us which communicates the weight of
the arm to the keyboard.

INNOVATORS SHOULD BE PIANISTS

"In my opinion the technical needs of the piano are likely to be far
better understood by the virtuoso pianist than by one who has never been
through the experiences which lead to the concert platform. Please do
not infer that I would say that all teachers should be virtuoso
pianists. I am referring particularly to the makers of methods. I am
continually confronted in my teaching with all manner of absurd ideas in
piano technic. For instance, one pupil will come and exhibit an exercise
which requires her to press hard upon the keyboard after the note is
struck. Just why there should be this additional waste of nerve force
when it can have no possible effect upon the depressed key I have never
been able to find out. There is enough nervous energy expended in
pianoforte study as it is without exacting any more from the pupil.
Pupils are frequently carried away with some technical trick of this
kind like a child with a new toy. They do these things without ever
consulting their own judgment."

The whole idea of technic then is to achieve a position _through_
conscious effort, where one may _dispense with_ conscious effort. Not
until this can be accomplished can we hope for real self-expression in
playing. Nothing is so odious as the obtrusion of technic in any work of
art. Technic is the trellis concealed beneath the foliage and the
blossoms of the bower. When the artist is really great all idea of
technic is forgotten. He must be absorbed by the sheer beauty of his
musical message, his expression of his musical self. In listening to
Rubinstein or to Liszt one forgot all idea of technic, and it must be so
with all great artists in every branch of art in every age. What we
claim when we attend a recital is the individual artist, unrestrained by
mechanical bonds.

Very few of the great masters of pianoforte playing have delved very
deeply into the technical pedagogical side of their art, as for instance
have Tausig, Ehrlich or Joseffy, all of whom have produced remarkable
works on technic. Liszt's contribution to the technic of the instrument
was made through his pieces, not through exercises; his contributions to
the Lebert and Stark Stuttgart Conservatory method consist of two
well-known concert studies. Personally, I am opposed to set methods,
that is, those that pretend to teach the pupil factory-wise. Of what
value is the