The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1890-09-10
OUR MUSIC COLUMN.
WHAT SHALL WE Playa

What earnest teacher has not shared
With the writer experiences like the fol-
lowiuga A young lady of good family,
good intelligence, and fine natural ability,
applies for lessons. She has studied for
years with various more or less we'll
known professors, has been through all
the etudess extant, from Czerny to Chopin;
has taken all the best Beethoven sonatas,
all the chefs d'eNvre of the modern ro-
mantle school; in brief, she has been IL
terally stuffed with the soiid cream Of
piano literature, surfeited with notes, tn
her musical digestion Is ruined, her taste
well-nigh destroyed, her executive capaci-
ty undermined and crumbling to pieces.
For her life she cannot play eight mea-
sures consecutively OF any single simple
composition creditably. Her tone Is dry,
feeble, characterless; Ler technique To-
distinct. slipshod. unreliable her alyle
mixture of about equal parts OF sentiment
tai drawl, spasmodic frenzy and general
incohercncy. She knows the names, but
not the meaning, Of such terms as phras-
ing, tone coloring, Interpretation and
succeeds only, as one of our Boston critics
aptly expresses 1t, in striking with adj
mirable distinctness the frat and last note
of every difficult passage" Ofcourse che
has no idea how atrociously she butchers
the beautiful creations of the great tone
poets which fall into her hands; yet she
has vague, uneasy sense that someway
her playing Ia not what 1t should be,
which destroys her confidence, keeps her
nervous and self-conscious. Vainly the
teacher suggests one thing after another
as advisable for study. All are too IA
miliar, or too easy, In spite Of the fact that
all are equally and utterly beyond her
power TO render in an intelligent manner.
Week after week he labors to secure some
thing like steady, satisfactory progress
for this feeble hutterer, who cannot fly,
yet will not walk till finally he welcomes
with Sigh of relief the MATRIMONIAL
quietus, which puts an end to her music
altogether, and to his futile efforts In be-
half Of pupil who is personally most
agreeable, and unsteady most talented,
and who under proper conditions, might
have made fine performer.
What was the dificuliy2 Simply that
she has been wrestling all her life with
giants, with no judicious instructor or
trusted friend to tell her that she ought to
begin with antagonists OF her own size !;
ill the habit OF encouragement, OF In
evitable and utter defeat, has become
chronic, and she has ceased to be self.
critical, from sheer uselessness and hope
lessness. Like rider who has been re-
peatedly thrown, she has learned to fear
rather than to command.
This may be thought an exaggerated e.
ample, or only to be found among pupils
of some egregious charlatan, but / assure
the reader that II Is not three months since
an advanced and really talented pupil Of
a prominent professor came to the writer
for. advice. She had been studying all
Winter the A minor concerto, by Sohu-
mann, and the Wagner-Llszt Tannhauser
March ; could not by any miracle have
played either of them passably, should not
have been allowed TO think OF them for
three years TO como, yet had absolutely
nothing else, no matter how simple, that
size could play well, though school po-
sition, which she was anxious TO secure,
depended upon her making creditable
public appearance at once.
Another recent case In point, is that of
q fiourishing suburban teacher, who boast
ed that pupil OF bis, nineteen years OF
age, who had two hours daily for practice,
and that In the evening after a days
work, had just finished and dropped
Schumann's etudes symphoniques, after
only two weeks of study.
The manifold pernicious effects OF such
a course are scarcely to be computed.
The player is forced into habits OF care
lessness, inaccuracy and general unintelli-
gibility, which, once acquired, It 10 we'll
nigh impossible to eradicate. Intellectual
grasp and technical control are alike I'M
attalnable. The performances Is of neces-
sity blurred, unmusical, meaningless and
the average listener, finding nothing com
prehsnsible, still less enjoyable, in such
renditions, Is quick to conclude that the
piano is cold, dry, uninteresting instru-
ment, at only to mark the rhythm OF
dance. The poor piano, from the most
capable and versatile Of solo instruments,
Is degraded into mere puppet- board for
the exhibition, In tragic farces, OF the mu-
tilated caricatures OF great thoughts and
emotions.
tro sE coETrSuED.)