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Rethinking Technique by Barbara Lister-Sink “…so we are not dealing with more or o r less ingenious theories, but with what ever goes straight to the point p oint and smoothes the techniqual side o art…,” Chopin; Pianist and eacher, by Gean-Jacques-Eigeldinger, Cambridge University Press, 1986 Most music proessionals acknowledge a waning o interest in traditional piano playing. Inuences outside the studio are responsible or some shits in values: popular music, television, general decline in arts unding and support, and peer pressure all contribute to the decline in classical music studies. Understandably Understandably,, many teachers become discouraged and either give up o r compromise standards o excellence to counter this trend, but still eel that this is a losing battle. Tis is not the rst time in the history o piano playing that such a problem has arisen. In l928 teacher and pianist Abby Whiteside wrote: “Tere is a lamentably small ratio o successes in the piano eld in proportion to the number o talented boys and girls ound in studios s tudios throughout the country.” country.” Whiteside hersel believed that th wy pio tchiqu w tught w pt of th poblm. poblm. Beore placing all blame on orces beyond their control, teachers need to ask themselves i this is still the case today. One need only ask any pianist to discover that many have had little technical training at all or have studied as many technical approaches as their number o o teachers. Tese techniques can be blatantly contradictory, leaving the student to decipher the dierences and relative merits. Oten associated with a particular nationality,, “school” or renowned teacher, various techniques o playing can run the gamut rom sustained physical ity tension throughout the hands, arms, shoulders and neck, to near-complete relaxation o all playing muscles. Usually a student is conronted with a mixture o technical “pointers”–ngers lited/ngers at, wrists high/ wrists low, elbows out/elbows in, arms stabilized/arms swinging, etc–which he diligently practices without knowing why. why. Many technical approaches contain learned or instinctive wisdom. However, the student rarely understands partially, partially, let alone wholly wholly,, the bio-mechanical logic behind these approaches. Conusion is the perdictable result. Pedagogical Pedagogical chaos is another: the pianist, understanding only in part, cannot teach the technical approach clearly or eectively to another pianist. Te worst results are atique, discomort, pain or eventual disunction, and inevitable discouragement. Clearly,, one reason or the low ratio o successes among piano students is the existence o too many conClearly using, biomechanically specious spurious technical approaches. T impotc of tchiqu cot b ov ttd. It i th phyicl m whby w mk muic. Te great teacher Nadia Boulanger stated “Music is technique. It is the only aspect o music we control... One can only be ree to express music i the essential technique o one’ one’ss art has been completely mastered. (“Sayings o Great eachers,” eachers,” Te Piano Quarterly , No. 26, Winter l958-59)
Piano teaching is imbued with traditions; one o the s trongest is to teach as we were taught. However, i a pianist studies a number o conusing or even contradictory technical approaches it is difcult to select the best one to pass one, were there indeed a best one. Pianists honor their teachers’ knowledge, dedication, love o music, and kindness; consequently it is painul to entertain the idea that those eorts may not have always reected what was best or us technically. Perhaps the time has come to re-evaluate this diversity o technical approaches. For decades the right o an instructor to teach his technique o choice, constructive or destructive, has gone unquestioned. Up to now, teachers have even embraced the right to teach no technique at all. Attempts to reduce the variety o approaches and systemize technical instruction has oten been viewed by teachers as a threat to individual artistry and creativity. Ironically, the prevailing distrust o a given system and the destructive results caused by some systems account or the prolieration o these approaches. Radical changes in teaching and playing may not be necessary. eachers need not categorically give up or discredit the techniques they learned or are teaching. Establishing a technical system that works or everyone is analogous to establishing the right nutritional program–eliminate what does not always work and retain or add what consistently works. Te important rule is to udtd fom phyicl/biomchicl viwpoit why o i uig th body th wy o do. Piano technique needs, once and or all, to be clearly dened, drawing on past wisdom and present scientic knowledge. Tat denition should begin with the p rinciples o good coordination and efcient body use. With these basic principles o good coordination and biomechanics clearly understood, teachers could discontinue promoting so many conusing technical approaches and establish a common, universally acceptable approach to playing the piano that works or all pianists in all styles. Playing with good coordination and the best use o their bodies would enhance, not threaten, individual musical styles and personalities. In dening technique, some o the most successul keyboard teachers o the past three centuries have held several common belies: technical command is a skill, not a talent, and most can learn it; good technique is synonymous with physical ease, not difculty; technique inuences musicality; and injury rom playing is unnecessary. An attempt to establish a common technical system would create many challenges. Te rst challenge would be to identiy biomechanically sound techniques and teaching methods, past and present. Tis is a mind-boggling task in view o the amount o inormation. Tere are a number o scientists, physicians and health and movement specialists who have joined with musicians to address injury prevention, good coordination and sound biomechanics at the piano. Numerous organizations, conerences, and journals on art and medicine appeared in the last decade. Among current piano teachers who understand and teach good coordination and injury-preventive techniques are Dorothy aubmann and Rebecca Penneys. Gilels, Richter, Rachmanino, Jose and Rosina Lhevinne, to name a ew, represented the Russian “school” o piano technique, a technical system renowned or its reedom and virtuosity. Versions o this technical system are currently being taught in our country by Alexander Peskanov, and a variety o Russian pianists recently employed in the US. Historically, there are numerous excellent writings on technique that revolutionized piano-playing at one time but that are now nearly orgotten. In 1716 Francois Couperin wrote his L’Art de oucher le Clavecin (Te Art of Playing the Harpsichord) Students and colleagues documented Chopin’s teachings. In 1903, obias Matthay published his Art of ouch and reinstated the basic principles o injury-preventive technique and good coordination. In l929, Te Pianist’s Mechanism by Abby Whiteside was published concurrently with the scientically
exhaustive Te Physiological Mechanics of Piano echnique by Otto Ortmann. Add to these various writings by great pianists and teachers o this century such as Homann and Gieseking, as well as more recent books such as Gyorgy Sandor’s On Piano Playing . For a well-written, thorough overview o the histor y o piano technique, Famous Pianists & Teir echnique by Reginald R. Gerig is a summary o keyboard technique since 1600. Although this centuries-old technique o good coordination and efcient body use exists, something prevents it rom widespread and universal acceptance. Pedagogical systems that teach this technique have come and gone while teachers and students continue to grapple with partial or aulty knowledge, discomort, pain and injury. Te key to a permanent solution lies not only in dening technique through the principles o good coordination and sound biomechanics, but i th m ud to tch it. Te only way to teach the biomechanics o any complex physical activity, whether it be gol or piano playing, is hands-on, through the senses–aural, visual, tactile and kinesthetic. Te great stumbling block to transmitting knowledge o piano technique through the centuries has been the reliance on the written or spoken work as the primary teaching language. While valuable as a means o underscoring what has already been learned, words cannot teach the physical sensations necessary or technical mastery and good coordination. o begin with, pianists should view themselves as athletes, as well as artists. Basic orm is a concept both pianists and athletes can use. Te movements o piano playing are analogous to the complex movements o sports; good coordination in both are dened by natural, efcient body use in both simple and complex movement patterns–the most results with the least amount o eor t. Te only dierence is that pianists use primarily the smaller muscles o the arms and hands, although the larger muscles support the smaller muscles. In tennis it is not enough merely to get the ball over the net or in gure skating to cut the appropriate patterns on the ice. Te athlete’s coordination o these movements–the basic orm–is just as important. Te mastery o basic orm and physical coordination also insures consistency and reliability in the activity. In instructing a beginner, a good tennis or gol coach rst emphasizes the basic stroke or swing, coordinated thoughout the whole body. A beginner practices this stroke again and again or two primary reasons: to insure consistency in controlling the placement o the ball and to develop a undamental sense o good coordination and timing. It is this eeling o smooth coordination which eventually leads to mastery o the more complicated strokes or swings o the game. A good athletic coach realizes the importance o teaching basic orm and efcient, ree body use. Understanding and programming in the “basic stroke,” the undamental gesture o making sound at the piano, is the rst requirement o piano technique, but one which is rarely addressed by teachers. From it the principles o good coordination and efcient body use at the piano are established. Te ollowing seven steps outline a plan or teaching the technique o good coordination and ree, efcient body use at the piano. T tio of good phyicl cooditio, i pot, c oly b tught i hdo m. Tese steps serve only as a supercial indicator o the complex, step-by-step process used or teaching. Depending upon the pianist’s total prole and history, certain steps will require more time. All steps must be presented by means appropriate to the pianist’s age and learning style. In teaching these steps, the cardinal rule o good pedagogy must be ollowed: master each step beore proceeding to the next. Te rst six steps require an average o eight weeks o bi-weekly lessons, and daily short lessons to reinorce the physical sensations learned are desirable or the rst two weeks. Te technical goal is or the basic coordination and vocabulary o gestures to be “programmed” into the pianist’s body and mind and become automatic.
Te rst our steps involve learning away rom the piano. First, a pianist should understand the importance o total well-being, physically, mentally and emotionally. Realizing ull potential, technically and artistically, is directly related to a pianist’s state o health, maintained by sound nutrition, sufcient rest and exercise, good muscle tone, and an alert, positive mental attitude. Te second step draws upon such body-awareness techniques as Alexander and Feldenkrais to help the pianist cultivate an awareness o the whole body at rest. (Tese rst two steps may be modied or very young students.) Next, developing sensory-motor control o voluntary muscles teaches pianists to consciously contract and release the muscles necessary to playing. In this way, accumulation o muscle tension, a major cause o injury, is avoided. Fourth, the pianist understands how the whole body coordinates the movements o simple daily activities, such as walking, eating, writing, in the most efcient, natural way. Concurrently, accumulated body tension and habits o aulty body use are identied and eliminated. Now that the pianist has knowledge and more control o the human mechanism, the th s tep is to learn how the piano mechanism works. Ten rom an understanding o how sound is produced, the pianist can move to the sixth and most critical step, the learning o the basic physical gesture o tone prod uction. Tis is the “basic orm” o the athlete or “basic stroke” o piano playing. rducig thi llciticl gtu oly to wod i vitully poitl, lthough o hop it my pk cogitio of cti tio o gtu ldy ld. In order to produce sound the most naturally and efciently, the pianist must sit comortably, be ree and released throughout the body, and have no strain on the joints or spine , and no unnecessary muscle tension. Te torso is well-balanced and supportive. From this point o ease and reedom, the basic stroke may be practiced in our separate parts and then as one integrated gesture. Te rst component part is an easy lit o the orearm, initiated rom the wrist, hand hanging reely. (Tis is the equivalent o the goler’s preparatory back swing.) In this component, the upper arm is hanging reely rom the shoulder socket. Te second component is a ree all o the orearm, practiced on the pianist’s lap and then on the keys. In this part, the hand lands on a naturally attened palm. (Tis is the equivalent o the goler’s swing toward the ball.) Te third component is the contact with the key. (Tis is the goler’s contact with the ball). In this component the pianists learns what the most efcient alignment o joints and degree o muscle tension is or supporting the alling weight o the arm and activating the piano key. Te last component is the instantaneous release o the muscles o the orearm and hand and the retraction o the weight o the arm into the skeletal rame. (Tis is the goler’s ollow through o the club ater contact with the ball.) Te instantaneous muscle release o the whole arm, excepting the bicep, is equivalent to the amount o time the hammer is in contact with the piano string. Ater concentrating on mastering these component parts, the entire ges ture is integrated and timed or perect coordination. Its speed and orce will vary with the requirements o the music. evy gtu i itgtd thoughout th ti body. Body pt ot viwd o xpicd ptly; good cooditio i th hmoiou wokig togth of ll th pt. Te last step is the ongoing integration o this basic gesture o tone production into increasingly more complex movement patterns. Tis should be done primarily though exercises careully selected to build good coordination incrementally. Skipping ahead prematurely to overly challenging movement patterns will create excess tension and cause the pianist to revert to inefcient body use and poor coordination. Te Mikrokosmos , Books I - VI by Bela Bartok are brilliant pedagogical tools or step-by-step building o this basic orm and good coordination at the piano.
By this time, with the constant hands-on instruction o the teacher-coach, the basic ges tures o playing the piano will be natural, ree and automatic. Te pianist will then begin applying this basic playing mechanism or orm to increasingly complex music. Ultimately, the pianist acquires the tio o good coordination and ree, efcient body use. Observing visual images o great pianist examples o this technique, such as Artur Rubinstein, will reinorce the teacher-coach’s hands-on instructions. As a result o using this technique, a pianist will be less likely to suer the physical distractions o atigue, strain, pain, or injury. Increased control, exibility, acility and power will enhance tone quality, variety and dynamics and will allow a greater range o repertoire. A pianist will be less likely to suer rom perormance anxiety because a healthy mind and body bring joy to playing the piano. echnique will no longer be a cage imprisoning artistic expression. Te songbird o artistry will nally be ree to sing orever outside the bars o any cage.
