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"The Trick of Confidence" by Albert G. Lausanne

One of my brightest pupils once said to me, "Why do I have to spend so much time in such very slow practice?"

Of course, every teacher knows that slow practice produces marvelous results; but the matter of explaining the "why" to the juvenile interrogation-point is another matter. Finally, I used this metaphor, which seemed to make such a dent upon the child mind that I wanted to pass it along to other teachers.

Every child has an admiration for a tight-rope walker. I asked my pupil if he could walk a rope. Then I told him Blondin walked a wire across Niagara. (By this time his eyes and ears were open wide.) Next I asked if he could walk along a straight string stretched upon the floor. Of course he could. Well, could he walk along a rope? Certainly. Suppose the rope were raised one inch from the floor, would he be afraid to try to walk it? No. If he could walk it safely at one inch from the floor, he could certainly do so at one foot without any great danger. Then at two feet, and so on. Why? Just because of confidence. When you are certain you can do a thing, the height does not matter so much. Just so with music; as you gradually get confidence from playing slowly, you will not be afraid of very rapid tempos. Most of the fine pianists I know practice regularly at a slow tempo, just to gain confidence.

About this Article

This article, written by Albert G. Lausanne, was taken from the May 1923 issue of "Etude Musical Magazine."

Emily Sigers
emily@thepianopages.com