Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
A Scientific Method that gets at the veryfoundation of Musical Skill. Discloses fullythe secrets that make it possible to learn toplay any instrument easily and quickly. Taughtonly by the U. S. School of Music. For beginnersand advanced pupils. Can be used inconjunction with any method of instrumentalinstruction.
There is one point which I wish to stress at this appropriate time. It is somethingthat will prove of great aid to every student of this advanced, intensely practical, time savingmethod. That is the habit of regular practice.
It has been suggested in the course, that you practice the exercises outlined night andmorning. This is my best advice on the matter. There is a definite reason for this.The things which you do just before you sleep at night are more apt to be rememberedthan those which you do at odd times during the day. That is the reason forchoosing bed time for one period of exercise.
You will find that if you have given concentrated thought and attention to the bedtime work, that in all probability AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL will be the firstthing you think of in the morning. And this is just the time to clinch the bargain. Getbusy at once and do the exercises over again.
If you follow this procedure, you will learn very rapidly, and soon, the muscles willbegin to keep time with your brain, which, after all, is the secret of the whole thing.
But even supposing you cannot find it convenient to run through the exercises nightand morning. I know that some of our students can’t very well take the time first thingin the morning. Yet, you should definitely decide when you can most conveniently do thework, and then do it regularly at that same hour day after day.
The mind is a most wonderful thing. One could devote years and years to its study.Indeed, many people already have, and even yet, we know very little about it. But outof all of the maze of study and experiment, we have discovered that the mind respondsbest under certain definite circumstances.
It is particularly interesting to note the little foibles of composers and writers. Someauthors only write at night. Some only when standing at their desks. Some do their bestwork when out in the open.
Haydn always wanted to have on his finger the ring which Frederick the Great gavehim, when he started out to write a composition.
Rossini liked to write in bed. So did our dearly beloved humorist, Mark Twain.And so it goes. Funny in one way, and yet, not funny at all. These people are merelyfavoring the peculiarities of their own minds.
It is hard, especially hard for some people, to take the mind off from one subject andput it on another. Unless one is easily able to concentrate on the task at hand, the mindis bound to wander back to the thing we we