Awareness

Awareness of vibrations must be cultivated apart from the printed page. The fleeting instant that connects one tone to the next, affected as it is by so many subjective factors, is entirely effaced by the regularity of standard notation, not to mention the deadening effect of simple-minded theoretical analysis.

Over and over again I am amazed at the power of childhood responses to specific sounds on the piano - not just my own, but those of my young students as well. If only that deep identification with one's own ear were the basis of music training! How different the "scene" would be on every level, for every one.