Here, then, is the second truth of this Talk:
Good music being the fruit of good thought can be played rightly only
by one who thinks good thoughts.
This leads us to another matter. First, let us see if everything is
clear. True music is written out of good thought; hence, when we begin
to study music we are really becoming pupils of good thought. We are
learning the thoughts good men have had, trying to feel their truth
and meaning, and from them learning to have our own thoughts not only
good but constantly better and better. This now seems simple and
necessary. We see that if we would faithfully study a composer's work
it must be our principal aim to get into his heart. Then everything
will be clear to us.
But we can never find our way to the heart of another until we have
first found our way somewhere else. Where, do you think? To our own
hearts, being willing to be severe with ourselves; not to be deceitful
in our own eyes; not to guard the outer act, but the inner thought;
not to study nor to be what _seems_, but what _is_.[59] This may seem
a long and roundabout way of learning to play music, but it is the
honest, straightforward way of going to the great masters whom we wish
to know.
In one of the books of the Greek general, Xenophon,[60] Socrates is
made to say that men do nothing without fire; and quite in the same
way we may learn nothing of each other, especially of those greater
than ourselves, without thought; which should be pure, strong,
inquiring, and kind.
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