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 Blog for 5 January 2009 Piano
Technique: Advice
To the Young Pianist
Many people ask me for the
“secret” to
acquiring good technique. Unfortunately, there is no “secret.”
Technique can
only be attained through hard work. Sorry. Every professional pianist also needs to be able to improvise. Again, I am frequently asked for the “secret” to improvisation. In fact, I have often been hired by other musicians to teach them how to improvise. They invariably hope that, in one easy lesson, I can impart to them the great secret that has somehow eluded them. Almost always, they are deeply disappointed when I inform them of the hard fact that the ability to improvise is the result of hard work, discipline, diligence, and determination. It seems that no one wants to be told that the key to improvisation is a thorough grounding in, intimate familiarity with, and capability to execute flawlessly all scales, arpeggios, and chords in all inversions. Far too many jazz, ragtime, and popular pianists turned away from classical piano lessons because they vainly and wrongly assumed that jazz and ragtime would provide a refuge from the hard work of learning scales and arpeggios. This might explain why bad, sloppy, unimaginative, and unmusical jazz and ragtime piano playing is the norm today rather than the exception. All pianists, regardless of the genre of music they play, must know and will benefit greatly from knowing all scales and arpeggios. More so than classical pianists who generally just stick to the printed note, jazz and ragtime pianists have an even greater need to know scales and arpeggios, for without these elements of technique, successful and clever improvisation is impossible. The good news, however, is that both
technique and
improvisational ability are within the grasp of almost anyone.
Furthermore, they can be acquired simultaneously through the same
means:
daily practice of scales and arpeggios in all keys. Let me stress that the metronome is the pianist’s best friend. Every pianist -- especially a ragtime pianist -- needs to have perfect rhythm. An easy way to acquire perfect rhythm is to use the metronome not only when practicing pieces, but also when practicing technique. The metronome, therefore, should always be used for every technical exercise. Speed is never the goal. Slow practice means fast progress. For scales, I recommend a setting no higher than 96, that is, four consecutive notes for every beat of the metronome. For arpeggios, again, no more than 96 (three consecutive notes per beat for the major and minor arpeggios and four consecutive notes for dominant seventh, diminished seventh, and major sixth arpeggios) is more than sufficient. The pianist should make every effort
to avoid twisting the
hand at the wrist. Training the thumb to cross under the palm without
twisting
the wrist is crucially important. Practicing scales and arpeggios
slowly will enable the disciplined pianist to monitor and to correct
finger
and hand position. For instance, the hand should be gently curved as if
one were grasping a golf ball in the palm. The fingers should be curved
in order to maximize the strength of the attack. The key should be
touched with the fleshy pad just behind the nail. The fingernail
should never touch the key. The first joint of the finger should always
be curved. There are few things more detrimental to tonal control,
speed, and accuracy than having the
first joint bent backward. It is akin to trying to walk on the sides of
your feet rather than on the soles of the feet. As for fingering, there are certain basic
principles that will determine the correct fingering. In the major and
minor arpeggios, only use the first, second, fourth, and fifth fingers.
Using the fourth finger may at times be more awkward than using the
third finger, but will result in a stronger fourth finger. Jozef
Hoffman was once asked how to strengthen the fourth finger. His answer
was simply: "Use it!" Fingering major and minor arpeggios this way will
force the pianist to "use it." When playings arpeggios, the thumb is
never used on a sharp key (black key) with the
sole
exception of the Gb major and Eb minor arpeggios, where the absence of
naturals (white keys) in the triad necessitates the use of the thumb on
a sharp
key. Indeed, arpeggios consisting entirely of black notes (Gb major, Eb
minor, and Gb major sixth), are fingered exactly as if they consisted
entirely of white keys. For dominant seventh, diminished seventh, and
major sixth arpeggios, the fingering of the right hand never seems to
be a problem, but the fourth finger of the left hand is frequently
cheated of good exercise when "easier" fingerings are adopted. My rule
for the fingering of the left hand is this: If the inversion begins
with a white key, start with the fifth finger unless doing so would
cause the thumb to play a black note (a "no no"), in which case, start
with the fourth finger. If that, however, causes the thumb to play a
black note, begin with the third finger, and so forth. Additionally, if
the inversion begins with a black note, always start with the forth
finger unless doing so would cause the thumb to play a black note. If
this is the case, then begin with the third finger, etc. I think you
get the formula by now. Also, when playing octaves, remember that the fifth finger should never play a sharp (a black key). All sharps are played with the fourth fingers instead. The skillful alternation between the fourth and fifth fingers enables one to play double octave scales and arpeggios with legato and with increased speed.
I recommend the following basic daily
practice routine for
all pianist wishing to acquire good technique and wishing to learn how
to
improvise. The routine below is to considered the bare minimum. It is
merely what every serious pianist should know and be able to execute
flawlessly. It is the starting point rather than the totality of the
pianist's daily pratice routine. Many very valuable points of technique
and technical exercises can and should be added to the basic daily
routine. Basic Daily Routine Scales an octave
apart All 12 major scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 harmonic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 melodic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. The chromatic scale: four octaves up and down the keyboard. Arpeggios All major arpeggios based on the major triad in all inversions in all 12 keys, four octaves up and down the keyboard All minor arpeggios based on the minor triad in all inversions in all 12 keys, four octaves up and down the keyboard All dominant 7th arpeggios based on
the dominant 7th tetrad
in all inversions in all 12 keys, four
octaves up and down the keyboard All major 6th arpeggios based on the major 6th tetrad in all inversions in all 12 keys, four octaves up and down the keyboard All three diminished 7th arpeggios based on the diminished 7th tetrad in all inversions, four octaves up and down the keyboard Double Octaves All 12 major scales in double octaves: three octaves up and down the keyboard All 12 harmonic minor scales in double octaves: three octaves up and down the keyboard All 12 melodic minor scales in double octaves: three octaves up and down the keyboard The chromatic scale: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 major arpeggios based on the major triad in all inversions in every key, three octaves up and down the keyboard in double octaves All 12 minor arpeggios based on the minor triad in all inversions in every key, three octaves up and down the keyboard in double octaves All 12 dominant 7th arpeggios based on the dominant 7th tetrad in all inversions in every key, three octaves up and down the keyboard in double octaves All 3 diminished 7th arpeggios based on the diminished 7th tetrad in all inversions, three octaves up and down the keyboard in double octaves Scales with hands a
tenth, a sixth, and a third apart All 12 major scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 harmonic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 melodic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. Additionally, I highly recommend the following: Scales in double
thirds All 12 major scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 harmonic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. All 12 melodic minor scales: four octaves up and down the keyboard. Chromatic scale in double major thirds: up
and down
the entire keyboard. Not every ragtime pianist will see
the need to learn all scales in
double thirds, but from my own experience, they open up a whole world
of
harmonically satisfying improvisation possibilities. Yes, they are hard and take a long time to
learn and perfect, but the results more than justify the hard work. This then is the very minimum that every pianist should do every single day. This entire routine should take about an hour and a half once all scales and arpeggios have been mastered. Additional Exercises Once the daily routine has been completed, any pianist serious about improving his technique should devote at least one additional hour every day to doing some, all, or a combination of the exercises in the following books: Exercises
for the The
Little Pischna.
Josef Pischna Technical Studies: Sixty Progressive Exercises for the Piano. Josef Pischna. Technical Studies for Piano. Three Volumes. Franz Liszt The most valuable parts of Philipp’s
book are the first five
“series” in Part I of the first volume (“part”) of his book.
All three volumes of the Liszt Technical
Studies are filled with
wonderfully useful exercises.
These volumes are very expensive, but worth every penny. After all, a
couple hundred dollars is really a small sum to trade for the ability
to play as well as Franz Liszt.
The best books for scales and arpeggios are: Scale and Arpeggio Manual. by Walter Macfarren. G.
Schirmer. The Manual of Scales, Broken Chords and Arpeggios for Piano. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
Use this book to obtain the best
fingering for scales,
especially the fingering for double thirds. Many different fingers have
been
devised for double thirds, but I strongly approve of the fingering
provided in
this
book.
I am frequently asked about the value of Hanon’s The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises. I think that it is an excellent book, especially for beginning and intermediate piano students. Book Three of Hanon’s opus is exceedingly useful. Nevertheless, for the advanced pianist, Hanon should be used as a supplement rather than substitute for any of the exercises listed above. Also, in my view, Hanon’s book would be more useful if each of the first 38 exercises had been transposed into all 12 keys.
There are many other great books of
technical exercises. Johannes Brahms, for instance, published a useful
volume. Rafael Joseffy and Alfred Cortot published very interesting
volumes as well.
Should
I come
across a book of technical exercises as wonderful as Philipp, Pischna,
and
Liszt, I will be sure to list it here. Nevertheless, what I have listed
here is more than sufficient to build a world-class technique that will
sustain the pianist for a lifetime. Frederick Hodges  |
