ust be dwelt on. There must be a firm and rock-like basis for
piano playing; such a foundation can only be laid by patient and
persevering slow practise. If the player has not the control over his
fingers to play a piece slowly, he certainly cannot play it fast. Slow
practise--one difficulty at a time--one hand at a time; Napoleon's
tactics, 'one division at a time,' applies to music study. Above all do
not hurry in fugue playing, a universal fault. Bach needs a slower trill
than modern music. Chords are not to be played with percussion but with
pressure. The main things in piano playing are tone and sentiment. When
you take up a new piece, practise a few measures slowly, till you know
them, then play faster; take the next few measures in the same way; but
at first do not practise the whole piece through at once.

"Just as in life every experience of great joy or great grief leaves one
better or more callous, so every time you practise you have either
advanced or gone back. Right playing, like good manners in a
well-trained child, becomes habitual from always doing right. As we are
influenced for good or evil by those we associate with, so are we
influenced by the character and quality of the tones we make and hear.
Be in earnest; put your heart, your whole soul, your whole self into
your playing."

Among other pieces we studied together was the Schumann sonata in F
minor, the _Eusebius Sonata_--a glorious work! In the opening movement
the left hand should be very serious and ponderous, with the hand and
fingers held close to the keys; using arm weight. The melody in octaves
in right hand is beseeching, pleading, imploring. In many places the
touch is very elastic. The second movement begins very softly, as though
one heard something faintly in the distance, and did not quite know what
it was, but thought it might be music. The accents in this movement are
to be understood in a comparative degree, and are not as strong as the
marks seem to indicate. The Scherzo is extremely pompous and is to be
played with heavy accents and a great deal of vim and go; the chords
with the utmost freedom and dash. One must use the "letting-go"
principle, which Paderewski has to perfection.

We next took up the Grieg Concerto; the Peter's edition of this work has
been corrected by the composer. At the first lesson, Dr. Mason
accompanied on a second piano, and seemed pleased with the work I had
done, making no corrections, except to sugge