The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-08
Written for The Tribune

Written for The Tribune
Three all important essentials In thu
study of the piano are. Position, that
is n good hand position; Condition, a
proper condition Of muscular plastic
ity and repose; Action, or prompt and
accurate up and down movements of
the fingers.
The first step in the Clavier method
is the establishing of proper conditions
of nerve and muscle, by proper con-
ditions is meant absolute repose of the
nervous and muscular system. These
conditions can be quickly established
in the very youngest pupil If the teach
ing and practice are rightly directed.
Yet many students, who have prGc-
ticed on the piano for years, never su--
cead in getting them.
The reason for this is found in the
fact that by the current piano meth
DDS, the pupil Is taken to the piano be-
fore any intelligent idea of correct
conditions is obtained, and if she ever
succeeds in getting these conditions at
all, il is only after years OF discourage
ing practice. When these conditions
are thoroughly established, the next
step in the method takes the pupil to
the table, where she learns to properly
shape the hand so that it will take the
proper position on the keyboard.
After proper conditions and fine
position are secured, the next step Is
the development, by means of table
exercises of a perfectly equal up and
down action of each separate finger.
At this point the Clavier method diff
fers radically from the prevailing piano
methods. In all piano systems the up
action of the finger which is of su-
preme Importance, is almost totally
ignored: every piano exercise known
to me, cultiVateS the down action of
the finger exclusively, and as a result
the piano student never gets the quick
action of the finger up and away from
the key, which is the foundation of all
kinds Of touch as well as of technc.
THE LEGATO TOUCH.
After perfect equality of up and
down action is secured with each fin
ger separately the fingers are taken in
pairs and now begins the study of
the !egato touch. AS every teacher
knows, the Keynote to success in ar
tistic piano playing is the mastery Of
the legato. In the piano methods, that
is the intangible something which
every pupil is seeking and yet so in
tangible is it even in the teachers
brain. that il is impossible to convey
any clear idea of it to the pupil. While
many teachers may be able to play a
perfect legatC, ii is next to impossible
for them to define now they DO it, and
after years of study the pupil is still
as far from any true conception of the
idea as at the beginning. Actual sta
tistics prove that only about per
cent. of all TIE pupils who are studying
the piano ever learn to play a perfect
legato, Now let me try and make clear
to the reader what the legato is The
real meaning of the word is Joined, ana
as applied t. music. it is a succession
of tones in which each following ton"
begins the instant the preceding one
ceases. 1t has been likcncd to a string
of pearls, each pearl touching its neigh
Dor i'm an intinitCstnal degree but pre-
serving its own individual outline and
from this has come the term pearl
ing legatO." Let us examine the mech
anism of the piano action. When a
key is depressed the hammer strikes
the string producing a tone; when
the key is released a piece of felt called
tn dampcr falls on the same string,
and as its vibrations are thereby
stopped, the tone ceases. Now if two
tones ere to he PLAYED leG1to, the first
tone must cease To sound at the exact
instant the next one commences. This
is only possible when the two keys
involved in passing from key to key,