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A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a $KlaZ>D h
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great M0 `1o p1
responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and '~1Zr uO
as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most zV(aw~CbZ
training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an _/Ay$l;F
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be 2IGU{&s
inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left m) Wq *&,o
hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different D]N)
movements. kfZ(:3W$
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this z#GSt
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particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s "<^n@=g'q
responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that )g }G{9M^
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound ef/43+F^x
clear. C
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This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to *zW]IQ'A
know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these 6\`8b&'n
sound with fanatical but selfless authority. ?CcX>R-/
Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists 4;eD}g
are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing (@;^uVJP
works written in any century. Qqk(,1u
