some aspects of chinese music
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THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC.
d-te.--^.t-.i--f*.-*.>-te.-te.si
many sources, may perhaps be of
f interest to some, and I await j
Jeagerly for the author who hastime and inclination to deal fully
} with this subject. J
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t?^te^te^*^te^te^te^*^'*^^'^r?
i !
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\
aMusic Absolute and
Otherwise
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UCSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
' Above all, get understanding."
POR purposes of this short paperupon certain phases of musical 1
understanding, let me classifymusic under two
headings viz.,absolute and explicable.
The first dividing must be taken in \'
1
a broad sense, to mean, per-fectly grammatical and idiomatic
music ; mathematically correct inits mechanism, and euphonicallybalanced, over and above any femotional side. The second maybe any feeling, emotion, action,
colour, or combination of these, i
set out musically in such a waythat the brain grasps quickly and fconcisely the meaning, and theemotional spirit is swayed in the
required direction.
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Ml'SlC A11SOLVTK AND OTHEBW1SE.
seemed to think otherwise, as did
"NVagne
others.
"f
Iow, liaving defined my two clas- ^sifications, let me at once say Ithat too strict a line betweenthem is fatal and erroneous tothe proper understanding of anytone literature.
Because a symphony is a symphony,may it mean
nothing,and con-
tain nothing than mere mechani- \cal work? Berlioz seemed tothink otherwise ; Tchaikovsky un- f
deniably did, though some therebe who would tie this emotional
giant down to academic rules. JAnd may we read nothing intothe Ninth Symphony save peer- fless construction? Berlioz again
"NVagner, and as I hope many
May not the great John Sebastianhave been swayed by moods
during the making of his fugues? j
?
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MUSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHEllWIsE.
itgl ft ^^^ ^^. 1 1 ^^^.-4 I ^^^ t ^^^. t ^^. t ^^^. * > *^^. 1 1 ^^h. 4 I ^^^. t ^^^. t mf
The complete masterpiece may be
jsaid to represent the onward Imarch of Fate, and how power-less and unavailing it is for manto attempt an evasion from its
sweeping, crushing progress.
The opening "Allegretto doloroso"
typical sonata form is thebasis of the whole first movementand foreshadows the tragedy ofthe third, or "Fate," move- /ment. 5
A short phrase of but four barsworks up to harmonic chords onthe dominant, which introduce fthe first phrase in octave chords,
fugally. f
At thispoint
astruggle
is made tocheck the march of fate. Fiercer /and fiercer it rages, till a soft,plaintive argument quells the
strife, rising gradually, as its
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MUSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
force is felt, until with full dis-
cords it announces a charmingmessage of hope.
This passage, which occurs againlater in the movement, is themost "intimate" Grieg in thewhole sonata. We now come toa most
singularand beautiful
motive, a re-occurrence of the . I
original phrase in the majormode and anon, a syncopatedtempo.
It seems that Fate whispers, she fis not altogether a tragedian,and announcing some coming joy.
A new clause, in 6-8 time, gives usa short glimpse of different lives,
before Fate swings them intoher path. The high, passionateyearning is followed by its reac-
tion of deep melancholy, until
the approach of Fate note the
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MC8IC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
crescendo, and ever-increasingrestlessness works the spirit upto pure desperation.
Fate having seized its victim,
passes suavely on to a running,
triplet bass. The jade growsmore presumptuous; and, with a Ifanfare of trumpets, the old
theme comes crashing down in ffugal octaves, twisting the air
through a triplicate maze, and
fights onward, till, in an ex-hausted condition of descendingstaccato chords, she glides into a f
hopeful, peaceful phase beforenoted.
Gradually Fate emerges from this
theme, and taking it on, swellsher train up to two great chords,and then plunges off, "con
fuoco," unchecked and uncheck-able. The movement ends in atremendous passage up and up,
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MUSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
through, the feeling is more in-stinctive than acknowledged.
The opening melody is just a pure,
The time suddenly changes to 12-8,and a restless mood grows up.Fate gives sudden warnings atthe fourth and eighth bars, theiindercurrent of events gettingmore and more
unsettled,and the
pace quickening.
The original air begins to take onricher harmonies, as the life
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always triumphant, and is lost ina great Amen, sforzato assai.
The second movement C majoris perhaps the most difficult to J
analyse in words, for though theFate scheme is working all
stinctive than acknowledged.
jsweet life, untouched as yet bythe vagaries of Fate, and still inits first innocence.
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MffilC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
grows stronger and more self-re-
liant, till with a great, glad rush
up from the bass, the younglife bursts untried, but nothingdaunted with a song of expectedvictory.
The air grows more complex and
strange rumblings are heard, as
of doubt ; till merely uncertainty
remains, and all the joy of vic-
tory has died out. The move-ment ends with deep, rich, de- fscending chords, like sleep upon
the tired soul ; yet disturbed by Ia strange lurking nightmare of I
distrust, as to the final issue.
The growing sense of an undefeat- 2able Fate in this section of the
sonata must, as I said before, be
felt, rather than described.
The third movement is, without104
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MUSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
i
^'^-'^-^..-^..^t,-*.,,^.,,-^.,,.^,^
doubt, the crux, the climax, of
the whole sonata.
It opens with a slow and marvel- flously harrowing march, in 3-4
time, commencing piano, workingup to fortissimo, and then sub-
siding again.
Such absolute conviction is carriedin this onward march, that yourealise how futile it is to attemptresistance or evasion.
A second theme follows, soft andplaintive, as though Fate were
sorry for her "brick wall" atti- jftude, but bursts again into a
smouldering anger, and suddenlystops abruptly.
And now how can I describe the fbeauty of the following passage ;
the purity, the aloofness : it is
the song of Providence, who cares105 8
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MIS1C - AU3OI.ITE AND OTHERWISE.
not at all for Fate. After this
exquisite melody, Providence, hei
time notbeing yet,
returns to
silence. r
The Fate march is again heard ad-
vancing, and now proudly sweepson to the end, stopping abruptly,to
signifya
complete masteryof
fthe situation.
The deep intensity and meaning ofthe movement will be readilyunderstood, and very minute I
analysisseems
unnecessary.
The finale is a tone poem, picturingthe triumph of Providence overFate.
The latter flings out a challenge !
Three times it is given out, andthree times it remains un-
answered. Unchallenged, in re-
turn, Fate now whirls off in asort of delirious dance, growing jf
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MUSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
madder and dizzier, till at lengthshe sinks exhausted for the time,
and the melody dies away in thebass.
Providence now awakens, and setsforth her purpose, as opposed to fany dealings of chance.
The song of Providence, or ratherProvidence herself, pictured in
tone, is heard, repeated in full fharmony. She then, with a loud
flourish, retires, and Fate, angry
and alarmed, advances to the Iattack.
The whole of the last section canbe better imagined than de-
scribed, and indeed the writer Idoubts not that by this long dis-
coursing, much of the imagina- ftive point has been lost.
It has been merely my wish, how- J107
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MfSIC ABSOLUTE AND OTHERWISE.
108
,
DI
ever, to instance a great "abso-
lute" musical creation, capableof "explicable" form, without
suffering deterioration in the
transferment.
Let music be an exact art : let it I
have its grammar and idioms, itsmechanics and
mathematics;but
let feeling and understandingplay through it all, so may webe on our way to understand the /manner of men our great masterswere, and such thoughts as were
theirs.
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VIII
Music and Mood
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MU8IC AND MOOD.
I
\ )
\ )|7 VERYONE with a grain of indi-
viduality in their composition fmust know the feeling of utter
inability to imbue certain tones
jfwith music, whether by playing i
or listening. It may arise fromvarious reasons, chiefly, I think, f
being an intuitive knowledge of
soiled and unfit condition of one's
| "personality," to use one expres- I
sion out of many.*
It is nature's law of protection over
her most precious gifts, and un-
f happy he who forces music in Jdirect revolt against this instinct.
1 Schumann knew this when hewrote : " It is better to rest than
f to play without pleasure or fresh- |ness." A really great pianist,temporarily in this state, was
} in 2
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MfSIC AND MOOD.
pressed beyond all boundaries of
good taste to play the BeethovenC sharp minor Sonata. It rosea poor dead outline from the
piano, suffused with a little
humility and much defiance ; thefinal movement was strangelycontorted in this mood, and therestless soul brooded without
anysting of rebellion or gleam of
hope.
The fullest and most perfect moodin which to approach music is
one of thanksgiving.
Such a complete cameo of this state,to my mind, is the D majormarch of " Scipio
"; the sense of
uplifting is extraordinary, and it
might well be used as a kindof preliminary "office" before
playing.
If the spirit is receptive, and the
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MVSIC ANDD MOOD.
-^. - ^.ti-^.-^. i -^.0
mood one of exultation, go andhear, or if you are wonderful
enough, play Schumann's great C imajor Fantasia (Op. 17). It is
perhaps the most exciting thingin the whole of piano literature,and after it is over, just let themood lead where it will, and as-
suredly listen to nothing else.
To properly fulfil in oneself theNinth Symphony, the intellectmust rule the mood, and then, fand only thus will the mood carryone above the intellect at its ownunfettered time. 1
It seems to me that one should go fto hear music in a prepared frame
of mind or not at all. It is
nearly always possible to knowthe programme beforehand, and
by no means inflict an unsympa-thetic creation upon your presentmontal atmosphere. Imagine an
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MV8IC AND MOOD.
Iabsolutely joy-tilled mind, strug-
gling with the"
Pathetique"
symphony, or conceivea
sorrow-torn soul writhing under a Liszt
rhapsody !
Cowper's lines rather aptly describe
the "simpatica" of music: J
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds, jAnd as the mind is pitched, the ear is
pleaded /With melting airs nr martial, brisk or grave,Some chord in unison with what we hear fIs touched within us, and the heart replies-
Has the reader ever experienced asudden jar to the system at the
entry of the E flat Scherzo inChopin's Second Sonata?
The Pole was such a bundle ofmoods himself that he sometimes
sinned against the sense of form :
and yet we know how greatly hevalued the latter, as the man who
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MUSIC AND>IOOD.
J5"~^* "" ' ~ T*^ 't~n T^M *t~> t| i n ^^n-^n n_i M
turned a contemptuous shoulderon Schumann's " Carneval." f* *
One is forced to admit that the4 "mood" of the age has changed; A
and the composition of to-day isa good mental barometer of fthe restlessness and tricked-out
clevernpss of the generation.
Comparison is bad, but one neednot offend by glancing back to
the melody of Mozart, and keep- i
ing in mind the smudged har-
/ mony of certain "moderns." f
f When nerves are racked and tenses blunted fBy some shrill Strauss, melodic stunted ;
f Then find repose from mood thus dark, fIn aunny fugues of J. S. Bach.
!
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*'^'^'^^fc-^^fc^fc^fc^H^i^fc > cE
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Reflections on Music
and Religion j
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MUSIC AND RELIGION.
VV7E seem to have wandered farfrom the days when Plato ?
wrote of music as a moral law ; ffrom the days of whole-hearteddevotional plainsong; and from
the days of Bach's inspired life
work. We like our services to bedecorative, artistic and erno- ftional ; our Bach, from the con-
cert-platform, in diluted doses. I
During the growth of musical artthe absolute side has developed as
the root and body of the whole
structure, to the slight over-
shadowing of its initial emotional
character. If this latter is the fstronger influence in a mind,
then, without doubt, that mindis elevated and shown dimly of
the mysteries of heaven ; as Hoggsays, "Slight emblem of the bliss
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REFLECTIONS ON
m
above." But if the former pre-dominates, then the musician be-
comes a fanatic, with no room in
his mind, soul or intellect foraught but his art. The mis-directed talent of Max Nordaustates this idea by saying that : f"
Listening to the music of" Par-
sifal'
has become the religious act
of all those who wish to receivethe communion in musical form."Now these points of view need freconciling, and I fully bclievrthat the problem is solved,neither by compromise iior whole-
hearted advocacy of one or the
other, but by great-minded com-
bination. Can we have a better
example set before us than the
life of Beethoven? Has the world
produced anything greater sym-
phonically or devotionally? The
religious ascetic finds no consola-
tion in a mere work of art, how-
ever noble, if the conscience it
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MUSIC AND RELIGION.
shocked by the absence of the
reality of religion. He will bring f
the charge of perpetual repeti-tion of sacred words in practice,as tending to deaden the spiritual 1
meaning, and introduce exactmathematics into inspired rays- (teries. But the marvellous up-
lifting effect of perfect nmsic, asan aid to devotional thought, is
not to be denied : and, after all,the idea of praise in musical form fis impressed all through the
Scriptures. Again, if music is to
form any part of religious ser-vices, let it be of the highest,
needing much willing practice to fthe glory of God and combiningthe emotional spirit with the best
results of absolute music. I think I
it was George Macdonald who 5summed up the question in these fwords, which we can so aptlyapply to the great Beethoven :
"Content to keep the upper win-121 9
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r
9
REFLECTIONS ON
.^..^..^..^..^..^..^,0
dows of his mind open to the holywinds and pure lights of heaven,and the side windows of tone.... open to the earth, to let /forth upon his fellow men thetenderness and truth those upperinfluences bring forth in any jregion exposed to their opera-
tion."1
am of opinion thatit
^cannot be right to assume thaimusic is merely one of the great-est art-forces of the day, and
j
pass from one constructive de-
velopment to another, without f
some pause for thought as to it>higher effects. It is against the
point as well as useless to namemodern work of religious ten-
dency, but are we to get no higher /than festival productions and
academic chants!' I feel thatBrowning would so thoroughly J
disagree with these sentiments. 5
in so much that a work of fbeauty, in whatever form, is a
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MUSIC AND RELIGION.
constant pledge before heaven of
used talents : and yet I cannot
help throwing out these reflec-tions upon a subject that inter-ests me so deeply.
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X
Spring Song
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Sl'KIXG SONG.
Istart, and J gathered rich-lined
garnets from the bramble hedges ;
wonderful shades ofcolour,
from i
greeny-brown bloods-tones to full,
deep red. j
But as I passed on my way, the joyof new things seix/od upon me.
and 1 all but flung my garnetsfrom me as soiled treasure from /a past year.
j Then the magic road became a smallmountain pass of Switzerland,
and I urged on to the snowyheights showing above me, in
patches between the firs. Here,
as f mounted, little beautiful
sapphires disclosed themselves,
small starry flowers of great love-
liness. The woods smelled of
pine and bursting life, and once
T thought that Pan darted acrossa sun-streaked glade: but maybeit was only a rich-plumed pheasant.
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SPUING SONG.
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.^.f
8 Pit INGSONG.
and saw the plaiius of Greece
lying below me, the mountains all
round, and a tiny clump of arborvita? in a sunny corner of an
emerald field, for all the world flike Marathon.
IIt was sad to touch the road once J
more, though it brought me mydear England again : and pre- fsently T passed a little village
church, surely of all things most
J close to the heart of English I
scenery. Walking up the mossypath to the old black wooden f
Sdoor,
I suddenly knew for whomshould be my topaz treasure.
Surely to-day was the feast of
first-fruits, and what a small re-i turn to Him for such an exquisite
time. And so the little primrose
!
blooms were laid on the porch
step with one word of thank-,when on turning hack toward the
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SPRING SONG.
gate I discovered a pearl of pricea tiny snowdrop, nearly hidden
in the long grass ; and I knew, as I
everyone must know sooner or
later, that nothing is ever given fwithout it being returned a
hundredfold.
So have T spent ray first day of
spring, and surely the poet was
right to speak of England as
"nature's fairest garden."
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HUMORESQUE.
JA UNT Sarah would flatter herself
that she was entirely adequateand charming in any conversa- ttioual situation, and though a
most kind heart prompted the fdear lady in all her ways, words
and works, yet there were timeswhen . J
I was studying in London fora musical degree, and being f
quite enormously keen, seldom
took an evening away from mystudies ; when heigh-presto, Aunt ISarah's invitation rushed nit 1
from my primers and contra-puntal communiugs to my fate.A maiden lady of ample meansand huge vitality, of wide J
sympathies without comprehen-sion, and with a reputation for
excellent dinners and amusing jparties, Aunt Sarah had neverthe slightest difficulty in filling /
13T>
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HUMORE6QUB.
her house with interesting and
distinguished people: And I hadbeen asked to
come and meetMonsieur Grandton, the eminent
pianist and composer, on the
following Monday evening, forthe benefit of my education and fthe furthering of my worldly
prospects if possible !
The aunt had rather less idea ofmusic than the wood a piano is jmade of, but this was no deter-rent to her sense of social inter-
course should occasion arise ; anl tabove all things did she dislike :
being found at fault, or in any f
way "off the (artistic) line."
Heaven has granted me two smalltalents, music and tact, which T
find of considerable value, the
former as a keen "life-long joy,"and the latter for smoothing the
way over many bad ruts in the I136
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Hl'MORESQTE.
f
-6
pupil, had toiled bravely for two
solid hours, and was rewarded
with: "Hopeless, hopeless, Mr., absolutely no sense of f
rhythm. You have colour -
and with a comical air of kind-
ness and despair,'' but then so
has your face !" The stern,whimsical master shouted with
laughter, which the poor, red,
perspiring student could not re-
sist ; and so these two, with
newly-joined sympathies againtackled the scaly heights of Par-
nassus. So much for the drama-tis persona?, and now to returnto the action of this tiny drama.
Dinner had passed off in a per-fect froth of laughter and con-
versational nothings, and AuntSarah, nothing daunted and
greatly daring, had beggedM. Grandton to play for them. .
Now your virtuoso hates being put
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HUMORESQUE.
through his paces to amuse the
passing moment of a probablyunsympathetic crowd, yet on this
particular occasion lie very
graciously walked to the pianoand seated himself, waiting fora lull in the conversation.
And then he began to play the ex-
quisite little minuet of his own
composing, so well known andbeloved of all, and no choice couldhave been more acceptable.
When the delighted applause haddied down somewhat, my aunthurried up to him: "Oh, athousand thanks, Monsieur,
quite too lovely yes, my favour-
ite tune, Mendelssohn, is it not.Ah, yes, such a great composer, I
prefer him to anyone yes, nearlyall his
'
things.'" Aunt Sarah
always alluded to compositions as
"things." "And would you139
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1 HITMORESQCE.
O
give us just one of your own?
.Mi, how good ofyou."
Grand-
ton was smiling amiably." Now
let me sit down so that I canf listen properly," rattled on the /
Jaunt: "Oh,there's Mrs. Gibson
looking for a seat ; 1 must just
seeto her.
Yes, please go on,"and she darted off to a far corner
f where, for the next ten minutes, /a fevered whispering took placewith Mrs. Gibson. Meanwhilethe great pianist had resumed
his seat and commenced a fami-liar theme, which, after much fsly hiding under various formsof fugue and variation, issuedforth in the full harmonies of
j
Mendelssohn's " WeddingMarch."
After the complete statement, one
heard a queer, unfamiliar to do
in the bass, swelling upwards in
minor chords and swamping thewhole under the rather hack-
140
lfc'^fc*'^fc*^^fc'^fc.'^fc.'^.r^fc.'^fc.f^fc.^fc.A
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->-fc.
HtMOKESQUE.
neyed funeral march from the"Lieder ohne Worte."
The two motifs were then most
wonderfully woven into a solidstructure of tone, culminatingwith a tremendous passage of
virtuosity right up the keyboard.
Everyone gasped with surprise and
wonder. Aunt Sarah, hearingthe noise stop, had got up andmade for M. Grandton, takingme by the arm as she passed me.
" How most charming quite,quite beautiful, and I always saythat is the best thing you ever
wrote"; and turning to me, she
added:"Now
wasn't Monsieur
a wonderful man to have writtenthat,"
The great man looked sharply atme : Remember he did not know
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UtMOllLsQlE.
: who I was, and I stood abscf lutely speechless, crushed in this f
vast dilemma.
j And then he turned to me with a Itwinkle, and remarked :
'Is it that you like the tempo di
niinuetto'-"
"Indeed, truly, Monsieur, but not
according to Mendelssohn !"
And I shall always maintain that
f M. Grandton's laugh is almost aswonderful as bis playing.
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XII
On Acquiring Music
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K-**'^^'-"
ONACQUIRING
MUSIC.
.O
(
I T makes one's heart ache to seethe enormous waste of really 1
good material and talent from
indifferent, and even downright /wicked tuition. The sadness of
hearing the story, "I had all themusic taught out of me as a Ichild," is pathetic, and so appall-ingly common. f*
From the earliest stage, the seeker
after this wonderful emotional Jlever is bound down to pitiful ex-
amples of mathematical dullness, fand scales, which are the hardest
things to play in the world.
Repetition entirely takes anyrhythmic feeling from the music,and it isn't as though we couldall be Paderewski -there's the
wasto.
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ON AtgtIBI.NC SitblC.
a ,^..^.~~~.^I
It fell most wonderfully to my for-tune to have learnt my earliestlev-sons from a fine old
musician,who kept me a year "listening"and "soaking in rhythm," if I
may be allowed the expression.Far from von Billow's "Tech-
nique, Technique, Technique,"
he cried for"
Emotion, Rhythm,Technique": and very rightlytoo, for is not music essentiallyand primarily emotional?
And, after all, a single instrument,
say a piano, is only one of themany facets of the diamond"music"; a very beautiful anda very personal one, but still byno means the finest and not eventhe most emotional : therefore, is
uot listening enormously moreimportant than Clementi? Whenthe seeker is shown visions of a 1wonderful tone land, and helpedto gauge some of its exquisite f
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ON ACQUIRING MUSIC.
mysteries, it follows that whenthe steep ascent, the actual work
he does, commences, he will pressgladly on to gain that kingdomof tone, and willingly fight withthe trials of the early climbing.
How can the poor, dea'f mute Jmusically deaf, and unable to in-terpret the stirrings that it feels
show any enthusiasm at the ibleak outlook and weary road of
studies, knowing nothing of thej|
ultimate end.
I should make it a law r that everypupil did a year's course of lis-
tening before any thought of fapplied study was undertaken ;and then he should acquirerhythm for another three months
or more before the field of personallabour was unrolled before him. /
The pupil must be taught at an
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ON ACQUIRING Ml Ml.
early .stage to differentiate
f between ''emotion," "sensa-
tion " and "
perception."
IEmotion is really a manifested
sensation, and sensation is per-f ception fulfilled.
SirWilliam Hamilton, an old
i Scottish philosopher of the earlynineteenth century, analyses as
follows: "Perception is only a
special kind of knowledge, andsensation is a special kind of
j feeling. Knowledge and feel-ing, perception and sensation,though always co-existent, are
always in the inverse ratio to
each other."
And imagination must he culti-vated: that power which coin-In lies our varied conceptions and
impresses the whole with the
stamp of the supernatural, more I148
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ON ACQUIRING MUSIC.
Iattractive and delightful, ormore grotesque and horrible, asthe case may be. And never letpassion be mistaken for these
sensitive vibrations of the mind.jl
A great English preacher once saidthat "passion is the drunkennessof the mind, and therefore not
always controllable by reason," /and it is just this control whichwill lead the aspirant to the very
heights of intellectual emotion. I
Let us do all we can then for the /beginners, to train their percep-
tion, that they may realise thisintellectual emotion of music at
the right time.
|
**
149
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