The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-29
ideas for TMn1nen.

what would one think of a student
VINO. having painted or moulded a little,
should attempt to copy one of Raphaels
frescoes or the classic features of the
Apollo Belvedere?
Everyone would cry out at once at the
~audacity: yet day after day. on all sides,
we hear piano-players who would be puz-
zled Il asked to explain the sonata form,
or even the ordinary musical terms, and
who could not play a scale decently to
save their souls, says the New York
Home Journal" But these people UNI
hesftatingly attempt to interpret the po-
etc thoughts Of Chopin and to present
the sublime grandeur of Beethoven.
AT the present day there are hardly
half a dozen of our great pianists who
are competent to give AUST interpreta-
ton Of Chopin or Schumann, and still
fewer who can do the same with Bee
thoven. Yet amateurs whose .fexibslity of
finger is undeveloped and who's musical
faculty Is nil will sit down to the op. So
or 81 of Beethoven or the Preludes OF
Chopin with as much sangfroid as they
do to their dinner.
1t cannot be to Dearly impressed on the
pianoist that It is a greater accomplish
ment to play a Strauss waltz well than to
play a Chopin waltz badly, inasmuch as
there can be no question of the art value
of the one and the art failure OF the
Other.
Next to Chopin in the maltreatment
which he receives at the hands OF anna
teurs comes Mozart. I suppose there is
no n who could explain why Mozart is
relegated to the school room; it is one
of thos astonishing regulations that crop
up in every art, and which we all accept
like sheep. Certainly there is no compos-
er harder to play than Mozart. He re-
Quires the most exquisite precision in
rhythm, a touch and tone perfected to
the highest degree, and a legato and re-
pose in reading to be acquired only by
years of struggle and labor. Yet ask nine
out of ten rosebnds. on presentation in
the drawing rooms of London or New
York. to play you some Mozart, and
watch how her lips curl in contempt.
Mozart is beyond all young players and
most grown ones. His music requires a
technique polished to the highest degree
Fart as he should be played, you can rest
assured you are an artist.
After a certain proficiency has been
Sa~ASo M PidttO-Pi1y Ills every player
should consult his hands and taste, and
endeavor to find out what style suits
him best. If he has long, slender, fiex-
ible fingers, Ldszt and Mendelssohn will
come easy to him: If a short. broad
hand, Handel and Bach are apt to suit
him.. With long. slender fingers he
shoul cultivate velocity and %briiliance;
with short ones, power, tone. an easy
staccato, and a clear, bell-like tone
In trflling. 1t is a mistake for pianists
to strive too much for that which they
have not naturally. Try everything, but.
IL o have nimble fingers and a stiff
wrist, do not neglect the fingers to give
the wrist a chance; give the same at
tention to both.
The hand Is largely. II not altogether,
the master of destiny in piano playing.
Some have a born gift for t play
ing: some trill with the silvery equality
of a anary bird: others again have
a fairy-like lightness of touch; but
hardly one in 10000 pianists possesses all
these qualities.
Square pegs cannot fit into round
holes, and every pianist, to overcome
his weak points, should do all in his
power to bring his strong points to per-
xeetionEespecially amateurs. Profession
al students are required. If they have
not all gifts naturally, to acquire those
that are lacking; not so amateurs.
The latter have not time for every
thing. and should make the best of
gifts that come naturally, letting the
Others go gracefully. Generally speak
ing, ones Individual taste is the best
guide to ones possibility. but, where
there is doubt a good teacher can always
lead the way.
Students will find that there is moth
ing like sticking to one set of exercises
or studies. ASA rule, every teacher has
his or her pet studies, but the Czerny
studies, or, at least, some of them-life
would be too short to wade through all
the studies Czerny has written-with
Cramer and the Clementi-Tausig Gradus
ad Parnassum, will leave a student
ready to face anything. Czerny gives
velocity, Cramer legato n Clementi-
Tausig grasp.
If students wish to. combine business
and pleasure. there is no one equal to
Scarlatti, and, as for old Bach. he is
''the stan Of life" as schumann tells us.
Scarlet parties have been given before.
but they are revived again, and some
girls have arranged to give one next
week which they pretend will Guido all
previous attempts at this sort of enter
tainment. says "Harper's Bazaar" They
have sent u all the invitations on scar
let paper (but Of course In white envel-
opes). and have asked the guests to come
arrayed from top to toe in brilliant scar
let. It Is hard On the blond girls, and
will, no doubt, make them look CHASTITY
pale; but they are quite willing to sac
rifice the becoming in order not to mar
the effect of the tout ensemble. The
men will all wear red coats. That they
do not object to, as their golf coats n
hunting-coats come into good play, n
are always effective.
One of the prettiest gowns, to be worn
by one of the girls. is to be of red NOUS
seline de sole. accordion-pIeated, made
over silk of. a much deeper shade. The
same idea of two tones. is carried out
in the bodice, which will be of q pale
shade Of the mousseline de sole over the
darker silk, and it will be. trimmed with
shaded red roses. from the palest pink
to the deepest red. In her hair she will
wear an aigrette Of the three shades.
Red satin slippers and red silk stockings
and a pair of black kid gloves will COM
plete the stunning costume. which will