Teaching Piano: What Should Teachers Know?

  

   

In a piano forum on teaching, the question came up as to how much pianistic skill a teacher should have. Should the teacher be able to demonstrate any piece the student brings? Alas, I jumped in feet first, which is not easy with one foot in mouth, and declared if the teacher can't demonstrate, the student should ask for his money back. In retrospect, this does seem a bit harsh. Still, I have to ask, what is the reasonable expectation of the inquiring student.

    Should the teacher be able to play at performance level all of the teaching repertoire? Especially as the repertoire becomes more and more challenging? Certainly at the elementary and intermediate levels the teacher should be able to demo the material, at least in fragments. At the advanced level, though, should the teacher present only repertoire he has himself studied, perhaps performed? Sticky question. In my experience I have noticed that it is possible to be an effective teacher at the elementary and intermediate levels without being a concert pianist. Many of my university students came to me from non-performing teachers. The operative issue at any level is whether the teacher can explain or demonstrate technical and musical issues as they arise.

    So, in order to earn the right to keep the fee, we teachers arm ourselves with information. We know how to observe a good hand position, one in which the wrist is like a bridge between the hand and forearm. We know to watch for occasions in which the student stretches to an extreme in order to oblige the printed page, when in fact that is unnecessary and potentially harmful. (The score tells us how the music sounds, not how it feels in

our hands.) We notice when the student stumbles and, instead of advising only to practice slowly or in rhythms, look underneath the hood and decide what mechanism isn't working. (Is this the best fingering? Is the arm behind each finger as it plays? Is the thumb-crossing understood? Can the notes be grouped or shaped more efficiently?)

    Demonstrations are great and can be an inspiration to the student. My undergraduate teacher, Muriel Kerr, was an outstanding artist and when she demonstrated a passage, it inspired me to head for the practice room. But she didn't have the technical information on the tip of her tongue that I sometimes craved. She had been a child prodigy and likely didn't really know how she did it. So, demonstration alone is not the answer either. If there must be a choice, I'll take information over demonstration any day. Both together, though, well in that case we deserve double the fee.

    

    

Piano Scales: Fixing the Potholes

     A student writes: "I have noticed that if (during practice) scales or runs begin to feel a bit uneven or bumpy, this can often be corrected by playing the scale or run up and down four octaves at a moderate tempo while randomly stopping momentarily just before playing a particular note (i.e. stopping short and then continuing without any preconceived pattern in mind). The “stopped” finger (the one that would play next) is held back from playing for a quarter-note rest, and then I continue on for a few more notes before stopping again with another finger, etc."
     "My best guess," he continues, "is that the sudden stopping of a finger and then releasing it has the effect of contracting and then releasing opposing muscles that I was allowing to tense up.  This random-stoppage approach seems to add something to the rag-doll relaxation-and-shake-out approach to creeping tension."

Walking from note to note.

     Without seeing what he is doing, it is difficult to diagnose the unevenness of his scales. What he describes as a remedy strikes me as arbitrary and perhaps less reasonable than examining underlying causes. 
        Usually, "bumpiness" is the result of a misunderstanding of how the thumb works while crossing. When anticipating a thumb crossing, allow the thumb to hang—yes, hang—behind the next finger. It should hang more or less behind the finger that is playing. Also, he should allow the forearm to move at an angle behind the playing finger in the direction of the music. This puts the playing apparatus in a perfect position to play the thumb rotationally. (Select the tab "Demo" above and choose "Forearm Rotation" for a demonstration.)
     But first, he should make sure that he is really completing each note of the scale before going on to the next. This is an opportunity to review basic forearm rotation. If the weight of the forearm is really transferred to each note as if walking, and if his fingers are each "at rest" at the bottom of the key, evenness should come easily. Feel the rotation a little exaggerated at first, but then in speed don't think of it at all. I know, this is what confuses a lot of people. In speed we rely more on shaping and the "memory" of the sensation of completing each note.

     There are video demos under the iDemo tab above. For more on this and other topics have a look at:

                         Piano Technique Demystified

Voicing the Melody in Beethoven's Pathetique: Playing in the Sand

   In a recent piano class, I worked with a student on a performance of Beethoven's 'Pathetique' sonata, second movement. She was capable of producing an agreeable singing sound, though her attention seemed to be focused on the obsure, particularly in the opening measures. Or perhaps her attention, that is, her ear, was not focused at all. We heard in her performance a very nice rendering of the viola part, the accompanying sixteenth-notes. Yes, really. Nothing against the viola, but I'm almost positive that Beethoven meant for the first violin to dominate.

     I decided to use the occasion to talk about voicing chords, although there is another solution that is quite workable and perhaps more practical for some pianists on some pianos.

 

   I told her to picture herself at the beach, sitting at the shore line. Now, I told her, imagine your fingers making small indentations on the wet sand, allowing the fourth finger to go a little deeper. That's the feeling. Of course, we're talking about distribution of weight and both fingers have to move down at the same time. In this case, she needs to tilt her hand to the fourth-finger side. The problem is compounded by the fact that four is already lower than two, as two is on a black key. After working through another exercise, playing the melody note (C) slightly ahead of the accompanying note (Ab) (not my favorite device, though it can help), she began to get the sensation. 

     And that's what it is, a sensation. I showed her how to apply the principle to various triads, featuring each voice. It's fun and an essential skill for all pianists.

     Alternatively, it's possible to play the viola and cello lines in the left hand for the first measure and a half. This can give the anxious player a leg up. I do think, though, it's preferable to play these opening one-and-a-half bars as printed because immediately after it becomes necessary to play the parts as printed. Still, as the melody continues, voicing in the right hand is easier because the combinations of notes place most of the top notes on black keys.

Piano Voices from the Past

      

A student recently brought Brahms's Op. 117, No. 1, the first of three "lullabies of my grief," as the composer described them. This first one always strikes me as being like a barcarolle, waves gently slapping the sides of a small boat. Of course, the image of a baby rocking in a cradle will also do nicely—perhaps hanging from a bough? (There is, though, an undercurrent of melancholy.) 

     We decided that it wasn't necessary to do much at all in terms of

rubato; the notes played evenly in a slow two (slight pulse on one, less on two) with a singing tone would suffice. Normally, I suggest that advanced students workout for themselves the inner meanings, not that music can really communicate specific thoughts. Creating moods, though, is the creative domain of the introspective pianist and sometimes visiting the distant past by means of recordings can draw out a personal point of view. 

     Carl Friedberg was a student of Clara Schumann and mentored by Brahms, himself. Here's his recording of said piece, age 81.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4-oOizOgVU

PIANISTS IN PERFORMANCE: WHAT SHOULD I THINK ABOUT?

      Have you ever experienced in performance what I call mind chatter? This is an interruption in the logical flow of musical thought. It can occur without even noticing; the focus of the playing seems intact, but there is some peripheral distraction. This is akin to being in a theater thoroughly entranced by a film, yet at the same time aware that someone has come in and sat down next to you.

     This concept came up the other day during a lesson in which the student found herself caught somewhere between reading the score and playing from memory. I pointed out that memorizing was the surest way to make the music a part of her psyche. It does not matter in performance whether the score is present or not. But if it is present, the player has to know when and where to look, where on the page is the passage in question. This, then, becomes part of the thought process. 
     

    The great harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, a musician who many thought had a direct line of communication with Bach in the great beyond, was once being interviewed by some eager young 

Wanda Landowska

admirer. "Oh, Madame Landowska, when you play I feel the presence of Bach himself. The music speaks to me in such a special way. Tell me, please, what do you think about when you perform?" To which the great lady replied, "The notes, dear, the notes."
      

     Well, yes, first the notes. But probably not in isolation. The notes are connected to an idea of their relationship to one another and to some concept of how smaller ideas add up to the whole of the piece. When we sit down to play, we must start with the big ideas. In speed, it is impossible to conceive of individual notes. It is better to be like the orator who speaks off the cuff, who embraces his audience with his full attention and speaks warmly and enthusiastically of the big ideas he finds compelling, rather than the public speaker who, not really wanting to be there, reads with precision from a printed speech. Of course, in addition to being inspiring, we pianists are required to be precise, too.
     Once when performing the fugue in Beethoven's Op. 110 sonata, I became aware, suddenly, that in addition to feeling the mounting excitement of the passage, I heard an inner voice chanting, "come on, Beethoven." This was a sort of cheering section, encouraging me on to victory. This had never happened before, but I suspect it had to do with an underlying apprehension of playing a fugue from memory, even though I had already done it many times. I'm happy to report that we were victorious, Beethoven and I.
     Every performer is different, just as each occasion can inspire different results, but I think it comes down to this: Whatever we can latch on to that keeps us in the groove, that keeps us focused on the expression of the music, that is fair game; whatever works. But beware the voice that asks what's for supper. Slap him down and get back to the matters in hand.

Legato at the Piano: The Pianist as Illusionist

In a discussion on legato, a contributor to a piano forum opined that she didn’t accept the notion that the piano is a percussive instrument. This is like not accepting the notion that the earth is round. I have my faults, certainly, but I’ve learned to accept and deal with the laws of physics. When my head stopped spinning I thought to myself, well, she is probably lost in that world where we artistic types often go, the world of wishful thinking. I responded: “My piano has hammers that strike strings. What does your piano have?” I heard back: "Good point. My piano has a choir inside, with an organ to accompany it. Sounds like yours has a wrecking crew. What the heck, to each his own." This was a good response, I thought, and quite funny. And food for thought.

That writer has identified the place where opinion and fact collide.

Or to put it in more useful terms, where imagery and practice collide. On the one hand, imagery is great. It can help us to conceptualize a desired result and for some pianists, some of the time, that may be enough. But if it isn't enough, what then? For me, knowledge wins out over fancy; I want to know how.

Legato on the piano is an illusion at best.  The piano is a percussive instrument, no ifs, ands or buts. Some of the advice offered in the forum discussion was right on the money, i.e., a finger legato is about over-holding one note until the next note is depressed. (We're speaking of lyrical passages, not quick passage work.) There is another important factor, though, and that is how the finger connects with the key. For a finger legato, always play from the key, not from above the key. This cushions the attack and makes the connections seem more legato. Since "quality is determined by the number and prominence of overtones," the faster and "weightier" you strike the key, the more the upper, more dissonant partials are set in motion, making an even more percussive sound. Isn’t physics a great science?

Consider  playing succeeding notes in or under the decay of the

preceding note. This will give a very nice simulation of legato; it also implies a dimenuendo, which may not be called for. In any case, take care to consider where in the phrase hierarchy each succeeding note belongs. After a long melodic note, for example, listen well to how the phrase continues. Does the phrase require a new impetus? Or should it sound like a continuation of the long note? Is the phrase rising dynamically or falling? Music is not a democracy; not every note gets an equal vote.

Finally, perhaps more importantly, it's the legato pedal, sometimes referred to as syncopated pedal, that needs particular attention. The pedal gives us the ability to over-hold a particular note while moving away from it, thus creating a sense of legato. The way in which the key is depressed is still important. With the pedal down, strike the next note with just enough weight to override the reverberating sound, to give the illusion of connectedness, the new note floating above the din.

Another contributor to the forum remarked, somewhat haphazardly, that everyone plays legato all the time and it isn’t necessary to practice it particularly. He maintained, “if it isn’t legato, it’s staccato.” At first I opted to let this go as, well, sloppy thinking, but it began to eat away at me.

Does everyone play legato all the time, even in Czerny studies

(shudder), as he says? We know that up to Mozart’s time the default articulation was detached, changing with Beethoven, who reportedly quipped that “Mozart’s playing sounded like so many chickens dancing on the keys.” Since Beethoven’s time, pianists have worked to develop a singing style, a legato touch. I think here the operative word is worked. I decided that arbitrarily putting one finger down after another thoughtlessly won’t necessarily produce the illusion of legato. It’s important to consider: 1) over-holding slightly; 2) the manner of attack, i.e., from the key, not from above; 3) where the note comes in the musical hierarchy of the phrase; 4) how to use the pedal.                                         
      

Armed with this information, when imagery isn't sufficient, we can perhaps use the laws of physics to our advantage and bring that world of wishful thinking closer to a musical reality.