Reviewing Schumann's "Advice to Young Musicians"

Hello everyone! In this article, I will be reviewing Robert Schumann's "Advice to Young Musicians." These little passages are fun to read, I have read them several times through. So, let's get into this rather long article:

[Image Source: en.wikipedia.org, License: CCO Public Domain]

Schumann's text from "Advice to Young Musicians," translated by Henry Hugo Pierson

@cmp2020 original commentary

Advice to Young Musicians

The cultivation of the Ear is of the greatest importance.—Endeavour early to distinguish each several tone and key. Find out the exact notes sounded by the bell, the glass, the cuckoo, etc.

It's funny, but I have tried to ask people with perfect pitch in the past the exact tone of different objects (such as the school bell). However, I just did this for amusement. Maybe there is a purpose behind that curiosity. It is interesting that he chose to open with this piece of advice.

Practise frequently the scale and other finger exercises; but this alone is not sufficient. There are many people who think to obtain grand results in this way, and who up to a mature age spend many hours daily in mechanical labour. That is about the same, as if we tried every day to pronounce the alphabet with greater volubility! You can employ your time more usefully.

The funny thing about this passage is that Schumann ruined his chances of a career as a concert pianist by trying to use a mechanical device to strengthen his fingers for scales and other exercises. However, I agree with him that these are important, but knowing the different notes of a scale and how to play them is not nearly as impressive as knowing how they function together as well.

There are such things as mute pianoforte-keyboards; try them for a while, and you will discover that they are useless. Dumb people cannot teach us to speak.

Schumann is already ranting about the inventions of his time. I think the point of this is that there is no point in creating an instrument that can barely be heard.

Play strictly in time! The playing of many a virtuoso resembles the walk of an intoxicated person. Do not take such as your model.

I think the point of this passage is to learn how to do something right before you do it wrong. He is saying that just because a master plays out of time does not mean you should until you have mastered the ability to play in time and can decide when it is tasteful to play in an "intoxicated" fashion.

Learn betimes the fundamental principles of Harmony.

I can also put an emphasis on learning these principles. Though I am still learning, what I have learned has helped me greatly in my composition, performance, and analysis of the work of masters (Such as Schumann).

Do not be afraid of the words Theory, Thoroughbass, Counterpoint, etc.; you will understand their full meaning in due time.

This is a good point. It is important to want to learn about the fundamentals of music in order to succeed in it. If anyone is curious, Thoroughbass is a synonym for figured bass which are roman numerals to represent harmony (IE: I vii6/3 I6/3 ii Cad6/4 V7 I)

Never jingle! Play always with energy and do not leave a piece unfinished.

I need to work on this. This is placing importance on finishing what you start. In noteflight, I have 252 compositions 70 percent of them are either not started (untitled and blank, have 4 measures, or have a large amount of measures yet I never finished). There is an importance to discipline in music!

You may play too slow or too fast; both are faults.

This reminds me of the passage from Confucius where he said doing more than what is required of you, and doing less than what is required you are both equally terrible. Do only what is required of you. It would appear this applies to tempo as well. I am guilty on all charges when it comes to this text.

Endeavour to play easy pieces well and with elegance; that is better than to play difficult pieces badly.

I cannot emphasize this enough. I enjoy much more playing works at my own level than playing difficult pieces I am not ready for. It makes the performance easier for you and more interesting for the audience.

Take care always to have your instrument well tuned.

I could use some improvement in this regard too. However, I have found that a tuned instrument does make it a lot easier to concentrate on the task at hand.

It is not only necessary that you should be able to play your pieces on the instrument, but you should also be able to hum the air without the piano. Strengthen your imagination so, that you may not only retain the melody of a composition, but even the harmony which belongs to it.

This is a really good point. I have found that being able to play and sing my own pieces helps me much more in developing them than just sitting at the computer. However, as in other fields, I have found myself engaging in this regard too. In regards to humming the harmony, I remember that my piano teacher told me I should be able to sing (hear) all of the individual choir parts of my pieces while playing the piano parts or the other choir parts.

Endeavour, even with a poor voice, to sing at first sight without the aid of the instrument; by these means your ear for music will constantly improve: but in case you are endowed with a good voice, do not hesitate a moment to cultivate it; considering it at the same time as the most valuable gift which heaven has granted you!

I will admit that sight singing has helped my inner ear greatly. Ever since I started sight singing I have found it a lot easier to hear a variety of intervals and scales. Schumann has also made some good points in regards to the importance of the voice. The voice is the most personal of instruments, and it is something that you should be grateful to have mastered if you are fortunate enough to claim this achievement.

You must be able to understand a piece of music upon paper.

I remember when I first turned pages for Mr. Barone, I noticed that he had all of the roman numerals (figured bass) labeled under the music. I asked him if he was required to do that when he was a student and he responded that he chose to write them in in order to fully understand the piece in all regards. From that point on, I began labeling the roman numerals in every piece I played (or analyzed). However, sometimes roman numerals are not easy to find (in regards to pieces with heavy counterpoint). For these pieces, I only label Roman numerals at cadences when they are quite obvious.

When you play, never mind who listens to you.

The point of this passage is that when playing, the only listener who should matter to you is yourself. If you do not worry about who is listening, you will be much more comfortable in your performances.

Play always as if in the presence of a master.

This seems to be a direct contradiction of the last passage, but I don't feel that it is. I think that this passage is making the point that you should always work to fix your errors as your master would do if you were in his presence. So, you should not worry about who is listening, but you should try to make what you produce the best it can possibly be.

If any one should place before you a composition to play at sight, read it over before you play it.

I need to work on this. I can't tell you how many auditions with sight reading I've gone into and just plowed straight through without giving it a thought before hand. This is a very good point.

When you have done your musical day's work and feel tired, do not exert yourself further. It is better to rest than to work without pleasure and vigour.

I have often found that when I push myself to work in times that I don't feel it within me, I wind up having to go back to fix tasteless mistakes that were made in haste that wouldn't have occurred had I waited.

In maturer years play no fashionable trifles. Time is precious. We should need to live a hundred lives, only to become acquainted with all the good works that exist.

This passage makes the point that it is important to acquaint yourself with works of importance rather than small and meaningless works. I agree with this, however, I do believe that there is a time and a place when playing smaller works is of the utmost importance. Smaller works can teach important lessons as well.

With sweetmeats, pastry and confectionary we cannot bring up children in sound health. The mental food must be as simple and nourishing as the bodily. Great composers have sufficiently provided for the former; keep to their works.

I think the point of this passage is that we need to learn all there is to learn that is significant whether we enjoy learning (or listening to it) or not. I feel this could be applied to a situation I am currently going through. I have recently found myself able to write and understand in the ways of the 18th and 19th century style. As a result, I need to move onto 20th century, even though I don't particularly enjoy listening to it.

All bravura-music soon grows antiquated. Rapid execution is valuable only when used to perfect the performance of real music.

I think this passage makes the point that music that follows the technical rules quickly grows out of fashion. I think Schumann is making the point that music should be manufactured with performance in mind rather than technicalities.

Never help to circulate bad compositions; on the contrary, help to suppress them with earnestness.

This means do not promote work that you do not believe is quality. You should rather denounce it in an attempt to promote work you find to be more meaningful.

You should neither play bad compositions, nor, unless compelled, listen to them.

This is making a similar point to the last passage. But as, I said previously, there is something to learn even from bad compositions. Sometimes it's what not to do. Others, it's a replacement for what was done wrong.

Do not think velocity, or passage-playing, your highest aim. Try to produce such an impression with a piece of music as was intended by the composer; all further exertions are caricatures.

I think this means due not take a passage out of context. In other words, do not play a passage you really like differently than you're playing the rest of the piece. Play every passage in the way the composer intended for it to be played.

Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.

I agree greatly with this. This embodies the modern cliche "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." I often find myself disgusted with the changes implemented by editors and arrangers. Arrangement is 99 percent technical and 1 percent creative. An arranger or editor should know their place.

As to choice in the study of your pieces, ask the advice of more experienced persons than yourself; by so doing, you will save much time.

This means ask someone who knows more than you what you should be focusing on. Schumann is making the point that it takes a lot more time to figure out what you are doing wrong than it takes to simply ask someone else what you could do better.

You must become acquainted by degrees with all the principal works of the more celebrated masters.

I agree with this as well. One of my favorite parts of music theory has been listening to the great works of the composers of old, and dissecting these pieces in order to learn how they are so brilliant.

Do not be elated by the applause of the multitude; that of artists is of greater value.

This means that you should not take into account the praise of those who do not know what they are talking about. You should listen to the criticisms of artists in order to further yourself.

All that is merely modish will soon go out of fashion, and if you practise it in age, you will appear a fop whom nobody esteems.

I think this is making the point not to learn what is a passing fad. Learn something that will prove to be effective in the long run rather than study what will not help you in 10 years.

Much playing in society is more injurious than useful. Suit the taste and capacity of your audience; but never play anything which you know is trashy and worthless.

This is making a point about the balance between pleasing an audience and living up to your own moral standards. It is important to do both, but I find that the most important thing you can do as a performer is to please the audience. Your moral values will eventually surface when you become renowned. Do not sacrifice a paying audience in order to achieve the moral high ground.

Do not miss an opportunity of practising music in company with others; as for example in Duets, Trios, etc.; this gives you a flowing and elevated style of playing, and self-possession.—Frequently accompany singers.

I often find this to be true. I find chamber music to be quite fun to watch because of the relationship and electricity between each of the performers. I hope to one day become involved in a chamber society. It is also very beneficial to accompany singers. They provide leadership and yet are still dependent on you for guidance in performance.

If all would play first violin, we could not obtain an orchestra. Therefore esteem every musician in his place.

This is a very good point. Violins are nothing without an orchestra in the same way that pianos are nothing without keys. Every musician adds value to an ensemble in one way or another. Even the triangle player.

Love your peculiar instrument, but be not vain enough to consider it the greatest and only one. Remember that there are others as fine as yours. Remember also that singers exist, and that numbers, both in Chorus and Orchestra, produce the most sublime music; therefore do not overrate any Solo.

Does anyone here remember the mute Piano-Forte? :) This is a good point however. It is like loving your neighbor as yourself. It is important that you recognize the value you add to an ensemble. However, it is also important that you recognize the value someone else adds. I also agree with the point Schumann makes about choirs and orchestras creating the most beautiful music. Though the piano is great, nothing beats a good ensemble.

As you grow up, become more intimate with scores (or partitions) than with virtuosi.

This passage is making a point about the business behind music. It is important to form relationships with possible sponsors or employers. These relationships are even more important than relationships you hold with masters.

Frequently play the fugues of good masters, above all, those by J. Seb. Bach. Let his “Well-tempered Harpsichord” be your daily bread. By these means you will certainly become a proficient.

The music of Bach is very beneficial for a rising composer or performer. It teaches some of the most disciplined techniques and ideas ever to be used. Bach is to music as Shakespeare is to writing.

Let your intimate friends be chosen from such as are better informed than yourself.

This point was made often in Confucianism. It is important to surround yourself with people from whom you will learn. These people are good influences who can help you greatly in finding your footing as a rising musician.

Relieve the severity of your musical studies by reading poetry. Take many a walk in the fields and woods!

I often do this as well. Just today, I took a bike ride down to a local farm field and church to take pictures for my new micro blogging account @cmp2020-lite. I will say that I need to learn to have a greater appreciation for poetry unaccompanied by music.

From vocalists you may learn much, but do not believe all that they say.

I am in choir at school. I have met some of the nicest people there, but I will say that gossip and rumors are common (as with any large group of people). Singing is one of the most disciplined activities in music. It requires a mastery of all that is within you.

Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others.

This is a very good point that I think we all need to take into account at one point or another. Modesty is a catalyst for creativity. If you are true to yourself in regards to your abilities they will blossom in the best way possible. I guarantee that Schumann wrote this after an evening with Wagner (that's a joke).

You will be most readily cured of vanity or presumption by studying the history of music, and by hearing the master pieces which have been produced at different periods.

This is almost certainly true. It is very humbling to observe the works of old, and think of the stories which accompany them. Especially Schumann's story (which was still happening when he wrote this).

A very valuable book you will find that: On Purity in Music, by Thibaut, a German Professor. Read it often, when you have come to years of greater maturity.

I haven't read this book, so I cannot second his recommendation. But, leave it to Schumann to recommend a book. You can tell he was the son of a bookstore owner.

If you pass a church and hear an organ, go in and listen. If allowed to sit on the organ bench, try your inexperienced fingers and marvel at the supreme power of music.

I once played my church organ. It is a pretty awesome experience to play one. I plan to write an organ part for a Christmas carol I am currently working on. Stay tuned for that.

Do not miss an opportunity of practising on the organ; for there is no instrument that can so effectually correct errors or impurity of style and touch as that.

In Schumann's time, someone had to literally stand next to the organ pumping air into it. I feel sorry for whoever had to do that for Schumann. They were probably pumping for a while.

Frequently sing in choruses, especially the middle parts, this will help to make you a real musician.

I agree completely with this statement. Singing helps to sharpen your senses as a musician and makes you more confident with your abilities.

What is it to be musical? You will not be so, if your eyes are fixed on the notes with anxiety and you play your piece laboriously through; you will not be so, if (supposing that somebody should turn over two pages at once) you stop short and cannot proceed. But you will be so if you can almost foresee in a new piece what is to follow, or remember it in an old one,—in a word, if you have not only music in your fingers, but also in your head and heart.

To be musical is to feel free and comfortable when performing no matter what the circumstance. To be musical comes from the fingers, the mind, and the spirit.

But how do we become musical? This, my young friend, is a gift from above; it consists chiefly of a fine ear and quick conception. And these gifts may be cultivated and enhanced. You will not become musical by confining yourself to your room and to mere mechanical studies, but by an extensive intercourse with the musical world, especially with the Chorus and the Orchestra.

I have found that I have progressed much faster as a musician by interacting with other musicians (whether it was here on Steemit, at school, or at recitals and concerts). Confining yourself to learn music is similar to learning to write by reading a cook book.

Become in early years well informed as to the extent of the human voice in its four modifications. Attend to it especially in the Chorus, examine in what tones its highest power lies, in what others it can be employed to affect the soft and tender passions.

This is important. This is why it is important to study counterpoint and voice leading. I have found that writing choir parts has been much easier after studying the works of Chopin and Bach (for voice leading and counterpoint).

Pay attention to national airs and songs of the people; they contain a vast assemblage of the finest melodies, and open to you a glimpse of the character of the different nations.

I am very much fond of listening to different national anthems as well as patriotic songs. Though they are not classical, they provide an example of greatly inspirational music.

Fail not to practise the reading of old clefs, otherwise many treasures of past times will remain a closed fountain to you.

I need to work on this. I can read the alto and tenor clefs of old, but not as quickly as I wish I could. It is important to learn these clefs as well as the others (I still need to learn those).

Attend early to the tone and character of the various instruments; try to impress their peculiar sound on your ear.

I just want to put it out there that Pianoforte sounds pretty peculiar muted. But this is also important. Much of 20th century music came from the exposure of composers to instruments from foreign and exotic lands.

Do not neglect to attend good Operas.

An opera is a masterwork. It is a mixture of all of the different skills of composition.

Highly esteem the Old, but take also a warm interest in the New. Be not prejudiced against names unknown to you.

This is one of the hardest things for me to do today. I am not very fond of the classical music of today's age and as result find it hard not to take prejudice against modern composers. However, I am working on it.

Do not judge a composition from the first time of hearing; that which pleases you at the first moment, is not always the best. Masters need to be studied. Many things will not become clear to you till you have reached a more advanced age.

The first time I listened to Beethoven's 9th, I did not like it. It took me a few times to become familiar enough with it to like it. Now I have listened to it so much that I know the structure as well as the words to the 4th movement.

In judging of compositions, discriminate between works of real art and those merely calculated to amuse amateurs. Cherish those of the former description, and do not get angry with the others.

I feel like there is something to be taken from composition that pleases amateurs as well as the works of masters. However, there is a lot more to be taken from the works of masters.

Melody is the battle-cry of amateurs, and certainly music without melody is nothing. Understand, however, what these persons mean by it: a simple, flowing and pleasing rhythmical tune; this is enough to satisfy them. There are, however, others of a different sort, and whenever you open Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or any real master, their melodies meet you in a thousand different shapes. I trust you will soon be tired of the inferior melodies, especially those out of the new Italian operas; and of all vulgar ones.

This passage makes the point that melody is only enhanced by skills in fields other than melody, as proven by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Remember when Schumann said not to judge new music? It is different here though because he has likely analyzed the music for which he is offering criticism.

If, while at the piano, you attempt to form little melodies, that is very well; but if they come into your mind of themselves, when you are not practising, you may be still more pleased; for the internal organ of music is then roused in you. The fingers must do what the head desires; not the contrary.

I find this very hard to do. However, I have had it happen several times where I imagined a melody in my head before playing it. It is a lot easier to play something without thinking it through, however. This is something I need to work on.

If you begin to compose, work it out in your head. Do not try a piece on your instrument, except when you have fully conceived it. If your music came from your heart and soul, and did you feel it yourself,—it will operate on others in the same manner.

I find this hard in similarity to the last passage. However, skills like these are what allowed Beethoven to write whilst deaf.

If Heaven has bestowed on you a fine imagination, you will often be seated at your piano in solitary hours, as if attached to it; you will desire to express the feelings of your heart in harmony, and the more clouded the sphere of harmony may perhaps be to you, the more mysteriously you will feel as if drawn into magic circles. In youth these may be your happiest hours. Beware, however, of abandoning yourself too often to the influence of a talent that induces you to lavish powers and time, as it were, upon phantoms. Mastery over the forms of composition and a clear expression of your ideas can only be attained by constant writing. Write, therefore, more than you improvise.

This is a very good point. Write down what you improvise and make an attempt to develop it. Good composition only comes from a mastery of skills that can only be learned through development such as structure.

Acquire an early knowledge of the art of conducting music. Observe often the best conductors, and conduct along with them in your mind. This will give you clearness of perception and make you accurate.

Conducting is an important skill to have as a musician or composer. It helps you to understand the general picture of a piece before even opening it for analysis.

Look deeply into life, and study it as diligently as the other arts and sciences.

I feel like this is something that any creative or intelligent person does. Curiosity is one of the most important skills that these people posses.

The laws of morals are those of art.

This is a very good point. However, as I said earlier, don't sacrifice a paying audience to take the moral high ground.

By means of industry and perseverance you will rise higher and higher.

Hard work and perseverance are two keys to the door to success.

From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,—use it faithfully.

I think Schumann is making the point that raw talent can be refined into something extremely valuable in the same way that raw iron can be refined into watch springs.

Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.

Enthusiasm is an important part of performance. Without enthusiasm, what is the point of performance?

The object of art is not to produce riches. Become a great artist, and all other desirable accessories will fall to your lot.

This passage is making the point that your main priority should be to become the best that you can be in your field. If you do this, everything else you want will fall into place.

The Spirit will not become clear to you, before you understand the Forms of composition.

I think this is suggesting that you cannot express yourself through composition until you understand the forms of composition. This is true. This is like trying to express yourself in writing without knowing proper grammar.

Perhaps genius alone understands genius fully.

I think this passage makes the point that you are not a genius until you understand the works of your predecessors.

It has been thought that a perfect musician must be able to see, in his mind's eye, any new, and even complicated, piece of orchestral music as if in full score lying before him! This is indeed the greatest triumph of musical intellect that can be imagined.

I think this is a goal that all composers strive for, but very few achieve.

There is no end of learning.

This is probably the most important point that anyone can make. Everyone has something more to learn. Beethoven once said: "The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun."

Sources:

• Schumann translation
• Beethoven Quote

Thanks for reading this! I hope to see you in my next article! See you later!