Quantity of practice

In the matter of practice, I never urge a student to work so many hours a day. One may be enough. The musician is like a painter, who frequently spends his time in looking at the work he has done, and in thinking what he will make of it, without so much as touching the easel.

— Theodor Leschetizky

S. Hough, Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More, London, Faber & Faber, 2019, p. 137.

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Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2 (Brahms)
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How can you expect a beholder to experience my picture as I experienced it? A picture comes to me a long time beforehand; who knows how long a time beforehand, I sensed, saw, and painted it and yet the next day even I do not understand what I have done. How can anyone penetrate my […]