Guided Sight-Reading; A New Approach to Piano Study by Leonhard Deutsch
Review by: William S. Newman
Notes, Second Series, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Mar., 1951), pp. 351-353
Published by: Music Library Association
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matter contained in this work is beyond aural end of the study is based upon
cavil. One might reasonably question the presumably naive assumption that
the justification for encouraging a stu- the student has ready access to a willing
dent to study "band arranging" rather group of performers upon diverse instru-
than the more inclusive fields of general ments including the English horn, the
instrumentation and orchestration, but contrabassoon, and the bass saxophone.
once this doubt has been resolved to Even more naive is the point of depart-
the affirmative we must recognize that ure in Part II wherein the first scoring
Mr. Leidz6n's course of procedure is done by the student is the arranging
without major flaw. of "The Model" for two oboes and two
The author divides his treatise into bassoons-an unlikely combination inas-
five parts: I. "Introduction," consisting much as some semi-professional orches-
of three chapters in which his premise tras in our land lack even a single per-
is stated and his course is charted; former on either of these instruments.
II. "Scoring from Vocal Settings," 14 The treatment of the combination of
chapters in which the student is guided instruments which go to make up the
through the steps necessary to score band is traditional, no cognizance being
"The Model" (a chorale of Mr. Leidzen's taken of the numerous movements on foot
creation) for diverse combinations of in- to change the context of the band. The
struments; III. "Arrangements from characteristics of the instruments are
Piano Compositions," 15 chapters on frequently treated in a superficial man-
arrangements for full band; separate ner; special effects such as articulations,
chapters deal with the woodwind quin- phrasing, tonguing, the use of mutes,
tet and the brass sextet; IV. "Transcrip- etc., are ignored; and one or two minor
tions from Orchestral Works," three errors (for instance, the definition of the
chapters wherein the orchestra is con- bottom limits of the flute and horn) have
sidered as a point of departure in the crept into the narrative.
creation of a band literature; V. "Critical The text of this book throughout is
Judgment," two chapters which are at concisely written and nicely printed;
the same time a summary of what has each paragraph is numbered for ease of
gone before and a kind of literary reference; "The Model" is printed sepa-
commencement address warning the stu- rately (librarians beware) so that it can
dent of the pitfalls awaiting him in his be inserted in that part of the book
subsequent experience. currently in use; the other musical
To my knowledge this work is the best illustrations are models of clarity; there
of its kind, although it suffers from a is neither index nor bibliography.
lack of perspective and from over- Written as it is by a professional
specialization. Little effort is made to practitioner of the arranging craft, tested
relate the text to the whole of musical in the studio with individual students,
literature other than an occasional casual this volume will probably find its most
reference to the Beethoven symphonies. effective use in such an area. One
There is no citation of works, phono- cannot but doubt its value in the con-
graph records, or scores in which the servatory or college classroom or as a
student might find the qualities of the ready reference on the library shelf.
various instruments demonstrated. The WALTERE. NALLIN
Guided Sight-Reading; A New Approach to Piano Study. By
LeonhardDeutsch. New York: Crown Publishers, 1950. [xiii, 107 p., illus.,
80; $2.00]
Learning to play fluently at sight, like alike in a most disheartening manner.
learning to sing at sight, to take dicta- Curiously, although these several skills
tion, to play by ear, to memorize, or to should be closely related, a student often
develop any other skill of general musi- excels in one and fails in another. He
cianship, can baffle student and teacher may prove adept at playing by ear.
351
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which capacity does bear significantly tions. Expression depends on musical
on ease of memorizing, yet fall down understanding and the habit of listening
miserably when he tries to sight-read- to and for one's own playing.
or vice versa. Deutsch writes this book very much
The literature on sight-reading has so the way his fluent sight-reader plays.
far been scant and often superficial. The gist is clear enough and on the
Here comes a new book that aims not whole very sound, in my opinion, but
only to develop sight-reading but, more the details are generally wanting or
important, to make sight-reading the slipshod. Very little of an immediately
basis of approach to piano study. Its practical nature is nailed down suffi-
author is a former Viennese piano teach- ciently to help the teacher. Loose claims
er and psychology student of Alfred and statements, especially in the earlier
Adler now teaching in this country. sections of his book, mark Deutsch some-
In essence, Deutsch applies the some- what unjustly as a man married to a
what overworked dicta of Gestalt psy- theory: "Most of our students would
chology. The musical whole is greater have failed under traditional instruction."
than its parts and the aim is to grasp "Once musical notation has become a
that whole from the start. The beginner living picture for the student, it will
should strive at once to make music, remain so, and he will at any time
Deutsch says, not to master details, just afterward be able to perform any music
as a child learning to talk or walk whether he practices regularly or not."
strives to attain obvious goals, not "The simplest way to grasp the meaning
analytic mastery of each movement in- of polyphonic music is to play it on a
volved in the complex total processes. keyed instrument [italics his]. It follows
To help the student achieve this aim that piano study would be the easiest
Deutsch advocates "guided sight-read- course in advanced ear training."
ing," which mainly means that the Perhaps the most meaningful state-
teacher plays along with the student at ments in his book are the gratuitous
the same or a second piano until the psychological nuggets that Deutsch
student is able to carry on for throws in during the final pages. They
himself. reveal much wisdom and experience:
The beginner may start with each hand "Your guidance [of a headstrong stu-
alone and use the hands together only dent] is not completely ineffective. It is
when he is ready to grasp the musical just at first very slow to influence the
meaning of the two parts. His tempo student, like the constant drip of water
will be determined by the speed at which which only in time gives evidence of hav-
he can read without undue tension and ing eroded a stone. . . . Meanwhile
errors. A wide variety of material is to put up with your student's habits, how-
ever annoying they may be. Don't be
be sight-read, each piece several times afraid that his attitude will become fixed
until it is assimilated musically and tech- if you don't fight it with all your
nically, but not necessarily perfected. energy. ... A teacher who complains
(Heritage Music Putblications has issued over a student's shortcomings is like
two elementary volumes of pieces ar- a physician who complains about a
ranged and graded by Deutsch for this patient's weak constitution."
purpose.) Details of notation, both pitch The one point at which Deutsch seems
and rhythm, are to be supplied only to me to fail entirely is in his weak
as necessary and not at the start, since
effort to extend fluent sight-reading into
notation is first viewed in its general
contours (much as elementary reading the perfection of individual pieces, or
now begins with whole words and even "repertoire study" as he calls it. Sight-
sentences rather than letters and syll- reading is an extremely vital and under-
ables). Good fingering comes with the developed aspect of piano playing, but
ability to size up what's coming. Tech- fluent sight-readers are frequently the
nique depends on mastering co-ordina- most undependable public performers.
352
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Their very fluency fights against the Notwithstanding certain negative re-
laborious attention to details that is actions, I recommend this book to every
essential to accuracy, polish, and secure pianist able to make his own reservations
memory. The Gestalt is not the only and eager for stimulating new ideas on
approach. In my experience, students teaching and learning methods. In the
do best who use the Gestalt approach realm of elementary instruction, in par-
for sight-reading and the painstaking, ticular, Deutsch's ideas possibly could
analytic approach for pieces reserved for revolutionize the entire approach.
the repertoire. WILLIAM S. NEWMAN
Bibliography of Jewish Music. By Alfred Sendrey. New York: Co-
lumbia University Press, 1951. [xli, 404 p., 4o; $12.50]
This is a major effort; indeed, a pioneer literature, the author has to face some
work. While many individual or spe- of his main problems, namely the con-
cialized bibliographies of the various sideration of Biblical and Rabbinical
periods and aspects of Jewish music are sources on one hand, and its counterpart
extant, it is undoubtedly Dr. Sendrey's "The Early Church-fathers on Music."
merit to have compiled a comprehensive While I shall not weigh every word of
bibliography that contains almost all this introduction on a scale fit for atomic
printed material that bears direct or in- physicists, I still must take issue with
direct relation to the topic of the title. the author on the statement that "the
The work is so well organized that one utterances of the early Church fathers
almost wishes there were not so many on liturgical music give an important
sub-divisions and sub-headings. After an insight into the character of its predeces-
extensive list of abbreviations and a table sor, the Temple music of the Hebrews."
of transliteration, the author states his There is not the slightest evidence that
method and policy in an interesting the Church-fathers had any idea of the
introduction. There he announces his music of the Temple; not even the sec-
principles of classification, the wise and ond generation of Rabbis after the de-
necessary distinction between Jewish struction in 70 A.D. had a clear concep-
music and music written by Jews, wherein tion of it. Once again, the music of the
the author has to face the question: What Synagogue is here confused with that of
is Jewish music? He observes that the Temple. Yet, while the latter abounded
"Musicology has not yet succeeded in in choral and instrumental extravagances,
establishing exact criteria for Jewish it was the Synagogue from which Chris-
music. . . . Even a recent symposium tianity inherited the musical legacy of
in New York, organized exclusively for Judaism.
the purpose of giving a scholarly defini- The introduction is then concluded with
tion of what Jewish music is, failed to a lucid statement of the principles for
arrive at a conclusion." May I quote a the listing of items and remarks on
strict definition that I once published checked and unchecked items. It was
in Musica Hebraica, 1938: "Jewish music both necessary and important to reiterate
is the sum total of all tunes and melo- the principle that "No evaluation of the
dies, performed by, or composed for, the material is intended. To offer any criti-
Jewish group exclusively." cism or show any discrimination . . .
Seen from this angle, the Yiddish would have been to deviate from the strict
"hit" songs certainly are a segment of objectivity adopted as the guiding prin-
Jewish music, though the least pleasant ciple of the work."
or worthy. Here Dr. Sendrey was per- There follows a most meritorious and
fectly right in omitting this material well-documented Historical Survey of
altogether, and every student of the sub- Bibliography of Jewish Music in which
ject will concur with him. many a curious fact is mentioned. While
After some remarks on contemporary officially closing with the year 1945, quite
Jewish music and on Jewish music in a few important publications were not
353
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