Voice those chords!

When playing anything with multiple voices in a chordal fashion, voicing is almost always an issue. A helpful image I like to give my students is to visualize holding and supporting a basketball with two hands out in front of you.  3-4-5 have more grip or support of the ball on the bottom and the thumbs which are higher up on the ball should be more relaxed and floating.

Picture above with a more relaxed expression :0).  This visualization will help achieve the right angle of the hands on the keyboard directing sound towards the outer voices for greater effect.

Awareness-how does one actually get around?

When it comes down to it, there are really only 5 ways of getting around the piano keyboard no matter how intricate or expressive the passage; most of what actually is dependent upon the actual dexterity/flexibility of the palm. Knowledge of the actual process makes for more coherency in the playing, allowing one to concentrate rather, on the artistic purpose of the passage. 1. Contraction (shrinking of the hand smaller than actual finger interval span) 2. Expansion/reaching (opposite of contraction) 3. Jumping/skipping/hopping 4. Crossing over and under 5. Finger substitution (switching fingers when repeating a note shifts the hand's position)

The Working Unit

Most students make the mistake and waste countless amounts of time playing through versus practicing. They fail to realize that things need to be fixed or examined in smaller sections than what most students take on when "playing through".

A run-through/play through involves a larger unit and consists anywhere from 8 bars to an entire movement or piece. While run-throughs are necessary, by themselves, they are not a sufficient or productive way to practice and learn material. Run-throughs should take up less than half of the practice time.

The working unit, on the other hand, allows the pianist/student to focus and fully comprehend the material. Like phone numbers and clumping, the human brain can only fully comprehend so much material at a time. As such, the base of the working unit is usually 2 bars, sometimes 4 or 8, and always ends on the downbeat of the following bar. For example, a 2 bar working unit ends on the downbeat of bar 3. By practicing until the next downbeat, the pianist avoids the faux paux of ceaseless hesitations, strange rubatos when linking together complete phrases, the unnatural stopping-starting created by technical deficiencies.

Chopin-How to get those improvisational and notoriously difficult florid passages seamless and fluid

Thought for the Day...

We know we all struggle to make fluid those odd multi-note florid passages in Chopin which tend to go on forever. Instead of using the heavier dotted-note rhythms to make such passages even, try stopping on every note in the sequence instead.

For example - if the passage is 16 notes long, then stop on note 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc. 16. This allows you to explore the in and outs of the keyboard and naturally molds your hand shape to the unique shape of the passage, making the figures easier to shape over the underlying harmony later on.

How to Practice Scales

Everybody wants to know how to practice scales. Quite simply, most students do not play scales on a routine basis because they simply have no idea why exactly they are asked to play them.

Scales are a great way to warm up not just physically, but to help prepare the mind for the appropriate stylistic aesthetic ahead. In other words, scales can be used as a tactile and aural preparation for the style of piece about to be played.

For the Intermediate player, transfer student, or even advanced player, I teach my students to practice scales four distinctive ways and as needed as listening exercises to warm up before learning a piece of music. These four types of scales are of course, simplifications which I have arrived at for ease of use and explanation. This is just one way to introduce a basic variety of touches that every pianist should consistently have at their disposal.

In order to listen more carefully, practice hands separately for this purpose. Please see above for my "Scales in the Style of...."

Common Pitfalls to Avoid when Playing Mozart

The deceptively simple textures of Mozart are hazardous for even the most seasoned performers

Two things often found in intermediate performances of this composer.

1. Rushed ornamental figures. Decorative small notes should always be played with ease (almost languidness) and never on the heavy side. In other words, never squeeze the florid notes.

2. 16th-note accompanimental figures (usually l.h), usually sound too groupy. These figures rather, should follow a longer line and go on forever (carry a lyrical momentum).

Other helpful hints

1. Listen so that the horizontal line or motion goes all the way to, or even through the rest.

2. Phrase through the articulation. Do not let it break the shape of the phrase.

Sightread in Keys

For the summer, one of the best things to do and to make sight-reading much more enjoyable, not so tedious and effective is to sightread in keys!

For example, for the intermediate and even advanced student, a great way to spend the afternoon is to grab a copy of Schubert Waltzes and sight read day by day...

All the ones in E Major.

All the ones in A Major

than, pick some minor keys...

e minor

d minor

b minor

f minor, etc.

Try it out! You will be surprised how effective this be in improving your reading very quickly. Good luck!

Piano Action

As pianists, we all go through phases of reinventing, maintaining, and fine tuning our "touch. Things we all struggle with on a daily basis-legato, cantabile, etc.

Besides the technical aspect of it, there are so many factors we discount in our pianistic development. The largest oversight and handicap being the type of instrument we spent the most time on practicing as a child.

I myself grew up on a C7 yamaha. It is a big piano with a big sound. When I was 10, I fell in love with it for the huge sound it was capable of producing and the really acute bright articulation delivered in brilliant passage work.

However, what the instrument lacked was a variety of color from mf and belowother than a thin and colorless p. This made it extremely difficult to voice other than brightly and brashly, and as such, I struggled with controlling and voicing the softer sounds. In addition, the stringency of the attack made fine legato work very difficult because the singing and slower cantabile touch was not possible on this massive piano without many disappearing notes. The instrument was incapable of many subtleties.

The pluses. Because of the powerful melodic factor and actual difficulty in playing the instrument (heavy action), it served greatly in the aid of memorization and security of playing because of its powerful sound and melodic reinforcement.

After leaving home for many years and spending time on beat up conservatory instruments, usually Steinway M's and L's, I find that yes I have better ability to voice and control my p sounds, and listen more carefully to legato, but on the other hand, my touch itself has gotten much more sluggish (lighter action), and my memory is not as infallible as before! The other explanation...I must be getting old!