The sane, healthy way to study the piano is to apply one's thought directly to the work for a certain length of time every day. That length of time depends entirely upon the future that the musician may decide upon. If he or she takes up music as a profession, then four hours daily should be given to study. If as an amateur, two hours is enough. In both cases the divisions of time devoted to practice should be not less than one hour.

The fault most general is the sitting at the piano as a pastime instead of working seriously. There is no instrument that offers such inducement to idle away time as the piano. Instead of taking the study of it as a very earnest one, many fall into the way of looking upon it as an amusement, idling away hours in passing agreeably from one thing to another. These misspent hours end in a smattering of knowledge and a certain amount of faulty fluency, of no solid use when it comes to practical application.

One of the most important things in piano playing is relaxation, thoroughly natural ease of attitude and absolute absence of stiffness or rigidity in sitting at the instrument. Poses and nervous movements cannot be too zealously guarded against. Many professionals might well practice before a mirror to observe themselves. The effect of even beautiful playing is spoiled by grimaces and restless body movements.

Of course, in playing the piano the fundamental factor is technique, but that word technique includes everything. It includes not dexterity alone, as many mistakenly think, but also touch, pedaling and rhythmic precision . That combination is what I call technical equipment. In speaking then on the subject of piano-playing, what should first be considered are these very factors of technique and how to get them.

DEXTERITY:
The length of time to be devoted daily to finger dexterity depends upon what stage of technical development the student is in. For those who have the fingers already prepared, naturally less time is required, and more may be given to the study of pieces. But no matter what stage of progress the student has reached, one hour daily of this branch of technique is indispensable.

First, begin your study each day with the five finger exercises and the scales. Play them slowly, very legato, and with a deep touch, giving particular attention in the scales to the passing of the thumb under the hand and of the hand over the thumb. The real secret of playing rapid, brilliant scales is this quick, quiet passing of thumb and hand, and by it many difficulties may be avoided.

The position of the hand in this is of great importance. In playing up the scale with the right hand and in playing down the scale with the left, the part of the hand toward the thumb should be held considerably higher than the part toward the little finger. Thus, by raising the inner part of the hand next to the little finger, there is more room for the thumb to pass under the fingers unobstructed and easily.

In coming down the scale with the right hand and in going up with the left, the position of the hand should be reversed; that is, hold the hand lower toward the thumb and higher toward the little finger. By observing this position you will already be partially prepared for the passing of the fingers over the thumb and have also, as in the case of the first position mentioned, a shorter distance to go to strike the keys.

These positions of the hand are of utmost importance not only in scales but also in acquiring fluency in arpeggios and in passage playing of all kinds.

TOUCH:
With many the quality of tone is inborn and connected with a natural sense of musical beauty. This depends too in great measure upon the construction of the hand and fingers. People with thick fingers have a natural tone and consequently little difficulty in developing a beautiful touch. Others will have to work a great deal under good direction before they acquire that same beautiful tone. In the latter case the practicing of slow passages with a deep touch and without lifting the fingers very high is most important. At the same time, each separate tone should be listened to and its quality noted. The position of the hand in training depends on its natural construction and requires individual treatment. For instance in training, the strong hand with the thick fingers may be held even with the knuckles down, while the weak hand with long fingers should be held with the back ball-shaped or arched, with the knuckles up.

In the training of the hand, a great fault is very common no only among amateurs but even among professionals, and that is the bending out of the first joints of the fingers where their cushions touch the key. Such a position of the fingers, its joint bent out, makes the getting of a good tone impossible. Students and teachers should pay great attention to the "breaking down" of the last joints of the fingers. It is a difficulty that must be settled in the very beginning. I even go so far as to say that those whose finger joints "break down" should not play the piano unless they have energy enough to correct the fault, and it can be corrected.

The ability of producing a legato may be acquired by two means. First by careful fingering and second by the use of the pedal. In the first case, the quick and careful passing of the thumb under the fingers is the practical factor, always studying slowly, with a deep touch and listening closely to the binding together of the notes. In the second case the judicious use of the pedal is the aim.

PEDALING:
As a hint to amateurs, I would say that it is a mistake to be afraid to use the pedal in playing scales. In quick scales the pedal may be most effectively used to give brilliance and color, but only under a certain rule. Use it on the unimportant notes, that is, on the central portion of the scale, but never on the important or closing notes. By this plan you give brilliance and color to the quick, passing notes leading up to the climax; then, by shutting the pedal off, the final and important notes ring out with an added value - clear, firm and effective.

It would take a volume to tell all about the pedal, but these two things are the fundamental principles of its uses to work upon, and need a very careful application. Change the pedal with every change of harmony. In playing the lower notes on the keyboard its change should be still more frequent, because of the slow vibrations and the thickness of the tone in that part of the instrument.

RHYTHMIC PRECISION:
Only too many think that they display a vast deal of feeling if they make frequent ritardandi and long pauses on single notes. I would call this oversentimentalism simply the abuse of rhythm. The only way to avoid this is to keep as strictly as possible to the rhythm and the tempo. Nothing is to be gained by such affection but distortion of the composer's ideas. Under this same head comes the exaggeration of the rubato, so deplorably frequent in the playing of Chopin. This springs from the same mistaken notion that it adds feeling and character. The only remedy of the fault is to stick closely to both rhythm and tempo.

It is only by playing the scales with strong accent, and the slower the better, that precision and independence of the fingers are acquired. First play the scale through, accenting the notes according to the natural rhythm. Then as in speech, let the accent fall upon the weak note instead of upon the strong one and play the scale, accenting every second note; afterward place the accent upon every third note, then upon every fourth. This gives absolute command of the fingers, and it is the only way to acquire it.