e.

TONE: PRACTICE TIME

"Broad playing gives the singing tone--the true violin tone--a long bow
drawn its full length. Like every general rule though, this one must be
modified by the judgment of the individual player. Violin playing is an
art of many mysteries. Some pupils grasp a point at once; others have to
have it explained seven or eight different ways before grasping it. The
serious student should practice not less than four hours, preferably in
twenty minute intervals. After some twenty minutes the brain is apt to
tire. And since the fingers are controlled by the brain, it is best to
relax for a short time before going on. Mental and physical control must
always go hand in hand. Four hours of intelligent, consistent practice
work are far better than eight or ten of fatigued effort.

A NATIONAL CONSERVATORY

"Some five years ago too many teachers gave their pupils the Mendelssohn
and Paganini concertos to play before they knew their Kreutzer. But
there has been a change for the better during recent years. Kneisel was
one of the first to produce pupils here who played legitimately,
according to standard violinistic ideals. One reason why Auer has had
such brilliant pupils is that poor students were received at the
Petrograd Conservatory free of charge. All they had to supply was
talent; and I look forward to the time when we will have a National
conservatory in this country, supported by the Government. Then the
poor, but musically gifted, pupil will have the same opportunities that
his brother, who is well-to-do, now has.

SOME PERSONAL VIEWS AND REFLECTIONS

"You ask me to tell you something of my own musical preferences. Well,
take the concertos. I have reached a point where the Mendelssohn,
Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Brahms concertos seen to sum up what is
truly worth while. The others begin to bore me; even Bruch! Paganini,
Wieniawski, etc., are mainly mediums of display. Most of the great
violinists, Ysaye, Thibaud, etc., during recent years are reverting to
the violin sonatas. Ysaye, for instance, has recently been playing the
Lazzari sonata, a very powerful and beautiful work.

"My experiences as a 'concertmaster'? I have played with Weingartner;
Saint-Saens (whose amiability to me, when he first visited this country,
I recall with pleasure); Gustav Mahler, Tschaikovsky, Safonoff, Seidel,
Bauer, and Walter Damrosch, whose