Omaha daily bee., 1916-12-10
| 1LMUSICf7 :.
By HENRIETTA M. REEFS.

i the piano where the busy
- little timepiece was marking
iNNIgSN the passage of time Then
- he looked at his watch i'm
patiently, and went to the
door and looked out 1t was the last
lesson OF the afternoon; he had kept
the last student overtime, still the
next one had not come. He walked
back to the window, and then began
restlessly pacing the studio. Soon the
door opened, and there stood young
girl.
How do you do, Miss Average
Pupil" he said. You are ten minutes
late; please hurry and remove your
wraps"
She removes her wraps in silence,
and then begins to rub her hands.
MY hands are so cold and stiff, l
don't believed can even play scales"
she remarks. May go and dip them
in warm water" He assents and it is
fully five minutes more before she has
settled down to the piano, He soon
stops her, mo, that is not right;
fourth finger"
"Oh, yes" she replies. 81 always
played that fourth finger at home. l
do not see how | happened to play it
third, 1t is just because you were
watching me, and you always inspire
me to play the very worst | can"
IF you knew II well enough, I
would not bother you, you would do
it right from habit" He speaks
sternly,
well, I thought | knew that part
snd'l(tik, tik, tik, whispers the
Start back here" says the teacher.
Nov this, you understand, must be
even and very smooth, etc." and he
goes on to explain When hs finishes
he says, Now, you explain It to me,
so that I will be sure you know it."
She only has a vague idea, as part
of the time he explained she was look
ing out of the window, and he has to
go all over it again. Finally she sees
how he wants it and they proceed
Here. here, G sharp! Come back.
What is the matter? Your lesson
seems worse than usual today"
practice last week. My sister and, her
husband and the baby came home for
THANKSGIVING and they stayed over,
and | couldn't ind time to hardly
practice at ALL You should see the
baby, he is the cutest thing; he isn't
a bit afraid and he just loves to play
with me. He is nearly 2 years old
nov, and he''-(tik, tik)-the clock
times on.
"Did you work on any special part
of the lesson when you did practice"
mo, not any one part more than
another"
well, let us read it over as we'll
as you can so that you will not be
working wrong in the difficult parts. 7
Once more they proceed He stops
her frequently, once in review part,
saying, wait a minute, what does
stringendo mean?" OF course, she
doesn't know. ooh, but you have had
that before" He turns back the pages.
What did it mean over here?" Of
course, she doesn't remember. He
turns more leaves. What did it mean
over here?" OF course, she hasn't the
faintest recollection. He leans back
YEARLY. "Did you look it up in your
musical dictionary" Of course, she
had not. He leans back YEARLY. Get
the dictionary and look it up then,
right now. That is the only way to
make you remember it." "Tik, Tx, tik,
tik," said the clock.
That isn't the end Of the story; oh,
dear, no; in fact, it isn't story at all;
it is Just an illustration of how time
is wasted by pupils at their lessons.
Nine-tenths of the mistakes made
are old mistakes; things where the
pupil has been told before and should
know better than to do over again.
Wrong notes, here, wrong lingering
there, maybe they forgot to count, or
Must didn't, and the time is wrong,
yet among the first things they
learned, if they have good teacher,
was time values. Sometimes the pu-
Pills mind wanders, what he isn't
doing seems much more interesting
than what he is, and he uses every
chance to get away from the lesson,
into some other subject. Sometimes
he works under the idea that it is his
fingers or voice only that is to be
trained, and that the teacher is sup
posed to furnish whatever brain
power or inspiration is needed. Some
times it can all be traced to pure
thoughtlessness iii preparation of the
lesson, in conversation at the lesson
and in all the wasted time.
The pupil engages lessons with a
teacher at a certain price per so much
time and the teacher, if legitimate,
earnestly wants the pupil to learn
as much as he can in that time, and
to show results in his work as he
goes along. But half hour passes
quickly, and an hour almost as fast,
and there. are any number of little
things which come up which are
purely a waste of both the pupils and
the teachers time.
Then when the time has flown and
the lesson has not been half finished
-rne pupil will say, Gust let me play
this for you, or that" and get down
to the best business probably shown
all through the lesson. Sometimes he
- III IL