"The technic thus achieved, a technic whose controlling power is chiefly
mental, is not perfect--I say so frankly--because it is more or less
dependent on the state of the artist's nervous system. Yet it is the one
and only kind of technic that can adequately and completely express the
musician's every instinct, wish and emotion. Every other form of technic
is stiff, unpliable, since it cannot entirely subordinate itself to the
individuality of the artist."