learners. Intelligent teachers, who are inclined to understand my
meaning, will find abundant material, as well as all necessary
explanations, in the preceding chapters; and I will merely say that a
teacher who is endowed with the qualities which I have designated as
"the three trifles" will seek to excite the same in his pupils; will
refine and cultivate them, according to his ability, with
disinterestedness, with energy, and with perseverance; and truth and
beauty will everywhere be the result. Thus he will remain in the
present, where there is so much remaining to be accomplished. These
three trifles certainly do not have their root in folly, want of talent,
and hare-brained madness; therefore the possessors of the latter must
look to the "future," and proclaim a "higher," that is, an "inverted
beauty."


_Rules for Piano Pupils._

You must never begin to learn a second piece until you have entirely
conquered the first.

You ought to fix your eyes very carefully on the notes, and not to trust
to memory; otherwise, you will never learn to play at sight.

In order to avoid the habit of false fingering, you should not play any
piece which is not marked for the proper fingers.

You should learn to play chords and skipping notes, without looking at
the keys, as this interferes with a prompt reading of the notes.

You must learn to count nicely in playing, in order always to keep