straight line. Teachers should make every possible effort to find the
straight line of technic which will carry the pupil from his first steps
to technical proficiency without wandering about through endless lanes
and avenues which lead to no particular end. I suppose that all American
teachers hear the same complaint that is heard by all European teachers
when any attempt is made to insist upon thorough practice and adequate
study from the _dilettante_. As soon as the teacher demands certain
indispensable technical studies, certain necessary investigations of the
harmonic, æsthetic or historical problems, which contribute so much to
the excellence of pianistic interpretations, he hears the following
complaint: "I don't want to be a composer" or "I don't want to be a
virtuoso--I only want to play just a little for my own amusement." The
teacher knows and appreciates the pupil's attitude exactly, and while he
realizes that his reasoning is altogether fatuous, it seems well-nigh
impossible to explain to the amateur that unless he does his work right
he will get very little real pleasure or amusement out of it.
The whole sum and substance of the matter is that a certain amount of
technical, theoretical and historical knowledge must be acquired to make
the musician, before we can make a player. There is the distinction.
Teachers should never fail to remember that their first consideration
should be to make a musician. All unmusical playing is insufferable. No
amount of technical study will make a musician, and all technical study
which simply aims to make the fingers go faster, or play complicated
rhythms, is wasted unless there is the foundation and culture of the
real musician behind it.
To the sincere student every piece presents technical problems peculiar
to itself. The main objection to all technical study is that unless the
pupil is vitally interested the work becomes monotonous. The student
should constantly strive to avoid monotony in practicing exercises. As
soon as the exercises become dull and uninteresting their value
immediately depreciates. The only way to avoid this is to seek variety.
As I have said in my _Methodik des Klavierspiels_: "The musical and
tonal monotony of technical exercises may be lessened in a measure by
progressive modulations, by various rhythmical alterations, and further
through frequent changes in contrary motion." Great stress should be
laid upon practice in contrary motion. The reason for this is obvious to
all students of harmony. When playing in contrary motion all unevenness,
all breaks in precision and all unbalanced conditions of touch become
much more evident to the ear than if the same exercises were played in
parallel motion. Another important reason for the helpfulness of playing
in contrary motion is not to be undervalued. It is that a kind of
physical 'sympathy' is developed between the fingers and the nerves
which operate them in the corresponding hands. For instance, it is much
easier to play with the fifth finger of one hand and the fifth finger of
the other hand than it is to play with the third finger of one hand and
the fifth finger of another."
WASTE IN UNIMPORTANT SUBJECTS
There is a general impression among teachers to-day that much time might
be saved by a more careful selection of studies, and by a better
adaptation of the studies to particular pupils. For instance, Carl
Czerny wrote over one thousand opus numbers. He wrote some of the most
valuable studies ever written, but no one would think of demanding a
pupil to play all of the Czerny studies, any more than the student
should be compelled to play everything that Loeschhorn, Cramer and
Clementi ever wrote. Studies must be selected with great care and
adapted to particular cases, and if the young teacher feels himself
incapable of doing this, he should either use selections or collections
of studies edited by able authorities or he should place himself under
the advice of some mature and experienced teacher until the right
experience has been obtained. It would not be a bad plan to demand that
all young teachers be apprenticed to an older teacher until the right
amount of experience has been obtained. The completion of a course in
music does not imply that the student is able to teach. Teaching and the
matter of musical proficiency are two very different things. Many
conservatories now conduct classes for teachers, which are excellent in
their way. In the olden days a mechanic had to work side by side with
his master before he was considered proficient to do his work by
himself. How much more important is it that our educators should be
competently trained. They do not have to deal with machinery, but they
do have to deal with the most wonderful of all machines--the human
brain.
Some studies in use by teachers are undeserving of their popularity,
according to my way of thinking. Some studies are altogether trivial and
quite dispensable. I have never held any particular fondness for Heller
for instance. His studies are tuneful, but they seem to me, in many
cases, weak imitations of the style of some masters such as Schumann,
Mendelssohn, etc., who may be studied with more profit. I believe that
the studies of Loeschhorn possess great pedagogical value. Loeschhorn
was a born teacher: he knew how to collect and present technical
difficulties in a manner designed to be of real assistance to the
student. The studies of Kullak are also extremely fine.
This is a subject which is far more significant than it may at first
appear. Whatever the student may choose to study after he leaves the
teacher, his work while under the teacher's direction should be focused
upon just those pieces which will be of most value to him. The teacher
should see that the course he prescribes is unified. There should be no
waste material. Some teachers are inclined to teach pieces of a
worthless order to gain the fickle interest of some pupils. They feel
that it is better to teach an operatic arrangement, no matter how
superficial, and retain the interest of the pupil, than to insist upon
what they know is really best for the pupil, and run the risk of having
the pupil go to another teacher less conscientious about making
compromises of this sort. When the teacher has come to a position where
he is obliged to permit the pupil to select his own pieces or dictate
the kind of pieces he is to be taught in order to retain his interest,
the teacher will find that he has very little influence over the pupil.
Pupils who insist upon mapping out their own careers are always
stumbling-blocks. It is far better to make it very clear to the pupil
in the first place that interference of this kind is never desirable,
and that unless the pupil has implicit confidence in the teacher's
judgment it is better to discontinue.
BRAIN TECHNIC VERSUS FINGER TECHNIC
Few pupils realize that hours and hours are wasted at the piano keyboard
doing those things which we are already able to do, and in the quest of
something which we already possess. When we come to think of it, every
one is born with a kind of finger dexterity. Any one can move the
fingers up and down with great rapidity; no study of the pianoforte
keyboard is necessary to do this. The savage in the African wilds is
gifted with that kind of dexterity, although he may never have seen a
pianoforte. Then why spend hours in practicing at the keyboard with the
view of doing something we can already do? It may come as a surprise to
many when I make the statement that they already possess a kind of
dexterity and velocity which they may not suspect. One does not have to
work for years to make the fingers go up and down quickly. It is also a
fact that a few lessons under a really good teacher and a few tickets
for high-class piano recitals will often give the feeling and "knack" of
producing a good touch, for which many strive in vain for years at the
keyboard.
No, the technic which takes time is the technic of the brain, which
directs the fingers to the right place at the right time. This may be
made the greatest source of musical economy. If you want to save time in
your music study see that you comprehend your musical problems
thoroughly. You must see it right in your mind, you must hear it right,
you must feel it right. Before you place your fingers on the keyboard
you should have formed your ideal mental conception of the proper
rhythm, the proper tonal quality, the æsthetic values and the harmonic
content. These things can only be perfectly comprehended after study.
They do not come from strumming at the keyboard. This, after all, is the
greatest possible means for saving time in music study.
A great deal might be said upon the subject of the teacher's part in
saving time. The good teacher is a keen critic. His experience and his
innate ability enable him to diagnose faults just as a trained medical
specialist can determine the cause of a disease with accuracy and
rapidity. Much depends upon the diagnosis. It is no saving to go to a
doctor who diagnoses your case as one of rheumatism and treats you for
rheumatic pains, whereas you are really suffering from neurasthenia. In
a similar manner, an unskilled and incompetent teacher may waste much
treasured time in treating you for technical and musical deficiencies
entirely different from those which you really suffer. Great care should
be taken in selecting a teacher for with the wrong teacher not only time
is wasted, but talent, energy, and sometimes that jewel in the crown of
success--"ambition."
A CASE IN POINT
An illustration of one means of wasting time is well indicated in the
case of some pedagogs who hold to old ideas in piano-playing simply
because they are old. I believe in conservatism, but at the same time I
am opposed to conservatism which excludes all progressiveness. The world
is continually advancing, and we are continually finding out new things
as well as determining which of the older methods will prove the best in
the long run. All musical Europe has been upset during the last quarter
of the century over the vital subject of whether the pressure touch is
better than the angular blow touch. There was a time in the past when an
apparent effort was made to make everything pertaining to pianoforte
technic as stiff and inelastic as possible. The fingers were trained to
hop up and down like little hammers--the arm was held stiff and hard at
the side. In fact, it was not uncommon for some teachers to put a book
under the armpit and insist upon their pupils holding it there by
pressing against the body during the practice period.
H. Ehrlich, who in his day was a widely recognized authority, wrote a
pamphlet to accompany his edition of the Tausig technical studies in
which this system is very clearly outlined. He asserts that Tausig
insisted upon it. To-day we witness a great revolution. The arms are
held freely and rigidity of all kind is avoided. It was found that the
entire system of touch was under a more delicate and sensitive control
when the pressure touch was employed than when the mechanical "hitting"
touch was used. It was also found that much of the time spent in
developing the hitting touch along mechanical lines was wasted, since
superior results could be achieved in a shorter time by means of
pressing and "kneading" the keys, rather than delivering blows to them.
The pressure touch seems to me very much freer and I am emphatically in
favor of it. The older method produced cramped unmusical playing and the
pupil was so restricted that he reminded one for all the world of the
new-fangled skirts ("hobble-skirts") which seem to give our ladies of
fashion so much difficulty just now.
The American pupils who have come to Germany to study with me have been
for the most part exceedingly well trained. In America there are
innumerable excellent teachers. The American pupil is almost always very
industrious. His chief point of vantage is his ability to concentrate.
He does not dissipate his time or thought. In some instances he can only
remain in Europe for two years--sometimes less. He quite naturally feels
that a great deal must be done in those two years, and consequently he
works at white heat. This is not a disadvantage, for his mental powers
are intensified and he is faithful to his labor.
The young women of America are for the most part very self-reliant. This
is also very much to their advantage. As a rule, they know how to take
care of themselves, and yet they have the courage to venture and ask
questions when questions should be asked. My residence in America has
brought me many good friends, and it is a pleasure to note the great
advance made in every way since my last visit here. I am particularly
anxious to have some of my later compositions become better known in
America, as I have great faith in the musical future of the country. I
wish that they might become familiar with such works as my _Fourth
Concerto_. I should deeply regret to think that Americans would judge my
work as a composer by my "Polish Dance" and some other lighter
compositions which are obviously inferior to my other works.
QUESTIONS IN STYLE, INTERPRETATION, EXPRESSION
AND TECHNIC OF PIANOFORTE PLAYING
SERIES XVII
XAVER SCHARWENKA
1. Is any time spent in music study really wasted?
2. How may the pupil's elementary work be made more secure?
3. State the importance of ear-training.
4. What additional musical studies should be included in the work of the
pupil?
5. What should be the teacher's first consideration?
6. Why must monotony be avoided in technical study?
7. State the value of practice in contrary motion.
8. May time be wasted with unprofitable studies?
9. What is the difference between brain technic and finger technic?
10. State how a revolution in methods of touch has come about.
ERNEST SCHELLING
BIOGRAPHICAL
Ernest Schelling was born at Belvidere, New Jersey, 1875. His first
musical training was received from his father. At the age of four and
one-half years he made his début at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
At the age of seven he entered the Paris Conservatoire, with the famous
Chopin pupil, Georges Mathias, as his teacher. He remained with Mathias
for two years. However, he commenced giving concerts which took him to
France, England, and Austria when he was only eight years old. At ten he
was taken to Stuttgart and placed under the educational guidance of
Pruckner and the American teacher, Percy Götschius, who attained wide
fame abroad. Shortly thereafter he was placed for a short time under the
instruction of Leschetizky, but this was interrupted by tours through
Russia and other countries. At twelve he was taken to Basle,
Switzerland, and Hans Huber undertook to continue his already much
varied training. Here his general education received the attention which
had been much neglected. At fifteen he went to study with Barth in
Berlin, but the strain of his previous work was so great that at
seventeen he was attacked with neuritis and abandoned the career of a
virtuoso. An accidental meeting with Paderewski led to an arrangement
whereby Paderewski became his teacher for three years during which time
Paderewski had no other pupils. Since then Schelling has made numerous
tours at home and abroad.
[Illustration: ERNEST SCHELLING]
XX
LEARNING A NEW PIECE
ERNEST SCHELLING
PRELIMINARY STUDY
In studying a new musical composition experience has revealed to me that
the student can save much time and get a better general idea of the
composition by reading it over several times before going to the
instrument. While this is difficult for very young pupils to do before
they have become accustomed to mentally interpreting the notes into
sounds without the assistance of the instrument, it is, nevertheless, of
advantage from the very start. It saves the pupil from much unprofitable
blundering. To take a piece right to the keyboard without any
preliminary consideration may perhaps be good practice for those who
would cultivate ready sight reading, but it should be remembered that
even the most apt sight readers will usually take the precaution of
looking a new piece through at least once to place themselves on guard
for the more difficult or more complicated passages. By forming the
habit of reading away from the piano the pupil soon becomes able to hear
the music without making the sounds at the keyboard and this leads to a
mental conception of the piece as a whole, which invariably produces
surprisingly good results.
THE TECHNICAL DEMANDS OF THE PIECE
"The next consideration should be the execution of the right notes. A
careless prima-vista reading often leads the pupil to play notes quite
different from those actually in the piece. It is astonishing how often
some pupils are deceived in this matter. Until you have insured absolute
accuracy in the matter of the notes you are not in condition to regard
the other details. The failure to repeat an accidental chromatic
alteration in the same bar, the neglect of a tie, or an enharmonic
interval with a tie are all common faults which mark careless
performances. After the piece has been read as a whole and you have
determined upon the notes so that there is no opportunity for inaccuracy
from that source you will find that the best way to proceed is to take a
very small passage and study that passage first. For the inexperienced
student I should suggest two measures or a phrase of similar length. Do
not leave these two measures until you are convinced that you have
mastered them. This will take a great amount of concentration. Many
pupils fail because they underestimate the amount of concentration
required. They expect results to come without effort and are invariably
disappointed. After the first two measures have been mastered take the
next two measures and learn these thoroughly. Then go back and learn
measures two and three so that there may be no possibility of a break or
interruption between them. Next proceed in the same way with the
following four measures and do not stop until you have completed the
piece.
This kind of study may take more time than the methods to which you have
become accustomed, but it is by all means the most thorough and the most
satisfactory. I found it indispensable in the preparation of pieces for
public performances. It demands the closest kind of study, and this
leads to artistic results and a higher perception of the musical values
of the composition being studied. Take for instance the C Major Fantasie
of Schumann, one of the most beautiful and yet one of the most difficult
of all compositions to interpret properly. At first the whole work seems
disunited, and if studied carelessly the necessary unity which should
mark this work can never be secured. But, if studied with minute regard
for details after the manner in which I have suggested the whole
composition becomes wonderfully compact and every part is linked to the
other parts so that a beautiful unity must result.
FORMAL DIVISIONS
"Many works have formal divisions, such as those of the sonata, the
suite, etc. Even the Liszt 'Rhapsodies' have movements of marked
differences in tempo and style. Here the secret is to study each
division in its relation to the whole. There must be an internal harmony
between all the parts. Otherwise the interpretation will mar the great
masterpiece. The difficulty is to find the bearing of one movement upon
another. Even the themes of subjects of the conventional sonata have a
definite interrelation. How to interpret these themes and yet at the
same time produce contrast and unity is difficult. It is this difference
of interpretation that adds charm to the piano recitals of different
virtuosos. There is no one right way and no one best way, but rather an
indefinite margin for personal opinion and the exhibition of artistic
taste. If there was one best way, there are now machines which could
record that way and there the whole matter would end. But we want to
hear all the ways and consequently we go to the recitals of different
pianists. How can I express more emphatically the necessity for the
pianist being a man of culture, artistic sensibilities and of creative
tendencies? The student must be taught to think about his
interpretations and if this point is missed and he is permitted to give
conventional, uninspired performances he need never hope to play
artistically.
THE TOUCH REQUIRED
"In studying a new piece, as soon as the style of the piece has been
determined and the accuracy of the notes secured, the pupil should
consider the all-important matter to touch. He should have been
previously instructed in the principles of the different kinds of touch
used in pianoforte playing. I am a firm believer in associating the
appropriate kind of touch with the passage studied from the very
beginning. If the passage calls for a staccato touch do not waste your
time as many do by practicing it legato. Again, in a cantabile passage
do not make the mistake of using a touch that would produce the wrong
quality of tone. The wrists at all times should be in the most supple
possible condition. There should never be any constraint at that point.
When I resumed my musical studies with Paderewski after a lapse of
several years he laid greatest emphasis upon this point. I feel that the
most valuable years for the development of touch and tone are those
which bind the natural facility of the child hand with the acquired
agility of the adult. To my great misfortune I was not able to practice
between the ages of twelve and eighteen. This was due to excessive study
and extensive concert tours as a prodigy. These wrecked my health and it
was only by the hardest kind of practice in after life that I was able
to regain the natural facility that had marked my playing in childhood.
In fact I owe everything to the kind persistence and wonderful
inspiration of M. Paderewski.
THE RIGHT TEMPO
"The right tempo is a very important matter for the student. First of
all, he must be absolutely positive that his time is correct. There is
nothing so barbarous in all piano-playing as a bad conception of time.
Even the inexperienced and unmusical listener detects bad time. The
student should consider this matter one of greatest importance and
demand perfect time from himself. With some students this can only be
cultivated after much painful effort. The metronome is of assistance, as
is counting, but these are not enough. The pupil must create a sense of
time, he must have a sort of internal metronome which he must feel
throbbing within all the time.
"Always begin your practice slowly and gradually advance the tempo. The
worst possible thing is to start practicing too fast. It invariably
leads to bad results and to lengthy delays. The right tempo will come
with time and you must have patience until you can develop it. In the
matter of 'tempo rubato' passages, which always invite disaster upon the
part of the student, the general idea is that the right hand must be out
of time with the left. This is not always the case, as they sometimes
play in unison. The word simply implies 'robbing the time,' but it is
robbed after the same manner in which one 'robs Peter to pay Paul,' that
is, a ritard in one part of the measure must be compensated for by an
acceleration in another part of the measure. If the right hand is to
play at variance with the left hand the latter remains as a kind of
anchor upon which the tempo of the entire measure must depend. Chopin
called the left hand the _chef d'orchestre_ and a very good appellation
this is. Take, for instance, his _B flat minor Prelude_. In the latter
part of this wonderful composition the regular rhythmic repetition in
octaves in the bass makes a rhythmic foundation which the most erratic
and nervous right hand cannot shake.
RHYTHMIC PECULIARITIES
"Rhythm is the basis of everything. Even the silent mountain boulders
are but the monuments of some terrible rhythmic convulsion of the earth
in past ages. There is a rhythm in the humming bird and there is a
rhythm in the movements of a giant locomotive. We are all rhythmic in
our speech, our walk, and in our life more or less. How important then
is the study of the rhythmic peculiarities of the new piece. Every
contributing accent which gives motion and characteristic swing to the
piece must be carefully studied. It is rhythm which sways the audience.
Some performers are so gifted with the ability to invest their
interpretations with a rhythmic charm that they seem to fairly
invigorate their audiences with the spirit of motion. I cannot conceive
of a really great artist without this sense of rhythm.
THE COMPOSER'S INSPIRATION