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"Handel's Sensitive Ear" by Edward E. Hipsher

Handel sat in his Brook Street room engaged busily in composition. In an adjoining apartment a young lady was as busy at her practice. A sudden interruption cause her to stop in the middle of a cadence, breaking off abruptly on the Dominant.

Handel fidgeted in his chair. His hand spasmodically clasped his forehead. In the midst of his feverish writing the thoughts ceased to flow. He scowled; he leered at the ceiling; he dropped his pen in despair; in a moment he was on his feet. Rushing into the adjoining room, he demanded of the astonished occupant, "Himmel, Madan, vy don't you blay dot next chord!" Suiting his action to the impulse, he plumped his corpulency on to the stool and struck from the harpsichord the desired Tonic. "Dere you are. Goot afternoon, ladies," and in a few short moments he was again lost in his composition. Which only shows how delicately tuned is the musician's ear, in that an unresolved chord in an adjoining room, to which he was not consciously listening, could put a period to his fancy.

And in this there is a valuable lesson for the student. In your practice are you taking care to train the ear to be your exacting critic? All the time you are at your music are you listening attentively to be sure that from the instrument you are drawing just that shade of tone or meaning you have in your mind? It is so easy to think you are doing this; but are you quite certain of it?

Unless the ear is all the time testing the quality of our work, we are sure to allow many little flaws to creep into our playing. In fact, we are too often inclined to play at our playing. The ear should be so trained and developed that it will be our personal monitor, warning us when we approach the unmusical in sound or sense and guiding us surely and safely in the ways of the artistic.

About this Article

This article, written by Edward E. Hipsher, was taken from the February 1922 issue of "Etude Musical Magazine."

Emily Sigers
emily@thepianopages.com