performer thus
becomes a constant student of his own playing the
most absorbing subject he can possibly take up.
How can such a performer big or small entertain
the fear thought? He has far too much on his
mind to think of worry or nerves. He approaches
his task of playing for others without fear or trepi-
dation, but rather with the spirit of sincere in-
vestigation. Nervousness in public playing then be-
comes an impossibility because his aim and reward
He higher than the immediate applause.

PRACTICAL TECHNICAL ADVICE ON NERVOUSNESS
Viewed from the practical, that is the physiologi-
cal or technical standpoint, the nervousness of the
pianist occurs mostly in the changes of the hand
{tosition at the keyboard. The more skips there are
In a composition, the greater is his fear of missing
notes. He has therefore to learn by painstaking
exercise to control himself more and more carefully

410 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

when changes of position occur. On the other hand
"too much care will kill a cat," and he must acquire
the necessary abandon and confidence in himself
and attain the desired accuracy without seeming
concerned about it.

How closely nervousness is connected with fear
must be evident to anyone who has observed closely.
Every soldier who goes into battle for the first time
is afraid. If he manages to stick to his post while
the bullets whiz past his head it is because disobe-
dience or retreat would bring him death with equal
certainty. It is only after repeated experiences that
the soldier learns to keep cool while danger sur-
rounds him on all sides. In the same manner it
takes repeated experiences for the performer on
the concert stage to master the courage which makes
him oblivious of the audience.

Do not minimize that matter of courage. Were
I to epitomize every conceivable requisite of good
nerve control, whether intellectual, physical or
moral I would choose that word courage as embody-
ing them all. It takes courage at all times to make
the nerves subservient to the will, courage to regu-
late one's life habits, courage to be oneself when in
the presence of others, courage to entertain one's
own artistic convictions courage, COURAGE,
COURAGE.

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 411

SENSIBLE REMEDIES FOR NERVOUSNESS
Let us consider for a few moments some of the
sensible things which may be done to remedy some
states of nervous trouble. Of course no one must
suppose that there could be anything written in an
article of this kind that would supply the assistance
which only a trained physician can give in advanced
cases of nervous breakdown. However, I am cer-
tain that there are a number of simple things which
may be controlled and which will unquestionably
help the musician, teacher, and student, if a little
patience and persistence is employed to pursue these
cures.

First of all the nervous musicians should remem-
ber, as we have previously said, that nervousness is
often largely a matter of pose and self-conscious-
ness. Like the child who cries only when some one
is around, many people have nerves which are for
exhibition purposes solely. Their manifestations of
nervousness are really nothing more than appeals
for sympathy. What is this but a mental angle, a
wrong way of looking at tilings? Get out of it.
Fight it Be sincere and genuine, and you will
realize that the world is not going to stand or fall
because of the manner in which you play a certain
piece. When a man looks for sympathy what he
needs most of the time is a good kick Those who
deserve sympathy get it without begging for It
It would be a splendid thing if some of the

412 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

nervous music teachers, or rather those who think
they are nervous, should read Moliere's delightful
satirical comedy Le Malade Imaginairc. The im-
aginary sick man simply does not want to be cured,
and it is not difficult to see how the tired teacher
could take some very slight nervous disturbance and
nurse it into a genuine case of neurasthenia.

RIGHT LIVING FOR Music WORKERS
We are living in an age when there is a colossal
appeal for higher and higher efficiency. The so-
called efficiency expert places first of all good bodily
health. Standards of musicianship constantly
ascend so that one simply must possess good nerves
to keep "in the swim/' Here are a few of the
essentials which in my opinion lead to good nerves.

1. Good healthy, simple food 1 , cooked without
unnecessary strong spices, eaten at leisure amid con-
genial surroundings and with an untroubled mind,
not swallowed down in haste, with the mind wor-
ried by the care of the day. Food, of course, is
assimilated in the stomach, but when one realizes
how much the mind affects the circulation of the
blood and the administration of the gastric juices
in the stomach, one perceives how important the
right mental condition during meals really is,

2. Abstinence from strong stimulants. If you
have any doubt upon this subject, get almost any
book on nerves, and you will find that the evidence

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 413

is uncompromisingly against the abuse of alcohol,
or in fact any drug destined to affect the nerves.
An exception might in some cases be made of well-
brewed beer or good wine, partaken of in modera-
tion.

3. Good moral habits. It need hardly be empha-
sized that immorality of any sort will in time under-
mine the strongest nervous system. It is the surest,
quickest, deadliest, enemy of good nerves.

4. Plenty of work, physical and mental, done
tvith joy.

5. Exercise in the open air, not occasionally but
every day. Deep breathing, when in the open air,
done every day.

6. In so far as possible, consistently early hours
of retirement

7. Sensible regulation of the day's work. Don't
practice four hours one day and one-half an hour
the next If nerves are not helped by pose they are
helped by poise. Think a little is this the wise
thing or is it a foolish thing? Your intellect was
given you to guide you. Don't rush from a hurried
lunch to a game of lawn tennis or a moving picture
show. See that intervals of repose come between
your intervals of energy. Attend to this for a
few months and you will surely note a difference in
your nervous condition,

8. Freedom from worry. Get rid! of the idea or
the habit of worrying, else all remedies for nerve

414 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

betterment will fail Musicians, perhaps through
too much confinement and long sedentary labor, are
prone to worry about things of very little real con-
sequence. Here again is the magnification of self.
Just jot down somewhere the fact that you and all
of your petty troubles will be out of the way only
a very few years hence. This is a world of trouble
or a world of joy pretty much as you choose to look
at it I do not mean with this to advocate callous-
ness or indifference to the real issues of life. What
I mean is that most of our worry is misplaced, As
for real causes for grief, these will be dealt with
according to our greater or lesser strength of mind
and of purpose and to the stoutness and faith of
our heart. No acfvice can be given here. Shake-
speare has said it. Everyone can master a grief
but he that has it,

9. Method and calm deliberation as to the dis-
tribution of your work and the disposing of the
many things that have to be done daily: letter writ-
ing, telephone calls, visits, etc. If you find your-
self confronted with a number of things to do, do
not fret, but just take hold of the very first at hand
and dispose of it calmly and with care.

10, Get joy out of your work.

THE HABIT OP NERVE COXTROL
I am of the opinion that by practice one can de-
velop habits of nerve control that are in themselves

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 415

remedial For years many musicians have retained
that absurd idea that fighting and fussing and
blustering was temperament and they have actually
cultivated it. No wonder they are nervous. Unless
they first of all cultivate the habit of repose they
will continue to be nervous for the rest of their
lives. They seem to develop a kind of artificial
eagerness to get things done before they can possibly
be done. If you are in a train, remember that you
will not get to your destination until the train gets
there. As a well known German author has said,
"Don't travel with your train, your auto, or the
street-car ; let them carry you/' Do not strive men-
tally or nervously to push the car forward with
every turn of the wheel This impatience is the
juggernaut which grinds down more nervous sys-
tems than almost anything else excepting drugs.
Sit down at the keyboard with the spirit of im-
patience in your mind and everything you play will
be marked by nervous flurry.

Do you realize that nerves may be disciplined into
behavior almost as naughty children are disciplined?
If you set out to do something and forget what it
was that you wanted to do before you have accom-
plished it, if you drop or fumble everything you
take hold of, if you do not seem to be able to "hit
a right note" when playing, remember the trouble
is not in your hand's or arms, but in your head, in
your mental poise. The median, radial, ttlnar and

416 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

musculospiral nerves control the muscles of fingers,
hands and arms. But the nucleus of all these nerves
is situated in the cortex, in the head, whence arc is-
sued the orders that set these nerves in motion.
Quiet your mental self, gain command of it, and
watch the immediate change in the greater quiet
and certainty of your motions. At one time I was
exceedingly nervous and this in fact was what set
me to work studying the condition. I went to a
noted Berlin specialist and' he enjoined me to hold
out my hand with the palm downward* Of course
there was a nervous trembling so characteristic and
so annoying. "Now," he said, "hold the hand in
front of the body, the arm not at full length but
slightly bent, with the fingers not quite stretched
out straight. Now continue gazing at your fingers
and soothe by thought until the relaxed hand ceases
to tremble." The thought indeed seemed to soothe
the nerves and after a little time spent in gazing the
condition was much bettered After this he hru!
me turn the palm downward and repeat the exer-
cise. The simple turn of the hand resulted in pro-
ducing the trembling again but with the treatment
of fixing the eyes and concentrating the attention
upon the hand I soon found that it became quite
calm. I practiced this exercise several times each
day for many weeks with the result that my nerve
control was so much improved that my hand stop-
ped shaking and trembling entirely. Since then

NERVOUSNESS IN PIANO PLAYING 417

my nerves have become exceedingly strong and
quite subservient to my will This is a form of
cure with which very few people are familiar and!
I consider it extremely valuable. It is especially
useful for pianists.

An equally ingenious test of nervousness is to
procure a small vial like the old fashioned homeo-
pathic pill bottle and put a little mercury or quick-
silver in the bottom. Mercury can be secured at
any good drug store. Clasp the vial with the tips
of all five fingers and hold it with the top up. If
you are in a state of poor nerve control the mer-
cury will dance in the liveliest fashion. If your
nerves are fairly well under control the mercury
will l>e calm on the surface. It is extremely unusual
ever to see the mercury absolutely calm even in the
cases of people with very steady nerves.

A VKRY VITAL NEKD

There is unquestionably a need for more con-
sideration of the subject of nerves upon the part
of Amertaon musicians. If I have given any ad-
vice in the foregoing which may prove advanta-
geous to my American musical friends, it will give
me great pleasure to know it, My attention has re-
cently been called to a quotation from an article by
Dn Smith Ely Jelltffe, Editor of the Journal of
Nervous and Mental Diseases which emphasizes my
point It reads, "Let it be remembered by the older

4l8 GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING

generations and taught to the younger, that train-
ing and economizing of nerve force arc vitally im-
portant to health and efficiency and that the great
workers achieve their ends by that very quality of
nervous energy, which if dissipated degenerates into
nervousness/'

QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRES-
SION AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING

SERIES XXVIII

ALBERTO JONAS

1. To what is nervousness generally clue?

2. In what is the normal cure for nervousness to
be found?

3. What is temperament?

4. How do long-continued 1 periods of practice in-
jure the student's work?

5. Are pianists especially liable to nervousness?

6. Write out ten remedies for nervousness.

7. State how habits of nerve control may be cul-
tivated.