a teacher should insist upon, and that is that the pupil
should study harmony. He should have a practical working knowledge of
keys, chords, and progressions. There may be no need for him to study
orchestration or composition, but he must know the foundation and
structure of the material of music. My pupil must be familiar with the
various chords of the scale and know how to analyze them, before I can
make clear to him the rules of pedaling. Without this knowledge, my
words about the use of the pedals are as so much Greek to him. He must
go and learn this first, before coming to me.

ACCORDING TO RULE

"Experience counts for much with the teacher, but much, more with the
pianist. The beginner must go according to rule, until he has thoroughly
mastered the rules. He must not think because he sees a great artist
holding his hands a certain way at times--turning under his unemployed
fingers for octaves perhaps, or any other seeming eccentricity, that he
himself is at liberty to do the same things. No, he must learn to play
in a normal, safe way before attempting any tricks. What may seem
eccentric to the inexperienced student may be quite a legitimate means
of producing certain effects to the mature artist, who through wide
experience and study knows just the effect he wants and the way to make
it. The artist does many things the pupil should not attempt. The artist
knows the capabilities of his own hand; his technic is, in a certain
sense, individual; it should not be imitated by the learner of little or
no experience. If I play a chord passage with high wrist, that I may
bring out a certain effect or quality of tone at that point, the
thoughtless student might be under the impression that a high wrist was
habitual with me, which is not true. For this reason I do not give
single lessons to any one, nor coach on single pieces. In the case of
the interpretation of a piece, a student can get the ideas of it from
hearing it in recital, if he can grasp and assimilate them.

ON INTERPRETATION

"Interpretation! That is a wide subject; how can it be defined? I try to
arouse the imagination of the student first of all. We speak of the
character of the piece, and try to arrive at some idea of its meaning.
Is it _largo_--then it is serious and soulful; is it _scherzo_--then it
should be blithe and gay. We cannot depend on metronome tempi, for they
are not reliable. Those given in Schumann are generally all wrong. We
try to