17 O TH E ETUD E HOW TO LEAD YOUNG PIANO PUPILS TO THE STUDY OF THEORY, BY EMMA STANTON DYMOND, MUS. BAC. FIBST of all, theoretic study must be considered as being of the greatest importance to piano study. It need not take up the same amount of time, but should have a share of attention almost from the very first. Often it is the teacher, and not the pupil, who objects to this, since, in many cases, the former has not learned the value of the study of harmony or theory, or does not see how to apply his knowledge in his piano teach-ing ; indeed, often does not feel sufficient interest in it to try to do so. But granted that it is worth while to teach theory along with piano instruction, we have then other objections to meet. The pupil does not see why she (generally she) should spend her time over something which is not going to help her technic. She wants to play, and if harmony does nothing for her hands, she will have none of it, and waves it aside with, perhaps, the remark that the scientific side of music does not appeal to her. It might spoil the emotional side, she fears ; and if Mr. is going to insist upon her taking harmony, she is going to find another teacher. Of course, she knows what she wants better than he. How to retain such pupils, and, at the same time, to teach them something of theory is the question. I know some teachers who manage to " work in " a little theory along with the piano teaching without raising any sus-picion in the minds of their pupils, and, later, persuade them to study seriously. Could not this always be done in obstinate cases ? If a pupil is musical and has suffi-cient intelligence, urge her to work regularly at the less attractive study of harmony. In some conservatories and schools of music this study is compulsory. Then come the questions : how to interest pupils in this work, and how to retain their interest. I have often found the dawning of interest at that point where the analysis of music begins. This should be as soon as the pupil is familiar with the common chord or triad. Let her name the final chord in the pieces she is playing, and show her how each ends with a tonic triad. Then she must be told what a cadence is, thus carrying her interest beyond her actual knowledge. She will soon learn to know the inversions of the triad and the useful chord of the dominant seventh. Then comes the addi-tion of two or three parts to a figured bass. She must be made to feel a certain amount of importance at add-ing her own melodies to a bass. Let her take one exer-cise only: make it a subject of conversation. Do n't tell her to work it out at home and bring it to you at her next lesson. Do n't look it over in silence, marking a few fifths and octaves in red pencil, and then hand it back with the remark, "Thi s is not bad for a first attempt; you may take four more of those basses for your next lesson." No ; she must feel that she has reached a new epoch in her study. The melodies, voice-parts, although suggested by the figured bass, are to be hers, and, if the first thing is to get the exercise correct, certainly the very next thing is to make it musical. Let her play the treble part over alone, then in conjunction with the other parts. She must sing it, too, even though her voice be weak. If she protests that she can not sing a note, make her hum it, or do so yourself. Let her bring her imagination to bear upon it by telling her of the wonderful power of '4 hearing with the eyes." "N o one can write good harmony who does not hear in his mind what he sees written on the paper," says Sir John Stainer. She must try to imagine the sound of her exer-cise, but do not let her suppose that is enough. She must play it over several times to verify her idea of it, and alter it where it can be improved. It must be "pretty. " She must feel proud of it, and let her see that you are proud of it, too. You should encourage her to analyze some easy music. Much must be passed over in silence, but she can pick out her new acquaintances in the way of dominant sev-enths, etc., notice cadences, and also write some cadences of her own—always the first step toward composition. Many pupils stop their lessons when they arrive at in-versions of the dominant seventh. The resolution of the dissonant note seems to kill their own resolution, and as for suspensions—tears have been shed over these. Go over compositions in which the simpler suspensions are freely used. At this point she should be led to do without figures and to construct small exercises of her own, introducing suspensions at the cadences first of all, and then at other convenient points in the exercise. Introduce new chords with care, and not in too quick succession. Let the pupil harmonize melodies—her own, if she can write them—and work at modulation, which, though last in mention, is not least in importance. Modulation in music may always be pointed out long before any attempts at it are made in writing. It is of widest in-terest and value to the player, and is a study in itself. May I finish this with a few words of advice to the teacher desirous of success ? 1. Never teach with text-book in hand. Have the subject of the lesson so well in mind that it is unneces-sary. 2. Use the blackboard and piano in class-teaching, but make a point of seeing some of the work done by each pupil. 3. Always use the piano in your lesson, and make your pupils do so. Later, have them do easy modula-tion at the piano, discarding the use of paper and pencil. 4. Do not assign more work than you can possibly look at in the alloted time for lesson. 5. Always be interested yourself in what you are doing if you want to interest your pupils. HUMORESKE. BY H. M. SHIP. MADAME PATTI used to keep her "Press Notices," but these after a while filled so many volumes that she discontinued collecting them. One cutting, from a Chicago newspaper, is as follows : " Madame Patti, the eminent vocalist and farewellist, will come to us for positively the last time next year. All who expect to die before year after next will do well to hear the human nightingale on trip, for Patti never says good-by twice in the same year, and to die without hearing her high $2000-note is to seek the hereafter in woeful ignorance of the heights to which a woman with good lungs, a castle in Wales, and who uses only one kind of soap, can soar when she tries." In his prenuptial days, Schumann wrote once to Clara Wieck and said, " I am often very leathery, dry, and disagreeable, and laugh much inwardly." That was because he was Wieck-minded. To a beautiful youth to whom Leschetizky was giving a lesson, the latter said one day, in a fury, " If I ever teach you anything, build a temple in some grove to me ! " And yet that same pupil is now giving concerts as a Leschetizky pupil. Leschetizky objected to his want of delicacy of touch. Some one says, apropos of his strong playing, "H e has made a hit in Paris and other cities, doubtless he will make some pounds in London." Two juvenile pianists recently appeared in London, rejoicing in the names of Muriel Mustard and Gertrude Peppercorn. If there be anything in names, these young ladies should make a decided impression on the public taste. The following may be suggestive to young music teachers looking for business. It is a recent report by Mr. Emil Liebling upon the state of things in Chicago : " In Chicago the race for business has become so keen as to necessitate unusual measures. The leading music schools, like the hotels, run omnibuses to the depots, and the shivering infant from the rural district is met outside by cries,— " 4 Here's your omnibus for the Windy City Conserv-atory !' " 4 Take this 'bus for the Grand Central Music School!' " 4 This way to the Organ Grinders' Retreat!' '" A piece of pie with each lesson !' etc., etc. " In my own case, I have made arrangements with a leading detective agency to meet new pupils from abroad at the city limits ; they are then bound, gagged, blind-folded, handcuffed, and conveyed to my studio, and from there sent under military escort to their respective boarding-places, where a guard is placed before the door, and yet, in spite of all these precautions, some go astray and are side-tracked." Richard Hoffman says of his concert tour through the United States in 1849 : " We often had difficulty in the smaller cities in pro curing a piano, and I remember that in the town of Hamilton, Canada, we were in despair of finding one, when some public-spirited citizen offered to lend his 4 square' for the occasion, but with special injunctions to return it the same night. The concert was given in the dining-room of the hotel, and when it was over it devolved upon Burke and myself to see that the piano got safely back to its owner. The absence of any 4 help' at that hour made it necessary for us to do the moviDg ourselves, and, as the dining-room was, fortunately, on the ground-floor, we proceeded to wheel it out on its castors into the street and to push it in front of us to the owner's house, a distance of two or three streets from the hotel, where we finally left it in safety." We still have "lightning " methods of learn:ng to play the piano; but we are hardly prepared for Mozart says, in one of his letters, of the famous mus .« is o. Abbe "Vogler, that "h e gives out that he will make a composer in three weeks and a singer in six month-According to Mrs. Diehl's account in her " Memories/* Henselt as a teacher was rather terrible : "H e would come in his white suit, a red fez on his head, a fly-flapper in his hand, and, motioning his paf to seat herself at the piano, would say, in his short* brusque way, 4 Begin so and-so.' Then, as she to would first go to the window, appear to see some-.hire that he took exception to, then pace backward and far ward for a minute or two, stop suddenly, and. with * tigerish glance at her, cry, 4Falsch! play it again 19 She would begin again, and 1 Falsch! falsch I1 * o li follow her. She seemed peppered with stria!. ab t instead of that first big bullet. Then he cried, 4 Stop '' The flag of truce. He came across, eyes gleaming, bm ivory skin paler, and with a word or two in low. hianaf tones, far more terrible than angry shouts, would con-temptuously push her off the stool and imitate her play the passage himself divinely, stopping now mm4 then to repeat and snap out rules and hints. Ttoa . . . he would stride off and begin killing flies up** the walls. . . . When he was not in the humor far teaching he would cry 4falsch'' in various tone.* far tto first half-hour, then kill flies silently till he marefcei out and banged the door." Undoubtedly, it was under the influence of bis fly-catching propensity that he composed his 44 If I * bird " study. A German professor, not sufficiently familiar with English, upon hearing a young lady trying to pb j a piece too far beyond her, said, 44 Yah, it ees ziI uoemj for her." At one time, while Handel was in London, there *** a great rivalry between his followers and those o: I • o oncini, an Italian conductor. Concerning the ttr. St John Byrom wrote : " Some say, compared to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; Others aver, that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee! " Not every one is capable of appreciating the d>t:op-tion, but there is considerable difference between brok-ing Bach often and hearing Offen-bach.
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