Books › A Practical Guide to Violin-Playing, 1913 › scan 22
Scan 22
A Practical Guide to Violin-Playing, 1913
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 4. See the scan on archive.org.
1one day I can hear it, if I don't practise two days my friends hear it, and if I don't practise for three days the public notices it."
3It should never be forgotten that a person qualifying as a professional violinist must undergo a thorough training in music. In all cases he has, in addition, to learn to play the piano moderately well, otherwise he or she does not deserve to be called a musician. It is imperative that those who may have to teach some day, shall be able to accompany their pupils at the piano.
5Until the student has attained a certain mastery over the technical difficulties of any piece he may be learning, the teacher should on no account abuse the otherwise legitimate practice of accompanying him on the pianoforte. To add an accompaniment to every study that the pupil is learning is useless and often fatal to his progress in many directions. The master will have more than enough to do in explaining the many points that will arise during the lesson, and to do this without any waste of time he must avail himself of a second violin for the purpose of illustration.
7It must be the tutor's chief aim to improve the pupil's taste for musical phrasing and correct tone production, which can be achieved only by repeatedly showing how a certain thing ought to sound, as well as explaining underlying principles. Extraordinarily few students can claim to possess, at first, genuine ambition and individuality for their instrument. Those who can, require a freer and more genial treatment than pupils who at the best can only copy more or less mechanically examples given by the teacher.
9A knowledge of the rudiments of music, harmony, etc., is quite indispensable to one who aspires to become a good violinist. The pupil's memory should also be cultivated from an early age, and from time to time the teacher should insist upon his pupils committing to memory those pieces and studies which he may consider to be suitable.
11With very few exceptions nearly all the great latter-day violinists have been taught at some great public school or conservatoire. There is, doubtless, a peculiar charm attaching to the life of the student. Here we find a healthy spirit of rivalry, with full appreciation of the powers of other talented pupils, untainted by any of the petty jealousies which are apt to enter later into the life of the professional musician. The leading schools of music in London offer now-a-days every facility to a student, and it is doubtful if anything can be of greater value than hearing fellow-students play, mixing with them and living in a healthy musical atmosphere.
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