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THE SCIENCE
OF
PIANFORTE PRACTICE.
AN ESSAY

A.' R PARSONS.



THE GIFT OF
Univ. of Micho
School of Music











THE SCIENCE
OF
PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

AN ESSAY
ON

THE PROPER

UTILIZATION OF PRACTICE

TIME..: *
BY
A. R." PARSONS.

NEW YORK:
G. SCHIRMER,
35 UNION SQUARE.
1886.



THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.

COPYRIGHT, z886.
G. SCHIRMER.



PREFACE.
THE prese   essay was prepared by invitation of
the Music Teachers' National Association for delivery
on the occasioi of their meeting in Boston. It is
now published bjv request of many esteemed members
of the profession Who were present at the time and in
response to letters 'since received from various parts of
the United States from others who desire to use its
suggestions as an aid in systematizing and formulating
their own professionali experiences and observations,
and at the same timC to distribute it among their
pupils for self-study in connection with the personal
instruction received from lesson to lesson.
In revising the essay for publication, the main text
has been somewhat amplified in a few places and some
appendices added, with a view to making it as suggestive as possible at all points.

NEW YORK, October, 1886.





OF THE PROPER UTILIZATION
OF PRACTICE-TIME.
SUMMED Up in a nutshell, the proper utilization
of practice-time involves three things:
i. A recognition of useful ends.
2. A knowledge of the best means.
3. A methodic expenditure of time and labor at
once adequate and economical.
The scope of this subject includes everything capable of contributing to the pianist's development from
its earliest beginnings to the full maturity of artistic
powers. The field being too vast to be covered in a
single essay, I shall restrict myself to offering a contribution to the science of practising, in the form of a
presentation of certain points of practical consequence,
the outcome of the experiments and experiences of
some years of professional work.
The matters to be treated fall naturally under the
following heads:
i. Preliminaries' and adjuncts to practice.
2. Of chief ends of practice; and the selection of'
pieces for certain ends.
3. Aids to practice.
4. How to take up new work and perfect it.
5. General points.
6. The relation of practice to playing.



I.

PRELIMINARIES AND ADJUNCTS TO
PRACTICE.
DE QUINCEY says, "The whole body of the arts and
sciences is one vast machinery for the irritation and
development of the human intellect."
Only a trained intellect can hope to solve with distinction the present problems of art. Obviously, then,
the would-be artist should seek the highest possible
culture for every faculty of mind. On an autograph
leaf presented to Billow, Wagner wrote:
" Knowledge is the means appointed to nourish the
flames of inspiration in the artist's breast."
Again, it is said, that one must " strive to know
everything of something and something of everything."
In view of the limitations of all one-sided knowledge
and the fallacies to which it exposes the mind, it is
hardly an exaggeration to say, that without knowing
something of everything, one is really incapable of
that knowledge of everything about something without which no man is master of the situation.
To be sure, in a well-known passage, Berlioz, himself a man of quite exceptional culture and general
accomplishments, cleverly satirizes the musician of the
nineteenth century who, unlike his predecessors of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reads his
Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe all in



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

the original tongues; but who, quite unlike those
predecessors aforesaid, is not quite clear about the
right way to construct the answer to a given fugue
subject. This warning against being a " Jack of all
trades and good at none" receives striking expression
in a proverb of the Sandwich Islands-" A dog has
four legs, but he does not try to walk four ways at
once."
Nevertheless, after giving these admonitions to
concentration of powers and thoroughness of achievement in some particular direction all due heed, it still
remains true that just as the blacksmith by the steady
use of his right arm alone can never become a strong
man, but only a man of unbalanced though unusual
strength in one arm, so the musician who is brought
up exclusively on sounds becomes usually, not an artist, but a mere specialist, with possibly ears of exceptional length to show for his pains! One of the
brightest and most successful of modern English
writers, the author of The Three Fishers and other
poems which have become household words, confessed, when at the zenith of his powers, that he felt
more and more strongly that he did not know enough,
not of the laws of poetry, but instead, of science, to
be a poet in our time. Modern poets, painters, and
musicians must indeed be ever diligently employed
with much besides "the thing they most do show."
To the musician who is truly an artist, music is just
what plumage is to the bird-namely, the most directly obvious outgrowth of the life within. But birds do
not grow their plumage by feeding on feathers, and
to seek to rear the young musician on music only is
to starve his soul. He must " secrete" even his musi


8       THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
cal inspiration from the self-same material whence all
sorts and conditions of men derive courage, enterprise,
character, wisdom, judgment, prudence, feeling, aspiration, ideality, and inspiration. ~Vithout the successful
nurture of these qualities, no amount of skill as a specialist will enable him to become a lord and ruler of
men, or anything more than their most humble of servants; nay, worse, without such nurture he cannot
even feel the true greatness of the achievements of
others in art.
What can a " Tristan and Isolde" signify to one
whose heart and fancy are " dry as summer's dust;" or
"Parsifal" to play-goer or contrapuntist who are
wanting in religious feeling, and to whom the most
sacred of symbols are stage properties!
Hence the need of including among the preliminaries to, and of carrying on hand in hand with the
study of art,* a methodic course of reading touching
the chief points in general literature, science, history,
poetry, and aesthetics.  If, also, the student can emulate
the linguistic attainments of a Liszt, or follow a Tausig
in his mathematical studies, he will feel only the
stronger for it.
But the physical preparation for pianoforte playing
is fully equal in importance to the mental.
Recollecting, then, that all force and endurance
drawn upon in playing must be derived from food
well-digested and assimilated; while our powers of
action depend on muscular elasticity developed by ex* It goes without saying that for the pianist the study of art means the
study of harmony and musical form, as well as the cultivation of his special
instrument.



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.        9
ercise; the importance to the aspiring student is evident of a well-regulated life, with proper hours, proper
food, out-door exercise and gymnastic culture, both
general and special.*
* See Appendix I.



II.

OF CHIEF ENDS OF PRACTICE, AND
THE SELECTION          OF PIECES.
FIRST and foremost among the various ends of practice we specify that of:I. Learning to play the pianoforte well. Then,
2. Learning   to  play  well some    composition
hitherto unfamiliar to the student.
3. Keeping at least one composition always prepared for execution in a finished manner at a moment's
notice.
4. Maintaining within easy reach a working repertory available at short notice, for occasional requirements; and lastly,
5. Simultaneously with the pursuit of these ends,
and as indispensable to their attainment, the development by means of suitable technical exercises:*
i. Of equality, strength, and speed in finger, wrist,
and forearm motions; and,
2. The special culture of the left hand.
It is not a whim thus to head the list of chief ends
of practice, with learning to play the pianoforte well.
So engrossed do students become with the musical
train of thought (to say nothing of the demands made
* Besides other things, a thorough familiarity with Mason's Technics, and
the Technical Exercises, published by the American College of Musicians for
the Demonstrative Examination of candidates, is indispensable here.



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

II

upon the attention by matters of notation and fingering), that when once they have caught, if not tIe idea,
at least some idea of a composition, the sensuous realization of that idea for the ear is frequently neglected,
and with it much of what pertains to playing the
pianoforte well. Instead, however, of practising on
the pianoforte in order to play pieces well, let the student practise his exercises and pieces with a view to
playing the instrument well. The pieces a young student plays now may possess not the least use or interest for him ten years hence; but the value of what
he now learns about the right handling of the instrument is lasting.
The misuse, abuse, or meaningless disuse of the
pedal, in place of its right use, are but some of many
evil consequences of studying pieces rather than the
instrument itself.
As regards the special culture of the left hand, besides other means, it is important to make its powers,
as the weaker hand, the standard by which to determine what may be permitted to the stronger hand.
By thus giving the left hand the lead, the corresponding lobe of the brain is directly called into action, and
thus the hand itself is specially stimulated in the development of its powers. Further, the left-hand part
of every piece should be worked out independently of
the right hand, with all the finish of a carefully prepared secondo part in a duet.
As regards the selection of pieces, this should be
made with a view both to immediate ends and to the
ultimate end of practice-viz., that of mounting by
regular stages to the highest plane of art within one's
reach.



12     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
Pieces selected for immediate ends must of course be
adapted to turn present skill to present account.
As the circumstances of the case alone determine
the actual fitness of a given piece for such a special
purpose, obviously neither recommendations nor restrictions for such selections can be given here; but
everything must be left to individual judgment. But
in connection with pieces chosen with a view to a
graded ascent of the pianist's Parnassus, a word is here
in place concerning the pianoforte examination lists of
the American College of Musicians.*
When an eminent member of the Board of Examiners for the Pianoforte honored me with the invitation to draw up the list of examination pieces which
had the good fortune to be adopted by the Board and
published in the official prospectus of the college, those
selections were made with a view to the following
practical ends:
I. The pieces for the Associate Degree were chosen
with the idea of making the student who should perform them in such a manner as to receive the degree
in question, fully competent to command local reputation as pianist in his own city and vicinity. A national reputation that degree would not insure, because other cities would have their own local celebrities, capable of doing all the taking of that degree
implies.
2. The pieces for the Fellowship Degree were designed to render the successful candidate competent to
win a national reputation, though hardly an international one; because other countries would not fail to
have their own artists of equal skill.
* See Appendix II.

U



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

13

3. The pieces for the Mastery Degree, however,
had a view to nothing less than the conquest of the
habitable globe. There is nothing required for that
degree which the Masters Liszt, Tausig, Rubinstein,
and Bilow have not achieved; but the taking of that
degree will provide any successful candidate with an
artistic passport to the concert-halls of the world.
As long as these lists, or similar ones, remain among
the standards of the college, we would advise in the
choice of pieces, following the plan of faithfully studying after each piece intended for an immediate purpose, at least one work from the examination list for
some particular degree (beginning of course with the
Associateship), and continuing to select on this plan
until all the pieces prescribed for that degree are completed.
Together with this pursuit simultaneously of ends
both immediate and ultimate, a due proportion of
pieces artistically choice, but mechanically easy, should
be worked in from time to time; because just as the
continual changes from the heaviest practicable resistance of action to the lightest presently to be recommended in the use of the techniphone, promote
strength and facility of execution; so, too, changing
from difficult to easy pieces in practice, promotes style
and taste in delivery.



III.

AIDS TO PRACTICE.
IN pianoforte playing, musicianship without technic.
is as a general without an army, technic without musicianship, an army without a general. To constitute
musicianship, two things are necessary, knowledge and
inspiration; to constitute technic, physical strength
and drill.
Having, under the heading of Preliminaries and
Adjuncts to Practice, enumerated various means of
developing the intelligence which true musicianship
demands, we now come to the consideration of such
mechanical appliances and other means as promise
to promote the development of technic by enhancing
the results of practice-time.
Of the appliances to which, for certain ends and
certain students, I have come to attach importance as
true aids to practice, one, the metronome, was introduced in Europe half a century or more ago; the remaining two-namely, the technicon and the techniphone-have been introduced to the profession within
a couple of years, their respective inventors living in
the United States. As the sentiment of the profession
does not yet appear unanimous touching the value of,
these appliances, and meanwhile many persons are
seeking information concerning them of a different
sort from the contents of advertising pamphlets, I



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

15

could not regard a paper on the Utilization of Practice-Time as either candid or complete which should
suppress the public statement of views concerning
them and their uses, which I am accustomed to express
freely in private; and this especially because of my
own original misgivings toward each and all of them,
until after experiments which to myself have remained
conclusive.
The order in which I shall speak of these appliances
is: First, the technicon, as fundamental to clavier
work; secondly, the techniphone, as a special means
of clavier work; and thirdly, the metronome, as regulating and governing clavier work.
In dwelling upon each one in turn somewhat at
length, it will be seen, I trust, from the outset, that the
object is neither to advocate nor to defend the appliances themselves, but only to set forth the principles
on which either their usefulness, or their uselessness,
primarily depends.
FHE TECHNICON.
While Weitzmann, in his tribute to Tausig, under
title of the " Last of the Virtuosos," emphasizes the
need of exceptional physical powers for successfully
attempting the tasks imposed by the modern pianoforte action and the works of modern composers,
Delsarte has enforced the importance, and reduced to
system, the cultivation of what amounts to localized
self-consciousness in every act of every muscle or
member participating in the gestures and movements
of artistic delivery. The technicon appears in harmony with both of these ideas. It is to be regarded as
a gymnasium and a thinking machine in one. The



16     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
tendency of pianoforte playing is to one-sidedness of
muscular action. Hence the trembling of hand away
from the pianoforte, often noticeable in the case of
hard students. I have seen the technicon, by reaching
and developing important muscles not directly called
into play by clavier manipulation, enable an unsteady
hand to remain absolutely quiet and immovable in any
desired position. Again, with the Technicon Manual
as a guide, not only to the movements prescribed, but
also to one's mental operations in performing the
movements, old problems of muscular action and control appear in new lights, problems and sensations
quite novel to the mind are encountered, and one
gains meanwhile for fingers, wrist, and forearm both a
delicately-poised muscular action, and a courage for
antagonizing clavier resistance, which is all but lost
with discreet students, through dread of the cramps
and sprains of which so much has been heard. After
but little right use of the technicon, even when long
out of practice, one finds himself charged to the fingerends with all the pianistic enterprise and aggressiveness of which his nature is capable.
The immediate result of work with both technicon
and techniphone alike is to impress one with the fact
that nine-tenths of the trouble the teacher of technic
has with his most trying pupils, comes from want of
mechanical common-sense in their fingers. These
inventions promote a sensible manipulation of the
pianoforte, because they develop that sort of commonsense more rapidly and thoroughly than any appeal
to either the rational or the imitative faculties of the
average student.
I have found the first week of methodic daily use



TIE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

17

of the technicon to act on the mind's latent theories
and the latent powers of the hand like the warm rains
of early spring, in causing the leaf-buds to burst into
foliage. This, in itself, is an experience associated
with the use of the technicon which it were a great
pity to miss.
Just at this point, however, we must beware of a
serious obstacle to successful self-culture in gymnastics-namely, what might not inappropriately be
termed a law, that while the benefit of gymnastic work
of all sorts is slowly cumulative after the first fresh dash
at it, one's interest in both gymnastic work and appliances is apt to wane with most irrational haste as soon
as the sensation of novelty has passed off. As with
gymnastic appliances in general, so must it fare with
the technicon. If, subsequently, one comes to use it
with mere unthinking routine, the instrument speedily
gets to be of as little use as a Hindoo praying barrel.
The remedy for this must of course be, stated times for,
and a stated order of work in, technicon exercise, together with conscientiousness in everything done.
The foregoing considerations prepare us to look at
the matter in a still more practical, every-day sort of
light.
The elegance of a printed page depends on the variety of styles of type contained in the compositor's cases,
and thus at the service of his taste and judgment in
making up the form. In pianoforte playing the adequacy, elegance, and effectiveness of a performance
depend ultimately upon the store of useful gestures
and movements which the player has within his control as the result of technical drill, apart from the study
of music proper. Accordingly, the point of view from



I18    THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
which the present writer most values both technicon
drill and the daily practice of the rithmic exercises in
Appendix I. is that of, so to speak, storing away in
every muscle, joint, and physical member employed in
playing, an adequate supply of forms of movement appropriate for all possible circumstances and occasions;
so.that the player shall speedily be enabled to concentrate his attention upon the effect to be produced, leaving the selection of movements and gestures to that
end, to the unconscious determination of (cultivated)
instinct. In other words, the result of the drill and
practice in question should be related to playing, as are
dancing and military steps to the habitual carriage of
the body.
The final relation of mind and muscle in technicon
practice may be illustrated as follows:
A country parson bound for a neighboring village
to preach on a summer's afternoon mounts his saddlebags and jogs along the way, thinking of neither horse,
road, nor distance, but solely of what he will say to his
congregation. So, in using the technicon, after forearm, hand or finger (as the case may be) isin place, and
the practice has begun, the mechanical appliance,
though it of course continues to guide the performance
of the movements, and to impose upon the muscles
labor of a useful nature, should pass out of thought,
leaving the mind occupied solely with the volitional
side of the problem i.n hand.
As to the amount of resistance desirable in,technicon work, it is only necessary to remember that
managing heavy resistance with slow movements increases strength; but that elasticity of muscular action
(the chief requisite in playing) comes only from keep


THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

19

ing up moderately fast movements with slight resistance, until a warm glow of healthy, free exercise is
diffused through the muscle under treatment.
Doubtless all mechanical appliances must share the
fate of the Decalogue, in occasionally falling into the
hands of individuals like those of whom a metropolitan
preacher lately affirmed that they could manage somehow to " keep all the Ten Commandments literally all
their lives, and yet never reach the kingdom."
Carlyle has said that" Napoleon was a divine messenger preaching the great doctrine, that the tools belong to him who can handle them;" and Dr. Johnson
had said long before that genius itself was "understanding the use of tools."
Meanwhile, even the best of mechanical aids must
ever bring more joy to one aspiring student conscious
of his needs, and desirous to leave no stone unturned
to satisfy them; than to ninety and nine just persons
who feel no need of the aid such instrumentalities
offer. In the mere leaving no stone unturned, there
often lies a reward like that which followed obedience
to the charge of a father to his sons, to dig a field for
buried treasure. Though neither gold norjewels were
found, the harvest, we are told, was abundant.
THE TECHNIPHONE.
While the technicon assumes that by means of
mental concentration in technical work we can, so to
speak, get brains in our fingers, the techniphone formally denies that we now have, or can ever get, ears in
our fingers.
Hence its assumption, that in all finger-drill not



20      THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
directly concerned with the study of tone-formation
and tone-shading, the presence of musical tones in unmusical groupings is a distracting and wearisome superfluity. It farther assumes that in the, so to speak, sham
fights of the mechanical stages of practice with pieces,
instead of firing the ball cartridges of pianoforte tones,
firing the blank cartridges of the techniphone clicks
answers every purpose-nay, that in these disciplinary
evolutions, filling the air with actual missiles of sound
is in many ways harmful; an assumption not likely to
be antagonized by the distinguished musician * who is
to discuss this paper formally; since he himself is the
inventor, and has demonstrated the value, of a practiceinstrument incapable of firing even a blank cartridge
or making so much as a click when the trigger is
pulled!
I have found that the techniphone click defines
precision of finger-action more sharply than can the
pianoforte-tone; while by its stop controlling different
degrees of resistance, it accustoms the fingers to
managing all kinds of actions, light or heavy, with
playful ease. In repetitional practice, whether upon finger-exercises or pieces, the techniphon.e helps utilize
time to the utmost; because while it keeps a sharp
watch over the quality of finger-action, it spares the
sensitive auditory nerves the tension which at the
pianoforte easily induces nervous irritability and impatience, and thus interferes with getting the needful
quantity and quality of exercise.
Finally, the techniphone enables one speedily to
acquire remarkable fire and dash for attacking bravura
passages.
* Mr. Carlyle Petersilea.



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

21

To learn what rate of interest the techniphone can
yield on a given investment in practice-time, take the
final presto of Chopin's G-minor Ballade, playing it in
moderate tempo-say twenty times on the techniphone.
Take the first, third, fifth, etc., times with the heaviest
practicable resistance of action; the second, fourth,
sixth, etc., with the lightest, and so on alternately to
the twentieth time. Then, after a brief pause, begin on
the pianoforte a couple of pages before the presto,
and dash right through to the end. The result will
throw valuable light on some of the possibilities of
practice-time. Of course the refinements of tone-shading and the artistic expression of pieces demand pianoforte practice. But, thanks to the techniphone, I have
heard excellently recited difficult pieces which, owing
to sickness in the family or to visitors, had been learned
wholly without the pianoforte.
After what has now been said on this point, it will
surprise no one to learn that since the writer became
possessed of a techniphone he has never done half an
hour's mechanical practice on the pianoforte;but has
reserved this instrument exclusively for musical uses
in the strictest sense, and with the result that the
pianoforte has regained for the ear all the charm and
freshness of beauty which a protracted use of it as a
practice instrument often does so much to dispel forever.
THE METRONOME.
If the metronome suggests only a glance at a certain conventional sign at the beginning of a piece, and
then a mad race through the notes, heedless of everything save the inexorable tick-tack of the conscience


22     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
less machine, then, confessedly, it is no aid to practice.
But started at a judiciously moderate tempo, and
then set faster and faster by regular degrees as practice progresses, it enables one to apply himself systematically to the working out of a given problem, for
days or weeks, independent of varying moods. Without its aid, the tempo of practice varies incredibly
from day to day, nay, even hour to hour, according to
the state of the weather, of one's nerves, etc. Yesterday, perhaps, everything moved on quietly. To-day
cloudy skies and a heavy air cause everything to drag
stupidly.  To-morrow one's spirits are above par, and
everything fairly spins.  But the day after, nervous
restlessness induces injurious hurrying, and an indigestion in the fingers follows, unfitting the hand for
smooth playing for a day or two.
In contrast to this, judicious practice with the
metronome means steadiness and repose of mind and
muscles in work. In relieving the mind of responsibility for steadiness of tempo, and supplying a graded
scale for safely increasing the speed, the mental strain
of prolonged practice is surprisingly lightened. Meanwhile, during even the longest journey down the
index of the metronome, interest is sustained 'by the
record of distance travelled and the possession of a
schedule of successive points yet to be overtaken.
Such a record, day by day, and week by week, of
natural and steady growth in execution often affords
solid encouragement, where without it both student
and teacher might be discouragingly unconscious of
progress actually made.
_'For the removal of obstructions encountered at par


THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

f

ticular points in pieces, set the metronome at a decidedly slow tempo at the start. Execute the difficult
passages with decision two or three times. Then take
the tempo one notch faster; repeat for the same
number of times, and advance still another notch.
Renew this process until four successive notches have
been passed. Then turn back three at once, and resume work from a point thus one notch in advance of
the original start. Continue this zigzag process of
advancing four notches and then turning back three
until the highest speed with accuracy at present
attainable is reached. If this does not meet the needs
of the music, then determine how far back to go in
metronome tempo for a fresh start.' This is not
carrying things by storm, but achieving them  by
regular process of sapping and mining; not reaching
a given point by bursts of speed, but getting there as
certainly and as comfortably as if by horse-car.
The same procedure is singularly efficacious in
learning pieces like the "Toccata" of Schumann, Liszt's
"Erlking," etc., whose conquest involves both the
mastering of particular clavier combinations and a
great increase in and over all one's previous powers of
execution. Here the metronorhe process is like, not
making one's fortune by forced or excited speculations,
but instead going West and prosperously growing up
with the country.
Again, take the case of amateurs under sentence
to play something in public, and who, as the hour
for the execution of their piece draws nigh, sit
and shiver in clammy terror, as if their own execution
were impending! Who shall describe the damage
done even to well-learned pieces in the last hours,



24,    THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
when such temperaments sit wildly fidgeting    at
the instrument, as if fearing their mortal senses
would forsake them at the supreme moment if ever
they ceased for so much as an instant their nervous
fussing over their selections!
Now, with such a full head of steam on in advance,
there need be no fear of insufficient speed when the
time comes.  Here a carefully moderated metronome
tempo in all further practice will regulate the operation of the machinery and ballast the ship for steady
sailing when the time for setting out arrives.
A word as to metronomic designations of tempo in
pieces. The increased capabilities of the pianoforte in
point of sonority and variety of tone-color, says Kullak, justify increased breadth of style and a judicious
moderating of the speed once thought indispensable
to the brilliant style; for which moderation of speed, in
view of the present weight of the action, the pianist's
fingers cannot but be very grateful.  Hence the
musician, if he consults absolute metronomic signs at
all, does so chiefly with a view to comparing them with
his own impressions on the subject.
Does any one still hold the use of the metronome
to be dangerous to musical sensibility? If so, it may
be briefly replied that without trained precision of
rithm as a habit in playing, all ritardations and accelerations become deflections not from a straight line, but
from a wavering one; the result being more or less
suggestive of the crooked peregrinations of the famous
crooked little man with a crooked little staff down the
crooked little lane.
It was doubtless a recognition of this which led
that artist who, both as composer and as pianist,



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

25

made the greatest and most systematic use of the
tempo rubato yet known in the history of musicI refer, of course, to Chopin-to make a more constant use of the metronome both in teaching and in
practising than probably any other artist of equal
rank.
In all but the first stages in practising a piece of
music with the metronome, the student should follow
Chopin's instruction to play in accordance with the
special designation wherever a casual accelerando or a
ritenuto occurs, and thenceforth to proceed independently of the metronome stroke until the recurrence
of the tempo-primo.
But, after all, to such objections Beethoven's answer
is sufficient. It is, namely, the Allegretto to the 8th
Symphony, whose motive was inspired by, and composed to be sung to, the tick-tack of the then newlyinvented metronome.  Here, again, we see genius
understanding the use of tools. In this immortal
poem of tenderness, beauty, grace, and symmetry, all
revealed in most exquisite combination, the metronome received formal canonization.
Thenceforth it has only remained for the faithful to
regard it to the end of edification.
THE PRACTICE PROGRAM BOOK.
Of unsystematic work the results are palpable. A
new piece almost learned, its predecessor not quite
forgotten, and a portfolio of relics of former attempts
now more or less unmanageable and honeycombed
with faults-in how many cases is not this the net result even of years of study?



26        THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
The remedy for this disorder is to open a book
with detailed specifications of work to be done, and a
precise record of all transactions during practice hours.
This book should prescribe exactly how to divide all
the time which is available for study, so as to cover
the following points:I. Technical work.
2. The new piece (sonata, fugue, art-etude, fantaisie,
etc.)
3. The playing piece.
4. The substitute; (to replace the present playing
piece before it becomes stale.)
5. A half-hour review devyted to carefully reviewing-say three times in          turn-the pieces to        be kept
within reach for use at short notice.
6. Another half-hour review, devoted to one important piece at a time; the pieces being changed every
day or every two or three days.
7. Free play, as distinct from everything like practice.*
* Playing from memory is indispensable if one is to use pieces of music
as means to the playing of the instrument itself in the most artistic sense of
the word. Why, then, it may be asked, is no place given to memorizing
in the outline of a prpgram to be followed in making up the practice book?
The answer is, that the outline assumes for the majority of students (i. e.,
amateurs) not all the time for practice which is on any account desirable,
but instead, about the least amount that can possibly be made to suffice.
Fortunately, the tendency of the various forms of repetitional and review
work provided for in that outline is to make it eventually impossible to
forget what has been practised so much and in so many ways. Where this
does not follow and the student has but from two to two and a half hours
for practice every day, in most cases the special cultivation of such a
naturally poor memory would require, to be effective, an amount of time
which would necessitate the neglect of other things of more immediate
importance.
With from three hours upward at his command, however, the student



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

27

By taking one of the half-hour reviews and fifteen
minutes for the playing piece one day, and the other
review and fifteen minutes for free play the next,
and so on alternately, the whole scheme can be executed with but two hours of daily practice. Or it may
1 be expanded to four or five hours.
Next, for convenience' sake, the names of all pieces
in  hand    should    be written     down    in  the   book    and
numbered      in order.    The numbers will afford          a convenient way of designating the pieces everywhere else
in the book.
The book being thus laid out, some chief modes of
using it may best be shown by considering our next
topic; viz.:should as a rule devote say thirty minutes daily to memorizing. For the guidance and encouragement of those to whom it seems a formidable undertaking to attempt to develop the memory, it may be stated once and for
all, that there never was a person who could not learn one measure of music
by heart; that the learning of that first measure is fully worth the entire
amount of time required to achieve it; that any one who has memorized
one measure can then certainly learn two, and probably four more measures
with no greater expenditure of time than the first single measure cost; that
from this point on the progress will be steadily easier, more rapid and more
solid; and finally, that after the first entire piece has been memorizedl the
way is open for learning ten pieces, and he who knows ten pieces by
memory can just as easily command fifty in a reasonable time and with a
reasonable amount of daily practice.
With from three to five pieces memorized, the time devoted to free play
should, as a rule, be devoted to playing from memory.
At the same time, the process of improvising one's pieces at the instrument
in free play by memory develops so many new points in shading and
delivery, that the student will need here to make it a rule, at stated intervals
to perform the memorized pieces from the notes with watchful care, lest he
come finally to draw unconsciously upon his imagination for his facts in
certain places, and in others to substitute dynamic effects, or even rithms,
of his own for those indicated in the original, a liberty which should of
course never be taken-unless the effect happens to be particularly satisfactory!



IV.

HOW TO TAKE UP NEW WORK AND
PERFECT     IT.
ON first taking up a new piece, it usually presents
apparent difficulties in some places, and hides real
ones in others. Time is economized by at once dividing the piece according to its component subjects, if
it have more than one; subdividing further, wherever
marked changes of rithm occur; and lastly, marking off
separately all special runs or passages. This is making a diagnosis of the case prior to entering upon its
treatment.
Next, the thematic divisions should be numbered
with Roman numerals, I., II., III., etc., to the end of
the piece. Then the rithmical or other subdivisions
should be marked, a, b, c, etc., to the end. And
finally each passage or cadenza should be considered
separately. Wherever the least pretext exists for
practising with either hand alone, advantage should
be taken of the opportunity. The piece being thus
fully marked off in practice-sections, it is now ready
to be taken up in small coherent portions, first with
the left hand alone, then with the right, and finally
with both hands together. Next follows the prescription-namely, to each of these practice-sections
should be assigned a definite number of repetitions, according to the apparent needs of the case. Thus one



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

29

might judge respecting a certain left-hand portion,
that twelve repetitions would gain a mastery of the
notes, eight more give security of execution, and an
additional eight develop some facility and style. Accordingly, the prescription for that portion would be
twenty-eight repetitions. The whole piece being thus
mapped out in detail, the prescription should be entered at length in the practice program book, and
the practice begin.
Opposite each item of the prescription, the student
should make a separate pencil-mark after each repetition performed until the prescribed number is completed. In no case is anything to be done with any
following section before the one in hand has received
its full number of repetitions. When these prescriptions have all been literally carried out to the end of
the piece, the prospect will be sufficiently clear to make
it easy to decide what to do next: whether to repeat
the process with all or some of the subdivisions, and
with more or fewer repetitions at different points; or
to practise now the chief subjects, or the piece connectedly as a whole.
Such an exact diagnosis, resolving a piece into
small practice portions, with a specific prescription for
each part, of course involves some trouble at the
start; but the result will yield the rewards which
always attend the application of radical instead of
superficial treatment.
Even with methodic treatment, however, progress
occasionally will be good only up to a certain point,
beyond which for the time being an hour's practice
daily may accomplish no more than will a few repetitions every day or two; for the musical palate, too,



30     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE,
requires variety; indeed, neither eyes, ears, fingers,
nor mind respond after a certain time to the musical
foods placed before them, but all alike demand instead
a positive change of diet.
Therefore, it is well in attacking a new piece not to
count too confidently on achieving it in one unbroken
series of conflicts, renewed day by day until it has
succumbed. Rather, let the student throw his whole
energies into the work daily as long as ground is visibly gained, and until the chief difficulties are at least
hemmed in. If then its surrender does not follow
within a reasonable time, let it be formally invested,
and metronome parallels be run zigzagging toward
its ultimate tempo. Having thus methodically laid
siege to it somewhere in the time for review work or
that set apart for a substitute for the playing piece, the
student may now direct his efforts chiefly toward
something else, perhaps another new piece.
This mode of procedure somewhat resembles a military campaign, in that one does not foresee precisely
which objective points will be, achieved first, but only
determines the line of effort to be pursued. By making a well-planned and resolute attempt to conquer at
once; and then if only partly successful, never completely abandoning anything once seriously undertaken; sooner or later all one has sought is attained,
though here, too, often the first is last and the last is
first.
Of every twenty weeks' instruction, say the first fourteen may be devoted to such campaigning, steadily
engaging new pieces as fast as old ones are well in hand.
The remaining six weeks should be devoted to finally
rounding off all the material previously accumulated.



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

31

In these final weeks I have found it effective to
divide the practice time for pieces into three periods
of from thirty minutes to an hour each; the first
period being devoted to reviewing each piece in its
turn three times in succession, thus going the rounds
of all the pieces in hand every few days; the second
period, devoted to one piece only at a time, changing
pieces every day; and the third period also to but one
piece, changing, however, only every three days.
A practice book managed on these principles makes
study-time fly swiftly and profitably. It gives to the
diligent the largest and most intelligible returns for
time expended; and is strikingly effective in awakening
interest, and developing studious habits among those
usually indifferent or averse-to practice.
Let every student open such an account between
his work and his time, the debtor side showing what
should be done and the creditor side what is done.
Then if he is carrying too large a stock at any time or
dealing in goods which neither immediately nor in the
long run yield any profit, the fact will appear from'the
records. In all such cases a clear exhibit of the true
state of affairs can but facilitate the discovery of the
proper remedy for them.*

* See Appendix III.



V.

GENERAL       POINTS.
IT goes without saying that in practising one must
always attend to the following things, and in their
precise order of importance as here given-viz.: notes,
fingering, digitals (finger "keys"), tone quality, legato and staccato, counting, pedals, (foot " keys") and
expression.
In all difficult passages, whether of broken chords,
arpeggiations, or cadenzas, it is essential first to subdivide the notes not according to the metre or rithm,
but instead according to the positions of hand into
which the tones most appropriately fall. A position
of hand, namely, comprises all the tones which are
played without passing the thumb under the fingers
or the fingers over the thumb. The limits of these
hand-positions frequently do not coincide with the
rithmical divisions shown by the notation. But no
matter how the eye may take these rithmical divisions, it is the hand-positions which, like words to be
learned and pronounced in succession, make the
meaning clear-to the fingers, so that they are enabled
to utter the sentences without confusion or stumbling.
These words, or hand-positions, are first to be practised one by one. When each one goes as smoothly
as a well-digested five-finger exercise, it will be easy
for the hand to combine these words into sentences,



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

33

and then to utter them in the rithmical order disclosed
by the notation.*
If I am not mistaken, it was Tichatscheck, the
famous singer who continued impersonating Tannhaiuser and Lohengrin at Dresden until he had passed
his sixtieth year-it was Tichatscheck who assured
Wagner that one could do anything with the voice
if only one started with the right idea and from the
right point of view. The pianist finds this equally
true in his art, where usually the hardest things are
the easiest, because otherwise they would be impossible. This, to be sure, sounds paradoxical; but it
corresponds with the fact that the easiest things are
the hardest, because otherwise every one could do
them, while in fact only great artists do easy things
thoroughly well.
Again, all the clavier combinations encountered in
a given composition must first be thoroughly kneaded
like so much dough and then well masticated by the
fingers, in order to ensure a thorough digestion and
assimilation of the technical material by both hand and
brain, and thus promote artistic nourishment and
growth.
In this clavier mastication, eschewing the mumbling articulation, characteristic of hands which have
not yet cut their wisdom-teeth, one should emulate
the clean bite to the bone of a masterly touch and
execution.
Then, too, the tension of the touch must be regulated for different compositions and different actions,
like the thread of the sewing-machine for sewing

* See Appendix IV.



34     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
different materials. With some players the tension of
touch is always so excessive as to threaten to make
the stoutest thread snap or the seam gather in the
sewing. With others, it is so slight that the tones
seem loosely run together, as if with basting threads.
Moreover, even in the gentlest touch there should
always be enough percussion to cause each string
struck to emit, as it were, a spark of light.
The precise nature of the touch employed must be
determined by the character of the music. Recognizing at a glance whether he has to do with the expressive or the brilliant style, the student must proceed
methodically to employ either the expression-touch the
execution-touch, or some suitable modification of one
or both. Stated broadly, for the expression-touch the
normal position of the fingers must be modified sufficiently to bring rather more than usual of the sensitive,
fleshy underside of the finger in contact with the
surface of the digital to be operated, thus facilitating
a natural mode of pressing out (ex-press-ing) the tone;
while for the execution-touch, the fingers must be
rounded to the utmost, nearly bringing the very fingernails into contact with the digitals, and so promoting
a sharply defined cutting out (exe-cut-ion) of the
tones by means of the most concentrated use of the
powers of the fingers.
In using the expression-touch, the tones (whether
they occur singly or in chords) are pressed down and
out, with the cordial energy and ease of a strong,
friendly grasp of the hand, the arm contributing not
energy but weight, and co-operating with hand and
fingers solely as a ballast. In using the executiontouch, the closely-rounded fingers form, as it were,



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

35

sharp-edged tools, sometimes operating in combination and cutting out chords on the clavier-surface as
tin cake-cutters "execute" shapes in dough; and sometimes operating singly, cutting out scales and runs as
the knives of a mowing machine "execute" clean
swaths through grass or grain. The expression-touch
is so similar to the ordinary use of the fingers in everyday life, that it may be said to be the natural touch,
and thus less in need of special cultivation than the
execution-touch, which, on the contrary, is a purely
technical use of the fingers, to meet exigencies peculiar
to the effective handling of the modern pianoforte.
Namely, it is a fact well known, though often neglected,
that with the fall of the damper on the strings the
instant a digital is released, the audible vibration of
the tone does not stop at once, any more than does
the surface of a slate dry off the very instant the damp
wiping-sponge is removed. Hence, a passage rapidly
executed with the strict legato touch proper for a
well-sustained melody must inevitably be blurred in
effect, and more or less suggestive of characters written
on blotting-paper, with the same use of the pen as
upon writing-paper.
Accordingly, in all brilliant passage-work, the modern
pianist must take special care, first, to have his fingers
very exactly " set" for their work, and then, with freely
playing joints, to make every motion at once con-cise,
pre-cise, in-cis-ive, and de-cis-ive-in brief, scis-sor-like
throughout; and, secondly, out of every six parts of attention, to give one part to the important matter of the
attack of the new tone, and fully five parts to the still
more important matter of getting the finger which is already down away from the last digital previously struck.



36     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
Thus, the execution-touch follows the law of successful shop-keeping, that while care is needed in taking
in new goods, the success of the business depends on
the merchant's ability to clear out his previous stock
before it is behind the "time."  Indeed, we may
pursue the analogy farther, and in the merchant who
to avoid carrying his stock too long, systematically
closes out parts of it at a sacrifice of values, we may
see the commercial counterpart of the pianist, who to
maintain absolute freshness in his brilliant passages, by
preventing their component tones from sounding on
over the proper time, closes them out one by one at
a sacrifice of real values, by executing them non legalo,
a mode of delivery impossible of attainment before
the mastery of the true legato touch, but which, first
suggested in the works of Beethoven, attained the
highest effectiveness in the pianism of that extraordinary artist, the lamented Carl Tausig, and is now
familiar to us in America through the perfect transparency it imparts to the technical exploits of the most
brilliant of Tausig's pupils, Rafael Joseffy.
As regards tempo, practice should never be either
lazy or reckless, fast or slow, but always just righti. e., at once prudent, energetic, circumspect, and enterprising.
The horse-trainer sits at ease in his gig, with reins
and whip in hand. When the horse slackens speed,
the whip keeps him up to time; when he hastens, the
reins hold him in check, thus securing steady, healthful work without either waste of time or exhaustion
of strength.  So, too, the player, seated at ease
(therefore with a suitable back-rest for protracted
practice) and abstracting  himself from  his hands



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

37

almost as completely as if they were only horses
under training, should keep them busily at work at the
right mean between too little and too much effort.
Furthermore, at all times cultivate grace.
Just as the adjustments of size, weight and tension of
material which make the span of the suspension-bridge
a possibility, simultaneously determine the gracefulness of its outlines; so the solution of the highest
problems of pianoforte playing is inseparable from
the cultivation of grace.
Herbert Spencer somewhere develops the idea of
the graceful in performance in about this way: given
a desired end, and given a knowledge of the best
means to that end, then that use of means which
involves least effort will be most graceful.
Again, granting the fundamental assumptions of
sculpture and painting, that the various expressions of
the human face are a key to accompanying frames of
mind and attitudes of will; it follows, that in practice
one should suit the facial expression to the work in
hand.  Let the student recognize firmly-set teeth,
an energetic mien, and a concentrated glance, as direct
aids to overcoming obstacles, and beware of a dropping, irresolute jaw when a difficult passage is encountered.
A word as to rithm. Rithm is the heart-beat of
music. Just as a sound heart-beat is the same in peasant as in noble, so the rithmic heart-beat of noble
music should be no less normally strong and healthful
than in the less refined music of the masses.
One point more, and we leave this branch of our
subject.
Mere contact of finger in playing does not suffice to



38     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
give security of finger action without the acquirement
of a true touch; but so, too, mere contact of sight with
the notation does not ensure accurate music-reading
without the development of, so to speak, security of
optical touch. The eye, namely, tnust be trained to
seize upon and tenaciously retain the precise contents
of the printed page with marked precision of touch, or
it will be unable to flash its perceptions distinctly and
effectually to the brain, as the centre whence emanate
all the physical movements of playing. It is indeed an
open question whether in the long run this training of
the eye does not proceed more slowly at best than
that of the fingers. Hence, notwithstanding the advantages of playing by memory, playing in a finished
manner from notes is at least of equal importance.
It goes without saying that the cultivation of the
faculty of attention to minutest details is as important in the study of music as in any branch of learning.
Hence, too great stress cannot be laid on the use of
editions such as those of Riemann, Billow, Klindworth,
etc., which make the most incessant demands upon
both the attention and the intelligence of the student.
It has been said that he who makes two blades of
grass to grow where but one grew before is a public
benefactor.  Surely, the scholar who enables the
student of music to perceive two distinctions in the
masterpieces of musical art for every one otherwise
within his reach, is deserving of respectful attention,
at the very least. It is not affirmed that our great
musical editors are infallible, or that none of their
conclusions may be gainsaid; but only that one is not
competent to pass upon their conclusions before he
has practically mastered them.



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.

39

The cannibal chief who cannot rest before he has
captured and eaten the heart of the bravest foes he
can find, in order that he himself may increase in
valor by what he feeds upon, has a lesson for those
who are ambitious in art.   Thus does the First
Symphony of Beethoven show that its young author
had already, so to speak, eaten the hearts of Mozart and
Haydn; thus did Wagner grow mighty by devouring
the hearts of Beethoven, Weber, and Bach; and precisely in the same way will that student of the pianoforte who feeds with avidity upon the vital principles
of the well-matured editions of our great musical
scholars, become, not a mere imitator of them, but
instead, himself a thinker; clear, strong, and free as
they.
So obviously true, indeed, is this, that the instincts
of nearly all intelligent students incline strongly
toward the most minutely revised and annotated editions. Among teachers, however, even of good standing, there are only too many who feel as averse to the
continual fine-tooth combing and repeated thorough
brushing of their stock-in-trade of ideas, which are involved in keeping abreast of the best thought of the
day; as do certain dandy savages of Central Africa to
ever taking down, renovating, and reconstructing the
elaborate head-dress of plaited hair and straw which it
is their custom to laboriously erect once and for all in
early life, and thenceforth religiously to preserve as if
the least alteration of it must necessarily endanger the
continuity of their consciousness of personal identity.
It is from such teachers that one hears the cant of
" preferring the Beethoven edition of Beethoven's
sonatas," which of course only means, preferring the



40     THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
speaker's own personal conception and unwritten edition of the master's works. One does not hear from
Shakespearean scholars of any such preference for the
" Shakespeare edition of Shakespeare," close and continual as is the study given to the earliest editions of
the dramatist's works.
Quite another sort of a teacher was Professor Dr.
Theodore Kullak, who at nearly sixty years of age, far
from confusing his personal identity with the ideas he
from time to time entertained, was wont to say to
such of his pupils as were able to bear the doctrine,
" What I told you day before yesterday was the conclusion to which years of experience and study had
then brought me. If I tell you something different
on the same point to-day, it is not because I am inconsistent, but because I am two days older and speak
from still longer experience now-because I am still
alive and growing. When I cease to change my views,
even of long years' standing, I shall be intellectually
dead."  Hence Kullak not only used and commended
the great editions of the masters which appeared in
the last years of his life and labors, but he also elaborated his own poetically interpretative edition of
Chopin, upon the basis of the assumption that every
such work by men of scholarship and standing was a
contribution to the world's store of useful knowledge.
The last topic to be treated, and that very briefly,
is:



VI.

THE RELATION OF PRACTICE TO
PLAYING.
THE student must sharply distinguish between the
nature and essentials of practice and those of playing.
For he who half plays when he should be practicing,
is apt to find himself forced to half practice when he
should be playing.
The business of practice-time properly utilized is to
accumulate all needful resources for playing. But it
remains to be pointed out that practice will carry one
just so far and no farther. It will never completely
bridge over the interval between inability to play artistically and ability to do so. One must build stone
upon stone as far as possible toward the opposite
shore; but at the last a leap will be necessary in order,
from the standpoint of artistic inspiration, to reach
backward and completely link the ideal and the real,
expression and mechanism, in the production of a
living work of art; at once mechanically without flaw,
and at the same time the expression of immediate
spiritual perception and spiritual liberty. With this
final leap practice has little to do; and personal character, talent, will, and a courage born of experience
nearly everything. It requires nerve and experience
to make the final leap at artistic conclusions successfully, so as to alight on one's feet. Hence the value



42'    THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.
of giving time daily to free play. By heeding scrupulously every requisite of real practice in practice-time,
one becomes fitted for and entitled to the liberty and
the hazards of free play, as the immediate pursuit of
artistic ends, with  a purely unconscious, instinctive, and instantaneous selection of the means employed.
Finally, lest the tenor of this paper should seem too
much in the direction of interfering with the student's
impulses, and curtailing his natural rights to freedom
and spontaneity of action; let us call in the aid of an
illustration by way of justification.
The pianoforte-playing world divides into two chief
species, which may be termed respectively the apathetic and the pathetic. Of these species the apathetic
embraces that highly-respectable  contingent who
never would, will not now, and never mean to practice; the pathetic species, by far too large a proportion of the remainder. This species may fitly be
termed the pathetic, because its doings remind one
only too vividly of the sad goings-on in a room
swarming with insects on a hot summer's day. Any
amount of unresting activity there surely is; any
amount of futile darting hither and thither; any
amount of fruitless knocking of heads against impenetrable panes in vain efforts to reach the outer sunshine,
so tantalizingly near; and any number of exhausted
ones of whom it is evident that if they have failed,
'twas not because they did not screw their courage up
to the sticking-point; while only a few make a beeline through the open door, and those few seemingly
more by luck than by wit.
The picture points its own moral. The number of



THE SCIENCE OF PIANOFORTE PRACTICE.   43
blanks drawn in the lottery of planless labor should
force the attention of students to the burning question-How to lift the quest of the prizes of art from
the level of semi-blind happy-go-luckiness to the plane
of an exact science.
THE END.



APPENDIX I.

(To page 9.)
THE means of general gymnastic culture are too
well known to require description here. The special
gymnastic exercises recommended for daily use as
preliminary to every sort of clavier practice are cited
from the " Rithmical Exercises for Shoulder, Forearm,
Wrist and Fingers," by the author of this essay (published by G. Schirmer, N. Y.).
Experience shows, that the cultivation-particularly
with a suitable variety of important rithms-of those
forms of gymnastic work which are most directly related to the movements and gestures of pianoforte
playing, subserves various useful ends.
Thus, the shoulder exercises not only develop
those muscles of back and shoulder, whose importance
Chopin emphasized and Rubinstein's playing exhibits
in movements and gestures of clearest significance,
but also, by expanding the chest and lungs and
counteracting the student's tendency to round shoulders, they improve the airation of the blood, and thus
directly promote health and vitality.  Such exercises,
therefore, if brought into general use, will give to
pianoforte students, as a body, the physical vigor
which, as a rule, they have notoriously lacked; and
will make the cultivation of their instrument take at
least equal rank with vocal music as a means of promoting general physical development.



APPENDIX.

45

Meanwhile, the use of metronomically-regulated
rithms, both in gymnastic work and in practice, not
only prevents excitement of mood and allays nervous
restlessness, but also, besides awakening and training
the rithmic sense which is artistically so important, it
enables the student to get an amount of exercise at a
single practice which would otherwise be impossible
without muscular exhaustion. For it is a fact of
consequence to the student that, even when the point
of fatigue has been reached in exercise, a simple
change of rithm will enable him to take a fresh start
without the loss of a minute's time, and proceed with
a new series of movements, as though no fatigue had
been felt.
The exercises here given occupy less than fifteen
minutes in performance when executed the prescribed
number of times, with metronomic beating as directed.
Hard-pressed indeed for time must that student be
who cannot find a way to go through them regularly
every day in addition to his practice at the instrument;
especially as the best time to do them is early in the
morning before breakfast.
In thus prescribing such a number of repetitions as
will bring the work within fifteen minutes, it is not
the intention to prohibit a greater number of repetitions, whether of any or all of the exercises. The
prescription here given is to serve simply as a basis
for beginning with them. A little experience will
show how to increase the amount of work in accordance with the needs or the capacities of the individual
student, and the time at his command.



46

APPENDIX.

RITHMICAL EXERCISES
FOR THE SHOULDERS, FOREARM, AND
WRIST.
SET the metronome for all of the exercises at" Ioo"
for a movement and a count to each stroke.
A.
IN A STANDING POSITION.
I. SHOULDER EXERCISES.
Repeat each rithm four times.
(a) Shoulders DOWN and UP.
EXERCISE i.-Position: Start with the shoulders
lifted well UP, the arms being freely suspended at
the sides. At stroke " I " of the metronome throw
the shoulders promptly DOWN. Remain perfectly
QUIET, with the shoulders DOWN until the time
of the first note of the rithm expires. With the
second note, let the shoulders return, as with an elastic
recoil, to the original position, UP, here again to remain
QUIET until the next " i," thus:
Rithm i.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

I

Down.
I

Up.
2
2

Quiet.    Quiet.
3         4

Down.     Quiet.   Up.     Quiet.
S
I        2        3        4



APPENDIX.

47

Rithm 3.--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Down.    Quiet.   Quiet.   Up.
d.
I        2        3       4
Down. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Up.
I      2      3     4

Rithm 5.Movement. Down. Up. Quiet. Quiet.      Quiet.
Rithm.
Count.         I         2      3        4
(b) Shoulders BACKWARD and FORWARD.
EXERCISE 2.-Position: Start with the shoulders
well UP.   From this position throw the shoulders
energetically BACK on the first note of each rithm,
and return on the second.
Rithm I.Movement. Back.    Forward.   Quiet.   Quiet.
Rithm.                 J.
Count.        I        2        3        4
Rithm 2.Movement. Back.      Quiet.  Forward. Quiet.
Rithm.1]
Count.        r                          A,



48

APPENDIX.

Rithm 3.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 5.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Back.    Quiet.    Quiet. Forward.
j.                  3
I         2         3       4

Back. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Forw.l
1     2
J<*                   9.. *
I      2       3      4
Back. For. Quiet.   Quiet. Quiet.
I          2        3      4

(c) ROTARY movement of shoulder.
EXERCISE 3.-Repeat each movement eight times.
Movement i-Position: Start with the shoulders
DOWN and well FORWARD. From this position,
at stroke " I " of the metronome, throw the shoulders
BACK; at stroke " 2," lift them well UP; at stroke
" 3," carry them well FORWARD; and at stroke
"4," return to the original position, DOWN and
FORWARD.
Movement. Back.       Up.    Forward. Down.
Rithm.
Count.        I        2         3        4



APPENDIX.

49

Movement 2-Position: Shoulders DOWN        and
BACK.

Movement 3-Position: Shoulders UP and
WARD.

FOR
I~

Movement. Back.
Rithm.       I
Count.       i

Down.    Forward.

2
2

3
3

Up.
I
4j.
4

Movement 4-Position: Shoulders UP and BACK.

Movement. Forward. Down.
Rithm.        I
Count.        i       2

Back.    Up.
J       J
3       4

-I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I

2. FOREARM EXERCISES.
Repeat each rzit/m four times.
(d) Hands striking UP and DOWN.
EXERCISE 4.-Position: Stand erect, with the shoulders lowered naturally, the arms DOWN at full length
at the side, and the palms of the hands turned to the
front. From this position strike the shoulders smartly
in front with the palms by a movement of the forearm only. At the word DOWN, return to the original
position.



50

APPENDIX.

Rithm I.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 3.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4.--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 5.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Up.    Down.    Quiet.  Quiet.
I       2        3       4

Up.   Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Down.
r      2      3      4
Up. Down. Quiet.  Quiet.  Quiet.
I         2       3        4

(e) Hands striking DOWN and UP.
EXERCISE 4.-Position: Stand with the shculders
raised, the elbows touching the side, and the hands
raised, the back of the hand being as nearly in contact



APPENDIX.

51

with the shoulder as possible. From this position,
without lowering the shoulders, strike straight DOWN
to the full length of the arm, returning to the original
position at the word UP.

Rithm i.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 3.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 5.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Down.     Up.    Quiet.   Quiet.
e J*
I        2       3        4
Down.    Quiet.   Up.     Quiet.
I        2       3        4
Down.    Quiet.  Quiet.    Up.
I        2       3        4
Down. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Up.
S<I      2     3      4
Down. Up. Quiet.  Quiet.  Quiet.
I        2        3      4



52

APPENDIX.

B.
SEATED AT A TABLE.
FOREARM EXERCISES. (Continued.)
(f) Striking from LEFT to RIGHT.
EXERCISE 5.-Position: Seated as near as is convenient to a table, with the elbows in easy contact
with the side, and both hands resting with rounded
fingers on the table near the edge and as far to the
left as is possible without moving the elbows.  From
this position (LEFT) strike the table smartly as far
as possible to the RIGHT by a swift motion of the
forearm only, but here also without moving the elbow.
At the word LEFT, return to the original position.

Rithm i.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 3--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Right.     Left.     Quiet.    Quiet.
I         2          3         4
Right.    Quiet.      Left.    Quiet.
J                   d
I         2          3         4
Right.    Quiet.     Quiet.     Left.
I         2          3         4



APPENDIX.

53

Rithm 4.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Right. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Left.
I        2       3        4

Rithm 5.Movement. Right. Left. Quiet.  Quiet.  Quiet.
Rithm.              '-.
Count.         I        2       3       4
(g) Striking from the CENTRE OUTWARD.
EXERCISE 6.-Position: Seated as for Exercise 5,
but with the hands resting immediately in front of the
student, therefore at the CENTRE of the table,
which should be about the length of the pianoforte
clavier. From this position (CENTRE) strike with
both hands in opposite directions (OUTWARD) to
the farthest point within reach, not keeping the elbows
near the sides, but swiftly extending the whole arm
from hand to shoulder as the hand strikes out. At
the word CENTRE, return to the original position.
Rithm I.
Movement. Outward. Centre.
Rithm.                 J
Count.        I        2

I

Quiet.  Quiet.
3       4

I

Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.



54

APPENDIX.

Rithm 3.
Movement. Outward. Quiet.      Quiet.  Centre.
Rithm.        J
Count.        I        2         3        4
Rithm 4-.
Movement. Outward. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Centre.
Rithm.         l     -
Count.        I      2      3       4
Rithm 5-.
Movement. Out. Cen. Quiet.     Quiet.   Quiet.
Rithm.
Count.        I         2         3      4.
3. WRIST EXERCISES.
Reteat each ritlm four times.
(k) Striking from the CENTRE OUTWARD.
EXERCISE 7.-Position: Seated as for Exercise 6
with elbows in contact with the sides, the' forearms at
right angles with the table and the hands in a straight
line with the forearms. From this position strike
energetically outward with both hands in opposite
directions as far as possible, but without disturbing
the quiet of the forearm. At the word CENTRE,
return to the original position.
Rithm I.Movement. Outward. Centre.     Quiet.   Quiet.
Rithm.                J
Count.        I        2         3        4



APPENDIX.

55

Rithm 2.Movement. Outward. Quiet.     Centre.  Quiet.
Rithm.        J
Count.        I        2        3        4
Rithm 3.--
Movement. Outward. Quiet.     Quiet.  Centre.
Rithm.
Count.        I        2        3        4
Rithm 4.Movement. Outward. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Centre.
Rithm.
Count.        I        2     3     4
Rithm 5-.
Movement. Out. Cen. Quiet.     Quiet.  Quiet.
Rithm.
Count.        I         2        3       4
(i) Striking from CENTRE INWARD.
EXERCISE 8.-Position: Elbows, forearms and hands
as in Exercise 7.  From  this position strike energetically INWARD (the hands toward each other)
as far as possible, but without moving the forearms.
At the word CENTRE, return to the original position.
Rithm..Movement. Inward. Centre.     Quiet.   Quiet.
Rithm.        j       j
Count.        I        2        3        4



56

APPENDIX.

Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 3.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 5.--
Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Inward. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Centre.
O   *                O** ~
I      2      3      4
Inw. Cen. Quiet.  Quiet.    Quiet.
I         2        3        4

(j) Striking DOWNWARD.
EXERCISE 9.-Position: Same as in Exercise 7, but
with the hands bent over back at the wrists as far as
possible without stiffness or constraint. From this position (hands UP) strike down upon the table, returning at the word UP to the original position.
Rithm i.Movement. Down.       Up.     Quiet.   Quiet.
Rithm.
Count.        I        2        3        4



APPENDIX.

57

Rithm 2.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 3.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.
Rithm 4.Movement.
Rithm.
Count.

Down.    Quiet.   Up.     Quiet.
J                J
I        2       3        4
Down.    Quiet.   Quiet.   Up.
S.                         J.0
I        2       3        4
Down. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Up.
I      2     3      4

Rithm 5.Movement. Down. Up. Quiet. Quiet.       Quiet.
Rithm.
Count.          I        2       3        4
(Here follow, in the work from which the foregoing exercises are taken, the rithmic exercises for
shaping the fingers, forming the hand, developing
the elastic touch and the stroke from the knucklejoint, and for strength and independence of finger.
As these exercises are clavier work, they do not fall
under the head of preliminaries to practice, and
accordingly are omitted here.)



APPENDIX.

APPENDIX       II.
(Tofage 12.)
THE OFFICIAL LISTS OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE
OF MUSICIANS, PIANOFORTE DEPARTMENT.
I. Demonstrative Examination for
ASSOCIATESHIP.
(Although not obligatory, performance by memory is
desirable.)
BACH-Select Pieces (edited by F. Kullak).
"     Fugues in C-minor, D-major, or B-flat major
(Wohltemperirte Klavier, Tausig's Edition, Nos. II., III., IV.).
"     Prelude, Fugue and Allegro (edited by
Tausig).
SCARLATTI-Select Pieces (Biilow's Edition).
MOZART-Sonatas (Riemann's Phrased Edition).
MOSCHELES--24 Etudes, Op. 70           (Book   I,
Henselt's Edition).
BEETHOVEN-Sonatas in A-flat, Op. 26, or
C-minor, Op. 13    (Riemann's
Phrased Edition).
MENDELSSOHN-Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14
(Biilow's Edition).
WEBER-Polacca, Op. 72 (Btilow's Edition).
F. HILLER-24 Rithmical Studies, Op. 52.
CHOPIN-Nocturnes, Waltzes, Mazurkas.
MASON-Silver Spring* (new edition, revised by
the author).
* The omission of this elegant, useful, and celebrated composition from
the list as published in the Official Prospectus of the College was doubtless



APPENDIX.

59

LISZT-Rhapsody No. i i, Rigoletto.
"    Liebestraume (Mason's Edition).
2. Demonstrative examination for
FELLOWSHIP.
(Performance from memory not obligatory, but desirable.)
BACH-Fugues in E-flat minor, E-minor, or G-sharp
minor (Wohltemperirte Klavier, Tausig's
Edition, Nos. XIX., XVII., XXII.).
HANDEL-Gigue (Bilow's Concert Programs).
CLEMENTI-Gradus ad Parnassum (Tausig's Edition, Nos. VI., XVI., and XVIII.).
MENDELSSOHN-Prelude and Fugue in E-minor,
Op. 35; I7 Variations Serieuses, Op. 54; Concerto,
in G-minor, Op. 25.
SCHUMANN-Sonata in G-minor, Op. 22; Faschingschwank aus Wien, Op. 26.
BEETHOVEN-Sonatas, Appassionata, Op. 57, or
in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2
(Riemann's Phrased Edition).
"         32 Variations in C-minor (Biilow's
Edition).
CHOPIN-Ballades in A-flat and in G-minor; Fantaisie, Op. 49; Scherzos, Op. 31 and
39; Etudes, Op. 10, Nos. i and ii;
Op. 25, No. 7 (Kullak or Klindworth
Editions).
TAUSIG-Transcription of Bach's G-minor Organ
Toccata and Fugue.
owing to the modest scruples of its author as senior member of the Board
of Pianoforte Examiners.



6o

APPENDIX.

LISZT-Rhapsodies; (except No. II) Waldesrauschen; Etudes de Concert; Polonaises;
Transcription of Bach's Organ Toccata
and Fugue in D-minor.
KULLAK-Octave Study in E-flat.
3. Demonstrative examination for
MASTERSHIP.
(The following works must be performed entire and
from memory.)
BACH-Fugues in C-major, C-sharp major, and Csharp minor (Wohltemperirte Klavier,
Tausig's Edition, Nos. I., XIII., XVIII.),
in the original and at least two other
signatures.
BEETHOVEN-Sonatas, Op. o16 and III (Riemann's Phrased Edition).
"         Concerto in E-flat, Op. 73.
CHOPIN-Ballade in F-minor; Sonata in B-minor;
One Concerto.
SCHUMANN-Toccata, Op. 7; Etudes Symphoniques, Op. 13.
LISZT-One Concerto; Sonata in B-minor.
HENSELT-Concerto in F-minor, Op. 16.
WEBER-Concertstiick, Op. 79 (compare Blilow's
Transcription for Pianoforte Solo).
APPENDIX III.
(To page 31.)
In Charles Dickens's " Child's History of England,"
and the " Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," two
interesting instances occur of the application of the



APPENDIX.

6I

principle on which the Practice Program Book is
based, to widely different ends. As the instances in
point may not be familiar to all, or conveniently
within their reach, it may not be superfluous to cite
them here.
Thus, in the History, we read of King Alfred the
Great, that " his industry... was quite astonishing.
Every day he divided into certain portions, and in
each portion devoted himself to a certain pursuit.
That he might divide his time exactly, he had wax
candles or torches made, which were all of the same
size, were notched across at regular distances, and
were always kept burning. Thus, as the candles burnt
down, he divided the day into notches, almost as
accurately as we now divide it into hours upon the
clock. But when the candles were first invented, it
was found that the winds and draughts of air blowing
into the palace through the doors and windows and
through the chinks in the walls caused them to gutter
and burn unequally. To prevent this, the King had
them put in cases formed of wood and white horn.
And these were the first lanterns ever made in England."
Again, in his Autobiography, Franklin writes:... I conceived the bold and arduous project of
arriving at moral perfection.... I made an enumeration of the moral virtues, and then prepared a little
book, in which I allotted a page to each of the virtues.
I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven
columns, one for each day of the week, marking each
column with a letter for the day. I crossed these
columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning
of each line with the letter of one of the virtues; on



62

APPENDIX.

which line, and in its proper column, I might mark,
by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that
virtue upon that day.
" My intention being to acquire the habitude of all
these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract
my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to
fix it on one of them at a time, and when I should
be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so
on, till I should have gone through all.
FORM OF THE PAGES.
-d   I    E               C
Temperance.
Silence.
Order.
Resolution.
Frugality.
Industry.
Sincerity.
Justice.
Moderation.
Cleanliness.
Tranquillity.
Chastity.
Humility.
" The precept of order requiring that every part of
my business should have its allotted time, one page in
my little book contained the following scheme of
employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day:



APPENDIX.
SCHEME.

63

MORNING.
The question, What good shall I do
this day?
NOON.
AFTERNOON.
EVENING.
The question, What good have I done
to-day?
NIGHT.

S1 Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness.
6     Contriygday's business, and take the reso7     lution of the day. Prosecute the present
S study and breakfast.
i9    Work.
II
I2   Read or look over accounts, and dine.
3    Work.
6   Put things in their places. Supper, music, or
S     diversion, or conversation. Examination of
9     the day.
fo 1
12I
I   Sleep.
14



64

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX IV.
(To.page 33.)
IN the subjoined examples, the bracket - indicates
the practice sections. The mode of practice is to play
the first section, say eight times, with care and energy,
then the second the same number of times, and so to
the end of the passage. Then start anew, playing each
one in turn six times instead of eight. This will be
followed by fourfold, threefold, and twofold repetitions
respectively of the same sections in turn. Upon
this the student will be entitled to try them through,
playing each only once in turn-i e., the passage continuously from beginning to end. If any hesitancy or
difficulty is encountered, revert to the repetitional
practice, and continue in the same way until the passage is mastered.
Examples i to 5 are taken from the First Valse
de Concert, by Joseph Wieniawski.
Example I (page 6, Edition Schirmer).
j- "--         I      7.-41  4 1  4 3
2      4..., ~. ~
--e----- ---        --1 ---5-r  _   4   -
pp                           cres.
______zzzi:~3i- O--
tl~s::;j



APPENDIX.

415 4
5-   -      5 4
*   raZlZ
4--ii

Example 2 (page 7).

Example 3 (page 8).



66

AFPPENDIX.

Example 4 (page io).
3 ~ZCII~IC~ -ec~  ~l
- 4- -04-  ~  ~   - ~  -
$ C- C.  Ai.  A. i~ /~-  h
- 7F
__A.__A.__-  A-,--L-L~_r_$._ Ltf~~LP~ __
W  - 0  -  0--
+-i---   2-   4p-4------- -  --  2  4 -* -
_ _  __---------- j
- Pi4   e  t:---4--               -OIL P   8
-             4   4- lp-   4-- 4-__P _
-P.
_      4 -          4 -4AAL
c ~t - 46-6
s. -.:
0c  -             II  4- b   t~6
~~-2----- 5Y___



APPENDIX.

67

4JM1       -0
Passages for interlocking hands, such as that on
page iof the same Valse, are best learned by taking
_--            -4--
I  *'-       I.
each hand alone until it has become proficient in its
part, before practising with both together.
The interlocking passage in the Introduction, however, is best practised with both hands combined,
but in triplets instead of the regular grouping, thus:

Example 5 (page 2).



68                     APPENDIX.
Examples 6-8 are from the Spinning Girl, by Raff.
Example 6 (page 6, Edition W. A. Pond & Co.).

Example 7 (page 8).
23    1 1__3  13
11- L -  V 1,  -4:.
14         I
IL  3 I 4  2  * 3  1 2
-dP -      cD  '  314 2  3
rf~_tIL- F-~-~--~~--t-~--  ~D- --~--  --~

Example 8 (page io).



APPENDIX.             69
9L4.
2          -14-oI__  i - 2T,13 2 511  2 4-I1 -4~4-  _
--     -_            _
ii6-4--U- 4- -r--1 4  -4
~~6m~m idtiU.  C ' b               ' C

rkt~s~t~~- H- 9-~-~-~io--~  4 3- -1

-0--~ --- - LLL-P-80 i- ~ -

I wpm           3  4  2  15 2  j;153 2 _2
I-U --I
Example 9 is from Liszt's Venezia" Gondoliera.
This cadenza requires to be practised diligently in
three different ways:. In the bracketed sections, with repetitions as
above described.
2. As a continuous passage from beginning to end
in triplets, as indicated by the notation; and with
a sharp accentuation of the first note of every triplet.
3. And, finally, in the most delicate pianissimo,
______________ w- -B
_Y --L~  I1 _ __  _U-  -I ___  ___        __
iT                    3             -H15~t
v-__- * -------
_____________________-- -- p
Example 9 is from Liszt's " Venezia"' Gondoliera.
This cadenza requires to be practised diligently in
three different ways:
I. In the bracketed sections, with repetitions as
above described.
2. As a continuous passage from beginning to end
in triplets, as indicated by the notation; and with
a sharp accentuation of the first note of every triplet.
3. And, finally, in the most delicate pianissimo,



70                    APPENDIX.
with just the faintest perceptible trace of triplet accentuation.
Example 9 (page -, Edition Schirmer).
3    3.&V       3          3    3Yc~~~+~  sU
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