Musical interpretation: its laws and principles, and their application in teaching and performing / Tobias Matthay

SECTION I: INTRODUCTORY: SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
Preface
Points selected for elucidation
General attitude of the teacher
The learner can only be helped to learn
The first law of teaching
The most usual fault of the teacher
Both teacher and pupil must learn to think
How to practice
The danger of automaticity
The danger of not really listening
"Listening" defined
Automatic practice useless, even for techniques
We do not really see or hear unless we analyse
As to ear-training, good and bad
Definition of real practice
Constant process of analysis proved necessary
"Genius" implies natural concentration on one's work
Practice implies study
By learning concentration we can all approximate to the Genius level
Not only concentration but imagination necessary
The imaginative power must be trained
The forms of analysis necessary in teaching
The use of Example
The artist as teacher
The informative and the non-informative types of mind
The teacher must be artistic
Why unaided example will not suffice
Example v. Explanation
The necessity of Enthusiasm
Bad and good teaching
Cramming v. real teaching
To render a pupil "musical"
Bad and good conducting
Teaching v. cramming again
Make sure of your diagnosis before correcting a fault
Concrete cases as examples
Correction of inaccuracy as to Time-details
Playing out of time implies lack of attention
Uselessness of the Metronome as a Time-teacher
Faults arising from bad touch habits
How to correct a wrong tempo
The causes of faults must always be made clear
True education
SECTION II: THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ATTENTION AND OF MUSICAL SHAPE
Attention through key-resistance and time
Meaning of "Time-spot"
The Act of Thought, or Attention, itself implies a rhythmical act
Similarity between playing out of time and playing out of tune
"Grip" in performance
As to Time-training
As to the interpretation of the term "Rhythm"
Correct ideas of Time and Shape in Music
Progression and movement analogous in Music and Painting
The origin of our sense of Pulse
The progressional view of music v. the old segmental view
The difference between the old segmental view of structure, and the progressional view of musical structure
Some examples of the Progressional view of structure
The incorrect notation of bar-lines
As to Nomenclature of structural details
Harmonic movement necessary
The process of Memorizing also depends upon Progression
Deliberate indefiniteness in composition
How to apply one's memory
Memory-failure
The various kinds of musical memory
The necessity of muscular memory and its dangers
Silent practice
To prevent slithering
Inaccuracy in the sub-divisions of the pulses owing to non-perception of the Element of Progression
Progression always towards climax of phrase in spite of decrescendo
Passages broken between hands; correct thinking of them
Broken passages, technical errors
Wrong Bass notes
and other notes
Progression in its larger swings
Warning against purely mechanical "scanning"
To keep the whole in view is a question of memory
"Thinking the Whole" expounded
Perception of a new composition
The cause of stammering unmusically
SECTION III: THE ELEMENT OF RUBATO
Tempo-continuity, why necessary
Continuity also depends upon tonal and emotional planning-out
True nature of Rubato usually quite misunderstood
Rubato is no mystery, it is not "silent-sound" not "telepathy"
Ritardandos and Acellerandos are not Rubato
The true rationale of Rubato
Time-curves constantly required
Rubato in modern music
Rubato in older music
Fallacy re the old masters being unemotional
In giving emotional life, Shape must not be lost sight of
When to teach and learn Rubato
The problem of music for children
The two distinct fundamental forms of Rubato: [(I) The "leaning" Rubato
Rubato supplies the strongest form of emphasis
(II) The "push-on" Rubato
The two forms may be combined]
Ritardandos and Accellerandos marked in text, often found to be incorrectly noted Rubatos
The exact position of the return to the pulse must be noted
The cause of the Rubato also to be noted
Rubato allows a phrase-climax to be shown in decrescendo
Fallacy regarding position of phrase-climax
Attack of phrase
Various forms of Rubato illustrated: [(I) The more usual form, or "leaning" Rubato {Tone-amount varies with note-lengths in uneven passages
In a slow movement, tone for the quicker notes is reduced from a high background
In a quick movement the reverse process applies
Further examples of "leaning" Rubato
Rubato-inflections must always be carried out subtly
Example of Rubato-analysis
the first two bars of Chopin's ballade in A flat
Example of Rubato showing trend of phrase in spite of diminuendo
Example of Rubato showing cross-accent
Again, the importance of "scanning"
Rubato required to depict agitation
Always shapeful, however veiled the shapes
Definiteness, Decision, best expressed without Rubato inflections
Illustrations of these Distinctions emotionally
Mis-scanning of Chopin's Scherzos again}
(II) The push-on or inverted Rubato {Examples of the combination of the two forms of Rubato
Modern Rubato examples from Beethoven
Rubato can show accent on a rest or tied note
Rubato always in the nature of a curve, never a time-spike
Always keep in view Musical Purpose, during Rubato-inflections}]
SECTION IV: CONCERNING CERTAIN DETAILS IN THE APPLICATION OF TONE-INFLECTION AND THE BEARING OF TOUCH-TEACHING AND FINGERING, ETC., ON INTERPRETATION
The importance of Rubato does not detract from the importance of Tone and Duration Contrasts
Lack of tone-variety often not realised by the teacher
Need of accurate listening and analysing again demonstrated
Want of true pp is mostly the cause of deficiency in coloring
After a long note, the continuation of the same phrase is often played too loudly
Cut away the tone to render certain notes prominent
The individualism and balance of the constituent notes of chords, octaves, etc
An exercise for tonal individualisation
Less force required to produce the higher notes than the lower notes of the Piano
The tonal emphasising of melody notes should not lead to tasteless agoggic accents
The bearing of the teaching of Touch, etc., upon the teaching of Interpretation
Command over Interpretation implies command over technical resources
Obedience to the laws of Touch and Technique must constantly be insisted upon
Knowledge of the laws of Touch and Technique necessary even for the beginner
Points as to Touch requiring constant reminder
Musical and Technical Attention must never be allowed to flag while giving attention to the details of Muscular Education
The bearing of Fingering on Interpretation, and the learning of its laws
Fingering, also, must not be "crammed"
Its proper teaching
The Memorising of Fingering
Scale fingerings, single and double notes
SECTION V: AS TO PEDALLING AND THE ELEMENT OF DURATION
Just as close attention required for the foot as for the finger
Most pedalling a mass of blemishes
Examples of bad pedalling
Not enough to feel the breaks between the phrasings clearly, one must play them clearly
Inadequacy of Pedal-discontinuity
Accuracy in Duration-effects depends immediately upon accuracy in listening
Value of Duration-contrasts insufficiently realised
Gradations of Tone and Duration contrasted
Pedal-durations more important than Finger-durations
Pedal enhances actual prolongation of sounds
"Syncopated" pedalling
Why syncopated pedalling is required
Legatissimo pedalling
Echo-resonance of a Hall different from pedal continuity
Examples of Legatissimo Pedalling
Pedal must rise fully
Pedal must remain up long enough
Half-damping effects
The "Sostenente" Pedal
Half-pedalling applied to whole chords
Cessation of sound as a form of emphasis
Examples of this
Imperative to listen accurately and constantly to Duration
Various additional Pedalling examples
Chopin's Pedalling
Listen both to finger and to foot-doings
Attention during Performance
SECTION VI: THE PURPOSE OF ART-EXPRESSION AND ITS RELATION TO THE INFINITE
The ever-present danger of forgetting the End over the Means
The Purpose of Art is the expression of Feeling
Art-moods which make for Good and which make for Evil
Health and Mood
The nature of Music, its relation to all-pervading Rhythm, and its relation to the ultimately Unknowable
Summary: Report of Lecture on "The Principles of Teaching Interpretation"
ADDITIONAL NOTES
No. I. On half-pedalling and half-damping
No. II. On the colouring of octaves and passing-notes
No. III. Tone-colouring v. tone-inflection