One of my piano professors opened a restaurant with Martha Argerich in London, England. It didn’t do very well because hardly anyone went to eat there. So, what do two masters of pianism do all day with all of this free time? They discussed piano technique. My teacher related to me everything he discussed with Martha about resting arm weight. I was really struggling with a passage from Alkan - Le Festin D’Esope but 2 weeks later, I could play it at the same speed and level of accuracy as Marc-Andre Hamelin. It was an incredible discovery and it is the only reason I was able to play virtuoso music with ease and a great sound. I will always be truly grateful for that lesson. Of course, resting arm weight while building up speed with metronome and gradually resting 3/4 of weight then 1/2 weight then 1/4 of arm weight the faster I got was what got me beyond what I had hoped for. After that I could rest my arm weight with the appropriate amount depending on the passage and speed. There were many other lessons I learned indirectly from Martha Argerich as a result of an unwise business decision in Shepherds Bush.
I now do the same thing with many players, including the GREAT Martha; I can claim that "I study (indirectly) with Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, a buried Horowitz and Rubinstein, Lim, Lang Lang, George Shearing, Errol Garner....you name it. Terrific comment.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et Thanks, David! This is the way it should be! So, one of my favourite quotes is from Suzuki who said (words to the effect of): “Kreisler is your teacher. I am only his assistant”.
Great story, fun. Thanks for contributing. Shows also how these greats are also regular people, with all the needs and wants, visions common to all of us.
You sir have so much improved my piano playing. You're the first one I've seen to explain the hand/arm connection in details. Best piano teacher on this platform
I have been fortunate to have had a great piano teacher instill these techniques into me early on. Never the less it is nice to be reminded every once in a while. There are many players who are way, way better than me, but because of the fact that I do use this method, I can honestly say that I produce a prettier tone than those who do not. Perhaps even more important, is that by pushing and banging on the keys you can cause physical damage to yourself in the long run. Thank you Craig
As a complete beginner, I had already started using the weight from my hanging arms. I intuitively started doing this on my own after watching the best of pianists on RUclips. Because I was wondering how their fingers played so fluidly but yet with "power", after I noticed many straight backs I figured out that it must be the weight hanging down from the arms. So I started doing it. Thank you for bringing this up, because I totally agree with you. When you attentively watch the great pianists in action, you will absorb what you need to know, but you must have a true love for playing to absorb these things.
Craig- hi. You’re doing a phenomenal job. These concepts can be subtle, and, in many ways, represent the “next generation” of piano instruction based on a much more informed understanding of biomechanics. The “response” that you offer in this video to the “critics” of your previous “short” is beyond excellent- you explore the nuances in the meanings of the different terms from an intuitive conceptual perspective that is humble, well-intentioned, and most of all: informed. Great work! ☺️
Fantastic explanation! Thank you for sharing. 15:52 I would be interested to hear more about the “gradual process” you use in between teaching kids to drop their weight on each note and playing legato. You touched on this with the scales, but it would be helpful to see this presented in a lesson with a student or maybe more step by step if you have the time.
I just wanted to add that this video is the truth! The only thing that I feel needs to be added is the transferring of weight from one finger to the next.
Like that proverbial grand piano in cartoons dropping from outside the 10th story of a high rise onto an unsuspecting victim. Pure gravity. Wasn't pushed down, just fell down. Ouch.
Adding as improve quite rapidly at this: The use of arm weight takes all the stress off the fingers and hands, and by extension, up the arms. One can use simple exercises if more specific work is needed for the less initiated. Play a simple scale, raising and dropping, i.e., detaching noticibly between note strikes. Same can be done with block chords. Detached Up Let go Down, Up let go down. Quite simple really, if one will just do it. You have to see a need for it. About a year ago, I was fortunate to come across a wonderful jazz arrangement which featured just such detached rhytms in the score, approximating falling, intermittent raindrops or tears to fill out the musical metaphor. It was that piece that had the figures right in the score but one can find it all over, i.e., detached notes: Lift up like the crane, let fall with gravity like that proverbial piano from outside the 10th floor apartment house. Mediate the touch with different degrees of weight and distance. Results in so much more control for expressive purposes. You are right on the money, of course, needs to be said a thousand ways to get folks on board. If you don't use gravity to drop, you naturally retain a lot of tension. I can produce a hundred examples with really good players. Stands to reason?
"Positioning the joint so you can bear weight through." I'm working on better stability with L pinky which can collapse in the middle joint if on flat pad. I have raised my L wrist to make it contiguous bones all the way through. R pinky is pretty educated. Only issue of 10 joints is L 5. Working on it. Using the whole body, all parts to their best advantage, what each, very different element, does best and how it integrates with each other part. This is a very fine teacher who can articulate what the best and great players actually do, slowed down for easier digestion for students. Many can't explain it adequately. Cooking with pedagogical gas, CW! I agree with Christopher and Michael. I have seen/processed/applied every one of your videos, many multiple times. This is the best one yet. Keep up the inspiration. Better on the details, what most people need. The piano world appreciates you.
People have a problem understanding how to use arm weight because, when the arm is dropped to the keyboard there are muscles in the regions of the upper arm which are constantly in use to prevent the wrist from collapsing. Trying to balance keeping the shoulder muscles relaxed without the wrist collapsing seems to be the main hurdle which many pianists have a difficult time sorting out. Keeping the wrists from collapsing while playing a piece like the Fantasy Impromptu involves a lot of participation of the upper arm and shoulder muscles. Figuring out exactly how to employ arm weight without overtaxing the upper arm, shoulder and neck muscles is the key. So, how does one remain relaxed while trying to rely on are weight?
All of pianists use arm weight: is a biomechanics exigence and not a technique choice. Is impossible to hold the arm over the keys nor rest the weight of the arm. Both situations will lead to shoulder fatigue in short term. We are all time “jumping” on the piano, letting the arm fall a little height, transferring its momentum to the key and recoiling again up. When playing faster this movement are very unlikely to see because they are tiny. In slow playing is more evident but it happens every time. In some situations gravity is not enough: for example playing chords or octaves forte and fast. You should push against the keyboard because the time to get enough height to achieve the desired momentum plus the descending time will be too long for the desired speed. But in general all pianists play naturally with gravity even without Rachmaninoff exercises to master the falling eccentric control of the arm. In my opinion (pianist and physiotherapist) the most dangerous technique that can injure fingers or shoulder is legato technique. I confirm your opinion without any research just because the biomechanics of hitting any keyboard that are inertial (not considering a computer because keys are very light so fingers push is enough but electric typing machines were studied as well as piano) is well understood. So all muscles, from the spine to the intrinsic muscles of the hand are contracting-relaxing all time. Metabolism of muscles has this exigence, is very similar to walking, running, swimming. Legato in beginners lead to avoid this spring mechanism, unless they have enough control to release tension from the played note to the next but superposing the sound. Nice analysis, alignment and relaxing between notes is the way to a long piano life! 😊
Listen, I want to comment on dropping from a height because my Grandmother, a concert pianist from Berlin had me doing this all of my life at the piano! Her professor at the conservatory, Herr Bertram referred to this dropping technique mainly for playing octaves and massive chords in one or both hands forte or double forte. So, when I played the A Major Polonaise by Chopin or the Polonaise in A-flat, I dropped from the top. My Grandmother took a phone book and dropped it from 2 feet above and when it hit the ground, there was a crashing sound that was quite impressive. But then she took the phone book and held it inches from the floor and smacked it against the floor. The sound was harsh. My Grandmother also played the Prelude in C Minor No. 20 by Chopin this way from the top. Of course, every student she ran into played this prelude close to the keyboard and she told them it was wrong. Too, they always made the mistake of not performing the dotted quarter note value three chords into this piece, but that is another story. Now, Horowitz said once that he never dropped from the heights and that staying close to the keyboard produced his wonderful sound... so go figure. Rubinstein played from the heights as you point out. I believe that he stopped using this dropping technique as his eyesight diminished. Eventually, he went blind. My Grandmother never mentioned using dropping for legato playing but it definitely came into play for producing staccato like in the Bach Two-Part Invention in F Major no. 8. In legato playing, every time I played with certain gestures of the wrist like Cliburn often did which she considered effeminate, she chided me for being a sissy boy. For finger strength, she employed isometric type exercises where as I pressed down on a key, she held my finder and pulled again my pressing downward, if you get what I mean. All fingers were done this way in curved position with knuckles out except the 5 finger (pinky) where she had me straighten out that little finger so no joint was curved.. like a straight stick. Another thing she had me do that she said allowed me to learn brand new pieces faster was to play "loud and strong". I was supposed to play slowly with emphasis and exaggerate the lifting of every finger like one inch and a half higher than normal. Of course, you don't play this way in actual performance. If you want to discuss this aspect of piano technique, please email me at earth22@myyahoo.com. Even today, at age 73, when I play the Military Polonaise, I am not close to the keyboard at all. I attack the large chords and octaves from the top, many inches from the keyboard. Now, Jose Iturbi and Horowitz used flat fingers and that technique was call "knuckle technique". My Grandmother told me that Horowitz had fingers like knockwursts so he had to do that. I didn't believe her for a minute. Horowitz was taught that technique by Tarnovsky. I met one of Tarnovsky's later students who played with the same flat fingers. My name is Stephen Borisoff.
I'm 77, a lifetime of music, vocal soloist and now piano focus. I really enjoyed the entire diatribe. I read that VH had fingers that curved up at the end so it appeared that he was more flat fingered than he actually was. His pads were his fingertips. Also, though 5'9" he was short waisted, so he sat lower than most. His style was elegant; personality quirky, an audience darling. I feel that the basic technical factors are the same; tempered by individual differences, like hand physiognomy, stature, personality. Amazing how well individuals can play with different styles. That to me, is what makes for individual style and compelling interest. Thanks for your input; very compelling.
I also think that progressing blindness changes the variables. It is a special consideration I see a lot because I follow my Welsh piano friend @rachelstarritt481. Think about what lack of sight means. Loved your sermon.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et I just want to add some facts to your thoughtful reply. First of all, I always thought there was something very wrong with my hands because my fingers flare up too. My Grandmother always wanted me to keep my fingers curved. If I had a way on RUclips to attach a photo of my hands that with which I am typing at my keyboard now, you would see that this is so. One day, I saw a picture of "The Hands of Horowitz" in a book on pianists. I was shocked. He had the same "problem". Well, "I got the hands but not the talent". Now, when I spent a lot of time in the Music Department at California State University, Northridge, I met a fellow student named Florencio. He told me he studied with Sergei Tarnowsky. That was Horowitz's teacher who chided Horowitz after his Historic Return to Carnegie Hall, saying to Horowitz that he didn't like Horowitz's cavalier interpretation of the Chopin Ballade. Horowitz told Tarnowsky that he was not his teacher any more. Well, long story short, Florencio played totally flat-fingered. When I questioned Florencio, we visited Florencio's professor Pianist Adrian Ruiz who agreed with me that Jose Iturbi also played that way. This technique he labeled "Knuckle Technique". Watch the movie with Cornel Wilde "A Song to Remember"... Iturbi's hands used the Knuckle Technique. Now, that is not all, I then spoke my Grandmother ;later on about all of this. While she believed that Horowitz had knockwurtz fingers (I don't buy it, but his fingers do flare out just like mine), my Grandmother then commented that one of her own students went on to become a student of Tarnowsky. However, my Grandmother told me that her student reported that Tarnowsky never changed the curved hand position that she taught that student for the flat-fingered version.
Thanks for the addendum. I went to Cal State U LA for 10 years back in the decades when they very much functioned like a conservatory. I was a vocal performance major with piano a very distant 2nd. I have been piano focused 6+ years straight now after about 10 years of piano work combined over the years. My conclusion: There are many teachers out there who are lacking overall good technical teaching. Interesting-the notion of knockwurst fingers and knuckle technique. All good players use a highly functional knuckle bridge; those like you and VH, some others still have super functional knuckle bridge but not as apparent because the hands are flatter. I sense there is a lack of understanding the role of individual hand (and body) physiognomy, as each hand and body are different, some more than others. The guts of good technique are the same but individual differences are what make piano art interesting/compelling. One size fits all has its limits, broad as they may be, because we are all snowflake designs. At CSUN, did you know Jan Sanborn? who was a good friend of ours for years. Thanks again. I enjoy detail, especially the inside dope.@@mr.fredericchopin6214
@DavidMiller-bp7et I went to California State University Los Angeles to follow a Degree in Speech and Hearing Science. But, before that I frequented for years the Music Department at CSUN (Northridge, California). I met a great friend of mine for life, Karl Geoghagen. There were very serious students there like my friend, Florencio Lopez who studied with Sergei Tarnovsky, VH's teacher. I don't remember the professors except for Dr. Chomsky who taught Opera, I believe. Adrian Ruiz was Florencio's professor. My friend, Karl Geoghagen took a piano performance class with Daniel Pollock who performed the background music for the Motion Picture, The Competition with Richard Dreyfus and Amy Irving. Jacob Gimpel, the pianist, popped up around 1971 for a brief time. My friend, Karl had a strong interest in a very lovely student, Judith Gates. she married her opera professor, Dr. Scott right after he suffered a massive heart attack and had to have a triple bypass. He actually died in an automobile accident decades later... and his wife, Judith is now an important member of the faculty in the Music Department at CSUN to this day. No, I never met Jan Sanborn.
I'll never understand why my fingers should carry the 6kg weight of my arms, when my shoulder and arms have the better leverage and muscles to just take that over that job. My fingers need to hold 23 grams to keep a key down on my grand piano. And using the wonderful force of of 6.81 m/s to create a sound on a grand piano stops being relevant to a tone once the key has been struck. Which means all I need is those 23 grams my piano's keyboard needs to keep the fingers where they are. Why on earth would I want to use my finger's muscles to carry my arm weight? Using those muscles also means that I create muscle tension in my hand (1+5) and the forearm (2-4), when in fact all other fingers should be able to freely move - which is only possible when no other finger is actively using its muscle. Oh well...
Said it elsewhere but, I saw a clip of Rubinstein, like in the 40s, showing off a little at a Hollywood Bowl rehearsal. Sat on his bench, put both arms as high as he could reach over his head and in one fell swoop dropped arms/hands onto the keyboard with pinpoint accuracy on a perfect chord. Lighten up Arthur, you rascal; shows what can be done. AR is a fellow mortal.
Dropping the arm takes, let's say for discussion purposes, 1/2 of a second, but in that same time say, you could play three keys. How is it possible then to play those three key with just one drop of the arm? Doing so is practical with just one key. Am I interpreting the advice incorrectly?
You won't always drop the arms from a height, but dropping in practice can help you with understanding how weight and momentum can help you play from one key to the other. Try to practice a dropping motion from a smaller height where you play one key then smoothly transfer to he next after you get used to the larger motion. And don't forget to keep fingers active yet close to the key! the power comes from that arm weight, not necessarily lifting the fingers themselves super high. Hope this helps!
There's an interplay between flexibility and structural support needed for this, definitely. Practicing scales and arpeggios at a super slow speed is actually very good for this, as with every shift in your position from one group of notes to the next, you can have a very slight dropping motion, and over time you decrease this drop while maintaining your weight and fluidity. Thinking of the notes you must play with each drop as one smooth group can definitely help. For more on this I'd definitely recommend the other videos from this guy, along with the videos from PianoTechSupport and Denis Zhdanov, both also excellent pianists who go heavily into the fine details of technique and relaxation.
@@abb5643 while I do get what you are saying your reply doesn't address the specific point I discuss. Let me try this analogy: say, I have a hammer and three nails, with one downward motion where I will use the weight of my arm to nail the nails I can only hammer one nail at a time, it'd take three such motions to do all three nails. This is what I cant reconcile.
@@facl115 Ah, I see where you're coming from. I'll try and restate what I said in terms of your analogy: the problem with the hammer idea is this hammer does not have 5 articulating appendages (fingers) at the end of a head which also articulates (wrist). If you were to drop a hammer which had these articulating appendages, then roll it slightly (flexible wrist using circular movements) as these appendages articulated (keeping fingers close to keys, yet still active), you could play these three notes with one "hammer fall" without issue. This is what I mean by using the drop to transfer your weight and momentum. It's important to note too that you must not actually hammer into the keys, you're just using weight and gravity for 99% of passages here. That is plenty enough to get the sound you need. And as you build supportive strength, wrist mobility, and finger dexterity, you'll discover that for many passages, you don't literally have to drop from a height. In fact, you can often use a flexible wrist to keep your fingers on the keys as you rise and lower your forearm. This is how you do such dropping motions rapidly, and without the fatigue of only trying to use fingers or fingers and wrist. I keep mentioning arpeggios and scales, but they really are crucial for this idea of keeping your fingers close while using circular wrist movements and gravity in the forearm. I hope that clears it up a bit!
This has to be the worst teaching style I've ever encountered regarding to the ability to communicate ideas, coupled with a pretentious vibe. Also, I'm pretty sure that Marta Argerich and all the rest know exactly why they play the way they play ("whether they know it or not" lol).
One of my piano professors opened a restaurant with Martha Argerich in London, England. It didn’t do very well because hardly anyone went to eat there. So, what do two masters of pianism do all day with all of this free time? They discussed piano technique. My teacher related to me everything he discussed with Martha about resting arm weight. I was really struggling with a passage from Alkan - Le Festin D’Esope but 2 weeks later, I could play it at the same speed and level of accuracy as Marc-Andre Hamelin. It was an incredible discovery and it is the only reason I was able to play virtuoso music with ease and a great sound. I will always be truly grateful for that lesson. Of course, resting arm weight while building up speed with metronome and gradually resting 3/4 of weight then 1/2 weight then 1/4 of arm weight the faster I got was what got me beyond what I had hoped for. After that I could rest my arm weight with the appropriate amount depending on the passage and speed. There were many other lessons I learned indirectly from Martha Argerich as a result of an unwise business decision in Shepherds Bush.
I now do the same thing with many players, including the GREAT Martha; I can claim that "I study (indirectly) with Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, a buried Horowitz and Rubinstein, Lim, Lang Lang, George Shearing, Errol Garner....you name it. Terrific comment.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et Thanks, David! This is the way it should be! So, one of my favourite quotes is from Suzuki who said (words to the effect of): “Kreisler is your teacher. I am only his assistant”.
I value your input.@@michaelharvey702
Great story, fun. Thanks for contributing. Shows also how these greats are also regular people, with all the needs and wants, visions common to all of us.
Can you please give us details about the technique tips Argerich gave to your teacher?
You sir have so much improved my piano playing. You're the first one I've seen to explain the hand/arm connection in details. Best piano teacher on this platform
Wow, thanks!
Yes! So true!
I have been fortunate to have had a great piano teacher instill these techniques into me early on. Never the less it is nice to be reminded every once in a while.
There are many players who are way, way better than me, but because of the fact that I do use this method, I can honestly say that I produce a prettier tone than those who do not.
Perhaps even more important, is that by pushing and banging on the keys you can cause physical damage to yourself in the long run.
Thank you Craig
As a complete beginner, I had already started using the weight from my hanging arms. I intuitively started doing this on my own after watching the best of pianists on RUclips. Because I was wondering how their fingers played so fluidly but yet with "power", after I noticed many straight backs I figured out that it must be the weight hanging down from the arms. So I started doing it. Thank you for bringing this up, because I totally agree with you. When you attentively watch the great pianists in action, you will absorb what you need to know, but you must have a true love for playing to absorb these things.
Very interesting! How old were you as a complete beginner?
Good question.@@michaelharvey702
Craig- hi. You’re doing a phenomenal job. These concepts can be subtle, and, in many ways, represent the “next generation” of piano instruction based on a much more informed understanding of biomechanics. The “response” that you offer in this video to the “critics” of your previous “short” is beyond excellent- you explore the nuances in the meanings of the different terms from an intuitive conceptual perspective that is humble, well-intentioned, and most of all: informed. Great work! ☺️
Thank you! 🙏
Fantastic explanation! Thank you for sharing.
15:52 I would be interested to hear more about the “gradual process” you use in between teaching kids to drop their weight on each note and playing legato. You touched on this with the scales, but it would be helpful to see this presented in a lesson with a student or maybe more step by step if you have the time.
I just wanted to add that this video is the truth! The only thing that I feel needs to be added is the transferring of weight from one finger to the next.
Like that proverbial grand piano in cartoons dropping from outside the 10th story of a high rise onto an unsuspecting victim. Pure gravity. Wasn't pushed down, just fell down. Ouch.
Adding as improve quite rapidly at this: The use of arm weight takes all the stress off the fingers and hands, and by extension, up the arms. One can use simple exercises if more specific work is needed for the less initiated. Play a simple scale, raising and dropping, i.e., detaching noticibly between note strikes. Same can be done with block chords. Detached Up Let go Down, Up let go down. Quite simple really, if one will just do it. You have to see a need for it.
About a year ago, I was fortunate to come across a wonderful jazz arrangement which featured just such detached rhytms in the score, approximating falling, intermittent raindrops or tears to fill out the musical metaphor. It was that piece that had the figures right in the score but one can find it all over, i.e., detached notes: Lift up like the crane, let fall with gravity like that proverbial piano from outside the 10th floor apartment house. Mediate the touch with different degrees of weight and distance. Results in so much more control for expressive purposes.
You are right on the money, of course, needs to be said a thousand ways to get folks on board. If you don't use gravity to drop, you naturally retain a lot of tension. I can produce a hundred examples with really good players. Stands to reason?
"Positioning the joint so you can bear weight through." I'm working on better stability with L pinky which can collapse in the middle joint if on flat pad. I have raised my L wrist to make it contiguous bones all the way through. R pinky is pretty educated. Only issue of 10 joints is L 5. Working on it. Using the whole body, all parts to their best advantage, what each, very different element, does best and how it integrates with each other part. This is a very fine teacher who can articulate what the best and great players actually do, slowed down for easier digestion for students. Many can't explain it adequately.
Cooking with pedagogical gas, CW! I agree with Christopher and Michael. I have seen/processed/applied every one of your videos, many multiple times. This is the best one yet. Keep up the inspiration. Better on the details, what most people need. The piano world appreciates you.
People have a problem understanding how to use arm weight because, when the arm is dropped to the keyboard there are muscles in the regions of the upper arm which are constantly in use to prevent the wrist from collapsing. Trying to balance keeping the shoulder muscles relaxed without the wrist collapsing seems to be the main hurdle which many pianists have a difficult time sorting out. Keeping the wrists from collapsing while playing a piece like the Fantasy Impromptu involves a lot of participation of the upper arm and shoulder muscles. Figuring out exactly how to employ arm weight without overtaxing the upper arm, shoulder and neck muscles is the key. So, how does one remain relaxed while trying to rely on are weight?
Great comment and question.
All of pianists use arm weight: is a biomechanics exigence and not a technique choice.
Is impossible to hold the arm over the keys nor rest the weight of the arm. Both situations will lead to shoulder fatigue in short term.
We are all time “jumping” on the piano, letting the arm fall a little height, transferring its momentum to the key and recoiling again up.
When playing faster this movement are very unlikely to see because they are tiny. In slow playing is more evident but it happens every time.
In some situations gravity is not enough: for example playing chords or octaves forte and fast. You should push against the keyboard because the time to get enough height to achieve the desired momentum plus the descending time will be too long for the desired speed.
But in general all pianists play naturally with gravity even without Rachmaninoff exercises to master the falling eccentric control of the arm.
In my opinion (pianist and physiotherapist) the most dangerous technique that can injure fingers or shoulder is legato technique.
I confirm your opinion without any research just because the biomechanics of hitting any keyboard that are inertial (not considering a computer because keys are very light so fingers push is enough but electric typing machines were studied as well as piano) is well understood.
So all muscles, from the spine to the intrinsic muscles of the hand are contracting-relaxing all time. Metabolism of muscles has this exigence, is very similar to walking, running, swimming.
Legato in beginners lead to avoid this spring mechanism, unless they have enough control to release tension from the played note to the next but superposing the sound.
Nice analysis, alignment and relaxing between notes is the way to a long piano life! 😊
First video I've seen from you - I absolutely love the manner that you communicate! I love the details and the clear explanation :) Keep it up!
Listen, I want to comment on dropping from a height because my Grandmother, a concert pianist from Berlin had me doing this all of my life at the piano! Her professor at the conservatory, Herr Bertram referred to this dropping technique mainly for playing octaves and massive chords in one or both hands forte or double forte. So, when I played the A Major Polonaise by Chopin or the Polonaise in A-flat, I dropped from the top. My Grandmother took a phone book and dropped it from 2 feet above and when it hit the ground, there was a crashing sound that was quite impressive. But then she took the phone book and held it inches from the floor and smacked it against the floor. The sound was harsh. My Grandmother also played the Prelude in C Minor No. 20 by Chopin this way from the top. Of course, every student she ran into played this prelude close to the keyboard and she told them it was wrong. Too, they always made the mistake of not performing the dotted quarter note value three chords into this piece, but that is another story. Now, Horowitz said once that he never dropped from the heights and that staying close to the keyboard produced his wonderful sound... so go figure. Rubinstein played from the heights as you point out. I believe that he stopped using this dropping technique as his eyesight diminished. Eventually, he went blind. My Grandmother never mentioned using dropping for legato playing but it definitely came into play for producing staccato like in the Bach Two-Part Invention in F Major no. 8. In legato playing, every time I played with certain gestures of the wrist like Cliburn often did which she considered effeminate, she chided me for being a sissy boy. For finger strength, she employed isometric type exercises where as I pressed down on a key, she held my finder and pulled again my pressing downward, if you get what I mean. All fingers were done this way in curved position with knuckles out except the 5 finger (pinky) where she had me straighten out that little finger so no joint was curved.. like a straight stick. Another thing she had me do that she said allowed me to learn brand new pieces faster was to play "loud and strong". I was supposed to play slowly with emphasis and exaggerate the lifting of every finger like one inch and a half higher than normal. Of course, you don't play this way in actual performance. If you want to discuss this aspect of piano technique, please email me at earth22@myyahoo.com. Even today, at age 73, when I play the Military Polonaise, I am not close to the keyboard at all. I attack the large chords and octaves from the top, many inches from the keyboard. Now, Jose Iturbi and Horowitz used flat fingers and that technique was call "knuckle technique". My Grandmother told me that Horowitz had fingers like knockwursts so he had to do that. I didn't believe her for a minute. Horowitz was taught that technique by Tarnovsky. I met one of Tarnovsky's later students who played with the same flat fingers. My name is Stephen Borisoff.
I'm 77, a lifetime of music, vocal soloist and now piano focus. I really enjoyed the entire diatribe. I read that VH had fingers that curved up at the end so it appeared that he was more flat fingered than he actually was. His pads were his fingertips. Also, though 5'9" he was short waisted, so he sat lower than most. His style was elegant; personality quirky, an audience darling.
I feel that the basic technical factors are the same; tempered by individual differences, like hand physiognomy, stature, personality. Amazing how well individuals can play with different styles. That to me, is what makes for individual style and compelling interest.
Thanks for your input; very compelling.
I also think that progressing blindness changes the variables. It is a special consideration I see a lot because I follow my Welsh piano friend @rachelstarritt481. Think about what lack of sight means. Loved your sermon.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et I just want to add some facts to your thoughtful reply. First of all, I always thought there was something very wrong with my hands because my fingers flare up too. My Grandmother always wanted me to keep my fingers curved. If I had a way on RUclips to attach a photo of my hands that with which I am typing at my keyboard now, you would see that this is so. One day, I saw a picture of "The Hands of Horowitz" in a book on pianists. I was shocked. He had the same "problem". Well, "I got the hands but not the talent". Now, when I spent a lot of time in the Music Department at California State University, Northridge, I met a fellow student named Florencio. He told me he studied with Sergei Tarnowsky. That was Horowitz's teacher who chided Horowitz after his Historic Return to Carnegie Hall, saying to Horowitz that he didn't like Horowitz's cavalier interpretation of the Chopin Ballade. Horowitz told Tarnowsky that he was not his teacher any more. Well, long story short, Florencio played totally flat-fingered. When I questioned Florencio, we visited Florencio's professor Pianist Adrian Ruiz who agreed with me that Jose Iturbi also played that way. This technique he labeled "Knuckle Technique". Watch the movie with Cornel Wilde "A Song to Remember"... Iturbi's hands used the Knuckle Technique. Now, that is not all, I then spoke my Grandmother ;later on about all of this. While she believed that Horowitz had knockwurtz fingers (I don't buy it, but his fingers do flare out just like mine), my Grandmother then commented that one of her own students went on to become a student of Tarnowsky. However, my Grandmother told me that her student reported that Tarnowsky never changed the curved hand position that she taught that student for the flat-fingered version.
Thanks for the addendum. I went to Cal State U LA for 10 years back in the decades when they very much functioned like a conservatory. I was a vocal performance major with piano a very distant 2nd. I have been piano focused 6+ years straight now after about 10 years of piano work combined over the years. My conclusion: There are many teachers out there who are lacking overall good technical teaching.
Interesting-the notion of knockwurst fingers and knuckle technique. All good players use a highly functional knuckle bridge; those like you and VH, some others still have super functional knuckle bridge but not as apparent because the hands are flatter.
I sense there is a lack of understanding the role of individual hand (and body) physiognomy, as each hand and body are different, some more than others. The guts of good technique are the same but individual differences are what make piano art interesting/compelling. One size fits all has its limits, broad as they may be, because we are all snowflake designs.
At CSUN, did you know Jan Sanborn? who was a good friend of ours for years.
Thanks again. I enjoy detail, especially the inside dope.@@mr.fredericchopin6214
@DavidMiller-bp7et I went to California State University Los Angeles to follow a Degree in Speech and Hearing Science. But, before that I frequented for years the Music Department at CSUN (Northridge, California). I met a great friend of mine for life, Karl Geoghagen. There were very serious students there like my friend, Florencio Lopez who studied with Sergei Tarnovsky, VH's teacher. I don't remember the professors except for Dr. Chomsky who taught Opera, I believe. Adrian Ruiz was Florencio's professor. My friend, Karl Geoghagen took a piano performance class with Daniel Pollock who performed the background music for the Motion Picture, The Competition with Richard Dreyfus and Amy Irving. Jacob Gimpel, the pianist, popped up around 1971 for a brief time. My friend, Karl had a strong interest in a very lovely student, Judith Gates. she married her opera professor, Dr. Scott right after he suffered a massive heart attack and had to have a triple bypass. He actually died in an automobile accident decades later... and his wife, Judith is now an important member of the faculty in the Music Department at CSUN to this day. No, I never met Jan Sanborn.
I'll never understand why my fingers should carry the 6kg weight of my arms, when my shoulder and arms have the better leverage and muscles to just take that over that job. My fingers need to hold 23 grams to keep a key down on my grand piano. And using the wonderful force of of 6.81 m/s to create a sound on a grand piano stops being relevant to a tone once the key has been struck. Which means all I need is those 23 grams my piano's keyboard needs to keep the fingers where they are.
Why on earth would I want to use my finger's muscles to carry my arm weight? Using those muscles also means that I create muscle tension in my hand (1+5) and the forearm (2-4), when in fact all other fingers should be able to freely move - which is only possible when no other finger is actively using its muscle.
Oh well...
Great video. Thanks a lot friend!
Said it elsewhere but, I saw a clip of Rubinstein, like in the 40s, showing off a little at a Hollywood Bowl rehearsal. Sat on his bench, put both arms as high as he could reach over his head and in one fell swoop dropped arms/hands onto the keyboard with pinpoint accuracy on a perfect chord. Lighten up Arthur, you rascal; shows what can be done. AR is a fellow mortal.
Awesome Video man.
I will test it out since iam more this "hard press down and tense" player.
Thanks so much, will help me!
Your welcome!
@@PIANO_LAB
After 6months I can tell
It helped me a lot.
Thank you
Thanks !
Dropping the arm takes, let's say for discussion purposes, 1/2 of a second, but in that same time say, you could play three keys. How is it possible then to play those three key with just one drop of the arm? Doing so is practical with just one key. Am I interpreting the advice incorrectly?
I think so.
You won't always drop the arms from a height, but dropping in practice can help you with understanding how weight and momentum can help you play from one key to the other. Try to practice a dropping motion from a smaller height where you play one key then smoothly transfer to he next after you get used to the larger motion. And don't forget to keep fingers active yet close to the key! the power comes from that arm weight, not necessarily lifting the fingers themselves super high. Hope this helps!
There's an interplay between flexibility and structural support needed for this, definitely. Practicing scales and arpeggios at a super slow speed is actually very good for this, as with every shift in your position from one group of notes to the next, you can have a very slight dropping motion, and over time you decrease this drop while maintaining your weight and fluidity. Thinking of the notes you must play with each drop as one smooth group can definitely help. For more on this I'd definitely recommend the other videos from this guy, along with the videos from PianoTechSupport and Denis Zhdanov, both also excellent pianists who go heavily into the fine details of technique and relaxation.
@@abb5643 while I do get what you are saying your reply doesn't address the specific point I discuss. Let me try this analogy: say, I have a hammer and three nails, with one downward motion where I will use the weight of my arm to nail the nails I can only hammer one nail at a time, it'd take three such motions to do all three nails. This is what I cant reconcile.
@@facl115 Ah, I see where you're coming from. I'll try and restate what I said in terms of your analogy: the problem with the hammer idea is this hammer does not have 5 articulating appendages (fingers) at the end of a head which also articulates (wrist). If you were to drop a hammer which had these articulating appendages, then roll it slightly (flexible wrist using circular movements) as these appendages articulated (keeping fingers close to keys, yet still active), you could play these three notes with one "hammer fall" without issue. This is what I mean by using the drop to transfer your weight and momentum. It's important to note too that you must not actually hammer into the keys, you're just using weight and gravity for 99% of passages here. That is plenty enough to get the sound you need. And as you build supportive strength, wrist mobility, and finger dexterity, you'll discover that for many passages, you don't literally have to drop from a height. In fact, you can often use a flexible wrist to keep your fingers on the keys as you rise and lower your forearm. This is how you do such dropping motions rapidly, and without the fatigue of only trying to use fingers or fingers and wrist. I keep mentioning arpeggios and scales, but they really are crucial for this idea of keeping your fingers close while using circular wrist movements and gravity in the forearm. I hope that clears it up a bit!
This has to be the worst teaching style I've ever encountered regarding to the ability to communicate ideas, coupled with a pretentious vibe. Also, I'm pretty sure that Marta Argerich and all the rest know exactly why they play the way they play ("whether they know it or not" lol).