ges, it is true, I have seen," he answered; "but I must also
say that the conditions attending piano teaching in America are
peculiar. We have some excellent teachers here, teachers who can hold
their own anywhere, and are capable of producing finished artists. Yet
let a pupil go to the best teacher in this country, and the chances are
that he or she is still looking forward to 'finishing' with some
European artist. They are not satisfied until they have secured the
foreign stamp of approval. While this is true of the advanced pianist,
it is even more in evidence in the mediocre player. He, too, is
dreaming of the 'superior advantages,' as he calls them, of European
study. He may have no foundation to build upon--may not even be able to
play a scale correctly, but still thinks he must go abroad!

"You ask if I think students can obtain just as good instruction here as
in Europe? That is a little difficult to answer off-hand. I fully
believe we have some teachers in America as able as any on the other
side; in some ways they are better. For one thing they are morally
better--I repeat, _morally_ better. For another they are more thorough:
they take more interest in their pupils and will do more for them. When
such a teacher is found, he certainly deserves the deep respect and
gratitude of the American student. But alas, he seldom experiences the
gratitude. After he has done everything for the pupil--fashioned him
into a well-equipped artist, the student is apt to say: 'Now I will go
abroad for lessons with this or that famous European master!' What is
the result? He may never amount to anything--may never be heard of
afterward. On the other hand, I have pupils coming to me, who have been
years with some of the greatest foreign masters, yet who are full of
faults of all kinds, faults which it takes me years to correct. Some of
them come with hard touch, with tense position and condition of arms and
body, with faulty pedaling, and with a lack of knowledge of some of the
fundamental principles of piano playing.

POWER WITHOUT EFFORT

"How do I teach them to acquire power with little effort? Relaxation is
the whole secret. Your arm is really quite heavy, it weighs
considerable. Act on this principle then: let the arms fall with their
full weight on the keys, and you will have all the power you need,
provided the fingers are rounded and firm. That is the other half of the
secret. The finger joints must be firm, especially