e
struck. Upon these two means of administering force must depend whatever
differentiation in dynamic power and tonal quality the player desires to
produce. The various gradations of tone which the virtuoso's hand and
arm are trained to execute are so minute that it is impossible for me to
conceive of a scientific instrument or scale to measure them.
Physiologists have attempted to construct instruments to do this, but
little of value has come from such experiments.

A RIGID ARM UNDESIRABLE

"Only a comparatively few years ago thousands of teachers were insisting
upon having their pupils keep the arms in a still, even rigid, condition
during practice. This naturally resulted in the stiffest imaginable
kind of a touch, and likewise in a mechanical style of playing that made
what has come to be known in later days as 'tone color' impossible.

"At this day the finger touch as it was formerly known has almost gone
out of existence. By finger touch I refer to the old custom of holding
the hand and forearm almost rigid and depending upon the muscular
strength of the fingers for all tonal effects. In fact, I so rarely
employ the finger touch, except in combination with the arm touch, that
it is almost an insignificant factor as far as my own playing is
concerned. By this the reader must not think that the training of the
fingers, and particularly the finger tips, is to be neglected. But this
training, to my mind, is not so much a matter of acquiring digital
strength to produce force as to accustom the fingers to strike the notes
with the greatest possible accuracy and speed. This belongs rather to
the realm of technic than to that of touch, and behind all technic is
the intellect of the player. Technic is a matter of training the finger
tips to attack and leave the keys under the absolute discipline of the
brain. Touch has a much broader and wider significance. It is touch that
reveals the soul of the player.

TOUCH A DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC

"Touch is the distinguishing characteristic which makes one player's
music sound different from that of another, for it is touch that
dominates the player's means of producing dynamic shading or tone
quality. I know that many authorities contend that the quality of tone
depends upon the instrument rather than upon the performer.
Nevertheless, I am reasonably confident that if I were to hear a number
of pianists play in succession upon the same instrument behind a screen
an