Saturday, November 8, 2008

#58 Scooping up water.

For those passages where you want a kind of blurry, soft, and dreamy sound (lots of those in Debussy, Ravel and Scriabin) there are two things which are technically important. Keeping most of the weight off your hand--- almost as if your wrist is limp--- and playing every note in one flowing motion.


hand_on_water


Imagine that, instead of a row of keys, your keyboard is a stream of water; with the first note of the passage, you dip your hand into the water, and in one smooth arc, you scoop some of the water up and out. I like to play the highest notes in these kinds of passages a bit brighter. Maintaining the same mental image, you can give the higher note a nice bell-like tone by flicking some of that "water" at the audience.


It's not literally the same movement, but that mental image helps me explain the way it should be played.

11 comments:

  1. Who are you and what do you want? be yourself. Don't hide within yourself, you should be aware of your talent and ask for forgiveness to people you've damaged.
    Be free Amhed, we know you want it to.

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  2. Same reaction I had when I first read that comment.

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  3. That's actually pretty creepy. I got goose bumps.

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  4. Debussy has damaged enough people on his own. After all, any piece of music with a zillion notes cannot be good for a pianist on the long term *yes, imo (smile). I learned Bach's English Suite and practically vowed 'never again.' Due to over practicing so many notes and learning to relax - but realizing - even when you are relaxed you are still moving those fingers an awful lot! After a good session - nice warm water to those hands/arms. Maybe don't practice so much the following day. Alternate days? Just a lot of notes for those poor piano hands. I like what Ahmed says about water and loose wrists. How much damage is that going to cause. What do you want to do with Debussy, Your 'friend' (after all - piano isn't just for the elite - and information can be given for free on blogs which is useful for the masses - which imo, yes, again - is what music should be about!) I think that very difficult piano music can become much easier to play with good tips. Of course, nothing replaces the piano teacher. After all, we don't want to be out of a job. However - giving out information can't be THAT damaging if the person giving it hasn't died or lost their arms to some kind of tendonitis. Susan

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  5. And, then again - playing devil's advocate (don't tell piano street forumers) - i think that if one relaxes fully...perhaps all the weight of the hand is not that much! The hand doesn't weigh a ton. I think I know what Ahmed means. Relax the hand. Let wrists be flexible. But, perhaps let the weight part alone? Susan

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  6. And, back to 'angel' again - i remember when attempting some Chopin pieces that i suddenly had this euphoric realization that most of the time it felt like my hands were floating over the keys. It was like i was between spaces. Above and below. It was freaky nice. Just not to feel weighted to the bottom of the keys - but sort of in a piano limbo to play lighter, faster, more even. The lightness helps.

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  7. Perhaps this is an issue of terminology for teachers? Instead of using the term 'weight' to connotate technique - maybe the term 'lightness.' You can use the same techniques but shades of it become lighter and faster and stay precise because you are honing the skill to a higher and higher level of achievement. Basically, control at higher speeds. Susan

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  8. Sorry to comment four times in a row - but i also wanted to say that a saving grace for practice is to play more into the keys when playing slower and to gradually work into lighter and softer grades of dynamics when playing faster. I was told that the amount of notes within a measure can give an 'impression' of loudness if there are many many notes - versus a few notes that may need more 'umph.'

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  9. Telling a student to let loose the weight of his arm is a good way of teaching him the sensation of a relaxed elbow and how to transfer hiw weight through the wrist to his fingertips. You can't play everything with all your weight completely on the keyboard though. I think it is an aid for achieveing a certain kind of sound and playing, but not a cure-it-all.

    Then ideal thing to achieve, I think, is a kind of "relaxed readiness". You need tension to play, but it has to be the right kind of tension. It's like when you walk, if you were completely relaxed all the time, you wouldn't be able to walk, you'd be crawling around like a slug, if anything. You can't have the wrong kind of tension, or you'd walk around like frankenstein in wierd lurches with your extremeties completely rigid. It's just a relaxed movement that involves all your muscles and joints working together.

    People spend their whole lives writing and investigating on this subject, so I'm sure I can't get to the bottom of it in a comment box.

    Like the walking example, or the scooping up water example, I find it more effective to teach the motions by finding everyday examples for a movement very close to what you are trying to show the student (bouncing a ball, scratching an itch, lighting a match, hitting a drum, screweing in a light bulb... )

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  10. I like that analogy approach a lot. I tell my students that their arms should feel like they do when they are at their sides during a relaxed walk. You're not focusing on them. As one plays faster - there is an intangible sensation to relay of 'ghosting' the piano.

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