"How many hours a day do your daughters practise?" If the number of
hours spent in practising gives the measure of the standing of a
_virtuoso_, then my daughters are among the most insignificant, or in
fact should not belong to the order at all.

This is the place for me to explain myself more fully with regard to
playing with a loose wrist, in order that I shall not be misunderstood.
The tones which are produced with a loose wrist are always more tender
and more attractive, have a fuller sound, and permit more delicate
shading than the sharp tones, without body, which are thrown or fired
off or tapped out with unendurable rigidity by the aid of the arm and
fore-arm. A superior technique can with few exceptions be more quickly
and favorably acquired in this way than when the elbows are required to
contribute their power. I do not, however, censure the performance of
many _virtuosos_, who execute rapid octave passages with a stiff wrist;
they often do it with great precision, in the most rapid _tempo_,
forcibly and effectively. It must, after all, depend upon individual
peculiarities whether the pupil can learn better and more quickly to
play such passages thus or with a loose wrist. The present style of
bravoura playing for _virtuosos_ cannot dispense with facility in octave
passages; it is a necessary part of it.

I will now consider the use of loose and independent fingers, in playing
generally; _i.e._, in that of more advanced pupils who have already
acquired the necessary elementary knowledge. The fingers must be set
upon the keys with a certain decision, firmness, quickness, and vigor,
and must obtain a command over the key-board; otherwise, the result is
only a tame, colorless, uncertain, immature style of playing, in which
no fine _portamento_, no poignant _staccato_, or sprightly accentuation
can be produced. Every thoughtful teacher, striving for the best result,