Piano Mastery: Talks with Master Pianists and Teachers

by Harriette Brower

Piano Mastery: Talks with Master Pianists and Teachers was written by Harriette Brower in 1915. Most of the talks in this book came from Music America. Ms Brower hoped that they would benefit teachers and students of the piano. Interviews in this collection include Ernest Schelling - The Hand of a Pianist, Ernesto Consolo - Making the Piano a Musical Instrument. Sigismond Stojowski - Mind in Piano Study, Rudolph Ganz - Conserving Energy in Piano Practise, Tina Lerner - An Audience the Best Teacher, Ethel Leginska - Relaxation the Keynote of Modern Piano Playing, Carl M. Roeder - Problems of Piano Teachers, Katherine Goodson - An Artist at Home, Mark Hambourg - Form, Technic, and Expression, Tobias Matthay - Watching the Artist Teacher at Work, Harold Bauer - The Question of Piano Tone, Raoul Pugno - Training the Child, Thuel Burnham - The "Melody" and "Coloratura" Hand, Edwin Hughes - Some Essentials of Piano Playing, Ferruccio Busoni - An Artist at Home, Adele Ausderohe - Another Artist at Home, Eleanor Spencer - More Light on Leschetizky's Ideas, and more.

Genres: Music

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style is interestingly flowery - lots of comments on the decor of the house - but it's a curiosity book, for dipping into. And it reinforces my thinking, as a piano teacher, that there is no One Way to play the piano.

[indy · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can get the Kindle edition of this book for free (!), so I gave it a bonus star in my rating.

I enjoyed reading many and varied perspectives on playing and teaching piano, but some sections were more interesting than others. The physical descriptions of the women pianists and teachers made me think the author was a man; I found myself checking the author's name.

Piano talk can go so deep and get so technical, and this book's got it all: cold vs warm fingers, tone colours, finger curvature, posture, and so on.