Chapter 11

Reading about these pianists' approach to teaching was enlightening. They all, except for maybe Mendelssohn, advocate the practice of scales, arpeggios, and other finger exercises, although Brahms at one time apparently favored using portions of pieces that the student was studying to work on technique. In this type of technical practice, I didn't realize that changing rhythms and doing groupings was such an old practice technique.



The description of Mendelssohn's classes was also interesting. I can see how that arrangement could be beneficial -- having more than one teacher and learning about a piece from both the teacher and peers. The description sounds as though technique and musicality were separated. Based on earlier discussions of the connectedness of these two areas, I wonder if the arrangement was any more effective than not making the distinction.



It was a a boost to the ego to read from Schumann/Florestan that playing from memory indicated "uncommon musical powers" (p. 207)). It is practically a requirement for all piano students to do this now, so it is easy to forget that it once was an impressive act. However, there are various degrees to which a piece may be memorized. I imagine Schumann was not thinking of simply motor memory when he wrote on this topic.



On the issue of performance practice, Brahms finds no fault in making use of any expressive devices unique to the modern piano when playing music from an earlier time period, but he was still concerned with applying an appropriate style, as evidenced by his opinion on staccato in Bach. I think this is a nice compromise, so to speak, on the issue -- upholding tradition while accommodating present circumstances.