One pupil gave me a great surprise. She belonged to a family considered the most musical in the neighbourhood, and brought as a test of her powers a sonata for piano and violin. When I suggested that a piece for the piano alone would be more to the purpose, she said this was a piece of which all at home were very fond, and she hoped I would allow her to play it for me. In answer to my question if her father or a brother played the violin part, she said, ' Oh, no, I always play it alone.' Now the copy she had did not contain the violin part, and I began to feel some curiosity as to how she would deal with certain parts of the composition principally allotted to the absent instrument. The sonata was a simple one by Mozart, and the lady began to play it most correctly. Soon she came to a series of eight bars in which the absent violin had all the melody and the piano nothing but an old-fashioned accompaniment in broken chords. She played them attentively, and after four bars of this unmeaning twaddle, I heard her say to herself with deep emotion, ' Beautiful ! ' Shortly after she omitted about twenty bars, without apparent reason, and when I asked, ' Why don't you play this part ? ' she gave a never-to-be-forgotten answer, ' Oh, that is in a minor key, and papa does not like minor.' How musical must have been the family capable of expunging from every piece of music all the modulations into a minor key ! I did not try to convert the papa, but the daughter had to put up with pieces in minor and soon grew fond of them.