'My teaching principles are the results of my own training period, my
own experience as a concert artist and teacher--before I came to America
I taught in London, where Isolde Menges, among others, studied with
me--and what either directly or indirectly I have learned from my great
colleagues. In the Music College I give the advanced pupils their
individual lessons; but once a week the whole class assembles--as in
the European conservatories--and those whose turn it is to play do so
while the others listen. This is of value to every student, since it
gives him an opportunity of 'hearing himself as others hear him.' Then,
to stimulate appreciation and musical development there are _ensemble_
and string quartet classes. I believe that every violinist should be
able to play viola, and in quartet work I make the players shift
constantly from one to the other instrument in order to hear what they
play from a different angle.
"For left hand work I stick to the excellent Sevčik exercises and for
some pupils I use the Carl Flesch _Urstudien_. For studies of real
_musical_ value Rode, of course, is unexcelled. His studies are the
masterpieces of their kind, and I turn them into concert pieces. Thibaud
and Elman have supplied some of them with interesting piano
accompaniments.
"For bowing, with the exception of a few purely mechanical exercises, I
used Kreutzer and Rode, and Gavinies. Ninety-nine per cent. of pupils'
faults are faults of bowing. It is an art in itself. Sevčik was able to
develop Kubelik's left hand work to the last degree of perfection--but
not his bowing. In the case of Kocian, another well-known Sevčik pupil
whom I have heard play, his bowing was by no means an outstanding
feature. I often have to start pupils on the open strings in order to
correct fundamental bow faults.
"When watching a great artist play the student should not expect to
secure similar results by slavish imitation--another pupil fault. The
thing to do is to realize the principle behind the artist's playing, and
apply it to one's own physical possibilities.
"Every one holds, draws and uses the bow in a different way. If no two
thumb-prints are alike, neither are any two sets of fingers and wrists.
This is why not slavish imitation, but intelligent adaptation should be
applied to the playing of the teacher in the class-room or the artist on
the concert-stage. For instance, the little finger of Ysaye's left hand
bends inward somewhat--as a result it is perfectly natural for him to
make less use of the little finger, while it might be very difficult or
almost impossible for another to employ the same fingering. And certain
compositions and styles of composition are more adapted to one violinist
than to another. I remember when I was a student, that Wieniawski's
music seemed to lie just right for my hand. I could read difficult
things of his at sight.