Piano and Song: How to Teach, How to Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of Musical Performances

by Friedrich Wieck

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Education

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1853

About the author

Johann Gottlob Friedrich Wieck was a noted German piano teacher, voice teacher, owner of a piano store, and music reviewer.

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Historically interesting, but so much of it is written as a "play" of actors sitting around discussing what awful singing, playing and teaching looks and sounds like that it quickly becomes tedious and largely got skimmed.

[Jason Comely · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book, written in an eloquent style that is over-the-top. I found it enjoyable for just that reason, and because it has some good advice for both piano teachers and students.

I finished the book with the help of Librivox (the audio recording of this is fantastic): https://librivox.org/piano-and-song-b...

[indy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a few books deep in public domain literature for piano, and I finally met one that I find unreadable. The staged dialogues between characters are painful, and the tone is judgy, sanctimonious, and defensive. The only good thing I can say is that Wieck cites a book by Clementi that I want to look up.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoy reading books written in the 19th century. This one was no exception. Of course it is dated - that’s part of what makes it interesting. What were the issues in those days? What did he feel was important to emphasize? How have things changed? Deciphering the difference between then and now is part of the challenge of reading an older book. It also gives perspective on our day.

For example one problem that he rails against is the loud style both on the piano and in singing. It reminds me of an editorial from some decades ago that appeared in IEEE Spectrum entitled “The Loudness Wars.” Unfortunately, I was not able to locate it online. That editorial bewails the tendency to encode music CDs at a high (compressed) volume, with the resultant lack of dynamic range. Over 150 years ago Friedrich Wieck saw the same problem in live performances - the tendency to make everything loud which resulted is loss of expression and injuries to the performers, and broken piano strings. As the idiom says: “Some things never change."

One of the author’s daughters, Clara married Robert Schumann whom we know as Clara Schumann.

The book was also concerned with singing. He deplored loud singing which sounds bad and ruins voices. In contrast he spoke very favorably of Jenny Lind, who was known as the “Swedish Nightingale.”

He advocates beginning with fundamentals, gradual progression, less volume, and more understanding.

"Three trifles are essential for a good piano or singing-teacher,— The finest taste, The deepest feeling, The most delicate ear, and, in addition, the requisite knowledge, energy, and some practice." (Kindle Locations 890-892)

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

FYI Got this book for free on amazon using the kindle app.

This is an extremely beneficial book about how to teach piano. This is not geared towards learning how to play the piano by yourself. Instead, Friedrich is giving his explanation of how he teaches piano and why he does it certain ways. If you are a piano teacher, this is a must read. What's tough is looking for the example songs that he used.

It's fascinating to see his approach to teaching the piano. He doesn't teach note reading for at least six months and teaches lots about touch and focusing on the tone quality and theory before even teaching the notes on the treble clef.

I found this extremely useful as a piano teacher that wants to better himself for the sake of his students.

[Devin Lind · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because the title made it sound interesting and as if I could benefit from it in some way. Unfortunately, I found it aged (which should perhaps not be that surprising), and not at all geared towards learning how to play the piano and sing - unless you count opera.

Perhaps I will return to it at a later date, but for now this is labled as abandoned.