correct but the constant supervision by a good teacher, assisted by a
strong exertion of your own will power and strictest attention whenever
you play. This bending out of the first joint is one of the hardest
pianistic ailments to cure, but it is curable. Do not be discouraged if
the cure is slow. The habit of years cannot be thrown off in a day.
5. ACTION OF THE WRIST
[Sidenote: _Don't Stiffen the Hands in Playing Scales_]
Should the hands be kept perfectly still in playing scales and
arpeggios? Or, to lessen fatigue, is an occasional rise and fall of the
wrist permissible in a long passage of scale or arpeggio?
The hands should, indeed, be kept still, but not stiff. Protracted
passages of scales or arpeggios easily induce a stiffening of the wrist.
Hence, an occasional motion of the wrist, upward and downward, will do
much to counteract this tendency. It will, besides, be a good test of
the looseness of the wrist.
[Sidenote: _The Loose Wrist_]
Is it not impossible to preserve a complete looseness of the wrist in
piano-playing because of the muscles that connect the forearm with the
hand?
By no means. You should only see to it that you do not stiffen the wrist
_unconsciously_, as most players do. The arm should be held so that the
wrist is on a line with it, not bent, and by concentrated thinking you
should endeavour to transfer the display of force to the finger-tips
instead of holding the tension in your arm. For this produces fatigue,
while the way I suggest will lead you to develop considerable force
through the hand and fingers alone and leave the arm practically limp
and loose. It takes months of study under closest attention, however, to
acquire this looseness of the arm.
[Sidenote: _The Position of the Wrist_]
Do you favour a low or high position of the wrist for average type of
work?
For average work, I recommend an average position; neither high nor low.
Changes, upward or downward, must be made to meet the requirements of
special occasions.
[Sidenote: _Do Not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff_]
If one's wrist is stiff is there any set of exercises especially adapted
to acquiring a freer movement? Or is there any special method of
exercise?
It depends on whether your wrist is stiff from non-use or from wrong
use. Assuming the latter, I should recommend studies in wrist octaves,
but you must watch your wrist while playing and rest at the slightest
indication of its stiffening.
6. ACTION OF THE ARM
[Sidenote: _When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing_]
I cannot play tremolo in the left hand for any length of time without
great fatigue. I have tried changing the position of the hand from high
to low, the sidewise motion, and the quiet hand. What is the correct
method, and may the difficulty be overcome by slow practice?
The tremolo cannot be practised slowly, nor with a stiff or quiet hand.
The action must be distributed over the hand, wrist, underarm and, if
necessary, the elbow. The shoulder forms the pivot whence a vibratory
motion must proceed and engage all the points on the road to the
fingers. The division of labour cannot be done consciously, but should
better proceed from a feeling as if the whole arm was subjected to an
electric current while engaged in playing a tremolo.
[Sidenote: _Play Chords With a Loose Arm_]
Should octave chords be played with rigid arms, the wrists and fingers
thereby increasing the tone volume, or should the arms be loose? My
teachers differ in their methods; so I turn to you for advice.
With few exceptions, dictated by certain characterizations, chords
should always be played with a loose arm. Let the arm pull the hand
above the keys and then let both fall heavily upon them, preparing the
fingers for their appropriate notes while still in the air and not, as
many do, after falling down. This mode of touch produces greater
tone-volume, is least fatiguing, and will have no bad after-effects.
7. STRETCHING
[Sidenote: _Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching_]
I stretch between my fingers--taking the second and third, for instance,
and trying to see how many keys I can get between them. It has helped
me, but shall I be doing wrong to continue?
If, as you say, you feel benefited by your stretching exercises you may
continue them. But in your place I should beware of fatigue, for while
the hand may show an improvement in its stretch while you are practising
these exercises, if it is fatigued it will afterward contract so that
its stretch is liable to become narrower than it was before.
[Sidenote: _Do Not Injure the Hand by Stretching It_]
Is there any way to increase the stretch of my very small hand?
Any modern teacher, acquainted with stretching your hand, can devise
certain exercises that will be applicable to your particular hand. As
the lack of stretch, however, may be due to a number of different causes
I should advise you to desist from any stretch exercise that might be
recommended to you without a close examination of your hand, since the
wrong kind of exercise is not only apt, but bound, to injure it, perhaps
permanently.
[Sidenote: _A Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand_]
Is there any exercise, on the piano or otherwise, that would tend to
stretch my hand so as to enable me to play octaves? My fingers are short
and stubby. My teacher has not given me anything definite on this score.
The attempts to widen the natural stretch of the hand by artificial
means lead easily to disastrous results. It was by just such attempts
that Schumann rendered his hand useless for piano-playing. The best I
can recommend is that before playing you soak your hands in rather hot
water for several minutes and then--while still in the water--stretch
the fingers of one hand with the other. By doing this daily you will
gain in stretch, provided you refrain from forcing matters, and provided
also that you are still young, and your hands are flexible.
8. THE THUMB
[Sidenote: "_What is the Matter With My Scales?_"]
What is the matter with my scales? I cannot play them without a
perceptible jerk when I use my thumb. How can I overcome the unevenness?
In answering this question I am in the position of a physician who is
expected to prescribe a treatment for a patient whom he has neither
examined nor even seen. I can therefore advise only in a very general
way--as I have done with many questions to avoid the eventuality of
being confronted by an exceptional case. The cause of the hand's unrest
in the passing of the thumb lies usually in transferring the thumb too
late. The thumb waits usually until the very moment when it is needed
and then quickly jumps upon the proper key, instead of moving toward it
as soon as the last key it touched can be released. This belatedness
causes a jerky motion of the arm and imparts it to the hand. Another
cause lies in a fault no less grave than the first. Since the hand has
only five fingers while the scale numbers many notes (according to its
length), the player must replenish his fingers by passing the thumb
under the hand so as to form a conjunction between the notes played and
those to be played. This passing of the thumb conditions a change or
shifting of the hand toward the keys to follow, but the shifting of the
hand must not coincide with the passing of the thumb or the result will
be a jerk. The position of the hand in relation to the keyboard must not
change. It must remain the same until the thumb has struck its new key.
Not until then must the shifting of the hand take place. In this way the
jumpiness or jerkiness of the scale can be avoided, provided one can
follow this precept punctiliously--which is not an easy matter,
especially in great speed. Alas, why are those pesky scales so
difficult, in fact, the most difficult thing to do on the piano?
[Sidenote: _How to Hold the Thumb_]
What is the correct position for the thumb? Should it be curved well
under the hand while playing?
In scale-playing the thumb should be slightly curved and kept near the
index finger in order to be ready when needed. In pieces this position
of the thumb cannot, of course, always be observed.
[Sidenote: _Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?_]
Should one pay special attention to the training of the thumb?
It may be said that the thumb and the middle finger are the two
arch-conspirators against a precise finger technique. They crave your
greatest attention. Above all, you must see to it that, in touching the
keys with these fingers, you do not move the whole hand, still less the
arm.
9. THE OTHER FINGERS
[Sidenote: _The Fourth and Fifth Fingers_]
What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and the
fifth fingers?
Any collection of Etudes is sure to contain some that are devoted to
the training of those two fingers. In the Cramer Etudes (Bulow's
selection) you will find Nos. 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 20 adapted to your
case, but do not pin your faith to the print! In all matters of art the
"how" is of far more consequence than the "what." Play what you will,
but bear your weak points in mind while you play. This is the real
remedy. Keep hand and arm as loose as you can while training the fourth
and fifth fingers.
[Sidenote: _The Action of the Little Finger_]
In making wide skips in which the little finger strikes a single note,
as, for instance, in left-hand waltz accompaniments, should one strike
on the end of the little finger or on its side; and should the finger be
curved or held more or less flat?
The little finger should never strike with its side. It should always be
held in its normally curved condition, and straighten at the stroke only
on such occasions when its own force proves insufficient and requires
the assistance of the wrist and arm muscles.
10. WEAK FINGERS, ETC.
[Sidenote: _To Strengthen the Weak Finger Use It_]
How can I strengthen the little finger of my right hand? I avoid it in
playing, using the next finger instead.
By employing your little finger as much as possible and at once quitting
the habit of substituting another finger for it.
[Sidenote: _The Weak Fingers of the Left Hand_]
What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and
fifth fingers of the left hand?
Slow trill with various touches, with highly lifted fingers producing
strength through their fall and with a lesser lift of the fingers
combined with pressure touch, watching closely that the little finger
strikes with the tip and not with the side. Rhythmic evenness should
also be punctiliously observed.
[Sidenote: _When the Fingers Seem Weak_]
What kind of technical work would you advise me to take to make my
fingers strong in the shortest time consistent with good work?
If your fingers are unusually weak it may be assumed that your muscular
constitution in general is not strong. The training of the fingers
alone will, in that case, lead to no decisive results. You will have to
strive for a general strengthening of your muscular fibre. At this
point, however, begins the province of your physician and mine ends. If
you consider your constitution normal, four or five hours' daily work at
the piano will develop the necessary digital force, if that time is
judiciously used.
[Sidenote: _No Necessity to Watch the Fingers_]
Is it always necessary to watch the fingers with the eye?
In places where the fingers slide, and do not jump from one note to
another at a distance, there is no need of keeping the eye on them.
[Sidenote: _Biting the Finger-Nails Spoils the Touch_]
Is biting the finger-nails injurious to the piano touch?
Certainly; biting the nails or any other injury to the finger-tips and
hand will spoil your touch. Extreme cleanliness and care in cutting the
nails the proper length are necessary to keep your hands in condition
for playing the piano.
[Sidenote: _To Prevent Sore Finger-Tips After Playing_]
How can I prevent my finger-tips, after prolonged playing, from feeling
sore the next day?
Experience teaches that in such cases, as in many others, cleanliness is
the best remedy. After playing wash your fingers at once in warm water,
with soap and brush, and then rub them well with either cold cream or
some similar fatty substance. In the development of speed on the piano,
the rigidity of the skin on the fingers is a great hindrance; it makes
us feel as if we played with gloves on the fingers.
[Sidenote: _Broad-Tipped Fingers Not a Disadvantage_]
Are broad-tipped fingers considered a detriment to a man student of
piano; for instance, if the finger grazes the black keys on each side
when playing between them?
Unless broad-tipped fingers are of an unusual thickness I do not
consider them an obstacle in the way of good piano-playing; the less so,
as the white keys--whatever shape the fingers may have--should never be
struck between the black ones, but only in the midst of the open space.
Altogether, I hold that the shape of the hand is of far greater
importance to the pianist than the shape of his fingers; for it
furnishes the fingers with a base of operations and with a source of
strength, besides holding the entire control over them. Studying the
hands and fingers of celebrated pianists you will find a great variety
of finger shapes, while their hands are usually broad and muscular.
[Sidenote: _What to do With the Unemployed Hand_]
When playing a piece in which a rest of a measure and a half or two
measures occurs should I drop my hand in my lap or keep it on the
keyboard?
If the temporarily unemployed hand is tired it will rest better in the
lap, because this position favours the blood circulation, which, in its
turn, tends to renew the strength. I should, however, not put it away
from the keyboard too often, for this might easily be taken for a
mannerism.
11. STACCATO
[Sidenote: _Wrist Staccato at a High Tempo_]
What can I do to enable me to play wrist staccato very fast without
fatiguing the arm?
Change your wrist staccato for a little while to a finger or arm
staccato, thus giving the wrist muscles a chance to rest and regain
their strength.
[Sidenote: _The Difference Between "Finger Staccato" and Other Kinds_]
What does "finger staccato" mean? Is not staccato always done with the
fingers?
By no means! There is a well-defined arm staccato, a wrist staccato, and
a finger staccato. The latter is produced by a touch similar to the
rapid repetition touch--that is, by not allowing the fingers to fall
perpendicularly upon the keys, but rather let them make a motion as if
you were wiping a spot off the keys with the finger-tips, without the
use of the arm, and rapidly pulling them toward the inner hand. The arm
should take no part in it whatever.
12. LEGATO
[Sidenote: _The Advantage of Legato Over Staccato_]
Is it better for me to practise more staccato or more legato?
Give the preference to legato, for it produces the genuine piano tone,
and it develops the technique of the fingers; while the staccato touch
always tends to draw the arm into action. If you play from the arm you
cannot expect any benefit for the fingers. For the acquisition of a
legitimate legato Chopin's works cannot be highly enough recommended,
even in the transcriptions by Godowsky, which become impossible when
tried with any touch other than legato. He wrote them, so to speak, out
of his own hand, and his legato is so perfect that it may well be taken
as a model by anybody.
[Sidenote: _To Produce Good Legato_]
Should you advise me to make use of a high finger-stroke? My teacher
makes me use it exclusively, but I notice that my playing is neither
legato nor quiet. It is almost humpy.
Your manner of putting the question expressed your own--and
correct--judgment in the matter. This playing "in the air" is lost
energy, and will not lead to a good legato. The most beautiful tone in
legato style is ever produced by a "clinging and singing" gliding of the
fingers over the keys. Of course, you have to watch your touch in order
that your "clinging" does not deteriorate into "blurring," and that your
"gliding" may not turn into "smearing." If you apprehend any such
calamity you must for a while increase the raising of your fingers and
use more force in their falling upon the keys. Under constant
self-observation and keen listening you may, after a while, return to
the gliding manner. This much in general; of course, there are places
and passages where just the opposite of my advice could be said, but
still I think that the high finger-stroke should rather be employed for
some special characteristic effects than as a general principle.
[Sidenote: _The Firm and Crisp Legato Touch_]
I am confused by the terms "firm legato touch" and "crisp legato touch."
Wherein lies the difference?
Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word
"connected." Two tones are either connected or they are not connected.
The idea of various kinds of legato is purely a sophism, a product of
non-musical hyper-analysis. By "legato" I understand the connecting of
tones with each other through the agency of the fingers (on the piano).
The finger that evoked a tone should not leave its key until the tone
generated by the next finger has been perceived by the ear. This rule
governs the playing of melodies and slow passages. In rapid passages,
where the control through the ear is lessened, the legato is produced by
more strictly mechanical means, but there should, nevertheless, always
be two fingers simultaneously occupied. Do not take the over-smart
differentiations of legato seriously. There is no plural to the word
"legato."
13. PRECISION
[Sidenote: _Not Playing the Two Hands at Once_]
My teachers have always scolded me for playing my left hand a little
before my right. It is probably a very bad habit, but I do not hear it
when I do it How can I cure it?
This "limping," as it is called, is the worst habit you can have in
piano playing, and you are fortunate in having a teacher who persists in
his efforts to combat it. There is only one way to rid yourself of this
habit, namely, by constant attention and closest, keenest listening to
your own playing. You are probably misstating it when you say that you
do not "hear" it when you "limp"; it seems more likely to me that you
do not listen. Hearing is a purely physical function which you cannot
prevent while awake, while listening is an act of your will-power--it
means to give direction to your hearing.
14. PIANO TOUCH _vs._ ORGAN TOUCH
[Sidenote: _How Organ-Playing Affects the Pianist_]
Is alternate organ and piano playing detrimental to the "pianistic
touch"?
Inasmuch as the force of touch and its various gradations are entirely
irrelevant on the organ, the pianist who plays much on the organ is more
than liable to lose the delicacy of feeling for tone-production through
the fingers, and this must, naturally, lessen his power of expression.
[Sidenote: _Organ-Playing and the Piano Touch_]
Is it true that a child beginning music lessons on an organ gets much
better tone than one beginning on a piano, and does the side study of
pipe-organ, after two years of extensive piano work, impair the piano
touch?
It is only natural that a child can get better tone out of an organ than
on a piano, because it is not the child but the organ that produces the
tone. If the child's purpose, however, is to learn piano-playing it
would not be wise to let him begin on an organ, because this would leave
the essential element--the art of touch--entirely undeveloped. And if
his piano touch has been formed it can easily be undone again by letting
him play on the organ.
15. FINGERING
[Sidenote: _The Universal System of Marking Fingering_]
In what respect does American fingering differ from foreign fingering,
and which offers the greater advantages?
There is no "American" fingering. Many years ago the "English" fingering
(which counts only four fingers and a thumb, and indicates the latter by
a plus mark: +) was adopted by a few of the less prominent publishers in
America; but it was soon abandoned. If you have a piece of sheet music
with English fingering you may be certain that it is not of a recent
edition, and I would advise you to obtain a more modern one. The
advantage of the universal fingering lies in its greater simplicity, and
in the circumstance that it is universally adopted.
[Sidenote: _The C-Scale Fingering for All Scales?_]
Do you advise the use of the C-scale fingering for all the scales? Is it
practicable?
The C-scale fingering is not applicable to scales reposing on black keys
because it creates unnecessary difficulties, the mastering of which
would be a matter rather of mere sport than of art.
[Sidenote: _Fingering the Chromatic Scale_]
Which fingering of the chromatic scale the is most conducive to speed
and accuracy?
The right thumb always upon E and B, the left one upon F and C. Between
times use three or four consecutive fingers as often as convenient. At
the beginning of a long chromatic scale select such fingers as will most
naturally bring you to one of the stations just mentioned.
[Sidenote: _The Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent_]
When executing the mordent, is not the use of three fingers preferable
to two?
The selection of the fingers for the execution of a mordent depends
always upon the preceding notes or keys which lead up to it. Since
we cannot lift the hand just before a mordent for the purpose of
changing fingers (for this would mean a rude interruption) we have
to use whatever fingers happen to be "on hand." An exchange of
fingers in a mordent is seldom of any advantage, for it hampers
precision and evenness, since, after all, each finger has its own
tone-characteristics.
16. THE GLISSANDO
[Sidenote: _To Play a Glissando Passage_]
Will you describe the best method of holding the hand when playing
glissando? Which is preferable to use, the thumb or the forefinger?
In playing glissando in the right hand use the index finger when going
upward, the thumb when going downward. In the left hand--where it hardly
ever occurs--use the middle finger in either direction, or, if you
should find it easier, the index finger downward. The production of so
great a volume of tone, as is possible on our modern piano, has
necessitated a deeper fall of the keys than former pianos possessed, and
this deeper dip has banished the glissando almost entirely from modern
piano literature.
17. OCTAVES
[Sidenote: _How Best to Play the Octaves_]
Should I play octaves using the "hinge" stroke from the wrist or by
using the arm? I find I can get more tone by using the arm stroke, but
cannot play so rapidly.
The character of the octaves must govern the selection of means to
produce them. For light octaves use the wrist, for heavier ones draw
more upon the arm. Rapidity requires that you avoid fatigue. If you feel
fatigue approaching from too constant use of one joint, change to the
other, and in doing this change also the position of the hand from high
to low, and _vice versa_. For wrist octaves I recommend the low position
of the hand, for arm octaves the high one.
[Sidenote: _Rapid Octaves_]
Please suggest some method of playing octaves rapidly to one who finds
this the most difficult part of piano-playing. Would be grateful also
for naming some octave etudes that could be used in the repertoire.
If rapid octaves seem to be "the most difficult part of piano-playing"
to you, take it as an indication that they do not suit your nature. A
"method" will never change your nature. This need not discourage you,
however; it is only to prevent you from trying to make a specialty of
something for which you are not especially qualified and to save you a
needless disappointment. Hold arms and hands in but a slight tension,
and at the slightest fatigue change the position of the hand from high
to low and _vice versa_. Your seat at the piano should not be too low.
Study the first book of Kullak's Octave School, and, later on, the
second book.
[Sidenote: _When Playing Octaves_]
When should I use the arm to play octaves as I have seen some concert
players do? As I was watching them there did not seem to be the
slightest motion from the wrist.