U.S. School of Music

“ LESSON 21. Half the giant’s strength is in the conviction that he is a giant. The strength of a muscle is enhanced a hundred-fold by the will power. The same muscle, when removed from the giant’s arm—when divorced from the force of the mighty will—can sustain but a fraction of the weight it did a moment before it was disconnected.
If you have been studying these lessons aright, you have not only developed strong muscles, but you have also developed an understanding of the tremendous power you wield over them. ”

“ If the fingers get tired during the first few days of a new exercise, you may use less muscular resistance for a while, and in extreme cases, you may be excused from going through the movements the full number of times.
But always remember, too, that tired muscles are a promise of exceptional reward. If your need is great—if the muscles are particularly weak to start with—the benefits you derive from the proper strengthening and control of them will be positively amazing.
Elbert Hubbard said “Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them; power flows to the man who knows how.” ”

“ How can we hope to interpret the secrets of the Master-workers in Music unless we ourselves are in tune? Take stock of yourself each day and see if you are really living.
The new exercise this week is for strengthening the fingers as well as for limbering up stiff joints. Around each of the finger joints, there are transverse ligaments—bands of muscle which hold the lengthwise finger muscles in place and bind them to the bones.
Unless one is using his fingers in a special and unordinary way, these ligaments become stiff and inflexible, so that the movement of the fingers is greatly hindered. ”

“ Faith is like the primitive granite of old New England. Dig down deep and you come to it below all superimposed strata. Go to the summit of the highest mountains and you find it, on loftiest elevations. Faith begins as the basis of the infants knowledge; it ends in leading us to know the bigness, the grandeur of life. ”

“ You should study to be a good listener as well as a good player, if you are to be a real Musician. Hear all of the beautiful music that you can, whether it be on your instrument or on some other. Music is bigger than any specific means for expressing it, and with you, Music should be the first consideration.
The Exercises this week are 9, 14, 23, and 31.
LESSON 20. I sometimes tremble when I realise how slight is the difference between success and failure. Success is the child of Audacity. Failure is the offspring of discouragement. ”

“ The world is full of good things that are intended especially for you. But, if you want the best, you must be ready—through understanding, to receive the best.
You should be applying the benefits of the AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL Method to actual daily playing, now. Are you doing so?
Just to learn a thing and then stick it away in the closet of your mind is a poor investment of time, effort, and money. Put what you know into service, no matter what the subject may be. It is action that begets success and commands reward! ”

“ Open the left hand, thumb and fingers, all close together, turning the hand so that the thumb is towards your body and the little finger away from it. Bend the first finger at the knuckle joint, and nowhere else, and bring it down toward the palm of the hand until it is horizontal, that is at right angles to the plane of the palm and the other fingers. If it will not come down of itself, help it a little with the other hand, but be careful not to strain the left hand muscles when you are first starting this exercise. ”

“ It saves weeks of weary practice at the instrument because it enables you to work to the very best advantage when you DO play. It develops accuracy, speed and sympathetic understanding.
Here, then, is one ideal—the determination to learn to play, so that you can give joy to others, and so that you can take greater pleasure in self expression through the art of Music. The degree of your success will be measured only by the sincerity of your purpose. ”

“ It is a fact established by tests and experience that training the muscles to work as fast as the brain—and training them away from the instrument so that the pupil has only this one thing to think about—does away with many hours of practice and develops a more perfect technique.
But the thing that pleases me most, is to see the way our students have taken hold of the work. It seems to me typical of the Spirit of Progress. People want the very best they can obtain in the way of instruction. They want to take advantage of every short-cut. ”

“ Many of our students make a business of teaching. Whether you are going to teach, or not, you should consider taking up some of the other courses in Music which run right along parallel with what you are doing. The Unit Lesson System for Voice Perfection is something that every Musician should have. It is a very novel method whereby it is possible to get specific benefits from each individual lesson. ”

“ It is hard, especially hard for some people, to take the mind off from one subject and put it on another. Unless one is easily able to concentrate on the task at hand, the mind is bound to wander back to the thing we were thinking of previously. ”

“ When your brain wills that the finger move quickly and with precision, it should be enough. Without thought, effort, your will should be carried out. There should be no faltering about this movement because the demand was definite, and the muscles have been trained in obedience.
Whenever you are called upon to play, always bear in mind your complete mastery over your fingers. You have nothing to worry about. You can depend on your tools. Give your attention to the soul meaning of the composition you are playing ”

“ Review work in any study is of utmost importance. After an exercise has been dropped from the current week’s lesson, make it a point to do it, just the same, at least once or twice a day. In this way, not only will you be assured of losing nothing of the work that has gone before, but you will also progress faster with the new. ”

“ Money can be replaced many fold. Books can be replaced. Homes can be replaced. Every material thing can be duplicated. But TIME, once spent is forever lost. It is the young man and woman who takes advantage of those things which save the minutes and hours and days who make the startling successes in the world.
So I feel that we are doing a great service to Humanity at large, and to every lover of Music in particular in bringing AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL to the fore. Indeed, I believe we would be justified in insisting that every one of our students—beginners or advanced—cover the work. ”

“ You put your time in with the specific knowledge that years of study have made available to you in easily absorbed form, and you take out a distinct saving in time and effort in learning to play your favorite instrument. ”

“ Music brings health—and health lends joy to Music!
Practice Exercises 12, 17, 18, and 19 faithfully.
LESSON 10. It is necessary to train the muscles to act quickly, accurately, strongly, and without easy tiring if you are to be a super-musician. In order to acquire the independent, individual movement of the fingers, they have to go through the “awkward squad” stage, it is true; but with the proper, thoughtful drilling, which these lessons, like an understanding officer gives, they soon become familiar with the commands and learn to obey orders. ”

“ But one of the greatest sources of energy is the human mind. Each one of us has within himself tremendous possibilities. We can work with our hands, or we can work with our heads. The choice rests largely with ourselves. ”

“ On these two things, to large degree, depends your rapid success in learning to play through the Method of AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL. You must be filled with the faith and knowledge that each exercise has its particular place not only in strengthening the muscles, but in preparing you for the work to come. And knowing this, you must be filled with resolution to work and achieve that you never falter by the way—that you never miss a practice period. ”

“ They all require the use of the same finger muscles. They all make use of notes.
Herein lies a wonderful opportunity for you to make music more and more valuable and profitable to you as the years go by. You are now ready to take up further musical study. We strongly recommend that each student learn to play not only one instrument, but several. It is not hard with the start you already have. We make very attractive offers to our students who take up the study of a second instrument. If you are in doubt as to what instrument to study next, write us. ”

“ Its particular purpose is the strengthening of certain of the finger muscles which will be used quite often in playing, the limbering up of the fingers, and the stretching of the muscular covering of the palms. This exercise is not a difficult movement, by any means, but if you do it with considerable muscular resistance by the opposing sets, you will bring a large number of muscles into play at one effort.
The mind is a wonderful, yet peculiar thing. Some of the fads of great men typically exemplify this. For example, it is said that Gluck could only compose in the open air. ”

“ Opportunity doesn’t come to us so much as is commonly said. Opportunity is ever with us. Opportunity is just what we make it. If we have the imagination to see the golden chances before us and to improve them, we’ll make good. ”

“ The heat in our homes and bodies is the result of energy. The light that guides us by night and that brightens our daytime is the result of energy. The electricity that turns motors and carries our messages is another name for that indescribable something—energy. ”

“ Practice Exercises 11, 13, 15, and 16.
LESSON 8. Irresolution is a worse vice than rashness.
He who shoots worst may sometimes hit the mark, but he, who shoots not at all can never hit it. Irresolution loosens all the joints of a state; like an ague, it shakes not this nor that limb, but all the body is at once in a fit. The irresolute man is lifted from one place to another, so hatcheth nothing, but addles all his actions. ”

“ The brain develops in direct proportion to the studying you do. And your understanding and appreciation increases to just the same extent that your brain develops, so it stands to reason that you are in a better position to benefit by this course today than you were six months ago. ”

“ Experiment shows that if we plan to study at some definite time each day, the mind gets into the habit of responding at this particular time and is more ready to work than if we take up the practice at irregular intervals. ”

“ At the same time, other benefits are expected—greater self-reliance, greater accuracy in sight reading, and greater ease in accompanying.
In order to accomplish these ends, we have been freeing the joints from stiffness and lameness. We have been training the fingers to move more widely and more freely. And we have been developing the muscles, so that the fingers have been developed, strengthened, given greater speed and facility of action, and their endurance increased.
With greater strength, has come greater independence in action. ”

“ Each movement must be brisk, and as complete a contraction of the muscles involved as possible. Perform the work with one hand at a time rather than trying to use both hands at once. Close mental attention to the movement involved will increase the benefits derived, especially in the case of those exercises which require that you set one muscle working in opposition to another. ”

“ I don’t say that he should teach afterward, but he should understand his instrument so well that he is perfectly capable of teaching it. Indeed, I doubt if one truly knows a thing himself until he is able to teach it to others! ”

“ The new exercise in this week’s lesson is based on the same principle as the weight-lifting methods. You will see that you apply auxiliary pressure for the finger muscles to work against. By using greater and greater pressure, you can develop almost any amount of finger strength that you may desire. So you should stick to the careful use of this exercise for many weeks to come. ”

“ Obedience is of absolute importance in learning AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL. First obedience that you must give to the written word of the lesson. And then obedience that you must demand of the muscles involved. When you want your finger or whatever it may be to perform a certain movement, do not accept anything short of perfection from it. Analyze each movement that seems to give trouble. ”

“ Indeed, many people already have, and even yet, we know very little about it. But out of all of the maze of study and experiment, we have discovered that the mind responds best under certain definite circumstances. ”

“ Bend the arm at the elbow, so that the forearm reaches straight up in the air. Close your hand loosely. With a rotating movement of the upper arm, bring your fist down as low as it will go, still keeping the elbow at the same spot. Return to the original position. Repeat this exercise twelve times. At first it will be advisable to do this rather slowly and without too great effort, because of considerable strain in the region of the shoulder blade. Later, as the muscles become stronger and more supple, you can increase the speed and the intensity of the effort. ”

“ Decide on what you want to do and what you want to be and go after it! You’ll win, and those fellows who chase the pee-wee, manipulate the pasteboards, and inhale cigarette smoke, will be coming to you for advice, to borrow money, and for passes to the poor house. ”

“ It is particularly interesting to note the little foibles of composers and writers. Some authors only write at night. Some only when standing at their desks. Some do their best work when out in the open. ”