asure sections, or whether the sections are
irregular.

"What a splendid thing it would be if little children at their first
lessons were taught the desirability of observing melodic phrases.
Teachers lay great stress upon hand formation, with the object of
getting the pupil to keep the hand in a perfect condition--a condition
that is the result of a carefully developed habit. Why not develop the
habit of noting the phrases in the same way? Why not a little mind
formation? It is a great deal nearer the real musical aim than the mere
digital work. The most perfectly formed hand in the world would be
worthless for the musician unless the mind that operates the hand has
had a real musical training."

STUDYING THE HARMONY

"Every piano student ought to have a knowledge of harmony. But this
knowledge should be a practical one. What do I mean by a practical
knowledge of harmony? Simply this--a knowledge of harmony which
recognizes the ear as well as the eye. There are students of harmony who
can work out some harmonic problem with the skill of an expert
mathematician and yet they never for one single moment think of the
music their notes might make. This is due to the great neglect of the
study of ear-training in early musical education.

"To be able to recognize a chord when you see it on paper is not nearly
such an acquisition as the ability to recognize the same chord when it
is played. The student who can tell a diminished seventh, or an
augmented sixth at a glance, but who could not identify the same chords
when he saw them through his ears instead of his eyes is severely
handicapped. But how many musicians can do this? Ear-training should be
one of the first of all studies. It may be acquired more easily in
childhood if the student is not naturally gifted with it, and it is the
only basis of a thorough knowledge of harmony. The piano teacher cannot
possibly find time to give sufficient instruction in the subject of
harmony at the piano lesson. It demands a separate period, and in most
cases it is necessary and advisable to have a separate teacher; that is,
one who has made a specialty of harmony.

"The piano itself is of course a great help to the student in the study
of harmony, providing the student listens all the time he is playing.
Few adult piano students study string instruments, such as the violin or
'cello--instruments which cultivate the perception of hearing far more
than can the piano. For this reaso