Page:Letters to a Young Lady (Czerny).djvu/43

 finger on a key produces a perceptible alteration and modification in the tone; and that we may play with great power, without any excessive exertion, and without using any unnecessary and ridiculous movements of the hands, arms, shoulders, or head. For, unhappily, many even very good pianists are guilty of these and similar contortions and grimaces; against which, my dear girl, I must warn you.

Many, too, have the detestable habit, when they wish to strike a note with peculiar emphasis, of elevating their knuckles so much, that the hand seems to form waves, like troubled waters.

Others endeavour to manifest their feelings by widely jerking out their elbows; or they mark the commencement of every bar by making a low bow with their head and chest, as if they were desirous of shewing reverence to their own playing. Others, after every short note, suddenly take up their hands as far from the keys as if they had touched a red hot iron. Many, while playing, put on a fierce and crabbed countenance; others, again, assume a perpetual simper, &c. One of the worst faults is carrying to excess the ritardando and accelerando, so that we are often several minutes without knowing whether the piece is written in triple or in common time. This produces nearly the same effect as if some one