Chapter 13-14

I really appreciated the I-have-no-method Leschetizky. The idea of ‘the method depends on the person in front of you’ is very convincing to me. I truly think the technique we applying on the instrument differs from one to another. This really makes sense to me because we’re all differently built, thus the perceptions of the instrument we have are different from the first day we played on it. I never think technique involves strict rules. There maybe some general common ideas, like ‘to attain a maximum of achievement with a minimum effort’, or to avoid any kinds of physical injuries.

Anton Rubinstein is unexpectedly a far more interesting person than I thought he was. I knew he was a great musician, he played piano well and also some compositions, but I didn’t know he had such a funny personality. I really like it when he said ‘When you are as old as I am now you may do as I do-if you can’. Maybe that won’t be quite enjoyable for his students, but that still kind of reflects part of the reality.

The ‘Daily Exercise’ concept of the Russian school is absolutely admirable. I can see all those famous names appeared in the chapter spending years and years of hard work to achieve what they had. I’m also impressed by their thinking of taking good care of people they recognized with musical talents. And the thought of ‘it’s the teachers’ responsibility to lead the students not feeling bored with years of scales and arpeggios’ makes me wordless. I think the perfectionism is so deep in the Russian’s blood that they actually treated piano playing sincerely like a religion. I’m not sure I can ever do that. And I don’t think I’m living in that kind of culture nowadays too. It must be a very interesting experience to actually go to Russia and see how this tradition mentioned in the book sustained till today, it must be pretty mind-blowing.

Anyways, I just feel so guilty not spending enough time and effort in attaining perfection after reading the chapter. I must practice more.