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A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a gN]\#s@[
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great gO m8 O,
responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and {W=5
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as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most W< $!H
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training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an :BB=E'293
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be /0X mU@B
inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left +fQJ#?N2n
hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different Q07&7SH_
movements. xl@~K^c]
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this '($$-P\/
particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s vx}BT H
responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that `v)ZO w9&
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound bV+2 U
clear. PZI6{KOis
This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to NCgKWyRR
know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these 5<P6PHdY
sound with fanatical but selfless authority. e\!Aoky
Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists %D~Mij
are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing -lR7
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works written in any century. yJ ;Qe_up
