aved. The ability to memorize ideas expressed in
notes grows with use, just as any other aptitude grows with continued
effort.

Instead, then, of playing _with_ a piece, why do you not at once begin
to make it your own? Look at the phrases so intently that they become as
it were, photographed on your mind. Ruskin said: "Get the habit of
looking intently at words." We might say the same of notes. Look at the
phrase with the conviction that it can be remembered after a glance or
two. It is only an indication of indolence and mental inertness to look
continually at the printed page or passage and keep on playing it over
and over, without trying to fix it indelibly in the mind.

In my work as teacher I constantly meet students, and teachers too, who
do little or no memorizing. Some do not even approve of it, though it
is difficult to conceive how any one in his right mind can disapprove
knowing a thing thoroughly. The only way to know it thoroughly is to
know it by heart.

CONSTANT REPAIRS NECESSARY

A repertoire once committed must be constantly kept in repair. The
public player, in his seasons of study, generally has a regular system
of repetition, so that all compositions can be gone over at least once a
week. One artist suggests that the week be started with the classics and
concluded with modern compositions and concerted numbers. Thus each day
will have its allotted task. The pieces are not merely to be played
over, but really overhauled, and all weak places treated to a dose of
slow, careful practise, using the printed pages. Artists on tour, where
consecutive practise is difficult or unattainable, always carry the
printed notes of their repertoire with them, and are ceaselessly
studying, repairing, polishing their phrases, thinking out their
effects.

To those who wish to become pianists, I would say: "Keep your memory
active through constant use. Be always learning by heart; do it
systematically, a little at a time. So it will be daily progress. So
your repertoire is built!"

SECTION V

_Rhythm and Tone Color in Piano Playing_

How shall two such opposites as rhythm and tone color be connected, even
in name, some will ask. One belongs to the mechanical side of piano
playing, while the other appertains to the ideal, the poetic, the
soulful. The two subjects, however, are not so wide apart as might at
first appear; for the beauty and variety of the second depends largely
upon the mastery of the fir