Playing Softly on the Piano: Does Banging Out the Notes Help?

 

    A pianist writes:  "My piano has a heavy action  and tone production is a challenge - either too loud

  Hans von Bülow

 or no sound. I found this comment from Hans von Bülow (writing on Chopin's etude Op. 25 No. 2): 'That an ideal pianissimo, an accentless equality, can only be the result of loud and strongly accentuated practice, needs no explanation.' I find this works like magic - I don't even have to do it for very long. My question is: Is there any other solution to this problem?"

     

    My answer:  Yes, there is another solution. Let me say first, though, that if you've found something that works, I don't want to be the one who takes that away from you. However, what you describe sounds as if you are practicing X in order to achieve Y. This is the long way around the barn. 

     Hans von Bülow was a very distinguished pianist and conductor of the nineteenth century. A student of Franz Liszt, he was the first to perform Liszt's B Minor sonata. I find myself wondering how Mr. von Bülow came to the conclusion he reached. He was a child prodigy and likely had many natural gifts, perhaps only later attempting to figure out what it was he did. My correspondent finds that over-playing works for him. This leads me to think that it is more the working-in, the learning of the notes that is involved here. Playing with extra weight does not teach the playing apparatus what it feels like to play with the correct weight.

    When pianists have trouble controlling dynamics at the lower end, it is usually because they resort to fingers only, cutting off the forearm, which is the limb that controls downward weight.  Arm weight, by the way, is the result of a forearm rotation into the key; it is not an up and down movement. (For a demonstration of forearm rotation, see under the iDemos tab.) Even in soft playing, we still have to depress the key to just beyond the point of sound, where the finger is at rest. (I can hear my teacher now, "Dear, the piano is down.") The softer dynamic is controlled by applying less forearm weight, not by withholding it, resorting to fingers only. This is like walking on eggshells. Again, we don't change the way we depress the key when changing the dynamic.

    The action of a piano should not feel "heavy." Legend has it that when choosing a concert piano, Martha Argerich blows on the keys to test its response. If your piano is not well-regulated, your attempts to control lower dynamic levels may be thwarted because each key has a different point of sound. 

Heads Up, Teachers: New Piano Music

      We pianists have an advantage over other musicians. We command a wide range of sonorities and, well, a wide range of pitches. It's no wonder then, that so many composers come from a keyboard background. I've always felt that piano students who explore composition have an added insight into the innards of music, giving them a leg up in the profession.

I'm happy to announce that an emerging piano
student of mine, Carlos Gardels, is also an emerging composer of music for piano. (No, I don't teach composition.) He has recently published "Three Fantasies," available through Theodore Presser (Presser). Teachers who participate in festivals and competitions are always on the lookout for the "American" category or the "Modern" category. Have a look at these imaginative, lyrical excursions into "fantastical escapes from reality."

     You can listen to the composer's demos here: Prelude, Cosmic Lullaby, Intermezzo

Anton Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky for Piano, Four Hands

Reduced from $9.00 to $5.84

      As part of a continuing effort to help pianists expand their experience of music beyond the eighty-eight keys, I offer this volume of exhilarating Romanticism. It's one thing to listen, but quite another to work out musical issues with a partner to explore more deeply into the nuts and bolts of the music. And partnerships help develop listening and sight-reading skills. So what's not to like?

    This set of variations is the celebrated string-orchestra composition by one of Russia's most romantic composers, which I've transcribed for piano, four hands. Here you will find idiomatic piano figures that are both easy and somewhat challenging. 

     The variations began life as the slow movement of Arensky's String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35, for the unusual scoring of violin, viola, and 2 cellos. Written in 1894, the year after the death of Tchaikovsky, it is a tribute to that composer. The theme is from the song "Legend," the fifth of Tchaikovsky's sixteen Children's Songs, Op. 54. Tchaikovsky's song was inspired by a poem  called "Roses and Thorns" by the American poet Richard Henry Stoddard. At the first performance of Arensky's quartet, the slow movement was so well received that Arensky soon arranged it as a separate piece for string orchestra, Op. 35a, in which form it has remained among the most popular of all Arensky's works.

    Visit Amazon to have a look:

    Arensky                                                                      

      
    Some piano folks are understandably not very familiar with this Russian composer from the Romantic era, as he did not write extensively for piano. So, here is a recording of the original version for string orchestra:

Listen here: Arensky Variations 

Enslavement to the Notation: Chopin Preludes 1 and 8

 

     A student pianist cites a "raging debate" as to whether the thumb note in Chopin's Prelude No. 8 should be held.  Some debaters were of the opinion that "in all Chopin, notes are to be physically held for their notated duration." No sources were cited. Others insisted that Chopin himself would not have held the notes. The student wants my opinion as to whether Chopin said anything definitive about this issue of holding notes. 

Chopin's Prelude No. 8

     This issue is at the heart of many (most?) technical problems that uninformed pianists suffer. It is about enslavement to the notation, particularly in music of the romantic period and beyond (I include Beethoven, particularly in his late period). My mantra: The score tells us what the music sounds like, not how it feels in our hands. To my knowledge, Chopin is not on record as having said "don't hold those notes." He did say, however, over and over again, that "flexibility" and "freedom" are of extreme importance. 

     I can't imagine he would have held down those notes. Their lengths and melodic importance are indicated with the quality of sound. To the nay sayers I would point out that in Prelude No. 8 as well as Prelude No. 1, Chopin has indicated pedal for the entire measure. Holding down both the note and the pedal seems to me like two jobs where one will suffice. I opt for the easier one, the one that gives me freedom.

Chopin's Prelude No. 1

After the Piano Method Books: Some Thoughts for Piano Teachers

    Let's say our young piano student has sailed through one of the many available method books series. He/she is equipped with basic reading skills and has experience in various keys up to, perhaps, one or two flats or sharps. There will no doubt have been some introduction to basic technical issues such as hand position, posture and the correct use of the thumb in an octave scale. They will have learned to open the hand beyond the five-finger position and mastered Alberti figures. We've closed the back cover of the final volume. Now what?

    If there were a choice between mind-numbing exercises of the sort written by Carl Czerny or musical morsels by, say, Mozart, whom would you choose? Oh, dear. I think I may have revealed my predilection.

 There has long been a tendency by teachers to reach for a volume of exercises by Czerny and his ilk, largely I think, because it is convenient. Scales, arpeggios and Alberti figures all lined up in regular progression so that little or no thought on the part of the teacher is required. The idea here is repetition. Not so much in order to learn the correct approach to the various techniques, but rather to build "strength," "independence" and "endurance." (I've written at length about these concepts elsewhere in these pages.) If we accept the fact these non-productive, even destructive ideas are not our goals, then why play these exercises at all? (If you are of the stretch-pull-ouch school of playing, then never mind.) If we understand the technical requirements of each exercise and can therefore play them correctly, there is no need to play them at all.

    In the first exercise of the (in)famous Op. 740, Czerny gives us repeated five-finger patterns, first in the left hand, then in the right. (I would be glad to know if any of you readers have come across such a passage in a piece of music.) I suppose this

is about endurance? Endurance equals strength training, so we don't need it. Is it about evenness? We know how to shape passages over and under to accommodate the different finger lengths, so once applied and worked-in, all this repetition is a waste of time. (Select the iDemos tab above for a shaping demonstration.) The composer tells us this is about the "action of the fingers, the quiet hand." In other words, he separates the fingers from the hand. Ow!

    I would rather spend my time on something like this (Mozart. Nine Pieces for Piano KV Anh. 270):

or:

Yes, there is more to coordinate between the hands, but the effort will result in a useable piece of music. And there are many more such examples to be found for students at different levels.

    Finally, I think it's misguided to think in terms of teaching particular techniques set apart from music: now we'll do five-finger patterns, scale passages, arpeggio passages, two-note slurs—you name it. These techniques can be taught within the context of the music when they come up. Then we extract the new concept from the movement and make mini-etudes of them. How can we make music of we're enduring something?

    

    

Is Czerny a Prerequisite to Liszt?

    

A pianist writes that she is trying to "improve her piano playing." She states that Chopin etudes are" in her grasp" but wants to know how to "take the leap to Liszt's etudes." Pianist Vladimir Pleshakov responds correctly that there is "no mythical ladder" providing a rung by rung ascent to Parnassum. Pardon my reference to Muzio Clementi of Gradus fame.*

   

Czerny is not a prerequisite to anything. Well-meaning though he may have been, his one-thousand plus etudes designed to "strengthen" the fingers or increase "independence" provide little more than a distraction from the real work of working out technical issues in and learning concert repertoire. Remember, he was himself a celebrated prodigy, having made his debut at age nine in a performance of Mozart's C minor concerto. This begs the question, what etudes did he study? I speculate that, since he was a "natural" and doubtless had few if any technical issues, his etudes written for others less fortunate than he were the result of speculation on his part. And incidentally, there was money to be made.

   

Now, gentle reader, before sending me hate mail, consider this. The configurations in the Czerny studies can be found in standard Classical repertoire. Why not practice them there. You can, of course, play as many studies as you want, but you will only have learned to play studies. You will not automatically be able to play Liszt or Chopin. If the original poster can already "grasp" Chopin etudes, there is no reason to suppose she would not be able to move on to Liszt without first wasting time running around the barn. (If you are a regular reader of my essays, you know that we pianists don't train for physical strength and that the fingers are not and never will be independent of one another, though they can be made to sound as if.) 

    When I was a graduate student, I overheard one of my very accomplished colleagues practicing scales and advanced studies. They were flawless. When she emerged from her studio, I asked her why. She said she enjoyed it. That, my friends, is the only reason to play Czerny studies.

    Note: Major and melodic minor Scales have to be learned as a matter of keyboard topography and keyboard harmony. Once fluent, with hands together at a moderate tempo, it is not particularly helpful as a matter of technique to drill them endlessly. As a matter of convenience in the beginning stages, it may be useful to use some of the five-finger patterns in Czerny or elsewhere. Even so, these patterns can also be found in early sonatinas and other beginning pieces. If used as "etudes", these patterns will provide a head start on future repertoire.

*Gradus ad Parnassum (1817) by Muzio Clementi. It means "steps to mastery." Parnassus is a mountain in central Greece standing 8000 feet high.