large an amount of purely technico-musical work fatigued me and reacted
unfavorably on my imagination. As a rule I only practice enough to keep
my fingers in trim; the nervous strain is such that doing more is out of
the question. And for a concert-violinist when on tour, playing every
day, the technical question is not absorbing. Far more important is it
for him to keep himself mentally and physically fresh and in the right
mood for his work. For myself I have to enjoy whatever I play or I
cannot play it. And it has often done me more good to dip my finger-tips
in hot water for a few seconds before stepping out on the platform than
to spend a couple of hours practicing. But I should not wish the student
to draw any deductions from what I say on this head. It is purely
personal and has no general application.

"Technical exercises I use very moderately. I wish my imagination to be
responsive, my interest fresh, and as a rule I have found that too much
work along routine channels does not accord with the best development of
my Art. I feel that technic should be in the player's head, it should be
a mental picture, a sort of 'master record.' It should be a matter of
will power to which the manual possibilities should be subjected.
Technic to me is a mental and not a manual thing.


MENTAL TECHNIC: ITS DRAWBACK AND ITS ADVANTAGE

"The technic thus achieved, a technic whose controlling power is chiefly
mental, is not perfect--I say so frankly--because it is more or less
dependent on the state of the artist's nervous system. Yet it is the one
and only kind of technic that can adequately and completely express the
musician's every instinct, wish and emotion. Every other form of technic
is stiff, unpliable, since it cannot entirely subordinate itself to the