12/14 Try carefully also the unavoidable pedal. A creaking, rattling, grating pedal is a frightful annoyance; I wonder if the piano of "the future" is to suffer from this also. Chopin's Funeral March, with obligato accompaniment of a squeaking pedal sentiment, even although the omissions and mistakes in the bass do not occur,--alas! who can describe the effect of this melancholy march? I have written a special article on the manner of sitting at the piano, and I will refer you once more to that. Use no mechanical aids in practising, not even the dumb key-board; although, with very careful use, that is not without value. |