ow more about mental
processes than we do. I am often asked how to memorize, for instance--or
the best means for doing this; another psychological process. I
recommend students to read William James' _Talks on Psychology_; a very
helpful book.

"The most vital thing in piano playing is to learn to think. Has it ever
occurred to you what infinite pains people will take to avoid thinking?
They will repeat a technical illustration hundreds of times it may be,
but with little or no thought directed to the performance. Such work is
absolutely useless. Perhaps that is a little too strong. With countless
repetitions there may at last come to be a little improvement, but it
will be very small.

"There is quite a variety of views as to what the essentials of piano
technic are; this is a subject on which teachers, unluckily, do not
agree. For instance, on the point of finger lifting there is great
diversity of opinion. Some believe in raising the fingers very high,
others do not. Lifting the fingers high is not good for the tone, though
it may be used for velocity playing. I use quite the reverse where I
wish beautiful, singing, tone quality. The young pupil, at the
beginning, must of course learn to raise fingers and make precise
movements; when greater proficiency is reached, many modifications of
touch are used. That the best results are not more often obtained in
piano teaching and study, is as much the fault of the teacher as the
pupil. The latter is usually willing to be shown and anxious to learn.
It is for the teacher to correctly diagnose the case and administer the
most efficient remedy.

[Illustration: To Miss Harriett Brower with the kindest of remembrances,
Sigismond Stojowski New York, April 1913]

NATURAL TECHNIC

"There is a certain amount of what I might call 'natural technic'
possessed by every one--some one point which is easy for him. It Is
often the trill. It has frequently come under my notice that players
with little facility in other ways, can make a good trill. Some singers
have this gift; Mme. Melba is one who never had to study a trill, for
she was born with a nightingale in her throat. I knew a young man in
London who was evidently born with an aptitude for octaves. He had
wonderful wrists, and could make countless repetitions of the octave
without the least fatigue. He never had to practise octaves, they came
to him naturally.

"The teacher's work is both corrective and constructive. He must