786.3 DWg Deutsch Guided sipirt -reading 59-13.0J8 786.3 2*8g 59-11038 ttuaio $6.95 Guided sigit-reading Betxfcscfc

Piano: GUIDED ______ SEP 2 Sight-Readin & 1966 . . 1972 ;'

Piano : GUIDED Sigh t^Re ading A Ne\v Approach Piano Studv to by LEONHARD E>EUTSCH NELSON-HALL COMPANY CHIC AG O

COPYRIGHT 19503Y LEONHARD DEUTSCH COPYRIGHT 1959 BY NELSON'HALL COMPANY All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or any portions thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotation m a review. Nelson-Hall Company, Publishers 210 South Clinton Street Chicago 6, Illinois PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES 0* AMERICA

Acknowledgements For the constructive criticism and final editing of my manu wish to express my g ratitude and appreciation to Miss Lillian Cooper, New York City. For the patient reading of the first drafts and helpful suggestions my thanks go to the late Mr s. Sophia Steinbach, New York City; Miss Ruth Norden, New York City; and Mr. & M rs. Horace Champney, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Finally, I have to thank Crown Publis hers for script I the last retouches. For their adherence to my ideas abroad and in this country thank my former Vienn a colleagues and co-workers Dr. Alexander Klahr, New York City; Mr. Victor Poppe r, Evanston, Illinois; Mrs. Maria Treuer, Yellow Springs, Ohio; and Dr. Margaret Wolf, Brooklyn, N.Y. I feel greatly indebted to my wife, Mrs. Danica Deutsch, f or her most active support of my work from its very beginning. She also assisted me in applying experiences from her own field, including her study of left-eyed ness, to the psychological and emotional problems of my students. I LEONHARD DEUTSCH

Table of Contents Foreword xi The Story of the Sight-Reading Method The Problems of Sight-Reading What is the correct way to practice sight-reading? ner developed ? What is the effect of sight-reading exercises? The Basis of Pian istic Skill 1. Musical Ear and Manual Dexterity What is musical ear ? How is mus ical ear developed? 3 13 14 How is the ability to practice sight-reading in this man15 17 19 19 What 2. is manual dexterity? skill How does manual Notes and Keys develop? applied to music 20 22 25 26 27 29 31 32 32 33 Why is the alphabetical method, How 3. reading, ineffective? to break away from piecemeal reading Time and Rhythm Why are the usual expedients ineffective? How does a student learn to keep time ? vn

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4. Fingering Unnecessary finger marks Complicated fingering Velocity does repetition work ? does the dissecting method 5. How How How is 34 36 36 38 39 work ? 41 velocity developed ? 6. Finger Agility and Technical Exercises The "piano hand" Planning of finger movem ents Relaxation Finger control Expressive Playing Colorful tone or colorful performance ? 7. The sources of expressive playing Analytical approach Romantic approach Psychological approach 8. Pianistic Memory is What pianistic How is pianistic memory developed ? Sight-Reading versus Repertoire Rich study material memory ? 42 43 44 45 47 48 49 49 50 50 51 52 53 54 55 Approaching the whole Concentrated effort How does "natural talent" develop ? Building up talent by me ans of instruction 57 58 58 60 61

' "Gypsy" method Self-Instruction 62 63 Sight-reading program Repertoire Study VIII , 64 67 73

TABLE OF CONTENTS Suggestions for the Teacher 1. Guiding Your Student 2. New Students and Problem Students " 76 79 82 88 89 91 91 92 92 3. Elementary Instruction Melody Bass parts Fingering and hand positions Touch and Sharps and expression flats Chords Jumps Playing with both hands Time values Embellishments 4. Rhythmical subdivision Study Material 5. 6. Homework Playing by Ear and Written Exercises Approach to Children 93 93 94 95 96 96 98 99 100 101 7. Ear training Special handicaps Maturity level of the child 102 103 Ambition

104 105 IX

Foreword "A approach to piano study? Why?" the reader may well ask. "Hasn't the old appro ach produced hundreds and thousands of excellent pianists?" True, for such succe ssful students, usually professional sicians, no change is necessary; but for th e others, less fortunate, the legions of lay musicians, playing the piano can ac quire a NEW mu new meaning. Formerly the non-professional pianist had the same mission as the virtuoso: to s hare his musicianship with an audience. And labored many usually he was just as eager for publicity. He hours over technical exercises and spent years building a reper toire of pieces carefully prepared for performance. Nowadays such toil hardly seems worth while. Since radio and phonograph bring first-rate performance at any time to any plac e, who is interested in listening to an amateur's playing? Indeed, when radio an d phonograph became part of our civili zation, many people warned that the days of amateur music were numbered. The opposite happened, however. Today nonprofess ional music study is more widespread than ever before. An apparent contradiction , but the explanation is simple. XI

FOREWORD Since more people listen to more music, particularly to ser ious music, many lis teners want to play that music to play it for their own pleasure. person who pla ys himself, even if he is far from perfect, is rewarded by a sense of satisfacti on that A mere if he plays, for many a detail escapes those who depend on ear alone. "To play f or one's own pleasure" with this goal, traditional listening cannot supply. Conversely, he will be a better listener methods are seldom compatible. Spending weeks if not months on every piece in or der to perfect it is not enjoyment of music. It is drudgery. For many decades mu ltitudes of amateur students have taken piano lessons with great expectations. M ost of them had to give up soon, as they could not achieve any repertoire at all . Yet even the more successful amateurs came to feel that their repertoire had d emanded too much of them and had given too little in return. It embraced only a tiny fraction of all music literature, and those students were deprived of rich musical nourishment and of an opportunity to explore. Their accom plishments wer e short-lived. Dependent on a teacher's aid, they worked only for as long as they took lessons. After their teachers, they hardly ever forged they dropped ahead and usually they quickly forgot what they had learned. These failures were not inevitable. They could have been had been taught to read at sight. Sight-reading is a skill which offers a student access to all mu sic literature; a skill through which he can acquaint himself avoided if students with any composition, unaided by a teacher. Nor can the ability to sight-read be lost. Once musical nota become a living picture for the student, it will remain and he will at any time afterward be able to perform any so, music whether he practices regularly or not . Sight-reading does not conflict with repertoire study. On the tion has XII

FOREWORD contrary, a piece, good sight-reader has and is all the no trouble more stimulated to do so. in perfecting a After a student has developed adequate facility in sight-read ing, he is ready f or unrehearsed or little rehearsed performance; this is especially important for chamber musicians and accom panists. Also, to musicians in other fields who tak e piano lessons as an additional subject, sight-reading will be very welcome. Th us it is suitable for every piano pupil. For the amateur stu dent, however, the sight-reading method is imperative. Not only does it direct him to an appropriat e goal developing mu sicianship but it also helps him to attain it. It is not th e priv ilege of specially talented persons. To play a piano piece cor rectly at sight implies nothing more than a coordination of the player's ears, eyes, and h ands. Every normal person can develop that coordination, though it may mean hard work for some. has been proven by my own teaching experience and by that of my co-workers over a period of a great many years with numerous students of all ages and types. Mos t of our students would have failed under traditional instruction. Many actually had failed, but they resumed their piano studies with our new approach and then succeeded. The efficacy of sight-reading certainly did not expect to, nor did we, make brilliant was that the pianists of our amateur students. What we did find program helped every one of them to exte nd We sight-reading steadily his musical and technical abilities, his knowledge of the master works of music, and his power of discrimination. It deepened the student' s love of serious music and quickened his enthusiasm for the piano. These are th e results an amateur with only limited time for piano study may reasonably aim a t, and they are indeed no

mean achievements. xm

IPiano : GUIDED Si

The Story JLHE of the Sight-Reading Method sight-reading method, as described in this book, departs completely from the con ventional methods of piano instruction. Whoever has experience in usual methods very likely will be prejudiced against the new concept o piano study and find it rather difficult to follow and accept. In order to make myself more easily unde rstood and to prepare my reader for the theory of the sight-reading method, I sh ould like to set down the de velopment of my ideas. It is the story of a revolut ion which sprang from a great personal disappointment. pianistic career started like that of thousands of other stu dents. piano lessons began when I was eight. All I had known of music before that were the songs I had learned in school and the popular "hits'* I heard played by stre et organs at that time the main sources of music for the average city child. The n I was told that a world of heavenly tonal beauty existed, more enchanting by f ar than my trivial musical experi ences, and that this world was open only to mu sic students. My My the expectation of heavenly tones, I met my piano He received me with an equally definite, though quite different expectation: he wanted to make a virtuoso of m e. He With teacher.

GUIDED SIGHT-READING had tested my musical ear and my hands and pronounced me to talent. have a great both The discrepancy in our expectations was bound