-ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $2.00-ft? ..•>.-....':r-v.C^tv*:'•.•.:• - • "v* * THE ETUDE JULY, 1920 Single Copies 25 Cents VOL. XXXVIII, No. 7 What Should the Piano Sound Like ? LAS T January TH E ETUDE, in an interview with Josef Hofmann, presented a plea for making the piano sound like a piano—not trying to make it sound like some other instru-ment. This must make interesting reading to those who have been hearing for years that the piano should be "orchestral" or it should be "vocal," etc., ad nauseum. Back in the time of Herz and Kalkbrenner the ambition of pianists and composers for the piano seemed to be to make the piano sound like a music box or a mechanical piano. There were limitless variations and limitless trills, runs and twitter-ings. For the time being the more substantial' music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, etc., was obscured by showers of piano pyro-technics. Then came the orchestral fanfares of Liszt, balanced as it were by the highly artistic original compositions of Chopin and the variations of Thalberg. Thalberg essayed to make the piano sing, but what he had in mind in his L'Art du Chant was a singing melody with a very flowery variation surround-ing it. In modern times, however, teachers and pianists endeavor to bring out the beautiful sonority of the piano, with legato passages, but at the same time this "singing," "weight" or "pressure" touch, as it is variomsly described, is not permitted to monopolize the performance so that the other beautiful ef-fects that may be produced upon the piano are forgotten. There are certain pianists who always make the piano sound like a xylophone, which is, perhaps, the piano at its worst. A well-played xylophone solo is better than a poorly played pianistic imitation. The tendency of the present day is, however, to make the piano "sing" as much as possible. Rubinstein was once quoted as saying: "The new fangled notions of technic by which legato and cantabile playing are sacrificed to the effort to obtain orchestral effects will some day give place to the old ideas of Hummel and Moscheles." This has actually come to pass and the merely orchestral pianists cannot even "draw a house in the provinces." Can You Pass ? GREA T movements do not spring into existence out of a clear sky. Indeed, there is something in the history of every reform that is akin to what many scientists believe may be the manner in which our planet came into existence. First, a kind of nebulous, gaseous something, gradually taking more and more form and eventually solidifying into & world. Just now there is an almost endless discussion of the whys and wherefores of standardization of music teaching in America. The Associa-tion of the Presidents and the Past Presidents of the State and National Music Teachers' Association, among others, has made out its plans and specifications for the music teacher of to-morrow. The expressed object is to "standardize musical in-struction and establish a uniform standard of examinations." This is only one of many excellent plans. Music teachers in the future must look forward to passing some such examination. If you are to be listed as an associate, for instance, you would have to pass the following examination. There can be no ques-tion that there are thousands and thousands of people teaching music in America now who could not begin to do this. How-ever, TH E ETUDE, which has stood for sensible "no-proprie-tary" standards, aims conscientiously to help such teachers to attain such a goal. First of all, one must have the goal. The idea of such an examination is not to grant a permit or license to teach, but to certify to the fitness of the teacher and afford him a definite evidence of this fitness. One branch of the ex-amination would seem to make reading of TH E ETUD E more or less imperative in order that the teacher may keep informed in the matters discussed—subjects which are constantly treated in TH E ETUDE . The following is designed to suggest requirements for the grade of Associate and to offer specimen examination papers in each subject. The works suggested may in many cases be replaced by others of equal standing. It is expected that every candidate for this degree will be prepared to give a demonstra-tion of ability by public performance of one of the works in question. PIAN O Bach Six Preludes and Fugues from the Well Tem-pered Clavichord. Italian Concerto. English Suites. Beethoven Sonatas, Op. 7, Op. 27, No. 2, Op. 28, Op. 31, No. 3. Goncerto No. 3 in C minor. Mendelssohn .. Rondo Capriccioso, Capriccio Brilliante, Op. 22. Schumann ... . Fantasy Pieces, Papillons. Novelties in F major, E major. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 6, No. 12. Liebestraume. Transcriptions from Schubert and Wagner. SPECIME N EXAMINATIO N IN PIAN O 1. Explain the essentials of the piano action. 2. Discuss the use of the three pedals of the grand piano. 3. Name and describe the essential varieties of legato touch. 4. Name and describe the essential varieties of staccato touch. 5. Describe position of hand as taught by you, and give reasons. > 6. Outline a practice plan for a High School Junior one hour a day. 7. Discuss interpretation from the point of view of phrasing, of form and harmony. 8. How do you advise students to memorize? 9. How do you advise keeping up repertoire? 10. What do you consider the ideals of a musician? Playing From Figured Bass IT is only a little over one hundred years since the time when any organist or pianist worthy of the name was expected to take any figured bass and improvise an accompaniment ac-cording to the specifications of the figures. Of course, there are to-day thousands of musicians who could do this in a stum-bling manner» Again, it is always somewhat uncertain whether the accompaniment played from figured bass is ever just what the composer intended. On the whole, it is better for the com-poser to state in definite notes just what he wants and leave any latitude in interpretation to the taste of the performer. On the other hand, the ability to play freely from figured 437 JS
< Page 1 | Page 3 >