Here, then, is one ideal—the determination to learn to play, so that you can give joy to others, and so that you can take greater pleasure in self expression through the art of Music. The degree of your success will be measured only by the sincerity of your purpose. It’s up to you!
As Charles Dana Gibson, the famous artist says—
“There isn’t any trouble with the world, today. The trouble, if any, is with the people in it.”
Exercises 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12.
LESSON 6.
You must take particular care with the wrist exercises in this week’s lesson. Study the cuts until you are thoroughly acquainted with what is required, and then put considerable “steam” behind the movements.
The exercise for both hands together will call into play certain of the finger muscles and strengthen them to the necessary degree for playing. They will also help to free the transverse ligaments and thus relieve the fingers of stiffness.
In this exercise, as in every other, a feeling of fatigue or pain denotes a weak condition of the muscles. It means proceed with caution. It does NOT mean to drop the exercise. If the fingers get tired during the first few days of a new exercise, you may use less muscular resistance for a while, and in extreme cases, you may be excused from going through the movements the full number of times.
But always remember, too, that tired muscles are a promise of exceptional reward. If your need is great—if the muscles are particularly weak to start with—the benefits you derive from the proper strengthening and control of them will be positively amazing.
Elbert Hubbard said “Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them; power flows to the man who knows how.”