ft and light as thistle-down. What had my home
piano in common with this wonder? Why did all the efforts at piano
playing I had hitherto listened to sink into oblivion when I heard this
master? What was the reason of it all?

More artists of the piano came within my vision, Mehlig, Joseffy, Mason,
and others. As I listened to their performances it was brought to me
more clearly than ever that each master played the piano in the manner
which best suited himself; at the same time each and every player made
the instrument utter tones and effects little dreamed of by the ordinary
learner. What was the secret? Was it the manner of moving the keys, the
size of hand, the length of finger, or the great strength possessed by
the player? I had always been taught to play slowly and carefully, so
that I should make no mistakes; these great pianists had wonderful
fearlessness; Rubinstein at least did not seem to care whether or not he
hit a few wrong notes here and there, if he could only secure the speed
and effect desired. Whence came his fearless velocity, his tremendous
power?

ESSENTIALS OF PIANISM

Little by little I began to realize the essentials of effective piano
playing were these: clear touch, intelligent phrasing, all varieties of
tone, all the force the piano would stand, together with the greatest
delicacy and the utmost speed. These things the artists possessed as a
matter of course, but the ordinary student or teacher failed utterly to
make like effects, or to play with sufficient clearness and force. What
was the reason?

In due course I came under the supervision of various piano pedagogues.
To the first I gave implicit obedience, endeavoring to do exactly as I
was told. The next teacher said I must begin all over again, as I had
been taught "all wrong." I had never learned hand position nor
independence of fingers--these must now be established. The following
master told me finger independence must be secured in quite a different
fashion from the manner in which I had been taught, which was "all
wrong." The next professor said I must bend the finger squarely from the
second joint, and not round all three joints, as I had been doing. This
so-called fault took several months to correct.

To the next I am indebted for good orthodox (if somewhat pedantic) ideas
of fingering and phrasing, for which he was noted. The hobby of the next
master was slow motions with soft touch. This course was calculated to
take a