|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 53
"If the student seems to have a very imperfect rhythmic sense, I use the
metronome, but as sparingly as possible, for I want to establish the
inner sense of rhythm.
"In regard to memorizing. I give no special advice, but counsel the
student to employ the way which is easiest and most natural to him.
There are three distinct ways of committing music: the Analytic,
Photographic, and Muscular. The Analytic memory picks the passage apart
and learns just how it is constructed, and why; the Photographic memory
can see the veritable picture of the passage before the mind's eye;
while the Muscular memory lets the fingers find the notes. This is not a
very reliable method, but some pupils have to learn in this way. Of
course the Analytical memory is the best; when the pupil has the mental
ability to think music in this way, I strongly recommend it.
"One point I make much of in my teaching, and that is Tone Color, as a
distinct factor in musical interpretation. It is not merely a question
of using the marks of expression, such as FF, MF, PP, and so on; it is
more subtle than that--it is the _quality_ of tone I seek after.
Sometimes I work with a pupil for several minutes over a single tone,
until he really comprehends what he has to do to produce the right
quality of tone, and can remember how he did it. The pedal helps
wonderfully, for it is truly the 'soul of the piano.'
"Some pupils have fancy but no imagination, and vice versa. The terms
are not synonymous. Reading poetry helps to develop the aesthetic sense;
pictures help also, and nature. I must necessarily take into account the
pupil's trend of temperament while instructing him.
"Interpretative expression is not a positive but a relative quantity.
One player's palette is covered with large blotches of color, and he
will paint the picture with bold strokes; another delights in delicate
miniature work. Each will conceive the meaning and interpretation of a
composition through the lens of his own temperament. I endeavor to
stimulate the imagination of the pupil through reading, through
knowledge of art, through a comprehension of the correlation of all the
arts.
"The musical interpreter has a most difficult, exacting and far-reaching
task to perform. An actor plays one part night after night; a painter
is occupied for days and weeks with a single picture; a composer is
absorbed for the time being on one work only. The pianist, on the other
hand, must, during a recital, sweep over the whole gamut of expression:
the simple, the pastoral, the pathetic, the passionate, the
spiritual--he is called upon to portray every phase of emotion. This
seems to me a bigger task than is set before any other class of
art-workers. The pianist must be able to render with appropriate
sentiment the simplicity and fresh na�vet� of the earlier classics,
Haydn, Mozart; the grandeur of Bach; the heroic measures of Beethoven;
the morbid elegance of Chopin; the romanticism of Schumann; the
magnificent splendor of Liszt.
"In choosing musical food for my pupils, I strive to keep away from the
beaten track of the hackneyed. The mistake made by many teachers is to
give far too difficult music. Why should I teach an old war-horse which
the pupil has to struggle over for six months without being really able
to master, and which he will thoroughly hate at the end of that time?
The Scherzo Op. 31, of Chopin, and the Liszt Rhapsodies he can hear in
the concert room, where he can become familiar with most of the famous
piano compositions. Why should he not learn to know many less hackneyed
pieces, which do not so frequently appear on concert programs?
"Herein lies one of the great opportunities for the broad-minded
teacher--to be individual in his work. According to his progressive
individuality will his work be valued."
XXVII
GERMAINE SCHNITZER
MODERN METHODS IN PIANO STUDY
"It is difficult to define such a comprehensive term as technic, for it
means so much," remarked Germaine Schnitzer the French pianist to me one
day, when we were discussing pianistic problems. "There is no special
sort or method of technic that will do for all players, for every
mentality is different; every hand is peculiar to itself, and different
from every other. Not only is each player individual in this particular,
but one's right hand may differ from one's left; therefore each hand may
require separate treatment.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|