eacher in the piano department
and later as director of the School. During this period the organization
of the famous old conservatory has changed totally. The building
occupied was very old and unfit for modern needs. The new conservatory
building is a splendid structure located in one of the most attractive
parts of the city. The old methods, old equipment, old ideas have been
abandoned, and a wholly different atmosphere is said to pervade the
institution, while all that was best in the old _regime_ has been
retained. Prof. Pauer made his _debut_ as a virtuoso pianist in London.
Since then he has toured all Europe except the Latin countries. He has
published several compositions for the piano. His present tour of
America is his first in the New World.

[Illustration: MAX PAUER]

XV

MODERN PIANISTIC PROBLEMS

MAX PAUER

ACQUIRING THE REQUISITE TECHNIC

"The preservation of one's individuality in playing is perhaps one of
the most difficult, and at the same time one of the most essential tasks
in the study of the pianoforte. The kind of technical study that passes
the student through a certain process, apparently destined to make him
as much like his predecessors as possible, is hardly the kind of technic
needed to make a great artist. Technical ability, after all is said and
done, depends upon nothing more than physiologically correct motion
applied to the artistic needs of the masterpiece to be performed. It
implies a clear understanding of the essentials in bringing out the
composer's idea. The pupil must not be confused with inaccurate
thinking. For instance, we commonly hear of the 'wrist touch.' More
pupils have been hindered through this clumsy terminology than I should
care to estimate. There cannot be a wrist touch since the wrist is
nothing more than a wonderful natural hinge of bone and muscle. With the
pupil's mind centered upon his wrist he is more than likely to stiffen
it and form habits which can only be removed with much difficulty by the
teacher. This is only an instance of one of the loose expressions with
which the terminology of technic is encumbered. When the pupil comes to
recognize the wrist as a _condition_ rather than a thing he will find
that the matter of the tight, cramped wrist will cease to have its
terrors. In fact, as far as touch itself is concerned, the motion of the
arm as a whole is vastly more important than that of the wrist. The
wrist is merely part of the apparat