The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-09-28
GREATEST TEACHER OF
PIANO IN The WORLD
Theodore Leschetizky, the VII
emma Music Master, Con-
coded This Dintinction.
WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE
Such Is Said by One of His Pupils to
Be the Result Of Taking Lesson
from Famous Master
of Piano.
From Current Literature.

from current Literature.
concentration, it seems, is the watch
word OF Theidor Leschetiszy, the vi
emma music master. In complete, un-
kwerving concentration" says An-
nette Hullah, an English writer, he has
fulfilled his w life and character, and
he is never tired of impressing upon
his pupils the idea that without con-
centration o can do nothing"
Leschetizky's personality and piano
method" both of which are fully de-
scribed by Miss Hullah, nave a real
and vital interest for all mankind. They
helped to mold the careers of several
of the greatest living pianists, among
G~abrilowitch, Fanny Bloomtield-Zeis-
Ter, and for thirty years have drawn,
as a magnet, the promising musical
students of every nation. 1t is we'll to
remember. however, that the 'Leschet-
tZky method" s~o-called, is not in any
strict sense a method at all. Thu term
was coined by LeschetiZky's assistants,
who arranged in a connected series the
technical exercises through which they
ave put the pupils to be prepared for
him. He himself has aid Il have no
technical method. Their are certain
l have found those which succeed best;
but l have no iron rules. How is it
possible one should " them? One
pupil needs this. another that; the
hand of each differs. The brain of
each differs. Their can be no rule. l
am a doctor to whom my pupils come
al patients to be cured of their mu-
steal ailments, and the remedy must
vary in each case" In only n re-
spect can it be said that LeschetiZlly
has originated q method, and this is
in the way in which he teaches his pu-
pills to learn a piece of music. He re-
quires the student to analyZe a COM
position bar by bar. slowly and DELHI
erately engraving cac point on his
mind as on a map. until he knows it
so thoroughly that he can play any
part without the music.
His System of Teaching.
L~eschetlZky endeavors to in%culcate:
"a an absolutely clear comprehension
of the principal points to be studied
in the music on hand; CD a clear con-
ception of where the difficulties lie. and
of the way in which to nqu them;
and 90 the mental realization of these
facts before they are carried out by
the hands. Decide exactly what it is
you want to do in the first place." he
c%ounsels his pupils. then how you will
do it; then play it. Stop and think if
you have played it in the you
have meant TO do; then only, if sure of
this. go ahead. Without concentration,
remember, you can do nothing. The
brain must guide the fingers, not the
fingers the brain" Other points in mu-
steal science have been conveyed by
LeschetZky in felicitous SMILES and
suggestions, as follows:
TO make an affective accelerando
YOU must glide into rapidity as steadily
as a train increases it's speed When
steaming out of a station.
Teach yourself to make a r%allentan-
do evenly by watching the drops of wa
ter cease as you turn off a tap.
"A player With an unbalanced
rhythm reminds me OF an intoxicated
man who cannot walk straight.
IF your wrists are weak, so n roll
the grass in the garden.
IF you want to develop strength and
sensitiveness in the tips of your fling
ers. use them in every day life. For
instance. when you go out for a walk,
mold your umbrella With the tips in
stead of in the palm of your hand.
practice your technical exercises on
a cushion or upon a table sometimes.
You do not. always need the piano to
strengthen your muscles"
LeschetiZky is said to love his pupils
as if they We're his own children; but
las q good father" observes Miss HUI
lah. he considers his duty better lone
through the aid of discipline than Of
sympathy" Like all highly strung
people, he is extremely sensitive to
personality. Once in a While when the
door bell the arrival of the
first pupil, if the professor happens to
be in n fashionable frame of mind, he
will steal down stairs to find out who it
is, and if on peeping surreptitiously
into the room he sees some one anti
pathetic 10 him, he promptly steals up
stairs again and stays there a quarter
of an III or more to recover from
the blow. Like all ind~ividualistic ma
lures, he desires the monopoly of Ger
tain emotions. He may be sad. but
others must not be so. He cannot en-
ny hole hoo ut M mace To-
must and will have. Nor can he bear
dismal solemnity and silence. On one
occasion he gave n lesson to a t%aciturn
lady without uttering a single word.
h would not speak, he said, so why
should She? Still further eccentricities
are %recounted by Miss Hullah:
Is Full Of Sympathy.
He is full Of benevolent sympathy.
But when the time for the lesson
comes, everything but the immediate
need of getting the thing done in the
right way is obliterated from his mind,
all races of this benevolence speedily
disappear. He forgets the pupil is full
OF original sin and cannot wait for
the signs of grace.
This leads to misunderstanding. 1t
leads also to the SUDDEN exit of the pu-
crushing Of music on the floor; to
grim remarks about a future better
spent in tomato planting Once it
led to total darkness. In the intensity
of his feelings the master arose, has
lilly put out the gas, rushed away, and
left the pupils sitting round the class
in silence and gloom till things We're
patched up by some comforting soul
outside.
When all goes we'll. however. a lesson
with Leschetizly is a really wonderful
experience. Says Miss Hullah:
His point Of view is so interesting,
the depth of his comprehensions so
profound, his power of clear exposition
SO great, h parallels he draws be-
tween art n life SO unexpected, that
his listener is held under a spell of
wondering enthusiasm throughout.
Both his ear and his memory are very
remarkable. He is able to retain ac-
curately in his mind every detail in a
piece of music on hearing it for the
first time; and not only to play it
through Immediately a%fterward, but to
discuss points in it.
He sits very still and very straight,
never STOPPING over the keys, or sway
ing aoout. His hands, often partially
resting on the notes, are almost fat,
the wrists low, the fingers doing all the
work, his whole figure taut with the
tension of concentrated thought.
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