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A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a A~6 Cs
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great /t/q$X
responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and k"U4E
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as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most 4rx|6NV6
training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an -lp_~)j^
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be N.<hZ\].=
inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left Na
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hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different v:>P;\]r9M
movements. ]+Vcu zq/
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this LiRY -;8=
particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s k8ck#%#}Wu
responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that u2eq VrY
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound V1fP
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clear. 3)ip@29F
This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to o i?ak
know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these b-Hn=e _
sound with fanatical but selfless authority. O^GX Fz^
Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists Xx^c?6YM
are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing V;V9_qP,
works written in any century. ra&C|"~E
