A Pianist's Dictionary

When I was a graduate student at Indiana University, I once asked my piano teacher at what tempo to play Schumann’s notoriously difficult C Major TOCCATA. My teacher was Sidney Foster, holder of the School of Music’s first University Professor rank, and a distinguished pianist and careful thinker. “I don’t know” responded Sidney. “Schumann didn’t tell me!’’ I’ve thought about that response during the many intervening years since I left IU to become, in my own small way, a performing pianist, professor, and teacher of music and specifically, of the piano. At the time, I recognized Sidney’s response as