The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-14
THE TEACHER AND
 THE PLAYER-PlANO
Prominent Instructors Recognize the Mechanical Player as an
 Aid in Teaching

careful canvass of prominent pi-
 ano teachers in New York, Philadel-
 ed the interesting fact that piano in-
 structors do not show any hostile dis
 position towards the devices generally
 known as player-pianos.
 | On the contrary, one said: The
 player-piano is going to make piano
 teaching more pleasant than it ever
 was by doing away with a good deal i, of drudgery. The player-piano is to
 piano teaching what a picture and 1, sculpture gallery is to the teaching of art.
 flow hopeless it is to impart to an art public a clear understanding of what composition and values mean, unless they can study those various thiHgs as exemplified in the master pieces of the present and of the past. At tn e same tie an art lesson like a. music lesson must for simple reasons be limited to thirty minutes or an hour. The teacher has no time for illustrating his own theories. Very is not eaSily reconcilable with prac- ticing, and not infrequently a very fine teacher is a third rate executant. This should not be held against him, the late Mime. Viardot- Garcia, the fin- est singing teacher of the past half century, could no longer singe a note.
 A school book without illustrations is deadly; the player-piano will serve as a splendid illustrator, for it plays anything at sight. and at the correct tempo too. How much easier it will be for pupil to catch the lit and the swing of a Chopin waltz after hear ing it played on some good player piano. At the sayne time the precious minutes of a music lesson will not be wasted on mere demonstration of what should be done, and can be de- voted to a careful correcting of the pupils work.
 On the other side, it is only a man or woman with certain schooling at the hands of a good teacher who will handle a player-pia,no in a satisfac- tory, artistic fashion,. Technique can be acquired by mere repetition of the say, 'in his fingers"
 Deicacy and tend.,rless of touch. the rounded phrasing that constitutes expression, however must be taught. CTS are most eager to teach. Every body has technique in these days; ev- erybody should have technique and the difference between two virtuos1 does not, consist in the brflliancy of their keyboard pyrotechnics. but it's that little something which causes moisture to appear in the eyes of the audience.
 It is interpretation which counts. slowly, patiently, lovingly. Touch and interpreta tion-all the delight of piano playing is contained in these two words And those are the two things we have now so little time to teach.
 No, we piano teachers are not jeal- ous of the mecha nicai player, and will be only too happy when our pu- pills come to us already familiafized with the masterpieces written for the piano. Our explanations will be so req dilv understood by those who have steeped themselves at home In the proper atmosphere. A mechanical piano-player in the home will do for music students what a good library does for student of literature. It makes wide. reading possible; and it is only, wide reading of music. wide reading of books, which endows one with a ready talent for interpretation of the notes on the bars. fnterpreta- ton of the works on the printed page