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"Piano Pointers" by Mrs. W. B. Bailey

Train the ear. Lack of ear training is the inevitable road to lack of interest, lack of progress, lack of success.

Train the mind. Mechanical perfection is merely the first and least step in music.

Train the senses. Music without interpretation is music without meaning.

Appreciation must show through your playing if it is to have a soul; and anything without a soul is ugly.

Put dreams into your playing.

Beautiful practicing. Beautiful playing.

Do not play just sound, play music.

Get the big idea in your piece and develop it.

Make your music active, real, alive, enthusiastic, and your audience will take fire.

Practice as regularly as you eat, and think all the time you are doing it.

Practice all your lesson. The teacher assigned nothing to be omitted or overlooked.

Music courses are so arranged that they form a smooth level path to the summit of efficiency. But if you leave the path or try any short-cuts, you will be exhausted for nothing and will expose yourself to rough, open, untraveled country.

About this article

This article, written by Mrs. W. B. Bailey, was taken from the July 1923 issue of "Etude Musical Magazine."

Emily Sigers
emily@thepianopages.com