illumines the picture and adds charm, interest, and effectiveness to it,
it is to be applauded; but when it obstructs the view and calls
attention to itself it should not be tolerated. It is not art; it is
vanity.

"Yes, I teach both high finger action and pressure touch, once the
principle of arm weight is thoroughly established, although I use high
finger action only to develop finger independence and precision, and for
passages where sharp delineation is required. I believe in freedom of
body, arm and wrist, a firm, solid arched hand and set fingers. That
freedom is best which insures such control of the various playing
members as to enable the player to produce at will any effect of power,
velocity or delicacy desired; thereby placing the entire mechanical
apparatus under complete subjection to the mind, which dominates the
performance. In other words, I am neither an anarchist who wants no
government, namely unrestrained devitalization, nor a socialist, whose
cry is for all government--that is, restriction and rigidity. In piano
playing, as in all else, 'Virtue is the happy mean between two vices.'"




X

KATHARINE GOODSON

AN ARTIST AT HOME


When one has frequently listened to a favorite pianist in the concert