PREFACE

TO THE NEW EDITION.

THE very kind reception and liberal patronage with which the first edition of my little work was favoured,

and the flattering assurance I have received of its practical utility, have induced me to prepare the

present new and revised edition.

61 ST. JAMES'S STREET,

March 1, 1851.

MUSICAL EDUCATION.

R

ત્ર

HE general diffusion of the science of sweet sounds imposes upon the

highly educated of the present generation an extension of time for its study, adequate to the degree of musical pro

ficiency demanded in cultivated society.

That quantity, however, is to be surpassed by quality, has travelled into a proverb, and should be a maxim of constant recurrence to those who are entrusted with the charge of youth during the fleeting years of early education.

The period of youth is time twice blessedtime that no after period can retrace, and is, consequently, time in which mental pursuits of the highest order should not be made subservient to the study of the mere mechanical branch of an art; for such, to a certain extent, I deem the brilliant execution of any instrument to be-though the mind, the grand focus, must perfect it.

Impressed with this conviction, the following remarks are offered, embodying a series of practice, which, governed by a right and rational principle, will, without any sacrifice of time, safely conduct to the acme of piano-forte playing.

The ideas suggested are a concentration of those arising from my daily experience, as a teacher and player of the instrument; and, though the success I am proud to lay claim to in the former branch of my profession may be ascribed to the