Do not
pin your faith to a method. There is good and, alas! some bad in most
methods. We hear a great deal these days about the Leschetizky method.
During the five years I was with Leschetizky, he made it very plain that
he had no fixed method in the ordinary sense of the word. Like every
good teacher, he studied the individuality of each pupil and taught him
according to that individuality. It might almost be said that he had a
different method for each pupil, and I have often said that
Leschetizky's method is to have no fixed method. Of course, there are
certain preparatory exercises which with slight variations he wants all
his pupils to go through. But it is not so much the exercises in
themselves as the patience and painful persistence in executing them to
which they owe their virtue. Of course, Leschetizky has his preference
for certain works for their great educational value. He has his
convictions as to the true interpretation to be given to the various
compositions, but those do not form what may properly be called a
method. Personally, I am rather skeptical when anybody announces that he
teaches any particular method. Leschetizky, without any particular
method, is a great force by virtue of his tremendously interesting
personality and his great qualities as an artist. He is himself a
never-ending source of inspiration. At eighty he was still a youth, full
of vitality and enthusiasm. Some student, diffident but worthy, was
always encouraged; another was incited by sarcasm; still another was
scolded outright. Practical illustration on the piano, showing 'how not
to do it,' telling of pertinent stories to elucidate a point, are among
the means which he constantly employed to bring out the best that was in
his pupils. A good teacher cannot insure success and Leschetizky has
naturally had many pupils who will never become great virtuosos. It was
never in the pupils and, no matter how great the teacher, he cannot
create talent that does not exist.

"The many books published upon the Leschetizky system by his assistants
have merit, but they by no means constitute a Leschetizky system. They
simply give some very rational preparatory exercise that the assistants
give in preparing pupils for the master. Leschetizky himself laughs when
one speaks of his 'method' or 'system.'

"Success in public appearance will never come through any system or
method except that which works toward the end of making a mature and
genuine