The pianist must
know every note of the music he performs. The star accompanist aspires
to the same mastery when he plays for a famous singer or
instrumentalist. We also have the artist conductor, with opera, symphony
or concerto at his finger-tips. Hans von Buelow, who claimed that a
pianist should have more than two hundred compositions in his
repertoire, was himself equally at home in orchestral music. He always
conducted his Meiningen Orchestra without notes.
Let us say, then, that the present-day pianist ought to have about two
hundred compositions in his repertoire, all of which must be played
without notes. The mere fact of committing to memory such a quantity of
pages is no small item in the pianist's equipment. The problem is to
discover the best means of memorizing music quickly and surely. Here
again we are privileged to inquire of the artist and of the artist
teacher. His knowledge and experience will be practical, for he has
evolved it and proved it over and over again.
It is a well-known fact that Leschetizky advises memorizing away from
the instrument. This method at once shuts the door on all useless and
thoughtless repetition employed by so many piano students, who repeat a
passage endlessly, to avoid thinking it out.
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