Tone Quality – How to press the keysMay 4, 2009 by philipawalker

First off…I want you all to know, if you can get good tone quality, your playing will sound

magnificent. I will also let you know that it will be more difficult to achieve good quality tone on a

bad piano. However, if you can achieve good tone on a bad piano, how much more will it sound out

on a good piano? Tons more ^-^

Now to tell you some things about tone quality that I learned from a previous teacher of mine who

was a wonderful instructor. He taught me so many useful things about playing technique, but for a

while I had forgotten about them…then one performance reminded me of everything he taught me

– and showed me how utterly important they really are.

The performance that woke me up was one by a student of my current teacher. His tone was

amazing…I can’t describe it in words, but every time he presses a key, I’m shaken – that’s how

amazing it is.

BEWARE – Learning this is an ongoing process. It will take time, and you must constantly think

about this when playing.

Dropping Weight on the Keys:

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- When you press the keys, don’t think of it is pushing with your fingers. Think of it as putting all

the weight from your arms and letting that fall on the keys.

Step 1 – Experiencing arm weight and complete relaxation

Stand up.

Lift up your right arm in the air so that it is parallel to the ground. Like this: ——

Now, release all all tension from your arm – completely. Don’t hold back even the slightest bit.

Just let your arm fall.

Try again. Are you sure you are completely releasing yourself of all tension? Your arm should

be floppy.

When you are 100% certain that you are completely free of tension, THIS is the kind of feeling

you should have when playing the piano. Always.

Then try this with your left arm.

Step 2 – Using arm weight on the keys

Play one note with your right hand thumb. (From now on RH = Right Hand. LH = Left Hand)

Let go of all tension from your hands, arms, and shoulders. Keep your wrists straight though.

You should feel the weight of your arm being rested on the key. Once you feel that, move on

to the next finger.

Keep you fingers arched, as if holding a ball. If your fingers are flat, they will not be able to

withstand the weight as well and create good tone.

Do this LH.

Try a scale with this kind of weight. Start on C and go to a higher C.

How to Use this while Playing

———————————————

- Every note played should be played not with finger strength, but with arm weight.

-  A Forte (loud) will sound harsh if you use finger strength and bang the keys. If you use heavier

arm weight and drop the weight faster, it will sound loud without being harsh.

- Try a scale again. When you move from note to note, think of it as transferring the weight

between fingers. Sink the weight deep into the keys. Every move should feel heavy, but not tense.

- When playing Piano (soft), don’t think of it as playing light. In fact, you should almost think of it as

being even heavier. Pressing even more deeply into the keys. I personally think playing soft is one

of the most difficult things, because of creating good tone while being soft. You must press deeply,

with all your weight, but press the keys as slowly as you can in the given situation. If you don’t use

all your weight, the note may not sound (you might miss it). If you press too quickly, it won’t have

good tone and won’t sound soft.

TONE, TOUCH & DURABILITY

Perhaps you have always imagined that selecting the right piano calls for some special knowledge or advice that would not be necessary in buying an automobile, a computer, furniture, or a diamond ring. People who don't know anything about those products buy them by the thousands every day. They simply walk into a reliable store that sells such things and pick out what suits their tastes and pocketbooks. And that is exactly what you should do if you want to buy a piano.

The three essentials to a good piano are tone, touch and durability. The average ear may distinguish tone and know when the instrument pleases.  Tone is the medium of the pianist's art. It is to the musician what color is to the painter, language to the poet. Yet the majority of people are curiously vague on this subject; if asked how they set about getting tone, few can give a clear or rational explanation. 

The appeal of piano tone is one of personal preference, a piano purchase is not a logical choice, it’s an emotional decision. Many of the top concert artists, even those who play the same make of piano, differ in their opinion of the tone best suited to the virtuosity of each. It may surprise you to know that two identical pianos may have different tone characteristics by the technical process known as "tone regulating", as well as by mere pitch adjustment, or tuning.

Tone is an intangible something that is difficult to define and is unfortunately subject to nearly everyone's personal choice. A piano has a definite quality tone which is 'built in'. A soundboard with a high crown and strong downward pressure from the strings produces a 'round tone'' that is associated with some beautiful pianos. A board with a less decided arch would produce a sharp, brittle tone, such as we associate with some other very fine instruments.

TONE QUALITY

To begin with, each key, or note on a piano can be played or expressed in twenty-five degrees of touch or volume if you wish. Otherwise the sound of the piano would be expressionless, with no degree of loud or soft, an absolute contradiction to the purpose of the instrument. In the following remarks, therefore, I intend to examine the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of tone reproduction. It will not matter if anyone fails to accept my views; I shall be fully satisfied if only they inspire reflections of their own on the subject.

I cannot emphasize enough the impossibility of learning to play piano unless you have a piano to practice on. My reasons for this are based on the fact that strong muscles in the finger can only be developed through exercise on the piano. When playing the twelve major scales and twenty-four minor scales through five octaves ten times, which can be accomplished by a good pianist in about forty minutes, the thumb is used 7,200 times, the second finger is used 7,440 times, the third finger 7,200 times, the forth finger 3,460 times, and the little finger only 180 times. The purpose of playing the scales in this manner is to strengthen the fingers through exercise,  in no case can the amount of weight it takes to depress each key be duplicated on any electronic keyboard.

The first great factor in tone production is weight. Thus I shall endeavor to make it plain to you by inviting you to take part in a few simple experiments.  First of all take a rubber tipped lead pencil. Hold the pencil vertically over any key on a piano at a height of two or three inches, and then let it go suddenly. The pencil drops instantly of course, but it does not cause the note to sound. Hold it about twelve inches and let it go; still no sound as it strikes, hold it at any distance you want, or even throw it with force at the keyboard, you will still not get a sound, because the pencil is too light, and neither dropping it or increasing its impetus, or adding force to its decent will supply its lack of weight to create a note on a piano.

But if you hold the pencil in your hand and depress a key even very slightly, the weight from your arm will cause the piano to sound the note.

Two important inferences can be drawn from the above experiment first tone cannot be produced at all without the application of weight to the keys. Secondly, the greater the weight brought to bear on the keys the fuller the tone will be, not so on the electronic or portable keyboard, whenever a sound was made, it was made without expression or volume except as preset by the volume control. The word Piano means soft, the word forte means loud, put them together and you have PIANO-FORTE, the instrument created by Cristofori, called so because of its capacity of being played loud or soft. When a string is struck by the hammer, there is not just one sound, but a succession of sounds which overlap each other and blend together in such a manner that only the keenest ear can separate them.

TONE PRODUCTION

Pythagoras (6th C. B.C.) observed that when the blacksmith struck his anvil, different notes were produced according to the weight of the hammer. Number (in this case "amount of weight") seemed to govern musical tone. . . . .If you will listen to a piano as you play a sound, strike a key so that the hammer strikes the strings . . .the sound may take time to reach you but each is under 22K....See if you can hear the sound in your imagination before it comes, by judging from the proportions of the string lengths (the shortest string is the farthest to the right.....) and the amount of force with which you strike the key. You can also distinguish what sounds good to you.

Further, he observed that if you take two strings in the same degree of tension, and then divide one of them exactly in half, when they are plucked the pitch of the shorter string is exactly one octave higher than the longer:

Again, number (in this case "amount of space") seemed to govern musical one. Or does musical tone govern number?

 

He also discovered that if the length of the two strings are in relation to each other 2:3, the difference in pitch is called a fifth:

...and if the length of the strings are in relation to each other 3:4, then the difference is called a fourth.

Thus the musical notation of the Greeks, which we have inherited can be expressed mathematically as 1:2:3:4

 

All this above can be summarized in the following.

(Another consonance which the Greeks recognized was the octave plus a fifth, where 9:18 = 1:2, an octave, and 18:27 = 2:3, a fifth;)

This triangular figure of numbers in the shape of the Greek letter Lamda is the Tetrad of the Pythagorians.

Though the string cannot sound a lower tone than its fundamental, it can and does sound higher tones. These higher tones, which are called harmonics, result from the fact that immediately after the whole length of the string has swung back and force to produce the fundamental tone, it divides itself in the middle and each half vibrates separately, the fundamental having ceased.  Each of the halves vibrate twice as fast as the whole string did before and because of this higher frequency, the supplemental sound which they produce is one octave above the first, or fundamental, tone. This secondary sound is known as a second partial since it is a partial of the first tone.

Following in very rapid succession, the string replaces each rate of oscillation with a higher one as the wire divides itself into shorter and shorter vibrating segments with faster and faster frequencies. For the fourth partial, the wire vibrates in four sections, at four times the rate of the fundamental. The seventh would be in seven sections and its frequency would be seven times as high. The seventh partial of A440 for example, will actually vibrate at the rate of 3,080 cycles per second. 

The ideal tone which is extremely difficult to attain is one consisting of the first seven partials of which about fifty percent of the total intensity would be the fundamental, with the balance divided among the remaining six in decreasing proportions up to and including the seventh. So, you see, the sound given off by a single piano string is not a simple tone such as we get from a flute, but is a very complex one such as e would get from playing several orchestral instruments together.

Each note is, in reality, a chord, the quality of which depends on getting the right answers to about thirty different questions such as the location of the hammer line, the size and thickness of the sounding board, the material used in the sounding board, the shape, the height, the stiffness of the bridges, amount of crown of the sounding board, the rigidity of the board, the down-bearing of the strings on the boards, the scale layout, the weight and shape and the hardness of the felt of the hammers, the proper setting of the strings against each of the 1400 bearing points, etc.

Now, double the above list, since it covers less than half the things which affect tone quality, and then multiply that total by eighty-eight and you will have some idea of why there is a difference in tone in pianos, why costs differ, and who only the better made ones continue to sound good long after the price is forgotten.

There is a common belief that a performer can produce tones of different quality by some special skill or technique in the way a piano key is struck or in the way it is manipulated after it has been depressed. This is not true, as no skill in required to play  a single note. If the force of the blow on the key is the same, the tonal result will be the same

whether  the force is applied by a concert artist or a child. Once a key has been depressed, the performer loses all further control over the volume and quality of the tone of, that note.

While the manner of striking or holding down a key makes no difference in the tonal effect, the force with which a key is struck can make a difference. Tests have shown that the character of tone, as well as the volume, is often affected by the force of the blow on the key. In other words, the harmonic mixture of the tone may vary with the volume; therefore, the overall tonal pattern of an entire chord can be affected by varying the force used on just one note in the chord. This explains why one artist might produce a more appealing effect than another artist playing the same composition on the same piano.

You are buying a piano for your home, for yourself, your children and musical friends to play on. You are going to live with the instrument,  and it is you who should be pleased with that tone.  Don't discount your own ability to judge the tone that pleases. Of course, if you happen to be tone deaf that you cannot distinguish between a violin and a clarinet, you might want to take a friend to assist you in your selection, be sure it is a friend and not a technician or a piano teacher whose judgment might be swayed by the hope of a commission. Some, but not many, technicians are a bit on the commercial side. Fortunately, the best music stores don't pay commissions, they don't have to.

When you want to go piano shopping, go to a store that has a reputation for reliability in your community.  Look with suspicion upon one that is constantly advertising bargains.  The salesperson, if  a professional may ask you several questions before he or she even attempts to show or demonstrate any piano.  Don't resent this, they are simply trying to help you select the best piano adapted to your purse and purpose.  He or she may ask you if you have children who will be expected to study the piano, they may want to know the approximate size of your living room.  Frank answers to such questions will save you much time. 

Don't make a chore of buying a piano. It should be fun, You will never forget the person who sells you the piano. If you find the piano that pleases you at the price within your budget, buy it with confidence in the full knowledge that the seller, if he is a respectable merchant in your community, is very anxious that you are happy with your purchase forever.  If the dealer sells you a piano he hopes you will tell everybody you know that you really "love" your piano and where you got it.  He knows that he is the only dealer that sells that particular brand - and the name is easily seen by all who visit your home. The best advertising in the world is customer referrals, and that's the best reason for providing value and service. 

The first thing you must determine in order to make a wise decision is what you want the piano for. That decision will have a bearing on the price and quality of the piano you eventually buy. You must be aware of the many details that make up a truly fine quality piano. By knowing what to look for, you will be able to determine the best value for the dollars you are going to spend. If you are an aspiring artist or a professional musician, you should buy the finest piano built in your own estimation. That piano should have nothing less than complete artistic capabilities. The extra cost will not amount to much, and you will receive the extra benefit of owning and playing a piano of superior quality.

The factors to be considered are size, new vs. used, tone quality, action , appearance, and durability. You must consider the beauty of what you see, the beauty of what you hear, and the value of your investment. The final answer to each of these considerations depends largely on each personal situation, we have put together  a few guidelines and resources that can be helpful when making those decisions.

The instrument which you choose for your home should bear a name that indicates its enduring qualities of tone and stability. The trademark on the fall board alone should be your assurance of its distinction and musicianship and its enduring qualities of tone and stability. Each piano has a character all its own. This pedigree that sets it apart even from other instruments of the same make, model, and style is inevitable. No two trees ever grow exactly alike. Grain and densities differ between different species and between individual trees of the same species. Plastics and other materials used in keys differ in color. Wool from which hammer and damper felts when made vary in texture and length of fiber. Such variations are present in all materials from which pianos are made.

The instrument which you choose for your home should bear a name that indicates its enduring qualities of tone and stability. The trademark on the fall board alone should be your assurance of its distinction and musicianship and its enduring qualities of tone and stability. Each piano has a character all its own. This pedigree that sets it apart even from other instruments of the same make, model, and style is inevitable. No two trees ever grow exactly alike. Grain and densities differ between different species and between individual trees of the same species. Plastics and other materials used in keys differ in color. Wool from which hammer and damper felts when made vary in texture and length of fiber. Such variations are present in all materials from which pianos are made.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT TOUCH FOR A PIANO?

There is a tendency to place too much emphasis on piano actions being made extra light so that small children can play without risk of tiring. Children do not remain children very long and if they learn on a piano with an abnormal light touch, they will have to readjust themselves later to a standard touch which is not easy to do. Though there is not too much that can be done to change the touch after a piano has been manufactured, it is not difficult or expensive to design a piano with a very light touch. It is impossible, however, to make one that way and have it responsive enough for really good performance.

There is a common belief that a performer can produce tones of different quality by some special skill or technique in the way a piano key is struck or in the way it is manipulated after it has been depressed. This is not true, as no skill in required to play a single note. if the force of the blow on the key is the same, the tonal result will be the same whether

the force is applied by a concert artist or a child. Once a key has been depressed, the performer loses all further control over the volume and quality of the tone of that note.

While the manner of striking or holding down a key makes no difference in the tonal effect, the force with which a key is struck can make a difference. Tests have shown that the character of tone, as well as the volume, is often affected by the force of the blow on the key.

In other words, the harmonic mixture of the tone may vary with the volume; therefore, the overall tonal pattern of an entire chord can be affected by varying the force used on just one note in the chord. This explains why one artist might produce a more appealing effect than another artist playing the same composition on the same piano. The word "touch" applies to the performance of the piano as well as to the performance of the musician. when we say a piano has a good touch, we mean that the action has been so well made and so perfectly regulated that it responds instantly and accurately to any demands the most expert performer can make.

The word "touch" applies to the performance of the piano as well as to the performance of the musician. When we say a piano has a good touch, we mean that the action has been so well made and so perfectly regulated that it responds instantly and accurately to any demands the most expert performer can make. When, in his later years, Beethoven played the piano, he could not hear the music at all.

Pianos have been used and have been played well by people with almost every other type of physical handicap, but all who play must possess one thing in common: the ability to press down the keys. They have to have a sense of touch which tells them how hard to strike each note.

The selection of notes and the tempo are determined by the composer. These are fixed and can be readily grasped by the performer, but the composer can only indicate in a general way what force is to be applied through using such symbols as "pianissimo" or "forte". These, however, are broad terms; the many shadings of volume in between the marked signs on the music are left to the intuition and skill of the pianist, subject to the capacity of the piano to respond.

There is a tendency to place too much emphasis on piano actions being made extra light so that small children can play without risk of tiring. Children do not remain children very long and if they learn on a piano with an abnormal light touch, they will have to readjust themselves later to a standard touch which is not easy to do. Though there is not too much that can be done to change the touch after a piano has been manufactured, it is not difficult or expensive to design a piano with a very light touch. It is impossible, however, to make one that way and have it responsive enough for really good performance.

If the touch is too light, the action will feel shallow and unresponsive because the keys, after being depressed and released, will tend to flutter and not return to playing position fast enough for good repetition. That is why professional musicians almost always want a definitely heavier touch than would be used if we were making pianos just for children to play, and why most piano makers compromise by having a medium touch so that the usefulness of the instrument will not be limited to just one type of performer.

The ideal touch is one that is capable of handling the fast repetition demanded by all good performers, yet light and elastic enough so that a child will not find it too difficult to play during his first year or two at the piano. It is better to have the action a little too heavy for perfect comfort the first year or two, in order to be right for the next fifty years.

A Pianist's Secretlies in the palm of his hand

(adapted from my Piano Course - Lesson 2)

1. Introduction 2. The Flexor Digitorium System 3. The Interossei 4. The aim of good Practice 5. Fundamental Guidelines

About the Piano Course

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PS 1 - Introduction

Dr. Graham Williams, my former piano teacher and co-author of our Scales & Arpeggios Book, commenced his Classical piano studies at an early age.   After 22 years of study and performances (including recitals on Australian National radio) he obtained his PhD with a thesis on the piano music of the famous contemporary French composer and (the late) Head of the Paris Conservatoire Olivier Messiaen.

This thesis earned him a 3-year scholarship in Paris to study under Messiaen and his world renown piano teacher wife Yvonne Loriod. After greeting him on his arrival at the airport they immediately took him to the studio, placed him on the piano stool and explained (as Graham years later with a great smile related to me) :

"Now, Graham, the first thing you need to do     is to learn to play the piano !"

"I almost fell of my stool!" Graham confessed to me. "But you know what?!" he continued, "they were absolutely right!!"

For a full year Graham was confined to the small practice studio and not allowed to make a single performance. During this period he learnt the piano technique developed by Franz Liszt and passed on and kept alive in France through renown teachers like Yvonne Loriod and Germaine Mounier.The results were nothing less than spectacular : the birth of a rich and beautiful crystal clear tone, an effortless fluidity and a rhythmic capability with which he could master even the most demanding and complex Messiaen compositions.

Years later I myself had the great fortune to learn this wonderful technique from Graham , be it at a much more modest level of expectation and competence. As a relative beginner it took me about 3 years (instead of 1) to develop the technique, with greatly pleasing results in terms of touch, fluency and tone.Being a creative, research oriented thinker, I could follow and acknowledge the various stages of development I went through and recognise the results. But the question for me always remained : I understand what to do and how to do it, but why is this so ?

For a full year I kept searching for the answer, questioning professionals from the medical and physiotherapy fields and roaming through various books and articles. The answer which I finally arrived at is as simple as it is conclusive.I have always believed that understanding is the greatest motivator. Once you understand why you should practice this or do that, you become deeply motivated to follow through. This is the basis for both my Piano Technique Course and my Saxophone Course.

For the Piano the secret to a fluent technique and strong, crystal clear tone, lies in the palm of your hand, as I will explain to you below.

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PS 2 - The Flexor Digitorium System

Finger movements are largely controlled by two muscle systems. The first system, the Flexor Digitorium system, is located in the upper part of the forearm near the elbow. These muscles extend with long tendons that run along the forearm, under the wrist all the way to the knuckles and finger joints.

This muscle system enables us to have a firm hand grip, strong enough to carry a suitcase, or even hold our entire body weight when hanging from a horizontal bar (or tree branch).

This Flexor Digitorium system consists of :

the Flexors Digitorium Profundus, which run from the elbow along the lower arm, through the 'carpal canal' under the wrist, to the 1st finger joint (nearest the finger tip) of each finger.

the Lumbricals, branch off from the Flexors Digitorium Profundus at a point within the hand palm and run to each knuckle joint.

the Flexors Digitorium Superficialis, also run from the elbow, along the forearm, under the wrist, to the2nd finger joint of each finger. (They split near the end to let the Flexor Profundus tendon pass through to the 1st finger joint.)

Above muscles are used to curve (and close) the fingers of the hand.

To do this however another set of muscles (the Flexor & Extensor Carpi) must hold the wrist firm (thereforestiffen the wrist), otherwise the Flexor Digitorium muscles would roll up the fingers, hand and wrist like a bamboo curtain.

(The Extensors Digitorium muscles (not shown in above diagram) are used to straighten the finger and knuckle joints, opening the hand. These muscles and their tendons run from the elbow, over the wrist and the back of the hand to connect with the knuckle and finger joints via the Extensor Expansion sheet, that extends over the back of each finger.More about this muscle system below.)

The Flexor Digitorium muscle system is very powerful and we use it continuously for most of our finger movements.However these muscles are not suitable for a good piano finger technique, because :

1. the muscles are located largely outside the hand, too far away from the required delicate finger action.

2. they cause a degree of stiffening of the wrist.3. the key stroke becomes a pushing action rather than a freely rebounding gravity stroke. 

This results in a lack of tone quality, resonance, clarity and fluency .4. excessive use of these muscles in piano playing can easily lead to repetitive strain

injury(rsi) and inflammation of the wrist.

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PS 3 - The Interossei

The second muscle system controlling finger movement is located entirely within the hand. It consists of the Palmar and Dorsal Interossei muscles. These are grafted on either side of the metacarpal bone (palm bone) for each of the four fingers and run to the finger bone (phalange) just past each knuckle.

Used individually the Palmar interosseus pulls the finger sideways in one direction, the Dorsal interosseus sideways in the opposite direction.

When used simultaneously the Palmar and Dorsal Interossei flex the knuckle joint forward (or, when the hand is in a horizontal position, downward).Most importantly these muscles are located entirely within the hand palm, and therefore can flex the knuckle joint (and achieve a proper finger action) without stiffening the wrist.

For a good finger action in piano playing we must therefore use the Interossei muscles and

flex the fingers from the knuckle joints. This leaves the wrists relaxed and flexible.

There is however a problem In every day finger movement the Interossei play only a secondary and supportive role in flexing the knuckles. The prime movers in knuckle flexion are the Lumbricals, for two reasons :

1. When the knuckle joint is fully extended the Interossei are parallel to, and in line with the palm and finger bone.

In this position the Interossei cannot start to flex the knuckle joint forward (or downward).

The Lumbricals approach the finger bone at a larger angle than the Interossei. This means that they can flex the knuckle joint even when the knuckle joint is fully extended.

The Lumbricals are therefore the starter muscles for the knuckle flex action.

2. The Lumbricals, being an offshoots of the powerful Flexors Digitorium Profundus are much stronger than the Interossei muscles.

We therefore rely on the Lumbricals to do most of the knuckle movements throughout our daily activities, including our finger actions on the keyboard.

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PS 4 - The aim of good Piano Practice

It now becomes clear that in order to develop a good finger technique on the piano it is necessary to reverse nature.

You must upgrade the Interossei from weak supporting muscles to become the Prime moversand learn to trust and rely on them in that dominant function.

As this starts to happen the role of the Flexors Digitorium and Lumbricals will

gradually diminishto a secondary function involved mainly when special play techniques require this.

To develop the Interossei muscles you must :

1. Always play with a good hand position.The knuckle joint is not straight but slightly flexed.

In this position the Interossei can function as starter muscles.

2. Develop Interossei muscle strength.Through regular technique practice as outlined in my Piano Technique Course.

Gradually the Interossei will become stronger. You will notice this by a most peculiar feeling within the palms of your hands : the interossei, as they become thicker, are pushing out the palm bones widening your hands.Once the interossei have become strong enough to support the hand and arm it is time for the flexors and lumbricals to phase out their action. This mental step of trusting your fingers was for me at the time the most difficult process. Sooner or later however the brain will get the message and gradually diminish and relax the flexors and let the interossei do the work . This then frees up the wrist, enabling the development of tone, resonance, clarity, great evenness and fluency in your playing.

Just playing piano regularly does not necessarily strengthen the Interossei muscles.But sustained regular practice of the right exercises in the correct way will.

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PS 5 - Fundamental Guidelines

Good piano technique maximises the use of two sets of muscles.

1. The Interossei, to support the weight of the hand, arm or body and to assist when required to the gravity keystroke.

2. the Extensors Digitorium, to lift the fingers off the keyboard after they have played each note.(Extensor Digitorium actions do not stiffen the wrist, as the natural weight of the hand prevents any upwards flexing or instability of the wrist.)

For a good finger technique follow these simple guidelines :

1. Keep the hands always over the keyboard (not in front of it) with the thumbs pointing downwards, so that the weight of the hand is supported by the fingers (Interossei).

2. Keep the hands balanced on the fingers, with a slight forward pressure towards the piano. (This keeps the finger joints locked in position.)

Never pull the hand backwards, for this either causes the fingers to collapse, or, in an attempt to prevent this, will bring the Flexor Digitorium muscles into action causing stiffening of the wrist.

3. Use the knuckle joints for all finger action.4. Use gravity, viz. the natural drop of the finger, hand or arm, as the main source of

energy.

It is most useful to have some understanding of the the muscle actions for a good finger technique. However do not become obsessive about it while practising. Just follow the simple instructions, lesson schedules and exercises provided in my Piano Technique Course (at your own pace) and things will fall into place and develop naturally.

Piano Hammer Voicing

For A Clearer, Louder, Richer Tone

 by Don Kulak

This series is written in order to get a closer, more in-depth look at the sonic nature of the acoustic piano.This sound, familiar to us all, is a sound rich and clear, and yet very complex in terms of sound wave structure. So complex, in fact, that it defies any and all attempts at electronic reproduction in this age of digital technology, and synthesized sound - a tone that cannot be so easily reduced to a calculated system of 0's and 1's.

We will follow the actual production of the piano tone - from it's origin, or impact of the hammer and string, to the vibration of the soundboard and ultimately our eardrums. This entire process takes place of course in only a split second, but the tone quality is being formed and developed every step of the way. Like a stop action film, each part of the piano will be looked at during this process as it affects and alters the soundwave and the ultimate tone quality.

 This is particularly important to piano owners, performers, recording engineers... who wish to alter the tone in some preconceived way, enabling then to pinpoint the cause of a certain type of sound, and later determine the action needed to produce the desired effect, all of course within the physical limitations of the piano.

 This author has seen enough structurally sound pianos left for dead, or sold for pennies on the dollar, to fill up MadisonSquareGarden. In most cases all they really needed was proper hammer and string voicing - a relatively inexpensive procedure. Since this lack of information is normally the culprit in denying a piano of it's beautiful, rich, singing tone, we will begin with voicing the piano hammer.

 Voicing, as the name implies, is the process by which one can physically manipulate the piano hammer in order to make it "speak" better, i.e. to brighten or soften the sound; to bring out the singing, and sustaining qualities; to make it come alive. The degree to which one can implement change on an existing piano hammer is dependent upon certain physical proportions within the hammer itself, those being tension and compression.

The hammer is comprised of many layers of felt. The high tension outer layers are wrapped around tightly packed inner layers, creating an inner compression with explosive rebounding capabilities. It is the manipulation of these 2 forces which can alter the tone quality substantially. This is done primarily with needles, and one might compare it to acupuncture on the human body. In both cases the needles are used to relieve tension in certain areas, enabling them to move and react more freely.

When the inner felt is deep needled, tension is released, and the felt expands. This in turn puts more pressure on the outer layers, stretching them even further, and therefore increasing the tension there. The increased outer tension, combined with the expanded inner felt, creates at once a harder and more resilient hammer. This is the basic process which increases the rebounding action of the hammer off the string. This is important because a hammer which remains too long on the string after the initial blow, absorbs the energy of the vibrating string,

producing a dull, weak sound. This is because the higher harmonics are the first ones to be dampened by too long of a contact time between the hammer and string. These higher harmonics are the first ones to go not only because they are weaker than the lower harmonics, but also because the wavelengths are much shorter, relative to the fundamental and the lower harmonics. As the wavelengths of the higher harmonics become shorter and shorter relative to the amount of hammer surface which is touching the string, they are more easily eliminated completely.

 One might compare the hammer-string rebounding action to a man on a trampoline. When the person jumps onto it, there is initial displacement of the webbing, but as it is resilient in nature, the webbing quickly reverts back to it's original form, while throwing the person off in the process. The man would represent the hammer hitting the string, first displacing it, then being catapulted off when original form, or equilibrium is restored.

 It is probably appropriate at this point to define these tonal characteristics which are subject to alteration, and the tone we are ultimately striving for.

 Attack - the time it takes for the tone to reach maximum amplitude. Qualitatively, attack may be described as the amount of percussiveness present. A short attack would sound more forceful, and abrupt, while a long attack would build-up a bit more gradually, or swell, into peak amplitude.

 Dwell, or articulation - the time just before peak amplitude, including the sudden drop in volume just after peak amplitude, right up until the long, and gradual decay begins. A good dwell time adds to a well defined, precise sounding tone. On the contrary, a dwell time which is too long tends to create an ambiguous tonal center, lacking clarity, and definition. Each note would tend, as it were, to be lost in the crowd. The tonal centers would not be distinct, and would seem to run all together.

Sustain - the time between the initial large drop-off in volume until nothing is heard. The ability to sustain a note is as important to the acoustic piano as a good set of lungs are to a singer. There is no such thing as a piano sustaining too long. It is a percussion instrument where the player has very little control over the note after the hammer has left the string. If the note dies out too quickly there is nothing that can be done until the score calls for the next note.

 Volume - overall loudness

All of these tonal characteristics can be altered individually (by a qualified technician) by needling the hammer in specific areas, but these methods are the subject of a whole different article.

THE CRAFT OF PIANO PLAYINGA New Approach to Piano Technique

 

The Complete Text of Chapters 1 & 2

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTON

A new approach to piano technique

This book presents a new approach to the art of piano playing aimed at extending the physical and musical capacities of pianists from the dedicated amateur to top-level professionals. In it I have taken principles of effective

movement from Feldenkrais Method2  and the Eastern martial arts and applied them to the dynamics of piano performance. My book’s title pays homage to Heinrich Neuhaus, the celebrated Russian pianist-pedagogue.

Published over fifty years ago, Neuhaus’ monumental work The Art of Piano Playing still stands as the pianist’s bible. Hopefully my work will lead pianists

to greater success in implementing his precepts, by showing them more clearly how. By filling in a missing link between musical intention and

physical execution, thisbook aims to advance the craft of piano playing.

The process of reforming pianistic habits by means of a written text is not easy, as each pianist presents a unique set of acquired skills and unresolved problems. However, this system of movement physics at the keyboard aims to be comprehensive enough that each pianist may find the way to a fluid, capable untangling of some of the piano’s most notorious technical Gordian

knots.

Natural, individual, and systematic human activity

Moshe Feldenkrais, creator of the method out of which much of my theory arises, cites three

successive stages of development in all human activity: the natural, individual and methodical3 .

All our natural activities such as running, jumping, walking or eating, are a common heritage: they

function similarly in everyone. But occasionally an individual finds a special way of doing something, and if it is an improvement over the normal way,

this tends to be adopted by those around him. Thus Australian aboriginals throw boomerangs, the Japanese learn judo, and North Americans go snowboarding! In the third stage, somebody

observes the specialized activity and systematizes

it, so that the process is now carried out according to a specific method as the result of knowledge and instruction, and no longer instinctively.

In the history of the various trades and arts practiced in the civilized world, we can find these three stages almost without exception. In the dawn of

humanity people produced wonderful drawings naturally, and Leonardo da Vinci employed elementary principles of perspective, but it was only in the

nineteenth century that these were fully defined; since then they have been taught in every school of art.

The simpler and more common an action is, the later will be the development of the third stage. Accepted methods were developed for the weaving of

carpets, mapmaking, geometry and mathematics thousands of years ago, yet walking, standing and other basic activities are only now, through systems

such as Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais Method, reaching the third, or systematic stage. Where then does piano playing stand in all this?

Reduced physical prowess has led to homogenized musical expression

A hundred years ago, all Russian conservatory students underwent an exceptionally rigorous technical regime. Rachmaninoff said that scales and

arpeggios were the foundation of his technique and that all his life he practiced them religiously. When he graduated from Moscow Conservatory it

is said that he could play any Hanon exercise at 220 quarter notes to the minute, transposed to any key! Modern pedagogy scoffs at the ‘mindless mechanical drill’ of that era, but now we seldom if ever see this kind of

physical mastery. To reach the Olympics, an athlete needs to acquire both a set of increasingly refined physical skills and basic strength. And so do

aspiring pianists.

Today our main focus tends to be on relaxation, indirect attack on the key for warm tone, and supple arm movements to avoid injury. Unfortunately, this

can limit us to a narrower pianistic sound spectrum. A reduced variety of dynamic and tonal range cannot do justice to our musical sophistication, and prevents the piano from doing what it alone can do so well—simulating the

sound of an entire orchestra.

I suspect that even many advanced pianists now lack the sheer facility and the resulting power that our most illustrious forbears possessed, and this is one key reason why it is so often difficult to tell one pianist’s playing from

another’s. The problem is not too much focus on technique, but too little. Of course I am not suggesting that the student go off and pump iron or do

Charles Atlas exercises to develop bulging muscles. But when I show my students how to organize themselves physically to get good sound, their

hand tends to tire very quickly. Their technique hasn’t evolved to the point where it would make such great demands on their physical strength. They do

not lack musicality, but their technical focus has not been far-reaching enough to manifest that musicality fully.

We have failed to preserve and pass on to following generations crucial knowledge about the most advanced aspects of piano technique.

Although some artists have reached unimaginable heights, a full understanding of what they did has not yet been incorporated into piano

method. Gone for the most part are the freedom and extravagance of expression, ‘the grand manner’ for which we admire the old boys such as Rachmaninoff, de Pachmann, Friedman, and of course, the one they called

‘the last Romantic’, Vladimir Horowitz.

These great pianists constituted the second, individual stage of development in piano playing. Each of them brought the art to a new level. Nobody can

duplicate their talent, but certain aspects of how they were organized physically can be analyzed and systematized. I propose the creation of a new

generation of Romantics through an intelligent reconstitution of piano technique in its highest form. A further reaching, more global systematization of piano method can lead to improved physical ability, in turn freeing musical individuality to express itself more fully. This book aims to both physical and

creative power to the pianist.

Much has been done already to systematize piano playing, but up until now the focus has been more on musical than physical issues. This is not a bad

thing; it is the natural way. We conceive a certain sound, phrasing, emotion, and rely to a large extent on an instinctive process somewhere in our

sensory-motor system to transform our musical idea into sonic fact. However in the light of new insights into the physics of human movement, we can now

educate that instinctive process by recognizing and defining the physical processes involved in implementing our musical intentions.

We cannot expect a revival of the Draconian regime of Moscow 100 years ago. Instead I offer a series of exercises designed to develop hand/arm

structure and function both intellectually and physically. If we cannot return to the old, let us invent new paths to pianistic perfection.

pianist Vladimir Horowitz: a benchmark in ability

One of the prime forces driving me towards my discoveries was the playing ofVladimir Horowitz. It was not only the marvelous music he made but also the way

he made it. There was something entirely different going on when he played. He existed in a different state,

something akin to the trance state of meditation, but in which he was doing the most amazing and complex

things. The meditator observes without doing; Horowitz seemed to observe the unfolding of a

composition—as understood by his enchanted imagination—even while he was occupied with the myriad complexities involved in actually playing it!

Theoretically it should be possible to play as well as or even better than the master, but imitating him in any habitual way gives superficial results—you are more likely to produce a gross caricature of his mannerisms (many of which were unattractive in any case!) than the ineffable beauty he could create. If you want to approach what he did, you must first undertake a profound analysis of all the ingredients of his process, then attempt to

acquire them. Our goal is not to play like Horowitz, but as capably as he did. These are two very different things!

Other movement disciplines feed view of piano technique

The more this analytical process encompasses, the better chance it has of bringing relevant new information into the picture—thus my 20–year studies of T’ai Chi Chuan and Feldenkrais Method. It was something about Horowitz’s quality of movement that led me to consider movement in its own right. The

principles I learned away from my instrument allowed me to return to the piano with new insights.

One practical aspect of Horowitz’s meditative, trance-like level of awareness was his remarkable economy of movement. Many people thought he was very stiff, but that incredible variety and richness of sound he produced belies the impression. I believe that although he did not appear to move

much, internally his movement was exceptionally free, exact and effective.

This quality is exactly what the T’ai Chi master possesses. Studying Feldenkrais Method and T’ai

Chi Chuan has allowed me to learn the qualities of precise, effective, meditative movement, and to

develop a series of keyboard exercises designed to enhance those qualities in our playing. 

Back to movement basics for fundamental, global improvement

In many sports and martial arts, certain basic movements are practiced which later on become

the building blocks for more complicated techniques. Moshe Feldenkrais took that process

(creating exercises based on the component parts of a complex activity) one step further, returning to

the individual components of generic human movements themselves—movements such as

bending and straightening, standing, walking—to improve the whole action by fine-tuning each constituent part.

All parts of our body tend not to be equally well-represented in the motor cortex, and these more poorly-represented parts do not participate in

movement as well as they could. Feldenkrais Method uses directed awareness of specific sensations to bring these parts back into full neuro-

muscular representation. This is one means by which we can refine the ‘building blocks’ of the most basic human movements, and bring a new

ability and sophistication to the performance of more complex tasks.

In classical piano, the ‘basic exercises’ have always been scales, arpeggios, double notes and of course etudes. The exercises I present here aim to do for

piano what Feldenkrais Method does for human movement. The plan: to examine every detail of the basic movements required to play piano,

movements fundamentally defined by the requirements of music and sound,

not only of scales and other traditional aspects of technique. The goal: by executing these basic movements with a new level of command, with an

understanding that is not only intellectual but sensory: kinesthetic, physical, functional and practical, we bring a new level of physical skill to our playing.

Conscious analysis of normally automatic actions

Most of our actions are automatic, and necessarily so—the thinking mind simply cannot work quickly enough to keep tabs on everything proficiently. If I drove a car trying to observe and analyze every move I made, I would crash

in no time. Yet to improve movement patterns learned long ago, or even while learning a new movement, I must undertake exactly that process of ‘disassembly’ and observation. If I do so intelligently, when I again put the

action on automatic pilot I will have a new ability, elegance and ease of execution—a new functionality.

Primary focus on physical aspects of piano technique

Some colleagues claim that this book focuses too much on the physical, giving short shrift to musical and philosophical aspects of piano playing. But in my experience, sensing with increased awareness how I produce a sound physically, leads me to perceive that sound with much greater accuracy, and ultimately to consider musical and philosophical aspects of my playing in a new light as well. In any case the starting point of my approach, which I call the background, is character, emotional content, the message the composer felt and wanted to convey. Only from this do I proceed to its musical means of expression, the middleground. Yet sooner or later in my work (and more

often sooner than later!) I end up back at the foreground, the physical means to achieve musical goals, simply because we don’t know enough about the

physical realities of keyboard practice! Only the most talented of us can rely on an instinctive process of finding the best physical way. For many of us, starting from the physical can become an effective way to move towards

more profound music making.

And so this book does concern itself primarily with the foreground, with good reason. I have tried to create movement patterns that activate a physical

organization most useful to the pianist, and then relate these to elements of musicianship - in fact, to synthesize musical and physical issues. I aim to help both students who need remedial work in basic strength at the keyboard and those who seek a new dimension of musical understanding and a new path

for the development of pianistic skills. I do my best to maintain an eminently practical orientation, avoiding as much as possible the time-consuming

presentation of theoretical detail and instead guiding the student through an experiential process.

I have tried my best to transmit this knowledge in the spirit of service—service not so much to you personally, dear reader, as to music itself. I invite you to give your utmost in concentration and dedication, with a true intention to serve something higher. If you succeed in staying with me as I guide you

through these investigative processes, we can look forward to a

breakthrough in your ability at the piano.  

CHAPTER 2 - HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Be flexible—adapt this piano technique book to your own learning style

The main body of this text comprises the lesson transcripts found mostly in ‘Foreground’. It is difficult to communicate the real substance of a lesson

through the printed medium, without the benefit of sound, vision and touch. I have tried to make up for this by an exact use of language, doing my best to

be both precise and graphically descriptive.

Some of you will want first to familiarize yourselves with Section I, General Principles of Movement, while others will prefer to plunge straight into the

more practically oriented sections that follow.

You do not necessarily need to read this book in the set order of chapters. You may very well find it expedient to browse, jump around a bit, get a feel

for the material and perhaps happen by chance upon the points most relevant to you. For instance, although I deal first with hand strength and structure, arm function and arm rotation, for many students natural finger

shape may be the most desirable starting point, a central locus. You must see what works best for your own particular needs.

Most important, try things out! Don’t sit there like a couch potato—get to a piano (or even a table top for some of the exercises) and do the things you are reading about. You will find through experience what feels good for you and what doesn’t. Remember the saying, ‘use it or lose it!’ My variant (with apologies to the famous manufacturer of running shoes): Don’t eschew it, just do it!

This is epecially important for pedagogues. There is a danger inherent in attempting to show a student these exercises without having incorporated them thoroughly into one’s own system. In the end, the knowledge you can most effectively transmit to others is that gained through your own experience. When I came to Yugoslavia I expressed to Kemal Gekich the desire to become a really great teacher. His response was to tell me to first become a great player. I tried my best to take him at his word, and whether I succeeded or not, without this attempt the bookwould not exist in its present form.

Listening

Remember that listening never ceases to play a crucial role even in these physically oriented exercises. Your ear should be your guide in everything.

You should be constantly training and refining it, to better hear any deficiencies that might exist in your sound, and to evaluate that through the

exercises your sound is indeed improving.

Over and over again I see pianists inadvertently sabotaging their own best musical intentions with automatic physical habits learned long ago. They simply don’t notice that their hand is acting in opposition to the desired

musical result. For instance we may have a forte legato passage in the bass register to be played in crescendo, yet the arm is overly active on each

attack, the fingers strangely inert, the notes not even really joined physically. But the pianist is accustomed to playing like this, and finds the resulting

forced, non-legato sound acceptable! He thinks he’s doing what he’s not! He has lulled himself into a false sense of security because he is doing what he

was told, moving his arm in the standard generic manner taught by ‘tradition’ (but really by default). 

How can I help him? First I must call attention to the deficiency in his sound. But then, and perhaps even more useful, I call attention to what he is doing

physically to create that deficiency! Monitoring his physical organization may help him notice flaws in his sound that previously escaped his attention. To

couch it in terms of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the physical sensation creates an anchor for the experience of improved hearing. He is can better produce the desired musical result when he understands and

remembers the physical feeling of doing it.

The enriched kinesthetic picture cultivated by the exercises aims to open a whole new dimension of perception, and especially of hearing. If the physical

is not aligned with the aural, even your most assiduous efforts will be for naught. Remember, your ear must be the ultimate judge.

Tendonitis—a cautionary note

I have been told that some of my exercises are actually dangerous and can damage the hand, cause tendonitis, etc. I acknowledge this legitimate

concern, and would like to stress that if you are at all worried about tendonitis, approach the hand strength exercises with extreme caution. I developed them with a group of students who were in very good pianistic shape to begin with. If you have had problems, then do not begin at full

power but at 5%. Try to divine and define function before you increase power gradually to full strength. Understand the principle before putting it into practice. Experiment, always taking care not necessarily to avoid strain

entirely, but to manage it wisely. Your aim is to activate muscles that need to be activated while relieving stress on muscles that do not need it. If done correctly, you will find that in fact, these exercises, through accessing the

hand’s true strength and function, can both relieve tendonitis and prevent its occurrence.

Tendonitis most often arises from constant, long-term overpressing. Even though theoretically, pressure on the key after it has been struck should have no effect on the sound produced, pianists will insist on maintaining a constant

pressure for hours of playing, without adequate finger activity that would support it appropriately. This of course can exert a tremendous stress on the

mechanism.

Many of my exercises employ very strong pressing, but rarely will you be required to play like that. The pressing exercises are designed to improve the

kinesthetic representation of certain structural and functional attributes of the hand. The information acquired by pressing then should be incorporated

into your normal manner of playing—pressing should not become your normal approach to the keyboard!

If the muscular contraction that produces the sound is maintained only for the minimum time required to achieve the sonic result, there will be no

fatigue. Fatigue results from the muscles staying contracted longer than they need to. Fatigue is even doubled because this ongoing contraction also

interferes with the freeproduction of the next tone. Much of my text aims to have you produce richer tone through reducing the duration of your

muscular impulses to effective lengths. This way of improving your sound also reduces stress on your physical mechanism.

Pain and piano technique

Once on a bus in New York I saw the most incredible advertisement for the U. S. Marines. A picture of a big, burly man climbing a rope ladder bore the caption, ‘Pain is just weakness leaving the body’! As a blanket statement

nothing could be more ludicrous. Pain generally signals that something is not working properly and that the problem needs to be addressed. In piano playing, most pain anywhere above your wrist falls into this category. In

grossly general terms, something below your wrist isn’t working as it should—something above is overworking in compensation. However, there are

certain types of pain in the hand itself that may signal not a problem but the beginning of its resolution. Certain muscles may be starting to acquire proper

function. Muscles that have lain dormant for too long may be finally beginning to do the work they were designed to do. Just like the ache in your calves when you run after a 3-month layoff, this type of pain may be not only innocuous but even desirable, if of course you act with moderation and not

undue force. Learn to discriminate!

There are of course exceptions to these general guidelines—the bottom line: proceed with intelligence and caution!

 

Piano technique and performance anxiety

This approach can also serve as an effective antidote to debilitating performance anxiety, which I divide into two types. Positive performance anxiety derives from the knowledge

that something wonderful might happen between you, the music and the audience in a performance, but there is never a guarantee that it will. There is nothing anybody can do to eradicate this type of nervousness, and so much the better as it tends to improve rather than impinge upon one’s performance. The inrush of energy and excitement it can engender has a great deal to do with the degree of inspiration one brings to one’s playing.

Negative performance anxiety derives from a sense of insecurity. If I have a real basis to feel confident then I won’t experience that kind of nervousness. But there’s the rub: I may think I feel sure when in fact an unacknowledged physical or technical insecurity may be the real root of the problem. I have found that the approach presented here can really uproot and resolve this

type of performance anxiety. You will be emotionally secure when you have created the physical and musical basis for it.

These exercises are preparatory, developmental. Study and do them; incorporate their kinesthetic message into your reflexes, your senses, your physical apparatus, and then leave them. Forget them; just remember the feeling. Just play! With newfound power, ability, discrimination—play, and

enjoy.

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The power of the hand's arch in piano technique