epreciates. The only way to avoid this is to seek variety.
As I have said in my _Methodik des Klavierspiels_: "The musical and
tonal monotony of technical exercises may be lessened in a measure by
progressive modulations, by various rhythmical alterations, and further
through frequent changes in contrary motion." Great stress should be
laid upon practice in contrary motion. The reason for this is obvious to
all students of harmony. When playing in contrary motion all unevenness,
all breaks in precision and all unbalanced conditions of touch become
much more evident to the ear than if the same exercises were played in
parallel motion. Another important reason for the helpfulness of playing
in contrary motion is not to be undervalued. It is that a kind of
physical 'sympathy' is developed between the fingers and the nerves
which operate them in the corresponding hands. For instance, it is much
easier to play with the fifth finger of one hand and the fifth finger of
the other hand than it is to play with the third finger of one hand and
the fifth finger of another."

WASTE IN UNIMPORTANT SUBJECTS

There is a general impression among teachers to-day that much time might
be saved by a more careful selection of studies, and by a better
adaptation of the studies to particular pupils. For instance, Carl
Czerny wrote over one thousand opus numbers. He wrote some of the most
valuable studies ever written, but no one would think of demanding a
pupil to play all of the Czerny studies, any more than the student
should be compelled to play everything that Loeschhorn, Cramer and
Clementi ever wrote. Studies must be selected with great care and
adapted to particular cases, and if the young teacher feels himself
incapable of doing this, he should either use selections or collections
of studies edited by able authorities or he should place himself under
the advice of some mature and experienced teacher until the right
experience has been obtained. It would not be a bad plan to demand that
all young teachers be apprenticed to an older teacher until the right
amount of experience has been obtained. The completion of a course in
music does not imply that the student is able to teach. Teaching and the
matter of musical proficiency are two very different things. Many
conservatories now conduct classes for teachers, which are excellent in
their way. In the olden days a mechanic had to work side by side with
his master before he was considere