Page 19 APRIL 1920 TIIE ETUDE stantly come in contact with what is unexpected and so be stimulated to interest. The pupil may be taught to give equal variety to his practice by listing the several items, giving a fixed time to each, and changing their order from day to day. He may be asked, too, to transpose his technical exercises into various keys, and by playing them in a different key each day, to have constantly something new to think about. The Ultimate End Perhaps the best substitute for immediate attention is that which is excited by the thought of an ultimate end. We all know the value of having an object in view for which to strive. Just so, the pupil will prac-tice with redoubled vigor if he has a definite and interesting object toward which his attention is directed. And this object must not be too remote. It is not enough for us to tell a child that he will appreciate the ability to play when he is "grown up." That time is for him in the infinite distance, far removed from present endeavor. But let him have a certain occasion in mind —a recital, a Christmas party—on which he is to play a certain piece, and his practice upon it will take on a new meaning. With the younger children very tangible rewards may be offered, such as a gold Star for a well-learned lesson, or even payment for practice. The latter method, in which a child is given perhaps a penny for each ten minutes, may be very effective incidentally in teaching the value of money and the independence of a salaried position! Pupil recitals, mentioned above, furnish further in-centive in the wholesome. spirit of rivalry which they encourage. Each pupil, observing the attainments of his companions, desires to do as well as they, or even better, if possible; and in consequence, attacks his work with added zeal. The same incentive may come from meetings of pupils at the teacher's studio or home, dur-ing which they interchange ideas about music and take pride in displaying their progress to one another. Class lessons, when practicable, have a similar effect. It is evident that attention will be more easily secured when the mind is fresh and active. Accordingly, both lesson and practice are best placed in the morning hours, before the pupil is fatigued with the routine of daily tasks. Unfortunately, piano lessons must often be given after school hours, when the child is too fatigued to attend to them; but the teacher can urge his pupils to perform at least a part of their practice before school, when a twenty-minute period is often more fruitful than an hour late in the day or in the evening. There is no extraneous incentive to attention, how-ever, that can compare in power with the enthusiasm of the teacher. Per contra, if he is apathetic and dull during the lesson, he has destroyed all hope of arousing the pupil's interest. A teacher who is so tired or bored that he lies back with closed eyes and wandering mind while a pupil stumbles through his piece, has no right to be giving a lesson; for he is harming rather than benefiting the pupil. Whatever our fatigue of mind or body, let us during the lesson be constantly "on the job," inciting the pupil to his best endeavors, quick to detect errors, just and alert in criticism, fair in praise or blame. Let the Teacher be " Gai" An old French treatise on piano instruction, enumerat-ing the qualities of a successful teacher, concludes with the advice, "above all, let him be gaiExactly; let the teacher be bright and cheerful, enthusiastic, even a bit humorous toward the particular Inatter in hand, and he will create a "play" atmosphere that will make of music a recreation rather than a drudgery, and that will tend to produce a music-lover rather than a mere technician. If, as is true, it is the intense desire for some object or ideal that arouses the immediate and most effective form of attention, let us fill the pupil's mind with that joy in musical expression with which every music student should be inspired; let us show by our words and acts that we ourselves are actuated by an equal enthusiasm for our chosen art, and the problem of attracting and holding his earnest attention will be effectually solved. Check It Up By Watson Y. Buckley IN buslfes, engineering, science, in fact in all branches of the various undertakings in which men expect exactness and care, elaborate provisions are made fqjj- "checking up." No work passes out until a competent checker goes over it to see that it is right. The more important the work the more need there is for care and competence upon the part of the checker. The active student, whether under the tutelage of a good teacher, or whether studying alone, should care-fully check up his work in every study and every com-position. Indeed it might not be a bad plan for the student to write out on a slip of paper such headings as these. 1. Where can the touch be improved? 2. Where can the fingering be bettered? 3. Where is the tempo at fault? 4. Where is the expression indefinite? 5. Where is the rhythm halting? . Remember, if some one did not "check up," no bridge would be safe to pass over; no order of goods would reach you in satisfactory condition; no prescrip-tion would be safe to take; no building would be safe to tenant. Check Up. Why Can't I Play, After I Have Studied for Years? By Lillian B. Martin KNOWIN G how to play and playing are two distinct things, and should receive undivided attention of all who yearn for musical supremacy. One may possess a thorough knowledge of music and yet be unable to ren-der a selection perfectly. Knowing how to play, and not being able to play, is characteristic of many pianists. There are pianists who have taken music lessons for years, understand music thoroughly, know how to play, and know how a piece should be played, and yet who are unable to play a piece as it should be played. Being unable to play after studying music for years strongly indicates carelessness of past method, inadequate prep-aration and the study of advanced lessons before^ the elementary lessons were mastered. The teacher is partly to blame for such deplorable results for not in-sisting that the pupil thoroughly master a lesson before proceeding to the next, but the pupil, as well, should have been sufficiently interested in his work to endeavor to acquire accuracy and technic. Few people can take up a new piece of music and play it through without making _a discord, nor should everyone expect to do so without years of diligent prac-tice. But anyone who has studied music for years should be sufficiently qualified to play old familiar music without murdering the harmonies and miss-firing the melody. Accuracy and velocity demand a great deal of earn-est practice. Practice is the guide to perfection and unremitting interest is indispensible to accomplishment. If one's musical education has not been all that could be desired, one has always an opportunity to improve. If you find any difficulty in playing a piece of music correctly, and you are constantly making serious mis-takes in your music, do not be discouraged, but en-deavor to improve. If you find a piece of music dif-ficult to play it would be advisable for you to practice each measure separately before attempting to execute the entire selection. In this way you can easily discover the difficult points, and you can readily rectify the seri-ous mistakes you constantly make while trying to play d selection. And in this manner you can learn to analyze each measure in a selection, will know the piece thoroughly and will avoid the humiliation of stumbling over the notes when you desire to play smoothly and correctly for a listener. If you will devote two hours daily to practicing and analyzing each measure of a piece of music you will easily remove the difficulties which confront you; this will also stimulate your musical interest and you will derive much more pleasure out of your music when you have put serious work upon it. The greatest dif-ficulty in playing the piano lies with the left hand. The left hand is not so flexible as the right hand and for this reason the left hand requires a great deal more training and practice, and daily exercises for the left hand should be diligently practiced. An Improved Method to Facilitate Sight Reading By J. Keller Kirn A CHIL D in a short time learns to recognize "A" as the first and "Z" as the last letter of the alphabet as quickly as "M" and "N," the letters in the center of the alphabet, but even an advanced student of music must stop to count in order to ascertain the lowest and highest note, although there are exactly the same number of lines used to portray music on a piano as there are letters in the alphabet. Numerous attempts have been made to make it pos-sible to read notes as quickly as letters, but until re-cently all such methods have been radical and imprac-tical. The following system does not necessarily re-quire new means of printing music, but may be adopted by any teacher who cares to introduce it merely by making the leger lines, as indicated, a little heavier (that is E and F above the treble staff—and A and G below the bass). This method to facilitate sight reading uses heavier lines to indicate the first and last lines of staffs above and below the regular staffs. 1 Indicates the first and last lines of the staff of the bass clef. 2 Indicates the first and last lines of the staff of the added treble clef. 3 Indicates the first and last lines of the staff of the treble clef. 4 Indicates the first and last lines of the staff of the added bass clef. 5 Ordinarily a person would have to stop and count the lines to ascertain this note, but by this system you can see at a glance that it is on the second added line above the staff of the added treble clef and is C at the extreme end of the piano, while 6 is A, the last note in the bass of the piano. 7 You can see at a glance that this note is E on the first line of the staff of the added treble clef, while 8 is B on the third line of the staff of the added treble clef. 9 and 10 The lines of the staffs of the bass and treble clefs are to remain normal. 2<" = i i 8 -I m 35 = 3 = 6 The following is a portion of the Rachmaninoff Prelude, marked with heavy leger lines to facilitate reading: A Gracious Assent IT is a sort of shyness on the part of the musical performer to hesitate and make demur when asked to play. How much a gracious and instant assent lends to the playing of even a simple piece. It takes cour-age to play at once, but that, like everything else, is a matter of practice. Get your mind into the habit of assent. Determine beforehand that you will say yes when you are asked to share with the listener the boon of music that you have so laboriously ac-quired by years of practice. Particularly is this a point for emphasis in the teachings of the child Insist upon its playing with cheerful alacrity jipon request, and we will have more agreeably disposed musicians to give us of their musical riches when we ask them to play.
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