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A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a #w3J+U 6r
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great ]Twy
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responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and ]Cs=EZr
as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most G^sx/H76J
training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an x2sKj"2?@
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be eEBo:Rc9
inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left C
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hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different
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movements. jGi{:} `lB
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this 5%N[hd1Ql
particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s )m#Y^
responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that P!"{-m '
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound =w * 8
clear. 1c{m
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This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to 7 4ho=
know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these nU
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sound with fanatical but selfless authority. ]
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Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists Zs]n0iwM'@
are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing b*Q3j}c Z
works written in any century. 41]a{A7q
