Other gems worth pondering about…

XI. Strive to play easy pieces well and beautifully; it is better than to render harder pieces only indifferently well.

ХIII. You must not only be able to play your little pieces with the fingers; you must be able to hum them over without a piano. Sharpen your imagination so that you may fix in your mind not only the melody of a composition, but also the harmony belonging to it.

XIV. Accustom yourself, even though you have but little voice, to sing at sight without the aid of an instrument. The sharpness of your hearing will continually improve by that means. But if you are the possessor of a rich voice, lose not a moment’s time, but cultivate it, and consider it the fairest gift which heaven has lent you.

XV. You must carry it so far that you can understand a piece of music upon paper.

XVI. If any one lays a composition before you for the first time, for you to play, first read it over.

XVII. Have you done your musical day’s work, and do you feel exhausted ? Then do not constrain yourself to further labor. Better rest than work without spirit and freshness.

XVIII. Play nothing, as you grow older, which is merely fashionable. Time is precious. One must have a hundred human lives, if he would acquaint himself with all that is good.

XIX. In every period there have been bad compositions, and fools who have praised them.

XX. A player may cram his memory with finger-passages; they all in time grow commonplace and must be changed. Only where such facility serves higher ends, is it of any worth.

XXII. Try not to acquire facility in the so-called bravura. Try in a composition to bring out the impression which the composer had in his mind ; more than this attempt not; more than this is caricature.

To listen: Anton Kuerti in Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze

Robert Schumann’s maxims embody the whole creed and practical philosophy of the great artist, and should engrave themselves upon the mind of every one who means to make himself an artist in the sphere of sound. The composer designed them as an appendix to the first edition of his piano forte instruction book, called the Album for Youth.

I. The cultivation of hearing is the most important matter. Take pains early to distinguish Tones and Keys by the, ear. The bell, tho window-pane, the cuckoo — ask yourself what tones they each give out.

II. You should sedulously practice scales and other finger exercises. But there are many persons who imagine they have accomplished everything, when they have spent many hours each day for years in more mechanical exercise. It is about as if one should busy himself daily with repeating the A-B-C as fast as possible and always faster and faster. Use your time better.

III. “Dumb pianofortes,” so called, or keyboards without sound, have been invented. Try them long enough to see that they are good for nothing. You cannot learn to speak from the dumb.

IV. Plav in time ! The playing of many virtuosos is like tho gait of a drunkard. Make not such your models.

V. Learn betimes the fundamental laws of Harmony.

VII. Never dilly-dally about a piece of music, but attack it briskly; and never play it only half through !

VIII. Dragging and hurrying are equally great faults.

IX. When you are playing, never trouble yourself about who is listening.

X. Always play as if a master heard you.

To listen: Schumann’s Carnaval, as performed by Anton Kuerti.

Some music students can be very creative when exams’ time comes around. Here are a few of their best finds…

Johann Sebastian Bach died from 1750 to the present. (You don’t say!)

Aaron Copland is one of the most famous contemporary composers. It is unusual to be contemporary. Most composers do not live until they are dead. (Sadly, there is some truth to this…)

I know what a sextet is but I’d rather not say.

When a singer sings, he stirs up the air and makes it hit any passing eardrums. But if he is good, he knows how to keep it from hurting. (That is reassuring.)

Caruso was at first an Italian. Then someoone heard his voice and said he would go a long way. And so he came to America. (Only in…)

Most authorities agree that music of antiquity was written long ago. (Clever!)

Beethoven composed his last symphony when he was totally dead. (With the help of a ouija board maybe?)

This summer, Seattle Opera is creating a new reality-style documentary chronicling the “Confessions of a First-time Operagoer”. Each applicant, who is fairly new to opera and has never before seen Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen, had to send in an audition video to become the host of this new show that will grant viewers the opera experience from the inside out, with backstage tours, interviews with the artists and crew, etc. Who needs to read The Idiot’s Guide to Opera after this? Vote for your favorite video here…

If music is the language of love, what is the language of music? Italian, of course! Remember, the Baroque was born in Italy: architecture in Rome and, of course, music in Venice. While the Renaissance style was meant to be universal, with few differences in its various incarnations, the Baroque would assert itself as a national style. At that time, Italian music was dominant in Europe and was becoming a particularly fertile ground for the rise of vocal music with the birth of opera.For string music, this was the Golden Age with such luthiers as Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri, which spawned unique masterly compositions that would transform the concerto for string orchestra as well as the sonata for trio.

This new instrumental style would spread throughout Europe at a dizzying pace, thanks in part to the emigration of Italian musicians to Europe’s grand courts, but also to the development of musical publishing. Venice, Amsterdam and London rapidly became important centres for printing music scores, especially Italian ones, which were very popular among music lovers and amateurs. This hegemony would lead to choosing the Italian language to designate tempi and musical nuances throughout Europe, a practice that endures to the present day.