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A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a nv:Qd\UM
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great l e'RU1k
responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and ,~d0R4)
as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most 5j `xSG
training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an }d? ;kt
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be H]/ ~
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inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left @-)?uYw:r
hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different P?h1nxm`'
movements. py'vD3Q
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this ^Lgvey%
particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s l/G +X
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responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that TRm#H $
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound ]
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clear. epiviCYC
This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to
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know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these ~b~Tq
sound with fanatical but selfless authority. Km(i}:6"
Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists E#KZZ lbx
are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing 5 b} w
works written in any century. >. Gm u
