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Page 20
"I can recall a recital which I gave in a city of not more than forty
thousand, in the West. The recital was arranged by a musical club; they
asked for the program some time in advance, studied it up and thus knew
every piece I was to play. There was an enormous audience, for people
came from all the country round. I remember three little elderly ladies
who greeted me after the recital; in parting they said, 'You will see us
to-morrow,' I thought it over afterward and wondered what they meant,
for I was to play at a place many miles from there the next night. What
was my surprise to be greeted by the same ladles the following evening.
'You see, we are here; we told you we would come.' Fancy taking a trip
from London to Edinburgh just to hear a concert! For it was a journey
like that. Such incidents show the enthusiasm in America for music--and
for piano music.
"I hope to play both the Brahms and Paderewski concertos in America. To
me the latter is a beautiful work--the slow movement is exquisite. I
have as yet scarcely done anything with the composition, for I have been
on a long tour through Norway, Sweden, and Finland. It was most
inspiring to play for these people; they want me to come back to them
now, but I cannot do so, nor can I go next season, but after that I
shall go. I returned home greatly in need of rest. I shall now begin
work in earnest, however, as summer is really the only time I have for
study throughout the year. I shall have six full weeks now before we
take our usual holiday in the Grindelwald. On the way there we shall
stop at Morges and visit Paderewski, and then I will go over the
concerto with him and get his ideas as to interpretation.
MEMORIZING BY ANALYSIS
"You ask how I memorize. First I go over the work several times to get a
general idea of the whole. Then I analyze it, for I feel it absolutely
necessary to know keys, chords, and construction. A work should be so
well understood along these lines that it can be played in another key
as well as in the one in which it is written. For the actual memorizing
of the piece I generally do it phrase by phrase, not always 'each hand
alone,' though occasionally I do this also. I remember learning the Bach
A minor Prelude and Fugue in this way. If I were now asked to play any
measure or passage in any part of it I could do so; it is mine forever,
never to be forgotten."
Asked about the different ways of teaching the Leschetizky method by
various teachers, Miss Goodson said:
"As we all know, people claim to understand and teach the Leschetizky
principles who are not competent to do so. I do not recall, for
instance, that the professor requires the tips of the fingers to form a
straight line on the edge of the keys. I myself have never done this. I
believe in a perfectly easy and natural position of hand at the
keyboard. When this is the case the finger-tips form a curve, the middle
fingers being placed a little farther in on the keys than is natural for
the first and fifth. Of course the hand takes an arched position and the
joints nearest the tip of the fingers must be firm; there should be no
wavering nor giving in there. The whole arm, of course, is relaxed, and
swings easily from the shoulder.
A PIANO HAND
"I have, as you say, a good hand for the piano; much depends on that; I
have always had a good deal of what is called a natural technic. Thus
when I am obliged to forego practising I do not lose my facility; an
hour's work puts the hand in condition again. What do I do to accomplish
this? Different things. First some finger movements, perhaps with
fingers in an extended chord position; then some scales and arpeggios;
then a Chopin �tude, and so on. When practising regularly, I do not
generally work at the piano more than four hours a day; it seems to me
that amount is sufficient, if used with absolute concentration."
Later we adjourned to the pretty garden back of the music-room, and here
we were joined by a beautiful gray Angora cat, the pet and pride of his
mistress, and a very important personage indeed. He has a trick of
climbing to Miss Goodson's shoulder, from which point of vantage he
surveys the world about him with all the complaisance of which an animal
of such high degree is capable.
XI
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