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Page 32
MEMORIZING
"I am often questioned on the subject of memorizing. Some pupils think
if they play the piece a sufficient number of times they will know it;
then are troubled because they cannot at all times remember the notes.
Such players must know every note of the piece away from the piano, and
be able to recite them. I have students who are able to learn their
music away from the instrument, and can play it to me without having
tried it on the piano. I require the piece so thoroughly memorized that
if I correct a measure or phrase, the pupil can go right on from that
point, without being obliged to start farther back, or at the beginning.
In some cases, however, if the pupil has her own method of committing to
memory, and it is successful, I have no desire to change it.
OCTAVE STUDIES
"For octave study, form the hand with the 'octave grimace,'--that is
with arched hand, the unemployed fingers slightly curved. In staccato
touch of course use light wrist. Begin with one beat in sixteenths and
finish with the 'wiping off' touch. Build up more and more beats in
notes of the same value, always ending the passage with the same touch,
as above mentioned. This exercise can be played the full length of the
keyboard, in all keys, and also chromatically. It can be played in the
same fashion, using four-voiced chords instead of octaves. When such an
exercise can be prolonged for twenty minutes at a time, octave passages
in pieces have no terrors for the pianist. For the octaves in Chopin's
Polonaise Op. 53, he would merely have to learn the notes, which can be
done away from the piano; there is no need for exhaustive practise of
the passage.
KEEPING UP REPERTOIRE
"In order to keep repertoire in repair, one should have it arranged so
that old pieces are gone over once a week. Group your repertoire into
sections and programs. It might be well to begin the week with Chopin,
playing through the whole list; after which pick out the weak places,
and practise those. Tuesday, take Schumann, and treat him in the same
way. Then comes Liszt, Russian music, modern composers, concertos, and
chamber music. In this systematic way the whole repertoire is kept up.
DETAILS OF PRACTISE
"My mornings are given up to practise, my afternoons to teaching. Of
these practise hours, at least one hour is given to technic, scales,
arpeggios, octaves, chords--and Bach! I believe in taking one selection
of Bach, say a Two-voiced Invention, and perfecting it, playing it in
various ways--transposing it into all keys and polishing it to the
highest degree possible. The B flat Invention is a useful one for this
treatment. So with �tudes; instead of playing _at_ so many, is it not
better to perfect a few and bring them up to the highest degree of
completeness?
"I am very susceptible to color, anywhere, in anything--especially in
pictures. Music should express color. Certain compositions seem to
embody certain colors. As you suggest, red is certainly the motif of
Chopin's great Polonaise, Op. 53."
* * * * *
Mr. Burnham should certainly look forward to success in his visit to his
native land. His fine touch and tone, sincere and musicianly style, and
buoyant, genial personality will make friends for his art and himself
everywhere.
XVI
EDWIN HUGHES
SOME ESSENTIALS OF PIANO PLAYING
When one has read with pleasure and profit the published ideas of a
musical worker and thinker, it is always an interesting experience to
meet such an one personally, and have the opportunity to discuss points
of special import, particularly when the meeting can take place in some
ideal spot in the old world. Such was my thought in visiting Mr. Edwin
Hughes, an American who has made a name and place for himself among the
pianists and teachers of Europe. After years of study in Vienna with
Leschetizky, where he also acted as one of the _Vorbereiters_, he has
established himself in Munich, where he feels he has found a true home
of music and art. Here, amid beautiful and artistic surroundings, he
lives and works, dividing his time between teaching and concert playing.
As a pianist Mr. Hughes has met with gratifying success in the most
important cities of Germany, while as a teacher he has been sought by
students from almost every State in America, from Maine to Texas, and
also from Canada. What has given him special satisfaction is that during
the past year a number of pupils have come to him from the Conservatory
here in Munich. They have been greatly pleased with their progress, only
regretting they had not come to him before.
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