too--and she has _fur_!")

"To acquire the melody touch, I teach it with the simplest exercises,
sometimes with only single tones. When the idea is apprehended, the
pupil works it out in some lyric piece, like a _Song without Words_, by
Mendelssohn.

"There are three touches for melody playing: First, the _down touch_,
made by descending arm and hand; second, the _up touch_, made by
elevating the wrist, while the finger lies upon the key; third, the
_wiping-off touch_, which draws the finger off the key, with an arm and
hand movement.

THE TECHNICAL HAND

"The technical hand employs finger touch and finger action; the hand is
held up, in military position, so to speak; the finger movements are
quick, alert and exact; the hand is _alive_, not dead and heavy, as is
the melody hand. The two ways of playing are quite opposite in their
fundamental character, but they can be modified and blended in endless
ways.

"For the technical or coloratura touch, the hand is in arched position,
the five fingers are well rounded and curved, their tips are on the
keys, everything is rounded. When a finger is lifted, it naturally
assumes a more rounded position until it descends to the same spot on
the key from which it was lifted, as though there were five little
imaginary black spots on the keys, showing exactly where the finger-tips
should rest. The fingers are lifted cleanly and evenly and _fall_ on the
keys--no hitting nor striking. I make a great distinction between the
coloratura touch and the melody touch. The first is for rapid, brilliant
passage work, sparkling, glittering, iridescent--what you will--but
cold. It is made, as I said, with arched hand and raised finger action.
Melody touch expresses warmth and feeling; is from the heart. Then there
are the down and up arm movements, for chords, and, of course, scale and
arpeggio work, with coloratura touch. I generally expect pupils who come
to me to go through a short course of preparatory study with my
assistant, Miss Madeleine Prosser, who has been with me for years, and
does most thorough work in this line.

ASSIMILATION OF PRINCIPLES

"Many pupils come to me with no very definite ideas as to touch and what
they may express through it. They think if they _feel_ a passage
sufficiently, they will be able to use the right touch for it. Sometimes
they may be able to hit upon the effect they want, but they don't know
quite how they got it, nor can they repeat it anothe