It is true that these are days of specialization, but one must be careful not to miss anything through too narrow a field of endeavor.
Take Music, for instance. You have taken the AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL Method to enable you to learn to play some instrument in quicker time than would otherwise have been expected. AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL is a specialized course.
Sometimes, musicians forget that there is another instrument or branch of Music save their own. That is where they make a mistake. Every Musician should fit himself to teach. I don’t say that he should teach afterward, but he should understand his instrument so well that he is perfectly capable of teaching it. Indeed, I doubt if one truly knows a thing himself until he is able to teach it to others!
Many of our students make a business of teaching. Whether you are going to teach, or not, you should consider taking up some of the other courses in Music which run right along parallel with what you are doing. The Unit Lesson System for Voice Perfection is something that every Musician should have. It is a very novel method whereby it is possible to get specific benefits from each individual lesson. It is a complete Vocal Course, and also teaches Speech Making, Gesture, Overcoming Nervousness and Stage-Fright, How to develop a winning Personality, etc. Another course that you could take to advantage is the one in sight reading. It would be a constant help. Write for full particulars about enrolling for these.
Exercises 8, 14, 25, and 26.
LESSON 19.
If, as has been said, the purpose of words is to conceal thought, then it may be equally as well said that the purpose of Music is to reveal soul.
I don’t suppose that there is a human being alive but that longs to be “understood.” There are all too few in this world who are willing to give the time and thought and heart to the understanding of others. And even if there were a greater willingness to understand, too few of us are able to express our deepest thoughts in words.
But Music is the Universal Language. Once we learn it, the tips of our hearts creep out through the tips of our fingers. There may be no one to hear. Perhaps no one would understand even if they were about. But the blessed, joyous part of it all is that at last we have found self expression, and that is the next best thing to being understood.
Remember that the composers of the ages have been talking through this language of soul in all that they have written. As you play a piece of music, you therefore have two tasks to perform. You must strive to pass on the message that the Masters left, and you must interweave with it your own inner self. That is what is meant by interpretation and expression.