【CarlWalterwasmypianoteacher.DuringoneofmylessonsheaskedhowmuchpracticingIwasdoing.Isaidthreeorfourhoursaday.“Doyoupracticeinlongstretchesanhour16?”“Itryto.”“Welldon‟t”hesaidl】

　　Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.

　　“Do you practice in long stretches an hour 16 ?” “I try to.”

　　“Well don‟t” he said loudly. “When you grow up 17 won‟t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes whenever you can find them five or ten before school after lunch 18 household tasks. 19 the practice through the day and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”

　　When I was teaching at Columbia I wanted to 20 but class periods theme-reading and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper and my 21 was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next 22 I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my 23 at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript ready for revision later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal method. 24 my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I 25 took up piano-playing again finding that the small 26 of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.

　　There is an important 27 in this time — you must get into your work quickly. If youhave but five minutes for writing you can‟t afford to waste four 28 your pencil. You must make your mental preparations 29 and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately rapid 30 is easier than most of us realize.

　　I 31 I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But 32 can be expected to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a tremendous 33 on my life. 34 him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time 35 all useful hours I need.