A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer
writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players
have great responsibilities, for the compose is utterly dependent on them. A student needs to
become a doctor. Most training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the
muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as
their vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players
practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with
the right arm-two entirely different movements.
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared
this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the plano
tuner's responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties;
the jammers that hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each
overlapping tone has to sound clear.
This problem of getting cleat texture is one that confronts student conductors; they have to
learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at
controlling these sound with fanatical but selfless authority.
Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great
artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the languages of music that they can enjoy
performing works written in any century.