ontrasts of stress and pressure, ease and
relaxation which are instrumental in its production. The analogies
between the violin voice and the human voice should also be developed.
The violin itself must to all intents become a part of the player
himself, just as the vocal chords are part of the human body. It should
not be considered a foreign tone-producing instrument adjusted to the
body of the performer; but an extension, a projection of his physical
self. In a way it is easier for the violinist to get at the chords of
the violin and make them sound, since they are all exposed, which is not
the case with the singer.

"There are two dangerous points in present-day standards of violin
teaching. One is represented by the very efficient European professional
standards of technic, which may result in an absolute failure of poetic
musical comprehension. These should not be transplanted here from
European soil. The other is the non-technical, sentimental, formless
species of teaching which can only result in emotional enervation. Yet
if forced to choose between the two the former would be preferable since
without tools it is impossible to carve anything of beauty. The final
beauty of the violin tone, the pure _legato_, remains in the beginning
as in the end a matter of holding the violin and bow. Together they
'place' the tone just as the physical _media_ in the throat 'place' the
tone of the voice.

"Piano teachers have made greater advances in the tone developing
technic of their instrument than the violin teachers. One reason is,
that as a class they are more intellectual. And then, too, violin
teaching is regarded too often as a mystic art, an occult science, and
one into which only those specially gifted may hope to be initiated.
This, it seems to me, is a fallacy. Just as a gift for mathematics is a
special talent not given to all, so a _natural_ technical talent exists
in relatively few people. Yet this does not imply that the majority are
shut off from playing the violin and playing it well. Any student who
has music in his soul may be taught to play simple, and even relatively
more difficult music with beauty, beauty of expression and
interpretation. This he may be taught to do even though not endowed with
a _natural_ technical facility for the violin. A proof that natural
technical facility is anything but a guarantee of higher musicianship is
shown in that the musical weakness of many brilliant violinists, hidde