in class. But every individual student must himself come to realize the
necessity of doing technical work without notes as a matter of daily
exercise, even though his time be limited. Perhaps the most difficult of
all lessons is learning to hold the violin. There are pupils to whom
holding the instrument presents insurmountable obstacles. Such pupils,
instead of struggling in vain with a physical difficulty, might rather
take up the study of the 'cello, whose weight rests on the floor. That
many a student was not intended to be a violin player by nature is
proved by the various inventions, chin-rests, braces, intended to supply
what nature has not supplied. The study of the violin should never be
allowed if it is going to result in actual physical deformity: raising
of the left shoulder, malformation of the back, or eruptions resulting
from chin-rest pressure. These are all evidences of physical unfitness,
or of incorrect teaching.


THE PHILOSOPHY OF VIOLIN TEACHING

"Class study is for the advanced student, not the beginner. In the
beginning only the closest personal contact between the individual pupil
and the teacher is desirable. To borrow an analogy from nature, the
student may be compared to the young bird whose untrained wings will not
allow him to take any trial flights unaided by his natural guardian. For
the beginning violinist the principal thing to do is to learn the 'voice
placing' of the violin. This goes hand in hand with the proper--which is
the easy and natural--manner of holding the violin, bow study, and an
appreciation of the acoustics of the instrument. The student's attention
should at once be called to the marvelous and manifold qualities of the
violin tone, and he should at once familiarize himself with the
development of those contrasts of stress and pressure, ease and