Nevertheless, it is the
performer's duty in each case to try to see through even unbecoming
garments and divine the composer's thought, according to the
interpreter's best understanding.

LEARNING THE MUSICAL LANGUAGE

Where interpretation is concerned, one is too often inclined to forget
that while there is a higher part, the secrets of which are accessible
only to the elect, there is also an elementary part which involves the
knowledge of musical grammar, and beyond that the correct feeling of
musical declamation--since music, after all, is a language which is at
all times perfectly teachable, and which should be most carefully and
systematically taught. I consider the book of Mathis Lussy, _Rhythm and
Musical Expression_, of great value to the student in search of truths
pertaining to intelligent interpretation. Lussy was a Swiss who was born
in the early part of the last century. He went to Paris to study
medicine, but, having had a musical training in the country of his
birth, he became a good pianoforte teacher and an excellent writer upon
musical subjects. While teaching in a young ladies' school, he was
confronted with the great paucity of real knowledge of the rudiments of
expression, and he accordingly prepared a book upon the subject which
has since been translated into several languages. This book is most
helpful, and I advocate its use frequently. It should be in the hands of
every conscientious piano student.

MISTAKES PECULIAR TO THE PIANOFORTE PLAYER

The nature of the keyboard of the piano, and the ease with which certain
things are accomplished, make it possible for the performer to make
certain errors which the construction of other instruments would
prevent. The pianist is, for instance, entirely unlike the violinist,
who has to locate his keyboard every time he takes up his instrument,
and, moreover, locate it by a highly trained sense of position. In a
certain way I sometimes feel somewhat ashamed for the pianist profession
when I hear players, even those with manifest technical proficiency,
commit flagrant mistakes against elementary rules of accentuation and
phrasing, such as, for instance, an average violinist acquainted with
good bowing is accordingly prevented from making upon his instrument.

The means of discovering the composer's hidden meaning are, in fact, so
numerous that the conscientious interpreter must keep upon continuous
voyages of exploration. There are many easily recogn