[ Editor's Note, -- Mr. Jervis's many years of practical experience in successful teaching, his exceptional ability for making musical pedagogical subjects extremely clear, and his high professional standing as a teacher makes this article of particular interest to both teachers and students. His suggestions upon the subject of "Stage Fright" are unusually valuable.]

 

A SUCCESSFUL pupils' recital in the teacher's best advertisement. Aside from its value as an advertising medium, however, there are advantages that accrue from a successful recital that outweigh, to the writer's mind, its commercial value. In the first place, it stimulates interest and induces a better quality of study The pupil who is preparing for a public appearance wi1l, as a general thing, work more conscientiously and give more it attention to the minute details upon which finished playing depends than if she were playing only for her family or friends. As will be shown later on, this thoroughness in study, instead of being spasmodic, can be made to cover the entire year, and eventually to become a habit with the pupil, a result difficult to attain without the aid of a pupils' recital.

In the second place, the recital enables a pupil to find herself, so to speak, and to develop a poise in playing not usually found in those unaccustomed to playing for an audience.

In the third place, in addition to stimulating the interest of the pupil, it secures the interest of the parents and keeps them in closer touch with the teacher. These three results are in themselves worth all the labor involved in preparation for it, even if it had no value as a means of making a teacher's work known.

WHAT IS A SUCCESSFUL RECITAL?

Now, this is true only of a successful recital. Perhaps the reiteration of the word "successful" may have been noticed by the reader. What is a successful recital? It certainly is not one that is preceded in the part if the pupil by weeks of nervous anticipation and fear. On the contrary, a successful recital is one that is looked forward to by the pupil, one in which, though perhaps nervous, she realizes that she has her nerves under control: one in which, knowing that she knows her piece, she is confident that she can play it well, and does so with an ease, certainty, artistic effect anti aplomb that render the performance a credit to herself and her teacher.

But, exclaims the reader, is not this kind of a recital a Utopian dream? Well, the writer has been giving such recitals for over twenty years, and he does not claim to be any more clever than his fellow-teachers. Any good teacher who will comply with certain essential conditions can give successful pupils' recitals. An enumeration of these conditions may he helpful to some teacher who feels that his or her pupils' recitals have not been successful ones.

First, do not attempt to give a recital until you have pupils who can play well. This advice might seem needless were it not for the fact that the writer has attended many recitals where the pupils (making every allowance for nervousness) evidently could not play well in private; why the teacher brought them out publicly was beyond comprehension. Now, to play well does not mean that the pupil most be a finished artist, or he obliged to play difficult compositions, but that the piece played, even if no more difficult than the first grade, should he played in time, with a good touch and tone, with good phrasing, pedalling and expression— in short, musically. If the teacher cannot enable pupils to play thus it is useless to expect a successful recital.

Second, always let the piece to be played be one that is much easier than the pupil's normal grade. More pupils come to grief through attempting a piece that is too difficult than from any other cause. A piece that is difficult under normal conditions becomes doubly so when the player is nervous. If the pupil feels that she has plenty of reserve power, the very consciousness of the fact gives her confidence and helps to ward off nervousness.

PIECES MUST BE CAREFULLY SELECTED.

Third, do not allow a piece to be played that has not been in practice at least one year before the recital; two years is better. It is said of Paderewki that he never puts a piece on his recital until he has practiced it for three years. De Pachmann told the writer that his minimum time limit was two years. Of course, this does nut mean three years of continuous daily practice— such a process would, to borrow an athlete's term, result in making the player "go stale." Taking a hint from the concert pianist, the pupil's scheme of practice would be as follows: Select an old piece, memorize it and give it thorough daily practice for a month. At the end of this time drop it entirely and substitute a second old piece. At the end of a month this should also he dropped and its place taken by a third piece. After the last piece has been practiced for a month return to the first and go through the list again, giving each piece one month's practice and two month's rest. Keep repeating this process indefinitely. If care be taken to choose pieces well within the pupil's powers, these three pieces should be played so easily at the end of the season that they can be put upon the recital program without any danger of mishap.

The next season reselect three more pieces for practice in the same way, and so each year keep adding to the repertoire. The pieces practiced the first year can easily be kept up by playing them two or three times a week. The number of pieces chosen, the length of practice and the interval of rest are given only as an illustration of a systematic method of building up a repertoire. (The teacher can vary the process as may seem advisable.) Many of the writer's pupils have a repertoire of from five to twenty pieces, which they are required to keep in constant review from the beginning, year after year. When a recital is to be given it is simply a matter of choosing a piece to be played. This piece is then practiced daily for a few weeks before the recital. Practice conducted in this manner requires only a short period of time each day, and preparation for a recital in no way interferes with the regular course of study.

OVERCOMING NERVOUSNESS.

Having prepared the piece for public performance we are now face to face with the artist's nervousness. Can it be prevented? If so the writer has never met an artist who had discovered the secret. All artists are subject to nervousness. The greatest are no more exempt front it than the least. Paderewski once told the writer that he suffered agony before every recital, his nervousness taking the distressing symptoms of mal-de-mer. Every artist with whom the writer ever talked suffered from nervousness in a greater or lesser degree, usually the greater the artist the more nervous he was. It is a question whether an artist can rise to any great height unless he is nervous. Dudley Buck had a great contempt for those superior beings who boasted of their freedom from nervousness. "You may depend upon it," he said, "they can't deliver the goods." Now, though nervousness cannot be prevented it can be controlled by almost any one who will make the attempt early enough in life. It is essential that this training be commenced when the pupil is very young, as after the age of twenty it is much more difficult to develop control of the nerves.

AUTO-SUGGESTION.

The factors that enter into the control of nervousness on the psychological side are suggestion and auto-suggestion. If you know that your pupil is thoroughly prepared, have the firm conviction that she will play successfully at the recital and tell her so at every lesson for weeks before. Never intimate in any way that you expect any other result. If she is convinced that you are honest in your belief she will consciously or unconsciously come to believe it herself. You cannot do your pupil a greater injury than to let her feel that you are not perfectly sure of her. The writer has more than once seen a case of nervous fright followed by a fiasco, which was caused by the foolishness of the teacher in expressing to the pupil a fear of the result. The power of suggestion is wonderful when properly used.

The application of auto-suggestion may be made as follows: Every night after retiring and just before dropping asleep let the pupil repeat to herself, with an air of firm conviction, some such formula as this: "I am thoroughly prepared, my teacher is sure I can play well, I will have no fear: I shall play well,'' Reiterate this till drowsiness intervenes, night after night for two or three weeks. You will not realize the marvelous power of suggestion and auto—suggestion until you have practiced them faithfully and systematically for a few months.

CONTROL BY RELAXATION.

Another element I in the control of nervousness is relaxation of the muscles. It is to hoped that the up—to—date teacher has already built his pupils' touch and technic upon this foundation of looseness or devitalization. As an instance of how relaxation of the muscles aids in securing nerve control, the writer would cite a case that came to his notice recently. The mother of one of his pupils was a woman of an extremely nervous temperament. She had for years been unable to sit in a chair without wriggling, twisting and twitching, having all tile symptoms of "the fidgets." Being conscious of her lack of repose, she went to Boston for treatment, and in a few months she developed a repose of manner that seemed marvelous when contrasted with her former condition. She told the writer that the course of treatment consisted entirely of exercises in muscular relaxation. Muscular contraction very frequently induces nervous tension, and both conditions make it difficult, if not impossible, to secure control of either muscles or nerves.

SUB-CONSCIOUS PLAYING.

Another aid in controlling nervousness is subconscious playing. Any act that is performed at first with difficulty and only after deliberate thought becomes, with manifold repetition, automatic and is carried on without conscious volition. Walking, writing, skating and bicycling are familiar examples of this so-called sub-conscious action. Not until the performance of a piece reaches this subconscious stage is it possible to play it with perfect ease and assurance. It is not the purpose of this article to show how a piece can be brought to this stage—the process is explained in the article on "The Sub-Conscious Mind in Piano Playing" in THE ETUDE for March, 1909.

As an example of how nervousness does not affect anything that is done subconsciously, take the alphabet. Probably most of us could rattle through it from a to z as fast as we could pronounce the letters; we could do this for an audience even if we were nervous.

Suppose before the same audience we were required to start at z and repeat the alphabet backwards; the chances are that before we had gone very far we would stumble and get hopelessly tangled up. Why? We have the same twenty-six letters and they are as easy to recite backwards as forward, but we can do the former only after deliberately thinking each letter, while the latter is done sub-consciously, or without any thought at all. Practice going backwards as often as we have forward and we will do it just as easily, whether nervous or not; in fact, the writer has a friend who can recite it with equal rapidity either way. This may be sufficient explanation of the aid which sub-conscious playing renders in controlling nervousness. Bring a piece to the stage where the technical part of the performance requires as little thought as the recitation of the alphabet, abandon yourself to sub-conscious action, and you will play the piece as easily and automatically as you recite the letters of the alphabet.

PADEREWSKI'S REMEDY.

Perhaps the greatest aid in controlling nervousness, however, is concentration of the mind. Paderewski's nervousness has been alluded to. When asked how he overcame it, he replied that when he had seated himself at the piano he concentrated his mind intensely on the work in hand, and by the time he had finished his first number he had become so engrossed in his own playing that he became completely oblivious of his audience. Now, this power of concentration, like technic, must be developed by systematic daily practice. How this practice is to he conducted may be learned by referring to the article in THE ETUDE for September, 1910, on ‘‘The Development of the Power of Concentration." The sightless practice there described is one of the best methods of developing this power that the writer is acquainted with, and he requires his pupils systematically to study their pieces in this way. As a result they have little or no difficulty in concentrating when before an audience.

Besides the playing of pupils, there are other things that contribute to the success of a recital. These may properly be considered at this point. The first is the card of invitation, which should be either printed or engraved. The first cost of an engraved plate may seem large, but the subsequent cost of printing from it is relatively small. The tone which an engraved card gives to a recital is worth the extra expense. While to be well dressed is not always an indication of prosperity, the world is prone to consider it as such, and it is just as likely to judge a recital by the appearance of an invitation. The writer has found that an engraved card draws a larger audience than a printed one.

MAKING AN ATTRACTIVE PROGRAM.

Next a word in regard to the program. Let it be short. An hour and a quarter in length should be the extreme limit; one hour is better. Let your audience go away wishing that they could have heard more, not feeling fatigued and bored. The writer has seen many a good recital spoiled by a program of inordinate length. Avoid this almost universal fault. The arrangement of the program should he carefully considered. Contrast the numbers, following a slow piece in a minor key by one more brilliant in a major. As far as possible, follow one composition by another in a related key. Commence the program with your younger pupils and lead up to a climax at the end with your most brilliant players. One or two vocal solos will agreeably break the monotony of a program composed entirely of piano pieces. Paderewski and Walter Damrosch are masters of the art of program building, and much may be learned from a study of their programs. Have your programs artistically printed on the best paper. An attractive program is often preserved by the parents of your pupils and shown to their friends. A cheap program is poor economy.

ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD PIANO.

A good piano is a great aid to the player. A grand with a responsive action and beautiful tone is an inspiration in itself, so get the best instrument possible, even if you have to rent it.

Now a few dont's: Don't rehearse your program on the day of the recital; in fact, don't do it at all. The writer has found that a rehearsal often does more harm than good. If a pupil makes a slip she will be apt to worry about it. When before an audience nothing makes a pupil more nervous than to anticipate a mistake at a certain place in the piece. For the same reason, don't let the pupil practice or even play the piece on the day of the recital. If she is not sure of it by the time one day's practice will not improve it any. The writer has found that his pupils play with more spontaneity and freshness if their pieces are given an absolute rest for two days before the recital.

Don't seat the audience close to the piano. Artists are more nervous under such conditions, and pupils will surely be so. Don't stand or sit by your pupil when she is playing. Many teachers who ought to know better do this, with the result that the pupil who is already nervous is made more so by the feeling that she is being watched.

ENCORES.

Don't allow encores at a recital and don't allow flowers to be handed up to pupils. The pupils who do not get an encore or flowers are apt to have heart-burnings. Show no favoritism. Don't look daggers at a pupil or express any impatience if she fails to do as well as you expected. Consider that she feels mortification enough already without your adding to it; the Golden Rule applies here.

Finally, be calm and serene yourself during the performance of the program. If you are nervous don't show it. Your nervousness will not fail to affect your pupils, while a calm air of confidence in their ability will act as an inspiration to them.

RECITALS SHOULD BE GIVEN FREQUENTLY.

Pupils' recitals, in order to be of any educational value, should be given frequently and at regular intervals, say, monthly or once in two months. One recital at the end of the season helps the pupil very little, if any, in controlling nervousness and developing aplomb, while if she is obliged to play frequently and regularly she quickly acquires confidence. By dividing your pupil into two or three groups recitals can be given monthly without interfering with the regular course of study. The first group could play one month, the second group the next, the third the next. Each group would thus have two months for preparation, and comparatively little labor on the part of either pupil or teacher would be required.

 

The student who has heard and has worked a great deal should not require a master to urge him on. --- Moscheles