Finchcocks in collaboration with the European Piano Teachers’ Association invites you to “An evening with Heli Ignatius-Fleet” on Sunday 9 June 2019, at which I will be giving a presentation on piano technique. Venue: Finchcocks, Goudhurst Kent TN17 1HH. For more details and to book your ticket, visit the Finchcocks website.
It was fine at home
How often do we hear our pupils say just that? And as performing pianists, we know the psychological challenge of performing. The exhilaration of live performance comes at some cost. There are useful books on the topic, but it is up to us, the teachers, to work on performance skills just as we work on the other aspects of pianism.
The thorough knowledge and understanding of the musical score is the starting point. All through the learning process a pianist builds multiple maps of the music: a map of musical intensities and atmospheres; a chart of the technical challenges (with the solutions); a detailed analysis – and for secure memorisation, mental practising.
Exams and competitions are performances with a particular edge, and most of our pupils need preparation for these. We can help pupils by making them aware of the difference between just playing through – and performing. The preparation for an actual performance should therefore start with a performance to oneself (with honest reflections), then a lesson performance (with ensuing discussion).
A performance to friends and family could follow, before an actual workshop with fellow students. The workshops are not just a chance to play to a supportive expert audience: they are an opportunity to learn from listening to others.
You can register your interest for my performance preparation workshops on the Contact page.
Not just fingers
We now no longer believe that piano technique simply means strong fingers. With poor Schumann in mind, I have thought of some fresh approaches to piano technique, ideas which can be introduced at the very first lesson – and then carried through all stages of learning. Susan Hallam writes about learning the piano being “skills acquisition”. Identifying and naming skills conceptualises them. So, the first concept is to be body aware, to sit properly, to move one’s arms freely (wonderful ball and socket joint, the shoulder!), keeping elbows floating, wrists flexible – but the knuckles need to be taught to form a firm bridge.
Beginners: basic technical skills
Starting without notation is a joy. The benefits are obvious: it helps beginners to learn the geography of the piano; they can have an aural as well as visual introduction to the mysteries of tonality, and they have a chance to improvise and experiment.
Exercises for establishing the concept of a relaxed wrist:
The simple gesture of the whole arm bringing one finger to a key, black or white, to produce a sound: the finger maintains its contact with the key but the gesture moves up, releasing the pressure
“Finger Gym” – maintaining the lightest pressure on a key while moving the wrist to all directions follows next
Taking pairs of fingers for a walk, with imagery (of being chased, of getting further away), the concept of “springy fingers” becomes familiar
Miniscales: the first five notes, played with springy fingers
Staccato and legato touches – again, using a flexible wrist
Independence of hands: one hand legato, the other staccato
Work with the thumb issue, so playing fingers 1231 and 12341 in the miniscales
Keep Edna Mae Burnam’s A Dozen a Day to hand; explore Yvonne Adair’s Little Dog Tales. Both have wonderful material to be taught by rote – while giving the pupil an introduction to printed material.
The developing pianist
“You have to run around that track…” Paul Roberts
The technical work for an intermediate pupil needs to be imaginatively presented, monitoring the knuckle bridge, the mobile wrist and the free elbows. Once up and down (scales and arpeggios) does not allow us to do more than test. Rather than testing, we need to be teaching – and establishing the habit of improving through critical repetition.
Springy fingers are invaluable when we move on to the thumb issue (passing the thumb under or passing the hand over the thumb)
Learn fingerings as clusters, short and long, then combine these with a slight turn (outwards) of the elbow for fluent, even scale passages.
Watch out for the position of the thumb: encourage the thumb to be at an angle, not lying down. And even the thumb needs to spring up after it has played, especially in arpeggios.
Chord legato: combining chords with partial legato, involving different actions of the fingers of one hand
The pianistic gesture, or the undulating wrist and floating arm, will also help phrasing; the focal point of a melodic line will benefit from a larger movement.
For dramatic big sounds, teach a whiplash action: fingers close to the keys, elbow away from the body – then yank the elbow down as fast as possible, visualising a circular trajectory.
For illustrating the points above, there are delightful pieces in Burgmuller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies Op. 100.
The advanced pianist
“It is years since I passed my thumb under my hand or my hand over my hand” (Dinu Lipati, according to Charles Rosen). In really fast scale or arpeggio passages, we need to move on to a more advanced approach.
Rather than any hint of a twisting motion we need to use a shift technique. The hand does contract and expand but the fingers maintain their alignment with the keys. A good example is the end of Chopin’s Posthumous Nocturne in C# minor. The notorious long run (which, after all, is only a part of a Coda, not a chance to show off!) can be studied as clusters, which are unravelled, then combined one by one, then combined in longer units. The undulating wrist helps the transition – and releases any buildup of tension.The l.h.is worked in to coincide with position changes.
Chopin’s Etudes, such as Op.10;12 are full of examples of fast passages where the only challenging moments are position changes. We need to recognise those moments and work on the shifting technique – again, employing the arm and a relaxed wrist.
Scales in thirds involve a chord legato technique, with a constantly moving wrist.
Chopin’s fingering for a chromatic scale in thirds involves sliding from a black key to a white one with the second finger. The best (the only?) way to do this successfully is to use the springy finger technique: the pressure is released immediately after sound production, thus allowing for an easy slide.
Trills; use pairs of finger not next to one another, so 2-4, 1-3 or 3-5. This allows the hand to sway or to tremble rather than operate the individual fingers. And at least initially, I would advocate a measured trill (it allows for an elegant exit).
For big chordal jumps, the first chord acts as a spring- board, the eye mentally marks the landing – and the hand , shaping itself immediately to form the second chord, shifts along the keys in one swift movement. You might over- or under- shoot, but do not tense up – just observe, and work at it again.
Copyright Heli Ignatius-Fleet 2018
Sources: Kianto, M. Matka Pianon Soittamiseen (1992) Finland, Otava publishing; Uzler, Gordon, McBride-Smith The Well tempered Keyboard Teacher (2000) USA, Schirmer Books; English Maris, Barbara (2000) Making Music at the Piano, Oxford, OUP; Last, J Freedom in Piano Technique, (1980) Oxford OUP
At the piano with...
Heli Ignatius Fleet