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'
A. work which e:; i r i ues profound under-
fianciirg of a traitless art.'* Monthly
Mu$ id :
Record
1
"Highly iiarged with precious. tounse ."
FELIX AH..AHAMIAN, Sunday Times
Published in t * J.&.a.
LONDON
BARRIE AND ROCKLIFF
FRANK 3MERRICK 1958
1O577/65
TO ALL MY PUPILS
Author's Preface ix
1
Delayed Continuity .....
....
i
4 Pedalling: I
Preparatory Exercises . .
17
II General . . . .21
5 Finger Passages . . . .
27
7 Double Thirds 35
.... 43
8 . .
11 Octaves 51
Simplified Versions of
12 Difficult Passages .
55
14 Fugal Study . . . . .
'63
15 Looseness at the Shoulder . . .68
1 6 Gradations of Time 72
Bodily Stillness
Athletic Form
......98
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
96
24
25
26
Memory
Conclusion
......
Dramatic Significance
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.102
105
.109
Index . . . . . .
.113
vin
Author's Preface
WHEN I started
teaching in an official capacity, which was
at the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1911, I was
somewhat haunted by an idea that a teacher should try to
tell each
pupil different things, since no two people are alike
and there seemed a danger of handing out to one and all an
undesirably rigid succession of statements too like the set
speeches of some cathedral vergers. As the years rolled on,
however, an increasing number of precepts seemed neces-
sary for nearly all the pupils depending on my help, and what
had to be offered to this majority has largely been incorpor-
ated here.
It may have been in the 'twenties that an acute observer
said tome "You know, there is such a lot of ritual in your
:
practising 1" The remark startled me, but led to a great deal
of meditation on the point and an ever-growing sense that
the assertion was true. Whether, then, the ritual could be
called a series of processeswhich difficult pieces or passages
may undergo, or whether these varied devices were lumped
together in ironical disparagement by alluding to them as a
bag of tricks, advocacy of them became increasingly
my
convinced. So as much ritual or as many processes as could
be intelligibly recommended were embodied in the appro-
priate chapters of this book.
The order of the chapters may appear obscure in purpose.
One method of pianoforte study may be for you to build up
technical efficiency for a number of years and then consider
are practising and then you will find out a great deal for
yourself." I have never ceased to follow this advice received
over fifty years ago. The term "stopping practice" arose
when it came to imparting the idea to others, but "delayed
continuity" seems to add an explanatory note.
Some music is very easy to play phrase 1 by phrase with
pauses in between (Ex. i) :
,
*******
^ m P^Tl ^ ^ n ig _ fa^Tr T
J
P*E
fa
E r I
rHr * r |
r ir ?
jj if r Ir T IT' E
If the pauses are so long that each phrase is mentally or
Ex.2. Thmk
&
Think Play
ThlBk PUy
Play
m
This leaves no extra time for criticising your efforts and if
r r
when the last notes are held (Ex. 5) :
Ex.5,
and with a rest where there is one (Ex. i), but otherwise with
the sounds prolonged as in Ex. 3 and Ex, $. Sometimes a
Practising the Piano
and in such cases the tenuto can be held right through the
pause (if does not die away too soon) so that the new phrase
it
touching the keys they have just released or the keys they will
next be required to depress. To move to the latter will be a
first
step in the welding together of those links in the chain
that are now being separately forged or tested. When the
The slurs and dots in Ex. na and b only give us two out
of many possible alternatives. You could argue at great
length and still feel uncertain, but every time you sing the
tune you will get nearer to a solution of the problem that
will bring conviction to your mind, including the tricky
question of how short any detached notes should be.
Closely allied to singing is the conducting of imagined
It is slower to wax to maturity, but the more
performance.
we sing and the more reality there is in our musical thinking,
the more relevance and potency will our conducting gain. It
can be applied to single phrases, or lengthened at will to
entire movements (or even works) and it can alternate with
I
chords (Ex, 12);
fnrn i
10
Chords: Some Useful Progressions
Ex.13.
rhPYYiff i
I
Ei.14.
f*
N*
*
The penultimate chord in the minor key will be equally gram-
matical and satisfying with a raised or flattened leading note.
Then a chord pattern with constant key change produced
by semitone shifts which should be continued until we get
back to C major (Ex. 15) :
II
Practising the Piano
Then the same with inversions following each other zig-
zag-wise, continued to the bottom of the piano (Ex. 1 6) :
Ex.10.
EX.IZ
Ex.18.
usher you politely from one key into the next one. It will be
seen that at the first move the top two voices descend a
semitone while at the next move it is the lower two voices that
descend. It is like a small child coming downstairs. This
notation (Ex. 19):
Ex.19.
'in
implies the moment of key change and what the new key is,
and you should realise that the modulatory chord is the first
inversion of the added sixth in the new key.
The regular addition of a fifth note to each chord (Ex.
20):
Ex.20.
^ n
Ex
m
all one's ten fingers are obliged to think what they are doing
at every one of nearly 180 moves before the lowest note on
the piano is reached.
Chords in whole tones have much to recommend them
(Ex. 22) :
Ex.22.
I tj*f
if
ty m
sempre
simile simile
One way to find each new chord in this series is first to decide
what one of its notes should be (say, the bottom one) in
each hand, and then feel for the whole-tone-scale notes that
are adjacent to that. This engraves the finger-spacing of each
chord on your memory and is clearly related to the harmonic
effect that is coming. Another equally good and desirable
way is to make the fingers do their semitone shifts one at a
time till all five are in place, say in the order i, 2, 3, 4, 5
or 5, 4, 3, 2, i. This makes you specially aware of the way
in which individual voices move to the adjacent note, thus
13
Practising the Piano
in itself, whatever touch mechanism is
employed, but more
detailed advice follows.
Ex.23. i
it
eighth of a bar to unclench and find the next
may take an
chord, whereby the clench could occupy more than three-
quarters of each ban That will be strengthening in itself and
productive of the right sort of relaxation at the moment of
unclenching. Another rhythm to adopt is this (Ex. 24) :
E..M. .
your fingers are going to drop off. But although we are often
warned to discontinue playing when physical discomfort is
experienced, this particular discomfort is evidence of efficient
muscular exertion rather than a danger signal and can be
continued till the chords become too weak for you to take
any pride in them. A few bouts of this special practising
tend to produce more progress in sheer muscular fitness
than long spells of drudgery with scales, etc., and the principal
danger perhaps unsuspected the joy of playing for the
is
15
Practising the Piano
of ideal finger action with some extra drawing-in of finger-
still more of the
tips (the first clench has latter) so it
physically benefits one's finger work as well as one's chord-
16
Pedalling
I PREPARATORY EXERCISES
THE first part of this chapter might well be skipped by
those readers whose pedalling has a reasonably solid founda-
tion. It is offeredhere for those who have never faced the
problems of pedalling at all or have got into difficulties with
them. Simple chord progressions are better for the exercises
than series of single notes, and provide a pleasant degree
of harmonious fullness, so let us take that of Ex. 12,
adding the left hand an octave lower and using the same
fingers for every chord and changing from one key to
another at frequent intervals. Beginning with legato pedal-
ling, the normal thing is to change the pedal when the har-
mony changes, so we shall be changing with every chord.
To change the pedal means to let it up and press it down
again, and in order to produce pedalled legato the up move-
ment should be at the exact instant at which the new chord
speaks, for which sound-point is a self-explanatory term.
Remember that a hair's breadth of silence between the
BarS
^ Adagio (J = 50) jE.
.
"^
^PT
Legato 4
W^BIVV j
NO1
p
rvrwrr
P
^
*
^^ p
P 3fc
& P
P 3fcP&
^
4i
^^
r w
P <&>
^^
^^^8
Mdallin*!
P* P* P * P*
chords can be undesirably conspicuous. In our first three
up moments are always exactly at sound-point
exercises the
Practising the Piano
while the down moments are varied. The objects of this are
conscious control and musical expression (Ex. 25).
As regards conscious control, the student sees in black
and white what is required of him and can therefore judge
whether it is being accomplished. When a mistake is made,
the best course is to proceed calmly without rhythmical in-
all more so because in (a\ and still more in (<:), the chord
the
will have become weaker at the pedalled beat than it would
have been on the second beat as in (F). Consequently, whereas
the character of (^) is the most ardent and eager of the three
alternatives, that of (c) is the most tranquil. Even greater
tranquillity would be produced by this pedalling (Ex, 27) :
Ex.27.
the heel must never leave the ground and the foot must
never lose physical contact with the pedaL If, as the pedal
is released, the foot is lifted, even an inch, the kick when
* * * li * * *
i I
19
Practising the Piano
silence for three-quarters of the time. Steady pulsation
Ex.30.
come out rather quicker and suggest the same changes, one
for each chord.
II GENERAL
EVEN before the above exercises, if worked at, are fully
mastered, few players would refrain from using the pedal
with moderate frequency, often to good effect. Hymns and
steady successions of chords will need pedalling similar to
Ex. 25, No. 2, and regular changes (effected rather more
speedily, however) suit long stretches
of pieces like the
Chopin Nocturnes of which Nos. i, 9, 13, 14 and 15 cer-
tainly thrive for a good many bars with two changes a bar,
and Nos. 2 and 10 with four changes. When you come to
a place where the advice just given produces an undesirable
smudge, two changes instead of one is likely to be at least
an improvement. When fewer changes are preferable Chopin
usually signifies that that is his wish. But it is often
difficult
22
Pedalling: General
Ex.32. Beethoven.- Sonata op. 26.
A-*M~t~
And *'
i
*P
Momentary dissonances are remarkably harmless in the
right place. In both the cases which follow, it is misguided to
change on the swiftly resolved semiquavers (Ex. 36 a and &) :
Ex. 36a. Chopin:Prelude in C minor Ex.36b. Schubert: Moment musical
A ft L i 2 I
24
Pedalling; General
lings can any one of them add to the swinging vitality of the
rhythm (Ex. 38):
Ex.38. Chopin Waltz, op. 34, No.l .
'^ J f f I I
f f I
^a i
1. P P P P
2. P P P P
3. P # P *
4. None P # P
5. P P *
6. None P
,7. P
When you are deeply versed in all this, the right choice
should often come on the spur of the moment and it is quite
likely that it will not be the right one when the same
bars
recur. Truly, pedalling is a life study.
Practising the Piano
The third point may not meet with universal approval.
Whereas many players think: "Where shall I add the
pedal ?" much can be learned by saying "Where shall it be
:
26
Finger Passages
THESE quick passages in single notes are a very important
and universally recognised department of piano playing.
Certain processes are always useful in mastering them and
the problem is often which to adopt first and when to change
over to another instead of blindly hammering away with the
one. Try ringing the changes on some of these.
I .
Practising hand staccato
Suppose to be the left-hand part of Chopin's Study, op.
it
practice is to study
the melodic elements in the passage
work", but these are too often forgotten during spells of
meaningless drudgery. It may be asked: "Why practise
staccato when that is going to be the
passages with hand
wrong mechanism in the end?" The answer is that although
the themselves will have to make the movements
fingers
when the semiquavers are played up to time, this early
treatment will both give them greater strength and agility
with which to do so at a later date, and engrave more firmly
on your memory the order in which the notes (and the fingers
which produce those notes) follow each other.
Now whereas the loudest hand staccato we can achieve
27
Practising the Piano
will add most
to our reserves of muscular strength, it is also
J
The
I? J I
qua-li -
ty
J iJ
of mer -
7 J J
is not
u
strained
cy
2. Group practice
That is, short groups, one at a time (Ex. 39^, b and c) :
^
Ex.39*.
Ex.39b.
28
Finger Passages
of the fingertips although the note is held on by the finger
that played it ; putting as many fingers on the notes which
are to follow as can be reached from the one which is being
held down or the apparently negative plan of leaving all the
;
3. See-sawing
See-sawing on every note, every other note and every fifth
29
Practising the Piano
unaided music can tell us its own tale, how, for instance, the
may build up a mighty edifice without any
very "scoring"
dynamic observances. It can certainly help us to think of
continuity for its own sake and in
no way prevents us from
planning our eventual interpretation.
It may seem out of place here to concentrate for a while
on making each individual phrase complete in itself, but it is
symbolic of our present quest and a foundation upon
which
can be
larger and ever larger units gradually reared. If you
breath just
sing each phrase right through without taking
before you play it, and then while playing it keep this vocal
3*
On Playing Works as a Whole
effort in mind, the result will be marked by a certain unmis-
takable unity. Building up on this foundation, day by day,
a possible week's programme for a complete sonata would
be as follows :
33
Practising the Piano
"Remember you must always think back,
that at rehearsal
and in performance you must always think forward" so
simply put that we may not realise their full value at a first
reading.Compare "think forward" with the idea of a tidal
wave or a favourite ejaculation of Tobias Matthay who
would punctuate a pupil's performance with the magic word
"towards" in a stage whisper, thrown in at intervals like the
If enough has been
spurrings of horsemen in bygone days.
said, it
may yet be necessary for a lot to be done about
34
Double Thirds
SOME piano teachers who are precise in their choice
of words (a truly estimable thing) object to the expression
"double thirds" as applied to thirds played by one hand.
But we speak of double notes for passages of regular or
assorted thirds, fourths, sixths, and so on, in a way similar
the string players with their double
to, if less logical than,
i
J a 4 sempre simile
The slurs are not essential, nor is the rhythm, but both help
to fix the idea of the fingering. Both voices, or either voice,
can be totally legato all the time. It will be noticed that we
start again for the return journey, thereby producing
different fingers on the individual thirds.
With recurrent groups of three, three octaves will be
Ex.43.
RJH.
Ex.44.
Ex.45.
j t j f s 1 1
nTj
Mixed groups are five in number, three of which combine
pairs andthrees, and the other two threes and fours. All
five result in the same notes getting the same fingers in
every octave as in single-note scales. Threes and fours (Exx.
46, 47, 48, 49 and 50) give us the principle upon which
LJ LJ f
is.
37
Practising the Piano
H
x.48.*-
* i
;
a
|
!.
4
i
}
i
J4 .
i
38
Double Thirds
@
Ex.5I.a
21 21 21 21 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
3^P
*a a a a a
r r p IF^ ^a a aaaa
84 84 M 84 84 83
Ex.52. 54
T> BT 32
a
82
a
32
64
82
a
82
64
82
64
82
64
82 23
^
23
a
23
45
23
aaaa 23 23 23 23
m m 1
ua. *
a a a
=
P =1
legato
(Ex.54):
r r i
p
"j j p
i
Lii
_
M i^
4
L
5J
'
a
4
L
W
*
2
4
5i I
U 4
ii
|S
f
* 57*g
|| J *
*- "}
I
a
g
"^
39
Practising the Piano
*
*
Ex.55.fi
Ex.57
p
and what was said before about the grace notes will now
apply to the semiquavers.
The exercises should be transposed into all the other
major keys, in some of which they may be found more
tricky to play. The many differences of position in relation
to the black keys will be of muscular benefit, there will be
twelves times as much ground to cover, and both the neigh-
bours' and the practiser's own ears will experience decided
relieffrom the changes of sound. Later on, the whole-tone
clusters of Ex. 22 can
provide a welcome variety of musical
effect while spreading the fingers slightly wider
apart.
42
8
43
Practising the Piano
An advantage that you might never dream of theoretically
is that the poise of your arms during the silent practice is
44
9
45
Practising the Piano
But how can we know whether what we do is relaxation or
a lift? The answer can be delivered with the scornful
triumph of a child "Easy !" If the finger remains
: on the
surface of the key instead of in the air even a millionth of an
inch away, the staccato cannot have contained any element
of a lift. So when you hear (i) that the accentuation has been
f as in tie composition
Vri 3E ii
pausing at each double rap to make sure you have been suc-
cessful in all three respects perhaps at the pace of ^40*
When you later test the value of such work by trying the
Ex.61.
caniabile
47
Practising the Piano
are chosen out of hundreds of equally suitable ones. The
treatment in Ex. 63 can be carried right through the piece
until the final four chords. My usual advice is to play the
Ex.63. Chopin: Prelude in Ft
s*
zyiH
w*
r u *
x.66a. Ex.66b.
Ex. 67.
Practising in Solid Chords
right hand should treat the third beat like this (Ex. 68) :
Ex.68.
At the end of bar fifty-seven, the two hands should play thus
(Ex. 69) :
Ex.69.
and the best plan for the left hand at the very end is probably
this (Ex. 70) :
Ex. 70.
\ 4
49
Practising the Piano
Ex, 72.
a little
humouring enables the chords played to go on
exemplifying the fingering (Ex, 73) :
Ex.73.
Ex.74a* Ch :
Fantasy Impromptu Ex. 74b,
Octaves
Ex.75.
Ex.76. _ _.- j
^ ^
~iF
53
Practising the Piano
Ex.79.
i
such a stretch is
phenomenal in man or woman and we can
say that it is normally impossible to play octaves finger-
legato in both voices. In view of this it is
generally much
better for one voice to be very legato and the other quite
detached, than for both to be nearly legato. And as a rule
the artful assistance of the pedal is indispensable in addition
to any finger legato we can achieve. Even when the effect is
acoustically legato, that on the listener's mind will often fail
to satisfy because subtle matters of accentuation are so far-
Simplified Versions of
Difficult
%/ Passages
o
SOME publications, like the Hall6 Classics with which I
was familiar as a small child, preface the pieces with pre-
Ex.80. t
I
This might be followed by playing the right hand as it is
written and the left hand as above and then vice versa.
55
Practising the Piano
Another pair of complementary processes is for one hand to
play what is written and the
other hand the first note of
Ex.81.
rrni,g
in bars fifteen and sixteen. A
third pair of complementary
to is
stop in the middle of every beat and omit
processes
the notes that complete it (Ex. 82) :
(Ex. 83) :
Ex. 83.
etc.
Then right hand as written, left hand two quavers a bar only,
giving us the essential bass voice. Three notes instead of two
will be necessary in the eighth bar (Ex. 86) :
Ex.86.
J I J h *
J i J I
Ex.87o. _
57
Practising the Piano
practise it by itself
with fist clenches, and so on (four to the
bar at first), and also with another quaint device taking all
the single notes with the wrong finger. Try the thumb first,
then second, third, fourth and only then the correct fifth
finger.
1 These apparently perverse alternatives will greatly
skill in tackling leaps, and when you begin to
improve your
enjoy the fruits of all this labour you can further improve
your skill by playing all those single notes, with the different
fingers, an octave lower
than they are written !
For the C minor Study, op. 10, no. 12, let us consider at
least two processes. First, playing all the melody in single
notes (the top note of each chord or octave) while the left-
hand part is unaltered. Second, playing the right-hand part
unaltered while the left-hand part is simplified to the utter-
most. This latter will work out as follows :
In the introduction only play this (Ex. 88) :
Ex.88.
When the big tune comes in (bar ten), play nothing but the
low 'cello Cs for five bars, holding them on as semibreves and
minims. Then this (Ex. 89) :
Ex.89.
u . u.i L.J i ir *
-
m
the essential bass voice in fact. Continue with the essential
bass voice, and at points which you can easily recognise a
chord instead of one note will twice be preferable (Ex. 90) :
Ex90. a
1 When octaves occur instead of single notes, take the high road or the low road as
preferred*
Simplified Versions of Difficult Passages
and on the last page this (Ex. 9 1) :
Ex.91.
equal use for much shorter passages. Once the idea of sim-
plified versions has
been accepted, there is practically no
end to the occasions on which it will come to our rescue.
'3
ticularly valuable
the habit in studying such independent
is
counterpoint as that of
a Two-part Invention by Bach, in
which the eventual effect should be that of an equally
matched duet. Try playing any one of those Inventions with
your thumbs only for the whole piece (omitting ornaments
if
any), then with the second finger only,
and the third,
fourth and fifth
only in turn, and finally with sensible finger-
ing. Your familiarity with the music and
its
contrapuntal
intricacies in the actual playing, when it comes to this
60
Practising with One Finger
studies of the dry type. Meanwhile the five fingers, the
octaves and the sensible fingering give us a sevenfold ritual
and apart from the occult blessings of that particular
this,
number, arithmetically one better than six.
is
Ex.92.
i
Bx.95.
M J *
Mf * * J *
Hf M M
j IJ
62
Fugal Study
WITH many of the problems of playing I am tempted
to cut out some of the ritual advocated in
these chapters, and
when I do so, hoping to save the time and patience of some
of the brighter pupils, I generally regret it afterwards. With
a four-part fugue it nearly always pays to insist on over
twenty separate processes, and if these are carried out the
comfort and relaxation of many more mere playings through
can be allowed without the risks that often attend heedless
enjoyment.
As a preliminary to the first ten processes, divide your
fugue into sections like fare stages on a 'bus route. The first
63
Practising the Piano
unwise in ordinary playing. The best order for these six
with the left ; (2) alto right hand, bass left ; (3) soprano
right hand, bass left ; (4) alto right hand, tenor left ;
soprano right hand, tenor left ; (6) soprano right hand, alto
left. You will soon realise that if you had done your ten
you a reasonable chance of doing the task that has been set
with a hundred per cent, accuracy and knowing whether you
have done so. It may surprise the reader to be advised to play
all the tied notes
again in these staccato versions. One reason
for this is that it involves the registering of every printed
note in the mind by the fingers, but a more important one
is the way that it
emphasises the dissonance of many sus-
pensions and the beauty as each of them gets resolved.
But it is time to explain why there should be a pair of
staccato processes. Twelve is to be without pedal and thir-
teen with pedaL Twelve will be very disconnected, there-
fore, and it comfort you to pretend that
may humorously
you are a string quartet, that all four bows were stolen by
a rival quartet leader, and that as rehearsal is imperative it
has to be sempre pizzicato. Thirteen will naturally sound
more connected than twelve but will need care if it is not to
be too smudgy. If the pedal is changed about four times a
bar in our C major fugue, the occasional smudges will pro-
bably give a less confused effect than legato organ playing
65
Practising the Piano
in an echoey church. Neat changes will involve a less sharp
staccato at the moments of change than elsewhere, but this
is all to the good in training our fingers to cling on a little
your main duty being not to play the next bit until you have
successfully done so in your head. In fifteen the pauses are
at irregular intervals as in this (Ex. 98) :
Ex.93.
66
Fugal Study
With talented pupils it is sometimes possible to
scrap the
first fifteen,
though often enough it
may prove worthwhile
to have recourse to them afterwards if this or that weakness
makes appearance. In sixteen to nineteen you play the
its
say, you will probably find that you were not really succeed-
ing in your attempt to listen to it !
6?
15
68
Looseness at the Shoulder
BUOO.
a J J J '^ "
f r=t
Down up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down up,
69
Practising the Piano
than your own natural pace it will probably get you con-
fused as to whether you ought to be doing an "up" or a
"down" at a given moment.
Now see-saw with the "down" on every other note
(Ex. 101):
Ex.101.
_j etc,
Ex.102.
^^ ~ -
etc.
(3) little movement with a big accent and (4) little move- ;
give one an impressive accent when the finger has not the
necessary strength for it, and this same little movement can
unstiffen one's upper arm at the shoulder even when accen-
tuation of any kind is undesirable. In the syllabic differen-
tiation so essential to
expressive cantabile playing, the use
of these see-sawings and the sense of treading produced
by the "down" movements bring the greatest comfort to the
70
Looseness at the Shoulder
Gradations of Time
A GOOD deal of textbook doctrine on this subject is at best
it is
fairly easy
to know whether the sequence has been main-
And and
tained. you experiment with accellerandos
as
72
Gradations of Time
-ttc.
J- J5
Ex. 103 Is
dangerously easy to overdo* Such liberties are
and the problem is often how much to
called falsifications
Ex.105.
i
shatter
Ex.106.
fiercely
73
Practising the Piano
Ex.108. Chopin: Nocturne In F$
74
Gradations of Time
to exaggerate its
importance.
Take
the skips of a typical
skip to
dash like lightning to the next position. If in our
first example you seem to reach the silent diamond-headed
notes at the very moment when the crotchet you have just
is heard, it will
appear to be the sort of conjuring
played
trick required (Ex. 1 1
1)
:
-*
It
may be tantalising at first
to reach your diamond-headed
note and not play it, but to play it tends to lessen the value
of the skip itself remove from your mind, in fact, the
to
it. The
very thing you had most wished to impress upon
slower you play, the quicker can the skips be made and the
76
Preparing of Hand Positions
ExJ12a.^z^ro ,*
^\> I 1 I
f^
^
3=^=3 etc.
Ex.ll2b.
tic.
77
Practising the Piano
answer is
naturally more likely to be "yes" in both cases if
the journey is as the crow flies.
79
i8
Beauty of Tone
THIS a subject which has aroused considerable contro-
is
J J-3J
80
Beauty of Tone
Ex.116.
83
Practising the Piano
with the other hand (for both see chapter 5) and very
important singing the groups of the trill when they have
been decided upon, are all three very valuable. If the final
pace of the trill is going to be quicker than the maximum
possible with your vocal technique, to sing a note and roll
an "r" on it is a suggestive and very helpful kind of semi-
mental rehearsal.
A good way of working at a long trill is to come to a stop at
It is
perhaps no exaggeration to say that every trill should
end on the principal note, and this may also involve careful
rhythmical planning. Where a trill needs a turn at the end,
although the penultimate note will be below the principal
note the rhythmical plan will most probably be unaffected.
The shortest real beginning on the principal note and
trill
Ex. 117b.
84
Trills and Rotary Movements of the Forearm
from which we should choose whichever suits the occasion
better. In Ex. 117^ the two halves of the trill are found to
be an upper mordent followed by a turn commencing on the
note above, which seems to leave us with no actual trill !
85
Practising the Piano
Ex.110.
Qttt in out IB oat in opt in oat la oat in oat in oat in oat in oat in oat
out in out in oat in oat in oat in out in oat ia oat in oat in oat in oat oat
86
Trills and Rotary Movements of the Forearm
and thirdly play the passage as it was written, endeavouring
to combine the two
previous processes simultaneously
instead of doing one after the other, an endeavour in which
you will most often succeed. Of course if a friend enters the
room when your hands are "doing their magics" in the air
he may be constrained to ejaculate "Alas are you often
: !
Sight-Reading
THE surest foundation for the best kind of sight-reading is
to cultivate the
power of hearing music in your mind by
looking at the
page. Whether you are already skilled or a
timid and rather unsuccessful beginner in this direction, a
Ex.120.
of a very diatonic
i
Passage work of contrapuntal freedom
character, such as is found in abundance in
Elizabethan
90
,
Sight-Reading
musical insight while sight-reading as well as in the work
which follows it.
it
may result in love at first sight and there will very likely
be a beauty and a freshness in the sound that once lost might
never be regained. Do everything you can to preserve that
lovely bloom "thinking ten times and playing once" will
:
certainly help.
21
Miscellaneous
agility
to play thesame passages in semiquavers, also at
Ex.125.
difficulty
and staggerings will gradually melt out of existence,
so for the passages in question there will cease to be a diffi-
cult pace. It is not often that playing something badly with
conscious realisation of the fact proves positively beneficial.
92
Miscellaneous
TRANSPOSITION
Ex.120. Beethoven* Sonata, op. 81 A
The above, like the twin passage later in the same move-
ment, is one of the sort that we practise for weeks and appear
to have conquered, and then on the night of the concert we
93
Practising the Piano
times as it is, and the
than you had played it twenty-five
if
enormous number of little new movements suddenly
demanded of your hands and fingers will have greatly
increased your physical and mental agility. Of course, few
of be able at first to manage all these trans-
my readers will
it would certainly pay to write out all those
positions, but
that give too much trouble (using the new key signature each
those transpositions from the
time) after which you can play
MS. Do not flinch, even if you have to write out the three
bars quite a number of times, for copying is valuable in
itself. If you are still obliged to grope about in some of the
DUPLICATION
Another way of drudging at the above passage is to play
tiny units of two quavers
twice each in unbroken sequence.
This is a device which allows you to do all the physical
movements in the passage at full speed but with twice as
a neat and most
long to think out what is coming next,
helpfulcombination of the benefits of slow and quick prac-
tice at the same time. Our
particular passage
when dupli-
cated can be advantageously phrased in both the following
ways as far as practising is concerned (Ex. 127) :
Ex 127
94
Miscellaneous
Bodily Stillness
96
Bodily Stillness
was as exciting as it
ought to have been when no visible
movement followed the staccato C, you were probably justi-
fied in the belief. If you had flung your arms into the air
with a dramatic gesture you would have been far more likely
to be self-deceived.
Of course, if you hold yourself still by stiffening, the energy
saved in one direction may be lost in another. The poise of
a racer ready to dart away, or of a cat before a spring, is what
is wanted. Some good devices for cultivating the knack are :
97
23
Athletic Form
THE first
day of the tennis season or of a walking tour
in hilly country often produces aching and stiffness, due to
energetic and persistent use of muscles that have not been
in
vigorous action lately, if indeed ever before. The discom-
fort is appropriately described as healthy tiredness and the
i
Leschetizky used to assert that with any continued
action producing tiredness in the forearm, even to the extent
of a burning sensation, it was all right if the discomfort was
above (thatthe part of the forearm
is, you can see when you
are playing). In that case
you could go on till you were
Athletic Form
"black in the face". But if the discomfort was felt
below,
you were to leave off at once. To find pieces or passages in
which the same sort of difficulty is unremitting is better
than plodding away with dull, unmusical exercises, or, if
you can, to extemporise tunes with modulatory designs and
harmonic variety is an admirable way of combining duty and
pleasure. If you want to exercise both hands at once,
Chopin's Studies op. 25, nos. 3 and 12, are suitable, while
if you
play the same composer's op. 10, nos. 8 and 12 in
alternation, one hand can get respite while the other is
purposely tiring itself. We were advised to repeat such
alternations so that each hand after resting could tire itself
again.
2 Taking similar examples (Chopin Studies, etc.), when
you cannot play them right through without the wrong pain
coming on or the loss of power to sound the notes adequately,
notice at what point the pain or inadequacy occurs. If it is
nearer to the end of the piece on Tuesday than it was on
Monday, healthy tiredness may be diagnosed, especially if
you get still nearer to the end on Wednesday. If the pain or
inadequacy occurs sooner on a later day it
may be regarded
as adanger signal.
is
highly pleasurable. Here one hand stays clenched while
the other hand is playing and one's movements recall those
of a cat that is It was
pleased. in this context of
specially
muscular development that Leschetizky used to add
athletic
his solemn
warning: "And don't forget that the more
technique you get the worse you'll play !" I have probably
quoted this remark to most of the pupils I have had in my
long teaching life. The truth that lies within the palpable
over-statement is that when muscular sensation
engages
too much of our mind as we play, human expression and
IOC
Athletic Form
101
Dramatic Significance
102
Dramatic Significance
numbers and Schubert's Lieder cast floods of light on the
way we should play the works of those masters on the piano.
Similarly, symphonic poems, overtures and innumerable
passages from operas contribute to the wealth of imagina-
tive suggestion that music so richly
provides, even though
the literature of descriptive pieces for
piano is comparatively
small. Notable contributors in that direction have been
Schumann, Grieg and Debussy. The first named was quite
a pioneer in the use of titles (which can be said with no lack
of recognition of earlier pioneers like John Munday, Kuhnau,
and others), though if some of Schumann's are apt indeed,
others are of no perceptible relevance. The titles of Grieg
and Debussy are usually so happily wedded to the music that
titleand music both add to the total beauty and significance.
Some folk decry the whole idea of programme music,
reply was
I meant 1"
: "I meant <
*'
*
---*
J "j J |
. .S_
j. ^ that's what
104
25
Memory
IT may be reasonably urged that those who are able to
memorise their pieces should usually do so and that those
who having done so play better with the music should
play with the music ; there is a vast difference between look-
ing at the page to remind yourself of what you already know
and looking at it to fill in the gaps by last-minute sight-
reading.
At one time the public became very intolerant of soloists
who used the music, only a few favourites like Pachmann
and Pugno could do so with impunity. The repertory of
recital programmes fifty years ago, however, lent itself to
easy and natural memorisation, rarely going back before
Bach and as yet uncomplicated by the bewildering develop-
ments and experiments that were to follow Debussy.
Beethoven, very often Bach, Chopin and most of the com-
posers up to 1900 or so fall into the normal pianist's
memory and stay there. Far fewer players can deal with some
of the ever-changing fashions that have sprung up in the
present century. Going back to the Elizabethans, many of
their effective pieces are unusually difficult to memorise
to give only one instance, the captivating variations on
107
Practising the Piano
A useful if quaint device for beginning anywhere is to
play from further back (the very opening if necessary) on the
surface of the keys, and, at the moment at which you desire
to start, suddenly to play out loud. This is quite amusingly
108
26
Conclusion
109
Practising the Piano
should spend more time on exercises, scales, studies or
study, as in the former, the notes which lie ahead are so very
often aurally and technically less expected. First hearing
these notes in your mind and then finding them on the key-
board with the fingers best suited to do so give you a
better foundation for your technique than that upon which
no
Conclusion
thought :
"They speak truth, they have one-twelfth of the
truth." If what is written in this volume has a small fraction
of the truth it
may help some of my fellow music-lovers to
make further headway on their road. Above all, let us
remember that every pianistic problem has both its origin
and solution in the music itself.
in
INDEX
FADINGS, 85
C/ADENCES, 63 Fantasy Impromptu, 50
Cantabile, 70 Fatigue, 98JF.
Chopin, 2, 21, 24, 25, 27-30, 48-9, "Feroce", 104
50, 55-9, 61, 62, 73, 74, 77, Fielden, Thomas, 104
80-1, 86, 89, 95, 99, 105 Finger passages, 27-30
Practising the Piano
MARTEIXATO, 86
CJRACE NOTES, 41-2 Matthay, Tobias, 34, 85
Gradation, uneven, 15 Mellowness in^ 109
Grieg, 90, 103 Melodic tone gradation, 8; unit, in.
Group practice, 28-9, 53, 83-4 Memorisation, 4, 105-8
Mendelssohn, 3, 22, 23, 46, 47
Mental rehearsal, i, 2, 4, 79, 106
Mentalising technique, 5, 44
HALF-CHANGE, 24 Metronome, practising with, 29
Hall Classics, 55 "Mit bizarrer Plumpheit", 104
Hamlet, 78 Modulations, 12, 21
Hand positions, preparing, 76-9 Moment Musical (Schubert), i, 24
Harmonic effect, 13; progressions, Mood-line, unbroken, 3 1-2
i off! Mordent, upper, 84-5
Haydn, 37, 104 Mouvement (Debussy), 104
Hindemith, 104 Mozart, 102
Hummel, 74 Munday, John, 103
Muscular development, 98-101
"T
INNOCENTS", 104
Inversion, 13 NARRANTE" 104
Neuritis, 98
Nikisch, Artur, 3 1
Nocturne in B major (Chopin), 21;
JACOBS,
W. W., 22 in D flat (Chopin), 74; in F
sharp (Chopin), 74
114
Index
116
Interpreting Mozart
on the Keyboard
84$ net
128282