UC-NRLF 
 
 N IN 
 
 B M MHD tOM 
 
 Lessons to Teachers in the 
 Instruction of Parents 
 
 Three Free Lessons to Parents 
 
 By A. K. VIRGIL 
 
 Truth should be the first 
 lesson to a child." 
 
 PFhittier. 
 
 p-ight, 1907, by A. K. Virgil. Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England. 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 ►lished by A. K. Virgil, 1002 Fuller Building, New York 
 
EDUCATION IN 
 MUSIC 
 
 Lessons to Teachers in the 
 Instruction of Parents 
 
 Three Free Lessons to Parents 
 
 By A. K. VIRGIL 
 
 "Truth should be the first 
 lesson to a child.'* 
 
 JVhittier, 
 
 Price 25 Cents 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by A. K. Virgil. Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England. 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Published by A. K. Virgil, 1002 Fuller Building, New York 
 
BERKELEY 
 MUSIC LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVfcRSITY O*- 
 
 MT/0 
 
 L 
 
 HAL 
 
 llcC 
 
 £''""X5L£Y 
 
 t^UClO LILRARY 
 
 UNJVcRSITY OF 
 CAUFORNIA 
 
Mr 
 
 A LEGITIMATE DESIRE 
 
 MUSIC TEACHERS, as do other people, like to 
 succeed in their occupation, which is a perfectly 
 legitimate desire. They are always anxious to 
 teach a method in which they find interest and 
 encouragement, and one in which they believe; one, too, 
 in which the public believes; for, if the public disbelieve, 
 the teachers' interests are sure to suffer more or less. 
 
 Teachers not infrequently find diflficulty in following faith- 
 fully a system in their teaching which they know to be right, 
 because a musically unintelligent public fails to appreciate 
 its correctness; consequently, the teacher, unless he chances 
 to be possessed of more than average persuasive powers, 
 feels compelled to sacrifice his own opinion to that of others, 
 and particularly to the opinion of dissenting parents, or 
 take the risk of losing a pupil, and, worse still, reputation. 
 "We have got to show results or lose pupils," they say. 
 Very true; but now comes the question: What are results? 
 If by results are meant real intelligent musical knowledge 
 and technical skill — limited, of course, to the length of 
 time the pupil has been under instruction — that is 
 one thing; but if by results is meant the playing, in the 
 ordinary slipshod fashion, of a goodly number of pieces, 
 if such be the results that will insure a teacher against the 
 loss of pupils, better by far lose them and keeps one's self- 
 respect and enjoy the blessing of a clear conscience. The 
 teacher who feels otherwise is a business schemer rather 
 than a teacher. Better be both a business schemer and 
 a teacher combined. 
 
 Assuming that a teacher is really anxious to do his duty 
 and the ignorance of parents stands in the way, in which 
 case either the intelligent desire of the teacher or the igno- 
 rant desire of parents must prevail, would it not be both 
 wise and just for the teacher to put his business scheming 
 propensity to work in the right direction and educate the 
 parents — more frequently the mother — to the truth? The 
 teacher who takes this course will be turning his powers 
 as a business schemer to good account. Anyone has a per- 
 fect right to scheme, and, too, for his personal good, when 
 
 1(>64?5 
 
there exists the consciousness that other people are being 
 ten times more benefited, as in this case, than is the schemer 
 himself. In this matter, the teacher should have his way. 
 It always takes business scheming to have one's own way. 
 In this work — the education of parents — it is the aim to make 
 teachers business schemers to the extent of having their 
 own way in doing right and in benefiting themselves, and 
 at the same time benefiting their pupils infinitely more. 
 
 Piano Study Not a Trifling Matter 
 
 The study of the piano is a branch of education which 
 doubtless interests a larger percentage of intelligent and re- 
 fined people than are interested in any other one branch of 
 learning; furthermore, it is an educational work which, 
 when pursued to a high degree of artistic proficiency, or 
 as a matter of successful business, is one of the most taxing 
 from an intellectual, a physical and a i financial point of 
 view of any branch of education. There ought, in justice to 
 truth, to art, to learners and to teachers, who are obliged to 
 earn a living and who understand and are anxious to teach 
 correct principles, we say there ought to be some way by 
 which public sentiment can be changed from a wrong to a 
 right understanding and appreciation of correct methods of 
 instruction in this important line of study. It is to secure 
 this end that the plan of giving special free lessons to 
 parents has been adopted. 
 
 Complete knowledge and mastery of a work so vast in its 
 proportions as the art of teaching a great art which presents 
 first of all an intellectual, then a mechanical and finally an 
 emotional side, never comes to one who in learning allows 
 the emotional to precede, indeed supersede, the intellectual 
 and mechanical, as is the case generally in teaching the 
 piano. It is not at all difficult to understand why so many 
 piano teachers are often at sea as to "what to teach." They 
 have been taught music by musicians, not by educators. 
 
 There are teachers who understand and earnestly believe 
 in the Clavier principles who cannot understand why the 
 system does not meet the general and hearty approval of 
 all learners and patrons of music. There are reasonable rea- 
 sons, indeed many of them, for this condition of things, 
 but as this appeal is designed only for teachers, and those, 
 too, of the Clavier Method, the reasons here given will be 
 confined to subjects which directly interest and concern 
 them. (See "Incompetent Work of Teachers," p. 9.) 
 
Aim of this Booklet 
 
 The writer aims in this booklet to bring before teachers 
 who are interested in the movement of educating parents the 
 plan to be pursued, with the hope that through the united 
 efforts of Clavier teachers the general good here contem- 
 plated may be accomplished. He accordingly asks the active, 
 not the passive, co-operation of all Clavier teachers. He 
 will be pleased to hear from any who have suggestions to 
 offer or questions to ask, and who are interested- to qualify 
 themselves to become co-workers in the cause in their re- 
 spective localities. 
 
 Before submitting to teachers for their consideration 
 the system proposed for the carrying out of the work of in- 
 structing parents and the questions presented for the parents* 
 classes, certain important matters intimately connected with 
 Clavier work, past efforts and present conditions, the rea- 
 sons for adopting the plan of instructing parents, the ends 
 sought, etc., must be dwelt upon at some length. 
 
 A Question Frequently Asked 
 
 Teachers from far and near are asking: "What can be 
 done to awaken a more general interest in the Clavier 
 Method? I am," they say, "often compelled to lose a pupil 
 or make concessions in my teaching, which I know are abso- 
 lutely wrong; but I must live, so what am I to do?" I 
 answer: Make the principles of the method known, for no 
 one who is honest and who actually knows them ever op- 
 poses them. "No one ever does wrong who is both honest 
 and intelligent." 
 
 Who May Teach the Parents' Classes? 
 
 Teachers will not be expected to give the lessons to 
 parents until they are thoroughly prepared to do so. Pre- 
 pared means, first that teachers must understand the 
 method thoroughly, and must have had a good deal of ex- 
 perience in teaching pupils before undertaking to teach their 
 parents. 
 
 The questions that have been prepared for the parents' 
 classes and the principles taught in connection with them, 
 will condemn the work of teachers who are doing 
 slipshod teaching; so first of all get right yourselves, 
 study the questions, and if you see that they include 
 
principles you have neglected be sure to correct, if 
 possible, the oversight with your pupils before you 
 start a parents' class, I say, if possible, because you will 
 doubtless not be able to do in your teaching, at least with 
 all pupils, all the things found in the parents' course, so 
 at the parents' lessons if you come across things which, for 
 any reason, you have not taught, give the question to the 
 parents' class, explain its object and importance, and then 
 say: "I have been unable to make proper use of this exercise 
 in my teaching." Then give the reasons which will be your 
 justification for the omission. "This exercise," for example 
 explain, "requires a Clavier; if a pupil does not have one, 
 all I can do is to show it on my Clavier at the lesson, but 
 this is not sufficient; daily practice is what is needed. The 
 clicks in the beginning, if rightly used," you can boldly as- 
 sert, "are a perfectly intelligent guide to the fingers; any 
 thoughtful pupil who uses the Clavier for daily practice 
 will get his fingers under better, that is more accurate and 
 intelligent control during the first term than most people 
 do in a year or even, in many cases, a much longer time. 
 A pupil's progress depends chiefly upon his own personal 
 knowledge of the correctness or otherwise of the movements 
 of his fingers, and this knowledge comes from a right use 
 of the clicks; therefore, every learner ought to use the 
 Clavier every day." 
 
 Teachers and Claviers Compared 
 
 (N.B. — The remarks under this heading are only for the 
 teacher.) 
 
 The clicks of the Clavier have not the value just claimed 
 for them unless they are in good working order. Many 
 teachers are very neglectful with regard to keeping the clicks 
 properly regulated. The writer, during the past two years, 
 has been traveling about a great deal visiting different sec- 
 tions and countries; he intends to continue this work for 
 some time to come. He often finds Claviers in so bad a 
 condition that the clicks are of no practical value to any one. 
 He occasionally finds teachers with Claviers in excellent 
 working order. Now this difference is not in the Clavier 
 or in the climate, but in the teacher. The teacher whose 
 Clavier is in order is one who realizes the value of the 
 clicks and who uses them. He, or more often she, pos- 
 sesses a disposition of thoroughness, coupled with good 
 mechanical sense, and having carefully studied the directions 
 
found on the inside of the top of the case of the instrument, 
 and having learned how simple a matter it is to keep the 
 clicks in working order, occasionally when an up-click clat- 
 ters, or a down-click comes too easily or too hard, at once 
 puts it in order. Some teachers read the directions, study 
 into the mechanism of the instrument a little, then show 
 the piano tuner about it and get him to handle the screw- 
 driver for them, and thus the Clavier is to them and their 
 pupils the useful and valuable instrument it is intended to be. 
 
 There is far greater difference in people, I find, than 
 in Claviers. The Clavier is simple in construction, and dura- 
 ble, but it is made of nature's materials, consequently, like 
 everything else, it needs a little attention. A piano needs 
 tuning and repairing frequently; a clock must be cleaned, 
 regulated and wound; even the pavement in the street needs 
 care, and why should anyone think a Practice Clavier ought 
 to do the exact work assigned it and never need a screw 
 turned or to be kept in a reasonably dry place, or to be 
 closed when not in use to keep the dust out. We have in 
 our school Claviers that have been in use ten years 
 or more, and they are as serviceable now as ever they were. 
 Once or twice a year they are looked over, and, if nec- 
 essary, a little regulating is done. Five or ten minutes at a 
 time, once or twice a year, keeps them in working order. 
 When they are not in use they are kept closed. 
 
 Will our Clavier teachers not keep their Claviers in such 
 condition that the up-clicks can always be used either sepa- 
 rately or with the down-clicks? The Clavier is not an orna- 
 ment, and it makes no music; indeed, it is comparatively a 
 useless thing if it is not kept in condition to do the work 
 of getting the intelligence of the learner and player into 
 his fingers. 
 
 The up-clicks alone ought to be used every day in passage 
 work, crossings, scales and arpeggios by pupils, as soon as 
 they get so far along, and advanced players ought to prac- 
 tise the up-click scales and arpeggios, perhaps not daily, 
 but frequently — at least once a week. Those who wish to 
 keep On improving the quality, clearness, smoothness, even- 
 ness and perfect flow of their passage execution, ought at 
 least once a week to spend a few moments in scale and 
 arpeggio practice with the up-clicks alone, then in compari- 
 son should use the down-clicks alone and occasionally the 
 double clicks, and then should go to the piano and see 
 how musically perfect the passage effects produced are. 
 (Read what is said upon the subject of Up-Click Scale 
 
Practice in Book II, F. E., pages ii and 24.) The arpeggios 
 ought also to be practiced with the up-clicks alone. More 
 will be found in Step by Step, Vol II, upon this subject. 
 (N. B. — The writer regrets to say to teachers that Vol. 
 II of Step by Step cannot be issued for some months yet 
 owing to press of other duties.) 
 
 No teacher, pupil or player is ever able to get any ma- 
 terial good out of the Clavier unless the instrument is kept 
 in proper working order, and when this is so easily done it 
 seems strange that any one interested in Clavier work 
 should be at all neglectful in the matter. 
 
 Pieces versus Exercises 
 
 "Another reason," it may be explained, "than absence of 
 Clavier that may be assigned for my neglecting certain 
 principles and exercises, is that pupils do not enjoy technical 
 exercises and object to practicing them, at least they enjoy 
 pieces better, and the influence of their associates who 
 take lessons from teachers who give no such exercises but 
 lots of pieces is all in favor of the latter course and decidedly 
 against the use of exercises of this character." Say to 
 the parents' class: "I cannot look to the mothers or fathers 
 of my pupils for assistance in influencing them in the right 
 direction, thus I am obliged to pass important principles 
 over, and do the best I can without them. Parents, I am 
 sorry to say, often agree with their children that it is more 
 agreeable all around to have them spend their time on pieces 
 rather than on dry studies, so with my pupils, their asso- 
 ciates, other teachers and their parents all against me, I 
 frequently find myself obliged to neglect what I know to be 
 my duty. Now the reason," say to the parents' class, "that 
 I give the lessons to you is to have you understand these 
 points, for if you do I am sure you will be most anxious to 
 help me, or any teacher who teaches correct principles. The 
 fact is, a child who is rightly taught will, through the efforts 
 of the teacher, seconded by an intelligent home influence, 
 accomplish more in one year than is ordinarily accomplished 
 in three or four times that time, and if the right work 
 is continued for five years, the pupil will be a better player, 
 a more intelligent musician, and better qualified to teach 
 than the same person would be in a whole lifetime under 
 the ordinary unmethodical musical training. If parents 
 are interested in this work and will help me to form as 
 an outgrowth of the parents' class or classes, a Musical 
 
 8 
 
I 
 
 Art Promotion Club, as has been formed elsewhere, I will 
 agree to give to them one free lesson a week provided they 
 will assist me in getting the parents together. In connection 
 with the Club, as a part of it, we will once a quarter — 
 say four times a year — give a musical entertainment to dem- 
 onstrate results obtained, and to prove whether the Musical 
 Art Promotion Club is really promoting art or not. If 
 a club of this character can be established in our city, by 
 the time the work has been in progress three years we shall 
 have home players of whom we may justly be proud, and 
 I am sure there will be no desire on the part of parents 
 or pupils to return to old methods, or rather to the old no- 
 method scheme. When our people realize fully the impor- 
 tance of education in music they will demand education 
 in music, and the Musical Art Promotion Club will be an 
 acknowledged power for good." (Read under heading "Musi- 
 cal Art Promotion Club," p. 21.) 
 
 Incompetent Work of Teachers 
 
 To return to the teachers. 
 
 Great but, it is hoped, not lasting harm has come to 
 the Clavier System through the incompetent work of reputed 
 Clavier teachers. The words of Knowlson come to mind as I 
 write: "A small error," he says, "can upset the best system 
 ever conceived." The writer is learning more and more thor- 
 oughly every day the truth of this saying of Knowlson. 
 
 Six Classes of Teachers 
 
 Observation has made it clear to the writer that there are 
 at least six classes of teachers who are engaged in Clavier 
 work. To designate, we will divide them as follows: 
 
 Class A may represent those who have received very 
 little instruction, who have not gone far enough in their 
 studies to do more than make a start in the work of teach- 
 ing, yet have gone on for years trying to teach advanced 
 principles as best they could without really knowing them 
 themselves. 
 
 Class B represents those who have been instructed by 
 certain presumptuous teachers who never had a lesson from 
 an authorized teacher of the system. The presumptuous 
 teachers and their innocent products are properly classed 
 together. 
 
Class C represents certain teachers of a decidedly busi- 
 ness turn of mind who make use of the name Clavier 
 Method, sandwiched in with two or three other well known 
 and more or less popular methods, not because they under- 
 stand or appreciate the Clavier System, but as an advertis- 
 ing dodge, calculated to lead innocent people who are igno- 
 rant of all piano methods to infer that a teacher who uses 
 so many methods must, of course, be a superior teacher. 
 
 Such work as that done by the three classes of teachers 
 described, it goes without saying, is very damaging, not only 
 to the method itself, but to the cause of Education in Music. 
 The truth is, the Clavier Method is the only method for 
 the piano that is constructed upon and that follows from 
 beginning to end educational principles, indeed in no other 
 piano system is it possible to employ such principles; hence, 
 if the Clavier Method must suffer defeat, so must the doc- 
 trine that in learning music and the art of piano playing true 
 educational principles should be employed. 
 
 There are certain teachers whom we will designate as be- 
 longing to Class D, who claim to make the Clavier a sort 
 of accessory to their work; many of these have studied the 
 method with the writer, and while under instruction did good 
 work; they showed intelligence and genuine interest in the 
 system, freely admitting its great importance as a founda- 
 tional method, asserting, too, that a few months' use of 
 the Clavier had enabled them to overcome in their own 
 playing technical difficulties which the work of years at the 
 piano had not corrected. The improvement in their execution 
 and in the artistic effectiveness of their playing gave abun- 
 dant proof of the correctness of this latter assertion. 
 
 Many of these, very teachers — strange as it may seem — 
 when they begin to teach the method have actually 
 said to prospective pupils in response to their, the pros- 
 pective pupil's assertion, that they could not afford to get 
 a Clavier, that they have a piano, and they know their 
 people will never consent to their having a Clavier just 
 for practice, I say these very teachers, forgetting what 
 Clavier practice did for their own fingers, have gone so 
 far as to say: "No, it really is not necessary for you to get a 
 Clavier, I can teach you the method without your having 
 a Clavier at home for practice. I can at the lessons illustrate 
 the principles on my Clavier, and you can practice most 
 of the exercises on the piano, and those that are not suit- 
 able for the piano you can practice, on the table; we always 
 require everything played on the table anyway." 
 
 10 
 
The desire then and there to book a new pupil is so great 
 that every hindrance must if possible be removed. Now, 
 this again is the work of a business schemer rather than of 
 an honest teacher. 
 
 Reports of this character have for years been coming 
 to the writer, and they have included teachers whose intelli- 
 gence and, he thought, honesty would deter them from mak- 
 ing to any learner statements so absolutely false and incon- 
 sistent. 
 
 If any teacher can teach the Clavier Method and pro- 
 duce anything like satisfactory results without making the 
 Clavier the chief and special instrument for all technic teach- 
 ing and practice, the writer frankly admits that that teacher 
 can do what he cannot possibly do. He unhesitatingly says: 
 Any pupil who is being instructed in that which purports 
 to be the Clavier Method, who is not required to make 
 special and daily use of the Clavier, is being deceived; 
 such teaching is not Clavier teaching at all, and when in 
 due time the pupil awakens to the fact that the special bene- 
 fits he had hoped to realize through the Clavier Method 
 are not realized, he unhesitatingly condemns the system. 
 
 There is possibily nothing that is more harmful to the 
 Clavier cause and to the cause of Education in Music 
 than for teachers, who have the reputation of understand- 
 ing and teaching the method, to represent to their pupils 
 that they are being instructed in Clavier principles when 
 the pupil uses the piano and not the Clavier for technical 
 practice. 
 
 There have been wrongly taught Clavier pupils, though, 
 who have not condemned the system, but have been disposed 
 to go farther and learn whether the instruction they had 
 received was really Clavier instruction or not; a number 
 of such are now in the New York school. A fair sample 
 of the writer's experience with such pupils when they come 
 to their entrance examination will be found on page 23. 
 
 A class of earnest workers whom we classify under the 
 letter E is especially deserving of mention. These have 
 periodically studied the method and have made good prog- 
 ress and are applying the principles conscientiously in their 
 teaching. They are prudent enough to go no further in 
 giving instruction than they are sure they understand. They 
 make it a business to attend the Teachers' Sessions and are 
 thus gradually attaining proficiency as teachers of the 
 method. More teachers of this character are in demand, 
 
 II 
 
and it is hoped they will avail themselves of every oppor- 
 tunity to go further in the work, until they can take their 
 proper place in Class F. 
 
 Class F comprises those teachers who have made a 
 thorough and conscientious study of the system from be- 
 ginning to end, who believe in its principles and who have 
 in their nature sufficient persuasive power to influence fair- 
 minded people with whom they chance to be associated, 
 and who are not afraid to be prudently aggressive for the 
 sake of upholding truth, when they see that by quiet sub- 
 mission they are tacitly upholding error. Clavier teachers 
 of this class are the ones who succeed, and who do the 
 kind of work which in due time convinces. The Clavier 
 System is fortunate in having a number of teachers of this 
 type, and the encouraging feature is that their numbers arc 
 on the increase. More teachers of this stamp are still needed. 
 The most important question at this period is — how many 
 teachers have we who are earnestly desirous of preparing 
 themselves to be enrolled in Class F? 
 
 Something Positive to Teach , \^ 
 
 Why does the expression so frequently spring spontaneous- 
 ly from the lips of teachers of the piano, those, too, of ex- 
 perience who have adopted the Clavier Method, "I never 
 had, until I began teaching in this way, anything positive 
 to teach, but now I have; I have something definite before 
 me to do, and it is such a satisfaction"? Indeed it is a 
 satisfaction to sane people to know where they are going 
 and how to go; insane people do not concern themselves 
 about these matters. 
 
 What sort of a recommendation, think you, would it be 
 for a teacher of mathematics were he to make the state- 
 ment, *T have nothing positive to teach," or for a teacher 
 of spelling, reading, grammar, botany or chemistry to come 
 out with such a declaration? The truth is, in all branches of 
 literary learning, certain all-important natural facts exist. 
 Educators have acquired a knowledge of these facts, and 
 also of the nature and functions of the human faculties; 
 they have also discovered and made known to the literary 
 world certain educational laws which have become such 
 thoroughly established teaching principles that no sane lit- 
 erary teacher can say, "I have nothing positive to teach; 
 I have no method to guide me in my work." No intelligent 
 literary teacher is at a loss what to teach or how to teach. 
 Subjects, their proper order, and right methods of presenta- 
 
 13 
 
tion have been thought out in accordance with psychological 
 educational laws that are in perfect harmony with the na- 
 ture principles to be taught. Therefore the literary teacher 
 has at his command definite knowledge; he knows what to 
 do, how to do, and when is the proper time to do. Not 
 so with the average music teacher. He freely admits that 
 he is all at sea. Why is he in this condition? The answer 
 is: because he is dealing with fancies, not with facts; be- 
 cause the emotions and not reason are the chief forces 
 in action, and these same forces prevailed at the time he 
 received his musical training, the instruction upon which 
 his knowledge of instructing depends. 
 
 Two Important Things 
 
 If Clavier teachers will earnestly do two things: first, 
 qualify themselves thoroughly to do the work here planned, 
 then do it and keep doing it, devoting at least one hour 
 every week to a Parents' Class; and, second, as an irhportant 
 auxiliary aid to the carrying out of this work, will support 
 The Clavier and Musical Profession, the only musical journal 
 in the world that stands for education in music, and that 
 advocates the very principles they believe in and are trying 
 to teach, the cause we advocate will succeed. 
 
 You may say, "I do not think The Clavier and Musical 
 Profession is as valuable a music paper in a general way 
 as some others." This may be; it is in its infancy and is 
 obliged, on account of its principles, to face opposition; your 
 support is just what it needs to make it a valuable paper 
 and a power in the cause of educational reform in music, 
 and as it advocates the principles you teach, it will be a 
 direct help to you. Its editor is a very competent and a 
 very self-sacrificing man. If every Clavier teacher will do 
 for the paper one-twentieth as much as its editor does, it, 
 and the great cause back of it, will become in a few years 
 a power in support not only of educational truths but of 
 every teacher who teaches those truths. 
 
 The Half-Hour Lesson Scheme 
 
 A most serious hindrance to the work of teachers who 
 know and try to teach correct principles is the half-hour 
 lesson scheme. Those who take the Parents' Course will 
 very soon see that a thirty-minute lesson once or even 
 twice a week does not allow a teacher sufficient time to 
 give proper attention to the various details that must be 
 attended to if the instruction is to be of any real value. 
 
 r 
 
 
Real and False Economy 
 
 The economy practiced by parents who insist upon half- 
 hour lessons is a false economy. Among the ends sought 
 through the lessons to parents, one is to give them the in- 
 telligence to know what real economy at the music lesson 
 is. An economy not intelligently made often proves the 
 worst kind of extravagance. Don't do anything — not even 
 economize — until you know how to do it. 
 
 I must do everything in a half-hour! is the feeling con- 
 stantly harassing the teacher who is really trying to give 
 thorough instruction. I must touch upon all these points, 
 if possible. The consequence is nothing is dwelt upon long 
 enough to be made clear, and in the haste to make a decent 
 showin^j in thirty minutes many all-important things are 
 omitted entirely, and others are only half mastered. A one- 
 hour lesson is worth more to the pupil than three half-hour 
 lessons when a teacher is really trying to do good work. 
 The fact is, a thirty-minute music lesson is a farce. 
 
 The Lesson Plan 
 
 here marked out is recommended: During the first term — 
 by first term is meant the first term a pupil studies the 
 Clavier Method — two class lessons a week should be given 
 (hour lessons). After the first term it is generally better 
 to give one class and one private lesson a week (hour 
 lessons). 
 
 Two pupils may share the hour if desired; indeed, if 
 proper facilities are at hand and system is employed, theie 
 are often advantages in having two pupils share a private 
 lesson hour; the expense to the pupil is no greater than 
 would be a half-hour private lesson, and at the same time 
 there need be no neglect of the application of principles. 
 Pupils must be made to understand clearly, however, that 
 when they are given the opportunity of sharing an hour 
 with another pupil, if either is absent the lesson is still 
 counted as a lesson. This regulation often causes pupils to 
 be more punctual than they would be were they taking 
 lessons all alone. 
 
 The minimum number of pupils in a class ought to be 
 four — more when consistent. For class lessons the teacher 
 should aim to get at least one-third more compensation 
 than for a private lesson, as there are expenses attending 
 class that are not connected with private lessons, and, too, 
 
 14 
 
I 
 
 there is liability that pupils may drop out of classes and 
 thus cut off the receipts. 
 
 Many other things might with propriety be said upon the 
 plan to be adopted in the giving of lessons, but space for- 
 bids. When teachers get the work under way in their own 
 localities, if they need further suggestions and ask for them, 
 they will be gladly given. 
 
 Teachers who are interested in this work, after getting 
 the Parents' Classes well started, ought, if they are busi- 
 ness-like in advertising and conducting their teaching, to 
 have little trouble in establishing in a short time a good 
 business. In large cities it will naturally take longer to 
 reach people and make the work known than in smaller 
 cities and villages, but any teacher of influence who will go 
 energetically and intelligently to work, beginning with the 
 Parents' Classes, as suggested, then follow this work by the 
 forming of Pupils' Classes upon the plan here briefly mapped 
 out, ought to acquire an excellent and permanent business 
 more quickly than upon any other plan. 
 
 Intelligent and Unintelligent Parents 
 
 A class pupil may have done excellent work in the study 
 of the principles of playing, but because the first term ends 
 and not one single piece has been learned, parents who 
 have no knowledge of first principles and their importance 
 may think that nothing has been accomplished, when in 
 truth the pupil has done more than would have been the 
 case had a dozen pieces been learned in the ordinary slip- 
 shod fashion. Parents who understand and appreciate right 
 principles and correct teaching know this to be a fact, and, 
 instead of condemning, they commend the teacher's course; 
 therefore, do not fail to educate parents. 
 
 Tearchers ought not in their teaching and in their efforts 
 to establish themselves to give up the doing of anything 
 which their better judgment tells them ought to be done 
 until every reasonable means to bring about their desires has 
 been exhausted. "I never knew any one to get nowhere 
 who stuck to the right path and kept going," are the words 
 of Ben Jonson. 
 
 An experience of thirty years or more in class instruction 
 in the study of the piano has convinced the writer that the 
 system carried on in the Clavier Method is an absolute ne- 
 cessity if true educational principles are to be adopted in 
 teaching the piano. If a class lesson in the study of technical 
 
 IS 
 
principles, including proper mental and physical trainmg, 
 either elementary or advanced, is rightly given, i.e., if system 
 and order prevail, every attentive member of the class will 
 derive greater benefit than is possible at a private lesson, 
 and that, too, at a fraction of the expense of a private lesson. 
 Class teaching is an essential branch of the Clavier System. 
 
 Musical Training 
 
 It must not be inferred that class instruction is purely 
 technical; it is also musical if the work is rightly done. 
 As soon as a class has reached the point at which they 
 are doing simple passage and chord playing, and time and 
 touch exercises are in practice, which point is reached at 
 about the middle of the first term, or soon after, the piano 
 is used at the lessons; one pupil — the surest one — is se- 
 lected to play the piano while the other members of the 
 class are at the Claviers. Every pupil is required to listen 
 to the tone, knowing that his or her own fingers strike 
 the same key that produces the very tone they hear. Time 
 exercises, and exercises in the various kinds of touch, also 
 scale and arpeggio passages and chord exercises in all 
 touches, are played sometimes in concert, at other times 
 by individual members of the class, while the other mem- 
 bers of the class listen and judge effects and also compare 
 the effects produced by the different players. Thus, pupils 
 are trained to listen, think, and compare effects; by this 
 means not only is mind brought in contact with mind, but 
 skill is brought in contact with skill, and a healthy spirit 
 of emulation is aroused. 
 
 "Mind Is Everything*' 
 
 All exercises are played from merfiory. Here again mind 
 is brought into active, and the several minds into com- 
 petitive operation. The slow memorizer discovers his slow- 
 ness and tries to overcome his weakness; the stumbler, in- 
 spired by the good effects produced by sure fingers, aims 
 to become more sure; the slovenly, inaccurate chord player 
 hears from some members of the class clean chord effects 
 in which the several fingers and the two hands are rightly 
 prepared and act simultaneously; he appreciates the right 
 effects and' puts forth his best efforts to produce equally 
 good ones. This is Mental, Technical and Ear Training, 
 but not solo work. 
 
 i6 
 
Solo Work 
 
 The solo work is attended to at the weekly private lesson. 
 Every pupil must have musical training, such as is given at 
 the class lessons, and in addition must be trained to apply 
 the musical and technical knowledge and skill acquired to 
 the interpretation of music. It takes the two kinds of 
 instruction, class and private, to accomplish in a reasonable 
 length of time and at reasonable expense that for which 
 every intelligent pupil and parent is seeking. 
 
 Applied Knowledge 
 
 It is certainly consistent for Clavier teachers, indeed it is 
 the duty of teachers who have gained some familiarity with 
 the Clavier System, to not only improve their knowledge, 
 but also to put it, as some have, into thorough practical op' 
 eration. If in the opinion of those who understand the meth- 
 od, the thousands upon thousands who are studying the 
 piano are doing so to almost no purpose, is it not the duty 
 of such to boldly but prudently stand for the truth and by 
 their own efforts as teachers prove to the world that it i» 
 truth? 
 
 Why Is It 
 
 that the great majority of the leading teachers one meets 
 are opposed to the Clavier Method? is a question frequently 
 heard from the lips of intelligent people who are studying 
 the method, having previously studied the piano in the or- 
 dinary way. "Knowing what I do about it," they say, "I 
 cannot understand how any honest, sane person and espe- 
 cially a teacher of the piano, who is supposed to be in- 
 terested in music, can oppose it." 
 
 This is a very easy question to answer. The truth is, 
 the great majority of musicians have not studied the sys- 
 tem at all; its real principles they know nothing about. 
 Many have made some use of the Clavier, and those who have 
 not used it have been prejudiced by those who have, and 
 who have, as before said, used it wrongly. 
 
 Nothing has ever been created on earth, or in heaven 
 either, for that matter, that is so absolutely and positively 
 right and perfect, that ignorance and prejudice cannot make 
 a fair showing that it is wrong. 
 
 A Few of Many Experiences 
 Much time and money were spent and wasted years ago, 
 as has since been proven, in getting the Clavier and some 
 
 17 
 
of its principles before prominent musicians and teachers in 
 all the principal cities and music centers of America, most 
 of whom were kind and honest enough at the time to admit 
 their value, while many of whom openly declared, and with 
 evident feeling, that they regretted they could not have 
 had, when they began lessons, advantages for technical train- 
 ing such as the instrument and system under discussion pro- 
 vide. After expressing unqualified approval and admitting 
 their regrets, as previously stated, many, when the fact 
 became clear to them that they would not be presented with 
 an instrument outright, resorted to all sorts of arguments in 
 justification of their continuing their present way of teach- 
 ing. They would say, "But you could hardly expect me, in 
 my position in this community, to purchase an instrument 
 and then learn to use it and adopt it in my teaching! — 
 piano makers are only too glad to furnish me all the pianos 
 I want. I have an established business, all I can do, and my 
 pupils are satisfied; why shouldn't they be? they have just 
 the same opportunities to learn that I had. Why should I 
 put myself to extra trouble and expense to give them bet- 
 ter opportunities to learn than I had myself?" 
 
 Arguments of this character were numerous. The thought 
 had escaped their minds that only a moment before they 
 had been deploring the fact that in their early teaching 
 they were deprived of the very advantages which they were 
 deliberately and in cold blood refusing their pupils. 
 
 One very prominent musician, who enjoyed in one of our 
 largest cities a most enviable reputation, after having had 
 several showings and a number of chances for practice on 
 the instrument, remarked to the writer: "To acquire a per- 
 fect legato touch, I regard a matter of first and greatest im- 
 portance in learning to play the piano. I have often worked 
 five years over pupils and then failed to get as good and 
 as intelligent an idea of how the legato touch is produced 
 as, by the aid of these clicks, can be gained in five minutes. 
 I will give you a recommendation for publication," said 
 he. Time passed, and, as no recommendation came, the 
 writer called upon the teacher, hoping to find the kindly 
 promised recommendation awaiting him; but no! — he was 
 doomed to disappointment. The musician at once remarked: 
 "I suppose you have come for the recommendation I prom- 
 ised you?" The writer admitted that such was the case. 
 "Well," said he, "I must ask you to excuse me from keep- 
 ing my promise. I admit the great value of your instrument. 
 I have not changed my opinion in the least. Now, is it not 
 
 i8 
 
sufficient for you that I tell you these things and for you 
 to tell people what I say? I can't give you a recommenda- 
 tion for publication. The fact is, I have other things to con- 
 sider. I cannot recommend your instrument without going 
 back on the early teachings of my father." Here the mat- 
 ter ended. It is certainly a noble trait of character to 
 respect a father's teachings when they are right, when they 
 are truth; it is, however, a far nobler trait of character to 
 go back on a father's teachings when they are wrong, 
 false. In the matter of education, is it not nobler to pro- 
 tect the interests and best good of present and of future 
 generations of unwary and innocent youths who are seeking 
 an education as a preparation for lives of usefulness than it 
 is to protect the teaching errors of a departed father? 
 
 Another prominent musician, after having the instrument 
 and method explained to him, and after making the asser- 
 tion, "Yes, I believe a pupil could accomplish more in one 
 year by the use of this instrument than he would in three 
 years without it," added, "but the question is. Is it policy 
 for me to use and recommend it? I had rather have a pupil 
 three years than one. It would not be good business policy 
 for me to adopt the one-year plan any more than it would 
 be for my bootmaker to make me so good a pair of boots 
 that they would last me a year, when he now makes me 
 three pairs a year." In this case interest in education, in- 
 deed in humanity and in art, too, fell dead at the feet of 
 selfishness and greed. 
 
 Another musician said: "There certainly is nothing in- 
 correct in what you have been showing me. I should like 
 an instrument for my own use if you can so favor me. I 
 will use it and not deny that I do if ever the question 
 comes up, but to tell you the truth, while the right use of 
 this instrument will undoubtedly help pupils to get on far 
 more rapidly in their playing, I must say I want my pupils 
 to work, I want them to work just as hard as I had to work; 
 it has taken me years to get where I am, and I do not care 
 to have my pupils go faster or accomplish more than I 
 have done; I do not believe in these short cuts and royal 
 roads to success; I am for work. 'Thou shalt earn thy bread 
 by the sweat of thy brow,* is the decree. I cannot now, 
 after all these years, go to work to learn a new system just 
 to help my pupils and to shorten their course, when it is 
 going to be no help whatever to me. Will they pay me 
 any higher price for my lessons? No, my prices are es- 
 tablished, and so am I. I do not believe it would increase 
 
my reputation or my income in the least were I to adopt 
 this way of teaching, but it certainly would cost me time, 
 money and labor to do it. I try to take a common-sense 
 business view of all such matters." 
 
 Was this man at heart an educator? Far from it! Would 
 he, think you, agree with Mohammed's assertion, "He who 
 honestly instructs, reverences God"? No! on the contrary, 
 he would have condemned the great prophet's methods as 
 wrong. 
 
 Honest teachers feel it their duty to ascertain what is to 
 the advantage of their pupils and then to see, if working 
 for their best good, will not in the end prove the teacher's 
 best good also. 
 
 A Cold Shoulder 
 
 Other teachers at once turned a cold shoulder on the in- 
 strument and the method, asserting that both were terribly 
 wrong; at a single glance they were able to take in the whole 
 situation. The most convincing argument advanced by such 
 teachers was, "I was not taught that way. I teach as I 
 was taught. My teacher was a great master and a great 
 player. His method is my method. There is no need for 
 new methods." 
 
 These opposing prominent teachers studied the piano in 
 stage coach days. These are different times: railroad and 
 electricity days. We are living in an age of progress in 
 every direction; indeed, education in music is not at the 
 dead standstill that some think it is. Is it not possible 
 for Clavier teachers to convince those musicians who are so 
 opposed to progress in our great art that the world has not, 
 as they imagine, stood dead still ever since their masters 
 adopted their teaching methods, and is it not consistent to 
 believe that the way to accomplish this is to educate parents? 
 
 Mechanical Playing 
 
 Many prominent musicians and teachers argued in the be- 
 ginning, and some are foolish enough to continue the same 
 idle talk, that the exactness demanded by the new instru- 
 ment and method would make mechanical playing, which 
 argument proved how little real knowledge they had of the 
 human machine and of the best way to establish in that 
 machine the conditions and skill necessary to the production 
 of true artistic musical effects at the piano. 
 
 The teacher who is able to make piano players must 
 
 20 
 
know how to train and develop not only the musical and 
 physical powers, but he must know, too, how to train and 
 develop the mental faculties. Why should musicians, who 
 are not educators in either direction, either at heart or by 
 training, not indulge in all sorts of fears and scepticisms? 
 — and to carry their point against the Clavier and method, is 
 it not natural that they should resort to the scheme of 
 frightening people into the belief that if they hope to be- 
 come musical players they must keep just as far from the 
 Clavier as possible, " because it ruins the touch and spoils 
 the tone"? The terrible warning, "Don't become a me- 
 chanical player," spectre-like has for the past eighteen years 
 perched itself on the bargain counter of every music studio 
 in America presided over by teachers who are opposed to 
 progress. But these — their most powerful arguments — "It 
 spoils the tone and ruins the touch and makes mechanical 
 playing," finally, after thousands of positive proofs that 
 tone, touch and musical effectiveness are not spoiled, but 
 actually improved by a right use of the Clavier, are losing 
 their force; even the great majority of the alarmists them- 
 selves are compelled reluctantly to admit that the use of 
 the Clavier does not injure the tone or the touch and that 
 Clavier pupils play musically. 
 
 The Musical Art Promotion Club 
 
 is an organization — as its name implies — for the promotion 
 of the art of music, instrumental and vocal, including theory 
 and composition. Clubs under the above title are local 
 branches of The International Society of Pianoforte Teach- 
 ers and Players, thus every club member is also a fnember 
 of the International Society. 
 
 The object in any community of forming a club is not to 
 make money, but to make musicians. Through the club 
 provision may be made to help talented and deserving music 
 students who have not the means to obtain a musical edu- 
 cation. 
 
 The Musical Art Promotion Club, understand, is only a 
 suggestion. In certain locaHties an organization of the kind 
 might meet with special favor and be the means not only 
 of awakening interest but also of doing a great deal of 
 good. In some places it may be found difficult to arouse 
 interest in any sort of a club or society organization. 
 
 It is recommended that in no case should the forming 
 of the club be an initial step. First of all let the teacher 
 
 21 
 
go to work on his own responsibility with the parents to 
 form a Parents' Class, and when a successful start has been 
 made and decided interest is shown, then is the time to 
 suggest the forming of a club. 
 
 An annual fee of $1.25 should be the tax upon members 
 and this will include membership in The International So- 
 ciety and a year's subscription to The Clavier and Musical 
 Profession. One dollar of the membership fee should be 
 forwarded to the New York office, 1002 Flatiron Bijilding, 
 to cover the annual fee for membership in The Inter- 
 national Society, including subscription to The Clavier and 
 Musical Profession; the remaining 25 cents goes into the 
 treasury of the club to pay postage and to meet other 
 local expenses. If a good interest can be awakened in 
 the cause, after the first year quarterly club concerts ought 
 to be given, for which a moderate admission should be 
 charged, the moneys received being paid into the treasury to 
 create a fund to be appropriated to the education of poor 
 but talented and deserving music students. The fact that 
 every member of the local club becomes a member of The 
 International Society and a reader of The Clavier and Mu- 
 sical Profession ought to prove a great assistance to a 
 Clavier teacher. In order to make the journal of value and 
 interest to the work, teachers ought frequently to send 
 short reports of their work to the editor, Mr. C. S. Cook, 
 12 Princes Street, Hanover Square, London, England, for 
 publication, and further, they should note down the ques- 
 tions that are put to them about their method of teaching, 
 also objections to any principles that may come to their 
 ears from other teachers, then send them on to 1002 Flat- 
 iron Building, New York, to the "Question Department." 
 The writer attends personally to this department of The 
 Clavier and Musical Profession. By taking this course an 
 intelligent interest in Education in Music may be awakened 
 and kept alive in every community in which music-loving 
 people reside. If teachers are really anxious to succeed, 
 they ought to see the need of putting forth some such efforts 
 as are here suggested. 
 
 A Further Suggestion 
 As the booklet is designed for Clavier teachers only, and 
 not for general distribution, will it not be well for teachers 
 to call upon people whom they know to be interested in 
 music and in education and read to them such portions as 
 their discretion and circumstances would suggest? Many 
 
 22 
 
will, of course, take no active interest, but simply a favor- 
 able word from people of the class suggested may be help- 
 ful, whereas an adverse word, through ignorance of the sub- 
 ject, would be equally harmful. To get as many people of 
 the better class with you as you can, and that, too, as early 
 as possible, is certainly wise. 
 
 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 
 
 A Fair Sample of Wrongly Taught Clavier Pupils 
 
 The first question the examiner puts is: "Have you ever 
 studied the Clavier method?" 
 Ans., Pupil: "Yes, I studied the method with Mrs. 
 
 all last year, but I have not accomplished anything in my 
 technic that I had expected to from what I had read and 
 heard of the great advantages of the Clavier method." 
 
 Examiner: "If you studied all last season you certainly 
 ought to have accomplished a good deal. How much daily 
 practice did you do?" 
 
 Pupil: "Well, I never got in less than three hours and 
 often more." 
 
 Examiner: "How much of that time did you devote to 
 technic at the Clavier?" 
 
 Pupil: "Oh, I had no Clavier. I did all my practice on 
 the piano. At first, for a week or two, I practised some 
 every day on the table; but as I had no Clavier I had to use 
 the piano. I several times used' the Clavier for a few mo- 
 ments at my lesson, but not at every lesson; only when Mrs. 
 wished to show me something about the clicks." 
 
 Examiner: "You have not been doing Clavier work at all, 
 I see; you can hardly expect to make much of a showing 
 in your technic if you have made no use of the Clavier; it's 
 the Clavier, you must understand, that does the work. How 
 long had you been studying the piano when you began your 
 so-called Clavier method work?" 
 
 Pupil: "Oh, I can't say how many years; ever since I was 
 a little girl; but I took lessons so irregularly that it is hard 
 to state just how long I have actually been under instruc- 
 tion." 
 
 Examiner: "Well, let's guess at it. Do you think you 
 had had lessons in all six years?" 
 
 Pupil: "Yes, I am sure I had." 
 
 Examiner: "And you lacked technic, and took up the 
 Clavier method for the purpose of getting technic, and be- 
 cause you had heard that it gave technic? No, It does not 
 
 33 
 
give technic, except at the price of labor. If you let the 
 instrument alone it does nothing for you. A Clavier pupil 
 must practice on the Clavier regularly and nowhere else 
 — save on the table— never touching the piano in practice 
 until each technical principle has been brought up to the 
 point at which tone is necessary to carry out, i.e., to make 
 application of the technical principle that has been gotten 
 into mind and fingers by the use of the clicks of the Clavier. 
 The Clavier must go ahead of the piano in all technical 
 work if the learner expects to make real, i.e., intelligent 
 progress. Why did you not have, a Clavier?" 
 
 Pupil: "Well, my people did not care to go to the ex- 
 pense of getting a Clavier as long as we already had a 
 piano." 
 
 Examiner: "But a piano cannot take the place of a Clavier 
 any more than a Clavier can take the place of a piano." 
 
 Pupil: "I asked Mrs. if it really were necessary 
 
 for me to go to the expense of a Clavier and she said it 
 was not. She said she could show me about the Clavier 
 at the lessons, as she had one in her studio, and I could 
 practice on the table and the piano. She wanted me to 
 practice on the table a good deal at first." 
 
 Examiner: "How long did she require you to keep up 
 your table practice?" 
 Pupil: "Oh, for a couple of weeks, I think." 
 Examiner: "During the two weeks you only used the 
 table, I presume?' 
 
 Pupil: "Oh, no; I used the piano, too." 
 Examiner: "What did you do on the piano?" 
 Pupil: "Well, I played my scales and pieces." 
 Examiner: "Your old pieces, I suppose?" 
 Pupil: "Yes; for she gave me no new piece until my 
 third or fourth lesson; after that I practiced the new piece, 
 also." 
 
 Examiner: "Will you play for me Ex. No. 6?" 
 Pupil: "No. 6? I do not recollect which it is." 
 Examiner: "Well, can you play No. 8?" The only response 
 was a confused, bewildered look. The examiner added, 
 **Can you play No. lo?" Another blank response. "Well, 
 I am sure you can play Exercise 25; everyone who knows 
 anything at all about the Clavier method knows 25, the 
 whole scheme of finger work hinges on Exercise 25 more 
 than upon any other exercise in the book." 
 
 Pupil: "No, I do not remember that, either— not by the 
 number. If you show me how it goes, maybe I shall recall 
 
it, for I have practiced quite a number of the Clavier ex- 
 ercises." After a moment's showing the young lady broke 
 out with the exclamation, "Oh, yes! I remember that as 
 soon as you play it; that is one of the exercises she had me 
 play on her Clavier. I played that, oh, three or four times. 
 She told me not to play it on the piano, so I only played it 
 at my lessons. She gave it to me, I remember, at my first 
 lesson and every time I went to the Clavier she had me 
 play it, and I kept it up for, I should think, a month, maybe 
 longer; but I do not know that I ever knew the number of 
 the exercise." 
 
 Examiner: "Ex. 25 is especially a . Clavier exercise; Jt 
 would not sound very well on the piano." 
 
 Pupil: "Yes, and there was another exercise tRat I think 
 must be especially a Clavier exercise, as yod say, for it 
 sounded terribly on the piano. I played it a few times, and 
 mother asked me if I called that music." 
 
 Examiner: "Well, you certainly know 43, the whole 
 Clavier world knows 43" — at the same time playing a few 
 notes. 
 
 Pupil: "Oh!" — a bright smile lighting up the previously 
 downcast, dejected face — "that is the stretching exercise; 
 that's the very one that I played several times on the piano, 
 and one day mother said, 'If that is one of your Clavier 
 method studies, I don't see how you can learn music by 
 practicing such exercises as that.' I explained that it was 
 
 only to stretch the fingers. I told Mrs. what mother 
 
 said about the exercise, and she said to me I had better not 
 practice it any more on the piano, but could go through it 
 occasionally at my lessons. I played it a few times after 
 that at my lessons, but that has been so long ago that I had 
 entirely forgotten it until you began to play it to-day." 
 
 Examiner: "You certainly know Exercises 62, 63, 64 and 
 65, for these are both Clavier and piano exercises?" 
 
 Pupil: "I presume I have had them, but I do n(5t know 
 them by the numbers." 
 
 Examiner: "You must have played on the piano Exer- 
 cises 67, 68, 69 and 70?" 
 
 Pupil: "I presume I have; but you see a great many of 
 the Clavier Exercises that I practiced I never saw at all, 
 
 and none of them more than once or twice when Mrs. 
 
 first gave them to me; she showed them to me at the time 
 from her book; you see, I have had no Clavier book of my 
 own; Mrs. said it was not really necessary for me 
 
 25 
 
to get a book as long as she had one, and I was expected 
 to play everything from memory." 
 
 Examiner: **I see. I presume when you were a school- 
 girl you studied spelling, reading, grammar, arithmetic, etc., 
 in school, did you not?" 
 
 Pupil: Yes; certainly." 
 
 Examiner: "There is not much doubt but that your teach- 
 ers each had a spelling book, a reader, a grammar and an 
 arithmetic which were their own personal property. Now, 
 did they at the recitation permit you occasionally to take a 
 hasty peep into their books and excuse you from becoming 
 the owner and proprietor of a speller, a reader, a grammar 
 and an arithmetic? No, indeed! 
 
 "One of the very first requirements was that you supply 
 yourself with the necessary books for use, a book for every 
 branch pursued. The fact is, your school was carried on 
 upon educational principles and for educational purposes; 
 you were expected to study and get your lessons, and to 
 do those things you had to have books, your own books, and 
 study them. 
 
 "The Clavier method is an educational method. Your 
 teacher was no Clavier teacher at all. She possibly may 
 know something about education in other branches of learn- 
 ing, but she certainly knows nothing about education in 
 music. The study of the piano is as much an intellectual 
 work, i.e., when rightly pursued, as are any of the school 
 studies mentioned, and the piano pupil is in just as great 
 need of a proper text-book as is the school pupil, indeed, 
 more; the study of the piano is not only an intellectual but 
 it is a mechanical study as well. Not only is a proper text- 
 book an absolute necessity, but so are special mechanical 
 appliances equally necessary. 
 
 "One might as well expect a student in architecture to 
 master his great art without owning or studying a book, 
 and without using a measure, a straight edge, a try-square» 
 a pair of compasses or any of the many mechanical appli- 
 ances used by architects as to expect a Clavier pupil to 
 master his art without a Clavier, a metronome and a text- 
 book. 
 
 "There is no better proof that all idea of consistent edu- 
 cational work is by common consent and practice barred 
 out of piano study, than the fact that teachers who claim 
 to know and to teach the Clavier method will tell their 
 pupils that it is not necessary to have a Clavier or a book. 
 The Clavier is the only instrument in the world that gives to 
 
I 
 
 the fingers, through the intelligence, a schooling which con- 
 centrates the intellectual, emotional and physical powers 
 upon the exact work demanded of them in playing the piano, 
 and the Clavier book is the only one in the world which 
 places before the intelligence and the fingers of the learner 
 the definite work required of them." 
 
 Examiner: "Please play a scale for me." 
 
 Pupil: "That is my very weakest point; I have never 
 been able to play scales with any velocity at all, but I will 
 do the best I can." The scale was played. 
 
 Examiner: "Did you make any improvement in your 
 scale playing by your lessons in the Clavier method?" 
 
 Pupil: "None at all. You see, as I told you, I have no 
 velocity." 
 
 Examiner: "And you never will have until you learn to 
 make right crossing movements. I see you were not taught 
 the crossing exercises" — opening to them in the book. 
 
 Pupil: "Yes, she gave them to me, and said I could 
 practice them on the piano and I did so, and I remember 
 now that she did criticise my finger movements a g"ood deal." 
 
 Examiner: "Please play this simple exercise, Chord Ex- 
 ercise No. 40." 
 
 Pupil: "Yes, I think I had this; but as I never had much 
 trouble with chords, and went straight through it, Mrs, 
 said I did not need to practice it." The Chord Ex- 
 ercise was played. 
 
 Examiner: "Play it with the metronome, please, at this 
 tempo," placing the metronome at 60. 
 
 Pupil: "I am afraid I cannot play it with the metronome. 
 
 At my lesson Mrs. had me sometimes play it with 
 
 the metronome, but it always seemed to throw me out; I 
 could play much better without it. May I try it once with- 
 out the metronome?" 
 
 Examiner: "Yes," — the metronome was silenced, — "but 
 play in this time" — counting the T. M. The player started 
 at once — paid no attention to the T. M. "What does this 
 mean?" was asked, pointing to the T. M. 
 
 Pupil: "Oh, yes; but I thought you only used that with 
 
 the metronome, and as I had no metronome Mrs. 
 
 said I could leave it out." 
 
 Examiner: "But I want you to put it in always, metro- 
 nome or no metronome." 
 
 Pupil: "I never had much trouble with time." 
 
 Examiner: "No one ever does who never uses the metro- 
 nome. Let me count one measure, then you play these two 
 
 ,^^^.. - ^27 
 
 rv 
 
measures," pointing to them. "What touch did you use in 
 this measure?" 
 
 Pupil: I ought to have played that staccato — no, half 
 staccato; I think I played it legato, did I not?" 
 
 Examiner: "I see you are not very clear in your mind 
 with regard to the movements for the various chords. You 
 will be obliged to study this exercise. How about your 
 octaves?" 
 
 Pupil: "Oh, I never could play octaves. My octaves are 
 worse, if possible, than my scales." 
 
 Examiner: "Well, then, you need not play them. How 
 about your ear?" 
 
 Pupil: "I think I am all right in that respect, for the 
 Clavier exercises sounded so very badly to me on the piano, 
 especially 25 and 43, and there were some others that sounded 
 just as badly, that I couldn't endure them." The ear was 
 tested. 
 
 Examiner: "Yes, your auricular powers are naturally 
 good, and I am sure you have intellectual ability, and I see 
 that your physical powers are good, too. Yes, you have 
 good-sized and well-proportioned hands, and your arm and 
 shoulder muscles are equally good. You tell me you have 
 been playing ever since you were a little girl. You have 
 been at the piano, no doubt, ten years — not taking lessons 
 all the time, of course — but all this time you have been at 
 work at your music in some shape?" 
 
 Pupil: "Yes." 
 
 Examiner: "Now, let's suppose you had begun work at 
 the Clavier and with a teacher who was intelligent and 
 honest, and who was more anxious for your future good 
 than he was to satisfy your present desire to economize, 
 and instead of telling you that you could get along without 
 a Clavier and a book, had said to you it will be a great mis- 
 take, indeed, for you not to have a Clavier to practice on, 
 a book to study and a metronome; these are the three ab- 
 solute necessities. I say, suppose you had begun with such 
 a teacher and that you had followed his advice, what do 
 you think would have been your condition to-day? Why, 
 I can assure you that your ten years at the piano, with your 
 naturally good mental, musical and physical powers, would 
 have made you to-day an artist; but bad advice and wrong 
 teaching have placed you where you are — and where is that? 
 Technically, you are still in the ranks of the beginners, 
 your first lessons here will be absolutely beginning lessons. 
 The economy that has been practiced in your case has 
 
proven a reckless extravagance; but you are not alone; I 
 am constantly examining people whose experiences are al- 
 most identical with your own, and whose condition is na 
 better than is yours; we have several others now in school 
 who are in the same fix that you are in. This is why I favor 
 common sense in the study of music. Education in music 
 means this." 
 
 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS 
 TO PARENTS 
 
 Questions to Be Submitted to the Parents* Classes 
 
 DIRECTIONS — At the lessons the members of the class 
 will copy only the questions printed in black type. Directions 
 to the teacher and other matter following the questions are 
 for the teacher to study and digest before each lesson, as an 
 assistance in explaining to the class the principles involved in 
 the question last given. 
 
 Remarks by Teacher: Every building must be erected on 
 a foundation, and the more substantial and solid the founda- 
 tion, the greater and more enduring will be the structure 
 it supports. 
 
 The piano teacher's business is to build players; the ar- 
 tistic result is the structure erected; the pupil, i.e., his mind, 
 his purpose, energy, will, his body, muscles and nerves sup- 
 ply the material out of which the foundation is constructed. 
 
 The thousands upon thousands of human possibilities at 
 the present time, between the ages of eight years and forty 
 who are anxiously trying to erect, each upon his own stock 
 of foundation materials, an art structure of no mean pro- 
 portions and who are working to little and many to abso- 
 lutely no purpose, is alarming. Their efforts are futile for 
 no other reason than that the foundation materials within 
 themselves, upon which the art edifice must rest, are not 
 properly utilized. 
 
 A human being, while by nature a possibility, is also by 
 nature an impossibility. If he make a right use of the mate- 
 rials which nature places at his disposal, he is a natural possi- 
 bility. He is, on the other hand, a natural impossibility 
 if he fail to make a right use of nature's materials. 
 
 29 
 
It is not, you understand, the aim to make artists of the 
 members of the Parents' Classes, but rather to make them 
 know how artists are made, and, too, how failures are made? 
 To accomplish these things we must teach them how na- 
 ture's foundation materials must be used, in order that they 
 may know whether or not their children's powers and talents 
 are being rightly directed, and further, that they may be able 
 to lend valuable aid to the teacher who is instructing their 
 children in right principles. 
 
 The cornerstone of the foundation upon which this art 
 structure which we piano teachers are attempting to erect 
 for our pupils is health. To be physically and mentally well, 
 is nature's first requirement. All nature's foundation prin- 
 ciples, upon which this great art structure rests, will of their 
 own free will and accord move more gracefully and at the 
 proper time to their appointed place in the great founda- 
 tion wall if mind and body are in right condition. A sound 
 and vigorous mind cannot inhabit a diseased and frail body, 
 therefore health must be a first consideration. Health comes 
 largely through Deep Breathing and proper Physical Ex- 
 ercise. 
 
 The first three things taught are Deep Breathing, Physical 
 Exercises and Mental Development and Control. Every- 
 thing else in the work of the music pupil hinges largely upon 
 these three things. 
 
 Question i. What Breathing Exercises are you given for 
 daily practice? 
 
 Directions to Teachers: Deep breathing, it must 
 be explained, improves the general health, purifies 
 the blood, betters the condition of muscles, helps to 
 develop nerve control, increases mental activity, 
 strengthens memory, improves the power of con- 
 centration, equalizes the circulation. Associated 
 with right thinking, with proper physical exercises, 
 with prudent and proper eating and drinking, deep 
 breathing develops a healthy body and mind. Deep 
 breathing also imparts the endurance, suppleness 
 and activity to the muscles demanded in piano 
 playing. 
 
 Instruct pupils to take several deep inhalations of 
 pure air the first thing on rising, before they take 
 their breakfast every morning, not occasionally, but 
 
 30 . 
 
as regularly as the mornings come, and not when 
 they feel perfectly well, but always, unless too ill 
 to rise, in which case the windows should be opened 
 wide, admitting the pure air, and the breathing prac- 
 ticed while lying down. As the pure air is in- 
 haled, thought must be at work, and the thought 
 must be: I am taking in health, strength and life. 
 
 It may be here stated, however, that it is not a 
 part of a music teacher's duties to give instruction 
 in matters of diet, the music teacher has enough 
 else to do; this is a subject which must be left to 
 the good sense of parents. There are parents who 
 are consistent enough to so qualify themselves that 
 they are able to benefit their children as greatly in 
 this particular as they can in their music studies. 
 It is true that such supervision entails, in many 
 cases, quite exacting duties upon fathers and 
 mothers, but they are duties from which no thought- 
 ful parent ever seeks relief; parents who are not 
 disposed to do their duty by their children in these 
 important particulars have no right to be parents. 
 
 The pupil is first taught, as explained in Special 
 Breathing Exercise No. i. Book L, p. 224, F.E., 
 how to control the larynx in associating the breath- 
 ing and physical exercises. At first, thought should 
 be directed to the outward action of the abdominal 
 and waist muscles and to the internal sense of the 
 downward sinking of the diaphragm. As soon as 
 the muscular action described is clearly established, 
 at each inhalation follow the outward action at the 
 waist and the downward action of the diaphragm 
 by the elevation of the chest. There must, how- 
 ever, be no lifting of the shoulders. The muscular 
 action at each inhalation should, as stated, start 
 by action of the waist and abdominal muscles, but 
 as soon as these are consciously well in action the 
 chest should be allowed to rise. For example, if 
 an inhalation continue during five beats of the 
 metronome at 60, begin the muscular action at the 
 waist at the first pulse; at the third pulse begin the 
 action of the chest muscles, and continue the in- 
 halation and united muscular movements at the 
 waist, diaphragm and chest until the fifth pulse. At 
 first, i.e., in beginning the breathing practice, do not 
 hold the breath more than one count, later the 
 
 31 
 
breath may be held longer. At first In exhaling, 
 see that the muscular action is so controlled that 
 a steady action is made, all muscles starting easily 
 and together. 
 
 Teachers ought never to tire of calling the pupil's 
 attention to his or her — and especially her — breath- 
 ing. Boys and men ought to be thorough in the 
 practice of deep breathing; girls and women ought 
 to be very thorough in the practice of deep breath- 
 ing. 
 
 If parents are made to understand the importance 
 of deep breathing to the health of their children, 
 and to their success in the work of learning to play, 
 in fact in everything they undertake, and will join 
 them daily in their breathing exercises, aiming to 
 make it a few moments' recreation, it will not be 
 long before deep breathing will have become a 
 habit, and connected with it there will be a con- 
 scious feeling of increased vitality. Thus health, 
 strength and vigor of mind and body will grow 
 with the growth of the child as naturally as does his 
 stature from year to year; and so will the health and 
 strength of parents improve if they will only join 
 their children daily in their breathing exercises. 
 
 Special Breathing Exercise No. 2, associated with 
 counting with the metronome, as directed, should 
 be explained and practiced. 
 
 The above breathing exercises should be given to 
 the Parents' Classes, the teacher giving illustrations 
 and necessary explanations. State that this, proper- 
 ly, is class work. Read to the class Quotation No. 
 298 in ''Step by Step," also Nos. 299, 300, 301 and 
 302. Suggest to the members of the class, also, that 
 they read in the October, 1906, number of The 
 Clavier and Musical Profession, if at hand, the ar- 
 ticle entitled, "The Importance to the Pianist of 
 Habitual Deep Breathing and Daily Physical Ex- 
 ercise." Read, "Further Suggestions with Regard 
 to the Practice of Deep Breathing" in "Step by 
 Step," p. 363. 
 
 The writer does not hesitate to say to a ^Parents* 
 Class: "Any teacher who neglects breathing and 
 physical exercises is not a good teacher." He wants 
 Clavier teachers to be classed under the head of 
 good teachers. The teacher who is compelled to 
 
 32 
 
I 
 
 give thirty-minute lessons will be obliged to neglect 
 breathing and physical exercises almost entirely. 
 A thirty-minute teacher cannot possibly be 
 thorough. 
 
 I Question 2. What exercises are you given for mental 
 discipline? Give example. 
 
 To the Teacher: The object of the Mental Train- 
 ing Exercises is to develop the power to memorize 
 music, and when once in mind to retain. 
 
 As a means of schooling, preparatory to memor- 
 izing music, all exercises and studies taken should 
 be memorized, recited and played from memory. 
 
 Mental Exercise, No. i. 
 
 I. 50 to 120 
 
 Division (a) 
 
 U 2, 3, 4, 
 
 5, 6, 7, 8, 
 
 8, 7, 6t 5, 
 
 division (b) 
 t A ^f ^t 
 
 5, 6t 7, 8, 
 
 % JO, lU J2, 
 
 '*t 7, 6, 5, 
 
 JO, J J, J2, 
 
 4, 3, 2, J, 
 
 Division (c) 
 
 J3, J4, J5, J6, 
 
 r 7, 6, 5, 
 
 4, 3, 2, i. 
 
 h 
 
 2, 
 
 3, 
 
 4, 
 
 'J6, 
 
 15. 
 
 14, 
 
 I3J 
 
 Division (d) 
 
 I. 2. 3, 4, 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4, 
 
 3, 
 
 2, 
 
 I, 
 
 'J2, 
 
 n. 
 
 10, 
 
 9, 
 
 5. 
 
 6, 
 
 7, 
 
 8, 
 
 12, 
 
 n. 
 
 JO, 
 
 9, 
 
 5, 
 
 6, 
 
 7, 
 
 8, 
 
 
 
 
 
 JO, J J, J2,t J3, J4, J5, J6, 
 
 J7, J8, J9, 20, 
 
 20, J9, J8, J7, 
 
 .J5,J4,J3, J2, JJ, JO, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, !• 
 
 33 
 
If at first trial Division A is recited at so perfectly 
 straight, at same tempo recite Division B, and so on 
 through all sections, unless hesitations and stumblings 
 occur. The object, understand, is not so much to go 
 fast as to go straight; straight means no hesitating or 
 stumbling; concentration is needed. The power of 
 mental concentration will prevent stumbling in the 
 organs of speech. The same power will prevent 
 stumbling in the fingers, when mind and fingers 
 know what they have to do as well as mind and 
 the organs of speech know the numbers. The pupil 
 must explain each division of the exercise, i.e., must 
 give the first and highest numbers, etc. 
 
 When all sections have been recited perfectly at 
 M.M. 50, change to 60, and so on; change to 66, 72, 
 80, 88, 96, etc., thus gradually increase the tempo 
 until 120 is reached, remembering that the aim is to 
 control the mind to go absolutely straight and not 
 simply to know the numbers. The pupil knows the 
 numbers, but does he know them straight, so 
 straight that the organs of speech will not stumble? 
 Control, mental poise, order, through that great soul 
 power Concentration, are what is needed to make 
 one go straight. Just so with the fingers; they 
 must know their business as perfectly as the organs 
 of speech know theirs; if they do, and the mind 
 knows its business equally well, there will be no 
 stumbling fingers. This great work, getting mental 
 control — acquiring the power to concentrate one's 
 mind on the one single subject or thing to be done — 
 demands in the beginning single, simple and definite 
 effort. Who would go sure and fast in this work 
 must go slow. 
 
 This exercise ought to be given to the Parents' 
 as well as to the Pupils* Classes. To make the 
 order perfectly clear, the exercise should be 
 written out on the blackboard; the sight sense 
 is always a valuable assistance to the mind. The 
 music pupil ought always to see on the page the 
 notes of every exercise played; this not only facili- 
 tates music reading, but it also aids very greatly 
 in the acquisition of the power of mind concen- 
 tration. This exercise should be followed by 
 
 34 
 
Mental Exercise, No. 2. 
 
 I T.M 
 
 Division (a) 
 
 A. B. C D 
 
 E, F, G, H, 
 
 
 
 H, Gt F, E, 
 
 D, C B, A, 
 
 Division (b) 
 
 4 A, B, Q D, 
 
 E» F» G» H» 
 
 I, J, K, L, 
 
 L, K, J, I, 
 
 4 H, G, F, E, 
 
 4 I. J, K, L, 
 
 D> C> B> A, 
 M, N, O. P", 
 
 4 H, G, F. E, 
 
 4 I, J, K. L, 
 
 4 P. O, N. M, 
 
 D. 
 
 Q 
 
 B, 
 
 A, 
 
 M, 
 
 N, 
 
 0. 
 
 P, 
 
 L, 
 
 K, 
 
 h 
 
 I, 
 
 Division (c) 
 
 A, B, C, D, 
 
 E. 
 
 F, G, H, 
 
 -p, 0, N, M, 
 
 U 
 
 K, J, I. 
 
 Division (d) 
 
 A, B, C D, 
 
 E, 
 
 F, G, H, 
 
 
 
 
 Q, Rf S, T, 
 
 Ht Gf F» Et 
 
 D, C, B, A. ! 
 
 This exercise will be found a little more trouble- 
 some than the preceding one; it must be practiced 
 in th« same order and, if possible, with still greater 
 care. 
 
 Mental Exercise No. 3 
 
 consists of the following three short sentences of 
 three words each, which are to be memorized: 
 First. — Mind is everything. 
 
 Dr. von Biilow. 
 
 Second. — Concentration alone conquers. 
 
 Buxton. 
 
 Third. — Knowledge is power. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 In the two preceding mental exercises the mind 
 powers demanded were Concentration, Memory and 
 
 35 
 
Order; no idea being expressed, the Reflective powcf 
 was not demanded. In this exercise ideas are ex- 
 pressed, hence Reflection is aroused. The mental 
 powers employed in the three phrases are Con- 
 centration, Memory, Order and Reflection, When 
 a variety of ideas is expressed in a variety of 
 forms and by a variety of words, as in the three 
 sentences given, if the four powers named are not 
 all in action, there will be failure to express the 
 ideas in the order and manner given. In the 
 rendering of music all the same mental powers are 
 brought into action with the addition of the Mu- 
 sical-Emotional, which should come through the re- 
 flective power. Perfection of interpretation in the 
 rendering of music depends upon the command the 
 performer has over these powers, coupled with the 
 power of Reason, which power leads to the de- 
 velopment of the Physical, Mechanical and Tech- 
 nical Powers. For these reasons a piano method 
 founded upon educational principles must, from the 
 very beginning, give direct attention to the develop- 
 ment in logical order of all the mental, physical and 
 mechanical powers. When this course is taken, the 
 pupil builds on a solid, intelligent foundation; he 
 goes faster and accomplishes more — does greater 
 things — than does the pupil who builds on the one 
 faculty, the musical-emotional, because all his facul- 
 ties are at once brought directly and conjointly 
 into action. It is because of these facts that the 
 lessons in mental and physical training are given. 
 
 The pupil who is being rightly taught in all these 
 branches is progressing along educational lines and 
 is the one who eventually accomplishes great things, 
 indeed we never know what a learner's capabilities 
 are until all his faculties have been reached and 
 developed. It is in this respect, i.e., in the sys- 
 tematic training of all the faculties that the Clavier 
 Method differs from all other piano methods. 
 
 Parents who understand these principles are in 
 position to help the teacher in the discharge of his 
 duties as an instructor. If parents are ignorant of 
 these things they are very prone to interfere with 
 the teacher who is trying to give instruction. It 
 is to secure the necessary help from parents that 
 these lessons are given. 
 
 36 . • ^ ^ ' •■• • 
 
The teacher should explain to Parents' Classes 
 that in Pupils' Classes, to test and improve the 
 memory and to awaken the reflective powers, the 
 pupils are questioned upon the quotations some- 
 what as follows: 
 
 How many quotations were you given at your 
 last lesson to learn? Have you them learned? Who 
 is the author of the third quotation? Who of the 
 first? Who of the second? Please recite the three 
 quotations in the order given. What can you teli 
 me with regard to the author of the first quotation? 
 What of the author of the second? What of the 
 author of the third? Please recite the third quota- 
 tion. Now if knowledge is power, what must ig- 
 norance be? Can you give me the first word of 
 each of the three quotations? Please do so. Mind 
 is what? Concentration does what? Knowledge 
 is what? 
 
 If the members of this class have ^lind — com- 
 monly called brains — and Concentration and Knowl- 
 edge, they will certainly succeed; if any fail, we shall 
 know that they are lacking in some of these most 
 desirable qualities. If one should succeed better 
 than any other member of the class, i.e., get ahead 
 of the others, we shall know the reason, or, if any 
 member of the class fall behind the others, we 
 shall know the reason. 
 
 At the Parents' Lessons the three subjects, Deep 
 Breathing, Physical Training and Mental Control, 
 will need to be given some attention at every lesson. 
 These are very important matters, and as at the 
 first lesson it will not be possible to give more 
 than two or three exercises upon each subject, 
 others must be given at subsequent lessons. It is 
 impossible to get over the ground that ought to be 
 covered in a Parents' Class in three lessons; the 
 writer has found it advisable to give nine lessons 
 to one class. It is better to announce in the be- 
 ginning three lessons, and then add to them as the 
 interest seems to demand. At lessons following the 
 first, it will be well to read to the parents from 
 "Step by Step" such quotations as the pupils in the 
 Pupils' Classes are required to memorize for mental 
 discipline and to arouse right modes of thinking. 
 Quotations Nos. 124, 91, 8, 7, 4, 5, no, 108, 104, 94, 
 
 37 
 
172, 48, 31, 28, 22, 21, i8, i6, 2, 140, 146, 155, 172, 181, 
 222, 54, 243, 161, 270, 176, 285 and 294 should be read 
 at the different lessons. The teacher ought also to 
 read "The Importance of Mental Training" in "Step 
 by Step," p. 30; also "Object of the Quotations," in 
 "Thoughts for Those Who Think," p. 32. 
 
 To encourage a child to think and to think good 
 and valuable thoughts and to form the habit of so 
 doing is an essential element in all education. The 
 object of the Quotations in "Step by Step" is to 
 furnish teachers suitable material for such work. It 
 may seem, at first thought, that this is a training 
 not demanded in the study of music. The truth is, 
 in no other schooling is it, at the present time, so 
 much demanded as in music. The common practice 
 in music teaching has always been such that the be- 
 lief everywhere prevails that common-sense thinking 
 is not at all necessary in music study; to feel and 
 enjoy pleasing melodies is all that is demanded is 
 the prevailing opinion. Why is it that the vast 
 majority of music learners — they can't be called 
 students — are eager to play pieces on some instru- 
 ment or to sing songs, but are stupidly opposed to 
 learning playing principles or the principles of mu- 
 sic, and why is it that most of them are unable to 
 read music correctly and know nothing of the prin- 
 ciples of harmony. How is it that our amateur mu- 
 sicians — piano pupils especially — the world over are 
 in this condition? The answer is: because it has 
 never been considered a part of the music teacher's 
 work to train the mental faculties; the musical sense 
 alone receives attention, and the only physical train- 
 ing bestowed upon playing members is just enough 
 and no more than is absolutely necessary to enable 
 them to execute in more or less finished style the 
 composition in hand. Reserve strength, reserve en- 
 durance and reserve executive skill are not stored 
 up. Players thus trained never get beyond the 
 level of common mediocrity. An education nar- 
 rowed down to the acquisition of the musical sense 
 to enjoy an enjoyable composition, and the finger 
 skill to get through the piece without serious offence 
 to the musical effects demanded, is not education 
 at all. 
 
 38 
 
Question 3. What Ear Training work have you in practice, 
 or have you been given? Give example. 
 To the Teacher: To cultivate in an educational 
 way a learner's musical sense, tone quality and pitch 
 ought to be the first subjects considered. A piano 
 tone may in itself be in tune or out of tune. The 
 first discriminative power in which the ear of a 
 music pupil should be trained is the power to dis- 
 tinguish tone quality, a good from a bad tone, i.e., 
 a tone in tune from a tone out of tune. 
 Question 4. At your lessons have you been taught to listen 
 to single tones and to compare one tone 
 with another to distinguish between in tune 
 and out of tune tones? If so, see if in this 
 piano you can find both in and out of tune 
 tones. 
 A piano tone in tune is perfectly even and 
 straight; if a long tone it, of course, diminishes per- 
 fectly evenly, whereas a tone out of tune is very 
 different; in it waves and beats are heard, and it 
 diminishes unevenly. The teacher should show the 
 pictures representing a tone in tune and a tone out 
 of tune (see page 25, Book I., F.E.), and, if possible, 
 should give at the piano examples of in tune and 
 out of tune tones. In modern pianos, explain, a 
 hammer strikes either three or two wires, save in 
 six or eight of the lowest tones, where a hammer 
 strikes but one wire — or large wound string. If 
 the three or two wires struck by the same hammer 
 are exactly at the same tension, the wires will vi- 
 brate together and the tone produced will be even, 
 straight and perfectly in tune, but, on the contrary, 
 if the three or two wires struck by the same ham- 
 mer are not at exactly the same tension, the wires 
 will not vibrate together and the tone produced will 
 be wavy and out of tune, and the services of a piano- 
 tuner are needed. 
 
 Accustoming young players, or old ones either, to 
 hear tones that are out of tune is ruin to the car 
 and to the musical sense and to the acquisition of 
 accuracy in execution. Accustoming young fingers 
 to a bad touch, such as cheap pianos are noted for, 
 is as damaging to the touch as out-of-tune tones 
 are to the ear. The player whose ear and touch arc 
 bad is a failure. 
 
 39 
 
It is not possible for any learner to acquire a cor- 
 rect car and the skill to produce musical tone by 
 the use of a piano that is out of tune, and that has 
 a bad, uneven, unsympathetic touch. Still it is an 
 old and a very common opinion, so common, in fact, 
 that almost everyone endorses and practices it — 
 although it may possibly not be quite as universally 
 accepted now as was the case years ago — that any 
 old piano is good enough to begin on, if only it has 
 the regular number of keys; tone and touch quite im- 
 material in tune or out of tune, it's all the same; one 
 or even two tones below standard pitch doesn't mat- 
 ter; these are all minor considerations. The keys 
 are the main thing; there must, of course, be a key 
 to match every note on the music page, or else 
 what are the notes for, and what would there be 
 for the fingers to do? 
 
 There never existed a greater error. Good tone, 
 good touch, in tune are the qualities in a piano 
 which untrained ears and fingers need more im- 
 peratively, if possible, than do cultivated ears and 
 skilled fingers; the latter, in fact, will not tolerate 
 for a moment an instrument of bad tone or bad 
 touch or that is out of tune, but the poor innocent, 
 unwary beginner, who is trying to cultivate a mu- 
 sical ear and a musical touch, must take whatever 
 he can get and be thankful. 
 
 Following the study of single tones the next 
 things in order should be the study of simple pass- 
 ages and three-tone chords, for the purpose of 
 arousing a keen conception and appreciation of mu- 
 sical effects when tones are thus employed. At this 
 point in the study of tone, listening to tonal effects 
 of an unmusical character in passages and chords 
 is specially damaging. For example, unmusical, 
 monotonous five-finger exercises which are neces- 
 sarily purely mechanical and often dissonant should 
 be avoided, also the playing, or rather the fumbling, 
 of chords such as are found in simple pieces and 
 exercises, ought never to be heard on the piano 
 until the fingers have been trained properly to pre- 
 pare themselves and the arms and hands to make 
 right chord movements. Acute and appreciative 
 hearing of tones and tonal effects does not come 
 through listening to bad tones and crude musical 
 
effects. The piano should be used only in pro- 
 ducing music or in the practice of exercises of a 
 musical character. 
 
 Five distinct, well-defined objects were sought 
 in the construction of the Clavier. 
 
 The first was to make it possible to apply con- 
 sistent educational principles in foundational piano 
 teaching. 
 
 The second was to establish the fact in the 
 minds of teachers, learners and parents that there 
 is a marked difference between playing the piano 
 and learning to play, and that the latter must pre- 
 cede the former, that is, the pupil must know how 
 to play before he attempts to play. 
 
 The third was to greatly facilitate the acquisition 
 of true artistic technical skill. 
 
 The fourth was to furnish teachers of the piano 
 as definite knowledge what to teach and how to 
 teach as is possessed by teachers of arithmetic, 
 grammar, chemistry, etc. (Uncertain teaching 
 leads to uncertain learning, and both lead to uncer- 
 tain and unmusical playing.) 
 
 The fifth was to spare the ear and the nerves and 
 to save the tone and action of a good piano from 
 useless and unnecessary wear. 
 
 First of all get a piano that has a good tone and 
 a good touch, then take care of it; keep it in tune; 
 keep it closed when not actually in use; keep it in 
 a dry place and out of a draft. 
 
 Preserve the freshness, beauty and evenness of 
 tone by using it only for the playing of music or 
 exercises of a musical character. Tone is put to 
 a wrong use when it is employed for any other 
 purpose than to produce musical effects. The 
 average learner, who from the outset uses tone 
 strictly as here suggested, acquires a far better 
 understanding and a much deeper and more intelli- 
 gent appreciation of music than does the one who 
 begins his so-called music study by thrumming on 
 the piano unmusical exercises in the unmusical 
 fashion so universally adopted. 
 
 Do the dry mechanical drudgery on a toneless 
 keyboard, even learn musical exercises and pieces 
 on the same instrument, do not go to the musical 
 instrument with the exercise or piece until it is so 
 
well in the fingers that the musical effects de- 
 manded are easily produced. 
 
 "We are now ready," say to the class, **to take up 
 the subject of Technic — how to acquire execution. 
 One of the first things to be done is to get the 
 hands in right position for playing. Mechanical 
 knowledge is what is needed. The learner must 
 be made to know — when his fingers are first brought 
 into action — what mechanically a right hand posi- 
 tion is; he must be made to know why a correct 
 position is correct, and why an incorrect position 
 is incorrect; he must also be made to under- 
 stand that it is perfectly easy to get a right po- 
 sition if the one single thing, Position, is at a 
 given time made the subject of study. This is 
 bringing the intelligence and the mechanical sense 
 together, and physical feeling may easily be brought 
 in to assist the other two senses." 
 
 Please write question four. 
 
 Question 4. Will you place your hands in playing position 
 on this table or on the keyboard? 
 
 Say to the class: "If you find the term Playing 
 Position is not a familiar expression to your chil- 
 dren, then say, well, place your hands on the table 
 or keys as you would if you were going to play 
 quite slowly from C up to G, and back. 
 
 "At this point," say to the class, "we give pupils 
 a very important quotation to memorize; it is this: 
 'The hand that follows the intellect can achieve.' — 
 Michael Angelo." 
 
 At the lesson following the one at which the 
 hand-shaping and the quotation were given, before 
 the hands are shaped, the pupil or class are asked 
 to recite the quotation and to tell all they have been 
 able to learn of its author. The teacher says: 
 "Michael Angelo was a great authority, so if you, 
 or any of you, have not achieved sufficient control 
 over your hands to take a good hand position, then 
 your hand does not yet follow your intellect; either 
 the mind is not perfectly clear as to what a correct 
 hand position is, or you have not had sufficient 
 practice in hand-shaping. What was the third quo- 
 tation you learned at your first lesson upon the 
 subject of concentration? Please recite it." 
 
 42 
 
The pupil or class recites: "Concentration alone 
 conquers." 
 
 "Yes, it is possible you have failed to concentrate 
 your mind sufficiently upon this mechanical work 
 of getting your hands into a right position; we 
 shall hope that by your next lesson your hands will 
 be in shape." 
 
 The teacher, before giving this lesson to the 
 Parents' Class, must have made the subject of hand- 
 shaping a thorough study; must know why a right 
 position is right, and why a wrong position is 
 wrong; must have the words of explanation right on 
 his lips. He must read up the subject in the F. E. 
 and in "Step by Step." It must also be made clear 
 to the Parents' Class that if they find their children's 
 hands in wrong position, and the children have no 
 recollection of ever having been given any exact 
 hand position, and they are unable to give correct 
 mechanical reasons why a certain hand position is 
 right and another is wrong; I say, if they find 
 their children in the condition above stated, they 
 must be made to understand that the technical prin- 
 ciple of first, and therefore of greatest importance, 
 is being neglected. 
 
 Please write question five. 
 
 Question 5. Can you give me the four ground rules of piano 
 plajdng? If so, please recite them. 
 
 Say to the class: "When you ask your children 
 to recite the four ground rules of piano playing, it 
 will be no surprising thing if they cannot do it. 
 The four ground rules of arithmetic are Addition, 
 Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. Every 
 one who has ever enjoyed any mathematical school- 
 ing knows the four ground rules of arithmetic, be- 
 cause educational principles are followed in teach- 
 ing mathematics. In piano playing ground rules 
 naturally exist — as much so as in arithmetic — but 
 so little attention is paid to educational principles 
 in the teaching of music and particularly in teach- 
 ing the piano, that very few piano pupils have heard 
 anything about ground rules. 
 
 "The four ground rules of piano playing are: ist. 
 Position; 2d, Condition; 3d, Action; 4th, Order. 
 
 43 
 
Two of these four important rules of piano playing 
 have already been made some use of, viz., the first, 
 Position, and the fourth. Order; the latter is reached 
 through the mental training exercises." 
 
 Say to the class: "We have only spoken of hand 
 position; body position is as important as hand 
 position." 
 
 Please write question six. 
 
 Question 6. What body position have you been taught to 
 take at the piano? Please take the position 
 at the piano that you have been taught is 
 the correct one. 
 
 The teacher ought now to take position at the 
 table, the wrong position first, with the knees quite 
 a little under the edge of the table, not too far, 
 though, about three or four inches; he should place 
 the hands in position on the edge of the table, 
 inclining the body backward from the table, say- 
 ing: "Many pupils are indulged in sitting at the 
 piano in this way, the knees under the piano and 
 the body inclining backward, as I am now sitting." 
 The teacher should then take the right position, 
 and explain: "This is the correct position, the 
 knees a little out from under the front end of the 
 keys, and the body slightly inclined forward." 
 
 The teacher should explain, also, that a very com- 
 mon but wrong practice is to allow pupils to sit 
 too high, so high that they are reaching down upon 
 the keys. It should be explained that the player 
 must sit so far back from the instrument that, 
 though the body is inclined forward, when the 
 hands are placed upon the keys the elbows are 
 about two inches in front of the body. "This po- 
 sition," say to the class, "enables the player to reach 
 the upper and lower ends of the keyboard easily by 
 inclining the body in the direction of the hands, 
 while at the same time the fingers are able to 
 keep their right relation to the keys, i.e., parallel, 
 scale or arpeggio relation as may be required." 
 
 It should be explained that the player ought to 
 sit at an elevation which brings the lower side of 
 the forearms, when the fingers are in position on 
 the keys, level and just about on a line with the 
 
 44 i 
 
surface of the white keys. It must be made clear 
 that the right relation of the body to the keyboard 
 in all respects is a matter of very great importance; 
 ease of execution, quality of tone, velocity, power 
 and the general effectiveness of one's playing are 
 all greatly influenced by a right or a wrong 
 position at the instrument. The time to 
 make all these things right is the first time a 
 pupil takes position at the table or piano. Only 
 a few days' practice with the body too near the 
 instrument or table, or on too high a chair is suffi- 
 cient to get a wrong position habit so established 
 that were a right position insisted upon the pupil 
 would feel that his accustomed position was much 
 easier and better, and would argue that there was 
 some peculiarity about his build that made the right 
 position wrong and the wrong position in his par- 
 ticular case right, and he would be perfectly honest 
 in his view, when in all probability there was no 
 body peculiarity at all. Force of habit is a thing 
 which leads to all sorts of peculiar notions. Habit 
 has so powerful an influence over mind and body 
 that a few days of wrong thinking and wrong act- 
 ing may lead to errors that stand directly in the 
 way of success unless the wrong habit of thinking 
 and acting is broken up. It is for this reason that 
 "Truth must be the first lesson to a child." The 
 teacher should say to the class that these are 
 among the many things that are looked upon as 
 little things, so little, indeed, that teachers fail to 
 see their importance. At this point, say to the class: 
 "We give to pupils this quotation to memorize, *He 
 that neglects the little things shall fail little by 
 little.'— H'ebrew Proverb." 
 
 Say to the class: "When you ask your children 
 to give an illustration of position at the piano, if 
 you see that their position is wrong, you may be 
 reasonably sure that they have never been taught 
 what a right position is; if you question them on 
 the subject, the fact will doubtless be revealed 
 that they know very little about position; indeed, 
 have had very little definite instruction upon the 
 subject. Their teachers had looked upon these as 
 'little things,' too small and insignificant to be 
 worthy of their attention, when, in fact, they are 
 
 45 
 
so very great that their neglect^ will in all prob- 
 ability stand directly in the way of their pupils ever 
 becoming players." 
 
 Such teachers as Marcus Aurelius says, are "de- 
 ceiving themselves; the things are not too small, 
 but too great for them." 
 
 The teacher should look up the subject of po- 
 sition in the F. E. and in "Step by Step," and be 
 prepared to explain thoroughly the importance of 
 having the body and the hands in the best possible 
 position, and, too, the great necessity of doing this 
 work at the table before the piano is touched. 
 
 Please write question seven. 
 
 Question 7. What special exercises have you been given 
 for gaining a conscious knowledge and con- 
 trol of muscular conditions? Give illustra- 
 tions. I 
 
 "The second ground rule," say to the class, "of 
 piano playing is here introduced, namely. Condition. 
 It is not sufficient that a pupil's muscles are in a 
 right condition; he must know that such is their 
 condition. It frequently is far more difficult to get 
 the muscles of those who have been playing the 
 piano wrongly for years into a right condition than 
 it is to secure such condition in the muscles of 
 children who have never played at all. The ex- 
 ercise," say to the class, "that I shall now show 
 you is a relaxing exercise. It is one, too, that is 
 more necessary for those who have played the piano 
 for some time and who have acquired muscular 
 conditions that are more or less wrong, than it is 
 for children who are absolute beginners." 
 
 Here the teacher should go through Special Physi- 
 cal Exercise No. 20, Book I., p. 246, F. E. The 
 teacher should practice the exercise himself until 
 he is perfectly familiar with the movements re- 
 quired, and until he is conscious of a feeling of 
 perfect relaxation throughout the entire body. No 
 one is ever capable of teaching this exercise, and 
 of getting the good out of it that is in it, who has 
 not felt its effects himself. 
 
 The teacher, for example, should say to the 
 Parents' Class: "I shall be obliged, in giving you 
 
 46 
 
this .exercise, to play the part of both teacher and 
 pupil; I shall direct myself as if I were teaching a 
 pupil. Please take this chair. I want you to take 
 as reclining a position as possible; lie back, and 
 straighten your legs in this fashion" — at the same 
 time taking the position required — "do not let your 
 arms lie on your lap, but allow them to hang down 
 loosely by your sides; let your head rest against 
 the back of the chair" (or, if the back of the chair 
 is too low, let the head drop forward until the chin 
 rests on the chest); "make no movements at all; 
 close the eyes, in order that you may be better 
 able to concentrate your thoughts upon yourself, i.e., 
 upon the condition of your body; think of nothing 
 but rest, relaxation, still. Make no movement until 
 I direct you what movement to make. I shall ask 
 you several questions which will require the answer: 
 Yes or No. Think before you speak, and let us 
 see how many answers you can give without making 
 a mistake. Are your arms, hands, and fingers per- 
 fectly still? Is your head "still? Are they still be- 
 cause you make them so? You mean to say, then, 
 that you possess the power to keep these important 
 members of your body still? Can you keep the 
 same members of my body still? Do you under- 
 stand that, naturally, every person possesses the 
 same controlling power over his own bodily mem- 
 bers that you have shown that you have over 
 yours? As you sit here so quietly, is there any 
 action about your body?" (If the answer is No, 
 it is incorrect, and must be corrected; it must be 
 Yes.) "There is action, you say, about your body; 
 what causes this action? Yes, it is your breathing; 
 you do not make the breathing muscles act, do you? 
 These muscles are located in the middle of the 
 body, in the vicinity of the waist, are they not? You 
 are breathing easily and naturally, and the breath- 
 ing muscles act freely and of their own accord, 
 do they not? 
 
 "There are two kinds of bodily movements, one 
 is called involuntary, the other voluntary; the form- 
 er are the movements which make themselves; the 
 latter are the movements we make, or that are 
 made by direction of the will. You are now breath- 
 ing quite easily without effort; there is a kind 
 
 47 
 
of breathing known as deep breathing, in which the 
 same muscles are used, but the inhalation is longer 
 continued, which causes the muscular action to be 
 greater in proportion to the length of time the 
 inhalation continues. Keeping your easy position, 
 and with your thoughts fixed upon the waist mus- 
 cles, I want you gradually to lengthen your in- 
 halations, allowing action only at the waist. I shall 
 count slowly, not faster than M. M. 60; I want 
 you, the first time, to continue the inhalation while 
 I count three, and then as gradually exhale during 
 three counts. I shall next count four twice, then 
 five twice, and I want you to inhale and exhale 
 as you did when I counted three. Fix your thoughts 
 on the breathing muscles and be sure that they act 
 steadily and thoroughly and that there is action 
 nowhere else. This is the beginning of deep breath- 
 ing; we must drop the subject for the present, but 
 shall resume it at following lessons. 
 
 "We have learned that involuntary muscular 
 movements may be made subject to mental control, 
 and that though the muscles act naturally, i.e., 
 without mental dictation, still, aided by the intelli- 
 gence, they are able to do the work to which na- 
 ture assigns them with increased effectiveness. 
 'Mind is everything'; voluntary and involuntary 
 movements must be presided over by the intelli- 
 gence if the greatest effectiveness is to be obtained, 
 and in nothing the hands do is it more necessary 
 for bodily movements, voluntary and involuntary, 
 to be controlled by the intelligence than in playing 
 the piano. 
 
 "Please observe the movements I make. My 
 arms, as you see, are hanging straight down by my 
 sides, and they are in a perfectly supple condition. 
 I lift my right arm very slowly by action from 
 the shoulder; I hold it still, now that it has reached 
 this horizontal position. The action by which my 
 arm was lifted was at the shoulder; my arm is 
 still straight, but my hand is hanging; the relation 
 of the hand to the arm kept gradually changing 
 while the arm was being lifted; my hand, as you 
 see, now hangs loosely from the wrist. The action 
 at the shoulder, by which the arm was lifted, was 
 a voluntary action; mind directed it. The action 
 
 48 
 
at the wrist, by which the hand came to its hang- 
 ing position, was entirely involuntary; the action 
 made itself; the intelligence had nothing to do but 
 to preserve supple conditions in the muscles. 
 
 "Every playing movement is a combination of 
 the two actions: the voluntary and the involuntary. 
 The study of the second of the four ground rules 
 of piano playing, namely. Condition, means learn- 
 ing how to make the great variety of playing move- 
 ments demanded, at any required rate of velocity 
 and at all grades of power, always preserving the 
 involuntary action, which naturally accompanies the 
 voluntary action. The secret of good tone, so gen- 
 erally attributed to the soul of the performer, is 
 more due, at least is more directly due, to his 
 intelligence and power to so control the condition 
 of his muscles and nerves that the proper involun- 
 tary action accompanies every playing movement 
 than to his soul. 
 
 "The soul is undoubtedly a very important fac- 
 tor in playing the piano, but it is the fingers that 
 touch the keys; if they do their work wrongly, bad 
 effects will be produced; if they do their work right- 
 ly, good effects will be produced. With the average 
 person, trained fingers have greater power to im- 
 prove the soul's sense of appreciation than the soul 
 has to improve the skill of the fingers in execution." 
 
 After holding the arm perfectly still in its up- 
 lifted position for a moment, with the hand hanging, 
 let it return slowly to its hanging position at the 
 side. Again lift the arm — this time a little more 
 quickly — to the same horizontal position, with the 
 hand hanging. The teacher says to the pupil: "You 
 are now holding your arm in position by a muscular 
 supporting effort; at count three, stop this effort, 
 i.e., release the muscles and allow the arm to drop 
 naturally to its hanging position." The pupil fol- 
 lows the teacher's direction. The arm-dropping 
 movement made by the pupil will generally be 
 wrong, consequently the teacher must give illustra- 
 tions of dropping movements which show right and 
 wrong conditions. When muscular conditions are 
 right, and the dropping movement is made natural- 
 ly, the arm starts promptly at count three without 
 show of stiffness or effort, and when it reaches its 
 
 49 
 
hanging position it does not at once remain dead 
 still, but shows a natural gentle oscillation, giving 
 the appearance of naturalness and ease. When 
 muscular conditions are wrong, there will often be 
 a show of effort and stiffness in the start of the 
 arm, caused by unnecessary muscular contraction, 
 and as the arm reaches its hanging position, the 
 same contracted condition of muscles will cause the 
 arm and hand to remain instantly perfectly still in- 
 stead of vibrating naturally. 
 
 To the trained eye of the teacher, right and 
 wrong muscular conditions, accompanying playing 
 movements, are as perceptible as are good and bad 
 tonal effects to the most highly musically trained 
 ear. Right and wrong muscular conditions are the 
 cause of good and bad tonal effects. The teacher 
 with the trained eye, who is intelligent with regard 
 to the true causes of tonal effects, if the tonal effect 
 is bad, at once aims his efforts at the cause — the 
 musician, on the contrary, who relies wholly on his 
 exquisitely trained ear, overlooks the mechanical 
 cause, and aims his efforts at the musical effects 
 themselves, resorting to no legitimate and positive 
 means for their improvement. Teachers of the 
 latter class try to train fingers through the soul, 
 and not through the intelligence and the control of 
 muscles and mechanical movements. There is no 
 reason why the best musician in the world should 
 not adopt in foundational piano teaching methods 
 which appeal to the intelligence and physical and 
 mechanical sense of the learner, nor is there any 
 reason why teachers who make use of true educa- 
 tional principles in foundational piano teaching 
 should not at the proper time, i.e., when fingers are 
 rightly prepared, appeal to and make use of the 
 musical soul sense of the pupil. Indeed, teachers 
 who take this latter course always do appeal to the 
 musical soul sense, but their educational intelli- 
 gence tells them when the proper time arrives for 
 such appeal to be made. This means Education in 
 Music. 
 
 The teacher should explain to the Parents' Class 
 that the movements that have been practiced with 
 the right arm should be repeated with the left arm, 
 and then with the two arms together. 
 
 SO 
 
Directions to the Teacher 
 
 Next the teacher should take position at the table, 
 place both hands upon it, fingers straight, palms 
 down. Say to the class: "The exercise I am now 
 going to show you is for gaining control of the 
 muscles of the arms and body in practical playing. 
 This is a very necessary exercise for all pupils to prac- 
 tice. My hands are resting on the table lightly, i.e., 
 only the natural weight of my arms is upon my 
 hands; I do not press at all; all my muscles are at 
 rest. I now begin a slowly increasing pressure upon 
 the table, my thoughts are fixed upon my muscles to 
 note the gradually changing conditions as the 
 pressure increases. As I press gradually harder and 
 harder, I feel the muscular action first in my hands, 
 then up my arms to my shoulders, and finally all 
 through the body. I keep up the forcible pressure 
 a moment, then begin very slowly to lessen the 
 muscular effort, gradually returning to the original 
 condition of rest. In this way thought is brought 
 into the muscles. Muscles that follow the intellect 
 become intelligent muscles, capable of contracting 
 and relaxing at the will of the player. Muscles thus 
 trained are able to produce all grades and shades 
 of tone power and quality. I next bring my hands 
 to playing position and repeat the same slow, grad- 
 ual pressure and releasing effort. This time, while 
 the arm, shoulder and body muscles are as much 
 taxed as before, the finger muscles are especially 
 exercised." 
 
 The teacher should now lift all fingers from the 
 table but the third, and again go through the slow 
 pressure and releasing effort on the one finger. In 
 like manner he should make use of all the fingers 
 singly in the following order: second, fourth, first, 
 fifth. The object, say to the class, of this ex- 
 ercise is to search out and develop the muscles that 
 are connected with the fingers and thus bring them 
 consciously into action with the fingers for the pur- 
 pose, first, of bringing them more thoroughly under 
 mental control, and, second, to improve their 
 strength, firmness and activity. The great impor- 
 tance of this exercise, it should be explained, is to 
 get that most desirable condition into the fingers, 
 namely. Firmness. The fingers of "the hand that 
 
 St 
 
follows the intellect" arc the only fingers that ever 
 learn to produce good tone, that ever acquire the 
 skill to do rapid and effective chord and octave 
 plajdng, and that do good phrasing. This kind of 
 finger discipline ought to be commenced — of course 
 carefully with children — ^just as soon as the hands 
 and fingers are properly shaped. 
 
 Following the above exercise (see Ex. 15, Sees. 
 A and B, Book I., F. E.), the teacher should place 
 both hands in playing position on the edge of the 
 table as if on the piano keys; after pressing a few 
 times slowly and releasing the pressure, avoiding 
 any depression of the first or knuckle joints or sink- 
 ing back of the third joints, he should lift the arms, 
 the hands hanging and the fingers firmly held in 
 their curved playing position, and after holding them 
 for a moment suspended above the table six or eight 
 inches, the hands should be dropped upon the table 
 to the playing position just left. If the muscles are 
 in a properly supple condition there will be a natural 
 rebound at the wrist, but no change must be al- 
 lowed in the fingers; they must be held firmly in 
 their curved position. The lifting and dropping 
 movements should be repeated several times. The 
 teacher must explain to the Parents' Class that 
 the object of the exercise is to secure a right 
 position of hands and fingers with correct muscular 
 conditions. The rebound at the wrist proves that 
 the involuntary movements accompanying the vol- 
 untary arm-dropping movements have not been sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 To the Teacher 
 
 The Hand and Arm Twisting, and the Three- 
 Finger Exercises, Physical Exercises, Nos. 2 and 3, 
 ought, if possible, to be illustrated and explained 
 at this lesson. At a following lesson as a con- 
 tinuation of the work of conscious physical control 
 and development. Physical Exercises Nos. i, 15 and 
 17 should be illustrated and their object and im- 
 portance explained. By a third lesson, if possible. 
 Physical Exercises Nos. 8 (i.e., 43), 9 and 14 ought 
 to be made use of. The other physical exercises 
 should be brought before the class if the lessons 
 are continued long enough to do so. The teacher 
 
 52 
 
must practice and know perfectly the objects sought 
 in each exercise before bringing it before the Pa- 
 rents* Classes. The physical exercises are so foreign 
 to, or rather so unlike piano playing, that if their 
 real object and importance are not understood they 
 will be ridiculed rather than commended. 
 
 The subjects considered at these lessons, it should 
 be impressed upon the minds of the members of 
 the class, are a very necessary preparation in learn- 
 ing to play the piano; the assertion should be boldly 
 made that the pupil who understands and makes 
 proper use of the exercises and principles explained 
 will progress far more rapidly and accomplish in- 
 finitely more than will the one who neglects them. 
 We want parents to understand their importance, 
 for then we are sure of their assistance in getting 
 their children to make thorough use of them. These 
 again are among the things that are thought too 
 small for the great majority of teachers to pay any 
 attention to. We often, at this point, make use, 
 with our pupils, of the following quotation from 
 "Step by Step": 
 
 "Do the little things well; then shall the 
 great things come asking to be done." 
 
 — Persian Proverb. 
 
 Also quotation No. 25 is very appropriate in this 
 connection: 
 
 "Men worship success, but think too little 
 of the means by which it is attained." 
 
 —Field. 
 
 At the following lesson the teacher explains, that 
 after the quotations have been recited, the teacher 
 puts questions that are calculated to show how the 
 thoughts embraced in the quotations apply to the 
 work which the class or pupil is engaged in. Mind, 
 the teacher explains, is thus brought into a piano 
 lesson, and education is brought into the study 
 of music. 
 
 To continue our ear training work, the teacher 
 says: "We have mentioned thus far but one tone 
 property; there are others which we must now con- 
 sider. Will you please write question eight?" 
 
 S3 
 
Question 8. How many properties have tones? Please name 
 them in order. 
 
 The teacher will say to the class: "Please put 
 this question to your child, and if the question is 
 not correctly answered, you must explain that tones 
 have four properties: First, Pitch; second. Length; 
 third, Power; fourth. Quality. The last property. 
 Quality, we have already considered in connection 
 with piano tones in tune and out of tune. That 
 tones have the four normal properties named 
 means simply that every musical sound has some 
 pitch, some length, soma power, and some quality. 
 
 "Pitch means fixed, and directly concerns Melody 
 and Harmony. 
 
 "Length means duration, and directly concerns 
 Time. 
 
 "Power means loud or soft, and directly con- 
 cerns Expression. 
 
 "Quality means purity or harshness, and directly 
 concerns Expression." 
 
 To the Teacher 
 
 It will be well, in order to make the tone proper- 
 ties more clearly understood, to appeal to the ear, 
 not only with pupils in their ear training work, but 
 also with the Parents' Classes. The following will 
 illustrate briefly how the piano may be used in 
 training the ear to hear the different tone proper- 
 ties. 
 
 Directions: Get in mind a slow tempo in triple 
 measure. To begin with, take for example the tone 
 E above middle C; project the second finger, then 
 let the weight of the arm and hand drop onto the 
 key from an elevation of about an inch (use natural 
 weight, mezzo power); strike the key at count one, 
 lift the hand at exactly count two, at count three 
 hold the hand suspended; at count one again drop 
 onto the same key with same power as before, 
 and lift the hand at count two. Then ask: How 
 many times did I play? Of course the answer will 
 be two. How did they differ? Answer: Not at 
 all. The two tones were alike in what qualities? 
 The answer should be — in Pitch, Length, Power 
 and Quality. Again play the same tone, this time 
 
 54 
 
C.4- J^^c:K:\^^^ 
 
 as before at count one, and lift the hand promptly 
 at count two, hold the hand suspended at count 
 three; drop at count one again with the same power, 
 but this time hold the tone, sounding three counts, 
 lifting the hand at count one of the following meas- 
 ure. Then ask: Were the two tones alike in the 
 first property? The answer should be — Yes. In 
 the third property? The answer should be — Yes. 
 In the fourth. The answer should be — Yes. Well, 
 did they differ in any property; if so, in which? 
 Answer: They differed only in the second property, 
 i.e., in Length. Again drop onto E at count one — 
 natural weight, mezzo power — lift the hand at count 
 two, hold the hand suspended at count three, drop 
 again upon the same key at count one, but this time 
 with great force, lift the hand again at count two, 
 and ask: In how many qualities did these two 
 tones differ? The answer should be — in one. Which 
 quality was that? The answer should be — in the 
 third, i.e.. Power. 
 
 Again drop onto E at count one with great 
 force iff power), hold the tone sounding two 
 counts, lifting the hand at count three, drop at one 
 onto F very lightly (p power), lift the hand at 
 count two. Ask: In how many and what properties 
 did the two tones *last played differ? The answer 
 should be — in three, i.e.. Pitch, Length and Power. 
 
 If in the piano used there are tones in perfect 
 tune and others badly out of tune, play an in-tune 
 and an out-of-tune tone of different lengths and 
 powers in order that two tones may be heard which 
 differ in all four properties. Practice of this char- 
 acter is good for general mental discipline to se- 
 cure attention and concentration. The pupil should 
 be directed to answer the identical question or 
 questions asked, and no more, i.e., never make two 
 answers if a single question is put, or one if two 
 or more questions were included in one question. 
 This makes the work excellent mental as well as 
 auricular training. 
 
 To the Teacher 
 
 A sufficient number of examples have been given 
 to suggest to the teacher the many variations that 
 may be made at the piano in the study of the 
 
 55 
 
properties of tone. In addition to the mental dis- 
 cipline to be gotten out of the practice here sug- 
 gested, it also trains pupils to listen intelligently 
 to single tones. 
 
 The teacher should now say to the class: "To return 
 again to our Technical work. Position, Condition 
 and Order have been touched upon, but the third 
 ground rule, Action, has not been considered; when 
 this has been done, the four ground rules of piano 
 playing are before you, and the practical exercises 
 used in making application of the principles em- 
 bodied in the four ground rules can be passed over 
 more rapidly than have the principles themselves. 
 In playing," say to the class, "action, whether of 
 fingers, hands, arms, or body is of two kinds, vol- 
 untary and involuntary. Voluntary action, as pre- 
 viously stated, is the action which does the play- 
 ing — the action the player makes by his own vo- 
 lition; when certain movements become a habit, they 
 are then subconscious volitional action, but, orig- 
 inally, every playing movement was made in obe- 
 dience to mental dictation, therefore was a volun- 
 tary action. Accompanying every action that actu- 
 ally does the playing, there is, or should be, the 
 other, the involuntary action. This latter is an 
 action that makes itself; the executant has nothing 
 to do with it — no more than one has with the bound- 
 ing of a rubber ball when dropped upon the floor. 
 The ball is dropped; nature does all the rest per- 
 fectly, makes just the right number of bounds and 
 rebounds, and gradually diminishes the space 
 traveled over by the ball each time it leaves the 
 floor until the ball is still. The rebounding move- 
 ments were perfection; they were nature's own 
 work; they followed the voluntary drop. So it is 
 in playing the piano; every voluntary movement 
 made by the player of a finger, a hand, an arm, or 
 of the body, is followed by involuntary action as 
 naturally as the bounds and rebounds of a rubber 
 ball follow the drop. 
 
 "There are volumes expressed in the words, 'Play 
 naturally,* but the difficulty is that it takes more 
 brains to play naturally than to play the other way, 
 *As you feel.' Most people construe the expression, 
 'Play naturally,* to mean: I must play as is natural 
 
 56 
 
to me. Nature takes no lessons from men; men 
 must take instruction from her. 'Play naturally' 
 means find out what natural playing is and then 
 play that way; and this, as before said, takes 
 brains. Any one can play as they please. Nature's 
 laws are fixed; they do not adjust themselves to us; 
 we must adjust ourselves to them. There is a right 
 way to do everything. This has reference to na- 
 ture's provisions and ought to encourage us to 
 search for that one way. As Joseffy says: 'Who 
 plays well must play right.'" 
 
 The teacher should say to the Parents' Class: 
 "The fingers are the smallest playing members, the 
 arms the largest. We have made a little use of 
 the largest playing members, not in actual playing 
 movements, but to show the meaning of voluntary 
 and involuntary movements. When we come to 
 teach actual playing movements we begin with the 
 fingers, because the smaller the member the less its 
 action, and therefore the more easily controlled." 
 
 In teaching finger action the pupil is required to 
 sit very close to the table and to place the entire 
 forearm upon it. He is instructed to avoid pressure 
 in order that the muscles may be in an easy, 
 supple condition. He is then taught how to shape 
 his hand, and keeping up the same light touch of 
 the arm on the table, he is required to lift the first 
 finger very slowly with a perfectly steady movement, 
 being sure that as the finger is lifted the condi- 
 tion of the muscles of the hand and arm remains 
 entirely unchanged, i.e., that there is no increase of 
 pressure upon the table, and that the hand does not 
 turn, i.e., that it remains perfectly still. The finger 
 lift must not be too great, otherwise muscular con- 
 traction and effort will be felt. After holding the 
 finger still in the air during five counts, it is then 
 carried back to the table by the same slow, con- 
 trolled action. (The teacher illustrates.) Again 
 the finger is lifted, but this time by a less slow 
 movement, i.e., a steady swinging action. The finger 
 is held still in the air, as before, during five counts. 
 At count five it starts back to the table with the 
 same easy start and swinging motion. (The teacher 
 illustrates.) Following this, keeping the same hand 
 position and supple condition of the muscles, the 
 
 57 
 
finger is lifted by a very quick action with no 
 convulsive effort in the hand or arm. The finger 
 is held still in its uplifted position, which in play- 
 ing is called stroke position. At count five the 
 finger makes a quick down action upon the table to 
 rest position. These movements should be repeated 
 at count three, at count two, and at every count 
 (counting eight). (The teacher illustrates.) 
 
 The teacher must explain that the acting finger 
 is called the moving part, the still hand the sta- 
 tionary part, and that correct finger action is se- 
 cured when the stationary part is still and the acting 
 part moves with all possible quickness, being held 
 perfectly still between movements and starting 
 promptly and easily, and making the same quick 
 easy start in its up as in its down action. This 
 principle, i.e., an equally quick movement up and 
 down, is called balance of finger action. It is the 
 foundation of all qualities of finger touch. 
 
 The two slow finger movements made, the pupil 
 is taught, are not playing movements, but the third, 
 the quick movement, is a playing movement. The 
 object of the sharp, short clicks of the Clavier is^ 
 to insure a clear mental conception of perfect bal- 
 ance of finger action. The teacher should here 
 place his hand on the Clavier, and making use of 
 the up and down clicks, should illustrate the im- 
 portance of the clicks by making quick up and 
 down movements not faster than M. M. 60, going 
 through two measures, counting eight. In the first 
 measure pulse notes should be played; in the second 
 measure half pulse notes. The class should be 
 asked to listen to the evenness of the clicks, both 
 in the first and the second measure. At the same 
 time the statement should be made that when a 
 pupil is taught a right position of the hands, a 
 right condition of muscles, and right playing move- 
 ments of the fingers with perfect balance of their 
 action, as is easily made clear by the use of the 
 Clavier, a correct foundation is laid for finger ac- 
 tion. The pupil who starts thus will have little 
 difficulty in acquiring effective passage execution, 
 which demands velocity, clearness, pure tone, and 
 all varieties of touch and power. 
 
 The teacher, at the Parents' Class, will illustrate 
 with the first and second fingers only, but will ex- 
 
 58 
 
plain that all fingers should be used in the same 
 manner. He should state also that the exercise 
 should be practiced in the same way with the left 
 hand. 
 
 Exercise No. 6 should next be illustrated, first 
 with the forearms resting on the table, then with 
 the hands only on the edge of the table. In prepara- 
 tion for playing the exercise the second time the 
 teacher should move back from the table to proper 
 playing position, with the knees just out from under 
 the front edge of the table, the body slightly inclined 
 forward from the hips, and should call attention tp 
 the position taken. 
 
 It must be explained that in this exercise, in fact 
 in all finger movements, there is very little involun- 
 tary action, still as the finger comes in contact with 
 the table or piano key, if muscular conditions are 
 right, and the hand, the stationary part, does not 
 move up or down with the movement of the finger, 
 there will be a slight involuntary action which mani- 
 fests itself in a little vibratory motion of the hand 
 and forearm, which minute vibratory motion is the 
 foundation of proper tone production. If the hand 
 and forearm are allowed to rise and fall with the 
 moving finger, or if the natural vibratory action is 
 suppressed, bad tone production is the result. 
 
 After the exercise has been played on the table 
 it should be played on the Clavier with the double 
 clicks. The teacher should explain the order of 
 the exercise, the number of lines, the number of 
 phrases, the number of measures, and the num- 
 ber of counts in the various measures, and should 
 state to the Parents* Class that pupils are required 
 to see the exercise on the page, to study its form, 
 then close the book and describe from memory its 
 complete order. It should be stated to the class 
 that this is the first exercise in which regular order 
 and a variety of counts are observed. With this ex- 
 ercise the study of order, the fourth ground rule, 
 in connection with playing movements is begun. 
 This work is continued with all exercises learned 
 and furnishes the necessary mental training which is 
 the logical preparation for the memorizing of music. 
 
 The teacher now requests the class to write ques- 
 tion nine. 
 
 59 
 
Question g. Can you explain the difference between volun- 
 tary and involuntary action in playing? 
 
 Say to the class: "If you find that your children 
 know nothing about this subject, it is quite evident 
 that this very important principle, which is the 
 foundation of good tone and rapid and clear execu- 
 tion, has been neglected." 
 
 To the Teacher 
 
 The questions, which have been prepared for the 
 Parents' Classes, have up to this point been accom- 
 panied by quite full explanations. From this point 
 on, as the four ground rules have been presented, 
 the teacher will be expected to study the principles 
 connected with the lessons, as suggested by the 
 questions which follow, and give such explanations 
 to his class as will be found necessary to make all 
 points clear. 
 
 Question lo. With your hand in playing position, will you 
 point to the first joints of the fingers — 
 to the second — to the third? 
 
 Question ii. Should the first or the second joints be the 
 highest when the hand is in position to play? 
 
 Question 12. 
 Question 13. 
 
 Question 14. 
 Question 15. 
 
 Question 16. 
 
 Question 17. 
 
 What do you understand by the poise of the 
 hand? Illustrate a right and a wrong poise. 
 
 What do you understand by the expression, 
 "Balance of finger action"? Can you give 
 an illustration? 
 
 At which joint does normal finger action take 
 place? 
 
 Explain and illustrate what you mean by 
 stroke position and rest position of the 
 fingers. 
 
 Ought the fingers, when acting, to straighten 
 or contract at the second and third joints, 
 or should these joints be kept quite inactive? 
 
 What special exercises have you been given 
 for gaining control of finger movements? 
 Give illustrations. 
 
 60 
 
The teacher should here illustrate Exercises 5, 
 6, 7 and 10. 
 
 Question 18. What exercises do you practice for securing 
 the necessary mtiscular conditions and con- 
 trol of body, arms, and hands? Give illus- 
 trations. 
 If the pupil practices no exercises for this pur- 
 pose, there is a serious neglect of proper prepara- 
 tion of muscles for all technical work. The teacher 
 should illustrate such exercises as Nos. 3, 4, 43, and 
 Physical Exercises Nos. i, 2, 3 and 4, and reference 
 should be made to Physical Exercise 20. 
 
 Question 19. Have you been taught the necessity of proper- 
 ly balancing the weight of your two arms 
 and hands? Illustrate. 
 
 At this point the teacher should explain that 
 it is very important for a pupil to understand how 
 to control the weight of the two hands, the one 
 hand against the other. To make the matter clear, 
 he should have some member of the class present 
 the two hands, palms upward, fingers perfectly 
 straight; he should then stand before his assistant 
 and place his hands in playing position upon the 
 extended palms, first resting the natural weight of 
 his arms and hands upon the supporting hands, say- 
 ing: "You are now supporting the natural weight 
 of my arms and hands; this weight gives my mezzo 
 power in playing." The teacher should then say: 
 "If I change to a lighter or heavier weight, I 
 want you to say so immediately, and explain what 
 the change is — also state whether the hands are 
 equally or unequally balanced." Following this 
 the teacher should take stroke position on the third 
 fingers and require the assistant to say whether, 
 as the fingers are lifted to stroke position, there is 
 any change in the weight. Changes from finger to 
 finger may also be made. 
 
 Question 20. What exercise or exercises have you been given 
 for securing a proper condition of firmness 
 in the fingers? Give example. 
 The teacher should illustrate Exercise 15, and ex- 
 plain its importance in all effective piano playing, 
 and especially in the execution of chords, octaves, 
 accent and phrasing. 
 
 61 
 
Question 21. What exercise are you given to secure proper 
 hand action from the wrist? Illustrate. 
 Exercise 17 should be played on the table, with 
 the forearm resting upon it and the wrist supported. 
 
 Question 22. What special physical exercises are you given 
 for daily practice for securing strength and 
 endurance? Give example. 
 The teacher should illustrate some of the ex- 
 ercises from the Department of Physical Training. 
 
 Question 23. What sight reading exercises, separate and 
 apart from your playing, have you been 
 given? Give examples. 
 
 The teacher should explain the sight reading ex- 
 ercises and their importance. 
 
 Question 24. What special exercises do you practice to de- 
 velop an accurate and a positive time sense? 
 The teacher should illustrate the Preliminary Time 
 Beating Exercise. 
 
 Question 25. How many kinds of normal piano touch are 
 employed in passage execution? Name them, 
 and give examples in a five-finger ascend- 
 ing and descending passage. 
 The teacher should give illustrations at the 
 Clavier of the legato, marcato, staccato, non legato, 
 and portamento touches, and should explain the im- 
 portance of a perfect mastery of these qualities of 
 touch in all passage playing, and should show how 
 easily they can be made perfectly clear to mind and 
 fingers by the use of the clicks of the Clavier. Ex- 
 ercise 28 should be played in a slow tempo, not 
 faster at first than M. M. 50. 
 
 The teacher ought also to stand before the 
 Parents* Class, in order that all may easily see the 
 acting fingers, and play with the second and third 
 fingers on a book, supported by the left hand, the 
 Preliminary Touch. Exercise (see Appendix, Book 
 I.) explaining its object. The exercise should then 
 be played on the Clavier with the double clicks, 
 without the metronome, as slowly as M. M. 50. 
 The statement should be made that in learning the 
 finger control necessary to the correct execution of 
 
 62 
 
the various kinds of finger touch, more can be 
 accomplished in four weeks* practice, first on a 
 table, with eyes and thoughts fixed upon the hands, 
 and then upon the moving keys of the Clavier, ob- 
 
 I serving carefully the relation of the up and down 
 
 I clicks, than the average learner acquires in an equal 
 
 ii number of years at the piano. There is nothing, it 
 
 should be stated, that is of greater importance in 
 piano playing than a perfect touch. It requifes 
 intelligent mental and physical control to learn the 
 
 i finger movements demanded in effective piano play- 
 
 ing, and with the great majority of learners the 
 tones of the piano are, in the beginning, more a 
 hindrance than a help, first, because the right kind 
 
 \ of exercises cannot be used at the piano, and, sec- 
 
 ond, because the tones of the instrument call the 
 thoughts away from the position of the hands, the 
 condition of the muscles, and the action of the 
 
 \ fingers, and these, in the beginning, are matters of 
 
 f first and greatest importance. 
 
 ^ ' Please write question twenty-six. 
 
 Question 26. Can you name the intervals of the major scale 
 in order by steps and half -steps? If you 
 I can, please do so. 
 
 The teacher should write very clearly on a black- 
 board, before the class, the scale of C major in whole 
 notes. (See Recitation of the Scales, p. 33, Book 
 I., F. E.) Slur the notes and write step and half- 
 step over the slurs, as given in the book. Explain 
 that these give the intervals of the major scale, and 
 that all major scales have the same intervals, name- 
 ly, ascending, step, step, half-step, step, step, step, half- 
 step; descending, half-step, step, step, step, half- 
 step, step, step. Next write under the notes the figures. 
 Explain that the figures give the scale names and 
 that all major scales have the same numbers, name 
 ly, ascending, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; descending, 8, 7, 
 6, S» 4> 3> 2, I. Next write under the figures the 
 letters. Explain that the letters give the Pitch 
 names of the notes of the scale, and that the letters 
 change with every scale, thus we have the scales 
 of C, G, D, A, etc., depending upon the letter of 
 the first note of the scale. 
 
 The teacher should read what is said in the F. E., 
 p. 33, and in "Step by Step," pp. 193 and 194, and 
 
 63 
 
give to the class such further explanations as are 
 necessary to make the subject of scale study perfect- 
 ly clear. 
 
 To the Teacher 
 
 It should be explained to the Parents' Classes 
 that the minor scales are taught to pupils in the 
 same way as the major scales, but that time for- 
 bids the teaching of the minor scales to the Parents' 
 Classes. 
 
 Please write question twenty-seven. 
 
 Question 27. What special exercises have you been given 
 for equalizing the strength and activity of 
 the fingers, i.e., to make the fourth and fifth 
 equal to the other fingers? 
 The teacher should say to the Parents' Class: 
 "If you find that no special attention is being given 
 to the work of overcoming the natural deficiencies 
 of the fourth and fifth fingers, you may be sure that 
 a most important matter is being neglected; the 
 defect may not be apparent during the first year's 
 tuition, or even for a much longer time; the inabil- 
 ity to execute rapid scale and arpeggio passages 
 smoothly and with even flow may not be attributed 
 to the inactivity of these two fingers, still the seat 
 of the whole trouble lies right there. Had these 
 fingers been properly dealt with in the early tech- 
 nical training, the difficulties in execution above 
 mentioned would have been entirely obviated." 
 
 The teacher should go through, before the class, 
 Exercise No. 16, F. E,, explaining carefully its use 
 and object. Section A will be sufficient to make 
 the exercise understood. Do not fail to say to the 
 Parents' Classes: **If you find that your children 
 are making use of no such exercise, you may be 
 sure that when they reach the point in their play- 
 ing at which a smooth, flowing and rapid passage 
 execution is demanded, such execution will be im- 
 possible; they will be exceedingly worried over 
 their defects, but their cause will be a mystery. 
 Had these two universally faulty members, i.e., the 
 fourth and fifth fingers, received proper training 
 from the beginning, the pupil's clumsy fingers would 
 have been looked upon as genius fingers." 
 Please write question No. 28. 
 
Question 28. How many kinds of normal touch are you 
 taught to use in chord plajdng? Name 
 them and give examples. 
 
 Say to the Parents' Class: "If your chldren have 
 no ready answer to this question, it is quite evident 
 their mental training, at least, has been neglected, 
 and if when they attempt the playing illustrations 
 they show no definite, well-defined marcato, as dis- 
 tinct from their legato and staccato movements, 
 you may be sure that their technical training has 
 also been neglected; but this is the condition that 
 the majority of piano pupils are in." The teacher 
 should illustrate the movements necessary in the 
 execution of three normal qualities of touch in chord 
 playing by going through Sections A, B and C of 
 Exercise 41, first on the Clavier, then on the piano, 
 at the same time explaining the movements used 
 and calling attention first to the effects produced 
 by the down and up clicks of the Clavier, then 
 to the tonal effects at the piano. 
 
 Please write question twenty-nine. 
 
 Question 29. Show stroke position of the fingers to play 
 from the wrists, and compare this with 
 stroke position to play from the fingers. 
 
 Say to the Parents' Class: "If you find that a 
 well-defined difference between the two kinds of 
 stroke position is not clearly established in the 
 pupil's mind, you may be sure that the necessary 
 technical preparation of the fingers, to avoid blurring 
 and stumbling in the attack of single notes, octaves 
 or chords, either by wrist or arm action, has been 
 omitted. If there is not a clear distinction between 
 the attacking and non-attacking fingers, and the 
 fingers are not thoroughly trained to right condi- 
 tions and positions, and that, too, in the very be- 
 ginning, lack of clearness in the execution will be 
 the inevitable result. This principle is called prepa- 
 ration." 
 
 Please write question thirty. 
 
 Question 30. How does scale relation of the hands to the 
 keys differ irom five-finger relation? Give 
 examples at the keyboard. 
 
 At this point the teacher should state that ef- 
 fective passage execution depends not alone upon 
 
 65 
 
the action of the fingers, but also upon the re- 
 lation of the hands to the keys, and upon the 
 proper carriage of the arm. The principles, rela- 
 tion, adjustment, and poise are all involved in pass- 
 age execution. If parents find that their children 
 have no definite ideas upon the subject of five finger 
 and scale relation of their hands to the keys, they 
 may be sure that a very important principle in 
 passage execution has been neglected in their train- 
 ing, and even if at the present time — in the case 
 of those who have only been at the piano a year 
 or so — no serious defects stand out prominently, 
 it is certain that later on no end of trouble will 
 result. If there are parents in the class whose 
 children have been playing several years, it will 
 be well for the parents at home to ask them to 
 play a five-octave scale, hands together, with the 
 metronome, as fast as M. M. i6o. If the pupils 
 say, "I can't do it," admitting they cannot keep 
 their hands together, and cannot play fast and 
 evenly, and prove this by the clumsiness of their 
 execution, the reason is the true principles of pass- 
 age execution have never been properly studied. 
 The teacher must illustrate clearly the difference 
 between five-finger and scale relation, bringing out 
 distinctly the principles of poise of hand and ad- 
 justment of wrist in preserving the right relation 
 of the fingers to the keys as the hand passes along 
 the keyboard. 
 
 The Crossing Exercises, Exercises 62 to 64, in- 
 clusive, and 67 to 69, inclusive, should be explained 
 and briefly illustrated. The teacher should say: 
 "I have not the time to go into details with re- 
 gard to these Crossing Exercises; I will simply 
 say that the pupil who is allowed to neglect work 
 of this kind will, in all probability, never acquire 
 an effective passage execution. If such execution 
 does come to one who does not have systematic 
 training in this direction, it is because he chances 
 to be a natural pianistic genius, but had he been 
 rightly taught in the beginning, he would have ac- 
 quired even greater skill, and that, too, in a frac- 
 tion of the time he has been compelled to devote 
 to his studies." 
 
 Please write question thirty-one. 
 
 66 
 
Question 31. Illustrate the difference between scale and 
 arpeggio relation of the hands to the keys. 
 
 "Parents will doubtless find," the teacher should 
 state, "that if their children have no definite knowl- 
 edge of the principles of scale playing, they will, 
 if possible, be still more ignorant of the principles 
 of arpeggio playing." At this point the teacher 
 should illustrate the difference between scale and 
 arpeggio relation of the hands to the keys, and 
 should play and explain Exercises 65 and 70. 
 
 Please write question thirty-two. 
 
 Question 32. Explain the difference between execution and 
 melody touch, playing a simple five-note 
 passage first with the execution and then 
 with the melody touch. 
 
 The teacher should remark: "If parents find that 
 their children have no clearly defined knowledge of 
 the difference between execution and melody touch, 
 this deficiency will surely show itself in the effec- 
 tiveness, or rather the lack of effectiveness, 
 of their playing; their attempts to execute pass- 
 ages which require a rapid and clear execution 
 will meet with failure, i.e., such passages will not be 
 fast and clear, and their attempts to bring out a 
 singing quality of tone in their melody playing will 
 also be futile, i.e., the tones will lack the necessary 
 melodious flow." 
 
 The teacher at this point should explain that 
 passage execution must always be taught first, and 
 a well-defined stroke position of the fingers must be 
 taught and tenaciously held to until the habit of 
 a perfectly balanced finger action and sufficiently 
 high finger lift to insure clearness of execution and 
 the necessary degrees of forte power has been ac- 
 quired. When this habit has been firmly estab- 
 lished, the subject of melody touch should be taken 
 up. At this point the teacher should illustrate Ex- 
 ercise 108, Book II., first on the Clavier, then on 
 the piano, and following this it will be well to play, 
 or have played on the piano, the Schumann melody 
 given on page 244, Book II. In giving the illus- 
 trations, the teacher should make clear that in ex- 
 ecution touch the fingers are well lifted to stroke 
 
 67 
 
position and act with decision and freedom, while 
 in melody touch they barely clear the keys, and 
 the action by which the tone is produced is a 
 combination of arm and hand rather than finger 
 action. Great care must be taken not to allow 
 the melody touch to interfere in any way with the 
 execution touch. The two touches and the means 
 of producing them should be kept clearly in mind 
 until the fingers have formed the habit of auto- 
 matically taking the proper position and making 
 the necessary action to produce the effect which 
 the musical sense demands. Definite and intelli- 
 gent work is all important in acquiring a perfect 
 execution and a perfect melody touch. 
 
 The thirty-two questions here given ought to include suf- 
 ficient work for the Parents' Classes. Of course these ques- 
 tions cannot all be considered at three lessons, but when 
 found advisable and possible, the number of lessons may 
 be increased. Thoughtful teachers, who understand the 
 Clavier Method, will, in teaching the Parents* Classes, un- 
 doubtedly see the need of introducing other questions than 
 those here proposed. 
 
 ONE FURTHER SUGGESTION 
 
 One of the first requirements made by Clavier teachers 
 who understand the method is that those who have played 
 the piano for years, if they take up the Clavier work with 
 the hope of improving their Technic, must for a time give 
 up all other playing than that furnished by the Clavier 
 Exercises. 
 
 (There are a great many teachers of the piano who are 
 obliged to play the organ and to play accompaniments for 
 soloists, or worse yet, for choral societies. The writer 
 is often asked by teachers thus situated what they are to 
 do; they say: "I cannot give up my organ or my ac- 
 companying work; is such work an absolute barrier to my 
 own technical advancement?" To such I will say: It is 
 certainly advisable for a time to practice nothing but the 
 Clavier Exercises, but if you are so situated that you must 
 do organ and accompanying work, my advice to you is to fill 
 your obligations as organist and accompanist as best you 
 can and then get to the Clavier as quickly as possible. 
 Before seating yourself at the instrument, make use of 
 
 68 
 
Physical Exercise No. 20 for relaxing. Sit five minutes 
 with your muscles in a perfectly relaxed condition; breathe 
 naturally, freely and deeply, then go to the Clavier and play 
 Exercise 43 two or three times through the hands, first 
 starting from the thumbs, then as many times starting from 
 the fifth fingers. Follow this by Section D of Exercise 25, 
 then go through Part II. of the same exercise. Follow 
 this by Part II. of Exercise 26. Next play scale and ar- 
 peggio exercises Nos. 73 and 74, if these have been previously 
 learned. Use mezzo power with slight shadings, and play 
 at an easy velocity. The Accent Scale, Exercise 94, and 
 the Expression Scale, Exercise 106, should also be made 
 use of in this connection. A half-hour spent in this manner 
 by a person who is earnestly interested to do right, and 
 one, too, who knows what right positions, conditions and 
 movements are, will certainly improve his playing in spite 
 of the errors that may be committed while doing the kind 
 of pla3ring he is forced to do at the organ and in accom- 
 panying. Of course, if the player has not yet reached the 
 advanced exercises suggested, he must do the relaxing and 
 follow this by simple exercises at the table or clavier, which 
 require exact positions, supple conditions and accurate but 
 easy movements. 
 
 MONTHLY REPORT 
 
 Mr. Chester H. Beebe, of Brooklyn, sends me a Monthly 
 Report Blank which I am going to take the liberty of in- 
 serting. Parents who are sufficiently interested in the 
 progress their children make in their music studies to at- 
 tend a Parents' Class will, I am sure, if furnished by the 
 teacher with a Monthly Report Blank, be glad to return 
 the same to the teacher properly filled out. The use of the 
 Monthly Report Blank will certainly help teachers and 
 parents to work more in harmony than they could without 
 it; for this reason I favor its use. 
 
 MONTHLY REPORT BLANK 
 
 Note — Students take lessons for the purpose of learning. 
 If the desired results are not attained, there is a reason 
 for it. This Blank is for the purpose of getting at the facts, 
 that proper progress may be made. 
 
 Parents are requested to carefully question the pupil ac- 
 cording to the following form; answer each question; sign 
 and return this Blank. 
 
 69 
 
Mention some of the things you have learned in the past , 
 
 month I 
 
 Do you play any better to-day than a month ago? Ans « 
 
 Do you practice daily the Physical and Breathing Exercises 
 
 that have been given you? Ans , 
 
 Have you understood the exercises you have been taught: | 
 
 what they are for, and why you are doing them? Ans. I 
 
 Have you practiced faithfully the lessons your teacher has 
 
 given you? Ans. 
 
 Have you read over carefully what is said in the Virgil 
 
 Book in reference to the exercises you are now doing? 
 
 Ans 
 
 How long do you practice daily? Ans 
 
 How much time do you spend at the Table daily? Ans. 
 
 H'ow much time do you spend at the Clavier daily. Ans. 
 How much time do you spend at the Piano daily? Ans. 
 
 What is your present rate of velocity in any of the fol- 
 lowing exercises: 25. Ans 26. Ans 
 
 67. Ans 68. Ans 69. Ans 
 
 70. Ans 71. Ans 
 
 How many measures or pages have you memorized since 
 your last report? Ans 
 
 Do you think of anything that your teacher could do for 
 you that would help you in your work that is not now 
 being done? Ans 
 
 Questions to be Answered by Parents 
 
 Do you think that your child is progressing as well as can 
 
 be expected? Ans 
 
 Do you think that your child plays any better to-day than 
 
 a month ago? Ans K not, can you give any 
 
 reason for it? Ans 
 
 Do you know whether your child has properly prepared each 
 
 lesson according to the directions given on his Lesson 
 
 Card? Ans 
 
 Will you insist that your child is in the outdoor air a few 
 
 moments before breakfast and at least twenty minutes 
 
 after school hours daily? Ans 
 
 Parent. 
 
 Date 
 
 Remarks 
 
 70 v'^'T^BR A t^ >-