Piano Playing Part 22

There are but two methods in all the arts: a good one and a bad one.

Since you do not specify with what "other" methods you wish to compare that of Leschetizky I cannot answer you with definiteness. There are, alas, so many "methods"! But the majority of them are based upon a deliberate disregard for that reverence which is due to great compositions and to the example of their rendition given by great interpreters. I have not studied with Leschetizky, but I think that he believes in a very low position of the hand and a sort of super-energetic tension of the tendons of the arms and hands.

[Sidenote: _Give Your Teacher a Fair Trial_]

Has a young pupil, after studying the piano irregularly for two months, tested fairly a teacher's ability?

Of course not! Altogether I do not like the idea of a pupil's testing his teacher's ability, rather the reverse. He may possibly find his teacher unsympathetic, but even this matter he is apt to judge prematurely. In most cases of irregularly attended or poorly prepared lessons the lack of sympathy means nothing more than that the pupil is a trifler and the teacher's honesty of purpose is not to his taste.

[Sidenote: _Either Trust Your Teacher or Get a New One_]

I have a "Piano Method," left over from lessons with my first teacher; it was very expensive, and I learned only a few pages of it. We moved to a different city and my new teacher objects to using the book, or, as she says, any such book. I do not know what to do about it, and would thank you for your advice.

When you apply to a teacher for instruction you must, first of all, decide in your own mind whether you have or have not absolute confidence in his ability. If you trust him you must do as you are advised to do; if not, you must apply to another teacher. A book, costing much or little, plays no part in the matter. By what you say of the new teacher, however, I am disposed to think that he is better than the first one.

[Sidenote: _The Proper Course For a Little Girl_]

Commencing piano lessons with my seven-year-old daughter, should I devote my efforts to the development of the fingers and hands, or r.e.t.a.r.d such development so as to keep pace with the expansion of the mind?

Your question is interesting. But if your mind is clear on that point--and it seems to be--that a one-sided development (in this case technical) is dangerous to the "musical" talent of your little daughter, why, then, your little girl is, indeed, "out of danger." Your very question is a credit to your insight.

[Sidenote: _Frequent Lessons and Shorter_]

Is it better for a young student to take one hour lesson or two half-hour lessons a week?

Since young students are liable to form bad habits it is essential that they should come under the teacher's eye as frequently as possible.

Hence, it is preferable to divide the hour into two equidistant parts.

[Sidenote: _Number of Lessons Depends on Progress_]

Which plan is better for a child of eleven or twelve years: to take a one-hour lesson or two half-hour lessons a week?

The child's age is not the determining factor in this matter; it is his musical status.

[Sidenote: _One Lesson a Week_]

Is one lesson a week inadequate for a piano student?

It will be sufficient in the more advanced stages of piano study. In the earlier stages, however, where the danger of forming bad habits is greatest, it is best to bring the pupil under his teacher's eye twice a week at the very least.

[Sidenote: _Better Not Give the Child "Modified Cla.s.sics"_]

What little cla.s.sics are best for a child after six months' lessons?

There are collections without number of facilitated or simplified arrangements of cla.s.sic pieces, but I do not altogether approve of them.

Let the cla.s.sics wait until the child is technically--and, above all, mentally--ripe to approach such works as they are written.

[Sidenote: _Can Music Be Studied in America?_]

Is it necessary for me to go to Europe to continue my music studies?

If you have very much money to spare, why not? You will see much, also hear much--and some of it not quite so sublime as you antic.i.p.ated--and, last but not least, you will have "studied abroad." While this slogan still exercises a certain charm upon some people in America, their number is growing less year by year, because the public has begun to understand that the United States affords just as good instruction in music as Europe does. It has also been found out that to "study abroad"

is by no means a guarantee of a triumphant return. Many a young student who went abroad as a lamb returned as a mutton-head. And why should there not be excellent teachers in America by this time? Even if you should insist upon a European teacher you can find many of the best in America. Is it not simpler that one teacher from Europe go to America to teach a hundred students than that a hundred students should make the trip for the sake of one teacher? I should advise you to stay where you are or go to Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, where you can find excellent teachers, native, resident Americans and foreigners. To quote a case in point, let me say that in Berlin I found G.o.dowsky's pupils to be almost exclusively Americans. They came from various sections of America to study with him and with no one else. But during the eighteen years he spent in Chicago they did not seem to want him. Perhaps he was too near by! Why this self-deception? Without mentioning any names I a.s.sure you that there are many teachers in America now who, if they should go to Europe, would draw a host of students after them, and some of these excellent men I know personally. It is high time to put an end to the superst.i.tious belief in "studying abroad."

MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS

[Sidenote: _Organizing a Musical Club_]

Please give me the name of a good book on musical history and advise me how to organize and conduct a musical club among my pupils. Also give me a name, please.

You will find the "History of Music," by Baltzell, a serviceable book.

As a name for your club I suggest that of the patron saint of music--Saint Cecilia--perhaps, or that of a great composer. Ask the secretaries of a number of musical clubs for their const.i.tutions and by-laws and then adapt these to your locality and circ.u.mstances. Make your pupils feel that it is their club and act, yourself, as secretary, if possible.

[Sidenote: _How to Get Music Published_]

Please explain how to go about publishing a piece of music, and also give the name of some good publishing houses.

It is very easy to publish a piece of music if the publisher sees any merit in it. Send your piece to any publishing house whose name you find on the t.i.tle pages of your sheet music. The readers or advisers of the house will report to their chief as to the merit of your piece, and he will then decide and negotiate with you, if his decision is favourable.

If he should not care for it he will return your ma.n.u.script and you may try some other house. I advise you, however, to obtain the opinion of a good musician before you send your piece to a publisher.

[Sidenote: _"Playing in Time" and "Playing in Rhythm"_]

What is the difference between playing "in time" and playing "in rhythm"?

Playing in rhythm refers to the inner life of a composition--to its musical pulsation. Playing in time means the prompt arrival upon those points of repose which are conditioned by the rhythm.

[Sidenote: _The Student Who Cannot Play Fast Music_]

I find great difficulty in playing anything that goes quick, though in a more moderate tempo I can play my pieces faultlessly. Every teacher I had promised to develop my speed, but they all failed. Can you give me a hint how to overcome my difficulty?

Quickness of action, of motion, even of resolution, cannot be acquired by training alone; it must partly be inborn. I a.s.sume that your piano-playing is one phase of a general slowness. There is but one remedy for that. You have relied upon your teachers to develop your speed--you should have relied upon your own will-power. Try to will it and to will it often; you will see the ability keep step with the exertions of your will.

[Sidenote: _"Wonder-Children" as Pianists_]

My child of five years of age shows signs of great talent for music. He has a keen, true ear, and plays rather well for his age. Does this justify me in hoping that something out of the ordinary will become of him? They say that so-called "wonder-children" never amount to anything in later life.

That "wonder-children" never amount to anything in later life is not borne out by history. If some are disappointments it is either because they astonished by mere executive precocity, instead of charming by their talent, or because they were ruined by unscrupulous parents or managers who confounded the promise of a future with its realization.

But, aside from these few, all great musicians were "wonder-children,"

whether they became composers, pianists, violinists, 'cellists, or what not. The biographies of our great masters of the past centuries as well as those of more recent times (Mendelssohn, Wagner, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Rubinstein, and all the others), will bear me out in this statement. If your child shows more than mere precocity--if, for instance, he does not merely play in his fifth year what others play in their tenth, but shows qualities of musical superiority--then you may with a fair degree of certainty feel hopeful of a fine musical future for him.

[Sidenote: _The Value of Going to Concerts_]

Shall I attend orchestra concerts or shall I give preference to soloists?

By all means attend orchestra and chamber-music concerts! For these will acquaint you with those works which are, after all, of the greatest importance to the student. Besides, you will usually hear more correct interpretations than from soloists. The latter, with some luminous exceptions, overestimate their own authority and take such unseemly liberties that in many cases you hear more Smith, Jones, or Levy than Beethoven, Schumann, or Chopin. Individuality in a soloist is certainly a great quality, but only if it is tempered by a proper deference to the composer of the work in hand. If you cannot hear a soloist who is capable of sinking his individuality in the thought, mood, and style of the composer he is interpreting--and this is given to only the very greatest--you do far better to prefer to the "individual" renditions of a soloist the "collective" renditions of the orchestra or string quartette. The synthetic nature of the orchestra forestalls the extravagances of so-called individuality and insures, generally speaking, a truthful interpretation. The very worst conductor imaginable cannot do as much harm to a composition as can a mediocre soloist, for an orchestra is a large body and, therefore, not so easily moved and shifted from the path of musical rect.i.tude as is a single voice or an instrument. A really great soloist is, of course, the finest flower of the garden of applied music, for his touch with the instrument is immediate and he needs no middleman to express the finest shades of his conceptions; while the conductor--and even the best--has to impart his conception (through the baton, facial expression, and gesture) to other people before it can become audible, and on this circuitous route much of the original fervour and ardour may be lost. But there are more good orchestras than great soloists, and hence you are safe in attending orchestra and chamber-music concerts.

[Sidenote: _Books That Aid the Student Working Alone_]