ngs is
prepared by the right hand. And always the slides in the left hand are
prepared by the last played finger--_the last played finger is the true
guide to smooth progression_--just as the bow hand prepares the slides
in the last played bowing. There should be no such thing as jumping and
trusting in Providence to land right, and a curse ought to be laid on
those who let their fingers leave the fingerboard. None who develop this
fundamental aspect of all good playing lose the perfect control of
position.

"Of course there are a hundred _nuances_ of technic (into which the
quality of good taste enters largely) that one could talk of at length:
phrasing, and the subtle things happening in the bow arm that influence
it; _spiccato_, whose whole secret is finding the right point of balance
in the bow and, with light finger control, never allowing it to leave
the string. I've never been able to see the virtue of octaves or the
logic of double-stops. Like tenths, one plays or does not play them. But
do they add one iota of beauty to violin music? I doubt it! And, after
all, it is the poetry of playing that counts. All violin playing in its
essence is the quest for color; its perfection, that subtle art which
hides art, and which is so rarely understood."

"Could you give me a few guiding rules, a few Beatitudes, as it were,
for the serious student to follow?" I asked Mr. Hartmann. Though the
artist smiled at the idea of Beatitudes for the violinist, yet he was
finally amiable enough to give me the following, telling me I would have
to take them for what they were worth:

NINE BEATITUDES FOR VIOLINISTS

"Blessed are they who early in life approach Bach, for their love and
veneration for music will multiply with the years.

"Blessed are they who remember their own early struggles, for their
merciful criticism will help others to a greater achievement and
furtherance of the Divine Art.

"Blessed are they who know their own limitations, for they shall have
joy in the accomplishment of others.

"Blessed are they who revere the teachers--their own or those of
others--and who remember them with credit.

"Blessed are they who, revering the old masters, seek out the newer ones
and do not begrudge them a hearing or two.

"Blessed are they who work in obscurity, nor sound the trumpet, for Art
has ever been for the few, and shuns the vulgar blare of ignorance.

"Blessed are they whom men revile as futur