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• Chamika Zangchiz

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This book

is

the fruit of a lifetime of ex-

perience as a teacher and it has grown out of the advice which Mr. Merrick has been in the habit of giving to his pupils. Although no text-book can ever be a sub-

presence of an inspiring

stitute for the

book is distincThose who have learned

teacher, this particular tively personal.

from Frank Merrick

will almost hear his

voice beside them.

And

handed down

from teacher to pupil

orally

as far as advice

is of excellent pedigree. For Leschetizky, Merrick's master, learnt from Czerny, who in turn learnt from

goes, the advice

Beethoven.

Some

Press opinions of this book

"A really personal and valuable contribution to the art of piano playing. No person studying to be a concert pianist or well-equipped teacher can afford not to read and ponder over it, nor ignore its advice., which stems from an alert and well-furnished mind." Royal College of

'

A.

work which e:; i r i ues profound underof a traitless art.'* Monthly

fianciirg

Mu$ id :

Record

"Uith such

a

book

as (this) to inspire us.

mechanical dradger/ :an almost be minated, and practice

made as

eli-

interesting

ind entertaining as a game." HAROLD

RUTLAND, Musical Times "Written Ti'ims

wi:h

clarity

and h-;n:aiv"

Lhsrary Supplement

1 "Highly iiarged with precious. tounse ." FELIX AH..AHAMIAN, Sunday Times

Published in t * J.&.a.

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, New

INC.

180 Varick Street Yen, New York 10014

1148005984182

786.3

M56p Kerrick Practising the piano

67-11865

PRACTISING THE PIANO

PRACTISING THE PIANO FRANK MERRICK F.R.C.M.

LONDON BARRIE AND ROCKLIFF

FRANK 3MERRICK

1958

by RocklifF Publishing Corporation Revised edition published 1960 by Barrie and RocklifF (Barrie Books Ltd.) 2 Clement's Inn, Strand, London WGa

First published

3rd Impression 1965

Printed in Great Britain by s. Then there are the various factors which seem to influence beauty of tone quality and therefore do affect beauty of tonal

We

might consider them from the negative point of view. When a note is too loud or comes too soon it may well seem harsh by reason of the shock it produces. For it to be too soft or too late will be feeble, lacking vitality, warmth or some other essential attribute. For the bass voice effect.

or other notes in the accompaniment to give insufficient support to the melody will make an accented melody note

sound hard when

it would otherwise have been completely a question therefore of harmonic proportion. acceptable, The dissonance of wrong notes also creates a harshness of its own. Start Beethoven's Sonata, op. 10, no. i, with a Btj

to the first chord by the right hand, and compare it with an equally fierce clean /chord. Mercifully, whatever our beliefs about tone and touch,

added

the same practical expedients make for good results. Three ways which might have been advocated for increasing beauty of tone quality in itself are in any case of great usefulness in

and comincreasing our power of avoiding the numerous forth in the preceding paragraph, and plicated dangers set therefore productive of much positive benefit. The first is mental, the other two physical. The mental one is always to be striving for the maximum tonal beauty. To long for and dream of loveliness makes us more likely to achieve a

81

Practising the Piano

beautiful effect, whatever the

means employed, more

alive to

the result, whether it be encouraging or disheartening, and more aware of what the effort to achieve it felt like, whether

with a view to preserving what was good, or avoiding whatever was not approved. The first physical observance is always to touch the keys before pressing them down, because hitting them from a distance (even a slight one) reduces precision with regard to the sound coming at the right moment, with the right volume (not only total volume, but also that of the melody note and balance with those that harmonise it), and without a smudge. The second physical observance is the habit of instantaneous relaxation of any superfluous pressure that may have been momentarily necessary for ff chords, and so forth. This last immensely increases the likelihood of good timing and general control in jf, as well as conserving greatly needed energy, It is wise to reflect on the varying fate of beautiful voices

(singing or speaking) and beautiful timbre in musical instrulike wind and strings where quality does vary so con-

ments

A

spicuously on single notes. lovely timbre soon loses its if the the lack phrases magic variety and appeal of human and expressiveness, conversely an unpleasing timbre is often

when musicians and actors possess Has even one of my readers failed to

same

forgotten

that

appeal. these truths ?

experience

1

9

and Rotary Movements of the Forearm

Trills

SOME

of our trills should sound like a bird or a flute, and musical. Slower ones are liable to sound lumberliquid and ing angular^ quicker ones like an electric bell or an infuriated wasp arriving on the window-pane. There is a place for

each of these types, according to the passage. Still slower than any of these is the kind some favour in Bach and other

composers, though many will find it unacceptable ; in these each note sounds like a separate syllable. If a trill causes you difficulty, try first to estimate the rhythmical groups of which it should be composed, writing them out if there is any lack of clear intention. must decide whether the groups should be twos, threes, fours, sixes, or what. If fours are too slow and eights too quick, we shall have to choose a triplet grouping and the further question may arise whether six notes shall be made up of two triplets or three pairs of notes. Incidentally the former, by virtue of the groups' starting alternately on the principal note and the upper note, makes very good practice even if not adopted subsequently. In the practising itself over-accentuation leads to greater ease and control later, especially when achieved by rotary exertions of the forearm. The latter will be considered in trills

We

some

detail later in this chapter.

83

"Group

practice", beating

Practising the Piano

with the other hand (for both see chapter 5) and very important singing the groups of the trill when they have been decided upon, are all three very valuable. If the final pace of the trill is going to be quicker than the maximum possible with your vocal technique, to sing a note and roll

an "r" on it is a suggestive and very helpful kind of semimental rehearsal.

A good way of working at a long regular intervals,

resuming the

trill

trill is

sponding to the beats that have elapsed

be practised thus:

and then:

to

come to

at a later :

I

a stop at

moment corre-

^^t^r^Ti>

fffj fffj J^JJJH /351

J^JJB JH3

of them with and without the

1

J

J773 /T73IJ

can

4J both

ties.

These examples assumed commencement on the principal note, but opinions vary as to whether a trill should do so. If you decide that a given trill shall, let the first note sing and play the next few much more lightly. If you begin with the upper note, prevent it from singing, and what follows from sounding as if the whole thing was an inverted trill on that upper note. Whichever line you take, the beauty with which

you carry out your preference preference

is

more important than the

itself.

It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that every trill should end on the principal note, and this may also involve careful

rhythmical planning. Where a trill needs a turn at the end, although the penultimate note will be below the principal note the rhythmical plan will most probably be unaffected.

The

beginning on the principal note and only three give us an upper mordent ; the shortest with a turn at the end will contain seven notes. These seven notes are the most shapely in one of these two groupings (Ex. 117* and V} shortest real

without a turn

trill

will contain five notes as

:

Ex.

84

117b.

Trills

and Rotary Movements of

the

Forearm

from which we should choose whichever suits the occasion better. In Ex. 117^ the two halves of the trill are found to be an upper mordent followed by a turn commencing on the note above, which seems to leave us with no actual trill Few listeners, however, will be bothered by this curious !

fact unless the fourth of the seven notes is grotesquely over-

accentuated.

A long

trill nearly always gains life (whether by its beauty, excitement, or whatever its particular quality) by tone gradations swellings, fadings, etc., like a long held note on a voice or violin. Nearly all trills are much better pedalled,

its

and when a gradual diminuendo is the required effect, a sudden drop of tone in the playing will produce the gradual drop in the sound, because unless the pedal

is

changed those

more softly played notes will have the sounds already ringing added to their volume. Trills benefit greatly by clearness of thought and physical precision in regard to rotary action and freedom of the forearm. In the early days of this century people often spoke as

Debussy had invented the whole-tone scale and Matthay What Debussy did was to unlock for us a rich treasure of beauty and imagination by his lovely use of the whole-tone scale, added to exquisite judgment in escaping from it when the moment came to do so, while if

"forearm rotation".

Matthay did great service in explaining principles about these forearm rotary mysteries concerning which there had previously been very widespread misunderstandings. Some worthies even used to advocate the placing of a coin where

your hand joins the forearm to prevent the tiniest rotary movement of the forbidden and dreaded kind. I once heard an examiner say to a candidate with scornful irony : "And when you have ceased to rotate . . ?" The rotary movements can be either a cause or a result. When they supply the energy with which notes are played the touch can be called rotary action, of which the fingers are and just agents. When finger action is the touch employed the rotary movements occur, they do so by virture of rotary .

85

Practising the Piano

freedom of the forearm. This is twice blest, for the fingers can move more easily when the forearm is thus free, and also need to move shorter distances to do their work, the saving corresponding to the amount of movement by the arm.

Now the two touches have a markedly different musical When you play the notes by rotary action they are

effect.

perceptibly martellato in character. In^it might be like the clattering of hooves on cobble stones or "the chaotic laughter

of a shunting train". In pp it might be like the tinkling of imagined harebells, but in either case there is a "ting-a-linga-ling" element in the notes. When you play them with finger action accompanied by rotary freedom of the forearm, you get more of a murmur as of zephyrs or bees. So it is

necessary to decide what you want in given instances. You probably vote for the murmuring effect in Chopin's F

will

minor Study, op. 25, no. 2, and for the clattering effect in the "Black Key" Study. Mercifully, if you first determinedly practise a passage with energetic rotary action, and then cease the conscious efforts, rotary freedom is left behind, a priceless deposit as one might say. There is no better way of cultivating the first of these touches than the following : Take any passage of broken intervals, whether they be octaves, sixths, thirds, mixed or whatever you like, play them first

as solid intervals (Ex.

1 1

8)

:

Ex.llS.Beethoveat Sonata, op. 2 6

Then do

the rotary movements corresponding to those in the passage rhythmically in the air (Ex. 119): Ex.110. Qttt in out IB

oat in opt in oat la oat in

oat in oat in oat in oat in

oat

out in out in

oat in oat in oat in out in

oat ia oat in oat in oat in

oat oat

86

Trills

and Rotary Movements of

the

Forearm

and thirdly play the passage as it was written, endeavouring to combine the two previous processes simultaneously instead of doing one after the other, an endeavour in which you will most often succeed. Of course if a friend enters the room when your hands are "doing their magics" in the air he may be constrained to ejaculate "Alas are you often :

!

taken like this ?" In so far as the use of rotary action of the forearm necessitates a conscious effort of the will, to make this conscious effort

and then, discontinuing

it,

rejoice in its "priceless

a simpler affair than acquiring many of the deposit" knacks which go to build up a reliable pianoforte physical is

technique.

2O

Sight-Reading THE

surest foundation for the best kind of sight-reading

to cultivate the

is

power of hearing music in your mind by Whether you are already skilled or a

at the page.

looking timid and rather unsuccessful beginner in this direction, a good ritual for practical use is to take short stretches of vary-

ing length according to the demands of the music selected, and with each stretch to read it mentally first, then to play

on the surface of the keys and finally out loud, when what you hear should be eagerly compared with what you had it

expected to hear. If either of the first two processes could be swiftly improved, you could persevere with it for a little while before proceeding to the next.

The proposed

ritual is

particularly valuable in helping you to avert inaccuracies before they actually occur. are taught that the recording

We

angel expects us to be tempted to play shabby tricks ; it is only considered blameworthy if we carry them out. Once we

have made a mistake in playing out loud, it is more likely to occur again than if the danger had been feared at an earlier stage and avoided in the nick of time. Indeed the advantages of "correct

first

time" tend to

pile

up

at the rate of

com-

The

possibilities of greater musical insight are also of considerable importance. hearing It is a very good thing to read unfamiliar pieces two or

pound

interest.

at first

three times, perhaps with a few days in between, and if this, like the ritual of the preceding paragraph, amounts to partly prepared sight-reading, that well done will have more

Sight-Reading influence on your progress than actual sight-reading of

an example of what you should aspire to, as well as making you more thoroughly acquainted with a great deal of music as time goes on. The habit of keeping your eye on the page while playing

poorer quality

is

of

;

maximum

it is

usefulness in sight-reading* Although

may have

we

seen valiant deeds performed by from and down darted whose eyes up page to keyplayers a superb that well become would who can do board, anyone instead of a good reader if the darting could be eliminated. in this field

often preached that one's eyes should be several bars ahead of one's fingers in sight-reading, and the value of this idea might be said to lie in the grasping of chord progresIt is

and whole phrases rather than spelling out the music a note at a time, however quickly. But essential though it may be for one's eyes to glance forward on the page, it is exceedingly valuable for them to glance back again and sions

indeed as often as possible to look the written notes straight in the face while playing them. If this is accompanied by it can often intensify grateful affection for musical notation the music. To look of one's sense of the emotional poignancy at these superb chords from Chopin's B minor Scherzo

during the very act of playing them (Ex. 120)

:

Ex.120.

will surely help

many

forcefulness

more

we analyse

in correct reading typical kinds of difficulty shall not fail to notice the following widely differing

If

we

still

of us to appreciate their shattering than ever.

sources of confusion

:

of a very diatonic Passage work of contrapuntal freedom Elizabethan character, such as is found in abundance in composers and in Bach. i

Practising the Piano

2

Passages that are riddled with accidentals, even

if

simple

rhythmically and otherwise. 3 as

4

The melodic floridity of the "Vienna period", does so much rhythmical complexity.

involving

it

Technical

difficulties

(Exx. 121, 122 and 123)

:

Ex.12}. Beethoven* Sonata, op. 2, no. 3 Mlegrocon trio .

Ex.122. Griegi Piano Concerto

5

Chords other than the standard ones

in

ordinary

harmony books. 6

Modern

incomprehensibilities.

Many players are good at some of the above and

bothered

few passages have more than two by of these difficulties at once. In any case, to realise which of them gives us particular trouble will show us in what directions to seek for the most improvement. Divining the character of what we read is in a different sphere altogether, so important that it could occupy a whole chapter or even volume. Perhaps the reader could be others. Comparatively

referred at this point to the chapter but in any case no effort should be

90

on dramatic

significance,

spared in developing our

,

Sight-Reading

musical insight while sight-reading as well as in the work

which follows

it.

Even if our sight-reading is of mediocre quality, there some ways in which we should respect it* If you play a

are

phrase straight away after you have for instance as this (Ex. 124) :

first

seen

it

such a one,

Ex.124. B*chi Eng-lish Suite in E minor

F may result in love at first sight and there will very likely be a beauty and a freshness in the sound that once lost might never be regained. Do everything you can to preserve that lovely bloom "thinking ten times and playing once" will

it

:

certainly help.

21

Miscellaneous THE DIFFICULT PACE IF you play finger passages slowly, say in crotchets at about and if you have the J = ioo> ft * s eas7 to do so stea dily>

same passages in semiquavers, also at at any J:ioo, the notes will probably sound equally or rate agreeably steady. But try a middle pace, say quavers at agility

to play the

about J : |2o> anc* y u ma7 b e reminded of church that behave like this (Ex. 125)

bells

:

Ex.125.

This pace can be nicknamed "the difficult pace", and each difficult pace for given passages player tends to have his own has a natural pace for walking just as each person there is no special reason for haste or dalliance.

What

is

here recommended

is

when

that in long, swift succes-

sions of single notes, such as in many Bach movements or Czerny Studies, we should find out the pace at which the

notes are the most tottery and then assiduously play long stretches through at that exact pace. In a few days the and staggerings will gradually melt out of existence, difficulty so for the passages in question there will cease to be a difficult pace. It is not often that playing

something badly with

conscious realisation of the fact proves positively beneficial.

92

Miscellaneous

Why

does so in this case seems to be that each little stagger produces a sense of annoyance and that the next time you pass the spot where you felt this annoyance a special it

effort will instinctively be made to avoid a repetition of the defect. In some the cases defect previous may have been

due to

failure in controlling the rotary movements of the forearm, in others to vagueness about accentuation, and in

some you may be unable

to trace the cause even

when

improvement has been achieved. In any case the exploitation of "the

pace" can often prove to be the suppletreatment which moderately successful passages mentary still need. difficult

TRANSPOSITION Ex.120. Beethoven* Sonata, op. 81 A

The

above, like the twin passage later in the same movement, is one of the sort that we practise for weeks and appear to have conquered, and then on the night of the concert we

go and fumble it. Many of the audience were on the lookout, wondering whether we should get past this corner with credit. So we must try and surround the passage with an extra wide margin of safety. For this it will be good to slave away in a variety of ways and two rather unhackneyed suggestions are offered here.

One

is

to play those three bars

in all the twelve keys while

adhering to the fingerbeginning ing of the original passage. They begin in (7 though a series of modulations starts almost immediately. If you begin a semitone higher at each repetition, the thirteenth effort will be the original one an octave higher. If you dread the number thirteen you can retrace your steps a semitone at a time and you will reach the original passage again at the twenty-fifth effort ; you will certainly know it better then

93

Practising the Piano

times as it is, and the you had played it twenty-five movements new little of number enormous suddenly demanded of your hands and fingers will have greatly increased your physical and mental agility. Of course, few

than

of

if

my readers

will

at first to

be able

manage

all

these trans-

it would certainly pay to write out all those positions, but that give too much trouble (using the new key signature each

those transpositions from the time) after which you can play MS. Do not flinch, even if you have to write out the three bars quite a number of times, for copying is valuable in itself. If you are still obliged to grope about in some of the even then, doing so will be worthwhile and transpositions lead in time to greatly increased fluency.

DUPLICATION Another way of drudging at the above passage is to play twice each in unbroken sequence. tiny units of two quavers allows which device a This is you to do all the physical in the passage at full speed but with twice as a neat and most long to think out what is coming next, combination of the benefits of slow and quick prac-

movements helpful

when dupliparticular passage the in both cated can be advantageously phrased following

tice at the

same time. Our

as far as practising

ways

is

concerned (Ex. 127)

:

Ex 127

The

alternative printed over the notes, if carrying out the better to plan with less relentless logic, conforms

proposed

the grammatical sense of the music.

PRACTISING WITH THE This

may

strike

many

WRONG HAND

readers as a gratuitous

perverse waste of time, but

it

and even

can be unexpectedly helpful.

94

It

Miscellaneous is

a good

way of

getting to

"know

notes irrespective of the

fingering by which they are played". Moreover, as the right hand gets more opportunities of development than the

hand, our eccentric procedure will often involve the left in tasks that would not otherwise fall to its lot, thus at least reducing the inequalities of opportunity as between the hands. In one kind of passage, it may be noted, most left hands have learned to excel the right to a marked degree. Try sliding the stool about a foot to the left and playing the left-hand part of your favourite Chopin Waltz with your right hand, an experiment which brings surprise to many. left

hand

22 Bodily Stillness SOME

bodily movements as you

to play given passages, as

sit at "the

piano help you the top or

when you need to reach

bottom of the keyboard with both hands. Others may help your imagination

in the task of getting into the right mood Some may, and in fact do, or

to interpret the piece passage. various in the ways, public impress

though what might be

called the "higher showmanship" may lead us to abjure them. From the technical point of view the elimination of

can vastly reduce the physical superfluous bodily movements total of exertion in the difficult pascomplexities and sum If you think of drawing a circle with a compass and

sages.

the centre before the allowing the pin to slip away from circle is complete, the danger to your circle suggests the devastating effect of shuffling on the piano stool

unnecessary movements. To bother about the question

when you

are

and other

on the

form may be unwise, but do so sometimes during

plat-

practice.

Perhaps the best time to play passages with your body as still as a statue is when you are trying to listen with more than usually

critical attention. If

you think

this (Ex.

Ex.128. Beethovem Sonata in C minor for Piano and Violin

Atltgr*

96

128)

:

Bodily Stillness

was as exciting as

it

ought to have been when no

visible

movement followed

the staccato C, you were probably justified in the belief. If you had flung your arms into the air

with a dramatic gesture you would have been far more likely to be self-deceived.

Of course, if you hold yourself still by stiffening, the energy saved in one direction may be lost in another. The poise of a racer ready to dart away, or of a cat before a spring, is what wanted. Some good devices for cultivating the knack are :

is

1

Take a passage

Symphonic left

hand

like Variation

No. 4

in

Schumann's

Studies. First play the right-hand part while the

lies

on the keyboard an inch or two lower than the

lowest right-hand note. Then play the left-hand part while the right hand lies an inch or two above the highest left-hand note.

The benefits of this treatment will soon be apparent.

Play difficult passages staring fixedly at the music on the page as you do so. The line of vision between your eye and the page will be like a magical silken thread, and will 2

eliminate a great many bodily movements while drawing your attention to those that still occur.

Pretend that you are literally glued to the piano stool, 4 Get someone to hold two fingers below your chin in gentle contact while you are playing some animated passages and every time there is a tremor in your frame you will be 3

most potently informed. Let it be reiterated that these devices are of extra use and comfort when adopted with the special purpose of listening more critically to the actual musical effect. It will also be found that playing on the surface of the keys, and playing fp regardless of the eventual need for tonal variety, both allow one to bear bodily stillness in mind with less apprehension or sense of constraint than in a normal performance.

And when you have reached the stage of knowing that given difficult

keeping firmly in

are passages are under better control because you to bear such benefits still, it ceases to handicap you

mind even on the

concert platfoms.

97

23 Athletic THE

first

Form

day of the tennis season or of a walking tour and stiffness, due to

in hilly country often produces aching

energetic and persistent use of muscles that have not been in vigorous action lately, if indeed ever before. The discomfort is appropriately described as healthy tiredness and the in the days that follow. By remedy is further

persistence

our hands and arms, we inducing can build up varied muscular efficiency, which will greatly increase the speed, nimbleness and endurance that so many this healthy tiredness in

technical difficulties in piano playing

demand. The problem,

which has already been touched upon in chapter 3, part II, is to recognise the difference between healthy tiredness and strain.

A pianist who has had physical trouble like neuritis, local strains

to act

and so forth, may need expert advice before venturing upon the suggestions that follow ; they may only be

adopted with safety by those backs. in

For the

latter, these

who have had no

two

earlier set-

be found helpful are on sound lines.

tests will

determining whether their efforts

Leschetizky used to assert that with any continued action producing tiredness in the forearm, even to the extent of a burning sensation, it was all right if the discomfort was i

the part of the forearm you can see when you are playing). In that case you could go on till you were

above

(that

is,

Athletic

Form

"black in the face". But

if the discomfort was felt below, were to leave off at once. To find pieces or passages in you which the same sort of difficulty is unremitting is better than plodding away with dull, unmusical exercises, or, if you can, to extemporise tunes with modulatory designs and harmonic variety is an admirable way of combining duty and pleasure. If you want to exercise both hands at once, Chopin's Studies op. 25, nos. 3 and 12, are suitable, while if you play the same composer's op. 10, nos. 8 and 12 in alternation, one hand can get respite while the other is purposely tiring itself. We were advised to repeat such alternations so that each hand after resting could tire itself

again. 2

Taking

similar examples (Chopin Studies, etc.),

when

you cannot play them right through without the wrong pain coming on or the loss of power to sound the notes adequately, notice at what point the pain or inadequacy occurs. If it is nearer to the end of the piece on Tuesday than it was on you get

still

tiredness

may be

diagnosed, especially if nearer to the end on Wednesday. If the pain or

Monday, healthy

inadequacy occurs sooner on a later day danger signal.

it

may be regarded

as a

Many ideal

other Chopin Studies tax one's endurance in the for our present purpose, and sets of variations

way

often provide very suitable material. So may passages out of the pieces you are learning. If any reader is studying Brahms' B[j Piano Concerto, he could not do much better than use the coda of the second movement. It will be found that the beneficial healthy tiredness in given pieces or passages may fail to be produced after a while, for one's powers of endurance grow and cease to be over-taxed. When that

happens, you must either search out different material or decide that the bout of exercising shall be considered at an end for the time being. It seems that occasional spasmodic bouts of this sort of work are more useful and, surprisingly enough, of more permanent value than the hour or half-hour

99

Practising the Piano

of technical exercising which

is

usually so piously advocated

for daily fare, year in, year out. And the time that for learning more music is of immeasurable value.

is

saved

In chapter 3, part II, practising long successions of staccato chords with a swift, tight fist-clench after every

chord was recommended. Variation No. 4 of the HandelBrahms set, with the fist-clench on every semiquaver, keeps the right hand clenching with hardly any respite, the left hand more intermittently. Let the left hand stay tightly clenched whenever it has nothing to play (Ex. 10, ignoring the pauses)

:

Ex. 10. Brahms : Variations on a theme of Handel, op.24

same set with four clenches a bar whenever rests are printed (Ex. 9, ignoring

Variation No. 25 of the in each hand,

the pauses)

i.e.

:

Ex. 9. Brahms Variations on a theme of Handel, op. 24

highly pleasurable. Here one hand stays clenched while the other hand is playing and one's movements recall those of a cat that is It was in this context of is

pleased.

specially

muscular development that Leschetizky used to add his solemn warning: "And don't forget that the more athletic

technique you get the worse you'll play !" I have probably quoted this remark to most of the pupils I have had in my long teaching life. The truth that lies within the palpable over-statement is that when muscular sensation engages too

much

of our

mind

as

we

play,

IOC

human

expression and

Athletic

significance (or call

it

interpretative

life)

is

Form

cold-shouldered.

From the purely muscular point of view it also seems that the greatest benefit is enjoyed when one's athletic form, having reached a kind of high-watermark, has been allowed a few days for a partial recession of the tide.

101

Dramatic

Significance

PERHAPS

the subject of this chapter is really the fundamental essence of musical interpretation itself, although

oddly enough two well-known books on interpretation seem to be principally occupied with questions like time flexibility in the

one case and the

different periods of

style of presentation

music

in the other.

of musical nationality might have

proper for Perhaps the claims

filled

a third book, but

although all three subjects are admittedly important aspects of interpretation they are surely not right at the heart of the matter.

Whatever our views on these cance in musical works

is

points, the dramatic signifi-

of profound importance both in

and as an element of performance. It might be hastily assumed that what is dramatic will be of a fevered and itself

though that would be appropriate would clearly be out of place in enough others. Lullabies should be slumbrous, laments griefexcited character, but in

some

cases

it

and so on. Berlioz made a point of some psychological subtlety in the observation that when she was singing "A King in Thule" nothing should be further from Margaret's thoughts than the King in Thule. stricken, sarabands stately,

Our

subject seems interwoven with the twin questions of music set to words and music. on

programme

these branches of the art

For

is

instance, Bach's arias

Meditating a great interpretative education. and choruses, Mozart's operatic

102

Dramatic Significance

numbers and Schubert's Lieder cast floods of light on the way we should play the works of those masters on the piano. Similarly, symphonic poems, overtures and innumerable passages from operas contribute to the wealth of imaginative suggestion that music so richly provides, even though the literature of descriptive pieces for piano is comparatively

small. Notable contributors in that direction

have been

Schumann, Grieg and Debussy. The first named was quite a pioneer in the use of titles (which can be said with no lack of recognition of earlier pioneers like John Munday, Kuhnau, and

others), though if some of Schumann's are apt indeed, others are of no perceptible relevance. The titles of Grieg and Debussy are usually so happily wedded to the music that

and music both add to the total beauty and significance. folk decry the whole idea of programme music, though that seems to be woefully unmindful of a lovely province in the musical territory. Tovey put the whole problem of programme music in a very reasonable light when he said that Beethoven's "Lebewohl" Sonata tells you a lot more about the title than the title tells you about the music, and if one's first impression is "a smart epigram", it soon becomes evident that the utterance is one of profound discernment. A warning note is struck in an amusing tale about Beethoven which Leschetizky told and which I have never seen in print. An enthusiastic amateur was asking him whether he really intended the first notes of the C minor title

Some

Symphony to represent a yellow-hammer, or the knocking of Fate or indeed what. The composer's uncompromising .

reply was I

:

"I meant

meant 1"

You

*

< *'

.S_

---* J "j

J

|

j.

^

that's

what

sometimes hear derisory comments on teachers who gild their counsel with flowery similes. But when these are appropriate enough there can be great potency in them. Aptness and sincerity are the qualities that will

or others

had recourse to justify their use. The great composers often them in their expression marks and in verbal statement. H

103

Practising the Piano

Beethoven's direction "beklemmt", Haydn's "innocente", Prokofiev with his "narrante", "alzando", etc., Bax with "feroce", Debussy with hosts of suggestions, Hindemith's

"mitbizarrerPlumpheit"andScriabin's "perfide" (though to mind, is unintelligible to me) spring rapidly

the last

totally

Debussy told Thomas Fielden that the opening of his piece Mouvemcnt should be "like the hum of a great city". Most was Beethoven's hint that the impressive of all, perhaps, recitatives in the first

like a voice

movement

from the tomb.

of op. 31, no. 2, should be

A teacher's similes will naturally

tend to be modificatory rather than creative

:

"more persua-

are essentially sive", "why so sentimental?", "sterner", related to efforts which already have some character of their

own. There

a school of thought in this century that favours the playing of music in a strictly businesslike frame of mind, with total accuracy according to the text both regarding the is

music and the expression marks, but with scrupulous detachment on the part of the players, who should not allow their feelings of love, reverence, joy or delight to add to the presentation. The doctrine, however unacceptable to some of us, was apparently a violent swing of the pendulum away from the tendency at the end of the last century to offer performances in which the individuality of players produced results too widely at variance with the spirit of the compositions presented. An uncle of mine who haunted St. James's Hall in the '8os

and '90$ used to expatiate on various famous pianists whom he had heard there. It always ended up with eulogies of Anton Rubinstein and how it was the dramatic significance of gave him pre-eminence. Leschetizky's desscription of Rubinstein's intense expressiveness has probminds ably left a deeper impression on some of his pupils' than many of the magnificent performances we heard even in our most impressionable years. "Heard melodies are his playing that

sweetj but those unheard

.

.

."

104

25

Memory IT may be reasonably urged that those who are able to memorise their pieces should usually do so and that those who having done so play better with the music should play with the music ; there is a vast difference between looking at the page to remind yourself of what you already know and looking at it to fill in the gaps by last-minute sightreading.

At one time the

public became very intolerant of soloists only a few favourites like Pachmann

who used the music, and Pugno could do recital

programmes

so with impunity.

The

repertory of

fifty years ago, however, lent itself to

easy and natural memorisation, rarely going back before Bach and as yet uncomplicated by the bewildering developments and experiments that were to follow Debussy. Beethoven, very often Bach, Chopin and most of the composers up to 1900 or so fall into the normal pianist's memory and stay there. Far fewer players can deal with some of the ever-changing fashions that have sprung up in the present century. Going back to the Elizabethans, many of their effective pieces are unusually difficult to memorise to give only one instance, the captivating variations on Bellinger's Round by William Byrd, which only take about six minutes to play, provide over forty occasions where the

wrong turning could be taken without If

loss of coherence.

you have not already learnt to play by heart, make an 105

Practising the Piano

can only play unconattempt to do so. If you find you make a serious effort at selfstrainedly without the music, that very common but in to overcome and learn conquest some ways regrettable limitation of your powers. The final consideration should be the quality of the performances you can offer, with or without the notes. the task of memorisation, the somewhat negaAs regards

tive policy of daily studying pieces and awaiting a moment when you find you know them by heart will often prove

But a more methodical approach will sometimes be necessary and may often be preferable. One of these would be called conning if you were learning a poem. You utter a succession of words, one line for instance, over and over again with your eyes on the page, and eventually try it

successful.

with your eyes shut or turned away. When you have uttered fourteen separate lines, each one without looking, the sonnet is already in your memory. If after (say the psychologists) success with the fourteenth line you try to start again, you may seem to have totally forgotten the beginning, though it

a cold one, to be told that the impression is there in your mind, merely covered up by subsequent in this cold comfort will impressions. The truth, however, next morning. emerge later, possibly the delayed continuity of chapter I as the basis is

a comfort,

if

Taking

of such conning, the ritual advocated could be modified in some such way as "plan play try it by heart", but the would often preliminary rehearsals, mental and physical, have to be repeated a number of times to be effectual, or

supplemented by a series of alternatives. Earlier chapters and your own habits of work should provide a goodly stock of these. It may be added that four, eight, or even more bars at a time will usually be preferable to the very short is no need phrases used in illustration of chapter i There to be rigid ; you can carry out as much of the programme as you find you are able to enjoy regarded as a musical else

.

be ensuring a general your playing quite apart from the degree of

experience. In doing that

improvement

in

you

106

will

Memory success in the memorisation. Indeed, if you find you cannot the chosen stretch heart in play by your mind, it will often be better to play it with the music and pass on to the task

of conning the next stretch, in preference to the bulldog tenacity of further struggling with the present one. The

work you have just done will in any case bear more week hence than can be expected today.

fruit

a

you play chosen stretches several times out loud with the music and then try them once without, that would be If

The more repetitions there were, the more however, danger would there be that the playings

less intensive conning.

would become this would be in the actual

and perfunctory. A precaution against avoid any repetition when your interest

dull to

music wanes.

probably allow of a greater profitable repetitions if some of them are carefully varied, very slow, very soft, with different tone schemes, It will

number of

and so on. Even some eye,

may

startle

trivial irrelevance, like

us into a

new

alertness.

But

shutting one as advised in

the previous paragraph, to pass on in the case of momentary lack of success can be better than too much grim persistence at

the time.

Whatever our methods of attacking the problems of memorising, subsequent tests need to be applied and should be varied. One very good one is playing on the surface of the keys. play this

My own pupils have often been told

through correctly heart, you deserve to manage

:

"If you can

on the surface of the keys by it

out loud, but not unless." The

same could be said regarding playing by heart in your head. Another test is whether you can begin anywhere within reason, such as immediately after good stopping-places. In sonata form movements, for instance, to be able to begin where the bridge starts or the second subject, or the second

melody of the second subject when there is one, or at the codetta, would all be good starting-places. To repeat suitable us lengths two or three times in succession by heart gives experience in starting at various points without the usual advantage of having just arrived there.

107

Practising the Piano

A

useful if quaint device for beginning

play from further back (the very opening

if

anywhere is to necessary) on the which you desire

surface of the keys, and, at the moment at to start, suddenly to play out loud. This is quite amusingly helpful and will often enable you to start at a given spot a

number of times

in succession for the

purpose of trying

alternative nuances, pedallings, fingerings

and so on, by

memory. Sometimes we can play or think passages by memory up to time, but not very slowly. In such cases to remedy the detected weakness will certainly bring additional safety. can remember the printed page, though unless it sug-

We

gests the sounds

it is

musically null and void

a sense of

sight. We can remember the physical sensations of playing,

on the surface of the keys (which tends to bring other aspects of memory with it) a sense of touch. We can remember the sound of the music upon which the meaning and beauty depend a sense

many of which are included

in playing

of hearing, though if this is not allied to the memory in your sense of touch it will not enable you to play the music, while if

your memory of the printed page be the greater.

is

added to both, the

total security will

When playing by heart the boldest spirit may be intimi dated by a sudden thought that a memory hitch is impendpolicy which is sometimes followed in such a crisis is ing. to stop thinking and play by mechanical memory, but

A

positive thought is preferable. The more your technique is based on the habit of your keyboard journeys resulting from the inward singing of the melodic and harmonic progressions, the more safety will there be in ceasing to look at the

keys so as to stimulate the groping propensities of your fingers and singing internally with concentrated determination. pupils and I have a somewhat crude motto for use in exorcising this particular demon of fear which for the "Shut your eyes and polite world could be translated as with all heart and soul." sing inwardly your

My

:

108

26 Conclusion A FEW

general observations

may

not

come

amiss.

When

starting to practise, try to form as clear an idea as possible of what you are hoping to achieve* Then when you stop you

can judge better whether the time has been well spent. Of course this is more difficult to estimate when some goal is is certain to take weeks to attain. Even so can ask you yourself many questions like "Do I grasp the musical meanings more fully? Do I know the notes better? I clearer what to attempt tomorrow? What about the pedalling? Is the execution improving? What

in

view that

:

Am

else?"

we must sometimes decide to concenon specially learning new works and sometimes on improving those we know. Adding to our repertoire often In planning ahead

trate

more

improves the quality of pieces already learnt, partly by giving the latter a rest and partly because of the increasing skill and experience that are being acquired. But it is not easy to foretell which works will thus benefit. Periodical overhauls are stimulating and sometimes lead to

weak

points

becoming strong ones. Accuracy,

trills,

pedalling, audibility in$, mellowness in jf, rhythm, the left hand, are all typical objects for such a special overhaul. As one of these progresses there will be no need to deteriorate in other directions.

At an

early stage the

problem may 109

arise as to

whether we

Practising the Piano

should spend more time on exercises, pieces. It is partly

scales,

studies or

a question of personal inclination and the

your teacher, but still more depends on how you what practise you do practise, let us even say how tastefully this were agreed we could add that if you use so. If do you the of studies Czerny and Cramer type, it is best to choose those which would charm an audience if beautifully played at a concert, and very rarely, if ever, to practise them in a totally detached or dry manner. And it is better to practise beliefs of

actual passages out of pieces instead of inherently meaningless and humdrum successions of notes in preparation for the

subsequent conquest of those or like passages. In any case the flowing passage work of Byrd, Bach and others is likely to benefit you more than even the most melodious typical study, as in the former, the notes which lie ahead are so very often aurally and technically less expected. First hearing these notes in your mind and then finding them on the key-

board with the fingers best suited to do so give you a better foundation for your technique than that upon which

many

players build.

Sometimes learn pieces that are unquestionably too difficult, not intending to master them in one spell of work. In such an enterprise let there be a month or two of work followed by a long interval during which you keep busy with other pieces, then a second month or two followed by a similar

At the third or fourth spell of work you may in completing a task that might never succeed quite likely have been achieved in one spell (however grimly determined the effort), and although there will probably be some pieces that you do not master even in the end, the work on them will prove of far-reaching value in regard to your general long

interval.

progress.

Fanny Davies once

told

me that

she often worked

at Beethoven's op. 106 and intended to play She was then in her sixties. She had great

some day. vitality and it must have

it

whether she ever performed the sonata or not, nourished her glowing imagination to work at it. On one occasion when Leschetizky was talking about various

no

Conclusion

who did not play Schumann's "Of course they've studied it."

pianists

Toccata, he added

:

book can be

said to be written from a given point of view, its dominating idea might be described as the cultivation of conscious purpose in all our playing and practising, and an endeavour to reduce the parrot element to a miniIf this

mum. An as

an

experience outside the sphere of music may serve At the outset of one of my few attempts

illustration.

to learn a

new language,

the little grammar book which was hands my urged readers always to think about the of the words meaning they were writing or uttering, whether referring to the hues of a sunset, the perfume of a rose or the everyday concerns of gardeners and their aunts. Following this advice may have delayed arrival on the last

placed in

page by many a long day, but

its

beneficial influence

by

making me think words

as I

went

in the language, instead of translating along, was of permanent value.

In piano playing the higher the proportion of will-power and conscious direction of the mind becomes, the slighter becomes each actual effort of will. These efforts are gradually transformed into a kind of second nature that has the advantages of mechanical execution without the drawbacks, furthering the sense of human intention, significance and beauty for the listener, the concentrated absorption of the player, and the technical control,

so rusty

when

thought

:

greater

whereby

reliability

and permanence of

one's playing does not get nearly

physical practice has not been regular. It is difficult to find the right words with which to conclude. It has been said of those who uphold a certain line of

"They speak

truth." If what

of the truth

it

is

truth, they

have one-twelfth of the

written in this volume has a small fraction

may

help some of

my fellow

music-lovers to

make further headway on their road. Above all, let us remember that every pianistic problem has both its origin and solution in the music itself.

in

INDEX Chords, 10-16, 17-18; six-note, 18;

AcCELLERANDO, JZ

solid, 47-50; staccato, 16, 100 Coda, 33, 57 Concerto in minor (J. S. Bach), 8

Acciaccatura, 45, 46, 50 Adagio, 1 8

D

"Alzando", 104

Conducting, 7-9, 67, 72 Continuity, 1-6; dekyed, 66 Contrapuntal sense, 13 Cramer, Crescendo, 15, 1 8

Analytical listening, 23

Aptness, 103

Arpeggio, 51

no

Audibility in pp, 109

Czerny, 52, 92,

BACH,

J. S., 4, 8, 10, 52,

60,

83,89,91,92, 102, 105, no Ballade in F minor (Chopin), 73; in

G

minor

(Brahms),

46;

(Chopin), 6 1 -2 Bax, Arnold, 104 Beat, flexibility of, 72f.; flexibility within, 72!*.; marking the,

29-30 Beating with the other hand, 84 Beethoven,

3, 4, 8, 23, 73, 77, 80, 8 1, 86, 90, 93, 94, 96, 103,

104, 105,

no

UAVIES, FANNY,

no

Debussy, 85, 103, 104, 105 Development, 33 Difficult passages, 55-9 Diminuendo, 15, 85 Dissonances, momentary,

Dominant

Dramatic significance, 102-4 Duplication,

94

no

"Beklemmt", 104 Berlioz, 102 Binary form, 1 5 "Black Key" Study, 86 Bodily stillness, 96-7 Booth, Victor, 43 Boult, Sir Adrian, 33-4 Brahms, 5, 46, 47, 99, 100 Byrd, William, 37, 105,

no

English Suite in E Minor (J. S. Bach), 91 Erlkonlg (Schubert), 90 Etudes Symp&ontfues (Schumann)

16,97 Execution, 5 Exposition, 33

FADINGS, 85 C/ADENCES, 63 Cantabile,

24

sevenths, 12, 35-42

70

Chopin, 2, 21, 24, 25, 27-30, 48-9, 50, 55-9, 61, 62, 73, 74, 77, 80-1, 86, 89, 95, 99, 105

Fantasy Impromptu, 50 Fatigue, 98JF.

"Feroce", 104 Fielden,

Thomas, 104

Finger passages, 27-30

Practising the Piano Fingering, 2, 29, 35-42, 49, 50, 54; 57, 60-2, 95; grotesque, 79;

"Lebewohl"

legato,

61; mixed, 35, 37-8; 35, 39-40; recurrent, 35-7; unorthodox, 41 Forearm, rotary movements of, 83-7

Left

organ,

Legato,

"Forty-eight,

The",

10, 6$ff.

3, 17, 19,

52

24-5, 32, 37, 39,

40,41,53-4,61 Leschetizky, i, 7, 22-3, 27, 74, 76, 98, 100, 103, 104,

no

Lieder, 103

French Suite

Lullabies, 102

G (J. S. Bach), 4

(Beethoven),

Hand Study (Czerny),

Franck, C&ar, 24, 25 in

Sonata

103

Fugue, 63-7

MARTEIXATO, 86 CJRACE NOTES, 41-2

Matthay, Tobias, 34, 85 Mellowness in^ 109 Melodic tone gradation, 8; unit, in. Memorisation, 4, 105-8 Mendelssohn, 3, 22, 23, 46, 47 Mental rehearsal, i, 2, 4, 79, 106

Gradation, uneven, 15 Grieg, 90, 103

Group

practice, 28-9, 53,

83-4

Mentalising technique,

HALF-CHANGE, 24

Metronome,

Hall

"Mit

Classics,

55

positions, preparing,

Harmonic

44

Modulations, 12, 21

Hamlet, 78

Hand

5,

practising with, 29 bizarrer Plumpheit", 104

Moment Musical (Schubert),

76-9

37, 104 Hindemith, 104

Mood-line, unbroken, 3 1-2 Mordent, upper, 84-5 Mouvement (Debussy), 104 Mozart, 102

Hummel, 74

Munday, John, 103

effect,

13; progressions,

i off!

Haydn,

i,

24

Muscular development, 98-101

"T INNOCENTS", 104

NARRANTE" 104

Inversion, 13

Neuritis,

JACOBS,

W. W.,

22

98

Nikisch, Artur, 3 1 Nocturne in B major (Chopin), 21; flat (Chopin), 74; in F in

D

sharp (Chopin),

KEY CHANGE, 12; signature, 10 "Kreutzer" Sonata, 73 Kuhnau, 103

LAMENTS, 102 Largo, op. 7 (Beethoven), 80

74

V-/CTAVE, 51-4, 58, 60-1; coupler, 65 gauge, 5*; kgato, 53-4? staccato, 52-4 One-finger practising, 60-2 Opera, 102-3 Over-accentuation, 83, 85 Overtures, 103

114

Index Scales, major,

THE DIFFICULT, 92-3 Pachmann, 105 Pause, iff., 23, 24, 66 JL

ACE,

Pedalling, 2, 17-26, 32, 65-6, 80,

109; changing, 25; con-

85,

scious control, 18; influence

rhythmical

life

of

on

25; intermittent, 19-20; legato, 17; musical expression, 18; over-, pieces,

26

Schumann, 16, 97, 103, Scriabin, 104 Self-criticism, i, 2-3

Round (Byrd),

Physical discomfort, 14

Concerto

90;

(Grieg), (Brahms), 99 Postman's knock, 45-6

B

in

flat

Practising

Shoulder looseness, 68-71

on the surface of the

wrong hand, 94-5 and Finale

Prelude^ Aria

C

keys,

(Franck),

minor (Chopin), 24, 25; in 24; in F sharp minor (Chopin),

f

Shakespeare, 78 Shaw, G. B., 44 Shelley, 32 Sight-reading, 88-91

32, 43-4; special, 14-16; with

.

37, 105

Semitone shifts, n, 13 Senza tempo, 72

Petersburg, 31 Phrase, iff.

Piano

no

"See-sawing", 29, 44, 53, 68-71 Bellinger's

"Perfide", 104

10; double-note, 35-

41; minor, 10; octave, 51-4; single-note, 37; whole-tone, 85 Scherzo (Mendelssohn), 46; in B minor (Chopin), 89 Schubert, i, 2, 24, 90, 103

8

Sincerity,

103

Singing, 7-9, 32-3, 76-8 Slow practice, 6, 20, 27, 28, Slurs, 36,

94

37

Smudge, 21, 22, 23, 24, 43, Solid intervals, 86

78

C

minor for piano and (Beethoven), 96; in (Hummel), 74; op. 2, no. 3 (Beethoven), 90; op. 10, no. I

Sonata in

Principal note, 84 Programme music, 102, 103

D

violin

Progressions, 10-14 Prokofiev, 104

(Beethoven), 81; op. 26 (Beethoven), 23, 86; op. 27, no. I (Beethoven), 77; op. 27, no. 2

Prometheus Unbound^ 32

Pugno, 105

(Beethoven),

3-4;

op.

8iA

(Beethoven), 93

Song without words (Mendelssohn),

JtvALLENTANDO, 72 Recapitulation, 33 minor (Brahms), Rhapsody in

G

Ritual, ix,

Rhythm,

3

47

1,15

30, 37, 65, 109; postman's

knock, 45-6 Rotary action, 85; freedom, 85-6 "Rowing", 53, 68-71 Rubato, 72, 73 Rubinstein, Anton, 104; Competition, 3 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Sarabands, 102

Sound-point, 17 Staccatissimo, 14, 28-9 Staccato, 3, 19-20, 41, 45-6, 52-4,

65* 76, loo; bumpy, 38; hand,

27-8;sempre, 37 Staleness, curing,

i, 5

Stops, experimental, 4-5 Strain,

3r

44

Stopping practice,

98

Study in A flat, op. 25, no. i (Chopin), 55-6; in C minor, op. 10, no. 12 (Chopin), 58-9; in F minor, op. 25, no. 2

Practising the Piano Study

no

cont.

(Chopin), 86; in

25 no.

G

(Chopin)^ 57-8;

flat,

op.

op. 10,

(Chopin), 2; op. 10, no. 7 (Chopin), 49; op. 12, no. 12 (Chopin), 27; op. 25, no. i (Chopin), 50; op. 25, no. 12 (Chopin), 48-9; op. 740, no. 3 3

(Czerny), 52

Toccato (Schumann), Tone, beauty of, 80-2; gradations, 21, 28, 29, 85; schemes, 15

Tovey, 103 Tranquillity, 18

Transposition, 93-4 Triads, inverted, 10; root-position,

10 Trills, 83-7,

109 Two-part Inventions 52,60

Swellings, 85

Symphonic poems, 103 Symphonic Variations

(J.

S.

Bach),

(Schumann),

97

Symphony

in

C

minor (Beethoven),

103

VARIATIONS

ON

A

HANDEL (BRAHMS),

THEME 5,

100

"Vienna period", 90

1 EMPO, CHANGING THE, 74 Tenuto, 4, 28 Thinking back, 3, 34; forward, Tied notes, 65 Timbre, 82 Time, gradations

of,

3,

34

WALDSTEIN" SONATA, 37 Waltz, op. 34, no. i (Chopin), 25 We Piano Teachers, 43 Whole-arm work, 53 Wrist work, 53

72-5

116

OF

Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard

EVA AND PAUL BADURA-SKODA Although

book

this

refers

Mozart's keyboard music, to interest anyone

who

mainly to

it is

designed

loves the

com-

poser's works, whether as performer or

The means of music-making have changed; the piano is virtually another instrument; the constitution of listener.

orchestras has greatly changed. This

is

Much

dealt with in the first chapter.

space,, with many musical examples, is given to the obscure but important ques-

tion of ornaments. Other chapters deal

with

and with passages

cadenzas

Mozart where the performer

is

to improvise embellishments.

in

expected

A

chapter

Rhythm and Tempo shows the rational, exact way in which the composer on

treated this fundamental question, and

points to

some

pitfalls for

the modern

interpreter. Here, as throughout the book,

the authors draw generously on Mozart's letters,

and on

treatises written

by

other

leading musicians of the time, including his father

and C.

on some

technical problems presented

keyboard writing.

For the

P. E. Bach.

pianist there is a chapter

The

specific

by Mozart's

long final chapter

provides a detailed commentary on three

of his best known piano concertos.

"This scholarly and stimulating book a book which no thoughtful player .

.

.

It is

or teacher can ignore." Listener

"Until the coming of the present book, I

cannot recall one which deals so fully with the interpretive aspect of his work."

Music Teacher

84$ net

128282