| Description |
vii, 48 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Contents |
The modern piano -- Things that cannot be skipped -- Indifference to rests -- Developing rhythm -- Hear rhythmic music -- Grounding in musicianship -- The value of ear training -- Essentials of a good touch -- Amateurs with naturally fine touch -- The secret of a beautiful tone -- The ringing, singing tone -- The part the wrist plays in a good tone -- Acquiring delicacy and power -- The technical side -- Floating in the air -- Important questions -- Power in playing and what it means -- Natural shock absorbers -- Accuracy in playing -- Two important factors -- Some things about staccato -- The basis of beautiful legato ; Stop and listen -- People who memorize readily -- The daily practice -- Secure variety in practice -- Acquiring velocity -- The danger of bravura -- The danger of the pedal |
| Summary |
This little book, written at the height of his career by Josef Lhevinne, the "inward poet of the piano," is a clear statement of principles based on his lifelong experience in performance and teaching. Lhevinne was, with Rachmaninoff, Schnabel and Hofmann, one of the great modern masters, and was the first artist invited to teach at the newly formed Juilliard Graduate School of Music. Technique, though essential, must be subordinate to musical understanding. Complete knowledge of scales, apprehended not mechanically but musically; understanding of the uses of rests and silence, which Mozart considered the greatest effect in music; a feeling for rhythm and training of the ear: these are the basic elements of a thorough grounding in musicianship and are accordingly emphasized in the opening chapters. The heart of the book is devoted to the attainment of a beautiful tone. Anyone who has heard Lhevinne play or has listened to one of his recordings will know how great were his achievements in that area. The secret lay, at least in part, in the technique he called "the arm floating in air," and in the use of the wrists as natural shock absorbers. The achievement of varieties of tone, of the singing, ringing tone, of brilliancy, of delicacy and of power are all explained in terms of a careful analysis of the ways in which the fingers, hand, wrist, arm and indeed the whole body function in striking keys. There are further remarks about how to get a clear staccato and an unblurred legato, about the dangers of undue emphasis on memorization and the need for variety in practicing, and special comments on the use of the pedal, which should be employed with as much precision as the keys. Throughout, specific musical examples are presented as illustrations. The author draws not only upon his own experience and methods, but upon the examples of Anton Rubinstein and of his teacher, Safonoff, for this remarkably lucid and concise formulation of basic principles. Unabridged, slightly revised republication of the original (1924) edition. -- from back cover |
| Notes |
Reprint of the 1924 ed |
| Subject |
Piano -- Instruction and study.
|
|
Piano -- Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.)
|
| Author |
Lhevinne, Rosina, 1880-1976.
|
| LC no. |
74157433 |
| ISBN |
0486228207 |
|
