[Piano and Song by Friedrich Wieck]@TWC D-Link book
Piano and Song

CHAPTER I
20/23

But all this must be done without haste, and without tiring the pupil too much with one thing, or wearing out the interest, which is all-important.
After that, I teach them to play fifty or sixty little pieces, which I have written for this purpose.

They are short, rhythmically balanced, agreeable, and striking to the ear, and aim to develop gradually an increased mechanical skill.

I require them to be learned by heart, and often to be transposed into other keys; in which way the memory, which is indispensable for piano playing, is unconsciously greatly increased.
They must be learned _perfectly_ and played well, often, according to the capacity of the pupil, even finely; in strict time (counting aloud is seldom necessary) and without stumbling or hesitating; first slowly, then fast, faster, slow again, _staccato_, _legato_, _piano_, _forte_, _crescendo_, _diminuendo_, &c.

This mode of instruction I find always successful; but I do not put the cart before the horse, and, without previous technical instruction, begin my piano lessons with the extremely difficult acquirement of the treble and bass notes.

In a word, I have striven, as a psychologist and thinker, as a man and teacher, for a many-sided culture.


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