Page 45J+ JULY 1920 THE ETUDE Boys' Week in a Musical School By Dr. William A. Wolf THE experienced teacher often finds that a little touch of human nature in his work produces results that could not otherwise be obtainable. One of the great difficulties that many music teachers experience is stim-ulating the interest of boys. This is largely due to the fact that in many communities the boys have had the historic prejudice handed down to them, that ''music was a study for girls." It is very easy to change this by emphasizing music as a study for boys. By empha-izing I mean paying more attention to it, so that the boy—and the big boy, his father—has a better opportun-ity of understanding and appreciating the advantages of a musical education. Therefore, we tried in our school the experiment of a "Boys' Week." It proved a very great success in-deed. As this year happened to be the twenty-first an-niversary of the school we selected twenty-one boys to signalize the event. These came from every department of the school, from the smallest boys to the biggest boys. On the first evening a recital was given. Every boy in the entire school is given an invitation bearing a photograph "cut" of all the boys participating. This, the boys send to their fathers with a letter enclosing two tickets and the statement that the boy's father is par-ticularly invited to see what boys are doing in "Music Land." All the attendants for the entire week are boys. They take charge of ushering, the cloak room, checking the automobiles, preparing the programs, reading proof, mailing the programs, and are made to feel that they are part of the valuable work of the school. If the boy has no father he invites his uncle, his guardian, his min-ister, his Sunday-school teacher, his big brother, or his best man friend. Thus an audience of men are brought together. The interest on this occasion was, to say the least, unusual. Then, we had a ladies' night in which the boys had the privilege of inviting their mothers, sisters and sweethearts. The effect of the whole idea has been to stimulate a wonderful interest among the boys, and all teachers Jtnow that interest, more than anything else, lies at the base of inducing the student to practice. The father's interest in the boy's music often ends when he signs the check for the boy's tuition. This is, of course, all wrong. He should take a man's inter-est in the real welfare of his son by showing an intelli-gent desire to understand what the boy is doing. In our meeting of fathers the man sees what his own son is doing and sees what the other man's son is doing, too. Naturally, if the other man's son does it a little better—he wants his own son to "do the same trick." A home with a one-sided, feminine interest in music is hardly a complete musical home. Get the man inter-ested. The way to do it is through the boy. Leschetizky's Wonderful Memory IN the very interesting biography of Theodore Leschetizky by the Comtesse Angele Potocka there is an estimate of the master's astonishing memory. The following quotation is interesting: "When Rubinstein's B flat trio made its first appear-ance, Leschetizky immediately learned it and played it at a concert in St. Petersburg with Wienawski and Davidoff. Fifteen years later—without any opportu-nity to study the work—he played it again in Vienna with Ysaye and Hecking. Twenty years after that he performed it again with Hecking and a young violinist named Wittenberg, without even an opportun-ity for a rehearsal. * * * It is said that the notes seemed to drop out of his fingers as if he had been in daily practice upon it for a long time." Rubinstein's Blunders A GREAT many young players who are having accuracy and still more accuracy enjoined upon them all the time, wonder when they hear tales of Rubinstein's blunders at the keyboard. Rubinstein in his advanced years knew his shortcomings. Once in Vienna he gave a re-cital that was so successful and given at such high rates that few of the students of the city found it possible to attend. Leschetizky asked the great pianist to give a private recital for his pupils. This Rubinstein con-sented to do. When the evening of the concert arrived he told Leschetizky that he was fearfully anxious be-cause he was to appear before an audience of budding virtuosi, concluding "If my memory fails, as it occa-sionally does-rl cannot conceal it. You know that even in my own compositions I repeatedly make blunders in notes." Notwithstanding this defect, his grasp of the art was so great and his interpretative powers so enor-mous that there was not one, aside from Liszt, to com-pare with him. FAMOUS MASTERS, WRITERS, TEACHERS Prepare a Feast of Information, Inspiration and Entertainment for ETUDE Readers Thousands of ETUDE friends have written us that they owe a great part of their musical progress to the practical helps THE ETUDE has brought to them. One wrote last week: "That one article in the March ETUDE was worth many a lesson for which I have paid $5.00.'' Knowing the pleasure of anticipa-tion, we are listing here just a few of the very interesting articles that will brighten coming issues. We have never had a more inspiring outlook. MASTE R LESSO N O N GRIEG' S NOR -WEGIA N BRIDA L PROCESSION , by PERCY GRAINGER. A N INTERVIE W O N MODER N VOIC E STUD Y with MADAME AMELITA GALLI-CURCI. MUSICA L COMPOSITIO N FO R WOM -EN, CARRIE JACOBS BOND. PRACTICA L ASPECT S O F MODER N PIAN O STUD Y (an interview), ALFRE D CORTOT, Professor of Piano Playing, Paris Conservatory. TH E THRE E TOUCHE S EMPLOYE D I N MELOD Y PLAYING , b y THUE L BURNHAM. (An excellent article by a high-ly successful American Virtuoso.) TH E AVERAG E AMATEU R PIANIST , by C. VON STERNBERG. NE W PATH S I N PIANISTI C EXPRES -SION, by ALBERTO JONAS. AL L ABOU T VARIATIONS , EDWI N HALL PIERCE. CLASSIFYIN G YOU R PUPILS , WALTE R SPRY. TH E TECHNI C O F EXPRESSION , HANS SCHNEIDER. HO W T O MASTE R PHRASIN G I N PIAN O STUDY , by OSCAR BERINGER. SUCCES S I N MUSI C STUDY , D . C . PARKER. PRACTICA L FINGERING , MRS . NOA H BRANDT. SHOUL D MUSICA L CRITIC S B E ABOLISHE D ? by H. T. FINCK. ~ BRINGIN G OU T TH E MASTER' S MEANING , E. DI PIRANI. REMEMBER THESE ARE ONLY A FEW OF SCORES OF PROFITABLE ARTICLES How Czerny Taught THEODORE LESCHETIZKY once recounted the character-istics of Czerny as a teacher. It is interesting to know that "His way of teaching was something like that of an orchestral director. He stood when he taught and showed his pupils the time, expression, etc., by means of gestures. He was very careful about accuracy, bril-liance and pianistic effects. Naturally, as a pupil of Beethoven, he was a great admirer of his works and taught many of them. His idea was that Beethoven should be played with great freedom and great emo-tion. Academic, stiff performances of his works an-gered Czerny very much indeed. His idea of Chopin, however, was that his works were too saccharine— sweetened water flavored with paprika * * *" The Teacher's Greatest Strain By Mischa Z. Jaschasohn SOME time since the readers of THE ETUDE may have noticed an editorial telling how every teacher of music who is conscientious is affected by the mistakes of notes and time and rhythm that the pupils make during the lesson. It is without question a prod to the nervous system, and some of the mistakes the pupils make are like knife-thrusts to the teacher—even to the calm and self-possessed teacher who takes a pride in composure during the lessons. Worse than all this, is the anxious pupil at the student's recital. No wonder teachers are worn out after a recital! "Will she play it right?" "Is she going to forget?" "Why does she race ahead at that rate." "Why doesn't*she play those sustained notes legato?'* All these uncertainties borrow from the teacher's nerve force tremendously. It is said that the great Leschetizky could never attend the public per-formances of many of his pupils. Instead he drafted his wife into service and had her give him an accurate report. Bargain Music Lessons By Arthur Schuckai "FIVE-and-Ten-Cent Store Music Lessons" I heard one old pupil call them. They were wasted money, wasted time, wasted ambition. Why are cheap music lessons especially wasteful? Just this—Time never comes back. Once gone it carries with it the oppor-tunities that are largely made out of time. As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined. Very often the whole "tree" has to be cut down to the roots before the student can progress. The real test is the work of the teacher himself. Go to his pupils' recitals, hear how the pupils actually play. The difficulty in most cases is that the man who can tell wool and shoddy when it comes to buying a suit of clothes can be easily fooled by some shyster teacher who is a glib talker and who is reckless with the truth. The teacher's standing in the community, his ability to keep in good standing year in and year out is another test. One more test is the price itself. If the teacher can maintain a fair price for years, if there is no neces-sity of making bargain rates of twenty-five or fifty cents a lesson, there must be a reason. Beware of the bargain rate teacher. Musical Flashlights The word "Selah," which one encounters so fre-quently in Biblical literature and thought by many to mean "Amen," is believed by some authorities to have been the pause where the priests blew their trumpets. Suicide is said to be uncommon among musicians. It is true that Schumann (and also Tschaikovsky, it is rumored) attempted it; but cases of 'musicians who have killed themselves are very rare. Many conclude that this points to mental composure fostered by music. Singer-composers are, of course, fewer than pianist-composers, or violinist-composers. However, many suc-cessful singers have become composers. Possibly the most notable example is Balfe, the Irish composer and singer. Soulier, a French tenor (later a baritone), wrote over thirty comic operas. Liza Lehmann was once a well-known London singer. Sir George Henschel, Oley Speaks, John Prindle Scott, Geoffrey O'Hara, known best for his wonderful war song success, K-K-K-Katy, but really a very fine artist and com-poser of excellent vocal works; H. T. Burleigh, the most famous living negro composer; Eugene Cowles, Mme. Malibran, who wrote much of the music for her husband, Charles de Beriot, it is said; Mme. Mali-bran's sister, Pauline Viardot-G'arcia, Mme. Carreno, who, in addition to being a famous pianist, was once a prima donna; Nicholas Douty, Jules Jordan, P. D. Al~ drich, G. Romeli and others.
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