Articles
Principles of Piano Techniqe
(1) Relaxation: When playing the piano, hands and body should always be in the most natural position so as to be free and without obstacle. Relaxation is most important during the entire playing process. Stiff arms and/or hands lack freedom iof action and cannot play well.
(2) Balance: Without balance, one would fall. Staggering along must be prevented. Balance is so important: when the feet are strong, one can relax and walk with balance. When the fingertips are strong, one plays smoothly, it is as simple as that. Therefore, the first joint of the fingers gripping the piano keys lightly will enable the fingertips to be strong; the natural weight of the arms will be able to go directly down to the bottom of the keys. The ability of the fingers to support and the natural weight of the arms must be balanced. Their balance is the fundamental requirement of playing the piano well. When one plays the piano, fingertips should immediately grip the keys. When the fingertips are strong, the arms can really relax, and playing will be in a balanced state.
(3) Focus Point: The focus point is where the fingertip touches the piano
key. The effort of playing should focus directly through this point to
the bottom of the key, producing beautiful sound. If the effort does not
focus at this point, practice will be of no avail and will even lead to
an erroneous path. If the focus point is found, playing has a direct aim,
and effort will be precise. Waste of energy is the biggest enemy of piano
playing.
The weight of the arm, beginning from the
shoulder, goes down unobstructed through the fingertips onto the bottom
of the piano keys. This is a route that has really no barrier. Practice
slowly, paying careful attention. It is like a drop of water falling into
the sand and sinks gradually to the bottom.
(4) Explosive Force: Energy focused directly onto the bottom of the piano
key, in a split second, rapidly falls down upon the key bed and immediately
bounces up, such is its explosive force. When two hard surfaces hit one
another, they repel each other. Using this principle, explosive force
enables the energy to concentrate on the fingertip, and to use minimum
force to get the best effect. It reserves energy, facilitates playing,
is more proficient, gets twice the result with half the effort. It is
a golden key, which enables playing to reach the kingdom of freedom.
Use staccato to practice explosive force.
For example: explosive force of the finger. First of all, one needs to
know the weight of the fingers, which is, the weight from the palm knuckle
to the fingertip. Practice with the thumb resting at the bottom of the
key, the weight of the arm is therefore resting at the bottom of the key,
the other four fingers lift and straighten up. Each finger falls down
one by one, grips the key and bounces up again. It is so very simple.
The fingertips will gradually get stronger through continuous practice.
Strengthening of the fingertips can only be done on the basis of the weight
of the finger itself and cannot use outside force. Practice of octaves
and chords is not included here.
(5) Legato: legato makes playing fluent and rapid.
To do so, playing should be rational, simple and effective in order to
be fluent and rapid.
The principle of legato playing is simple: play the first note onto the
bottom of the key, then naturally and smoothly shift the weight to the
next key, so the weight of the hand shifts directly from the bottom of
one key to the next. The faster the running, the weight of the hand rests
more calmly and smoothly at the bottom of the keys. The process is very
simple.
When running fluently and rapidly, the volume must be even, the tone color
should be the same, rising and falling freely. Therefore, during practice,
when fingertips grip the keys, each of the five fingers would be able
to support the same weight. Through the fingertips, the weight of the
arm shifts smoothly from one finger to the next at the bottom of the keys
without any superfluous movement or force. This is legato.
Although it is very simple, it is not easily achieved. It must be based
upon the four principles above (relaxation, balance, focus point, energy
at the fingertips). Therefore the four principles above are the indispensible
factors to legato playing.
Summary: the above article concentrates solely on piano technique, and
does not touch upon the interpretation of music. But only when perfect
technique is mastered, can beautiful music be played. And when the principles
of piano technique are mastered, the road would be smooth; playing the
piano will be a great joy!
Zhuping Ling
Vivien Chen
August 2017, Richmond, USA
