IANO MASTERS

ERJES

TARRIETTE BROWP:R
I
PIANO MASTERY
SECOND SERIES
PIANO MASTERY
SECOND SERIES
TALKS WITH MASTER PIANISTS
AND TEACHERS
INCLUDING CONFERENCES V MANN, GODOWBKT,
GRAINGER, POWELL, NOVA) OTHERS;
ALSO HINTS <; BY MRS.
MACDOV-
1 J03EFFY
*

WER
of the Pianist"

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
I
PIANO MASTERY
SECOND SERIES
TALKS WITH MASTER PIANISTS
AND TEACHERS
INCLUDING CONFERENCES WITH HOFMANN, GODOWSKY,
GRAINGER, POWELL, NOVAES, HUTCHESON AND OTHERS;
ALSO HINTS ON MACDOWELL*S TEACHING BY MRS.
MACDOWELL, AND REMINISCENCES OF JOSEFFY

BY
HARRIETTE BROWER
Authot of "Piano Mastery" and "The Art of the Pianist'

WITH ilXTEEN PORTRAITS

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
 Copyright, 1917, by
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
Copyright, 1915, 1916, by
THE MUSICAL AMERICA
Copyright, 1915, 1916, by
THE MUSICAL OBSEBVEB COMPANY

Copyright, 1916, by
OLIVER DITSON COMPANT

All rights reserved,

including that of translation into
foreign languages
 CONTENTS
PAGE
PRELUDE ix

PERCY GRAINGER . . . Freedom of Thought in Piano

Study 1

JOSEF HOFMANN . . .
Inspiration in Piano Playing . . 18

GUIOMAR NOVAES . . . The Gift of Music 30

JOHN POWELL .... "Art the Expression of Life" . 39

ARTHUR SHATTUCK . . The Pianist Should Cultivate

Many Sides of Art .... 53

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY . . The Laws Governing Technic

and Interpretation 61

CARL FRIEDBERQ 80

YOLANDA MRO ... The Beautiful in Music .... 88

ERNEST HUTCHESON . . Technic and Interpretation . . 100

MR. AND MRS. A. K.

VIRGIL The Necessity of a Thorough
Foundation 114

EDWARD MACDOWELL . . Related by Mrs. Edward Mac-

Dowell 125

RUTH DEYO The Technic of Interpretation . 134

MARTINUS SIEVEKING . . The Dead-Weight Principle . . 147

MARGUERITE MELVILLE-
LIBZNIEWSKA .... The Art of the Teacher . . .168
MRS. H. H. A. BEACH . How a Composer Works . . .179
LEO ORNSTEIN .... Sanity in Music Study .... 188
 Contents

HAROLD HENRY . . . Fundamental Principles .... 201

HENRY HOLDEN Huss Elimination of Mechanical

Etudes 208

RICHARD BUHLIG . . The Value of Learning to Hear 215

MISCIIA LEVITZKI . . The Development of a Natural
Technic 224

ETHEL NEWCOMB . . Mental Problems in Piano Study 233

RAFAEL JOSEFFY . . By Some of His Pupils .... 242

KATE S. CHITTENDEK Simplified Piano Technic . . .255

AUGUSTA COTTLOW . . Technical Essentials in Piano
Study 264
 ILLUSTRATIONS
Percy Grainger Frontispiece
PAGE
.18
Josef Hofmann
Guiomar Novaes
.

......
. . . . .

30
John Powell
Leopold Godowsky
Yolanda Mero
...... 40
62
88
Ernest Hutcheson 100
Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil 114
Edward MacDowell 126
Ruth Deyo 134
.164
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach
Leo Ornstein
....
Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska . . .

. .180
188
Henry Holden Huss . . . . . . 208
Mischa Levitski 224
Rafael Joseffy . 242
 PRELUDE
Encouraged by the success attending the
appearance of PIANO MASTERY, Volume 1, a
Second Series of Talks with great pianists and
teachers has been prepared, at the request of
the publishers.
In arranging the present volume, it was
desired to include not only those who have
become known to fame, but also those of the

younger school of pianists who have achieved

recognition for special gifts. Anumber of the
latter have been included in the present vol-
ume. Lack of space, however, has prevented
the inclusion of many more rising young
artists who otherwise would surely have found
a place in this collection.
It is earnestly hoped these familiar confer-
ences with eminent pianists will be helpful and
inspiring to all lovers of good music.
HARRIETTS BROWER.
150 West 80th Street,
New York.
 PIANO MASTERY
SECOND SERIES

PERCY GRAINGER
FREEDOM OF THOUGHT IN PIANO STUDY
WHEN Percy Grainger, the Australian
pianist and composer, arrived in America he
was not known as a player and but little as a
composer, although a couple of his works for
orchestra had been performed during a former
season. When he gave his first recital, he
proved to be a pianist of solid attainments and
also of unusual freshness and charm. His
playing, his compositions, hispersonality, went
straight to the hearts of his hearers; he soon
found himself the lion of the hour; success at-
tended each subsequent appearance.
It has been aptly said that a musician can
do little or nothing without enthusiasm. In
Percy Grainger, the quality of enthusiasm is

1
2 Piano Mastery Second Series

a potent force in his character and career. Ac-

cording to his own testimony, he loves to play,
to compose, to teach, to visit new lands, to
become familiar with new people. has the He
youthful buoyancy that welcomes with eager-
ness each new event and experience.
To come into personal touch with Percy

Grainger, to hear him in recital and with or-

chestra, is to be conscious of an entirely new
series of experiences. Personally you feel here
is a particular kind of mentality, one which is
care-free,untrammeled ; of most gentle spirit,
yet bold and heaven-storming when bent on
carrying out a purpose. Perhaps the words
original and unconventional would apply,
though no words can aptly describe so unique
and complex a nature. At one moment he
speaks of the homely matters of everyday
living, with the utmost simplicity; at the next
his remarks bespeak wide knowledge of men
and affairs, of various countries and peoples.
Whether he thoughtfully fixes a serious,
searching gaze on you, or whether his face is
sunny with smiles, you have the same impres-
sion of the utter sincerity and single-hearted-
ness of the man, of the radiant vitality of his
individuality.
It is the same when he plays. Sincerity
 Percy Grainger 3

shines through everything he does, and the

buoyancy of a fresh, earnest, healthful spirit
carries you along with it. There is no flag-
ging of energy, no moment of languor, all is
vital and alive. At times his playing is elec-
trifying. To hear him deliver the opening of
the Tschaikowsky B minor Concerto is the
most exciting experience; something that car-
riesyou off your feet like a whirlwind. As a
pianist remarked to me recently, "A recital by
Percy Grainger always makes one feel happy,
inspired and ready to meet everything."
Although it has been my privilege to confer
with Mr. Grainger at various times, it is pleas-
ant to recall the memory of our first conver-
sation, .We wereseated in the sitting room of
their apartment in the hotel, and Mrs. Grain-

ger had just poured tea for us. She might

easily be taken for an elder sister of the young
artist, instead of his mother. The same sun-
bright hair, clear blue eyes and fresh ruddy
color. She is his devoted and constant com-
panion, accompanying him everywhere. You
feel they must both have lived much in the

open, have tramped "o'er moor and fen," have

been steeped in fresh air and sunshine.
"I had not expected to come to America at
this time," began Mr. Grainger; "but we came
4 Piano Mastery Second Series

primarily on account of my mother's frail

health, which I am happy to say she has re-
gained in this country. My European tour,
embracing many concerts, had of course to be
relinquished on account of the war. We sailed
at three days' notice, and our intention was to

stay two or three months at the most. It looks

now as though we would remain in America
for a long time.
"My mother, who is an excellent musician,
was my first teacher. She began with me when
I was five, and worked with me constantly,
two hours daily, for five years. This was in
Melbourne, Australia, where I was born. We
left there when I was twelve. At about the
age of ten I appeared in public and my career
as pianist began. My teacher at that time
was Professor Pabst, who subsequently be-
came connected with the Moscow Conserva-
tory. When we came to Germany, I went to
Professor Kwast, at Frankfort, with whom I
remained six years. Later I studied with Bu-
soni, whom as pianist and teacher I most
deeply revere.
"Together with playing and composing, I
have found some time for teaching, though this
work suffered frequent interruption on ac-
count of my tours as a pianist. But I enjoy
 Percy Grainger

teaching immensely ;
it is such individual work ;

it is like conducting in its effort to bring out

the meaning of the composer by means of an-
other medium or mentality. It is showing
others how to express the idea. This is where
the true teacher can so greatly assist the stu-
dent, by being able to show him exactly how
various effects are to be made, provided, of
course, the pupil is anxious to learn how. As
for methods of teaching technic, I do not in
general care for them; I avoid them. They
are often only an excuse for laziness, as they
prevent the pupil from thinking for himself.
As for technical training, he can get it after
the foundation is laid in the pieces he studies.
I do not believe in set rules for technic; if the
player wants to turn his hand upside down
and play with the palm uppermost, I dare say
he could do it, if he worked at it with the same
zeal that he does with the accepted position.
In other words, I believe we should inculcate
principles of technical freedom and individual-
ity in every player.
"Pupils often come to study with me from
the various countries where I have played. I
have appeared frequently in Scandinavia and
Holland, and have had numerous pupils from
both those lands, as well as from England and
6 Piano Mastery Second Series

the Colonies. The Dutch are a very musical

people. I might say English

and American
pupils are perhaps the most talented, but their
talent takes the form of doing things easily.
There talent that acquires all with hard
is

work, and another sort that achieves without

great lahor.

THE SENSE OF EHYTHM

"You ask if I approve of the metronome. I
certainly do; and it is amusing sometimes to
see how different the mechanical idea of

rhythm is from the true sense and feeling for

it. We can also use the metronome for work-
ing up velocity.
"In regard to the natural feeling for rhythm,
I don't find people in general so deficient in
this quality as is so often imagined. The com-
mon peasant, with no cultivation whatever, has
an innate sense of rhythm. It will not har-
monize, I grant you, with the beat of the met-
ronome, but it is a very forceful and indi-
vidual thing. He will put a swing and 'go'
into a popular air which can never be found in
mechanical rhythm. Mechanical means may
be necessary in the student's early stages, espe-
cially if the learner has not a just conception
of the various note values.
 Percy Grainger

MENTAL PROCESSES DURING PERFORMANCE

"About mental processes during actual per-

formance of the piece in public, it is difficult
to speak, as so many subtle influences are
brought to bear. It is to be regretted that the
custom prevails of playing everything without
notes. I think many a fine pianist
is greatly

worried over the fear of failure of memory.

This may affect his playing; it may prevent
the freedom of utterance he might have, were
he relieved of the fear of forgetting. All pian-
agree that it is a great mental strain to per-
ists

form a long and exacting program from mem-

ory; it isno wonder that even the greatest art-
ists occasionally forget. It is no crime to have
a lapse of memory, though it is annoying, espe-
cially if one is playing with orchestra. This
has never happened to me; if it ever should I
think I would treat the situation quite calmly;
perhaps I would go and get the notes I always
have them with me or I would look over the
conductor's shoulder, assure myself of the
place and then go on. The great thing is to
have presence of mind in such an emergency.
If one is not very strong physically, or if a
great deal depends on the result of one's per-
formance, the strain of performing an exacting
8 Piano Mastery Second Series

program in public, from memory, is greater.

Of course it is not artistic to
play badly, so
it were much better to have the notes in front
of one than to produce poor results. Most
artistswould play more naturally with notes
before them if accustomed to use them. Fear
often destroys the perfection of what might be
a fine rendition. The
comfortable, the ideal
way, I suppose would be to really know the
piece from memory and yet play from the
notes.

ART IS NATURAL
"Art the expression of natural impulses;
is

therefore I do not believe in being fettered by

many Rather I believe in being as nat-

rules.
ural and free as possible in the working out of
artistic ideals at the instrument. For instance,
I do not believe in people striving to acquire
a certain pianistic style they are not fitted for.
If the hand is small and the physique delicate,

why not keep the dynamic scale small? Why

not play with delicacy and fineness, instead of
striving to become heroic? Pachman, for in-
stance, is a pianist whose limitations are to a
certain extent responsible for his greatness. It
is said he never makes a real
fortissimo; but
 Percy Grainger 9

we admire his delicacy and finesse and do not

wish him to strive for great power.

TECHNIC GROWS OUT OF HABIT

"The technic of an art is, to a certain extent,
mainly habit. I do believe in habit. get We
used to measuring skips, for instance, with
eye
and hand, until we can locate them automatic-
ally, from habit. It is the same with all sorts
of technical figures; we acquire the habit of
doing them through constant repetition.
When the mechanical part has become auto-
matic, we can give the mind fully to the emo-
tion to be expressed. For I do not believe you
can feel the structure of the piece and its emo-
tional message at the same time. For my own
part I am not much concerned about how the
piece is put together I think of it as music, as
;

the expression of natural impulses, desires or

aspirations.

PEDAL AND MELODY EFFECTS

"When teaching piano, I make a great
study of pedal effects with my pupils. Many
fine effects of diminuendo can be made with

quick half pedaling. The subject of pedaling

is none too well understood; most wonderful

tonal colors can be produced by an artistic

10 Piano Mastery Second Series

use of the pedals." Mr. Grainger seated him-

self at the piano and played a brilliant passage

ending with sustained chords, for which latter

he used shifting, vibrating pedals with charm-
ing effect.
"Another point I make is the bringing out
of a melody note above the other tones of a
chord; that is to say, making one tone in a
chord louder than the rest. This is not new, of
course, but students forget to study it. The
ability to bring out a desired tone comes with
practice, for not easy to accomplish at
it is

first. Most learners think they must play such

chords forte, whereas the best way to study
them is piano.

PIECES THAT IMPROVE TOUCH

"Many of the modern French compositions
are very useful in developing sensitiveness of fin-

ger,and I make much use of them with pupils.

From Debussy Reflets dans I'eau, and Pa-
godes may be chosen; also the Ondine and
other pieces by Ravel. From Cyril Scott take
the Lotus Land and Sphinx, also the set of
five Poems; all are valuable as touch develop-
ers. I find little attention is given to the study

of pianissimo effects; these pieces give one

much opportunity to acquire delicacy.
 Percy Grainger 11

DELIGHTS OF STUDY
"Do not imagine I want less study because I
seek to avoid many formalities. Study is the
only thing I care about in life, but I love the
study of nature as well as art. No one can
study too much; but let us have the heart of
everything, not only the formal side. I like
to study the language of a people, but rather
the phonetics than the grammar.
"To me art is
joy. The more intensely stu-
dious the artist, the more joyous will he be
in his art. To my mind everything connected
with art and the study of art, should be easy,
natural, individualistic, untrammeled and in-
stinctive. Above 'Von innen
all instinctive;

heraus.'
"In art there no escaping from one's true
is

inner nature; neither for beginner nor for fin-

ished artist. It seems to me the teacher should
not strive to teach any one pupil the entire
gamut of pianistic technic, but concentrate
rather upon those phases of it to which the
pupil seems physically addicted, or emotionally
attracted.
"One hour spent in practicing a phase of
music for which a pupil has a natural physical
or imaginative ability, will generally prove
12 Piano Mastery Second Series

more than many hours devoted to

fruitful

problems towards which the pupil is less in-

stinctively impelled.
"Let each student and subsequently each
choose those compositions that contain in
artist
abundance the particular pianistic styles for
which hisemotional and physical nature equips
him. This course will make for individuality
in the artist's repertory, and tend to banish
samishness from concert programs.

BEGINNING MUSIC STUDY

"Beginners at the piano need to learn so

many things at the start. There is the train-
ing of eye, ear and hand, the learning of notes
and note-values, together with all sorts of
movements. If students could have thorough
drill in these things before they come to us,
how much greater progress they would make
in the real business of playing the piano I
"As to instructing beginners, I find natu-
rally no necessity for doing this on the piano;
but I have taught beginners on the mandolin
and guitar. I am fond of the combination of
these instruments with strings and have writ-
ten a number of compositions for a small body
of string players. I play the guitar myself,
and so does my mother; I have a special
 Percy Grainger 13

method of performing on it. I prefer to take

an out-and-out beginner on this instrument
than to take some one who has played it a good
deal, and be obliged to show him all over
again."

NEW INSTRUMENTS
Mr. Grainger had much to say about com-

posing for a small orchestra.

"Very interesting to a modern composer,"
he remarked, "are the several newly invented
or perfected instruments, such as the Mustel
organ, the various Saxophones, the Haeckel-
phone; also the percussion instruments, such
as the Marimbaphone, Bass-xylophones, Res-

onaphone, and the like. The tone of most of

these new instruments is fairly delicate and
sensitive, and would be swamped or lost in a
modern mammoth orchestra. My own feeling
is that it is in combinations of chamber music
that these smaller, subtle, but highly charac-
teristic instruments come into their own, and
are heard at their full value. The
latter-day
tendencies are not toward noise and tonal ef-
fects on a gigantic but rather toward
scale,

delicacy, sensitiveness and, above all, trans-

parency of color. Personally, I enjoy best of
all writing for combinations of let us say
14 Piano Mastery Second Series

six to twenty instruments, such as four strings,

celesta, English horn, two guitars and resona-

phone. Or such a combination as this: five

men's voices, Mustel organ, four woodwind in-
struments and six strings."
Some of Mr.
Grainger's compositions
already published embody the folk tunes of
various countries in new and original forms.
Those for piano include Shepherd's Hey,
Green Bushes, Country Tune, and Colonial
Song; these are also scored for full orchestra.
They can be obtained for a smaller company
of players, even as. small a number as twelve.

Percy Grainger has been called by Runci-

man "the one cheerful, sunny composer liv-
ing." Finck says of his music: "One really
feels tempted to say that these are the best
things that have ever come to us from Eng-
land." Other critics have written much in
praise of his compositions. "He catches us
up and whirls us away in the spirit of the coun-
try dance." "His music sounds like the dawn-
ing of a new era." "Such genuine humor and
wit, such enthusiasm, such virility and masterly

musicianship as Mr. Grainger shows are met

with only on the rarest occasions in a musi-
cian of any country. Indeed it is doubtful if
 Percy Grainger 15

allthese qualities are combined in any other

composer now before the public."
These are words of high praise, from well-
known authorities. We should rejoice to find
a composer who can write in a healthy, sane
and buoyant spirit. We
do not want to be
forever in the depths, racked by violent un-
healthy emotions we want to be on the heights,
;

in the sunlight, whenever we can reach such

altitudes.
Mr. Grainger's compositions are popular in
England and on the Continent, and bid fair to
become equally so in America. Like most
true artists, he feels strongly that "wars or
rumors of wars" should not be allowed to up-
set the internationality of art. The young
Australian is deeply touched by the true spirit
of artistic neutrality he has met on all sides in
New York, amongst musicians of every na-
tionality, and he points with pride to the fact
that some of the best criticisms he has received
in America have appeared in the German

newspapers. He is no less proud of the high

spirit of neutrality which permeates English
musical life at present. Not long ago two
large festivals of German music, one devoted
to Brahms, the other to Wagner, were held
there. Another "Festival of German Music"
16 Piano Mastery Second Series

isshortly to be held in London, side by side

with a "Festival of British Music," in which
the works of Cyril Scott, Frederick Delius,
Stanford, Elgar and Percy Grainger figure
largely. At present Frederick Delius, the
great Anglo-German composer, and Percy
Grainger run one another very close in popu-
larity. Mr. Grainger is boundlessly enthusi-
astic over his "rival," who, in his judgment, is
the greatest of living composers.
"It is inspiring to live in an age in which
such noble and altruistic interpretations of the
universality of art are displayed," said Mr.
Grainger. "In Frederick Delius," continued
hisAustralian admirer, "German and British
qualities are most fortunately blended and
have contrived to produce a unique genius,
whose work recalls at once such creative types
as Bach, Walt Whitman, Keats and Grieg."
Mr. Grainger is gifted as a linguist and is
enthusiastic over the various tongues and dia-
lects of the different countries through which
he has traveled. He speaks German, Dan-
ish, Dutch and Norwegian, and has some
knowledge of Icelandic, Jutish, Frisian, Faro-
ese and the peasant dialects of Norway. This

acquaintance with the languages has greatly

assisted in the study of folk melodies. He is
 Percy Grainger 17

considered one of the greatest authorities on

folk songs and primitive music, having himself
collected and carefully noted down nearly five
hundred examples of traditional singing and
playing in Great Britain, Scandinavia, New
Zealand and the South Seas.
As a pianist Percy Grainger plays with
clarity of touch, variety of tone color and
splendid sweep and virility. He is able to set
the composition before the listener in well-bal-
anced proportions, and direct simplicity of
thought. One feels the composer of the work
under consideration would wish it played in
just this way, with just this directness of ut-
terance. At the same time the pianist lends
to everything he touches the glow of his own
buoyancy and enthusiasm, by means of which
well-known themes take on a new meaning and
make a new and unusual appeal.
 II

JOSEF HOFMANN
INSPIRATION IN PIANO PLAYING

AMERICANS naturally feel a peculiar inter-

est in the art of Josef Hofmann, for they have
seen grow and develop from the wonder child
it

of ten to the matured artist, who stands to-day

on the mountain height of his profession. There
must be thousands in this country who remem-
ber the marvelous exhibition of piano playing
offered by thePolish boy during the sea-
little

son of 1888, when, as a wonderful child prod-

igy, he was brought over to make his first tour
of America.
He was such a little fellow, with such a seri-
ous face, as he came upon the stage in his sim-
ple sailor suit and climbed on to the piano
stool. But we soon forgot all else, after the
orchestral prelude, when he began to play.
Ah, then it was no longer a tiny child, in a
blue sailor suit; it was a man, who grappled
with those handfuls of notes and flung them
out into space with such sureness and freedom.
18
 Josef Hofmann 19

That powerful, singing tone did not belong to

the puny strength of a child of ten. Neither
did that sympathetic reading of the score, that
understanding of the meaning of the music.
No human power could have taught him these
things it was inborn genius.
;

No wonder people went wild with excite-

ment and split their gloves in vociferous ap-
plause. It was almost beyond belief. The
climax came when this mite of a boy began
to improvise on a theme handed up to him by
chance from any one in the audience. Then
his powers were tested and not found wanting.

People shook their heads and said such pre-

cocity could not mature; that the lad would
probably never be heard from in the future.
In this they were vastly mistaken. The child
prodigy retired from the footlights and spent
seven or eight years in close study. Then he
emerged into the light and returned to us a
full-fledged artist. But that was not the end.
Josef Hofmann was never content to stand
still; it was only a milestone in his upward
flight. He
has always been at work, always
progressing, never content with present attain-
ments. Each year we have watched his growth,
have felt his art become finer, more expressive,
more subtle, until at the present moment it
20 Piano Mastery Second Series

seems wellnigh perfect. Yet the artist does

not take this view.
"There are still difficulties I have not yet
overcome, limitations beyond which I have not
passed. I have not yet all the power I desire,
nor always the ability to express every shade
of emotion I wish to portray. There is still
much I hope to accomplish in the expression
of emotion and inspiration in piano playing."
Admissions like these, coming from the lips
of such a musician, are further proofs of the
humility of the truly great artist.

Mr. Hofmann,in spite of pressing concert

engagements, permitted me to come and talk

over with him some of the phases of pianistic
art.
I found him in his apartments overlooking
the park. Afluffy white poodle took great
interest in the entrance of the visitor, but was
cautioned by his master, who held up a warn-
ing fore finger, "not to be a bore."
"You will meet my family by degrees," re-
marked the artist, smiling: "first my dog, then
Mrs. Hofmann (who entered later) and my lit-
tle daughter, Josepha." This little girl of
nine has marked ability along artistic lines, and
is already doing creditable sketches in water
color.
 Josef Hofmann 21

We spoke first of the little Polish boy, who

aroused such a furore in America at the age
of ten.
"That was in '88," said Mr. Hofmann. "At
that time I played the Mendelssohn Concerto
in G minor, also his Capriccio, and the Bee-
thoven Concertos in C major and C minor."
"Do not forget the improvising, which
seemed so marvelous to us then."
"Oh, yes, I improvised, of course."
"Surely one who has such a perfect technic,
who has solved every technical problem, can
accomplish all one desires in interpretation."
"It goes without saying that an artist in
these days must have a great technic: that is

where piano playing really begins. But I do

not consider that I yet possess a perfect tech-
nic, for I still have limitations. The artist,
however, must allow the public to guess his
limitations. There is as much art in choos-
ing the right kind of compositions as
in playing them. There are still some
pieces I would not attempt; some that re-
quire more power, for instance, than I now
have. The player should never urge his force
to the limit he must always keep something in
;

reserve. If the tone is at its utmost capacity

of production, it will sound hard; there must
22 Piano Mastery Second Series

always be some reserve power back of it. Ru-

binsteinwas capable of immense power, for he
had a very heavy hand and arm. His fifth fin-
ger was as thick as my thumb think of it!

Then his fingers were square on the ends, with

cushions on them. It was a wonderful hand,
and very large besides. Yet with all his power,
one felt he had more in reserve.

TECHNIC STUDY
"I do no technical work outside of the com-
position, for the reason that I find plenty of
technic to work on
in the piece itself. Every

passage that presents the least difficulty is

studied in minute detail, with well raised fin-
gers, clear distinct touch, always taking care
to put the finger down exactly in the middle
of each key, not on the side of it. The piece
is studied with every kind of touch, tempo and
dynamics studied till the player has com-
mand of every possible variety of tone, touch
and degree of power or delicacy. When all
these things are under control, he is ready to
interpret the composition.

IDEAL INTERPRETATION
"I repeat that only when the player has
control of the means, has he the true freedom
 Josef Hofmann 23

to clearly and adequately express himself.

Then on the nature of
his interpretation takes
an improvisation.
"There are many circumstances which influ-
ence the artist's interpretation. His prevail-
ing mood at the moment, the piano, the mental
quality of the audience, the acoustics of the
space he has to fill, and so on. I play very dif-
ferently in the concert hall from what I do at
home in mystudy. When before an audience,
I must take into account all the things I have
mentioned. If I am to fill Carnegie Hall, my
scale of dynamics is quite different from the
one I use in a smaller space. There must like-
wise be corresponding differences in touch and
tone color.
"You speak of the spiritual side of piano
interpretation. To bring out that side surely
depends on the absolute freedom and untram-
meled condition, both mentally and physically,
which one is in.
"I can affirm, therefore, that I do not know,
beforehand, how I shall be able to play the
piece, until I have tried the space, the piano,
the hearers and myself. I may be able to con-
trol every point,and to express myself with
perfect freedom, and then I may not. There
are times when it seems I have nothing to say.
24 Piano Mastery Second Series

The notes of the piece are there, an inanimate

skeleton. It is like a dinner table, daintily
laid out, where the viands are wanting, and the
listener goes away unfed.

TWO KINDS OF PIANISTS

"As I see it, there are two kinds of pianists.

The more numerous sort may master every
note, finger mark and sign of expression with
commendable exactness; everything thought is

out in the privacy of the studio. When they

come before an audience they merely transfer
this conception to the larger space, playing
just as they would at home. They always try
to play the piece in precisely the same way.
"I cannot believe this is the only way. I
cannot do it myself and my master Rubinstein
never did so. He never played a piece just as
he had played it before I cannot do this either.
;

"The other kind of artist, and their number

issmall, I admit, never play the piece twice in
just the same way. They strive for the control
which gives absolute freedom of expression.
They realize how many forces react on the art-
upon the platform even the temperature!
ist

If I am
playing the Appassionata Sonata on
a sultry day, the passion may be somewhat
 Josef Hofmann 25

milder than it would be if the temperature were

more bracing.
"It is of course necessary to plan a model
in the studio, though the performance in pub-
lic may differ from it, as it admits certain ele-
ments of improvisation. This results in a
higher artistic mastery, because it is within
certain limits free, spontaneous, and per-
sonal.
"This freedom of interpretation presupposes
the artist's mind and taste to be so well trained
as to warrant him in relying on the inspiration
of the moment. But back of it all must be his

logical plan of action. I think I can say I

belong to this small class of pianists who yield
to the inspiration of the moment and improvise
the composition at the piano.

TAKING RISKS
"If one is to play with freedom and inspir-

ation, one must strike out boldly and not hold

back in timidity or bashfulness; these are bad
faults. We sometimes see people in society
who fear to make a faux pas here or there ; so
they hold back and bore everybody, be-
stiffly
sides being very uncomfortable themselves.
The player must cast fear to the winds and
risk everything. He should be an absolutely
26 Piano Masrtery Second Series

free and open avenue for the expression of

the emotional and spiritual meaning of the
music. When one can thus improvise the com-
position, it seems that the piano no longer
sounds like a piano. It has been said that when
Rubinstein played, the instrument did not
sound like As you have heard Rubin-
a piano.
stein, you remember how different his piano
sounded from the ordinary kind; like another
sort ofmedium, or like a whole orchestra in
spite of the many wrong notes. When playing
himself he often struck wrong notes, yet in
teaching he was very exact; he could not en-
dure wrong notes or slips of any kind, in his
pupils or in himself. But in public he took the
risk! He was not troubled about the false
notes only he could present the emotional
if

content of the music in the most compelling

light.
"I heard Rubinstein play in Berlin, at his
last concert there. Moszkowski sat beside me.
Rubinstein, in
playing his Valse
Caprice,
missed all but one of those treacherous high

skips. When he hit that solitary one correctly,

Moszkowski turned to me and whispered,
humorously, 'We must excuse him, for he can't
"
see any more.'
 Josef Hofmann 27

THE METRONOME
"I notice, Mr. Hofmann, that you have a
metronome standing here. In one of your an-
swers to questions in the Ladies' Home Jour-
nal,, I believe you disapproved of it."

"That was a misunderstanding. We can-

not do without the metronome. It is the police-
man ! I may have said not to play with metro-
nome, as a true sense of rhythm cannot be ac-
quired in this way. But I never said not to
use one. On the contrary the metronome is
a necessity, for it gives us the correct idea of
tempo ; in that capacity I use it frequently.

MODERN MUSIC
"What do I think of modern music? Some
of it is only contortion; Stravinsky and
Schoenberg, for instance. Yet it is much
sought after as a fad, nowadays, from curios-
ity, if for no other reason. If one falls in a
fit on the street people run together, curious to
see what has happened. What do they see?
Contortion! The Stravinsky ballet, recently

given at the Century, was fascinating in color,

movement and ensemble, but the music was
again contortion.
28 Piano Mastery Second Series

THE PIANO AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION

"Absolute control of all means
in the per-
former's power does not belong alone to the
pianist, it may belong to the flute player, the
violinist or 'cellist. It should always be pos-
sessed by the player who would improvise his

interpretations.
"The piano the universal instrument, the
is

one independent medium. All other instru-

ments either require or are improved by an
accompaniment, even the voice. But the pian-
ist stands alone, and controls everything. He
can express every emotion, even despotism, by
means of his instrument. We often say the
piano expresses all these, really know
when we
it can say nothing at all without the pianist.

If he have many emotions and the ability to

express them, the piano will do his bidding."

PLAYING WITH ORCHESTRA

"We regret you elect to give but one recital
in New York during the season."
"But I play a number of times with orches-
tra here. You have good ones in America.
"In assisting the artist the orchestra should
take the part of an accompaniment, and
although the conductor directs it, he should,
 Josef Hofmann 29

for the time being, efface himself. This the

conductor of the New York Symphony is able
to do. After we have played together five
or six times, we come
to be in perfect accord.
A soloist ought to play with his orchestra in
smaller places before appearing in the large
cities if he wishes his ensemble to be at its best.

"Yes, I am a co-worker with Godowsky on

the Progressive Series of Piano Lessons. It
is slow and tedious business, this editing of the

various pieces required. Every finger mark

and sign of phrasing must be absolutely cor-
rect. It takes me several hours to edit a short

piece. It is work fit for a schoolmaster.

"After my touring season, we shall spend
the summer in Maine. Ah, how beautiful it

is there, by the sea! I love it. Of course

wherever I am, my time is fully taken up. In
summer I exchange the rush of travel, the
catching of trains, for the repose and quiet
of a vacation by the sea. That is when I work
on my programs and prepare the various
concertos I am to play the following season."
 Ill

GUIOMAR NOVAES
THE GIFT OF MUSIC
THE most dazzling meteor that shot across
the pianistic sky during the past season 1916
was the young Brazilian pianist, Guiomar
Novaes. We were quite unprepared for such
an apparition; we had heard nothing of her;
she came unheralded. In a season filled to the
brim with the greatest piano playing the world
can produce, she came and conquered by
sheer force of genius.
The marvel of it! Such a talent in a family
where neither the parents nor any of the eigh-
teen other children showed any special musi-
cal inclination. Hers is surely a gift straight
out of Heaven!
Many of us are familiar with the story of
how a girl developed her gifts, first
this slip of
in her own country and then in Paris, where
she took place over 388 contestants, in
first

the entrance examinations of the Conserva-

toire. At that examination her performance
so
 Guiomar Novaes 31

of Schumann's Carneval was so unusual in

the mastery of technic, so poetic in interpreta-
tion as to greatly impress the jury, composed
of Debussy, Moszkowski, Faure and other
distinguished musicians.
The young girlwas about fourteen when
she arrived in Paris, and began her studies
with Professor Philipp, at the Conservatoire.
At the end of the second year she received the
first honor, a Premier Price du Conservatoire.
After this came many engagements to play
in Paris, London, Switzerland, Germany, and
Italy, which she filled with ever-increasing suc-
cess.
Then came two years at home in Brazil,
which she spent resting, working, thinking,
growing and ripening, but playing little in
public. Late in the year 1915 she and her
mother came to New York, escorted by the
Brazilian Ambassador from Washington.
"I think it time for her to begin her
is

American career," he remarked, after her first

New York recital; "and," he added signifi-
cantly, "I believe sheready for it,"
is

The young artist indeed proved herself

ready. Her first long and difficult program
revealed sentiment, power, passion and ripe
musicianship. Her success was immediate and
32 Piano Mastery Second Series

complete. These are, briefly, the mere facts.

But who can put into words the thrill, the spell
of such playing as hers ? In London, when she
played there, it was chronicled: "She is one
of the world's greatest pianists." After her
firstAmerican appearance, Mr. Finck, in the
Evening Post, said of her: "She is the great-
est woman pianist now before the public, and
even some of the men had better look to their
laurels." Later, after her fourth triumphant
recital in the metropolis, the same critic wrote :

"Her tone has the limpid purity and beauty

that the world adores in voices like Patti's or
Sembrich's or Caruso's; in runs these tones are
like strings of perfect pearls. Miss Novae's
seems to get her inspiration direct from
heaven. One has a feeling, when she plays
Beethoven, as if she were in long-distance tele-
pathic communication with him as if he in-
deed were at the piano. And if her piece is by
Chopin, Schumann or some other master, it is
they who apparently are personally guiding
her. This is no hyperbole it is an impression,
;

which makes this girl one of the seven wonders

of 'the musical world."
What are the attributes in the performance
of this "superpianist" as she has been called;
what are the things that compel admiration,
 'Guiomar Novaes 83

that enthrall alike the unskilled music lover,

the trained musician and the exacting critic?
If we can discover them, analyze and reduce
them to tangible terms, we may be able to ap-
ply the principles to the profit of our own
studies.
On the technical side we can study the play-
er's manner of tone production. Tone is the
medium through which the musical idea is set
forth. With Miss Novaes the tone seems to
be produced by controlled relaxation. Much
is said and written about relaxation in these

days. The kind this girl possesses is plastic

and beautifully controlled. With the most
graceful movements of arm she forms and
molds the tone to such quality as she desires.
She plays with controlled weight, but it is
weight that is alive, vital, not lumbering and
"dead." With this condition of poise in arm,
wrist and hand, every tone she produces, from
feathery pianissimo to the utmost fortissimo,
has a searching, vibrant quality, a quality that
makes an instant appeal to the listener. Even
a single tone has the poignant quality that
makes a thrilling effect. She produces these
tones without apparent effort; yet they carry
a message quite apart from the studied phrases
of other pianists.
34 Piano Mastery Second Series

Technic in her case is an "art in itself." No

problem seems too difficult; all are flawlessly
mastered. Imagine strings of pearls, large
and small; in each string the pearls are exactly
the same size, round and perfect; such are her
scales. Her glissandi ripple up and down the
keyboard with a perfect beauty and smooth-
ness that the hand of no other pianist within
memory has surpassed. Her chords are full
and rich, her trills like the song of birds. The
listener sits aghast at such absolute mastery,
and marvels where this girl has acquired such
consummate technic. He marvels still more
at the interpretative genius, which seizes upon
the inherent meaning of the composition, finds
its poetic, emotional message, and is able to
present it with such convincing, overwhelming
conviction and appeal.
I have tried, in few words, to voice some of
the causes of Miss Novaes' mastery, some of
the means by which she conquers the keyboard,
the music and our hearts, because I know she
could not do so herself. She could no more
explain how she does these things than a flower
bud can describe how it becomes a perfect rose.
She would only say: "Your praise may apply
to a great pianist, but I am not a great artist."
Such is her modesty and self-effacement,
 Guiomar Novaes 35

We must let Guiomar Novaes say some-

thing for herself, however; she will do so in a
pretty mixture of English and French, with
a few sentences of Spanish thrown in here and
there. When she talks, one hardly knows
which to admire most, the pleasant voice and
smile, the dimples that play hide and seek in
her cheeks, or the artless sincerity of her
words.
"I began to play piano when I was four, by
listening and by picking out everything on the
piano by ear; I taught myself by the ear.
Sometimes it seems I learned to play before I
learned to speak; it is true I knew my notes
before I had mastered the letters of the
alphabet.
"When I was six my
studies really began.
I was placed with a most excellent teacher,
Professor Chiafarelle, an Italian musician.
With him I learned a great deal, and began
to play in Sao Paulo, my home city, when I
was ten.
"He was my teacher seven years. Then our
Government sent me to Paris, where I was ad-
mitted to the Conservatoire, and became a
pupil of Isador Philipp for nearly four years.
36 Piano Mastery Second Series

TECHNIC PRACTICE
"I practice about three to four hours every
day. I no longer practice the technic by it-
self,outside of pieces, for there is so much
technic in the pieces themselves, that Iwork
on that. But when I was a child I had to
work on technic and on all kinds of exercises
most industriously. I haven't time to do so
now, for there is so much music to learn.
"Yes, I play Bach much Bach, when I
have time, but not every day."
"Some artists save their strength by playing
with only half force during practice. Do you
follow this course?" she was asked.
"No, in practice I use full power; that is, I
try to make the piece sound as I want it to
sound. If I should play with a weak touch,
I would not get the sonore, how do you call
it? Ah, yes, the sound. I would not get the
sound as I want it.

MEMORIZING
"I really do not know how I memorize; it
all comes to me very quickly the music. I
find very amusing to learn by heart. You
it

think I should not call it amusing you think

I should say interesting? Well, then, I think
 Guiomar Novaes 37

very interesting to learn from memory. I

it is

can do it away from the piano, by thinking

how the music looks when it is printed. I
sometimes do on the trains, when I am
this

traveling. When I was in Switzerland, I

found I had to play the Beethoven G major
Concerto, in Paris, in a short time. So I
learned it all by heart in fourteen days. It is
true I had played at it some at home in Brazil ;

but now
I really had to learn it. The Bach
Organ Prelude and Fugue, transcribed by
Moor, which I played at my third New York
recital, I learned in four days. When I did
so Iwas feeling very fresh and well rested, and
equal to the task. I might not always feel able
to do it so quickly."

PUBLIC PLAYING
"Do you really enjoy playing in public?"
she was asked.
"Yes, I do like it. At a recital, I soon be-
come so absorbed in what I am doing that I
quite forget the audience; it is as if the audi-
ence was not there; it does not exist for me.
I cannot say I always feel the same or play
the same. The piano may seem different, the
hall, the audience, too, and my mood."
38 Piano Mastery Second Series

"That is what Josef Hofmann says also," I

remarked.
"Ah, what a great, big artist Hofmann is!"
The dark eyes glowed with inward fire and
the dimples deepened. "I think he is so won-
derful. Schelling is a big artist, too. He
played in country, Brazillo, and had a
my
great success there."

MODERN MUSIC
"Do you care for modern music Schoen-
berg, Stravinsky, Korngold or Ornstein?" she
was asked. The mention of these names awoke
no answering gleam in the calm, sweet face.
"I do not know the music you speak of,"
she said. "I shall play something of Bach ar-
ranged by Emanuel Moor. Moor has written
much some fine things for 'cello, which Casals
;

plays.
"You think I make good progress with Eng-
lish? I have only studied it five months, just
since I came to New York. I am really sur-
prised at myself to-day, that I have had the
courage to speak to you in your own language.
Usually I speak French, as, naturally I know
thatmuch better than English."
 IV

JOHN POWELL
"ART THE EXPRESSION OF LIFE"

AN American pianist and composer of indi-

viduality and John Powell, of
distinction is

whom we have already heard a great deal, and

will surely hear much more as we become
familiar with his compositions and sit more

frequently under the spell of his beautiful

piano playing.
For the past two seasons Mr. Powell has
been heard in recitals throughout the country.
Those given in New York have been on a high
plane of excellence. In fact, each program
performed revealed an increasing power and
eloquence of expression, more subtlety of in-
sight, more command of the resources of the
instrument and himself, more consummate
skill in embodying the mental and spiritual
message of the music.
Deeply impressed with these qualities in his
playing, I found opportunity to question Mr.
Powell about some particular aspects of pian-
40 Piano Mastery Second Series

ism, which we were able to discuss at some

length.
We took up the technical side, as I
first

asked where he had acquired his technic.

"I studied with F. C. Hahr at home, before
going to Vienna. There I spent several years
with Leschetizky and worked terribly hard.
This marvelous old man was a wonderful
teacher. Of course the student had to under-
stand him, had to have the intelligence to

grasp his ideas. He did not care to be thought

to have a special method of technic, nor did he
often talk to the pupil on the technical side of
piano playing, unless he saw the need for it.
Then he could be most explicit as to hand posi-
tion and other fundamental points. Even
with pupils who had been with him some time,
if he noted any lapse or ineffectiveness, he

would come right down to first principles."

"I am well aware Leschetizky asserts he has
no method outside of loose wrists and firm nail-
joints," I remarked.
"Back of these two ideas," answered Mr.
Powell, the foundation principle con-
"lies

centration of will; if you have this concentra-

tionyou can accomplish what you desire. This
thought was the mainspring of Leschetizky 's
 John Powell 41

teaching. If the learner grasped the idea, he

could get a great deal from the master.
"For instance, the master would explain a
principle to you, and if you saw its value you
could work it out; the manner
of the working
out might vary, but the idea remained the
same. He
might take the subject of skips, let
us say. You
wish to play a tenth or a twelfth.
He would tell you to place your thumb on C,
then make an arm movement which shall de-
scribe a curve, up to the note you wish to
reach, touching but not depressing it. few A
slow movements of this kind will teach you
the arm sensations you have in reaching for
the note, and also how to measure the distance
between the two. When this is accomplished
you can play the skip with quickness and ac-
curacy. So with large chords; the fingers are
prepared for them; the portrait of them so
to say is made in the air, before the chords
are actually played.

TONE PRODUCTION
"There a principle I have been working
is

on for several years; it is one I consider very

important, especially when applied to canta-
bile, or melody playing. It is the pressure

necessary to produce a beautiful, singing tone.

42 Piano Mastery Second Series

We are told that as soon as the sound is pro-

duced on the piano, the tone begins to die.
Some thinkers advocate letting up all weight
on the key as soon as it has been sounded.
This would virtually necessitate a new attack
for each note. I find this idea has an injurious
effect on the tone quality. A far better way
is to transfer the weight pressure from one

finger to another, by slight elevation of wrist

and aid of arm; for the latter is but the tube
through which the fluid flows so to speak.
The violinist, in melody playing, does not re-
lax his pressure on the string or his firmness
on the bow, because the tone has sounded,
neither does the singer relax the diaphragm.
Why should not the same principle hold good
on the piano? I know that it does and that I
am able to produce a more and more beautiful
tone as I succeed in applying this principle
more perfectly.

DAILY TECHNIC
"I believe in technical exercises outside of
pieces, in fact I feel them to be a necessity,
and do a certain amount daily. At this mo-
ment I have not been able to touch the piano
for several days, not since my last recital.
Therefore, I should need to exercise my fingers
 John Powell 43

and get them in running order, before attempt-

ing to play anything at all, for the same rea-
son that a piece of machinery must be oiled to
be fit for use. It necessary, too, to have a
is

healthy body as well as a sound mind, if one

wishes to do anything great in music or any
other branch of art." In this connection Mr.
Powell had much to say of the Fresh Air Art
Society, which he considers a most important
movement in the world of allied arts. We then
discussed the part played by the mind in musi-
cal delivery.

THE MIND IN PLAYING

"During the actual performance of a com-
position, what are the mental processes in-
volved?" I asked.
"I feel the mind must be wholly occupied
with the meaning of the music its emotion and
;

content should be lived through, during a per-

formance of it. This is far removed from any
consideration of the audience as listeners
what they are thinking about or whether the
player is making a telling effect on them. If
we can hold ourselves in this highly wrought,
exalted state, we will be unconscious of the
audience. We will even be quite unconscious
of the keys our fingers are touching, for we
44 Piano Mastery Second Series

are only thinking of portraying ideas, feelings,

emotions. To reach this state of conscious-
ness, we must know
the notes of the composi-
tion with absolute certainty in order to be ob-
livious of them. Piano playing does not con-
sistmerely of setting keys in motion; it is far
beyond all that; it is an exemplification of in-
ner experience, of life itself. For I hold that
art the expression of life.
is

"The mental state of the player during per-

formance depends on his attitude towards
music itself and the way he has studied it.
There seem to be three stages in the learning
of a composition. First to read it through as
though it were a book; second to study it in
detail; lastly, to get at the meaning and live

through the experiences which caused those

notes to be written and the composition to
spring into being.
"Leschetizky say to a student: 'In six
may
months you will study a certain composition;
look it through now and become familiar with
it amuse yourself with it later we will study
;

it seriously.' And if you merely read over

the composition frequently enough, either at
the piano, or as you would read a book, away
from the instrument, you will, almost uncon-
sciously, come to know the notes quite well.
 John Powell 45

After this comes the study in detail, and finally

that wonderful assimilation of content which
makes the work a part of your very being and
life. The artist holding such an ideal of inter-
pretation, can, when able to forget himself
and his surroundings, give an inspired per-
formance.
"Such concentration as this is far and away
removed from reciting the notes of the com-
position while playing it, or 'following it' in
solfege, as some recommend. If we long to
express the inner emotion and feeling of the
piece, we want to get away from mere mechani-
cal memory, even to get away from those bits
of ivory, which seem to hamper our flights of
thought, though we must, perforce, have such
accurate knowledge of them.

MUSIC CAN EXPRESS DEFINITE IDEAS

"I hold that music can depict definite ideas
and emotions. I have made many experi-
ments with adults and children, even with ani-
mals. A young nephew of mine, who had never
heard any of Wagner's music, listened to some
of the motives I played for him, and tried to
put into words their meaning, and what the
themes describe, as he felt them. He often
hit the mark with wonderful exactness, though
46 Piano Mastery Second Series

the words and descriptions were often crude.

Music is called a language, a means of self-
expression. We are all musicians in this sense
even composers. We can compose music
by the tones of our voices in speech. We can
cause the same sentence to have many mean-
ings by using various inflections of voice.
"As I said a moment ago I feel the com-
poser has a definite idea in writing his work,
that expresses certain thoughts, feelings,
it

emotions. It is for the interpreter to discover

what these are. He can do this if it be true
that music really expresses a definite idea.
When this is discovered, the interpreter should

feel in playing what the composer felt in writ-

ing it, in order to adequately express his mean-

ing. How many-sided the inner life of an
artist must be ! How wide his knowledge, how
keen his sympathies! The artist must begin
within in his own soul. Life is the principal

thing. It is a training of the spirit. Of what

use to sit at the piano fifteen hours a day, as
some do. That will not make an artist, if
there is nothing within to express. I long to
say to them Don't spend all the time in piano
:

practice; don't shirk responsibilities; don't be

a recluse. Mingle with others; discipline is

life. Live bigly Live!"

 John Powell 47

"Only music which is great enough to ex-

press real feeling and emotion is worth the
learning or the effort to interpret. I do not
waste time over what is not entirely worthy."

HIS COMPOSITIONS

In the field of composition, Mr. Powell has

worked mostly in the larger forms, although he
is the author of a number of songs. Of the
former there are three sonatas and two con-
certos for piano; a concerto for violin, also a
sonata for violin and piano. He has written
a couple of piano suites, entitled, respectively,
"In the South" and "At the Fair;" also a set
of variations and double fugue on a theme by
F. C. Hahr, his former teacher. A
choral
work in oratorio form treats the church service
dramatically, its author explains.

THE "SONATA TEUTONICA"

There are comparatively few American com-
posers who have put out works in the sonata
form. We are familiar with the great Four
of MacDowell, or at least some of us are. As
yet we have not produced many composers
who have the gifts as well as the learning to
cope successfully with this greatest of instru-
48 Piano Mastery Second Series

mental forms, so we need not wonder at the

small number of such works produced.
That a sonata by a native composer has
latelyhad a hearing in New York, is an event
of importance worth recording. When this
hearing proved the work to be an epoch-mak-
ing one, built on broad lines, of deep and sig-
nificant content, the event gave cause for sin-
cere satisfaction.
The event referred to was the hearing of
John Powell's Sonata Teutomca, played be-
fore the MacDowell Club, in April, 1916. This
was the first performance of the work in
America, though it had been given twice in

London, namely on March 7th, 1914, when

Benno Moiseiwitsch, the admired Russian
pianist, played it in Bechstein Hall and again
;

in June of same year, on which occasion it was

rendered by the composer himself.
At the MacDowell Club Mr. Powell pre-
ceded his performance by a short talk, in
which he explained the structure of the work,
the ideas embodied in it, its meaning and sym-
bolism. He also read quotations from the de-
scriptive pamphlet, prepared by the English
writer Richard Brockwell. Mr. Powell's mas-
terly performance of his work vividly set forth
its spirit, and deeply moved his hearers. They
 John Powell 49

felt the event to be most unusual and porten-

tous ;
that they were privileged to listen to an
original composition of large dimensions and
pregnant meaning, set forth in a truly inspired
manner.
In going over the work subsequently with
the composer, he said in part :

"In naming the work Sonata Teutonica,

I had in mind not a country or a race of people,
but rather the spirit of aspiration, the desire
and effort to achieve something high and noble,
which binds together in one bond of unity all
the great souls of the ages. This spirit of One-
ness links the great of the past, and descends
through the philosophers, poets, musicians,
sculptors and painters of every country, down
to us to-day. The Idea of Oneness, taken in
this sense, is to me wonderful and beautiful; I
have pondered it deeply, and have tried to voice
it in this composition. The conception has oc-

cupied my thought for years before I ever be-

gan to write the music, into the composition
of which I have put four years of my life."

THE MOTTO OF THE SONATA

"The Motto of the Sonata: 'The ocean is
in the drop, as the drop is in the ocean,' seems
to convey a sense of oneness and harmony. Or,
50 Piano Mastery Second Series

to put the same thought in another form; 'The

Sonata is in the Movement as the Movement is

in the Sonata.'

THREE MOVEMENTS
"The Sonata has three movements, which
may be designated in this way: First, The
Ideal; Second, The Temperamental; Third,
The Actual. In other words, Part One typi-
fies the emotional effect of the idea of oneness ;
Part Two, the universal Teutonic Tempera-
ment (this in a symbolic and not a racial
sense) Part Three, triumphant result of this
;

principle, acting on this nature, in the world

of outer activity.
"First Movement Allegro. Our first
theme the Motive of Oneness, the second is
is

the Song Theme. As these unfold and inter-

twine, we come to the Motive of Victory, which
also reappears in the last movement. In the
first movement, takes the form of a proph-
it

ecy. The coda expresses the attainment of the

sense of Oneness, and the whole ends softly, in
ethereal harmonies.
"Second Movement: Andante, is a set of
Variations on a Folk Theme. This second di-
vision of the work comprises four parts,
namely, Variations, Fugue, Scherzo and
 John Powell 51

Finale. The effort has been, however, to pre-

serve unity throughout all four parts. There
is considerable variety in the Variations. One
is Beethoven was fond of
a merry Landler.
using the country dance, so was Schubert;
Wagner has done so in his Meistersinger. In
the Fugue we see the action of the various
forces,temperamentally considered. The har-
monies are dark and sinister the gloom of mor-
;

tal mind
struggles with the spiritual, in writh-
ing progressions, which threaten to obliterate
the higher nature, but fail utterly, for the ma-
terial is put down and the spiritual gains the
ascendant.
Movement:
"Third Marcia, in Rondo
Form. The Theme of Triumph is a victorious
announcement of the Theme of Oneness, which
later rises to a chorale-like climax ; the Theme
of Oneness, predominating over the other har-
monies, brings the work to a powerful and ma-
This last movement occupies four-
jestic close.
teen minutes, the first sixteen and the middle
movement thirty- two, for performance."
Musicians who have heard the Sonata have
expressed their admiration in words of high
praise. Some have called it great, vital, a
stupendous, epoch-making work.
The composer was asked if he would, like
52 Piano Mastery Second Series

MacDowell, continue to express himself in

works of this form.
"How can I?" he answered. "I have said
all I have to say in this; further expression

along the same line would be only repetition.

I have put my heart's blood into this; it is a
reflection of my deepest thought and experi-
ence, of my highest aspiration.

If the writer may be pardoned

a suggestion,
it could be wished that Mr. Powell had chosen
another title The one selected
for his work.
requires much explanation to make it seem suit-
able to the spirit of the music. Even with the
composer's elucidation, the term leaves the lay
mind somewhat mystified. "Eternal Unity,"
"The Triumph of the Ideal," "The Universe,"
are a few of the titles which suggest themselves,
as embodying more of the spirit and meaning
of the music.
 ARTHUR SHATTUCK
THE PIANIST SHOULD CULTIVATE MANY
SIDES OF ART

To any one fortunate enough to have oppor-

tunity for observation and comparison, the
hands of the various pianists prove an ex-
ceptionally interestingand at the same time
a psychological study. There are so many
kinds, from the broad, plump hand, full-
fleshed and muscular, all the way to the slen-
der, sinewy hand, the embodiment of nervous
energy. As the artist-teacher so frequently
remarks concerning his pupils, "All hands are
different," so it may be said of the artists

themselves, namely, that the hand of each

artist is unlike every other. A musician who
once grasped the hand of Rubinstein reported
that it seemed as soft and pliable as though
there were absolutely no bones in it.
This remark occurred to me as I greeted
Arthur Shattuck, the American pianist; I felt
such a description would apply equally to him.
53
54 Piano Mastery Second Series

In appearance his hand recalls the model of

Chopin's hand the same long, flexible fingers,
;

the same sensitive ability to expand which en-

abled the Polish master to accomplish those
wide stretches which appear so constantly in
his compositions.
Mr. Shattuck calls his hand "too flexible."
"It is more difficult," he says, "to strengthen
and solidify a soft, flexible hand than to lim-
ber up and make supple a firmly knit one. I
have done a great deal for my hand by means
of the right sort of practice. In short, I have
worked very hard for what I have achieved,
and am not at all ashamed to say so, or to
admit the fact. Pianists who have reached
a great eminence in their art often let it be
thought they were not obliged to labor for
such a result; they give the impression there
is little need for them to practice, when the
truth is they spend many hours daily in hard
work.
"I believe in a certain amount of technical
practice outside of compositions, as well as in
the making of technical material out of diffi-
cult portions of them. I give a certain amount
of time daily to pure technic study, using
many combinations of double notes in all kinds
of forms. I am old-fashioned enough to make
 'Arthur Shattuck 55

use of scales and arpeggios, and to believe in

slow practice. Too much slow practice, how-
ever, I feel is a mistake; activity is just as
essential, and, aside from certain exercises, the
use of a very heavy touch should be made with
discretion.

"My student days were spent in Vienna, for

I was with Leschetizky a number of years.
Those were years filled with many delightful
experiences. I can also say I have witnessed
some poignant scenes in the studio. It al-
most seemed as though there were three dis-
tinct personalities in the master. On some
days he would be harsh, critical, exacting; at
other times indifferent, and sometimes in rare
good humor. When in such a benign mood,
the sun shone and all was serene in the studio,
for he approved of everything which was

played.
"The master had two grand pianos in his
musical work room; he always sat at one to
make corrections and illustrate the passage
under discussion. Of course he did not want
the student to sit quietly and merely absorb
his instructions in silence. He expected ac-
tive interest, minute attention to his illustra-

tions, and plenty of questions asked, The

56 Piano Mastery Second Series

student soon apprehended these conditions

and, if wise, complied with them.
"When one has been for a long time a
good many years with one master, even
though he be the greatest in the world, there
comes a time when the student must learn to
go alone; he must work out his own salvation
must find himself. It is then necessary to
hear all the music possible, piano, violin and
song recitals, and above all the opera. In this
way he becomes broadened and matured.
"To return to the subject of piano prac-
tice. I believe the attention should at all times
be alert, thoroughly occupied with the matter
in hand. Even if only making slow move-
ments with single fingers, one must entirely
concentrate on the effort. The mind must
work as well as the fingers. The piece must
be learned thoroughly, every note. If a small
passage, or even a single note is mentally un-
clear, this may cause disaster at some unfore-
seen moment. To accomplish this the mind
must be fresh. For if one is fatigued and
finds it difficult to concentrate, it is much bet-
ter to stop for a while, take up a book, or go
to the window.
"I am a thorough believer in the Virgil
Practice Clavier as an assistant to serious
 Arthur Shattuck 57

study. I always carry a clavier with me, not

only for technical work but for the practice of
repertoire. When taking a long journey by
rail or water, I have it set up in my stateroom,
where I can work undisturbed. I could tell
of many amusing experiences which have oc-
curred during my travels with this instru-
ment. On one occasion, in a little French vil-
lage, several men carried it on their shoulders
from the railway station to the hotel. As they
walked through the main street, the bystanders
stood respectfully in line and crossed them-
selves as it passed. At another time, in Nor-

way, when I appeared with my clavier, I was

told the hotel was full, but I could lodge in
a stable or outhouse. After many persuasive
arguments I at lastconvinced the hotel pro-
prietor that my baggage was harmless by in-
ducing him to look inside the suspicious look-
ing box. When he found it did not contain
dynamite or anything of a murderous nature,
he allowed me to enter the hotel and gave me
the best rooms in the house.
".With the clavier I also make use of the
metronome.
"You ask about memorizing piano music.
I have found the surest and best way to ac-

complish this is with solfege reciting the syl-

58 Piano Mastery Second Series

lables of the tonic sol fa system as I play the

notes of the piece. You are, of course, ac-
quainted with Mr. Wager Awayne's manner
of doing this; I think his ideas on the subject
are wonderful.
"One word as to interpretation. When
playing a melody, deliver it as a singer would

do, and phrase where the singer would breathe.

Study your music away from the piano; it is
amazing how quickly you get at the form and
shape; you can hear it mentally, undistracted
by physical contact with keys. Form a de-
cided idea of passage or piece, though it may
vary from time to time."
Mr. Shattuck believes in the many-sided-
ness of art and its study, and has developed
himself along other lines. He delights in

drawing and painting and has made many

sketches of out-of-the-way places. He has
traveled all over the world and played in coun-
tries seldom if ever visited by musical artists.
A few years ago it occurred to him that, as
no pianist had ever toured Iceland, such a
trip might be well worth the taking. His tour
in that country proved to be both interesting
and profitable. Later he visited Egypt, and
after a series of concerts in the land of the
Khedive, he secured a caravan and passed sev-
 Arthur Shattuck 59

eral months on an oasis in the Sahara. The

transporting of a grand piano into the desert
land attracted no little attention. The idea
of being alone with his piano in the desert
appealed to the pianist, and he found it a
splendid place to practice.
He says : "The spoke to me as I walked
stars
soft-footed through the sand; the pure night
wind spoke the language of the universe.
Here and there yellow lights, from a distant
camp, flashed out like fireflies; now and then
a silent, swift-footed Arab could be seen, steal-
ing along among the shadows, reminding one
of the fabled woman who haunts the Sphinx.
Far away the Great Pyramid seemed to float
between the desert sand and the cloudless sky,
as though the golden palace of Aladdin was

being transported through the air by the

Genie of the lamp. For a pianist with a vivid
imagination, and a real desire to work, it was
an ideal place to study. Practice amid such
surroundings was not work, only pleasure."
An artist with such an environment should
be able to weave the subtle influences about
him into marvelous tonal coloring on his in-
strument. He
surely could picture the bar-
baric splendor of some passing cavalcade, the

gold of those burning sands under the blaze

60 Piano Mastery Second Series

of noon, the witchery of moonlit nights; he

could saturate himself with color and atmos-
phere, steep himself in the magic which would
illumine the pages of the Liszt B Minor So-
nata, or the various Hungarian Rhapsodies.
 VI

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY
THE LAWS GOVERNING TECHNIC AND
INTERPRETATION

YEARS ago, when Leopold Godowsky was

a resident of America or was it when he was
making his first tour here? I remember viv-
idly on one occasion studying his pianistic
work from a position of vantage almost di-
rectly over the piano, when he played with
the orchestra under Theodore Thomas. I
noted many things about his playing then, be-
sides the ease, fluency and dynamic effects,
which belong, of course, to every pianist's
equipment. One of the principal points which
struck me was the absolute precision with
which everything was accomplished. Chords
especially were prepared through the fingers
taking form in the air of the arrangement
of keys and intervals, and then descending on
the group, or gripping them, as the case de-
manded. That is to say, the fingers and hand
were prepared and made ready for the chord
61
62 Piano Mastery Second Series

before itwas played, so that each tone had

its place and value in the chord
group. Sin-
gle tones were also prepared and fingers made
ready to take the key before the arm de-
scended; arms and hands were slanted for
scales and arpeggios; all was clean-cut, exact
and well articulated.
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES UNKNOWN
Since those days the pianist has, through
constant study and effort of thought, risen to
a more exalted height. Technical mastery and
perfection, such as few possess, have been won.
Technical difficulties do not exist for him. All
gradations of tone, from powerful crescendi to
fine-spun pianissimi of gossamer delicacy, are
alike delivered without trace of effort. There
can be no question about the consummate per-
fection which molds and permeates everything
he touches.
"The deep things of our art," says the mas-
ter, "are little understood by general students
of the piano. The great artist is an autocrat,
a monarch his work can only make appeal to
;

the few; they alone can understand. That this

should be so lies in the character of the instru-
ment and its music. The piano is a marvel,
perhaps the greatest instrument we have. It
 Leopold Godowsky 63

is so intimate, yet so impersonal. The singer

must be supplemented by an accompanist, and
can only sing one note at a time. The vio-
linist can at best play but two notes at a time

and he also must be assisted. The pianist, on

the other hand, comes unaided before his au-
dience he alone must speak, for he has the field
;

to himself. He must make clear his

meaning
on a more or less responsive medium of wood
and metal he must revivify the signs and sym-
;

bols which are to paint the mood or picture.

He must translate thought and feeling into
tones he must express what is subtle and deep,
;

yet too intangible to put into words. Where

language ends music begins.
"Among those who play the piano, we have
almost every variety of exposition. There are
some whose deep learning leads them to be
philosophers; others feel called to be preach-
ers of their art. Then we have the refined
poets, the dramatic players, the causseurs, the
entertainers, or those who have such high ani-
mal spirits that they exemplify a wild pony
galloping over the plains." The speaker men-
tioned examples of each of these varieties
among the artists now before the public.
64 Piano Mastery Second Series

VARIETY OF TREATMENT AND AIM

"We need to consider what a man is aiming
at before we judge him. A causseur cannot
measure up to the standard of the philosopher,
yet he may be most excellent in his line. It
is seen that comparisons are not possible. It
is 'Who is the greatest?' as is so
futile to ask,
often done. The
public does not understand
these distinctions therefore, as I said, the truly
;

great artistspeaks to the few who can un-

derstand. This condition will doubtless exist
for hundreds of years to come. And when,
eventually, the masses do understand, the artist
must also advance, so as to be always to the
fore, always above the rest, to uplift others,
for his calling is a very high one.

PIANO METHODS

"As
to so-called piano methods I feel it nec-

essary to look deeper than method in order to

find the underlying principles. Perhaps the
most important principle of all one that I
have been elucidating for many years is re-
laxation. This is not the same as devitaliza-
tion, which, if used indiscriminately and to ex-
cess, is very detrimental. Relaxed weight on
the key differs from the old pressure touch,
 Leopold Godowsky 65

which tended to stiffen muscles and make the

touch rigid. The finger rests with easy arm
weight on the key. If more power is desired
use more weight, if less hold back some of the
weight.

FINGER ACTION
"You ask I approve of finger action, and
if

finger lifting? We
must have that; we can-
not throw it away. Wide, free movements are
necessary to develop the fingers, to stretch the
skin and flesh between them, to render the hand
and its playing members supple and flexible.
So we must be able to raise the fingers and
move them freely."
"You refer to the early stages of piano
study?"
"Not only during the early stages, but at
any time. I consider these large, free move-
ments and decided action of fingers as a nec-
essary kind of gymnastics. Just as one exer-
cises the body with all sorts of gymnastics, so
we need well-articulated finger movements. I
make a distinction, however, between the me-
chanics of piano study and the art of piano
technic. To the former belong all forms of
hand culture, finger training and gymnastic
pxercises. To the latter all the finer qualities
 66 Piano Mastery Second Series

of touch, tone, fingering, phrasing, pedaling,

agogics and nuance. Each one of these tech-
nical divisions is an art in itself.

"When these are thoughtfully considered,

as being necessary for the equipment of the

player, it is easily seen why there are so few

really great artists among the many who come
before the public as pianists. For it is a com-
paratively easy thing to learn how keys are
manipulated, to attain speed, be able to make
a crescendo here, a diminuendo there, to ac-
cent, to copy more or less perfectly the notes
and marks in a composition. Almost any one
can do these things with sufficient study. But
these things do not make an artist far from
it. An artist worthy the name is only evolved
after minute and exhaustive study added to
musical gifts of high order.
"There have been musicians, like Liszt and
Rubinstein, who were so gifted that the lack
of exact knowledge did not prevent them from
winning the world. Rubinstein was a child
of impulse as well as genius; he never did
things twice the same way; he relied on the
inspiration of the moment, and one might say
the same of Liszt. The art of piano playing
has developed into a more exact science since
their day.
 Leopold Godowsky 67

ART OF PHRASING

"Among the things I have mentioned as

belonging to the art of technic, we will speak
first of phrasing. The question of phrasing
is of exceeding importance, for phrasing itself
is a great art. At the present time we know
so much more about these things thanwas
known even fifty years ago. Formerly com-
posers put few marks on their music; there
was little or no punctuation. Look at Rubin-
stein's compositions, for instance. It may be
said that von Biilow was one of the first to

formulate the laws of phrasing. Christianas

book on this subject is an interesting study,
also one by Mathais Lussy. Perhaps the best
book on music itself and its performance, at
least the best I have ever seen, is by Adolph

Kullak, a brother of Theodore Kullak. This

is a learned and exhaustive work. The earlier
edition has been translated into English; the
revised edition is still, I believe, in the original
German.
"In the matter of phrasing, Beethoven was
considered very particular, Chopin also, but
neither knew as much about the subject as we
do now. Von Biilow did a great work in edit-
ing and phrasing Beethoven. Yet Klind-
68 Piano Mastery Second Series

worth, who also edited the master, is perhaps

subtler in his readings. You remember that
von Billow himself gave preference to Klind-
worth's over his own edition, by advising stu-
dents to use that of his friend. Of Klind-
worth's work for Chopin I cannot speak so
highly. He
has changed so many things from
the original that it is not always clear just
what the composer really meant. What
Klindworth should have done in many cases
was to put the changes in footnotes and leave
the music of the original as it was written.

ART OF FINGERING
"Another branch of piano technic is finger-
ing, also a fine art. Before Bach's time, as
we all know, the thumb was not used at all.
When he advised its use, it was not to be em-
ployed on the black keys. Fingering, like
everything else in piano playing, has been an
evolution. the fingering of the C scale,
Even
which seems so natural, was not known until
Dussek thought of it. Chopin made great use
of thumb on black keys. Von Biilow believed
in much changing of fingers in order tomake
use of all. So did Klindworth. They evi-
dently desired to make things difficult instead
of easy. It can readily be seen that the use
 Leopold Godowslty 69

of thumb on black keys must throw the hand

out of position, tend to make the movement
jerky, and force the hand nearer the name-
board, where leverage is heavier. I believe in
avoiding the use of thumb on black keys when
possible, in order to keep the hand in a more
natural position; this idea seems to me easier
and more logical.

SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE

,
"We hear much talk of subjective and ob-
jective in musical interpretation. These terms
are apt to be misleading. Pianists look at the

subject from different viewpoints, according

to their temperaments and aims. The im-
pulsive nature takes the composition as it first

appears to him, without further analysis, and

strives to preserve that conception. He trusts
to the present moment to furnish inspiration.
Under extremely favorable circumstances he
may be able to give a really inspired perform-
ance. Without these conditions his utterances
may lack all glow and power. Rubinstein was

an illustration of this style.

"Onthe other hand, the careful analytical
player, who does not trust to first impres-
sions, who studies every point and determines
beforehand exactly how he will render the com-
70 Piano Mastery Second Series

position, may lack true inspiration and leave

us cold. Von Biilow might be cited as a player
of this type. The ideal interpreter is one who,
keeping before him the first ideal, has thought
out every effect and nuance he wishes to make,
yet leaves himself mentally untrammeled, to
be moved by the inspiration which may come
to him during performance.

TONE COLOR AND AGOGICS

"These subjects are vitally important in
piano playing. What
dynamics are to the
tone, agogics are to time and rhythm; this
is the new term for the old one of tempo ru-

bato. Rubato means "robbed," which is again

misleading, for it says nothing about giving.

If we take away, we must return, to even
things up; the new term expresses this better
than the old.
"In order to have every note, every phrase
clear, we must not run them all together, as
the Germans sometimes make a long com-
bined word extend across the page. If you
open an English book you see each work sepa-
rated from its neighbor by a slight space. Just
so we learn to make the musical thought or

phrase clear by the way we make it standin

relation to other phrases; the right distance
 Leopold Godovosky 71

between them; it is the flexibility of rhythm,

one might say, where everything is in artistic
relation and balance."

LEGATO MELODY PLAYING

"Do you consider a legato melody is just
as successfully connected with the pedal as
with the fingers?" he was asked.
"By no means," was the
quick reply;
"though can be used for special effects. The
it

relaxed weight of hand on the key, the trans-

ference of weight from finger to finger, the
condition of the hand in connecting a legato
melody is very different from that of the hand
lifted between each note; the tone has a dif-
ferent quality also. If a passage is marked
legato, I insist on its being played with that
touch. If chords are written in quarter, half
or whole notes, I want them held in full time.
One thing is unendurable to hear the left
hand before the right, constantly appoggiat-
ing. For appoggiated chords, if the
real
waved line only extends the length of each
chord, both hands are played simultaneously.
If one long waved line connects the two chords,
the left hand plays first, followed by the right.
72 Piano Mastery Second Series

THE "PROGRESSIVE SERIES"

"The Progressive Series of Piano Lessons,

with which I have been occupied for a num-
ber of years, in conjunction with a number of
well-known artists, provides an eight-year
course for teachers. Besides this there are, in
conclusion, aresume of the entire subject, the
pith of the whole matter. Although the
courses are nominally finished, I have about
six years more work on compositions to be
used with them."

On a subsequent occasion Mr. Godowsky

was seen just before leaving for a Pacific
Coast tour. Wewere soon in animated dis-
cussion, which lasted for an hour and would
have extended much longer had not time
pressed. Mr. Godowsky is a thorough mas-
ter of English and expressed himself with flu-

ency and exactness.

As we had discussed the technical problems
of piano playing during a previous confer-
ence, I requested the pianist to go further and
give his ideas on interpretation.
"One of the means, or perhaps it should be
said the backbone, of interpretation is technic.
I place technic on a higher plane than median-
 Leopold Godowsky 73

ism. Others combine the two I differentiate

;

between them. Technic is the means of ex-

pression, the medium through which we give
out the music. I believe that each pianist pre-
sents a certain mental type, which is revealed

through performance; one is a poet, an-

his
other a philosopher, a third an orator or even
a stump orator, and so on. For some it is
possible to express what they feel others are
;

more reticent, and not given to showing emo-

tion; they rather repress it and seem to stand
aloof. Some
are ready to reveal everything;
they are the ones who are popular with the
public. We
do not say of these players that
they 'descend to the public,' for they merely
work out their natural temperament; they are
one with the public,, therefore they never fail
to please. Those who have the highest ideals
move in a realm apart ; they never become pop-
ular in the above sense. Men who have made
the greatest scientific discoveries are gener-
ally unknown to the world.

FACTORS OF INTERPRETATION
"The two great factors in interpretation are
Logic and Proportion. If you examine a
Greek statue you find it perfect in classic form
and line. Its proportions are faultless.
74 Piano Mastery Second Series

Among the composers the most perfect ex-

amples of proportion are Beethoven and

Brahms. They are the Greeks of musical
art.

"These two qualities logic and proportion

must dominate the thought of the interpreter
also he must express them in his work. In
just the degree that he lacks them will his
performance fall short of beauty and expres-
siveness.
"Someplayers might be called pianists of
the piano. The instrument itself is paramount
with them rather than the music. The piano
itself stands first with them. They will make
all possible effects that are legitimate within

the scope of the instrument, but never strive

to make something it is not. De Pachmann,
it

Griinfeld and Sauer are of this type. Busoni,

on the other hand, does not entertain this view.

He so great, such a deep, profound thinker,

is

such a philosopher; he is a class by himself.

For him the piano often represents the organ.
See his transcriptions of the Bach organ com-
positions. He interprets them in this style,
with much pedal and
great tonal sonority.
As organ tones in a cathedral resound and re-
verberate, owing to the vast spaces, so are the
 Leopold Godowsky 75

effects Busoni makes on the piano of continu-

ous tone-vibrations."
"The piano is a wonder; there is so much to
think of and study about it and its marvelous
literature. I have found pianists generally are
much deeper thinkers than singers, for exam-
ple," I remarked.
"Singers do not analyze their work as pian-
ists do. If one has a beautiful voice, the mere
quality of tone will enthrall the listener, out-
side of the song to be interpreted. If the
singer merely vocalize a scale, it is still beau-
tiful and appealing. But the pianist must do
so manythings besides merely playing the
notes before he can make an appeal. He must
consider tone quality, dynamics, pedaling,
power and the whole concept of the piece.
"You speak of the word pianism. The
word as used now includes, I take it, the en-
tire subject of touch, technic, tone and per-
formance. How odd that a word affects so-
ciety like a new disease! All hasten to acquire
it. The word pianism is the only one that
can be applied to an instrument outside of the
human voice. You can say vocalism, but not
violinism.
76 Piano Mastery Second Series

THE PIANIST A CONDUCTOR

"The pianist is virtually a conductor, and
his ten fingers are the instruments over which
he holds sway. They are to do his bidding.
He has a whole orchestra under his hands.
The orchestral conductor merely directs his
men; the pianist must both direct his whole
orchestra and play all his various instruments,
the fingers. His task is a more strenuous one
than that of any other soloist.
"Then the literature of the piano. When
you think of it, no other instrument has the
literature of the piano. Has there ever been
a composer like Chopin for any instrument?
The greatest composers for violin were Vieux-
temps and Wieniawski; but their work can-
not compare in value to what Chopin has done
for the piano. He wrote solely for that one
medium; he the poet of the piano. Look
is

at Beethoven; he did more for the piano than

for any other instrument. He composed nine

symphonies for orchestra and thirty-two so-

natas for piano. A
sonata, as you know, is a
symphony for one instrument. His last five
sonatas are greater than anything he ever
wrote for orchestra. The Opus 57, Appas-
sionata, is a superb symphony. His last sym-
 Leopold Godowsky 77

phonies, outside of the Ninth, the greatest,

are not equal to the last five piano sonatas
in value. Berlioz wrote principally for or-
chestra; he may be called the first romanticist
for that medium. I call him the apostle of
ugliness. His works for orchestra cannot com-
pare in value to what either Beethoven or
Chopin has given to the literature of the piano.

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION
"To come down to more explicit terms in
regard to ideas of interpretation, I feel that,
after a certain period of study, the pianist
should trust more to his intuitions in the in-
terpretation of a composition. Intuition first,
backed up by logical reasoning. Some put it
the other way round; they put reason first,
and as a result their performance is dry and
soulless. For instance, I play a passage and
make it sound pleasant, expressive; it pleases
my ear. I then analyze the effects I have
made and see if they are logical and correct.
For I must prove each point according to laws
of interpretation.
"There are laws of interpretation. One of
them is never to lay stress on a concord, but
rather on a dissonance. The stronger the dis-
sonance the heavier the stress put upon it.
78 Piano Mastery Second Series

That is a fundamental law. Another principle

is, not to rest places with sound.
fill How
many players sin in this way; either by not
observing rests or by filling up the place of
silence by tones prolonged by pedal. Silence

plays a very important role in music. Silence

should not be interfered with, filled up or ob-
structed. Many times it is necessary to hold
pedal, if one has to
jump from the bottom
to the top of the keyboard. But one must
know whether to bridge over the skip with
pedal or to let there be silence between the
two.

TRADITIONS
"We
speak of traditions of interpretation.
This should not mean dry, academic formulas
it should not mean the traditions of the
schools and conservatories. They conserve
the old ideas, for that is the meaning of the
word. Real tradition in piano playing origi-
nates with great artists who have discovered
and evolved certain effects through intuition.
When these intuitions stand the test, and meas-
ure up to the highest standards of art, they
become traditions.
"The subject of interpretation is a very
broad as well as a deeply interesting one. It
 Leopold Godowsky 79

isone upon which I have bestowed a great deal

of thought and made many discoveries. I re-
peat, I feel we should trust more to our in-
tuitions than we do. It is claimed by one
learned man world had followed
that, if the
this course, we should now be on a higher

plane of civilization than we are; present

events seem to bear out his theory."
 VII

CARL FRIEDBERG
AFTER listening to Carl Friedberg, both in
recital and with orchestra, it was a pleasure
to have the opportunity for a talk with him
in the seclusion of the home; to find him the

simple, unaffected gentleman, with frank,

winning manner, quite willing to talk of his
methods of teaching and of study.
"I might say at the outset," began the pi-
anist, "that I believe the legato touch is of the
most importance in piano playing; it is the
sine qua non of beautiful tone. I am aware
that some modern players do not agree with
this: they think everything should be played
with the arm. Even Busoni, whom I admire
exceedingly and consider one of the very great-
est artists, says in his edition of Bach's Well-
Tempered Clavichord that there is no legato
possible on the piano. I must differ from
those who hold to this idea, for I emphati-
cally believe and can prove there is a legato
on the piano. It is the foundation of beautiful
tone.
80
 Carl Friedberg 81

EXPRESSIVE TONE

"The tone an artist draws from his instru-

ment should be round, full and expressive, ca-
pable of being shaded and varied, just as is
the bel canto of the singer. We should learn
knew the famous
to sing with our fingers. I

singer and teacher Rimini and played much

for him. From this artist I learned a great
deal, which helped me to acquire a singing,

expressive tone on the piano.

"I endeavor to give my piano tone the qual-
ity of the singing voice. For this reason I
have made myself familiar with a large number
of operas of every school. When quite a
young lad I learned Tristan and Isolde by
heart, and I still know it, and many other
opera scores.
"I have been largely my own teacher,
though in the beginning I had most excellent
instruction. I was a pupil of James Quast,
the Dutch pianist, for four years, and later
studied for some time with Mme. Clara Schu-
mann. I also received suggestions from
Anton Rubinstein. When I first played for
him he expressed himself as especially pleased
>yith my singing tone ancl my manner of using
82 Piano Mastery Second Series

the pedals. I deeply appreciated his words

of commendation.
"Together with much concert work, I have
done a great deal of teaching. For the last
ten years I had been located in Cologne, at
the Conservatory, where I had charge of the
artist class. It takes the form of a Meister
Schule, along the same lines as the one in Vi-
enna over which Godowsky used to preside.
Of course I often had to be absent on tour,
but I still found considerable time for
teaching.
"In my teaching I begin with finger train-
ing; for I am not one who believes in neglect-
ing this side of piano technic. If you will
come over to the piano I will show you just
what I mean." The artist seated himself at
the keyboard, illustrating as he talked.

HAND POSITION

"I first require a correct position. In this

I follow the advice of Rubinstein, who coun-
seled the student to sit on a chair which would
be the right height to keep the level of the
arm and wrist, not allowing the elbow to hang
below the keyboard. The knees are to be close
together; the heels planted on the floor, with
the soles of the feet resting on the pedals, but
 Carl Friedberg 83

not depressing them. The arms fall easily at

the side, as Mme. Schumann taught, but not
pressed against it. Now the hand is placed
on keys, in a vaulted position, just as
five

Leschetizky requires. I will now hold my

hand and depress one key with
in this position,
the middle finger. As you see, the condition
of arm is quite loose and relaxed. You can
move my arm back and forth, or in any direc-
tion you choose, but it will be impossible for
you to dislodge my finger from the key, for
it remains there with full relaxed arm weight.

MAKING THE FINGERS FLEXIBLE

"I now begin to make various movements
to render the fingers flexible and independent.
When they are somewhat under control I be-
gin to train the thumb under the hand, ready
for scale playing. The thumb moves under the
hand, for the backward scale form, as soon as
it has left its key, and is held under the hand

until its turn comes to play. I am a great

believer in thorough scale practice in all forms.
"In regard to equalizing the fingers, some
players struggle to make all fingers equally
strong; yet with all their effort the fourth fin-
ger can never be made as vigorous as the
84 Piano Mastery Second Series

thumb. And why should

the fingers be
all

equal one just the same as the others? It

is not necessary. Just those slight inequalities
of touch give variety and expressiveness to the

playing. There are times when it is better to

use weaker fingers than strong ones.
"When fingers have become
somewhat
trained, I begin on the hand, moving it up and
down on the wrist. Chords are played with
this touch; then from the elbow, and lastly
in combination with the upper arm, which of
course hangs loosely from the shoulder.
"For all this technical drill I use hundreds
of exercises of my own, which have never been
printed. I do not adhere strictly to one set
of these, but invent new ones constantly, per-
haps changing them every week. If fingers
are weak and bending, they must be made
strong by special pressing and gymnastic
exercises.

LEGATO TOUCH
"The student concentrates his efforts on
legato touch and on beautiful and expressive
tone quality. If I have a melody to play I
can do it, as many modern artists do, with a
movement of hand and arm for each note
 Carl Friedberg 85

that is to say, detaching one note from an-

other. With proper pedaling, such a manner
of playing can be made to sound very well."
Here Mr. Friedberg illustrated his point.
"Now I will play the same passage with pure
legato touch and you will hear the difference.
I prefer the pure legato to the detached way
of playing. When a melody lies in more ex-
tended position, the hand can reach for the
notes with steadiness and control. We
might
liken this tense reaching out from one note
to another to a suspension bridge, swung be-
tween two supports the fingers." This re-
mark reminded me forcibly of William H.
Sherwood's method of turning the hand and
reaching out for the key, with slow, controlled
motion.
"I believe in making everything musical, in
always making the tone beautiful, even in
technical exercises and scales," went on the
pianist. "The piano is more than a thing of
metal and wood; it can speak, and the true
artist will draw from it wonderful tones. It
should be part of his constant study to create
beautiful tone. I believe a single tone can
bemade expressive. I can prove this to you."
Here Mr. Friedberg played several single
86 Piano Mastery Second Series

tones here and there on the keyboard. Each

of these was played with arm weight. The
pressure was slightly relaxed after the key had
sounded, not enough to remove the ringer, but
just sufficient to make the tone expressive and
varied in quality and color. The tone sang.
"It is a most interesting study, this effort
to discover new and beautiful effects of tone
and variety of production. So much can be
done with staccatos, too. There are so many
kinds; the hand staccato, the finger staccato,
the drawing off, elastic touch. Staccato can
sometimes be executed with a single finger, for
an entire passage, as this for example." Here
the pianist dashed into a passage in eighth
notes, from a Chopin mazourka, using only the
second finger and keeping the rest of the hand
closed. He then repeated the selection with
normal fingering and legato touch; the con-
trastwas very marked.
"If a student comes to you," I asked, "who
plays tolerably well, though not trained along
these technical lines, do you require him, first
of all, to go through this technical drill?"
"I do not require it. I explain my ideas to
him, illustrate them and show him the advan-
tages of such training. He is at once anxious
 Carl Friedberg 87

to study in this way; I have never found one

who did not wish to do so."
Since the above conversation, Mr. Friedberg
has become more at home in this country,
where his time is now fully occupied with
teaching and many concert appearances.
 VIII

YOLANDA MERO
THE BEAUTIFUL IN MUSIC
AT home in her beautiful apartments in New
York, after a season of concert playing, Mme.
Yolanda Mero, the brilliant Hungarian pian-
ist, talked of her work and her musical ideas.

"I do not love technic for its own sake, and

therefore I now practice it but little. Of
course, I must play scales sometimes not
every day, however. You see I have no daily
routine, as some pianists have; that is because
I amnot methodical, in the first place, and,
secondly, because that kind of practice seems
to me such a waste of time. When I am away
on a tour, there is often no time to practice at
all; and if there should be a little while here
and there, the piano may be a poor one, so that
I feel better just to let it alone and not attempt
to practice at all.

"Some pianists take a silent keyboard with

them wherever they go, but I have never done
so. When I am here in my home, between en-
88
 Yolanda Herd 89

gagements, I practice but even then I am not

;

systematic about it. When the fever is on

then I work with enthusiasm a whole day at
a time; but I must be in the mood to work or
I accomplish nothing. If I am not in the
mood, I would rather keep away from the
piano or play only a bit to amuse myself.

CLOTH OVER THE KEYBOARD

"In the beginning, it is true, I had to prac-
tice technic very carefully and
exactly. My
father taught me at the start; that was when
I was five and a half. One thing he made me
do which I think helped me very much to gain
accuracy. He would spread a cloth over the
keyboard, and, with this barrier between my
little fingers and the keys, I must play my

scales, etudes and pieces." (This reminds one

of the Mozart, playing before the nobility.
little

Some one suggested it was only by means of

magic he was able to accomplish such wonders.

The fellow indignantly protested, and
little

offered to play the same piece with the keys

quite covered. He
was as good as his word,
to the increased astonishment of the court.)
"That made me so exact that I
sort of training

very seldom touch a wrong key now. But I

am sure that this course can be followed only
90 Piano Mastery Second Series

with little children; with older ones or with

grown-ups too late to try it.
it is

"At the age of eight I had a woman teacher,

Frau Professor Augusta Rennebaum, who is
at the National Conservatorium at Buda-
Pest. I consider her a wonderful teacher, in
fact, I have had no other. I have been with
her from my eighth year until I came to
America. With her I did all possible etudes,
from Kohler and Czerny to Clementi and Tau-
sig. That is, perhaps, why I do not practice
technic now, I have been through so much.
Moreover, it no longer interests me.

A SEEKER AFTER IDEAS

"What I want now is music, I want the
ideas. My preference is for music filled with
ideas, with emotion, not for pieces whose tech-
nical display will astonish and dazzle. work A
like the Paganini Variations of Brahms, for
instance, is full of brilliant technical feats which
seem to obscure the deeper meanings of the
piece. I play these Variations, to be sure, but
they do not greatly appeal to me. I am very
fond of Schumann, his Kreisleriana, Fan-
taisie Stucke, Carneval and other things.
You mention my playing the Vogrich Staccato
Caprice, which is a brilliant show piece. Quite
 Yolanda Herd 91

true,but that was a youthful indiscretion. I

played it when a very little girl, and now,
everywhere I go, I am asked to play it. I
can assure you I never have to practice that,
for I have played it so much.
"I feel there is other music just as beautiful
as piano music. I am devoted to that for the
violin or for the orchestra ;
it all interests me so
much; chamber music, too. When there is

such a wealth of instrumental music of all

kinds, I feel it such a loss of time to spend so

much of it on technic, pure and simple. Others

may not agree with me however. There is

Mme. Sophie Menter, for instance, who has a
marvelous technic. She spends hours daily in
five-finger technic work. This consists largely
of repeating the same note with each finger in
succession over and over again, now loud, now
soft, with every conceivable variety of touch
and tone. The principle she works on is
equality. The theory is that as each finger
plays the note, the ear must discriminate be-
tween the tones and strive to make each tone
like all the others. If five fingers can be thus
trained to play single notes with absolute
evenness they will, it is claimed, preserve this
equality in scales, arpeggios or whatever is

played. For myself I could never follow such

92 Piano Mastery Second Series

a regime, but she has achieved wonderful re-

sults from it.

PRACTICING A NEW WORK

"When I take up a new work I play it

through quite as a child would, carefully and

slowly, from end to end. I do this over and
over till the plan of the piece is in my mind
and in my ear, till I can hear it. Then the
real study of it begins; then I really work
at it.
"I do not say to myself: Now I shall add
this piece to my repertoire, therefore I will
begin at once to memorize it, first one hand
and the other, then both together. No, I study
the contents of the piece as a whole, then each
in detail. The result is that, almost before I
know has happened, I know the notes from
it

memory. This seems to me a better way than

to start at once to memorize the notes. For,
in the effort to do this, and to play without
them, in the early stages, one may miss many
signs and marks which would otherwise be ob-
served, if the printed page were before one.
This does not mean that I am averse to com-
mitting the music away from the instrument,
for I often do this on trains during my travels
from place to place. There is so much tech-
 Yolanda Herd 93

nic to be found in pieces, and it is the sort of

technic that is interesting, too. To take scales
and play them to-day at a certain speed and
to-morrow a little better, or worse, that is not
sufficiently absorbing to keep my mind on
them; I thinking of other things. But
fall to
to study a difficult passage in a musical work,
to see and hear it grow better and better with

practice there is keen zest in that.

MEMORIZING A CONCERTO
"In studying a concerto, I first begin with
the score, for I must know every note of each
instrument of the orchestra as well as my own
piano part. The player who does not do this
is liable to come to grief during performance
in public. a great responsibility, this
It is

playing with orchestra; much greater than

playing solos. For in the latter instance one
may cover a slip more easily. It is true one
should be able to improvise a passage when
playing with orchestra, but this seems to me
more difficult.

KEEPING TECHNIC IN REPAIR

"In regard to keeping up my technic to
concert pitch, I can say that I do not now
practice scales and technical forms outside of
94 Piano Mastery Second Series

pieces. Of
course in earlier days I had to do
a great deal of pure technic study. But now
I find all I need in the pieces themselves.
When I have mastered the special forms con-
tained in the piece, I have those and the piece
as well.
"As for octaves, I do not now practice them
outside of pieces; for if there is any octave
work in a piece it is apt to give one plenty to
do. Take
the Sixth Rhapsodic of Liszt, for
instance, can any octave exercise be devised
better than that? Then there is the Fourth
Rhapsodic also, as you suggest, on the same
order, only not quite so difficult; both give
splendid opportunity for octave study. Other
pieces might also be quoted for this purpose.
"One word more about practicing. I can
never do it when unable to give my whole time

to it, for then I accomplish nothing ; my whole

thought must be on my work. Yes, I do all
my practice at the piano. No one in the house
has objected as yet; when they do I shall get
a silent keyboard, but not before."

"It seems to me your grown, broad-

art has
ened and ripened to a wonderful degree, since
you have been in America," I said to Mme.
Mero, as we sat chatting in her music room
 Yolanda Mero 95

one forenoon, shortly after a New York re-

cital, which had been performed with consum-
mate mastery, with exquisite refinement of
style and tonal effects. "I was deeply im-
pressed with this fact on hearing your recital
here the other day. As I remember, when
you firstplayed in New York, some six years
ago, you were all fire and flame, all tempera-

ment. Now it is temperament perfectly con-

trolled, though the fire is there, just below the
surface. But it is held in fine balance, tem-

pered by unerring taste and skill. You must

have lived deeply in these years."
"I am older and more matured," said the
young artist, with her brilliant smile; "I have
toned down some of my early enthusiasms.
Then I have been a great deal before the pub-
lic and have played much since I first came

here; I have made several tours in this coun-

try and one in Europe in that time. The
longer one is before the public, the more re-

poseful one can appear, at least on the out-

side; yet there may be an increasing anxiety
below the surface. But we learn not to show
itoutwardly. It is the nervousness that grips
one before going on that is so distracting. As
soon as I have begun, played myself out a
little, grown familiar with my audience and
96 Piano Mastery Second Series

established a sympathy between us, I am per-

fectly at home and do not think of the listeners.
"What you have found, that pianists have
much more to say for themselves and their art
than the vocalists have for theirs, is no doubt
true. The reason is not far to seek. Is it not
because the pianist must be a highly educated
person, knowing many sides of his art? He
must not only have mastered the technical side,
but he must have a knowledge of harmony,
form and counterpoint, and also know the
works he plays. Then he must know many
other things besides music, literature, poetry,
art, life.

"To speak
of the mechanical side, think of
the years of exhaustive study which must be
spent to acquire a modern technic for the
piano. A person, however, with a beautiful
voice, who spends two years or so with a good
teacher, can sing in concerts and even go on
tour. With perhaps thirty songs and a couple
of arias, one is considered ready to come before
the public. But to learn thirty songs would
hardly match the labor bestowed on one
Chopin etude. Then think of the repertoire a
public pianist must have !
 Yolanda Herd 97

PIANIST OR SINGER

"On the other hand, the pianist is at a dis-

advantage when measured with a singer.
Singing is always much more popular with an
average audience than piano playing. The
'tired business man,' wishing to be entertained,
will turn out to hear a singer render an aria
and some nice English songs, when he could
not stand the strain and mental fatigue of
listening to a piano recital. This happens all
over the country, and is a condition we pian-
ists have to contend with. It may not be the
condition in New York or in other music cen-
ters, where there is a large musical public,
where there are many who know and love piano
music. Of course musical appreciation has
increased greatly, and the understanding of
piano music is making wonderful strides. Yet
for all this, the pianist must choose his pro-
grams very carefully in order to interest and
not weary the average audience.

MODERN MUSIC
"I have not added much so-called modern
music to my repertoire, perhaps because it does
not always seem beautiful to me. It may be
interesting, impressionistic, symbolic, but not
98 Piano Mastery Second Series

satisfying, as is most of Chopin, for in-

stance. Very few of the extremely modern
things make me feel Icannot rest without
learning them, or that I must play them.
"I have been interested in the work of the
Russian Ballet, and the modern compositions
they have illustrated, the music of Petrouchka,
for instance, and some of the other selections.
In Schumann's Carneval, it seems to me much
more might have been done with it in a chore-
ographic way than has been accomplished.
There is such a great variety in the various
scenes, as you know, but as given by the Ballet,
some of the best are left out. It does not seem
a desecration to me does to some people,
as it

to see the Carneval pictured in the dance. For

we have become somewhat accustomed to this

through the work of Duncan and others. We

have had Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, the
Mendelssohn Spring Song, and various Schu-
bert and Chopin pieces portrayed in the dance.
Why not the Carneval, or any other selection,
if by so doing the music is presented more

vividly to the imagination?

OLD MUSIC
"I am fond of the old music, pieces which
one seldom hears of nowadays. One composer
 Yolanda Herd 99

whose music is much neglected, is Philip

Emanuel Bach. I have found some lovely and
littleknown things of his. Here is one, a
Rondo in E major." And sitting down at the
piano, Mme. Mero illustrated as she talked.
"I also play the Organ Concerto in D Minor,
by his brother, Friedmann Bach. It has been
arranged for piano by Stradal.
"Then there are some fine things of Haen-
del (outside of the Harmonious Black-
smith!). One is the set of Variations in D
Minor, another is a Gigue in G
Minor, both
of which are little known. A
Passacaglia by
Frescobaldi has been arranged by Stradal
also and I use a Gigue by Hassler. One can-
;

not place more than one or two of these old

pieces on a program with safety. I shall add
the Sonata Op. 110 of Beethoven to my list

very soon."
 IX

ERNEST HUTCHESON
TECHNIC AND INTERPRETATION

IN Ernest Hutcheson are united the abili-

ties of the concert artist and the artist teacher.
It is not easy to take high rank in both the art
of playing and the art of teaching, but here is
an Australian musician who has been able to
do both. In this double capacity he has be-
come noted on both sides of the ocean.
Mr. Hutcheson rightly feels that experience
should loom large when estimating the value
and usefulness of the teacher. He can often
determine at once whether a prospective pupil
can work with him to advantage or be better
off with some other teacher.
"I would sometimes rather take a beginner,"
he says, "than one who has played a great deal
and is very set in his ways. Various students
come to me asking to be coached on the inter-
pretation or pedaling, of different pieces.
They may not be in any condition, technic-
ally, to play those pieces, or to profit by my
100
 Ernest Hutcheson 101

ideas on the subject, for they have not taken

the necessary steps to climb the heights re-
quired in such compositions.
"It is surprising how little many people com-
prehend where they stand in their musical
studies. Where they think they are, and
where they really stand, may be wide apart!
A teacher needs large experience and acumen
to help him decide quickly just what regimen
is best for the pupil, both technically and mu-

sically. Somepupils can play a Mozart so-

nata respectably who would have little idea of
the modern tonal coloring required to render
even MacDowelFs little Wild Rose. Or they
might play the Reinhold Impromptu with
brilliancy, yet would quite fail to give the right
atmosphere to the Water Lily. Some pieces
which seem simple, so far as the notes go, pre-
sent difficulties of another sort. How is it
possible to attempt a Liszt Rhapsodic, when
one cannot compass the little Fantaisie in D
Minor, by Mozart?

FINDING NEW MUSIC

"My time has become so limited that I have
not the leisure to look over quantities of new
music. One would need to examine perhaps
a hundred compositions to find one which
102 Piano Mastery Second Series

would be acceptable. Of course I make use

of the entire standard repertoire in teaching;
the ultra-modern things come to me, so to
speak. As I find them, or hear them from
artists, or occasionally from pupils, I make a
note of them in this
; way they come to me.
"I arrange my teaching lists like this," and
Mr. Hutcheson showed a little blank book
with lists of pieces, from the classics of Bach
and Beethoven down to the present hour; cer-
tain signs indicated their special technical
value.
"No doubt all teachers make such lists.

Mine are not arranged in grades, however. I

could never see the use of grading pieces.
Pupils vary so greatly in comprehension and
mentality that the same piece might be dif-
ficult for one pupil and very simple for an-

other, both having studied for about the same

length of time. This shatters the grade the-
ory. I find myself at sea on the subject, and
banish all thought of grades."
Knowing Mr. Hutcheson's wide experience
in teaching, privately and in music
both
schools, in Europe as well as in America, I
inquired his opinion as to the relative value of
each.
"There is much to be said in favor of the
 Ernest HutcJieson 103

music school. A school is beneficial for its

routine work and free advantages. If your
pupil needs ear-training you can require her
to attend such a class it is the same with har-
;

mony. All pupils need drill in these subjects,

and in a school they are included in the tuition.
Then there are the opportunities to play in
the concerts and musicals, often with other in-
struments and with the orchestra. If the stu-
dent intends becoming professional these
things are indispensable. In a school they can
be obtained free of cost.

IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING IN PUBLIC

"The private teacher, though doing excel-
lent work, finds himself at a disadvantage on
these points. Playing before others is an ab-
solute necessity. I have always insisted on it
with my private pupils. I have had a large
studio, seating 150 or 200, and generally have
had a musical once a week, the pupils inviting
their parents and friends. There is nothing
which will take the place of the routine of play-
ing before others. The only way to learn to

play in public is to play. Pupils who play

their pieces correctly and well for me, will
make shocking mistakes and go all to pieces

through sheer nervousness, if playing for the

104 Piano Mastery Second Series
first time in a musicale. They soon get used
to it however. Even
three or four perform-
ances during the season will be of great benefit.

TECHNICAL TRAINING
"In regard to technical training there are
certain principles underlying all correct teach-

ing and playing. I do not believe in any spe-

cial method. It is so easy to make a method,
if certain phases are held up and magnified,
to the exclusion of other phases of the subject.
There are so many sides to be considered they ;

should all be viewed in the right perspective,

and in just relation to each other. It is dif-
ficult even to speak of certain sides, for fear
of seeming to neglect other phases which are
equally important.
"Perhaps the three most important princi-
ples are: Position, Condition, Action. The
first presents the least difficulty. With the
second we are first concerned when a new pupil
is taken in hand. There is usually stiffness.
It may be that nothing can be done till the
pupil learns to relax shoulders and arms. Then
we come to the piano and touch single tones,
using relaxed arm weight and a single finger.
There are three different ways of touching a
key; we can hit it, press it, or fall on it, The
 Ernest Hutcheson 105

of course, is harsh; the second term is

first,
sometimes misleading. Playing with relaxed
weight of arm and a firm finger seems to ex-
press the idea. My old teacher in Leipsic,
Zwintcher, used to say legato touch was like
walking. As in that movement the weight of
the body is transferred from one foot to an-
other, as we
take each step, so in playing a
smooth legato on the piano, the weight of hand
and arm goes easily from one finger to the next
as we proceed.

POSITION AND TOUCH

"When easy, relaxed conditions of arm,
elbow and wrist are understood, we secure an
arched position of the hand, with rounded fin-
gers. The latter are not to be straightened
when lifted, as some are inclined to do, but
should preserve their rounded shape. In all
the earlier stages of piano study there must be
decided finger action, with fingers kept at a
medium height above the keys. too high A
lift may cause strained conditions and hard

tone a too low position will not give a sufficient

;

clearness and development.

"There are various forms of staccato touch;
one is the drawing in of the finger, giving
brilliancy and delicacy.
106 Piano Mastery Second Series

"In chord playing there are many touches,

the one chosen depending on the character of
the passage. We can use down-arm action,
with great weight, or hand action at the wrist,
or up-arm touch, always taking care to keep
unemployed fingers out of harm's way." Mr.
Hutcheson few measures of
illustrated with a
a Chopin Prelude, a Beethoven Sonata and the
Schumann Grillen.
"For octaves, after the arched position of
the hand has been formed the great point
seems to be to touch the white keys up near the
black ones, so that the hand shall not zig-zag
in and out, but preserve an even line in play-

ing both black and white keys, always keep-

ing the other fingers out of harm's way, by
holding them up."

Thoughts on Interpretation
OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE

"Interpretation has two aspects, an objec-

tive and a subjective. Imagine several fine
orators reading the soliloquy from Hamlet.
In many respects their versions would be iden-
tical; all would presumably pronounce the
words correctly, give the right accents to

strong syllables, punctuate intelligibly so that

 Ernest HutcTieson 107

the sense and construction of the speech would

be clear; all would employ certain inflections
of tone and rhythm in their effort to express
the ideas of the author. That is objective in-
terpretation.
"But each individual orator would prob-
ably go farther. He would hardly fail to
add touches peculiar to himself: heightened
shades of voice, a barely per-
stresses, delicate

ceptible dwelling on chosen words, gestures

prompted by his own feeling; in short, he
would endeavor to add his mental and emo-
tional force, which we may call his artistic per-

sonality, to that of Shakspere. This is sub-

jective interpretation. No
greater mistake
could be made than to suppose that there is a
latent antagonism between the objective and

subjective sides. It is so in music also; the

most 'original' rendering of any work may at
the same time show infinite care of the com-
poser's intentions.

USE OF RUBATO
"One of the most harmful prejudices in re-
gard to interpretation is the prevalent idea
that one takes a 'liberty' in adding inflection
and rubato not directly prescribed by the
author. This is an absurdity, for any per-
108 Piano Mastery Second Series

formance devoid of such enrichment will in-

evitably be dry and mechanical, and the most
unpardonable liberty one could possibly be
guilty of toward a composer is to make his
music sound mechanical. Hardly less is the
suggestion often made to students that, while
rubato may appropriately be used in playing
Chopin and Schumann, it is out of place in
Bach and Beethoven. The truth is that the
degree of rubato necessary to a beautiful per-
formance depends entirely on the character of
the work itself, not on the name of the writer
or the date of composition. Many of Chopin's
and Schumann's works would be ruined by a
lavish employment of rubato, and many Fan-
tasias of Bach and slow movements of Bee-
thoven call for as much rhythmical freedom as
any modern nocturne or romance. These
prejudices, for that matter, are even histori-
cally wrong; the old masters all used rubato,
and Beethoven's playing, as far as we can
judge from reports of his contemporaries, was
so extraordinarily free that in all probability it
would have been a severe shock to audiences
and critics of the present day. Flexibility of
rhythm, in fact, and always has been as
is

logical and correct a means of interpretation

 Ernest Hutcheson 109

as any other, provided always that it be dic-

tated by artistic sense, not by caprice.

VARIETY OF TONE

"Rhythm but one element of interpreta-

is

tion. Chief among the others are Tone, in-

cluding accent and shading, Phrasing and
Pedaling. In all of these we shall find the
same necessity of exercising our own taste and
judgment. The composer directly indicates
his essential wishes; others he implies; other
points again he leaves entirely to the player's
discretion. For instance, the author very
rarely suggests, except by implication, a dif-
ference of tone between melody and accom-
paniment, yet even a beginner strongly feels
the obligation of a marked difference of qual-

ity or volume.
"In phrasing, precisely the same principles
apply to classical and modern works, but the
usage of the regard to legato-slurs
classics in
differs very widely from that of the moderns.
It is necessary, therefore, to interpret phras-
ing in the light of the composer's idiom.

Roughly speaking, it might be said that in

classicalusage the end of a slur does not neces-
sarily involve an interruption of the legato,
while in modern usage (particularly that of
110 Piano Mastery Second Series

Chopin) the presence of a slur does not always

preclude such breaks.

PEDALING
"As for pedaling signs, the convention un-
der which they are employed is radically in-
correct, and accordingly we have to displace
or 'syncopate' every sign in order to realize the
writer's intention. Nor by any means
is this
the only demand customarily made on our in-
telligence. Beethoven, for example, wrote for
an instrument of very small resonance as com-
pared with a modern Steinway. We are told
that he played the entire theme of the second
movement of his C minor Concerto without
lifting the damper pedal; asimilar perform-
ance on a piano of to-day would have the most
disastrous results.
"While all musical notation, except the
mere notation of pitch, is limited and inac-
curate, that of the pedal is peculiarly inade-
quate, and the ear, our only safe guide, must
constantly be invoked. The use of the soft
pedal is almost always left to the native sense
of the pianist; and the sostenuto pedal, found
only on instruments of American make, has
been practically ignored by living composers.
 Ernest Hutcheson 111

THE CONTENT OF THE PIECE

"The character of a piece always the real
is

key to its interpretation. We

should be care-
ful to seek the essential meaning, not merely

display the outward form. Let me give a few

instances. In the Berceuse of Chopin the per-
vading spirit is tenderness, soothingness, the
song of mother-love; the conspicuous orna-
mentation is only incidental and should be
veiled, not insisted on; the suggestion (in the
left hand) of a persistently rocking cradle is

wholly and should never 'creak.'

external
Take the same composer's Funeral March;
here the true character that of dull, sullen
is

grief, rising to anguish, relieved by hope or

sweet memories; the hint of tolling bells and
pageantry of woe is material, not spiritual, and
should be kept in the background. I once
knew a lady who 'quite distinctly saw the car-
riage wheels go round' when she heard this
tragedy of tone Again, look at the fitude in
!

F minor, op. 25, No. 1. This is a tiny gem

which might be compared to a wandering and
wistful breeze, elusive, remote; it should be

played in that mood, not as a study in speed

and cross-rhythms. Is there any 'moonlight'
in the C sharp minor Sonata of Beethoven?
112 Piano Mastery Second Series

Heaven forbid It shows us a dark, tormented

!

soul which finds fleeting peace in the Inter-

mezzo, that 'flower between two abysses,' and
drives on to a tempest of despair in the Finale.
"It is an excellent exercise in interpretation
thus to take a composition, or more often a
single theme, and attempt to describe its char-
acter in a few words. This does not mean to
fit a story to it, to impose on it attributes not

necessarily inherent, but simply to fix its indis-

putable qualities in the mind as a key to the
right feeling.
"Let not be thought, however, that the
it

right feeling for music will alone insure good

interpretation. The deepest feelings often fail
to find adequate expression; concealed in the

player's mind, they reach no listening ear. The

mission of the interpretative artist is to com-
municate music, as he feels it, to others. Our
Anglo-Saxon temperament always labors un-
der the artistic disadvantage of a deep-rooted
reluctance to show emotion. But emotion
must be shown to be shared, and this, I think,
is what we usually mean in speak-
in substance

ing of musical 'expression.' I am far from

decrying the sensuous and intellectual elements
of interpretation, though it seems that our
modern world derives little satisfaction from
 Ernest Hutcheson 113

these elements when unaccompanied by poetic

fervor, and on the other hand will forgive many
offenses if once persuaded that a strong imagi-
native impulse sways its performers.
 MR. AND MRS. A. K. VIRGIL
THE NECESSITY OF A THOROUGH
FOUNDATION

IF Mr. Virgil were asked for what particu-

would wish to be known to posterity
lar title he
his answer would surely be "as a musical edu-
cator." To the cause of Education in Music
he has consecrated his life.
It may be of interest to the army of teach-
ers and players who use the clavier, who have
found such benefit in the method of piano tech-
nic and study combined with it, to know a few
facts in the career of the inventor of this re-
markable instrument.
Almon Kincaid Virgil is a native of Erie,
Penn. His father practiced law until middle
life, then studied theology and became a Bap-
tist minister. He was a highly educated man,
with an intense love for music, and much nat-
ural ability for it. His son Almon was taught
to play both 'cello and organ at a very early

age; while occupied with school work, he de-

m
o^o <~ ^cutM>'^DC ^AOcAy
 Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil 115

voted much time to music. After graduating

from a seminary, he entered college, but later
was forced to relinquish his studies on account
of ill health. To please his father he then took
up the study of law at the Albany Law School;
but as all his interests tended toward the study
and teaching of music, he soon gave up all
thought of being a lawyer.
In his early twenties A. K. Virgil, through
the influence of a College President with whom
he came in touch, became deeply interested in
the study of psychology, and its application to
correct educational principles in the study of
music. From that period he has been a con-
stant student of this subject.

HOW THE CLAVIER CAME INTO BEING

When young Virgil began over fifty years
ago in a western town to teach music, he dis-
covered that most piano pupils had very little
idea of what they were trying to do or what

they were aiming at. Even then he felt that

the study of music should be made as thorough
and logical as the study of mathematics or any
other science. He began to strive at once to
educate pupils to think; to do one thing at a
time and do it thoroughly to do nothing with-
out correct thinking. His desire was to train
116 Piano Mastery Second Series

the mental and physical powers to form a per-

fect, well-balanced whole.
He discovered in those early days, that the
average pupil had a very uncertain touch and
poor key-connection. Some
tones were likely
to overlap, while others would be disconnected.
He felt that if attention could be concentrated
on a pure legato effect, away from, or quite
apart from musical sound, both touch and tone
would be greatly improved.
Two keys abstracted from an old piano
served for an experiment he had in mind.
When the inventor had arranged the action of
these two keys to his satisfaction, he allowed
one or two of his pupils to practice slow trill
exercises on them. These pupils felt the bene-
fit almost immediately, through more exact

movements and better piano tone. Other keys

were soon added to the first pair, as the idea
grew and more improvements resulted. From
such small beginnings as these sprang the first
early effort called the techniphone, which
finally developed into the Practice Clavier, and
then into the perfected instrument we now
have.
At the root of all thisthought and experi-
ment was the vital idea to awaken musical in-

telligence in the mind of the pupil, and pre-

 Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil 117

vent so much indifferent, shiftless, aimless

practice. For it is impossible to accomplish

anything on the clavier without thought. A
second idea of equal importance was to sepa-
rate, for a time, the so-called mechanical side
of piano study from the musical side; in other
words to prepare fingers, hands and arms for
the work they were to perform, before attempt-
ing that work. In every branch of labor the
artisan must fit himself for his task before un-

dertaking it ; why should not the pianist do the

same? Such a logical division of labor reduces
measurably the time required to gain control of
physical and mental forces.
It would seem both sensible and normal to

begin one's musical studies in a way to gain

the quickest results. But finger and arm prep-
aration away from the keyboard had been little

thought of. The very idea of moving fingers

and playing exercises on a table or toneless
instrument was considered detrimental. No,
tone must be heard there could be no playing
;

without tone. The fact that better and purer

tones could be produced as the result of proper
preparation, was difficult for teacher or stu-
dent to grasp or believe.
Thus an uphill path lay before the inventor,
to convince others his ideas were sound and
118 Piano Mastery Second Series

sensible. It has been a long and arduous strug-

gle, but ithas not been in vain. The results

for good have been wide and far-reaching.
Many have come to realize the truth of the
principle he has preached and taught for so
many years countless students have been bene-
;

fited, many teachers all over America and

also in Europe have been able to teach along
scientific lines, have learned what it is to have
something definite to teach.

EDUCATION IN MUSIC
Mr. Virgil and his wife formerly Miss
Florence Dodd of London, who so ably assists
him in his musical and educational labors
called at my studio recently. They had just
arrived in New York
after completing a suc-
cessful year of musical activity in St. Peters-

burg, Florida, where they have established a

music school, which is already in a very flour-

ishing condition, with a large number of pupils

enrolled.
"Asyet we have done all the teaching our-
selves," said Mrs. Virgil. "You can get an
idea of what that means when I tell you I be-
gin at half past seven in the morning and teach
right through the day till into the evening. It
is absolutely virgin soil down there; they wel-
 Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil 119

come our work with open mind and are eager

forit. We are training some young teachers
now, who will soon assist us in the work."
"We believe in teaching music and piano
playing on educational principles," said Mr.
Virgil. "The trouble seems to be that musi-
cians are not educators, therefore they do not
teach music along educational lines, nor with
the same thoroughness used for other educa-
tional subjects. Wefeel this is quite a false
view to take of music study. The foundation
must be well laid if good results are to follow,
and the only logical time to do this is at the be-

ginning. Many on this

teachers do not insist ;

there is truly great room for reform in music

teaching. Personally we are using time,
energy and all our skill to institute and spread
these necessary reforms as far as we are able.
"There is one point on which I feel very
strongly. A great deal of harm is being done
by some artists who are not educators but who
are besieged for lessons because of their great
success on the concert platform. Their teach-
ing experience includes nothing more than
that gained from coaching advanced students
in the interpretation of compositions. The
harm comes when they declare that definite
foundational study and strict technical prac-
120 Piano Mastery Second Series

tice areunnecessary, for technic can be mas-

tered through the study of compositions. Art-
ists who insist there is no need for special tech-
nical study doubtless through ignorance of
true educational principles, or because they
have never taught the average student are
thoughtlessly doing harm to students the world
over.
"For their part, the students are eager to
catch at this advice, for they usually wish to
get to the top of the tree with as little effort

as possible. When
they at last awake to the
fact they have never laid an adequate founda-
tion to build upon, the awakening is a sad one.
For they find it disastrous to try to build up a
repertoire without a foundation.
"Fifty years' teaching experience has
brought me in touch with thousands of stu-
dents. From what I have seen of the general
lack of preparation I steadfastly maintain that
thorough technical study and practice are ab-
solutely necessary and I earnestly warn stu-
dents against contrary advice.
"It is true artists need not teach technic
themselves, but I maintain they ought to con-
sider the proper development of the faculties
demanded in piano playing sufficiently to see
the importance of advising students to do con-?
 Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil 121

sistent foundational work. I am thankful

there are some artists who do this.

"When correct playing habits have been

established and a certain amount of technical
has been positively acquired, and the stu-
skill

dent has mastered the principal technical

forms, he can dispense with the stacks of etudes
which some teachers deem necessary. He can
economize time by devoting himself to compo-
sitions of real musical value, to be included in
a permanent repertoire. But I maintain that
even advanced students should give some time
each day to direct technical study.
"Some of those who now decry technical

study forget what they did in early years to

acquire their high pianistic skill. Others are

endowed by nature with such wonderful genius
and natural physical adaptability to the re-
quirements of the piano that they have been
able to dispense with much of the technical

practice indispensable to the average student."

INTERMEDIATE TEACHERS
"We supplemented Mrs. Virgil,
feel,"
"there is an important field for musical edu-

cators of understanding and ability in bridging

over, as it were, the wide gap between the
foundation of music study and the stage where
122 Piano Mastery Second Series

the student is ready for the artist teacher. A

pupil may have started aright and laid a cor-
rect foundation, but if the succeeding steps
are not logically taken, precepts which were so
carefully inculcated in the beginning are neg-
lected and forgotten. So there is an ever-
increasing demand for intermediate teachers,
who understand the principles of a thorough
educational foundation, and can apply those
principles to pieces of various degrees of dif-
ficulty. This naturally includes a large ac-
quaintance with musical literature, as well as
much experience in teaching. I might call
such an arrangement a division of labor,
though the expression smacks a bit of the
workroom.

"LIVE WEIGHT"
"We hear a great deal in these days about
the 'dead weight principle.' Mr. Virgil and I
have always taught the principle of weight, but
we prefer to call it the 'live weight principle,'
for it is really vital and alive. It is of course
the principle of relaxation, properly applied
and adjusted. When you want great depth
of tone you let down all the relaxed weight you
have; if you wish softer effects some of the
weight is suspended, held back, suppressed.
 'Mr. and Mrs. *A. K. Virgil 123

We teach easy relaxed movements from the

start. The child must learn to do everything
easily and gracefully, if it be only standing,
walking, or entering a room. For it cannot
be expected that a child who is stiff and awk-
ward in everything else, can suddenly become

easy and graceful at the piano without proper

training."

CHARACTER BUILDING
"Music study based upon true educational
principles is most assuredly character build-
ing" remarked Mr. Virgil. "The successful
piano student must have purpose, perseverance
and will power but these qualities, w^ith many
;

students, are apparently lacking in the begin-

ning. It is quite wonderful, however, what
persistent effort on the part of the teacher will
do to arouse the power of thought and deter-
mination in his students."

THE CLAVIER
"And this just where the clavier, properly
is

employed, becomes such an important ally,"

interposed Mrs. Virgil. "The majority of
teachers do not half realize its value. No stu-
dent can use the clavier under intelligent guid-
ance, without developing mental control. Ex-
124 Piano Mastery Second Series

perience has taught me that the average stu-

dent will play far more musically if he divides
his practice between clavier and piano, than if

he uses the piano exclusively, this is to say,

provided attention is given to ear-training and
he is taught to listen to his own playing when
he uses the piano. With the average student,
use of tone the entire time tends to dull his
musical sensibilities. We
find that musically
gifted students need the clavier just as much
as others who are less highly endowed. Con-
stant appeal to the emotional sense through
tone is very taxing upon the physical condi-

tion; gifted students are apt to work a great

deal more through their emotions than through
their intelligence."
"Yes," added Mr. Virgil, "and you remem-
ber what Professor Butler has said: 'Develop-
ment through the emotions is ultimate weak-
ness; development through the intelligence is
'
ultimate strength.'
Volumes might be written about the work
of these earnest educators and their efforts
toward musical preparedness and efficiency.
They have accomplished much and the results
of their labors are spreading in ever-widening
circles, with ever-increasing influence.
 XI

EDWARD MACDOWELL,
AS TEACHER
RELATED BY MRS. EDWARD MACDOWELL

EACH year adds to the fame of our greatest

American composer, Edward MacDowell. As
his music is more frequently heard, it becomes
better understood and loved. The various
clubs bearing the composer's name, scattered
over the country, are doing their share to fa-
miliarize people with his music. Perhaps the
most potent factor in spreading this familiar-
ity is thework which Mrs. MacDowell, widow
of the composer, is doing. For the past five
years she has traveled over the length and
breadth of the land "from coast to coast"
bearing her sweet message of harmony and
beauty. As she ministered to her distinguished
husband, with the most unselfish devotion, dur-
ing his life, so she has consecrated her time and
talents to the work of spreading broadcast a
better understanding of his music, and to the
upbuilding of the Peterborough Memorial,
125
126 Piano Mastery Second Series

which, mainly through her untiring efforts, has

come to be a source of help and inspiration to
many an artist.

While Edward MacDowelFs fame in the fu-

ture will rest on his many valuable contribu-
tions to musical literature, we do not forget
he was a brilliant pianist and considered a great
teacher. He had the gift of imparting, and
numbered among his students some of excep-
tional talent; musicians who are now making
an honorable career in the profession.
In regard to MacDowell's ideals of teaching
and piano study, no one could speak with more
knowledge and authority than Mrs. MacDow-
ell herself, who
studied very seriously with the
composer for four years. She has been will-
ing to give some of her valuable time, between
lecture recital engagements, to a conference on
these subjects, which is here set down with all

possible accuracy.
"I began to study the piano when I was
ten, though I had picked out many little things
for myself before that time," began Mrs. Mac-
Do well. "My first and only teacher in
America was a favorite aunt, who, owing to

changes of fortune, had come to New York

from her home in the South. She was half
French, a Jumel, doubtless one of the orig-
Photograph by Darts (& Sanford
EDWARD
 Edward Macdowell, as Teacher 127

inal family and was really a remarkable

woman. She was a fine musician, and was able
within one year to make a place for herself
here, and obtain a large fee for lessons, some-
thing unusual for a woman to do in those early
days.
"My aunt evidently felt I had some talent
that was worth while cultivating, for she took
me in hand and taught me thoroughly, for four
years. After that I worked by myself for sev-
eral years, until, under stress of circumstances,
it was decided for me to make music my
pro-
fession, and I went abroad to continue my
studies.

"My goal was Frankfort, and my desire was

to become a pupil of Clara Schumann. Her
daughters acted as Vorbereiters for their fa-
mous mother. I learned they were slow, heavy
and pedantic, without having inherited the
gifts of their distinguished parents. Raff,
Director of the Conservatory, seeing how mat-
ters stood, said it would be so much better if
I could study with a teacher who could speak
English, and mentioned the young American,
Edward MacDowell, who was then just finish-

ing his studies with Raff. I consented to try

this plan for six months, though I confess I
was not eager to come to Europe to study with
128 Piano Mastery Second Series

an American teacher; neither was the young

professor anxious to accept pupils from his
own country. However
I began. My
teacher
put me through a very severe course of train-
ing. He has since confessed that he never
would administer such Spartan treatment to
any one else. He gave no pieces, but many
etudes and much Bach. At the end of the half
year, I was free to go to another teacher to
Mme. Schumann if I wished. But I had
enough good common sense to see that I had
made astonishing progress, much greater prog-
ress than other students. So I wisely decided
toremain with my American teacher.
"We were both working very hard, each in
our own way, without thought of any senti-
ment between us. I well remember my first
piece, after almost a year's study. It was the
Bach A minor Prelude and Fugue, transcribed
by Liszt.

TEACHING MATERIAL,
"What teaching material did Mr. Mac-
Dowell use, you ask? I studied Czerny, Hel-
ler, Cramer (the original, not the Biilow edi-
tion), dementi's Gradus, and plenty of Bach,
the smaller pieces, Inventions and so on. Mr.
MacDowell did not give a great many tech-
 Edward Macdowell, as Teacher 129

nical forms outside of etudes. His idea was

that scales and arpeggios need great concen-
tration in order to render their practice bene-
ficial. Many students cannot concentrate suf-
ficiently, in which case they are apt to lose time
over these forms. I mean to say they will prac-
tice scales better if they are interestingly
treated in an etude than when they are studied
alone.
"This was his idea. But Mr. MacDowell
never claimed he was always right in his views,
never felt his way was the only way. He was
ever broad minded in such matters. He would
say, 'I do not work just that way,' or 'I do not
see it in your light, but yours may be just as

good a way as mine.' He

had not very much
use for so-called piano methods; he said there
was some good in each, but would not con-
fine himself to any one. He felt that as there
were so manydegrees of intelligence, so many
sorts of hands,a different method was required
for each mentality. He did not always adopt
the Leschetizky idea of an arched hand at
least for small ones like mine. principle ofA
his was to develop the muscles of the palm of
the hand.
130 Piano Mastery Second Series

THE UNDER SIDE OF THE HAND

"This principle is one I have never heard
spoken of; he made a great point of it. The
under muscles are delicate, and care should be
taken? not to strain them; but with judicious

training much strength of hand and fingers can

be acquired through development of these mus-
cles. In my own case, I attribute the ability
to regain my technic quickly to this particular

principle.
"After marriage to Mr. MacDowell, I
my
relinquished all thought of making a career,
although he felt I had the necessary talent and
ability. For fifteen years I scarcely touched
the piano. I felt it more important to de-
vote myself to caring for him, saving his time
in many ways and shielding him from unnec-

essary cares. Then I took up my music after

he passed away, and taught for five years. I
have now had five years in the lecture recital
field.

"For this work I needed to regain my tech-

nic, and what is more, to keep it up. I find
some of my husband's exercises employing the
palm or under muscles of the hand most bene-
ficial. Here are a few of them." Mrs. Mac-
Dowell sat down at the piano, and laying her
 Edward Macdowell, as Teacher 131

outstretched hand on the keys without depress-

ing them, raised the fingers singly and in pairs,
and let them fall softly on their keys, without
in the least disturbing or pressing the other

fingers lying at rest. The fifth finger was

especially spoken of as needing this exercise.
"I practice pieces with this kind of touch,"
commented the speaker, "when I go over them
for technical purposes.

PLAYING SOFTLY
"One of Mr. MacDowelFs ideas was to
practice softly, with outstretched fingers. This
did not mean to the exclusion of other forms
of touch, else the player might lose force and

vitality of tone. You remind me that William

H. Sherwood also advised soft tone for prac-
tice.

"Another quality of tone is secured by a

slight drawing in of the finger tips. I was
told the other day, by a pedagogical authority,
that this touch was no longer in use was quite
out of date. I am glad to know that you and
others use it, and that various well-known
artists approve of it.
132 Piano Mastery Second Series

MEMORIZING
"I do memorizing away from the piano,
my
and in several ways. Perhaps the most effec-
tive way is the mental photograph I make of
the printed page. I can really see the notes
before me. I can also recite them, thinking
or speaking the two staves together, vertically,
not one and then the other, singly. I think one
should thoroughly know the piece in various
ways, otherwise one may meet disaster when
playing in public.

MACDOWELL'S CLASS
"A very helpful means of study the fort-
nightly class, gave zest to the student's work.
These classes were regular lessons, of course;
in them the student was expected to play a

piece through, in a semi-public manner. He

was not obliged to memorize, though he could,
if he washed, play without the notes. The idea
was to go through the piece before others, so
that the master himself could judge of the
effect. Students usually brought something
they had been recently working on in the alter-
nate private lesson, or they might be asked to
play a selection that had been laid aside for a
few months, and needed review.
 Edward Macdotvell, as Teacher 133

INTERPRETATION
"Mr. MacDowell had a strong theory that
the pupil should use his own innate musical
and rhythmic feeling to get at the meaning of
the piece. He sometimes gave a composition
of his own to two pupils at the same time, to
see how they would work it out. He preferred
to have them express their own individuality, if

they did not offend against any musical law.

The first lesson on a piece was always devoted
to the technical side; after that came the inter-

pretation.
"In my recital work, I am always asked to
play MacDowell's music; this is quite to be
expected. I have a vivid memory of how he
played his compositions, and I believe I am
better able than any one else to give an ade-

quate idea of his own desire as to its interpre-

tation."
 XII

RUTH DEYO
THE TECHNIC OF INTERPRETATION
IT has been truly said of Ruth Deyo that
she has every attribute of a great pianist.
Technic indeed, of the sort that is "an art in
itself," temperament, a strong musical nature,
and a something that appeals to an audience
and compels sympathetic attention. You may
call this something personal magnetism, or per-

sonality or what you will. But it holds the

listener to the mental picture or the series of
emotional states which are being depicted at
the piano and through which we must live with
the pianist. A
recital by Ruth Deyo is a rich
intellectual and emotional experience, and if
the pieces happen to be by her master, Edward
MacDowell, the occasion is truly a feast to the
lover of his music.
MacDowell, who took deepest interest in

her, felt that she really possessed the divine

spark. Hesent her to Europe, where she
studied for some time, making her debut in a
134
Photograph by Garo
 Ruth Deyo 135

recital in Berlin, with tremendous success. She

received advice and encouragement from such
musicians as Paderewski, d'Indy, Busoni, Car-
reno, Bauer, and later from her admired
friend, Charles Martin Loeffler.

Everywhere she has played, both in Europe

and America, Ruth Deyo has won high praise.
A recent program consisting entirely of Mac-
Dowell's compositions, was given before the
MacDowell Club of New York, and was re-
ceived by the large audience of musicians with
the highest approval. If Miss Deyo did noth-

ing else but give her time and talents to mak-

ing the music of our greatest composer known
from one end of the land to the other, she
would be doing a wonderful and uplifting
work.
But Ruth Deyo isnot alone a highly trained
interpreter, she is a creative musician as well.
As a small girl she gave a recital of her own
compositions at the World's Fair in Chicago.
She has already produced interesting pieces for
her instrument; we shall hope to become fa-
miliar with more of her work in the future.
Let us listen while Miss Deyo tells us a little
about her studies and her ideas of musical
development,
136 Piano Mastery Second Series

EARLY INTUITIONS
"I began to play by ear when I was two and
a half and to improvise when I was three,
of course not knowing the notes, nor having
the least idea of what I was doing. All I did
know was that to the piano made me
sit at

happy and seemed even more natural than

playing with dolls.
"I wanted to reach the pedals and being
quite too small for this, I tried to obviate the
difficulty by sitting in a low rocking-chair with
my hands far above me on the keys. My fa-
took pity on me and had an
ther, seeing this,
extension pedal made, the kind Josef Hof-
mann used when he made his tours as a small
boy.
"My parents would not allow me to be ex-
ploited as a Wunder Kind so I played in

public only occasionally and then only for

charity. I was allowed to give a recital of my
own compositions at the World's Fair in Chi-
cago, but aside from this I was kept out of
doors a great deal and lived as healthy a life
as possible.

"Any talent which develops at a very early

age needs much guarding, otherwise it may
burn itself out before it has a chance to ma/-
 Ruth Deyo 137

ture. My parents wisely understood that true

artisticdevelopment must be gradual and not
too meteoric and their understanding of what I
needed made all possible difference to my early
and saved me from much that I might have
life
"
had to undo later on.

WITH MASON AND MACDOWELL

"When I was ten, I studied with Dr.
William Mason, which instruction gave me an
invaluable foundation.
"I had been away from New York for some
time and was playing in Steinway Hall when
he happened to walk down the corridor. He
said to the friend who was with him: 'I know
that is Ruth Deyo; I haven't heard her for a
long time, but I recognize her touch. Only one
who plays from the scapula can get such a
pure tone.' He then came into the room. I
was of course delighted to see him, for I had
always looked up to him with a kind of worship
as a child, and I was much touched that he

recognized my playing.
"I was fifteen when I went to MacDowell.
His teaching was very suggestive. His con-
ceptions were big and his interpretative sense
exceedingly fine. He was a very severe task-
138 Piano Mastery Second Series

master and he put me through a rigid course of

technical training.
"He would not allow me to play anything
but exercises for two months after I began my
work with him. He rarely ever complimented,
but scolded me a great deal. In fact, I never
knew how much confidence he had in my future
nor what he really thought of my playing until
the last lesson I had from him, after having
studied with him for two years.
"(It seems he told my father very frankly
his opinion, but kept it carefully hidden from

me.)
"At the final meeting of his Artist's Class
which was given at Columbia, I played the
Schumann F sharp minor Sonata. I was just
seventeen. He came to me afterward with
tears in his eyes and let me see for the first time
how deeply interested he was in career and
my
what faith he had had in me from the begin-
ning. He said, 'Now you must go to Europe.
You have studied long enough with me ; I can
teach you nothing more,' which was typical of
his unfailingly modest attitude toward every-

thing he did.
"I have always been deeply grateful to him
for developing, to the utmost, my imaginative
powers when I was very young. He believed
 Ruth Deyo 139

absolutely in the necessity of putting the mu-

sical thought of the composition before every-

thing that is, knowing clearly what the music

has to express and then applying the neces-
sary technical means with which to express this.
He was not interested
in technical problems

per se, but deeply interested in musical ones.

Also he never made sentimental comparisons
between the arts, which unfortunately he has
often been accused of doing. He was too
simple and sincere a nature to have such a
pose.

THE ESSENTIALS OF PIANO TECHNIC

"I feel it essential to make one's equipment
so good that the musical idea to be expressed
can be said truly and directly without the in-
terference of poor mechanism. It is necessary
to keep in mind the fact that technic is a 'means
to an end' and only a means. Not merely to
say this and theorize about it; but to live it
and prove it in one's artistic life.
"There is, in music, an inescapable need of
two things to produce good music, either as
an interpreter or as a composer. These two
are: first, scientific knowledge; second,
highly developed intuition. The latter is a
thing of prime importance, as it is the 'spark'
140 Piano Mastery Second Series

which gives life to a composition and without

which it is an inanimate and meaningless series
of notes. The former is the trained mentality
by means of which one is able to express with
scientific accuracy, and with the least waste of

energy, all the beauty one finds in a composi-

tion.

EXTERIORIZING THE MUSIC

"The power of 'exteriorizing' is a most im-
portant one. I mean by that, the ability to
give to the audience the exact impression of
the music you desire to present to them,

thereby making the composition clear and in-

telligible and not muddled, which it is bound
to be if you only hear it in the inner ear and
do not put the necessary technical work on it
to express all your inner thoughts to the
listener.
"The only way to avoid this insidious and
natural fault, is first to analyze the composi-
tion with great care, as to its thematic ma-
terial, its entire construction and so on. Then
analyze with equal care, the technical means
you apply to each part of the composition in
order to bring out each special effect. Try to
listen to yourself from the outside. You will
find this one of the most difficult things to do
 Ruth Deyo 141

and one of the most fatal things to neglect.

Self criticism the artist's safeguard and the
is

moment he becomes influenced by the audi-

ence'sgood opinion of him, in that moment is
he bound to deteriorate unless he constantly
keeps strict standards before him of what is
artistically right.
"An artistic career is not the path of 'roses
all the way' that it appears to be, and as it

should quite properly appear. The outward

glamour of it is one of its greatest charms, but
the inward glamour of unremitting, relentless
work to obtain the best and most beautiful re-
sults is really much more fascinating than all

the outward displays of appreciation which

honest artistic living is sure to bring.
"All these expressions of appreciation are
tremendous incentives and real necessities to
the artist whogiving the best that is in him
is

to create a beautiful thing for his audience and

for his own artistic ideals.

PLAYING IN PUBLIC
"This brings me to the interesting question
of playing in public, and the necessary mental
control in order to accomplish it. It simply
means such a powerful and clear projection of
the musical thought that an audience is moved
142 Piano Mastery Second Series

to listen intently from beginning to end with-

out the desire to let its mind wander to other
topics. The artist must be convinced of what
he doing before he can convince an audi-
is

ence; he must entirely forget himself while oc-

cupied with his work. The sympathetic cur-
rent between an audience and the artist is one
of the most inspiring things in a public career.
I have never had this more strongly evidenced
in my own life than when I was playing with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I shall
never forget the responsiveness of the Friday
afternoon audience. I did not even hear a
single cough through the whole concerto And !

there was that indescribable something between

the audience, orchestra, conductor and piano
which seemed to make them all one and every
;

one's individuality sank in the interest of lis-

tening to and interpreting the music.

"Thisreally true artistic satisfaction, and
is

nothing short of this means anything. The

Royal Road to Art is, in spite of the necessity
of keeping one's mind and heart open to all
the good things the world has to offer, a very
exacting and straight path.
"It is, however, infinitely worth every sacri-
fice; for the sacrifices only mean, discarding
the useless, destructive elements and keeping to
 Ruth Deyo 148

those that are constructive. It is not always

easy to do so and one does not arrive at this
beatific state in a day but the struggle to gain
;

it is worth
every effort it costs and the rewards
are infinitely generous if one works for the love
of the working and without thought of immedi-
ate or dazzling results.

TONE PRODUCTION
"In my opinion the aim should be to get as
pure and 'unpiano-like' a tone as possible. By
that I mean the necessity of getting away from
using the fingers like mechanical hammers.
This gives to the tone a disagreeable quality,
and used to be, unfortunately, very often asso-
ciated with piano playing. Happily we are
trying to get away from this as much as pos-
sible at the present time; and much advance
has been made, owing to the realization of the
fact that pressure on the keys gives a tone of
far greater purity and beauty than striking a
key from a distance. Such a touch may be
employed for special reasons and certain
effects, but it ought to be used with great
care.
144 Piano Mastery Second Series

INTERPRETATION
"The first thing to do in learning a composi-
tion and its interpretation, is to study its mu-
sical content and understand its construction.
One must know what has to be accentuated
and why; where the high lights come, the cli-
maxes, also the unimportant parts (so called)
though nothing in music is really unimportant.
A very necessary part of true interpretation
is to have respect for each voice and to give

them all their proper value, not to play every

voice and every finger loud when we see / or ff
in front of us.
"One reason why the pianist can practice
Bach endlessly with no mental fatigue but with
increased delight is because of the constant in-
terplay of many voices demanding different
qualities of tone. It so interesting to find
is

how the voices are all woven together in a

supremely organic fashion with no waste
material.

PLAYING WITH POWER

"Oneof the essentials of powerful playing
or power in playing, is immediate relaxation
after thekey chord or octave has been struck.
This quick muscular contraction and relaxa-
 Ruth Deyo 145

tion an entirely healthy exercise as there can

is

be no strain when properly controlled and at

the same time the possibility of producing a
powerful tone with no fatigue is limitless.
"Four things are essential to powerful play-
ing: 1. Well developed and very strong fin-
gers (arched hand is the safest position, though
some pianists play with fingers quite flat) 2. .

Relaxed arm. 3. Impetus made from the

shoulder. 4. Immediate relaxation after the

chord has been played.

"Delicacy is obtained through loud practice,
thereby training the fingers in these passages,
which give them the proper background, as it
were, and the necessary control over the
passage. After this is done, it is possible to
grade the tone from the loudest forte to the
softest pianissimo, and produce a most delicate
and at the same time clear tone which has equal
carrying power with a note produced with more
force.

KEEPING UP TECHNIC
"To keep one's technic in order is rather a
personal matter and to lay down rules is dif-
ficult. My own experience has been that a
certain amount of very concentrated practice
{iway from the piano is one of the most valuable
146 Piano Mastery Second Series

ways of keeping in good condition. Muscular

exercises intelligently practiced are most bene-
ficial.

"It necessary to avoid undue fatigue, also

is

to keep the mind fresh, so that it does not grow

musically stale. Also to practice the piece

slowly and carefully with the notes no matter
;

how well you think you know the composition

without them."
 XIII

MARTINUS SIEVEKING
THE DEAD-WEIGHT PRINCIPLE
A MAN who has, according to his own ac-

count, solved all problems of the keyboard a

man who, during a dozen or fifteen years of
unremitting effort has built up for himself a
perfect piano mechanism, is truly a unique
figure in the pianistic world. Few artists are
willing to make, or can substantiate such a
claim. Even the greatest of them confess to
some limitations; they admit there are some
problems a little beyond their reach. The
eminent Holland pianist believes he has solved
them all he feels there is nothing on the tech-
;

beyond his ken.

nical side
Mr. Sieveking tells us his piano method is

founded on scientific principles unknown up to

the present time. The most important of these
is the principle of dead or relaxed weight. But
we, in America, have for over thirty years,
been familiar with Dr. William Mason's ex-
position of the principle of relaxation and de-
147
148 Piano Mastery Second Series

vitalization. Some of the most prominent

teachers and pianists among us to-day were
students of Mason, use his method and are
working along the lines laid down by him.
They cannot forget the ease and power this
principle gave their master's playing, nor his
beautiful touch and tone. Godowsky is a mod-
ern master who preaches relaxed, or dead
weight of hand and arm upon the key. It is
the vital principle of Hofmann's wonderful
art. A host of others have testified to its value
and necessity Powell, Carreno, Schnabel,
Leginska to say nothing of the Breithaupt
book on weight touch.
And now we are told that the principle of
dead or relaxed weight has been unknown up
to the present time! What does it all mean?
Thus I mused as I proceeded to keep an
appointment with Mr. Martinus Sieveking,
who had recently arrived in this country from
Paris. It will be remembered that he toured
America years ago, and proved himself a bril-
liant pianist and most excellent musician. I
mentally resolved to settle the subject of
weight touch with him the very first thing, be-
fore taking up other technical points which had
occurred to me to question him about.
Let it be recorded at once that I came, saw,
 Martinus S lev eking 149

and became convinced that here was one who

had solved many if not most of the technical
difficulties of the piano. While it may be too
much to claim that the principle of dead weight
has not been fully understood until now, it can
be truthfully stated that the Dutch pianist has
discovered a means of applying this principle
in a manner that will improve touch and tone
in a short time. If his directions are implicitly

followed, the fingers will almost immediately

become stronger while the tone will increase in
volume and sonority. His authoritative words
and manner bespeak the autocrat; but a man
who has spent a good part of his life in devis-
ing means to obtain a big, luscious tone, strong
fingers, fluent technic, and has succeeded to a
Remarkable degree, he has a right to be
feels
autocratic. Details of conference will
this

surely be of deep interest to teachers and stu-

dents of the instrument.
I found Mr. Sieveking in his spacious stu-
dios, a man of commanding presence, winning

manner, and speaking English fluently. Two

grand pianos, one of foreign the other of
American make, stood sideby side in the center
of the music room. The French instrument
had been built for his special use ; not only were
150 Piano Mastery Second Series

the keys wider, but the whole keyboard was

tilted a little downward at the back, which he

explained was a decided advantage.

HIS METHOD
"You want to know about my method of
using relaxed weight?" he began. "I will
gladly tell you all I can; what is more, I will
show you each step. Let us sit here at this
piano and demonstrate as we go along." As
he spoke he caught my hand by one finger and
held it up to test its weight; in fact he let the
hand hang by one finger and then by another
as he talked.

"Many people think they are using dead

weight when the truth is they do
in playing,
not really understand the principle at all. I
could mention a few pianists who do use it.
Godowsky does to a considerable extent, Car-
reno also. It requires absolute concentration
from the start, until it has become so much a
part of one's being that it is 'second nature.'
Its use increases the volume of tone in a won-
derful degree."
All this time my hand had been held sus-

pended in air; now he let go of the finger and

the arm fell.

"You have an understanding of the dead

 Martinus Sieveking 151

weight in the arm now we will see if you can

;

put it into the fingers."

The second finger of the right hand was
placed on the key D, in a firmly arched posi-
tion. The other fingers were well curved and
raised, thumb extended from the hand, and
arm hung down naturally at the side. Mr.
Sieveking believes in arched hand, well curved
fingers and high, free finger action, for all tech-
nical finger exercises. He
says: "The fingers
should be raised as high as possible (without
strain). I insist on this important point, as
I do not believe it possible to develop a fine
technic without it. Sometimes the flat finger

is employed by virtuosi to secure a beautiful

tone, but at first the student should confine
himself to the curved finger."
The second finger, resting on the key and D
supporting the entire weight of hand and arm,
was now tested over and over, by being lifted
high and then allowed to fall back on the key.
Arm weight increased as thought was con-
sciously directed to this point.
"Perfectement! Now you see what I mean
now you have it ! With your arm supported
on the tip of the second finger, play a down
stroke with the third finger, over and over
again, always maintaining this heavy, weighted
152 Piano. Mastery Second Series

feeling in the hand and arm. Of course you

are familiar with the different sets of muscles
which work the fingers, some of which lie on

top and others on the underside of the arm.

The extensors on top of the arm do the lifting,
and as lifting is more difficult to accomplish
than dropping or falling, we must give greater
heed to the raising of the finger, that it may
be done with quickness and exactness."

EACH FINGER BY ITSELF

Each was now used as sup-
finger in turn
port, while the one next it was exercised with

quick up-and-down movements. No weakness

or bending, no hesitation in movement, no lift-
ing except in an exactly straight line were
allowed. The stroke was made with as much
power as possible. Every player and teacher
knows how important it is to gain power and
clearness, and feels the need of some sure way
to acquire these with the right conditions. I
had made myown experiments along these
lines now it was a satisfaction to meet with a
;

master who had worked them out so logically.

"We have now done the first exercise I give
the students who come to me. The second goes
a step further. As you see the first step only
employs one finger at a time for I consider it a
;
 Martinus Sieveking, 153

great mistake to play so-called five finger exer-

cises, at first. The only sound basis for technic
is to begin with one finger at a time. The
second step employs two fingers in legato, but
always with dead weight of arm, supported on
the finger tips. Wemust be conscious of this
condition at all times, which means at first
constant thinking. One should also play with
each hand alone, as concentration is a most
important factor of all the work.

THE PROOF
"A player who
has taken the two steps, as
we have just done, has already the proof of
what this method will do for him. In one hour
I can convince him of its benefits. With two
hours daily practice for one week, he will find
his tone increased and his fingers appreciably

stronger."

OCTAVE TRAINING
"What about octaves?" he was asked.
"Weneed strength, suppleness and rapidity
for octaves. I have special training for octaves.
They call into requisition the muscles of the
forearm the wrist
; is but the hinge between the
hand and forearm. With the hand in arched
form, the playing fingers curved and firm, we
154 Piano Mastery Second Series

cultivate each finger in turn, with quick hand

strokes on the key. Of course, for octaves, the
first and fifth are most important, but all fin-

gers can come in for this sort of training. At

first use four repetitions on each key, and play

up and down the keyboard, at least four oc-

taves. Use the diatonic and chromatic scales.
After these have been learned, I have invented
various exercises which employ 8ths, 7ths, 6ths,
5ths and 4ths, in this way," and he ran over
these forms with the greatest ease and speed.

TRAINING THE THUMB

"I have also many exercises for training the
thumb in scale playing. Here is the first one:
With the second finger on a black key and the
arm weight suspended on it, the thumb passes
from the white key on one side of it to the
white key on the other side of it, the thumb
describing an arched movement from one key
to the other. The thumb is also trained to pass
under all the other fingers."
"Have you any special counsel to give in the
matter of memorizing?"

MEMORIZING
"In the first place, try to have the pupil learn
something of harmony even a little is helpful,
;
 Martinus Siev eking 155

it isbetter than nothing. It will enable him

to analyze the music sufficiently to give him
some little idea of what he is trying to play.
Take a small portion of the piece, say two
measures at a time, learn one hand and then
the other. Know them so thoroughly the notes
can be recited or written. Thus one can think
out the piece away from the instrument.

"I have had and now have students of great

talent studying with me, several of them win-
ners of the Premier Price in Paris. They all

testify to the benefits received from careful

study of my exposition of the principle of dead
weight. I have embodied these principles and
exercises into a system ; I hope to have the work

published later on." Mr. Sieveking took a

book from the table and asked me to look it
over. The text and musical illustrations were
all written by his own hand, the former in clear,

elegant English.
"This is a life work," he said. "I have writ-
ten it to aid teachers and students, for all must
learn these principles. I have come to America
for this purpose, leaving my home and family
in Paris. I intend to return after accomplish-
ing my mission here. Oh, yes, I shall con-
certize in America; but I especially desire to
156 Piano Mastery Second Series

compose. Here is a little piece, a Nocturne,

which I began in Paris and finished in New
York. Would you like to hear it?"
He began to play and I was soon absorbed
in listening to the quality of his tone, so big,
sweet and penetrating. Once he turned to me
naively; "Do you like it it's nice, isn't it?"
After a little he broke off. "I really cannot
play on an ordinary sized keyboard, and my
French piano is being repaired. On this one
my fingers seem to get between the black keys
and I can't get them out." And he held up
those wonderful hands of his, surely the larg-
est, most muscular and perfectly developed

among piano hands.

"You see that photograph of two hands?"
pointing to a picture on the wall. "One is

Rubinstein's, the other my own side by side.

They are almost identical. Rubinstein's fin-

gers had cushions on the ends; I believe these
are necessary to play the piano successfully.
"Oh, yes, I use the metronome; you see I
have one of extra size standing there."
The Holland master a thorough believer
is

in hard work. "I condemn my pupils to hard

labor," he says. "Technic is brains, plus
rightly trained muscles and nerves. To ac-
 Martinus Sieveking 157

quire a technic, keep it up and constantly im-

prove it, should be the aim of every pianist."

A VISIT TO SIEVEKING
"Come down and see me next Sunday after-
noon there will be music," wrote Martinus
Sieveking, the Dutch pianist and composer,
from on Long Island. The
his sylvan retreat
invitation was alluring the day proved fair and
;

we went.
Mr. Sieveking had chosen to locate for the
summer not on the shore but a little inland,
where green lawns and shrubbery abound.
With him were Mrs. Elliott and Miss Inez
Elliott, a young pianist, who had studied with
this accomplished teacher for the past ten
years. He considers her a thorough mistress
of his method, and as yet the only authorized
exponent of it in this country.
When we arrived at the villa, sounds of a
piano met us before we reached the garden
gate. Bach was being played with amazing
fluency and velocity. Wepaused to listen and
waited till the tones ceased before pressing
the bell. The player responded, opened the
door and led us at once into the parlor which
served as his music room. It was a square
room with several windows looking out to the
158 Piano Mastery Second Series

green. On a small mantle shelf stood a few

drawings; prominent among them a photo-
graph of Adelina Patti, sent him in commemo-
ration of her seventieth birthday. Two con-
cert grands took up the major portion of the
room, though the whole space seemed domi-
nated by the presence of the pianist himself.
One felt here was a big personality; a man who
had thought much, studied deeply, had lived
and suffered.
In answer to some of my questions regard-
ing his early life and career, the artist said:
"I was surrounded by musical influences
from the beginning of my life. My father was
a thoroughly trained musician, a conductor and
composer, my mother was a singer. I have
always lived in a musical atmosphere : I think
this is one of the essentials if one would become
a musician. At a very early age I began to
play the piano; before long I began to com-
pose. At twelve I played organ in a church.
Later on I went to Vienna, to Leschetizky.
The Professor took great interest in me and
was especially kind. There were six of us,
chosen out of a class of ninety, to be his special
favorites; they were: Hambourg, Gabrilo-
witsch, Goodson, Schnabel, Newcomb and
myself.
 Martinus Sieveking i"59

"After those happy student days, I concert-

ized everywhere ; I came to America also. But
I was not satisfied with the success I had won,
nor with what I had achieved. I felt there
were deeper principles underlying my art
which I did not yet understand. So I set to
work to discover them. The result is the
method I have formulated, which has cost me
fifteen years' hard labor. But I am satisfied
with the result I feel I have won out ; I feel I
;

have gained the correct principles of true piano

technic. Life has been a bitter struggle at
times. Sometimes I have had to go hungry
I have even had to starve Thank Heaven, all
!

that is over; there are now no financial wor-

ries. My aim is to benefit others with my dis-
coveries. I want to help teachers to teach bet-
ter and players to play better. I often give
much time to those with talent who are unable
to pay, yet are deserving. I want to be sur-
rounded by talented, congenial people wher-
ever I am."
Yielding to our request, he began to play.
First his Souffranee, written three years ago,
when his son was very ill. It expresses a
father's anxiety for the recovery of the stricken
one. After this Beethoven, Op. 27, No. 2, the
"Moonlight." Then a Bach violin Gavotte,
160 Piano Mastery Second Series

transcribed for piano by himself. Next some

Chopin, and finally one of his latest composi-
tions, a Nocturne, embodying a haunting, ap-

pealing melody. "Women like this piece," he

remarked, in answer to our openly expressed
admiration. "This and the Souffranee have,
I think, the right to exist they are modern but
;

not futuristic, for I cannot write in that style.

The Nocturne is a little after the manner of
Chopin I quite frankly acknowledge it. It
certainly does not copy the Polish master, for
it is distinctly modern; but it is in his spirit.

I wrote it while staying in a beautiful villa,

where there was a lovely garden with flowers
and fruit. Blue skies overhead and sunshine
and moonlight. Who could help being influ-
enced by such surroundings. I have tried to
express the feelings the environment made
upon me. Some composers write from the
heart, like Beethoven; some from the head, like
Strauss. Wagner expressed both head and
heart."

MOEE ABOUT HIS METHOD

A little later he brought out the MS copy
of his method, placed it upon the piano, and we
fell to discussing the material and doing the

exercises. After each one had been tried he

 Martinus Sieveking 161

would say : "Do you approve of this ? Do you

think it will help? Is it not a good exercise?
Any one who can play this with endurance and
velocity has technic. These scale exercises will
surely help everybody."
The master constantly spoke of the dead
weight principle the weight of arm hanging
on the finger tips. While all this is true, the
term "dead weight" does not, to my mind, con-
vey the whole truth, and may mislead the un-
initiated. It gives no idea, for example, of the
extreme firmness of the fingers, nor of the
muscular energy used to depress the keys in all
finger exercises. It is this element of energy,
combined with arm weight, which give power
and sonority to the tone. Sieveking insists on
high, large movements of fingers for all tech-
nical exercises and wants all the sonority that
can be brought from the instrument. His
whole mentality is built on large lines of
thought: even his handwriting corresponds.
Yet he can caress the keys most delicately when
he wills to do so.
Later in the afternoon we had tea and delici-
ous cakes made by Miss Elliott's fair hands.
Sieveking was genial and told many anecdotes.
He wished me to examine the hand of his pupil
and note its beautiful development. "She
162 Piano Mastery Second Series

plays with the greatest perfection," he said.

"You shall hear her; I insist she make a
career."
The blaze of a glorious sunset met our eyes
as we all left the villa and sauntered through
the quiet, hedge-bordered streets, flanked by
pretty villas and gardens. Our genial host in-
sisted on accompanying us to the train and see-

ing us safely aboard. As he stood there on

the little platform, waving us a farewell, his
tall figure looming dark against the lambent
sunset sky, the whole made an "impression"
not to be forgotten. Had we only possessed
the necessary gift, the scenes of the afternoon
might have served as basis for a futuristic tone
poem. Fortunately, or otherwise, we could
only keep the group of mental pictures to hang
on Memory's walls.
 XIV

MARGUERITE MELVILLE-
LISZNIEWSKA
THE ART OF THE TEACHER
To meet and talk with Marguerite Melville
is almost equivalent to being taken directly into
the studio of the late Theodor Leschetizky him-
self. This gifted American was the Viennese
master's pupil and assistant for more than six
years; she saw him under all sorts of condi-
tions, understood him thoroughly, and always
knew how to "take him." She can describe the
man, his personality, his manner of teaching, of
treating and handling pupils, so vividly and
inimitably, that you feel you have really been
in the famous work-room yourself, and eye-
witness to the happenings there. You scarcely
know which interests you more, the keen, ana-
lytical methods of the master, or the charming
personality, ready wit and tact of the racon-
teur.
Like her distinguished compatriot, Edward
MacDowell, Marguerite Melville was born in
163
164 Piano Mastery Second Series

New York City, .of Scotch-Irish stock. Like

him she has talent for piano playing, composi-
tion, and pedagogy. In place of his gift for
drawing and painting, she possesses a voice and
the ability to sing. Well-known vocalists ad-
vised her to specialize in singing. But she had
the "pianistic bee in her bonnet," as she puts it,
and chose the piano as her medium of expres-
sion.

A "LITTLE MOZART"

Marguerite Melville inherited music and

lived in from earliest recollection, as her
it

father was an organist and her mother a singer.

When little more than a child she left her na-
tive land, as protegee of William Steinway,
and went to Berlin to study with Dr. Jedliczka.
This remarkable pedagogue took great inter-
her studies, and used to call her "his lit-
est in
tle Mozart."She found him a helpful, inspir-
ing teacher, especially on the interpretative
side. At his death she proceeded to Vienna to

study with Leschetizky.

After a short period with an assistant she
came to the master. He soon recognized in
the young girl a rare spirit, one of the chosen.
She relates that, contrary to others who feared
the ordeal of lessons with the professor, she
 Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska 165

felt like a bird out of a cage when she got to

let
him. Here was a musician she could consult
and advise who understood her and ap-
with,
preciated her talent. Not only did she enjoy
his personal friendship in the home, but had
the honor to become one of his leading assist-
ants,which post she occupied for six years.
During her last season in Vienna, she took
twenty-two of her pupils to the master, besides
those he specially asked her to prepare for him.
"I love to teach," she says "I feel I can under-
;

stand the student's difficulties, for I have been

through so much myself; I can help him over
the hard places. It is often only a little stiff-
ness here or there in the wrong place a lack
of understanding, lack of sympathetic tone or
expression; it may be but a little thing which
stands in the way, which I am able to remove.
I feel, too, that I can impart some of my own
enthusiasm to the student."
On a certain occasion we had met to discuss
the subject of piano playing and teaching.

TECHNIC A PERSONAL MATTER

"You want to talk about technic, I am sure,"
began Mme. Melville, with her charming smile.
"Technic such an individual thing; it seems
is

to belong to each one personally. In its broad-

166 Piano Mastery Second Series

est sense it is not well understood by the gen-

eral player. For this very reason a student
might have listened to Leschetizky and not
have known what he was talking about.
"There are a number of Vorbereiters in
Vienna, but each one teaches in a different way,
which shows there are no fixed and fast rules.
Mme. Bree, for instance, advises high finger
action; some of the others do not. For my
own part I feel the best way is to fit the technic
to individual needs. A
pupil with a heavy
hand and inert fingers needs decided, well-
articulated finger action, in order to lighten

up things, and develop the muscles; whereas

the long, thin hand, with spidery fingers, may
need opposite treatment sometimes to hold
the fingers down a bit, to make them cling to
the keys and thus develop weight in them.

RELAXATION
"One hears a great deal of talk about relaxa-
tion, but that, too, is apt to be misunderstood.
The pupil may think he relaxes, when his arm
is
actually quite light, showing it is not prop-
erly loose, for a really relaxed arm is very
heavy. The arm undoubtedly controls every-

thing. It is the seat of power; it is what the

diaphragm is to the singer, the basis of every-

 Marguerite Melville- LiszniewsJca 167

thing. It the reservoir of weight. Whatever

is

amount or quality of tone you want, you bring

to bearmore or less weight of arm on your fin-
gers you turn on the weight through the arm,
;

or turn it off, in just such quantity as you

need.
"Of course we cannot do without finger ac-
tion; we must have it for the development of
fingers and for certain effects ; beginners must
be taught it at the start. But later on we can
get the fingers nearer the keys and thus gain
in weight and ease of delivery, without such
a high lift of finger.

ILLUSTRATIONS
"To illustrate how Leschetizky suited his

teaching to each player: He often told one

pupil to play a passage a certain way. The
next pupil might be advised to play the same
passage in quite a different manner. This was
the cause of some amusing errors on the part
of students. One would hear another told
exactly howto interpret a certain piece. With
elation he thinks, 'Ah, yes, that is the way it
should be done.' Goes home, practices the piece
thus and so; comes to the next lesson, and is
told that is not the way to play the piece at all.
"When I brought my own pupils to the pro-
168 Piano Mastery Second Series

fessor,I always accompanied them and sat

near them during the ordeal. Of course they
were often nervous, and this condition did not
improve their performance. Sometimes the
professor made sarcastic remarks their inabil-
;

ity to grasp the full import of which did not

improve the situation. I could usually pacify
him and smooth things over for the pupil. I
always tried to have her go right on, in spite
of everything. If the professor was ruffled at
her failure to apprehend his meaning, I would
say: 'Don't expect quite so much; the pupil
can't at once do all you require; you must be
more humble don't look for perfection yet.'

AMERICAN TACT
"One particular day something had gone
wrong. It was class-day, too ; a number of stu-
dents had already assembled in the salon.
When I came I found the master pacing up
and down in the next room, in a rising state of
excitement. I tried to calm him, but he utterly
refused to be pacified. 'Very well,' I said, 'you
surely cannot have the class to-day; I will go
in and dismiss them. I'll tell them to come an-
other day.' At this ultimatum, he calmed down
instantly, went into the salon, and had never
seemed in a more amiable, sunny mood,
 Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska 169

"Of course I have witnessed some harrowing

scenes in the studio. Leschetizky would some-
times criticize very harshly a player whom he
thought conceited and self satisfied. If I re-
monstrated at such severity he would retort:
'If a pupil cannot stand my criticism, how will
he ever endure being flayed by the critics ? He
must learn to stand up under rough handling.'
"Some of the foreign students, generally
though not always Americans, seemed pos-
sessed with the idea they must get a few les-
sons with the master before returning home, so
they could call themselves his pupils. The Vor-
bereiters were often besieged with undesirable

applicants. Great tact was needed to steer

safely around these obstacles.
"One such case I recall. The pupil was
really lacking in ability, but had staked all her
hopes on having one lesson with Leschetizky.
It had fallen to my lot to prepare her, and I
soon found I could do little or nothing for her.
So I explained the case to the professor, asking
him to be easy with her for my sake. Her
trouble was lack of rhythm clearness also. At
the appointed time I brought her to him. She
seated herself at the piano with a flourish and
began. The professor showed signs of uneasi-
170 Piano Mastery Second Series

ness and soon remarked, 'You might play

clearer.'
"
'Clearerthan that?' she answered, as
though he were demanding the impossible.
Soon she was told she played wrong notes.
"
'I assure you, professor, I have practiced
this piece a great deal, and have never played

wrong notes at home !'

"I saw the premonitions of storm, so sug-

gested the lesson should terminate at the half
hour, as the professor had another engagement.
The young lady was not pleased with her les-
son, but she could at least say she had had one.

MEMORIZING
"In regard to memorizing," continued the
pianist, "I feel one should do the easiest way.
it

There are three factors eye, ear and finger

memory. To make such a mental picture of
the printed notes that you can shut your eyes
and see them; to hear so accurately that your
mental ear knows them also to feel them and
;

know their position on the keyboard all these

shouldmake the piece very sure. Some players
commit their pieces in all three ways. For
myself I can hardly say whether any one of
these predominate. I can affirm that when I
can play the piece I know it by heart. Musi-
 Marguerite Melville- Liszniewska 171

cians have often told me I have a wonderful

memory ; I can retain my music almost indefi-

nitely. The other day, after hearing

Paderew-
ski, I came home, thinking of the pieces I used
to play of his Melodie, Nocturne and other
things. I haven't seen the printed pages of
these for years, nor played them. I went to the
piano and found them right under my fingers,
without a slip. This ability to retain the notes
in mind stands me in good stead for my recital
work, when, under stress of teaching and many
interruptions, I am not able to secure sufficient
time for practice.

FOREIGN STUDY
"In regard to foreign study for Americans,
I do not see the reason for opposing it. They
are obliged to learn a new language, of itself
an education. They see new lands, learn to
know new people, become familiar with new
ways of living. All broadens them and
this
benefits their music. They hear quantities of
music, opera, orchestral and chamber concerts
and recitals, which they would never have the
opportunity to hear at home, at the price. If
fond of Shakespeare, they will at least see more
of him in one season in Germany than in a life-
time in America. These are a few reasons for
172 Piano Mastery Second Series

going abroad. Conditions may be entirely dif-

ferent hereafter; one cannot predict.

DEVELOP THE MUSICAL SIDE

"People often speak as though Leschetizky

cared only to bring out the virtuosity of the
student, to form him into a brilliant pianist.
This was true to a certain extent, but it was
also true that he sought to develop the musical
side, which ought to underlie all virtuosity.
"Here is one illustration of what I mean. It
was the case of a little Polish boy of twelve.
He really had a big talent, but was fond, when
at the piano, of putting on the airs of a vir-
tuoso. I did not prepare him for the professor
but I knew him, as he lived in the same pension.
When he came to play in class, he walked up
to the piano, seated himself as though he were
some great one, and dashed into a Chopin Polo-
naise. He
played it brilliantly, but had not
gone more than eight measures, when Leschet-
izky went up, took his hands off the keys and
pushed him off the stool, saying such playing
was nothing but Polish exaggeration, and he
didn't want to see him again. I felt keenly for
the little fellow, who was all broken up over
the turn of affairs so I tried to pacify the pro-
;

fessor, saying perhaps the stool was not quite

 Marguerite Melville-Lisznie'wska 173

right, or he may have been nervous, and begged

he might have another chance. The professor
then turned on me, saying, 'You women, you
must spoil everything.' I was a bit cross with
him for his attitude toward the boy, but I can
see now that he saw this streak of superficiality
and exaggeration, and wanted to get it out. He
could have done so, if he had had time to work
with him. The boy needed several more such
knocks. Five years later I heard him now a
full-fledged artist in Copenhagen. He was
then merely a brilliant virtuoso, entirely super-
ficial,and seemed to me quite on the wrong
track. That special sort of superficial exag-
geration was what the professor tried to kill in
the boy of twelve.

A SUSCEPTIBLE PUPIL
"An instance of how Leschetizky would
handle a susceptible pupil. He was also a Pol-
ish lad, just over twenty, who came with his
mother. She was devoted to him and looked
after everything. The fellow was rather shy
and given to blushing. The professor, of
course, sized up his mentality and took delight
in saying things to shock him, just to see him
color up. Once, when he had something ex-

pressive to play, he was asked :

174 Piano Mastery Second Series
"
'How do you make love to a girl? I sup-
pose you would say, shyly, "I love you ;" where-
'
as you should say it this way the professor
struck an attitude and said the words with the
greatest ardor.

ILLUSTRATING INTREPRETATION
*

"Leschetizky used to say there are no good

teachers, only good pupils!' There are many
students who love music, yet work for years
without getting beyond the clumsy, amateur-
ish stage. They play everything on a dead level
of monotony. It is for us as teachers to help
such struggling ones over the intermediate
stage to the place where they can bring some
light and shade into their performance. I try
to show them where and how to use variety of
tone and accent. Sometimes I use a character-
istic group of words that will just fit the phrase,

and will give the right idea of stress. It is often

in little turns and ornaments that the stu-
dent's lack of deftness stands out. When the

pupil played a clumsy turn, Leschetizky would

say: 'Don't build your balcony as big as your
house.' If the pupil asked just where to begin
a crescendo, the professor would point to a
leaf and answer: 'Can you see just where this

leaf begins to curve?'

 Marguerite Melville- Lisznietvska 175

"The longer I am in the work, the more I

see the lack of talent for interpretation in the

average pupil, or even in those who have more

than the average aptitude. Perhaps not more
than one in fifty has any sort of an idea how
the piece should sound as a whole, without be-
ing told. You would
think they might feel
where this part should be subdued and that
part be brought out; where the melody should
be prominent or a hidden theme heard, where
a retard or pause would be effective. Why
must they always be told these things, why
cannot they be felt?
"The professor never gave me special ideas
for my own interpretation he seemed satisfied
;

with my conception. One has to be born with

a sense of balance of proportion. usedHe
to say, 'If you don't feel it
you can't be taught
it. Either you can play Schumann or you
can't.'
"At first I used to think I could get a great
many on interpretation by going to class
ideas
and listening to the others. But I found he
would treat the same piece quite differently for
different pupils. If one took a certain read-

ing as final, he was apt to find it changed on

another occasion, if another pupil played the
piece. So I gave up this idea. But when I
176 Piano Mastery Second Series

began to take my own pupils to the professor

I saw the benefit of listening, for I began to
appreciate the versatility of a great teacher.

TONE IN PIANO PLAYING

"It seems to me the principal thing in play-
ing is tone a beautiful, sympathetic quality,
as near like the human voice as possible. When
Casals plays the opening scale passage in the C
major Prelude of the Bach Suite, as he does
with such marvelous shading on each note, it
is the tone which holds the audience
spellbound ;

for there is no accompaniment to take attention

from the player. It seems to me the greatest
art that is thinkable.
"I always try at once to interest my pupils
in tone study. It is a great incentive to those
who have not formerly cared much for their
music, or who may have lost interest in it.
To make everything they touch beauti-
ful, if it be only a scale or a Czerny
study, gives zest to one's practice. I
never allow them to hit the keys, but rather
to press or caress them. Even chords can be

pulled up, to draw the tone out of the piano.

Of course the fingers must have well-developed
action. I might say they are like perfectly
trained animals, that run here and there
little
 Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska 177

to do our bidding; or they are the brushes with

which we paint the pictures.
"Music is such a beautiful art; we especially
need it here in America, a country so full of
the superficial, the rush of business and mate-
rial interests. Artistic things get so easily

pushed to the wall or crowded out of our lives.

Even the least inclination to learn music should
be encouraged in people of all ages. No one
can foresee all it may mean to the individual.
Americans are naturally artistic, the soil is re-

ceptive, but many material things smother ar-

tistic instincts.

"The attitude of some toward music is not

such as will help its cultivation. We haven't
sufficient respect yet for the art, the artist or
the teacher. Some think if they don't like the

playing of this or that performer, the trouble

is with the artist. They are not willing to be
humble enough to learn from one who is so far
above them in knowledge. One sees this spirit
in students who go abroad. If in the lesson,
Leschetizky only heard a small portion of the
piece, and chose rather and expound his
to talk
ideas, they often grew restive, wanted to turn
the page, get over a lot of ground get their

money's worth! 'You should be glad to hear

178 Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska
what I have to say; it is of more value to you
than for you to play the piece,' he would say.
"I often hear it said of a young musician who
has come before the public in recital, that he
should not have ventured out yet; he was not
ready, and so on. I feel differently. He had
probably come to the point in his experience
when he wanted to give out something within
him which could no longer be repressed. For
him it was a step forward, a test to show him
where he stood. He no doubt will reap more
benefit from it than will his listeners. For now
he can advance much more surely and intelli-
gently."
 XV

MRS. H. H. A. BEACH
HOW A COMPOSER WORKS
OUR American-born artist, Mrs. H. H. A.
Beach, is both a composer of high rank and a
pianist of distinction.
As a player, one critic has said: "She has
many of those rare elements that conspire to
make the true pianist. We
have seldom heard
delicacy and force, a poetic interpretation and
a prosaic vigor so well combined. Grace, in-
telligence and sympathy are chief characteris-
tics of her playing."
After years of quiet study and home life in

Boston, followed more recently by a lengthy

sojourn in Europe, Mrs. Beach, again at home,
has emerged somewhat from her seclusion, and
is now
bringing the message of her own music
to the many who are eager to hear it. Thus
she becoming personally known through her
is

interpretative recitals and her very character-

istic rendering of her compositions.
As a composer Mrs. Beach is known and
179
180 Piano Mastery Second Series

loved over the length and breadth of the land,

for her many beautiful songs and piano pieces.
Those who are familiar with such gems as
Ecstasy, The Year's at the Spring, June, and
many others may not know that the composer
has written in the larger forms. Her Gaelic
Symphony has been played a number of times
by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and also
by the symphony orchestras of many other
cities. It has lately met with an enthusiastic
reception in Philadelphia, under the baton of
Stokowski. Her piano Quintet, Mass in E
flat, Sonata for piano and violin, and her choral
works attest the variety and scope of her cre-
ative activities.
Dr. Percy Goetschius says of Mrs. Beach,
the composer:
"She writes both like a man and a woman.
Her music manifests traits of a delicacy and
tenderness scarcely attainable by a masculine
nature, and masculine traits as genuine and
virile as any man could exhibit." If a recital
of her works could be given without her name
being attached, "those accustomed to proclaim
the superiority of the male composer would
possibly, without exception, fail to suspect they
were listening to the artistic creations of a

woman."
 Mrs. H. H. A. Beach 181

It had long been my desire to come into per-

sonal touch with this rare individuality. My
desire was realized when I was privileged to
visither apartments in the heart of old New
York, which she has made her headquarters for
the past two months. Who could help feeling
at homein the presence of this cheery little

lady, with her cordial handclasp, her genial

manner, her clear blue eyes and sunny smile?
The moments flew all too quickly as she spoke
of her work as pianist and composer.
"Really, I cannot remember when I did not
play the piano and compose. I know I was
doing both at the age of four. I improvised lit-
tle melodies then, but did not know how to
write them down.
"My first piano teacher was my mother,
with whom I studied for a number of years,
until she felt Imight be benefited by a change,
when I was placed under well-known masters.
I played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
under Theodore Thomas, when I was still in
short dresses, with my hair in a pigtail. I have
kept up my piano work, and always expect to
do so. When I am not playing I am compos-
ing, and vice versa. I do them both inter-
changeably and constantly, but not both at the
same time. This keeps me fresh for each one.
182 Piano Mastery Second Series

I am a dual personality and lead a double musi-

cal life.
"I have naturally a very flexible hand, which
does not become stiff if practice is relaxed for
a bit. Then I am
old-fashioned enough to be-
lieve in scales and exercises. I like to give an
hour a day to these whenever possible. I do
them on this little dumb keyboard, this small
black case, which serves my purpose on trains
and in hotels. At home in Boston I use the
Virgil clavier, and thoroughly enjoy working
on People are so fond of saying a soundless
it.

keyboard is mechanical is it any less mechani-

;

cal to do your technical work on a keyboard

with tone? The exercises are the same. Should
we not wish to save the wear and tear on our
ears! My hearing is extremely sensitive, and
I want to save it all I can. I often learn my
pieces and all difficult passages on the clavier.
It is a good idea to learn the Debussy Toccata
on the clavier. Did you ever try to practice
this piece slowly on the piano? The discords
are so distressing they fairly hurt. The clavier
came to my relief in this instance ; I don't be-
lieve I ever could have learned the piece if

I had done it all on the piano.

"As for practice material, I use the Rosen-
thai Technics. There are several books of
 Mrs. H. H. A. Beach 183

these, and I have found them excellent. Then,

of course, I invent a good many exercises of

my own."
"Can you tell me something about your work
in composition how you do it; or is that too
difficult a question?"
Mrs. Beach's eyes twinkled.
"It would be very difficult to tell how I do
it, but I can tell you where; always in the open,

if possible. out of doors, I want to

I like to sit

be in the midst of nature when I write. If it

is cold or bad weather when I write I try to

have a room with wide windows, or a balcony.

"I cannot write unless I am in the mood, or
have the inspiration. I cannot say to myself,
*I will compose three hours a day.' That would

reduce the work to mere mechanism, without

the divine spark. A
theme or subject often
rests in my mind for months or a year before I

put it on paper. I always compose away from

the piano unless it be an accompaniment that
I want to try with the voice part, then I some-
times take it to the piano, to see what changes
are needed.
"The subject for the Fugue which I played
at my recent concert was in my thought for
over a year before I ever jotted it down. I
was in Switzerland at the time. We had gone
184 Piano Mastery Second Series

to Meran. It was about this time last year.

From my windows could be seen the whole
range of snow-capped mountain peaks; the
sight was truly enough to inspire one. I felt
moved to put down the general plan of the
Fugue on paper. A
correct copy of the Fugue
has not yet been made. This leaves me free to
makes changes whenever I wish. Sometimes a
new idea occurs to me when I am playing in
public; I use it then and there. The Prelude
to this Fugue was actually composed at the
piano I wanted to give it the character of an
:

improvization, and think I have succeeded.

"The draft of a composition is so frag-
first

mentary that it looks almost like shorthand. I

can hardly write my thoughts down fast
enough, and don't take time to make everything
clear. For instance, if I have a chromatic run,
I put the first note and the last, and draw a line
between them, for I can't stop to write all those
accidentals. I know what the signs mean,
though others might not.
"Although I like to let an idea rest quietly
in mind for a long time, so that I can live with
it before I put it on paper, yet sometimes I

write it down at once, while I am in the mood.

"Mr. Stoddard, the poet, once sent me,
through a friend, a few verses, wondering if I
 Mrs. H. H. A. Beach 185

could do anything with them. They arrived in

the morning mail. I read them they suggested;

a musical setting. I began to work, and by

twelve the song lay finished on my desk.
"I have spent the last three years in Europe,
mostly in Munich, and have done much writing,
besides a good deal of concert work. When
Miss Kitty Cheatham came to Munich and
gave a recital, she asked me to do some things
for her. I had so much work on hand that I
could not think of it then, but told her when
the right moment came I would see what I
could do. Months afterward a little volume
of verses was sent me.
I glanced through
them, and felt that here were just the things
for Miss Cheatham. I wrote quite a set of
these little songs, and it gave me such pleasure
to do them.

CHARACTER OF THE COMPOSITION

"I do not sit down, as some imagine I do,
and say: 'Now I will write a concerto, a fugue,
or some large work.' The character of that
composition depends entirely on how the sub-
ject works up, whether it becomes a small
form or grows into a larger work. I love to
work in the large forms, they are just as easy
if not easier for me than the small ones.
186 Piano Mastery Second Series

"Do not imagine, because the large forms

come easier tome now, that I have not studied
very seriously. I worked very hard for years.
At the start I had one season with Junius Hill,
in Boston, but everything beyond that has been

my own labor. I possess about every treatise

that has ever been written on the subject of
harmony, theory, counterpoint, double coun-
terpoint, fugue and instrumentation. I have
a large library of these books. I have a good
knowledge of French and German, and have
made exhaustive studies of works in these lan-
guages. I can repeat whole chapters from Ber-
lioz' delightful book on instrumentation.

"In studying Bach I memorized a large

number of fugues from the Well-Tempered
Clavichord, not for the mere sake of commit-
ting them, but because I had made such a care-
ful study of them. I wrote many of them out
in score, in order to find exactly how they were
constructed, and how the voices were led. I
could write out the parts from memory, so thor-
oughly did I know them.
"In the study of instrumentation, the orches-
tra was my teacher; I was a close student of it.
For obvious reasons it is difficult for a woman
to become familiar with all instruments in use.
Some of the largest she cannot play; in any
 Mrs. H. H. A. Beach 187

event it is not practical to take lessons on them

all. But the orchestral composer must know
the various voices of the orchestra. Thus I
made a deep study of the band in action. I
always had the score with me, and learned to
know each voice as intimately as I know the
voices of my own family. I wrote out scores
of Beethoven from memory, and then would
take my work next day and compare it with
the playing of the orchestra. In this way I
learned whole movements from symphonies by
heart. Thus I feel that the knowledge I have

acquired has been by my own effort and what ;

I compose a part of myself."

is

To quote another sentence from Dr.

Goetchius:
"The development of her very uncommon
talent for composition has been almost wholly
achieved by her own effort unaided but also
unbiased. In consequence of this somewhat
unique fact, she has succeeded in preserving her
individuality to a rare degree. What she gives
is peculiarly herself."

The Gaelic Symphony will probably be

heard in New York next season and we also
hope to become more familiar with other works
of this composer in the larger forms.
 XVI

LEO ORNSTEIN
SANITY IN MUSIC STUDY

LEO ORNSTEIN, an ultra modern

and pianist
composer, was born in 1895 near Odessa, Rus-
sia. After coming to America he was thor-
oughly trained in the Leschetizky principles
of piano playing by Mrs. Thomas Tapper, and
in other musical studies at the Institute of
Musical Art. Several years ago he went
abroad for further study and recitals. He
played London and Norway, and had
in
numerous concerts ahead when the outbreak
of the war caused him to return to America.
"You heard me play years ago?" began
young Ornstein, as we were seated in my studio
for a musical conference. "It must have been
about five at least, if it was in the Mendelssohn,
G minor. Did I really ever do that? Ah, how
long ago it seems! A lifetime appears to lie
between that period of my life and to-day, so
much has happened to me I am another
person."
188
rt?.
 Leo Ornstein 189

One could easily understand his feeling. For

the student had developed into an artist, the
fledgling into an aspiring composer,* whose
daring flights of imagination have already
aroused much attention on both sides of the
Atlantic. Whether, as some would have us
believe, the startling innovations of the young
musician are but the ravings of an unsound
mind, or are to preach a new gospel of emo-
tional impression and tone color; whether the

youth is but a clever juggler with sounds, or is

a new and brilliant star arising in the musical

firmament, the future alone can decide.

It can be truly said, however, that one can-
not talk with Leo Ornstein for five minutes
without realizing he is absolutely sincere in his
work. His fixed purpose is to express himself
and his age with fidelity and honesty, accord-
ing to his lights, no matter what critics or others
may say to the contrary. And he has the cour-
age of his convictions, plus enthusiasm enough
to furnish forth a dozen less buoyant and more
sedate brothers in art.
"The technical side of piano playing?" he
continued; "what is technic but the means by

which you can express yourself it is the out-

ward and material sign through which you are
able to say what is in your heart to say there- ;
190 Piano Mastery Second Series
i~
'fore it is subordinate, but must be individual.
Do not think that I would for one moment be-
little must have it, it is a necessity ;
technic ; one
but sinks into insignificance before the mean-
it

ing of the message one has to deliver.

"As a pianist I have had most thorough and
excellent training, I am thankful to say; I play
my Czerny constantly, and know my Bach
from cover to cover. I feel Bach is the greatest
master of all: his works will never fall into
neglect. Still, we must realize we live in a
different age our customs, our manner of liv-
;

ing, we
ourselves are not at all like the people
of Bach's time or Beethoven's, or Haydn's.
Look Mozart; could any music mirror and
at

express the spirit of his age with more charm-

ing simplicity and fidelity? I love it; it is a
perfect reflection of the time in which he lived.
The technic to play Mozart, however, will not
answer to play Debussy. Modern music re-
quires an entirely different handling of the in-
strument. We
cannot interpret modern ideas
with the old style equipment. To illustrate:
none of the older composers would think of
making such requirements on one's technic as
this, for instance." The young artist went to
the piano and played a succession of shadowy,
filmy chords. "I must here use the palm of
 Leo Ornstein 191

my hand as well as the fingers the former de-

;

presses the white keys below, while the fingers

touch the black keys above them. In another
chord passage from one of my pieces, Ihad in
mind the falling of blocks of granite, which
descend softly with a muffled thud," again illus-

trating.
As a pianist Leo Ornstein has won high
praise from the critics. Huneker says of him :

"He that rare thing, an individual pianist."

is

Others have written that: "his playing has

tonal beauty and clarity of style;" that "he
has a touch on the keys as caressing as it is
powerful with an almost uncanny breathing
into and inhaling from them something of

inspiration." "He is a born virtuoso, with an

ear unparalleled in its sensitiveness for tone
color and tone quality. Trills and passages are
faultless and are delivered with a freedom and

perfection any one might envy."

On a later occasion Mr. Ornstein spoke more
freely about technical development. "I have
made a good many experiments and discoveries
about piano touch and technic, especially when
I was living in Paris. After being in Vienna,
I went to Berlin and then to Paris, where I
myself up in a garret and worked
literally shut
for about nine months. For one thing I want-
192 Piano Mastery Second Series

ed to make a study of some modern French

music, for modern tendencies absorb me
greatly. I procured a few pieces by Debussy
and Ravel and studied them closely. Of course
I memorized them in a few days and played
them a good deal. But my playing did not
satisfy me, though I did not see what was the
matter. All at once it came to me that I was
trying to make tone color with my fingers,
when it should be done with the pedals. The
moment this truth was borne in upon me, the
problem was solved. I began to study all man-
ner of pedal effects and tonal coloring with the
pedals.
"In mastering piano tone and technic, the
arm plays a vital role. Naturally, the fingers
must be well trained, but in playing they do
not need to be lifted high. In fact, the nearer
they are held to the keys provided strength
and elasticity have been developed, the better
the tone. Strength of finger is the great thing.
A firm nail joint is absolutely necessary, quite

as much for soft as for loud playing. People

think it does not need much strength to play
softly; I am sure the reverse is true. Fingers
must be very strong and then held close to the

keys, for pianissime effects, otherwise the tone

will be mushy and uncertain. I have a whole
 Leo Ornstein 193

set of technics for strength and agility, which

I go through when I am away from the piano ;

they are specially useful when traveling. Here

is one:" he pressed one finger, firmly curved,

into the table, and slowly rolled it from side

to side. All fingers are to be treated in the
same way. Another exercise for strength con-
sisted in lifting one finger in curved position,
as high as possible, while the other four were

pressed down into the table with strong pres-

sure. In neither exercise should the fingers

yield or 'give in,' at the nail joints, but always

preserve their rounded form.

When practicing I use full power, or nearly
so play slowly and firmly. When I thor-
oughly know the piece, I gradually go faster,
till I have worked it up to the required tempo.

It comes up without much trouble, when one

thoroughly knows the notes. Many players
make the mistake of at once playing quickly,
after the slow practice ; I find it much better to
acquire speed gradually.
"It is so easy to fall into a rut in regard to
interpretation. Wegrow accustomed to hear-
ing compositions rendered in a certain way;
any deviation from that standard startles us.
I can feel the shock caused by novelty, go over
an audience, when my rendition is not the con-
194 Piano Mastery Second Series

ventional one of the schools. For instance, in

the G minor Ballade
of Chopin, I hold pedal
through each of those final runs, on through to
the chord following it makes a new and inter-
;

esting effect. But it surprises the musicians

sometimes, and I can see they do not consider
it orthodox.

BEFORE A CONCERT
true that on the day of a recital, I prac-
"It is

tice for hours all day perhaps but do not

touch the pieces I am to give for my program.
Instead, I practice many other things, often
Bach. In this way the program seems to me
much fresher than if I had delved on it up to
the last moment. I play Bach a great deal;
all the
Well-Tempered Clavichord, the big or-
gan Preludes and Fugues arranged by Liszt,
and of course the Chromatic Fantaisie and
Fugue.
"The artist's playing in public isvery decep-
tive, to the student. For the artist conceals
the mechanism of his art, and only considers its
emotional message before his audience. There-
fore not always a real benefit to the student
it is

to hear a great many artists that is, not a bene-;

fit to his technical development, though it

should help him on the interpretative side.

 Leo Ornstein 195

"Let me give you a few words more about

my Paris experiences. I brought a letter of
introduction to the famous critic and writer,
Calvocoressi. There is a wonderful man! He
can speak and write eight languages Greek is
one of them. He writes for several English
papers and two Russian, besides the foremost
Paris magazines. I went to him, told him what
I was doing, played for him and showed him
some of my stuff. He
at once spoke Russian
to me, interested himself in me and helped me
in a great many ways. He lectured on the
music of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Ornstein
in the Sorbonne and other places.
"You have heard the story of my London
concerts. It was a terrible experience; I can

laugh at now, but then it was heartrending.

it

There seemed to be two factions; those who

were open-minded enough to listen, who wished
to understand what I was trying to do; the
others who closed their ears and would have
none of me. Well-seasoned concert goers said
they had never seen a London audience so
stirred and upset.
"A week after my first recital there, I gave
a second, with an entire program of my own
compositions. That occasion was the most try-
ing one of my whole life. I was hardly con-
196 Piano Mastery Second Series

scious of a note I played that day, but I got

through the ordeal in some fashion.

"I can well understand how my music must
strike people on first hearing. Even good
musicians can discover nothing whatever in it
when they listen to it once but I know many
;

cases where they do see the meaning of it after

repeated hearings. If they would but reserve

their decision till they have heard a piece seven
or eight times, they could judge of it better.
It has often chanced that they understand it
after the eighth time. You know Pelleas and
Melisande, at its premier, was hissed off the
stage and the curtain rung down on the second
act. Now it is sung to sold-out houses. So I
always feel like asking the listener to bear with
me till after he has heard my work a few times.
Even the Wild Mans Dance has become clear
to some after the eighth time!
"As you say, I must always lead up to a

piece like that: I could never let it out of a

clear sky, so to speak. And I must work up

my mood also, in order to be an efficient

medium.
"You ask about manner of composing.
my
I can say I never sit at the piano when I com-
pose, never try the thing over as I write it, and
never under any circumstances change a note
 Leo Ornstein 197

of the piece after it is must stand or

written ; it

fall as first set down. Perhaps after a few days

I may condemn what I have written. If I find
itunworthy I say to myself 'Leo Ornstein, for:

shame! how could you write like that.' Then

I tear it up. Probably I shall never make a
second attempt on the same subject it is gone,
passed into oblivion.
"The composition comes into my mind full-
fledged and complete as far as it goes. When
I hear it, I make frantic haste to get it to paper
lest I lose a note. This
a difficult task, be-
is

cause the rhythms are often so intricate, and

I must preserve those as well as the harmonies.
It is very difficult to decipher the first hasty
draft of my pieces no one can do it but myself,
;

for I have a sort of musical shorthand. Tonic

and other regular chords may not be written
in at all, but I know what they ought to be. All
must be jotted down so quickly there is no time
to be careful. It only took about two and a
half hours to put the Wild Mans Dance on
paper. Publishers are asking for more piano
pieces ; I have composed a number, but oh, the
task of copying them!
"When composing, I have often an incident
in mind which the music is designed to illus-

trate; yet I am averse to affixing any special

198 Piano Mastery Second Series

title to the piece, as this may hamper player

or listener, who are endeavoring to picture the
scene or mood hinted To
others the piece
at.

may suggest something entirely different from

the picture or mood the composer had in mind
when writing it; be quite as appro-
these may
priate and legitimate as the one he had in-
tended. I might tell you a pretty story about
my Wild Man's Dance, that is, what the music
means to me; to you it may mean an earth-
quake or a shipwreck. When you hear it you
observe that at first there is some confusion, as
the men fall into line. But soon the rhythms
become very insistent and compelling, as the
savages unite in their mad whirl. At last one
of them comes out from among the others, and
dances alone in the circle. This Dance is one
of the most difficult compositions, and requires
tremendous power to play. You may have
heard about my playing it for Leschetizky. Of
course I led up to it with some simpler and
more melodious things. When I finished the
Dance he seemed quite dazed by it. Then he
sprang up, exclaiming, 'You must have lied
to me, for no living mortal could put such a
thing on paper P I happened to have the manu-
script with me, and showed it to him he would ;

scarcely believe it even then.

 Leo Ornstein 199

"Another piece that interested me to write

was Impressions of Notre Dame. I visited
the famous church almost as soon as I arrived
in Paris. On my return to the hotel the first

Impression sprang into my mind. A few days

later, after another visit to the old pile, the sec-
ond Impression, Gargoyles, was written.
"Some of my recently published composi-
tions include a set of nine piano pieces (Op. 7) ,
y
two songs, Mother o Mine, and There Was a
Jolly Miller; also a Sonata for violin and
piano, and one for piano and 'cello."
It is evident that talent for composition went
hand in hand with pianistic ability, for the
young Russian began to compose at an early
age. About four years ago new impulses led
him into novel paths ; his work began to mani-
fest traits similar to those found in the music
of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, although Orn-
steinwas unacquainted with their compositions.
As he himself explains "I do not conceive of
:

music in the way Beethoven did as a mosaic

of themes and motives, each developed and re-
peated, block-wise. I try to express feelings
rather than forms impressions, emotions,
mental states of consciousness."
To quote again from Huneker:
"I never thought I should live to hear Arn-
200 Piano Mastery Second Series

old Schoenberg sound tame; yet tame he is,

almost timid and halting after Ornstein who
is,most emphatically, the only true-blue, genu-
ine Futurist composer alive."
 XVII

HAROLD HENRY
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
"You are a real American?"
"Yes, a real simon pure American, born and
bred here; educated in music here, too, with
exception of about four years spent on the
other side."
I was making the most of a flying visit to the

city made by Mr. Henry, who was passing

through New York en route to Peterborough,
N. H., to enjoy a well earned vacation after

busy season.
"If you wish a word of personal history," be-
gan the pianist, "I am a Kansas boy, born and
brought up in that state. My first piano
teacher was Miss Geneve Lichterwalter.
"I studied at the University of Kansas, and
was graduated from that institution, my teach-
ers at that time being Carl A. Preyer for piano
and George B. Penny for theory, the latter
now located in Rochester, N. Y.
"After graduation, in 1902, I went abroad.
201
202 Piano Mastery Second Series

Three years were spent in Berlin, with Godow-

sky and Dr. Ernst Jedliczka. Then came a
season in Paris with Moszkowski, and after
that America. I made a few appearances with
orchestras in Berlin, but my career virtually
began in my own land, where I have taught
and concertized for the past ten years.
"During this period I can affirm that my
greatest teacher has been Experience; there
surely can never be a more valuable one. A
master can do only just so much for you can
take you about so far, can give you the benefit
of his knowledge and experience. After that
you must "go it alone" you must work it out!
It'sdoing the thing that counts every time. If
you want to be a concert pianist, then play in
concert ; there is no other way to become what
you desire ; you learn how to do it by doing it.
Each year I do more public playing, though
I do not permit this to interfere with my teach-
ing. I devote five half days to instruction,
which is all the time I am willing to give; I
need the remainder for study and the prepara-
tion of my programs.

TEACHING METHODS
"Regarding methods in teaching, I can truly
say I have as many methods as I have pupils,
 Harold Henry 203

for each one of them requires special treatment.

No two pupils have the same physical and men-
tal equipment practically every hand presents
;

a new problem. This fact proves the difficulty

that confronts the careful teacher ; it is one that
makes constant demand on one's resources.

TWO IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES

"Firmness of the hand and relaxation of the
arm are the most important principles to start
with. The hand should assume an arched posi-
tion, with firm knuckles and rounded fingers.
When conditions permit I try to solidify the
hand at once; but if I have a small, tightly-
knit hand to deal with, it must be stretched
and limbered up before anything else can be
done. I use various gymnastic and stretching
exercises I also have a set of technical forms
;

which have been of great benefit to me; I use

them daily and give them to my
pupils. They
consist of trills, scales, arpeggios, octaves, dou-
ble thirds, and Pupils at the outset must
so on.
learn free fingermovements and finger action ;

eventually finger movement is well-nigh elim-

inated and the arm does the work. The trouble
with pupils often is they do not see the neces-
sity for repetition and constant drill. They
seem to think if they have done an exercise a
204 Piano Mastery Second Series

few times, that is sufficient. If told to repeat

itagain and again, they exclaim, 'Oh, I've had
that before!'"

QUESTIONS AND ANSWEKS

Mr. Henry answered the following questions
in a way which will be appreciated by every
teacher and student:
1. How
is finger development secured be-

fore the time comes when the arm does the

work?
"By practicing slowly and as heavily as prac-
ticable, with curved, well-raised fingers."
2. What to do for weak finger joints?
"For weak finger joints I use what I call
the 'pull touch.' Beginning with the finger flat
on the key or table (for this can at first be done
to great advantage away from the piano) it is
pulled gently up to the normal curved position.
This is also a preparatory melody touch."
3. How much technic practice outside of
pieces ?
"The amount of pure technical practice out-
side of pieces should depend on the amount of
time the pupil devotes to practice. At least
forty minutes out of four hours should be de-
voted to absolute technic. Personally and I
encourage my pupils to do the same I keep
 Harold Henry 205

a practice schedule. In this way I rotate my

technical forms so that nothing is slighted."
4. Velocity and power?
"Velocity and power are only attained
through definiteand systematic drill. As we
are not good judges of our own speed in play-
ing, the metronome is of incalculable value in
working for velocity. All technical forms
should be strictly rhythmic, and dynamics must
also be considered. Accents are of tremendous

importance in working for velocity. To at-

tain power and endurance, all slow technical
work should be done with as much tone as is
practicable, keeping muscular conditions
always right."
5. Best way to study chords and octaves?

"In playing chords and octaves, the hand

should be extremely firm, the wrist and arm
devitalized. Whether the wrist is held high or
low depends entirely on the hand and wrist of
the individual. I hold my wrist high in most
chords and octave passages, for I am thus able
to keep conditions more nearly ideal in this
way for pupils with large, loose hands, the low
;

wrist is advisable.
"I have many technical forms for developing
a chord and octave technic. In the main I
get best results by teaching first a prepared
206 Piano Mastery Second Series

hand, lifting the wrist first, and allowing the

hand to follow."
6. Scale practice with metronome?
"By all means
practice not only scales, but
all other purely technical forms with the metro-

nome for velocity and power. I always break

scales up into accented sections, each one of
which I polish before practicing the scale as
a whole."
7. Your views on modern compositions?
"The trouble with the modern composer is

apparently the desire to be clever rather than

sincere. While the average worth is high, the
great bulk of things now being written I
speak of piano compositions will not live, be-
cause the novelty of them which is their chief
attraction, rapidly wears off. The extreme
technical difficulty of much that is now being

written entirely outweighs the musical content.

Much time must be wasted before discovering
that one neither wants to play or teach them.
Nevertheless, I am constantly going through
reams of new music, and when once in a while
I come across something of real charm and in-
spiration, I consider my labor well repaid. In
spite of the great difficulty of finding new
things which are worth while, I feel it the duty
of the concert pianist, a duty which he owes
 Harold Henry 207

himself and his public, to give programs that

are at least unhackneyed. The disfavor into
which the piano recital has fallen is the fault,
not of the instrument nor the public, but of the
performer in his stereotyped program-making.
It is too muchto expect, and it is taking our
own attainments too seriously, to think that
we can read so much that is of new interest into
compositions which have been on every pro-
gram for at least twenty years, to speak within
bounds. Let us rather make familiar the little

known compositions of the masters."

Mr. Henry is constantly widening his out-
look and enlarging his repertoire. Each season
adds to his influence as teacher and interpreter.
 XVIII

HENRY HOLDEN HUSS

ELIMINATION OF MECHANICAL ETUDES

HENRY HOLDEN Huss, American pianist,

composer, teacher, belongs to a musical fam-
ily. His father was long a beacon light among
the teachers of a former generation, he himself
has made an honorable career in his chosen pro-
fession. His musical studies were begun with
his father and continued with Rheinberger in
Munich. He also studied theory with O. B.
Boise. He is well known as an excellent pian-
ist, thorough teacher, and is the author of a

number of ambitious compositions in the larger

forms.
It is a pleasure to confer with so enthusiastic
a thinker on pianistic problems as Henry
Holden Huss.
"I believe in hobbies," said Mr. Huss, with
characteristic animation and conviction; "we
all have them. I don't mean hobby-horses, of
course, for they constantly move, but never get
anywhere.
208
'Tc^ ^Vr^wL^
^f^^Mre^
 Henry Holden Huss 209

"One ofmy hobbies is the advisability, really

the necessity for short periods of study. No
intelligent practice can be done if one sits at
the piano several hours at a stretch. pupilA
you she has practiced two or three
will tell
hours without stopping, as though it were a
great virtue, something to be proud of; while
you know she could not have done it with any
sort of concentration. MacDowell told me that
when he studied, it was with such intense con-
centration that he needed to rest a bit after
fifteen minutes' work. And you remember, he
was an athlete in physique and strength. After
thirty minutes' practice, I think the player
should rest four or five."
"Do you, then, approve of hour lessons?"
"Certainly, for the reason that I can call a
halt and make a little diversion myself. If
something is going on in the street below or a
hand-organ is playing, we stop a few moments
and listen; then we can resume the work in
hand with fresh vigor.

"PIANO PLAYING" A BAD TERM

"I wish a new term could be invented to re-
place the universal one piano playing for
this seems entirely lacking in dignity and mean-
ing. Would not piano interpretation come
210 Piano Mastery Second Series

much nearer the truth? I suppose the term

'playing' has come down to usfrom the minne-
singers, who played their little harps and sang
their songs for the amusement of the gentry in
the ages gone by. In these days our aim is

really to interpret piano music. Even the little

child does so with his simple pieces.
"Another of my hobbies
a vigorous oppo-
is

sition to the desecration of Bach's music for

the piano, which results in its being hated by
so many students. New pupils often say to
me: 'Whatever you do, don't make me play
Bach!' I ask why, and they answer that they
hate him. Then I tell them I am sure they
have been fed on the Inventions. They seem
surprised I should know it and admit I am
right. Many teachers, in small places, think
it their duty to teach Bach under all circum-
stances. So they give the Inventions, using
them as technical exercises. A
young lady
came to me not long ago who had had just this
experience. She looked on Bach as one who
wrote dry polyphony, with no soul or emotion.
To prove how mistaken she was, I played part
of the air, My Heart Ever Faithful. She
thought it beautiful but would hardly believe
it was Bach. I fully agree with you that the
 Henry Holden Huss 211

gavottes, gigues and sarabandes are a much

more pleasing side of the great master to be-
gin with than are the Inventions. Though
even the Inventions contain much variety of
expression, if one has the technie and ability
to bring it out. The fact is, Bach expresses
allshades of feeling surely the Chromatic Fan-
;

taisie is as full of emotion as is anything of

Wagner.

COMMENDS USE OF CLAVIER

"One thing I firmly believe in, and that is
the elimination of the mechanical etude, and
their name is legion. Think of those difficult

things of Alkan, for instance. The fact that

the distinctly intellectual side of music study is
being more and more cultivated and investi-
gated is a very definite and let me say modern
cause for encouragement. Let me cite here
something that sounds almost incredible.
Czerny, dear old Czerny, frequently useful old
Czerny, and sometimes foolish old Czerny, in
one of his innumerable books of technical
studies says 'As the student will probably find
:

these exercises rather dry' (he usually does!)

'let him place a book or newspaper on the

piano-desk to read while playing them!'

Fortunately nowadays we are ready to grasp
212 Piano Mastery Second Series

eagerly whatever makes for concentration of

mind.
"Let us use our influence for the musical
and expressive. I endeavor to make my pupils
see that everything they do should have a

meaning and should be expressive of some

thought. The very technic of the piece is the
body in which the musical thought of the com-

poser comes to us. The player surely desires to

present the composer's ideas in as fair and per-

fect a body as possible. Hence the necessity
of working at the technical side in order to ac-
complish this. I advise pure technical forms
in place of a great many etudes.
"I have in my Condensed Technics endeav-
ored to provide exercises that absolutely re-
quire great concentration, since they are all to
be played with varied rhythms and shifted ac-
cents, and require transposition into all keys.

Along with these technics I find it most advis-

able to search out the difficult passages in pieces
and encourage the pupil himself to construct
little etudes out of them. Most of my pupils,
perhaps ninety-five per cent, have practice
claviers, which I recommend to them all. I
advise dividing practice between clavier and
piano. For I have found in pupils who have
been trained to use the clavier for a large part
 Henry Holden Huss 213

of their practice, that while they may have ex-

cellent fingers, the musical sense has not been

sufficiently cultivated, nor their idea of depth,

power and variety of tone.
"How piano technic has advanced, through
relaxed arms and wrists! You remember how
much Paderewski has done for us all in this
line. Among the present-day theories, we
know some that are founded on prin-
there are
ciples and will stand. Ababy placed before
the keyboard pats the keys with outstretched
fingers and quite naturally limp wrists. That
condition of loose wrist is what one must have
to secure a musical quality of tone. In getting
back to nature we know we have come to the
correct principle.

REJECTS FRIVOLOUS STUDENTS

"Of course, every teacher wants serious stu-
dents. To speak frankly, if I see a girl fond,
of candy, French shoes and continued excite-
ment, or a boy who must have his cigarettes and
highballs, I say to them: 'There are plenty of
teachers in New York who will be glad to have
you as pupils and take your money. Go to
them, for I don't want you. I only want seri-
ous workers.'
"It is a much-discussed question as to
214 Piano Mastery Second Series

whether the teacher shall explain what is to be

done and let the pupil work it out alone, or
whether he shall illustrate his instruction at the
instrument. Though I believe in the former
method, I cannot always follow it. If a pupil
comes from a distance and wishes to get all the
help he can, I must not only explain, but show
him many things at the piano. For instance, if
I say: 'You accent this passage too strongly/
he will answer,'How much should I accent it?'
The quickest way is to show him. Thus I find
there are many points which cannot be de-
scribed but must be shown.
"I wish you would write an article on the
'Greater Chopin/ Wehear so much about him
at present. One of my hobbies is to combat the
idea of making everything of Chopin heroic.
One pianist tried to make the first movement
of the F
minor Concerto heroic, and in my
opinion was
it spoiled in the process. Chopin's
music seems to express every sentiment and
emotion except humor. Did it ever strike you
he is lacking in this? One would think the
Scherzi would express humor, but they do not,
to my thinking. Chopin could be bright, gay,
capricious, but not really humorous, as Bee-
thoven was or Schumann or MacDowell."
 XIX

RICHARD BUHLIG
THE VALUE OF LEARNING TO HEAR
"INDEED I am glad to be in America it is

the best country to live in at present. I re-

turned several months ago, after an absence of
many years. In fact, I really grew up on the
other side, as I was taken abroad when but a
young lad."
The speaker was Richard Buhlig, an Ameri-
can pianist, who will make an extended tour of
his native land.
It is pleasant to come into more personal
touch with this pianist than is possible through
listening to a recital by him. One finds many
qualities of delicacy and sensitiveness for the
subtleties in art and musical expression which
are revealed during an interchange of ideas in
musical conference.
"As a young boy," continued the artist, "I
went to Vienna, to study with Leschetizky, and
remained with him about three years. Since
that period I have superintended my own de-
215
216 Piano Mastery Second Series

velopment. An artist must always do that

the sooner he can do so the better for him. If
he intended for public life, he only begins to
is

learn many things about his art when he comes

before an audience. This very act brings en-
lightenment. He then discovers what no one
could ever tell him.He then gains experience,
which after the great teacher. It has been
all is

my good fortune to play in almost every coun-

try in Europe, except Russia and the Balkans.
The outbreak of the war prevented my filling
the many engagements booked for me in Rus-
sia, but I had played in Germany for two sea-

sons, until I left for this country."

Mr. Buhlig has a winning personality; he
has thought deeply on all subjects relating to
his art. So just and cogent are his views on
piano study that I questioned at once if he
taught.
"Yes, I have for years done some teaching.
I love to teach, and shall continue to do it here
between my concert engagements. Many of
my pupils are fighting in the different armies ;

in fact they are scattered everywhere. Some

have come over to this side to continue work
with me here, while some who have known of
my career in Europe will put themselves under
my guidance,
 Richard Buhlig 217

METHOD OF TEACHING
"
You ask about my manner of teaching. I
k

can say at once I have no method, though of

course there are certain things every pupil
must know how to do and work on daily. One
needs trills, scales, chords and octaves; when
one can do these things in every possible tempo
and gradation of tone, piece playing becomes
comparatively easy. I have no sympathy with
cut and dried methods, or with endless repeti-
tions of Czerny studies and other mechanical
etudes. When every person is different from
every other person in constitution and tem-
perament, in mind and physique, how can a
master have a method to fit them all? The
thing is impossible! One pupil has a large,
flabby handanother a small, tight one. One
pupil can move the arm well, but has no fing-
ers another has good fingers, but no command
;

of arms. I treat the former student as though

I only cared about fingers for a time while
;

for the latter I work with arms as though they

were the most essential things. So you can
see the teaching must be entirely individual a;

teacher must have as many ways of teaching

as he has pupils.
"A teacher must have great experience as
218 Piano Mastery Second Series

well as tact and intuition, to know how to diag-

nose each particular case, and what to prescribe
for it. He is a doctor in more senses than one.
He must know the malady the pupil suffers
from, also the best means to eradicate and
cure it.

LEARNING TO HEAR
"Ear training is one of the most important
branches of study. I find one of the greatest
difficulties which stand in the way of progress,
is the failure to hear what one is doing at the
piano. The student may have an idea in his
mind as to how the piece ought to sound, but
often seems quite oblivious as to how he is
making it His head may be in the
sound.
clouds while his hands are making the most
atrocious errors as to tone and rhythm. I say
to him: 'I can lend you my ears for an hour

to-day, but what of the many hours you will

have to use your own till you come again?'
For the most a master can do is to give the stu-
dent the benefit of his ears, while instructing
him how to use his own. When the moment
comes that the pupil actually hears what he
is doing, consciousness is awakened and then
progress begins. When that moment comes,
the pupil realizes that his tone is not beautiful;
 Richard Buhlig 219

in fact becomes consciously unbeautiful,

it

where before it had been unconsciously so. He

finds that his playing altogether is very differ-
ent from what he would have it. It is a crucial
period, and needs the firm hand of a master
to prevent discouragement, to hold him up,
and show him what to work for.
"I try to have the student learn to empty his
ears, and then learn to listen. I say to him:
'Practice with empty ears, so that you may fully
hear what you are doing. Don't play straight
through the piece; rather pause often in your
study. Sit back and listen to phrases. Play
the phrase in various ways, noting what is
wrong. Concentrate on each point, to make it
as perfect as possible.' When teaching do not

always the pupil the fault. Insist on his

tell

playing the passage till he himself finds out

what is wTong. Is there not a line of Brown-
ing, God uses us to help
which intimates that
each other, by lending our ears out? firstWe
help pupils with the use of our ears; but they
must be shown how to use their own.
"While I do not care for mechanical etudes,
I use Bach constantly; the Inventions to start
with, and as much more as I can give. To get
a pupil to see the form and shape of a single
phrase of a Bach Invention, the pure beauty
220 Piano Mastery Second Series

and expressiveness of it, is doing much for his

advancement.

USE OF PEDALS
"The pedal is another factor in playing, the
use of which is not understood. There is much
more to pedal playing than merely putting it
down at one chord and taking it up at another.
The pedal is an art in itself. It is the moon-
light of the piano the sunlight too the fog if
;

you will, and the atmosphere. I have made

a great study of pedaling. I use the deceptive
pedal, by which I mean that it gives quality
and color to the tone, though the listener does
not know it is being used. He would miss it
if it were not there. He realizes the coloring
of the tones, but may not detect use of pedal.
The pedals are employed for color. I can
use pedal for scales with such rapid foot-vibra-
tion that it amounts to a tremolo.
"My repertoire contains most of the large
works in piano literature the great sonatas
and concertos. I am known on the other side
as an interpreter of important works. I have
not so good a repertoire of pieces in the lighter
forms. Yet several years ago I was the first
pianist, I think, to place a group of Debussy
on a program. Other players would insert a
 Richard Buhlig 221

single number here and but I put nine

there,
or ten on my English programs, thereby mak-
ing quite a propaganda for this style of music.
Since then I have taken up Schoenberg and
have done the same for him.
"We might question the right of some of
these modern or futuristic works to be called
music at all. They are not, in our accepted
meaning of the term. They are pictorial,
though I personally prefer to liken them to
literature than pictures. The modern French

composers are programatic but more pictorial

than literary.
"They have a kinship with painters, for they
strive to paint pictures with tones. Modern
painters,on the other hand, try to imitate
music. We
might say Debussy is related to
Whistler. Schumann, on the contrary, finds
his counterpart in literature.
"Of the two greatest musicians since Bee-
thoven Chopin and Wagner I place Chopin
first. Look at his Mazurkas, what consum-
mate mastery of form! Music, unlike other
arts, has no subject matter to begin with: it
starts with spirit. To me,
the highest in music
is not that which strives to depict pictures,
scenes or states, but what isintangible, impalp-
able spiritual. It is related of Schoenberg
222 Piano Mastery Second Series

that he was asked the meaning of one of his

compositions. 'What does it mean? Why-
music.' I understand that perfectly. Nothing
I play has specific or tangible meaning; to me
it is music that is enough
: !

"Yes, one needs a particular style of technic

to play the compositions of Debussy and the
rest; creeping, sliding movements, very lit-
tle finger lifting, and always the shimmering
pedals to give color and atmosphere.

INTERPRETATION
"In regard to interpretation, I feel that the
artist must have a clear concept of the composi-
tion, its form and meaning he must know how
;

he wishes to make it sound. Naturally he

strives at each repetition of it in public, to

carry out this ideal; it would be most illogical

to expect him to do otherwise. But he should

play it as though he did it for the first time.

That is one difference between the artist and
the non-artist. The latter plays as though by
rule, or ashe has been taught, while the artist
recreates anew, though on the lines he feels best

express the feeling of the music. I admit

that, as his surroundings vary, his mood may
change a little. One day soft places may be
softer, loud parts louder; he may have more
 Richard Bulilig 223

vitality at one time than another. But he

surely must tryto express the selfsame ideal.

Again, the difference between the non-artist

and the artist lies in the concept. The artist
works out a matured concept and ideal, while
the non-artist often plays as he feels, with no
plan at all. You notice I do not contrast the
artist w ith
r
the amateur, for I believe the ama-
teur can be an artist, on whom no necessity is

laid to make a business of his art. I wish it

might be possible to employ our art freely in

this way, for the love of the doing. Then both

teaching and playing would be a gift to those

who are ready and appreciative. And when
you think of it, how can dollars and cents repay
the artist who gives an audience the best that
is in him, the sum experiences, the
of all his

result of all his sufferings, his very life blood.

Or to the teacher who gives to the pupil his
ears, his eyes, his wide knowledge, insight and
experience. If it were not necessary for the
artist to have things for his well-being and

existence, it would be a joy to give his art

freely, without thought of mercenary return,
but having the appreciation of the receiver.
For I do not believe that only the receiver
should feel gratitude ; it is also grateful for the

giver to give."
 XX

MISCHA LEVITZKI
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL TECHNIC
ONE of the pianistic sensations of the season
of nineteen sixteen has been the playing of
Mischa Levitski, as the inspired performances
of the young Brazilian, Guiomar Novaes, had
been the year before. Levitzki suddenly ap-
peared in our midst, and had given his third
recital before the season was half over. His
first recital won an instant success; each suc-
ceeding one increased his hold on the public.
The listener realized here was an unusual tal-

ent, already highly developed. A well-

equipped technic, subtle feeling for tone color,

clear grasp of the composer's meaning, ability
to set all these forth with conviction and au-

thority, made his performances full of satisfac-

tion and delight.
Mischa Levitski is very young to have
achieved so much. He has the boyish manner,
the frank open expression and ready smile be-
fitting his youth but at the piano one
;
feels the
224
 Mischa Levitzki 225

maturity of thought which tempers the young

ardor of his nature. In conversation he is
clear-thoughted and fluent, ready to share his
experiences with the questioner, though he says
sometimes, with winning modesty, "it seems
so to me, but perhaps I am rather young to

judge."
A recent chat with Levitski elicited interest-
ing facts about himself and his work.
"You ask for a brief account of my short
career," he began.
"I was born in Russia, though I am an
American citizen, as father was naturalized
my
here thirty years ago. Eight years of my child-
hood were spent in Russia and then we came to
New York. About a year and a half before we
left the other side I had begun to study music.
"Not long after we
arrived in America, I
was taken to the Institute of Musical Art,
and placed under the tuition of Stojowski. I
also had to attend the public school as well, so
that I was never able to practise more than
two hours daily often not more than an hour
and a half. I merely mention this because peo-
ple often imagine I must have practised inces-
santly, because I have considerable technic.
"After about four years at the Institute I
went to Berlin, and had the privilege of study-
226 Piano Mastery Second Series

ing with Dohnanyi. He is a wonderful master

and above all such a thorough musician. I
know of no greater teacher, if the pupil is ready
to profit by such guidance.
"In Berlin I could exchange the routine of
school life for lessons with private tutors, and
thus gave but two hours daily to school work,
leaving all the rest of my time to be devoted to
music. Here again I was handicapped in piano
study. An injury to my right hand and arm,
caused by excessive bicycle riding, prevented
me from practising over two hours a day. This
was a severe disappointment, when I was so
eager to give all my time to music. But I
thought music constantly, lived in it, made

serious theoretical studies and heard no end of

concerts and operas. I am happy to say, how-
ever, that the two following years of my four
with Dohnanyi, I could use my hand for three
hours each day.

THE GIFT OF TECHNIC

"We know there is such a thing as a natural
technic, and I suppose that is what I have. I
think technic is a gift, just as much as the gift
for musical expression. But a gift in either
direction must be developed to be of real value.
I am beginning to realize this more and more.
 Mischa Levitzki 227

"With my two great teachers I did very lit-

tle technical study, as such. For example, I

was told to practicescales, but I seldom did so.
As my teacher never heard scales at the lesson,
and as I was able to make a pretty good show-
ing in pieces, he thought I
my must have prac-
ticed them.
"When I went to Dohnanyi, he at first gave
me smaller things than I had been doing the
Kinderscenen of Schumann and the earliest
Sonatas of Beethoven. Some students might
have objected to this, but I was very glad to
study in such a careful, systematic way. He
believes one must have much more technic than
the piece requires, so he always gives pieces
that do not tax your technical ability to the
utmost, so that you may be able to more fully
master their meaning and content.
"Dohnanyi allows the student to play the

piece entirely through without interruption.

He listens carefully,
often jotting down faults
on a slip of paper, though he generally remem-
bers them. When the piece is finished not
before he makes the corrections. Finally he
plays the piece through from beginning to end.
As he is such a master interpreter, this of itself
is a great inspiration to the pupil.
"In regard to the technical side, the Hun-
228 Piano Mastery Second Series

garian master did not so greatly concern him-

self. He did not attempt to teach technic out-
side of compositions. The student must ac-

quire this by himself. My technic advanced

rapidly after the year or two, for I began
first

to play much more music, in fact I

difficult

played everything with him.

"Dohnanyi is very particular about clearness
of touch, requiring the fingers to be well raised
in slow and careful practice. The beginning
and finishing of the phrase, its shading and
balance, are all thought out. I acquired a well
developed technic of the fingers; I could do
almost anything with my fingers, but I did not
know how I did Things came so easily to
it.

me that I never went deep enough into the sub-

ject to know how I accomplished them. I be-
lieve many artists those who have the gift of
technic at all events do not analyze the prin-
ciples which underlie artistic technic. Perhaps
I should say few artists ever do. The gift of
technic does not mean the understanding of it ;

that must be learned through patient study.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF TECHNIC

"For the past year and a half I have taken

my own development in hand, which one must

always do sooner or later.
 Mischa Levitzki 229

"I feel that I am now solving the technic

problem for myself. As I have said, I had
never occupied myself much with that side,
never thought it necessary to inquire into the
principles, so long as I could play the pieces
I wanted to play. Over a year ago my need
for deeper knowledge came almost as a revela-
tion. As
I pondered the technic problem on
this certain day, a light seemed to dawn, and
I then, for the first time, grasped the principles
upon which the whole scheme of piano technic
rests. The principles themselves are not new
they have been known for a long time. But
it is rather the manner of their
application that
became the new light to me. It may be only
in my own case that the working out will apply ;
it may not fit others.
"In one way it is no secret that I have dis-

covered, yet it is
very difficult to put into
words ; it would be it than
easier to demonstrate
to describe it.
Briefly, can be said the
it prin-
ciple of relaxation plays a very large part; sup-
ple, yielding wrists, arms that hang quite free
from the body; also the idea of playing easily,
with no stiffness or strain anywhere. Of course
these are Dohnanyi's principles, too; he uses
them in teaching and playing, as
great do all

artists. But I have discovered for myself

230 Piano Mastery Second Series

methods of applying these principles; I know

now just what I am doing, and why.
"I give much of my practice time at least
half of it to working up my technic. I found
that while I had good finger development, I
fell far short in octaves. None of my teachers
had given me systematic training in this branch
of technic, so I have set myself to master it.

AN ARTIST'S PLAYING OFTEN DECEPTIVE TO THE

EYE
"In watching the performance of artists,
one apt to be deceived as to movement and
is

condition. They often make so little move-

ment with fingers or wrist, that, to the casual
observer, these scarcely seem to move at all.
When you see Busoni play octaves, it seems
as though his wrists must be stiff, so quietly
are they held. But such cannot be the case,
or he would not be able to execute octaves at
all. In short, the public performance of the
artist is apt to be very deceiving. He
gener-
ally plays quietly with no unnecessary motions ;

in fact the greater the artist the more quiet his

movements. For instance my own playing is

quite different in public from what it is in the

privacy of my own studio. There I play

slowly, with well-raised fingers, and large free
 Mischa Levitzki 231

movements. In public I eliminate much of this

and use only the most necessary movements.
During study hours I am not striving for
power, but for ease of movement with right
conditions; yet I have enough power when I
need it. Public playing is the finished product,
shorn of everything that savors of the work-
room."
Here Mr. Levitzki brings out clearly a point
which often mystifies both teachers and stu-
dents. They seem to think, because an artist

plays so quietly, with little movement of

fingers, wrists or arms, not necessary for

it is

them to teach or study correct action of the

various hinges of hand and fingers. This is
a grave mistake. The artist has trained his
anatomy through many years of severe effort;
he probably continues to do so in the privacy
of his studio. In public he foregoes all but the
most necessary movement, for we are often
told it is the highest art to conceal art. But no
one ever gained command over his playing
mechanism and the keyboard, without working
for correct finger action, supple wrists and
loose arms. It folly to start at the top of the
is

ladder, when, to make real progress, one must

take the required steps leading to the goal.
Rather start at the bottom, making the ascent
232 Piano Mastery Second Series

gradually and logically. Then there will be

nothing to undo.

THE CLASSIC SCHOOL OF PLAYING

"I desire to play the classics well," went on

the young artist; "perhaps that style suits me
best at least I love it. Mozart, for instance,
Mozart the most difficult of all. The notes are
often very simple, as you say; that fact is one
of the chief difficulties. In works of other
composers, the tones can be sustained or cov-
ered by the pedals, but not so in Mozart. Here
the bare tones must stand forth unaided by
pedals, which are to be used very sparingly.
It seems to me the greatest requirement is
absolute evenness; also beginning and ending
the phrases in just the right way. You have
heard Lhevinne, and you know what a fine
technic he has. He worked at a Mozart Con-
certo three whole months before he could get it
into shape. There is really a school of Mozart
playing. At one of my New York recitals, I
put one bravoura selection the Rubinstein
Staccato Etude on the programme, just to
prove that I could do that style too. And of
course a pianist must have the Liszt Rhap-
sodies and works of like caliber in his reper-
toire. But I prefer the compositions of the
classic masters."
 XXI

ETHEL NEWCOMB
MENTAL PROBLEMS IN PIANO STUDY

"!T was a liberal education to have known

Leschetizky," remarked Ethel Newcomb, as
we were chatting about her studies in Vienna.
"Leschetizky was such a wonderful man,"
continued this American pianist and teacher;
"I can scarcely realize he is no longer with us ;

he was the best friend I ever had. If he took

interest in a student, he never seemed to con-
sider how much time he gave; in fact time
seemed as nothing in such cases.
"To show how unstintedly the master gave
of his time, I will mention this little incident.
"I had been so occupied with my own studies
that I had not thought about public appear-
ances. Leschetizky came to me one day and
said:
"I am losing interest in you; you don't
seem to have the ambition you ought to have;

you seem to have entirely settled down to your

studies you ought to be playing.'
;

233
234 Piano Mastery Second Series
"
'Why, Professor, what would you have
me do?'
"Get out and play give a recital, play
with orchestra only play!' (He always
wanted his pupils to play in public.)
'Very well,' I said, 'I will go to the man-
ager to-morrow morning and see what can be
done.'
"Next morning, on the way there, I met a
noted singer, who informed me she was just
arranging for a concert with orchestra, and
asked me to appear with her. I was delighted
at the chance of playing with the Philharmonic
Orchestra of Vienna and of appearing with
Mme. Francis Sayville, and gaily returned to
the Professor with the news, telling him I had
decided to play the Schumann Concerto. The
Professor did not quite approve of my choice,
saying I would have to stand comparison with
the greatest artists. If I did well, people
would sa^r the music was so beautiful, it would
sound beautiful no matter who played it while ;

ifI did not do well, I would be blamed for at-

tempting such a work. But I was not to be
deterred, for I had worked on the Concerto a
long time. The Professor rehearsed it with
me almost every day. We
would begin after
supper and work till nearly midnight, so eager
 Ethel Newcomb 235

was he to have it perfect, so utterly prodigal

was he of his valuable time.
"At the orchestral rehearsal, there was a
passage for flutes, which failed to come in. Not
hearing it, I stopped. The conductor turned
to know what was the matter. Instantly the
Professor rushed up, calling out, 'the Fraulein
is knows the parts so perfectly and
right, she
has such sensitive ears she was disturbed when
the flutes didn't come in properly.' 'I said it
to save you,' he told me afterwards. 'The next
time if they fail to come in, you willhave to
play the flute part yourself.'
"The day before the concert, Leschetizky
gave up his lessons, and we worked together
both afternoon and evening. When he saw
the large audience assembling on the night of
the concert, he advised me to play the opening
passage with quite a different touch and phras-
ing, to render the tone more brilliant and pow-
erful.

STUDIES WITH LESCHETIZKY

"I studied and worked with the Professor
between fourteen and fifteen years. The last
four years I was his assistant. I was a very
young girl when I went to Vienna really only
a child. I had been taught at home in America,
236 Piano Mastery Second Series

and my friends considered I had talent. In

those days I could go to a concert, listen to a
difficult piano piece, perhaps a Liszt rhapsody,
come home and play it with reasonable accu-
racy, so acute were my ear and memory. I had
studied some of the rhapsodies, and a lot of
technic of the old Stuttgart school, but had no
foundation of musical knowledge when I went
to Vienna.
"I was duly prepared by one of the For-
bereiters,, Fraulein Prentner, before taking my
first lesson with Leschetizky. After a couple
of lessons, I was told to play for the next class.
These classes, as is well known, assembled every
fortnight. I shall never forget this first experi-
ence. My name was called and I marched
quite bravely to the piano, to play three my
pieces, not knowing what was in store for me.
"My first piece went very well. At its close
the Professor asked me to make a modu- little

lation into the key of the next number. It was

an impossibility; I had never studied music
that way. The Professor appeared very much
surprised; then he called up a lad of eight,
since become one of the leading pianists of

Germany, and asked him to make the required

modulation, 'for this lady/ The incident was
a revelation. I had looked upon myself as a
 Ethel Newcomb 237

child. Now I was addressed as a lady, yet I

couldn't match with a boy ofI beganeight!
to see the difference between the training I
had had and the kind to be obtained over there,
where foundational knowledge is so thorough.
They receive the sort of training that enables
one to transpose, improvise, play a difficult
composition in another key from the original;
in short to be real musicians.
"I had studied with Leschetizky about ten
years, when the call came for me to return to
America. I told him I must leave for financial
reasons.
*

'No, you must not go,' he said. *I will

make you my assistant; you shall begin teach-
ing at once; I will send you six pupils to-mor-
row.' And he did. I soon had a great many
pupils. He introduced me everywhere as his
and
assistant, took the greatest pains to make
me on every point. One wonderful sum-
clear
mer I went with him to Ischl, and there we
worked together daily, on how to teach, taking
up every subject in detail. At that time I only
half realized what a marvelous opportunity it
was. He would discuss the hand from every
point of view what this sort of hand should do,
;

and why another kind of hand should be held

differently, and should be required to do other-
238 Piano Mastery Second Series

wise. This is why he often said he had no

method. 'To make a pupil play three notes on
the piano, expressively and with variety of
touch, that is my method,' he would say. He
was impatient of so-called methods he used to ;

say to me, 'You will not write method books

you will play, that is your mission!'

PUBLIC PLAYING
"The pianist is influenced more or less by
the receptivity of his audience. I am certain
one cannot always play in the same way; the
piano, the room and the audience are factors
to be reckoned with. I wish I could always rise
above these things, but I am often influenced
by various moods, and therefore play differ-
ently at different times. New York is perhaps
the most trying city to appear in yet American
;

audiences are most encouraging and enthusi-

astic. European or, to be more exact, Ger-
man audiences are cold. They do not con-
sider the player; he is only a medium through
which they hear the composition; in other
words they go to hear the music, not the per-
former.
"This isa very subtle subject, the working
of the mind during performance. Surely the
ideal state is to be beyond the thinking and
 Ethel Newcomb 239

planning stage, so that the player can freely

listen to his own tones, without being in any

way hampered or limited by questions of tech-

nic or memory. When I play, I am not look-

ing ahead or anticipating what is coming; I

am intently listening, listening to the tones as
they flow from under my fingers.
"True listening that hearing mentally by
the inner ear is
possible only when one can
so
detach one's self from one's surroundings as
to be entirely wrapped up in what one is doing.
Then, and then only, one really begins to hear.
I have seen this absorbed look come into the
eyes of Ysaye, as he stands before his audience.
After the first few phrases, his eyes take on a
different look; when this comes I know he has
found himself, that he really hears. It is the
same with the great pianists also. When in
this trance-like state, one is not always con-
scious of what happens. At a recent recital,
when a recall was demanded, I was in such a
mental state that I could not come down to a
short, small piece for an encore. Before I
knew it I had plunged into the Scherzo, Op.
39, of Chopin. I had not looked at this piece
for two years. A
sudden realization of the
risk I was taking, almost made me come to

grief, until I had recovered poise.

240 Piano Mastery Second Series

KEEPING TECHNIC AND REPERTOIRE IN REPAIR

"I practice from four to five hours a day,
and generally play with about the power I
deem necessary for the concert hall, as thus
I can keep myself at concert pitch. I certainly
believe in scales, and practice them in various
touches and shadings. So also with octaves,
chords and arpeggios. Whenever my technic
seems to require it, I go over these things. Nor
do I neglect the Etudes, Op. 740, of Czerny.
Several of these, played consecutively, should
put the hand in good condition. Leschetizky
believed that the first three contain everything
needed in piano playing. They were among
the requirements for obtaining lessons from
him. He usually called for one or two of these
when the pupil first came to him. In fact, at
any subsequent lesson, if he saw technical
inaccuracy, he was liable to call for one of the

Czerny studies, transposed into another key.

So they had to be learned in all keys. I run
through the four books frequently, and so keep
them fresh in my fingers.
"One finds technical problems constantly in

pieces. If I play the Tschaikowsky Concerto,

I find there plenty of practice in chords.
Leschetizky's idea was not to practice either
 Ethel Newcomb 241

strenuous technic or etudes late at night, as

this would probably result in stiff muscles next

day. Rather play pieces at night, especially

those containing variety of touch.

DIRECT METHODS OF STUDY

"I find that people often go 'round and
'round the subject of piano study, without go-
ing directly for the thing they are or should be
aiming at. They run after this or that method,
whatever is most largely advertised. Nowhere
is this more evident than right here in New

York. They take dancing lessons to help them

play the piano. I say nothing against Dai-
croze, or mechanical keyboards, but I do be-
lieve that if you want to study music, you
should go direct to music itself, by the most
direct route.
"I am convinced that America is improving
the quality of musical training offered to music
students. We have become more thorough and
systematic. There are more things to be
learned about music than just to play a few
tunes on the piano. We
are learning to try
and find the meaning and significance of music
itself."
 XXII

RAFAEL JOSEFFY
BY SOME OF HIS PUPILS

THE name Rafael Josefly has long been

one to conjure with, whether in Europe or
America, whether as pianist or as pedagogue.
He was by birth an Hungarian, itself a fact
of musical significance. He had studied with
Tausig and Liszt, and when he came to
America, in 1879, in the flush of youthful mas-
tery of his instrument, he created a furore. He
was at that time a marvelous virtuoso ; he de-
veloped later into a poetic genius of the piano.
It would require a readier pen than mine to
fitly describe either the manner of playing, or
the teaching methods of this piano conqueror.
He had many pupils and followers during his
long residence among us, and his influence over
the development of music in America was im-
portant. As the years passed he became more
and more a thinker along the lines of music
education, as is evidenced by his two valuable
works on piano technic. These books prove
242
RAFAKL JOSEFFY
 Rafael Joseffy 243

how carefully he worked out technical prob-

lems.
Technic for the piano is such an individual
thing. In a sense it must be applied differently
to each pupil. This enlists all the resources of
the teacher, since the mentality of the student
is varied in every case. And if the teacher
must adapt his instruction to each and every
fit

individual, so, on the side of the pupil, there

will be found every shade of comprehension
and receptivity.
I have been able to confer with several of
the American pupils of Rafael Joseffy, and
what they have to say will be of deep interest
to pianists and teachers.

ROSE WOLF
Mme. Rose Wolf, who was the master's as-^
sistant for about fifteen years, brought to her
work a wide experience of masters and meth-
ods. Born in Russia, a student in the Rubin-
stein Conservatory, under the famous pianist,
she also studied with Klindworth and Schar-
wenka in Berlin, and with Dr. William Mason
and A. K. Virgil in New York. In fact she
has investigated all methods, "to see ~vhat was
in them."
"I had studied with Joseffy, with some inter-
244 Piano Mastery Second Series

ruptions, ever since I was fourteen," she says.

"I feel I know his method thoroughly; in fact,
his 'new book,' as we called it, the First Les-
sons, we wrote, so to say, together. He con-
sulted me about every exercise ; my knowledge
of Virgil's Method helped to explain
Mr.
many a point. During the past fifteen years
I prepared most of the pupils for Joseffy, and
alternated lessons with his.

JOSEFFY'S METHOD
"Here is a model of Joseffy's hand. You see
how the fingers are rounded, the knuckles al-

most level on top ;

the knuckle of the fifth fin-
ger isas high as that of the second ; the thumb
is curved also ; it is an ideal shape. was very He
particular about hand position; that must be
formed before anything else could be done. He
takes up this subject in the opening chapter of
First Lessons. Then comes finger action. He
believed in high, free finger movements, espe-

cially at first later the high action was reduced.

;

Each of the exercises are to be taken in differ-

ent touches legato, marcato and staccato;
these are for trills and five finger forms, in all

keys. Muchattention is to be given to chord

study; the various positions both in three and

four voices to be played in a variety of touches,
 Rafael Joseffy 245

and always with fingers prepared beforehand

for the keys.
Joseffy made much of the staccato touch,
both for fingers and wrist. Finger staccato
was not played by simply working the fingers
quickly up and down, but rather by a slight
dra wing-in of the finger tip (as Doctor Ma-
son taught). Wrist staccato was executed
with the hand, the wrist being free and supple
and fingers rounded. He did not advise alter-
nating legato and staccato touches for scales,
a few repetitions of each, as is usually done he
;

considered this method of practice a waste of

time. But if staccato scale practice can be kept

up for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, great

benefit will result.

FINGERING

"Joseffy was very exact in all matters of fin-

gering. When possible, a phrase or passage
should begin with thumb and end with fifth
finger. An ascending scale should end with
fifth. Chords following single tones, in bass,
should receive, not the fifth finger again, but
the fourth or third, when possible. I took him
the Gminor Ballade of Chopin; he changed
the fingering in such a way that I had to learn
the piece all over again; but it then sounded
246 Piano Mastery Second Series

like quite a different composition, which shows

how fingering can alter interpretation.

ORNAMENTS
"In regard to embellishments, he was par-
ticular to preserve the classic spirit, of bringing
the mordent or grace note on the beat. This
for Haydn, Scarlatti or Mozart,and even for
Beethoven. For later composers the modern
manner was generally chosen, though taste
should decide. His taste was exquisite on all
such points.

CHOICE OF PIECES
"One of the most valuable things about
Joseffy's teaching was his rare insight into
the needs of his pupils. He was able to choose
just the musical food they required. If the
student lacked expression and a singing tone,
he was advised to study nocturnes or other lyric
music; if he needed bravoura, he was required
to work on brilliant pieces. Sometimes he was
allowed to play just the sort of composition
thatwould bring out his best qualities in high
relief.

"Joseffy never talked much in the lesson,

never played the composition entirely through,
only parts of it. The student imbibed more by
 Rafael Joseffy 247

intuition than inany other way. He made you

see what he meant, what the music stood for,
its meaning and significance. If the pupil were
not advanced sufficiently, he might get but lit-
tle out of the lessons; but if really prepared,
physically and mentally, he could grasp intui-
tively, a great deal of the higher side of pian-
ism."

ALEXANDER BERNE
Mr. Berne, who is doing excellent work as
pianist, teacher and composer, speaks enthusi-
astically of his lessons with Joseffy, with whom
he studied for four or five seasons.

"Joseffy insisted on the following four fun-

damental principles: 1, Arched Hand; 2, Loose
Wrist; 3, Slanting Position (for scales and ar-
peggios) 4, High Finger Action. He was
;

very particular about position of the hand;

that had to be formed before anything else
could be done. Accuracy also was one of his
hobbies; therefore fingers must be well raised
during practice.
"With some pupils, I am told, he did not con-
cern himself so much about technic. He was
very exact with me, for which I am grateful,
as it has helped me so much in my teaching,
248 Piano Mastery Second Series

SLOW PRACTICE
"Slow practice was greatly recommended, as

only in this way could accuracy be acquired.

After the piece had been played for him slowly
and carefully, he would sometimes say: 'Now
play it fast, even if you drop some notes; I
want to see what you can do.'
"He required much scale practice. At first
we used a short scale of nine notes, for which
itwas necessary to pass the thumb under twice.
This was played in all keys, hands singly and
together. He claimed this little figure em-
bodied the whole principle of the scale, without
waste of time or energy. Later, scales in four
octaves were studied in all keys.

RHYTHM
"Joseffy was a great stickler for perfect
rhythm. He insisted this principle should be
carried into everything. If the scale ended on
a third beat, the following repetition, or new
scale, must begin on the first beat of next meas-
ure, leaving one beat between. The same was
true of all technical forms,
 Rafael Josef fy 249

THE CLASSICS

"With the classic in music Joseffy was in

complete rapport. He
used much Bach, also
Haydn, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven. Then
came Schumann, Brahms and, most of all,
Chopin. His taste did not incline toward the
ultramodern school, though he used the two
Arabesques of Debussy.
"In Bach, when one voice is in eighths
against another in sixteenths, the former was
played staccato and the latter legato, unless
otherwise marked. This reading gives variety
to the parts and preserves the classic spirit.

Joseffy used it for the older music.

"After the student had been initiated into
technical methods,and had studied some pieces
very carefully, he was told to bring several
pieces for each lesson. Sometimes I had
to prepare thirty or forty pages at a time

during the two weeks' interval; the idea being

to play through a number of compositions for
smoothness, style and effect.
"At the beginning of his lessons, the student
provided himself with a staff-ruled notebook, in
which Joseffy indicated the technical matter to
be studied. Many of the exercises in his new
book, First Lessons were thus dictated to
250 Piano Mastery Second Series

me before the work was published. This is the

book I use in my teaching, although I have
adopted Joseffy's method of writing down ex-
ercises for my pupils, as it gives peculiar inter-
est to their technical studies."

Mr. Berne relates many incidents, showing

the personality of the great pianist and his
kindly interest in his pupils. Lack of space
prevents their inclusion. The accompanying
portrait was taken by Mr. Berne at Joseffy 's
villa at Tarrytown.
EDWIN HUGHES
Mr. Edwin Hughes, who has been for a
number of years as student and teacher a
leading representative of the pianistic princi-
ples of Theodor Leschetizky, was a pupil of
Joseffy for a couple of seasons before going to
Vienna. Of the latter's teaching methods he
says:
"Joseffy was immensely particular about
fingering. I have known the whole lesson hour
to be occupied with this subject. He
would fin-
ger a passage in several ways, telling the pupil
to practice them all and then decide which
would best fit the hand. In his work as editor,
he would spend many hours over the fingering
of a single composition. He often hit upon
 Rafael Joseffy 251

though he was apt

brilliant ideas in this line,
to be somewhat old fashioned and pedantic.
This frequently showed itself in the chang-
ing of fingers on keys, for no special reason.
With him fingering was almost an art in itself.
He worked according to a principle, and always
put that If a passage ought to be played
first.

legato, he would preserve that principle in the

fingering.

INVENTING DIFFICULT EXERCISES

"He advised making difficult technical exer-

cisesout of pieces that is to say, selecting the

;

hard parts and then turning them about in dif-

ferent ways, for one hand or the other. This
was the idea of Tausig and Liszt, with both of
whom Joseffy studied. It is also Rosenthal's
plan; he doubtless got it from his teacher,
Joseffy. Another technical stunt was to prac-
tice with uncomfortable hand positions, such
as octaves with very low wrist, for instance.
Afterwards the normal position of hands, or
written arrangement of notes would be found
much easier.

PERFECTION OR ENDURANCE
"He counselled the student to practice either
for perfection or endurance. For the former
252 Piano Mastery Second Series

slow practice was necessary, with well-raised

fingers and minute attention to every detail.
For endurance the opposite course was ob-
served. 'Play for speed, and keep it up, 'no
matter if some of the notes are dropped,' he
would say: 'go through the piece several times
without stopping, and do not yield to fatigue ;

overcome fatigue 1'

CHOOSING SUITABLE PIECES

"Choosing pieces from which one could learn

a great deal, technically as well as musically,
was almost a gift with him. Take, for instance,
two works like the Schumann Fantaisie, Op.
17, and Chopin's Sonata, Op. 35. To the lis-
tener these works may sound about the same in
point of difficulty, but the pianist will learn
much more from the first movement of the So-
nata than from the first part of the Fantaisie.

For the same reason he did not favor either

the Tschaikowsky or Grieg Concertos. 'Any
one who can play chords can play those,' he
would say. But from a Mozart or a Chopin
Concerto one learns much. The Intermezzi of
Brahms are more for interpretation than for
technical mastery, as few technical problems
are involved in them.
 Rafael Josef fy 253

JOSEFFY'S BOOKS ON TECHNIC

"I make great use in my teaching of Josef-
fy's treatise on Piano Technic; I consider it a
great work. He has treated every point ex-
haustively. Of course it is a book for advanced
students, as he accepted no other kind. His
First Lessons,, which was issued later, I do not
use. After a careful examination, I found the
exercises just as difficult many of them as
those in the larger work. He intended the
First Lessons to precede the more advanced
work, and started out with a few f oundational
exercises, but soon leaped ahead to advanced
problems. He was very favorable to the Vir-
gil clavier and to the method evolved by its
inventor, Mr. A. K. Virgil. A
pupil coming
to him who had been well prepared in this
method, he considered had a thorough founda-
tion. I had been well grounded in this method
before I went to him, through my studies with
S. M. Fabian, of Washington. I found this
preparation of the greatest benefit to me in my
later studies.
"
Joseffy was one of the greatest teachers of
*
our time. As Rosenthal remarkedWhy do
:

Americans come over here to study, when they

have one of the most remarkable teachers in
254 Piano Mastery Second Series

their midst?' Yet Joseffy himself counselled

his students to cross the ocean and learn what

Europe could do for them in matters of experi-

ence, travel, and musical inspiration."
 XXIII

KATE S. CHITTENDEN
SIMPLIFIED PIANO TECHNIC

ABOUT the first musician with whom I came

in contact, on my professional advent in New
York, over twenty years ago, was Miss Kate
Chittenden. We
lived under the same roof and
saw each other daily. I was attracted by her
sincerity and fearless candor, her wide experi-
ence, and the justice of her opinions on most
subjects. As I learned to know her better and
got beyond a certain quaint, characteristic
brusqueness of manner, I realized how sym-
pathetic she was, how tender-hearted, how
ready to help struggling talent, or those not
even talented, who craved an assisting hand. I
saw the Synthetic Method, which she organ-
ized and worked out, grow from its very in-

ception.
Looking back over all these years, it seems
to me Miss Chittenden's whole life has been one
of devotion to her ideals. Those ideals I be-
lieve to be: To develop the most practical
255
256 Piano Mastery Second Series

method of piano study she could devise to aid

;

students to find themselves and work out the

best that is them; to help young teachers to
in
establish themselves, in short to "lend a
hand."
Kate Chittenden isan American on both
sides of her family; her mother's people com-

ing here in 1629, her father's in 1638. She hap-

pened to be born in Hamilton, Canada, where
her parents went to visit and remained. In
music she had the benefit of study with an ex-
traordinary Frenchman, Jules Fossier. Later,
at Hellmuth College, London, she was trained
by Lucy H. Clinton, a pupil of Clara Schu-
mann, who proved to be equally exacting.
Miss Chittenden came to New York in the
fall of 1876. Later she was made organist and
Choir Director of Calvary Baptist Church, a
post she held for over a quarter of a century.
In 1892 she joined the staff of the Metropoli-
tan College of Music, which has since been re-
named American Institute of Applied Music.
She has been the Dean of the Faculty there
since 1900.

SIMPLIFYING TEACHING MATERIAL

We
conferred lately on the wide subject of
piano teaching. I had remarked that in my
 Kate S. Chittenden 257

experience, neither singers nor violinists, as a

rule, could give an adequate idea in words, of
the essentials of music study and teaching;
whereas the progressive teacher of the piano
is generally able to impart much that is useful
and helpful.
"That is because the piano is a universal in-
strument," said Miss Chittenden. "The singer
can only sing one note at a time, a violinist can
at most play two; but the pianist can depress
about a dozen keys the piano is the instrument
;

of harmony."
"I was greatly interested in your exposition
given at the New York Music Teachers'
Convention, held in New York in June, 1915
of the use of half-tones in teaching a compre-
hension of the material used in music. I believe
teachers and students would appreciate a brief
resume of your ideas."
"I was almost forced into these discoveries,"
answered Miss Chittenden, with a smile, "by
the utter lack of finger instinct observed in
most pupils who came to me. I found they
needed to feel the black keys as well as the
white half steps as well as whole steps.
"We, therefore, start with the half-step, the
smallest interval in music. At the back of the

keyboard all keys are a half step apart. This

258 Piano Mastery Second Series

very fact seems greatly to simplify matters for

the beginner. Who would imagine that out of
the twelve sounds contained within the octave,
479,001,600 changes could be made!
"We emphasize the fact that each sound is

to be considered the starting point of an inde-

pendent system. The first technical applica-

tion is made by starting from each one of the
twelve keys in the octave and proceeding by
half steps, using such variations of time, touch,
and dynamics Next, we intro-
as one desires.
duce a half followed by a whole step, proceed-
ing from the same starting point, always mak-
ing clear the relationships. Then we build
'Filled Seconds,' utilizing three piano keys.
With three sounds a number of rhythmic
changes can be introduced; but in order to
counteract the unstable influence of so much
chromatic work, we always apply the same fig-
ure to the diatonic scale, taking care to empha-
size the difference between the chromatic and
normal sequences. After the three sounds are
established, the middle one is eliminated, bring-
ing us to the 'sequence of whole steps' (the
basis of somuch of Liszt's filigree work).
"We can now take up minor thirds. I first
use either B and
flat D
flat, or D
sharp and F
sharp two mountain peaks with a valley be-
 Kate S. Chittenden 259

tween. The pupil can never mistake either of

these for a major third, whereas the minor third
on the white keys is sometimes misleading. I
have the pupil feel this minor third chromati-
cally up the keyboard, to learn its form and
shape. It is then written out and played with
different touches. After these, each of the four
sounds, or piano keys, within the minor third
are played in succession, as 'filled minor thirds/
to which eight different rhythms may be ap-

plied.
"As the model for major thirds, we use F
sharp and A
sharp 'two mountain peaks with
two valleys and a small hill between' equal to
four half steps. They may be played together
or in broken pairs. They may also be filled
and played with variations, rhythms and shad-
ings. They can also be preceded by an octave.

CHORD STUDY
"In teaching chords I use the three triads in
this order: diminished, minor, major. Inver-
sions demonstrated by alternate hands,
are

overlapping each other. I call them "shin-

gles." The diminished seventh and dominant
seventh are taken up in the same way and
are quite simple after the drill with triads.
There is a certainty of touch and vision that
260 Piano Mastery Second Series

comes from using chords chromatically and

afterwards passing through the circle of keys,
that results in fearlessness : it reduces the habit
of stumbling so prevalent among immature
pianists.
"I am glad to give you this brief summary
of the work. I think the musician should not
keep his discoveries to himself, but be willing
to share them with others. Musicians ought to
have a code of ethics and as inviolable an oath
as physicians, who are not allowed to patent
their knowledge; for if a doctor is known to
secrete anything of public benefit, he is scorned

by his fellows. Surely the followers of the

most beautiful art ought to be as high-minded
as those in the best of professions."
"How long will it take the student to go
through the various half-step forms which you
use?" she was asked.
"About three months. Of course all depends
on the ability of the learner and the amount of
time she has to give. All beginners go through
the work with my assistants.
"In a college such as Vassar, where the ordi-
nary studies are accompanied by a large
amount of laboratory work, as well as a good
deal of special-topic writing, executive music
has to be crowded out, and it is very difficult for
 Kate S. Chittenden 261

the students to get any satisfactory amount of

practice. Executive music, in my judgment,
should form no part of a college course. But
as a side issue, for recreation and inspiration,
it is Nominally, the Vassar stu-
invaluable.
dents are allowed one fifty-minute period of
practice daily, but in point of fact, they are
only able to get five half hours a week, or less.
Consequently, I have to prune the course in
piano just as close as possible. There is only
time for the most essential things. I insist on
good tone and rhythm, attention to phrasing
and dynamics, and an intelligent use of the
pedals. I use a large number of short pieces,
for the less advanced pupils, such as Schumann,

Opus 15, 99, 124; Chopin Preludes, and many

of the best short modern compositions. My
assistants I have three in the College give
a lesson to each music student once a week. I
give them a half hour lesson every other week;
the alternate week I have them in classes, six
innumber.
"Piano music, however, has recognition at
Vassar through the admirable course in Inter-
pretation given by Professor George Coleman
Gow, to performers in any branch of music.
These classes are unique, as there are three reci-
tations each week, and the works under consid-
262 Piano Mastery Second Series

eration are treated in such a way that at the

end of the year the students understand thor-
oughly why the composition is good and what
constitutes an artistic reading. They learn to
criticize intelligently, and after the laws are
once understood, students are called upon to
criticize each other. This particular item is of
peculiar benefit. A teacher may correct a fault
over and over again, and his correction may
have no appreciable effect; but let a fellow
student criticize another and it makes an in-
delible impression, it is the end of that fault."
Miss Chittenden numbers over three thou-
sand pupils who have studied with her in the
course of her long career. For nearly eighteen
years she has been head of the piano depart-
ment Vassar College, making the trip to
in

Poughkeepsie every week during the entire

season. Besides this she has been, for twenty-
five years, a lecturer on the New York Board
of Education free lecture courses, being the
woman ever chosen to lecture on music.
first

It has been recently said of Miss Chittenden:

"To an exceptional degree she is open-
minded to all the new developments in the
music world, and to her capacity for com-
it is

prehending quickly new points of view and dis-

criminating shrewdly between what is worth
 Kate S. Chittenden 263

while and what is of little or no value in the evo-

lution of pedagogical work, that her success is
in a great measure due. She has devised a com-

prehensive system for teaching children, which

has produced eloquent results."
 XXIV

AUGUSTA COTTLOW
TECHNICAL ESSENTIALS IN PIANO STUDY

WE in America have formerly been educated

to think that the greatest artists of the key-
board must come from Europe. The first

famous artist to visit and enthrall us with his

art was Rubinstein. Each year after his ad-
vent, some new European aspirants for our ad-
miration visited us, so that we began to look
for a fresh pianistic sensation every season.
While we are grateful for all the old world
has taught us in the past, we
are learning to
find ourselves in these days. We
too have
artists of the keyboard, who compare most

favorably with those who come to us from over

the water. I believe the views and experiences
of our own pianists will be most helpful to the
American student and teacher.

Augusta Cottlow, who has given the follow-

ing conference, is an artist of whom America
may be proud ; her views will doubtless be read
with deep interest.
S64
 Augusta Cottlow 265

"Prominent pianists of to-day seem to be

fairly well agreed as to the essentials of piano
technic hand how
to practice, and so
position,
on. Yet hand and mentality of the
in the

average individual there seem to be so many

hindrances that it is not surprising that num-
berless students are crying out for more light
on these subjects.

THE MEANING OF TECHNIC

"Before considering the mechanical side of
technic,it would be well to have a clear under-

standing of what the word implies. Technic is

the mode or means by which ideas are ex-
pressed, and this mode of expression should be
perfected so that the ideas may be clearly set
forth. This is a point which ought never to be

overlooked, but I have found that in the in-

tense desire to perfect the 'mode of expres-
sion,' the object of it all is too often lost sight

of, and the student forgets what he is striving

for. We must never forget that a great artist
is not great simply because he has a wide range

of tone-coloring, fine finger action, a velvety

touch, or free and strong arm movements, but
because he has ideas to express. Without ideas
the most perfect technical equipment leaves the
listener unmoved, except to excite the same
266 Piano Mastery Second Series

kind of admiration called forth by a fine acro-

batic performance. The idea is truly the
'spirit that quickeneth' in music as well as in
every other kind of work. Thus it is that the
artistwith great musical insight will produce
exquisite effects with his technic, where the less
gifted player, with the same technical develop-
ment, can make little or no effect. It there-
fore behooves every student to increase his in-
terpretative ability as assiduously as he is striv-
ing to perfect his mechanical control.

PATIENT STUDY
"It seems almost superfluous to touch upon
the subject of patience, as nearly every artist
has, in interviews or articles, dwelt upon the
patience required to perfect a reliable technic.
This is, of course, true in every line of human
endeavor. Great lessons can be learned from
the lives of men Edison, for example, who
like
sometimes spends seventeen or eighteen hours
without interruption in his laboratory, working
out his experiments. For the average student,
who loves his work, four or five hours a day at
the piano is no bugbear, on the contrary, a de-
cided pleasure. It is not the amount of time
spent, however, which taxes one's patience, but
the kind of practicing one does that is, whether
;
 Augusta Cottlow 267

one learns a composition by repeatedly playing

it over,or by the careful, slow, analytical
process that goes absolutely to the foundation
of its technical requirements. It is this
analytical practice which tests the patience of
those who wish to develop a fine technic, and,
what is more important, of those who wish to

keep this technic. Many students make the

mistake of believing that two or three years of
more or less analytical practice will establish
their technic so that afterwards all will be easy

sailing ; but doubtless all artists will agree that

it isthe continuous perfecting of each detail
that keeps their technic up to the standard, and
brings that enviable 'polish' which is the cher-
ished desire of every aspirant to pianistic
success.

HAND POSITION
"Hand position has been a subject of much
discussion, and the ideas regarding it have
undergone some radical changes since piano
playing became a fine art. At present the
arched hand with wrist on a level with the keys
is conceded the position of the greatest advan-
tage for all types of hands, supple or stiff; for
it gives the supple hand a brace and much

needed support for the fingers, especially in

268 Piano Mastery Second Series

forte passages, while to the stiff hand with

back-action of the fingers it gives a kind
little

of vantage ground, from which the fingers can

fall perpendicularly into the keys. im- An
portant point to keep in mind is to tilt the
hand slightly towards the thumb, so that the
knuckles of the fourth and fifth fingers are at
least as high, if not higher, than that of the
second finger. This position enables the fourth
and fifth fingers to fall perpendicularly into
the keys, and not slantingly as they would
otherwise do. A slanting position of the
weaker fingers often leads to the bad habit of
shoving the fingers down by means of the
weight of the entire hand, and prevents
independent action and the development of
strength in the fingers. The fingers should
by
allmeans preserve a rounded position and be
struck on their tips. Whatever may be said in
favor of the stroke produced by the straight-
ened finger, I have never heard a crystalline,
carrying tone from any one who used it. It
will be noticed I have used the phrase 'into the

keys/ This is what the finger stroke must

always be, even in melody playing where the
fingers are not so much rounded. It is essen-
tial that the key be pressed down to its full

depth at all times, in all manner of tone-color-

 Augusta Cottlow 269

ing, even in the finest pianissimo, and in the

greatest velocity this is almost impossible with
;

and straightened finger. The

flattened stroke
mechanism of the piano action is such that a
quick and deep stroke is essential for the per-
fect action of the hammer against the string;
otherwise the hammers are sluggish in their
movement, and sometimes do not strike the

strings at all. This is especially true in pianis-

simOj where the pressure is so light. The
pianissimo touch must, therefore, be carefully
practiced, as the greatest control is required to
produce this quick and deep stroke with
delicacy.

THE WRIST
"This wrist is one of the most important fac-
tors in piano playing. It may be said that

elasticity of tone depends on elasticity of wrist.

Too little paid to the wrist; it is
attention is

often allowed to remain rigid. Is it then any

wonder that there is hands and
stiffness in the
arms? The muscles which raise and lower the
fingers are situated in the forearm, and are
connected with the fingers by tendons which
pass through the wrist. If the wrist is held
rigid, therefore, it easy to see what must hap-
is

pen. One might say the secret of relaxation

270 Piano Mastery Second Series

lies in the suppleness of the wrist. This is

gained by the almost constant activity of this

member by raising the hand by means of the
wrist at the end of each phrase, by elevating
the wrist slightly when the thumb passes under
the hand in arpeggios, by drawing the hand
down into the keys in melody playing, by sink-

ing the wrist and lifting and lowering hand

and arm in chord playing by leading with the
wrist, and so on. When the wrist is lowered,
the muscles on top of the forearm are relaxed:
when it is raised those underneath are relieved.
The movement should not be sideways, as is
often done, for this accomplishes nothing and
looks affected; it should be an up and down
movement, in a slightly rotary manner. The
development of strength is also assisted by this
elasticity of wrist, for every part of the hand
and arm is thereby unhindered in its activity.

Thus I consider the position of hands and

fingers, and the freedom of wrists as most
essential points in the mechanical phase of
technic.

VELOCITY
"The question of how velocity is attained is

often brought up, and many contend that

velocity comes of its own accord as a result of
 Augusta Cottlow 271

slow, careful practice. Velocity, in many in-

dividuals, a natural characteristic, owing to

is

great suppleness of hands and a quick, im-

pulsive mentality; but controlled velocity is
quite another story. It usually requires most
assiduous practice with the metronome, begin-
ning with one note and increasing rhythmically
to two, four, six and eight notes to a beat, to

gain this control. It is not so much a lack of

rhythmic feeling as a lack of rhythmic control
which makes this necessary. The majority of
students have no idea of how to increase a pas-

sage rhythmically, and do not realize how un-

even their technical control is. Most people
throw up their hands in horror at the thought
of practicing with a metronome; they are
afraid of becoming mechanical, and so on. This

might be the result, if one habitually played

compositions through with metronome, but it
should be used mostly for routine practice and
analytical work in pieces.

TECHNIC PRACTICE
"For the student who can set aside four hours
a day to practice, I have found that one hour
of this time should be devoted to routine tech-
nical practice, embracing two forms of technic,
one for the fingers, and one for wrists and
272 Piano Mastery Second Series

arms. At least twelve forms of technic should

be gone over within a period of, at most, six
weeks. For instance, if one practices scales
and chords during the period of a week, em-
ploying both in several keys and forms, the
next week could be devoted to trills and octaves,
also practiced in various keys, fingerings and
forms, and so on through the other divisions of
technic. The twelve forms which I feel should
not be neglected, and which are essential to the
formation of a many-sided, well-rounded tech-
nic, are: Trills, Scales,Arpeggios (in various
forms), Close Finger Work (triplets, broken
thirds and the like), Octaves, Broken Octaves,
Chords, Thirds, Fourths, Sixths,
Repeated
Notes and Skips. The principle of practicing
the various forms of technic in routine work
should be applied whenever these forms occur
in compositions. This is true analytical tech-
nic practice,

TOO DIFFICULT PIECES

"There is one more point I would like to touch
upon, and that is the great evil (I can call it
by no other name!) of students attempting to
play compositions which tax the technic of even
advanced concert artists. This evil cannot be
too severely condemned. It prevents the stu-
 Augusta Cottlow 273

dent from developing the artistic side of piano

playing, as his thoughts are so intent upon the
technical difficulties involved, which he finds it

impossible to master, as they are utterly be-

yond his present technical development. The
argument often used by teachers on this sub-
ject is that the student can only acquire a
knowledge of piano literature by studying the
greatest compositions. They are quite mis-
taken, for one can get this knowledge by the
thorough reading and hearing of these com-
positions, as I know by my own experience.
".We must always remember, as my dear old
teacher, Carl Wolfsohn, early impressed upon
my childish thought, that it is not WHAT we
play, but HOW we play!"
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