Preface to the Second Edition
There is one point which I wish to stress at this appropriate time. It is something that will prove of great aid to every student of this advanced, intensely practical, time saving method. That is the habit of regular practice.
It has been suggested in the course, that you practice the exercises outlined night and morning. This is my best advice on the matter. There is a definite reason for this. The things which you do just before you sleep at night are more apt to be remembered than those which you do at odd times during the day. That is the reason for choosing bed time for one period of exercise.
You will find that if you have given concentrated thought and attention to the bed time work, that in all probability AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL will be the first thing you think of in the morning. And this is just the time to clinch the bargain. Get busy at once and do the exercises over again.
If you follow this procedure, you will learn very rapidly, and soon, the muscles will begin to keep time with your brain, which, after all, is the secret of the whole thing.
But even supposing you cannot find it convenient to run through the exercises night and morning. I know that some of our students can’t very well take the time first thing in the morning. Yet, you should definitely decide when you can most conveniently do the work, and then do it regularly at that same hour day after day.
The mind is a most wonderful thing. One could devote years and years to its study. 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.
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.
Haydn always wanted to have on his finger the ring which Frederick the Great gave him, when he started out to write a composition.
Rossini liked to write in bed. So did our dearly beloved humorist, Mark Twain. And so it goes. Funny in one way, and yet, not funny at all. These people are merely favoring the peculiarities of their own minds.
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.
And yet, we must concentrate on these AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL exercises if we are to get the best and most out of them.
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.
So choose some definite practice periods—bed time, and the first thing on arising if possible, but some definite time, at any rate. Then, once you have set aside that hour, observe it religiously as your practice period until something comes up that changes your whole mode of life sufficiently to warrant setting a new study hour. Never excuse yourself for even so much as a single day. Seven days a week is the best way to master AUTOMATIC FINGER CONTROL.
If you will follow these simple suggestions and rules of instruction of this course, your progress is going to be sure, rapid, and very gratifying.
THE AUTHOR.
THE AUTHOR.
THE AUTHOR.
THE AUTHOR.