it, and
gradually grew into a conviction that it was a mistake to practice
technic at all unless such practice should conduce to some definite,
specific and immediate musical result.

"I do not wish to be misunderstood in making this statement, containing,
as it does, an expression of opinion that was formed in early years of
study, but which, nevertheless, I have never since felt any reason to
change. It is not my intention to imply that technical study is
unnecessary, or that purely muscular training is to be neglected. I mean
simply to say that in every detail of technical work the germ of musical
expression must be discovered and cultivated, and that in muscular
training for force and independence the simplest possible forms of
physical exercises are all that is necessary.

"The singer and the violinist are always studying _music_, even when
they practice a succession of single notes. Not so with the pianist,
however, for an isolated note on the piano, whether played by the most
accomplished artist or the man in the street, means nothing, absolutely
nothing.

SEEKING INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION

"At the time of which I speak, my greatest difficulty was naturally to
give a constant and definite direction to my work and in my efforts to
obtain a suitable muscular training which should enable me to produce
expressive sounds, while I neglected no opportunity of closely observing
the work of pianoforte teachers and students around me. I found that
most of the technical work which was being done with infinite pains and
a vast expenditure of time was not only non-productive of expressive
sounds, but actually harmful and misleading as regards the development
of the musical sense. I could see no object in practicing evenness in
scales, considering that a perfectly even scale is essentially devoid of
emotional (musical) significance. I could see no reason for limiting
tone production to a certain kind of sound that was called 'a good
tone,' since the expression of feeling necessarily demands in many cases
the use of relatively harsh sounds. Moreover, I could see no reason for
trying to overcome what are generally called natural defects, such as
the comparative weakness of the fourth finger for example, as it seemed
to me rather a good thing than otherwise that each finger should
naturally and normally possess a characteristic motion of its own.

"It is _differences_ that count in art, not similarities. Every
individual expr