On "Feeling" in LIfe and Music explores the difference between "ham" playing and acting and true feeling or emotional response.
A fascinating unfinished treatise on playing-- "Notes on Interpretation" - applicable to all instruments, by perhaps the greatest cellist to have ever played the instrument, Emmanuel Feuermann.
An article by the renowned pianist, Ignazy Paderewski, on rhythm and rubato. A completely different understanding from how musicians play currently, but an approach with which SFIM agrees completely.
An interview with Sergei Rachmoninoff about piano playing, given to The Etude magazine in March,1910.
An interesting article based on entries from Glenn Gould's diary describing his analysis of his physical approach to the piano and attempts to improve and perfect his technique. When compared to the article above by Feuermann, in which the master cellist admits that he completely altered his fundamental technique as an adult, this article gives an unusual glimpse into how important and refined a role one's body plays in instrumental mastery.
This is an interview from 1919 with Jascha Heifetz. He was eighteen years old at the time. This is the only time, as far as we know, that he publicly discussed how to acquire a masterful technique.
An interview in Etude magazine from March 1932 with Vladimir Horowitz. This is the only time that Horowitz publicly discussed piano technique.Horowitz
An interview with Maria Callas discussing bel canto singing and it's demise. She notes the necessity of correct teaching, and the near impossibility of finding it.
This is due in part to the fact that the bel canto method was passed on directly from master to pupil and never written down.
She mentions the fact that singers must try to emulate great instrumentalists. In fact historically the opposite has been the case. Great instrumentalists have ad infinitum attempted to sound like the human voice, which after all is a more direct conduit for musical expression than an instrument can ever hope to be.
An article, by D. Jacobson on Johann Pestalozzi, the 'father' of modern pedagogy, a great intellect, and creator of a profound educational philosophy.
An article by D. Jacobson exploring the systems of thought created by the mind when focused on achievement or understanding.
