A PRACTICAL MUSIC LESSON ~ George Cecil 

There are times when students become dispirited, and, perhaps, disheartened. They have an excellent teacher, and they faithfully carry out everything that has been taught them. But they cannot attain their ideal.

Inspiration Wanted

What, then, is wrong? Should they try another teacher? There is no need for that. Indeed, the remedy is so simple that it lies at the pupil's door. They are probably suffering from two maladies - staleness, and lack of inspiration. And, happily, both are easily cured. The patients merely have to take a rest for a week or two, and to employ the interval in reading musical biography, and in listening to competent performers. 

The Need for Knowledge

Every student should be well versed in musical literature; but comparatively few are. Many an artist, after years of success, is lamentably ignorant of what has happened in the past. He knows very little about the lives of the great composers, singers and instrumentalists, and of the music belonging to the different periods.

Reading about musicians awakens a new interest in their music and new enthusiasm for it.

And the more pupils read, the greater will be their pleasure, the feeling of staleness giving place to a desire to conquer all difficulties. Inspiration, in short, is theirs.

An Incentive

The greatest inspiration, however, is furnished by a good performance during concerts, or by one of the many interesting instrumental recitals which so frequently take place. The standard in there is so high that students have the chance of hearing the very best, and consequently the listeners come away refreshed and stimulated to try to achieve what these artists have done. It may be long before they succeed, but the main thing is that they have an incentive. Taken out of themselves, they face the task with redoubled energy