Piano Playing Part 7

By no means. You should only see to it that you do not stiffen the wrist _unconsciously_, as most players do. The arm should be held so that the wrist is on a line with it, not bent, and by concentrated thinking you should endeavour to transfer the display of force to the finger-tips instead of holding the tension in your arm. For this produces fatigue, while the way I suggest will lead you to develop considerable force through the hand and fingers alone and leave the arm practically limp and loose. It takes months of study under closest attention, however, to acquire this looseness of the arm.

[Sidenote: _The Position of the Wrist_]

Do you favour a low or high position of the wrist for average type of work?

For average work, I recommend an average position; neither high nor low.

Changes, upward or downward, must be made to meet the requirements of special occasions.

[Sidenote: _Do Not Allow the Wrist to Get Stiff_]

If one's wrist is stiff is there any set of exercises especially adapted to acquiring a freer movement? Or is there any special method of exercise?

It depends on whether your wrist is stiff from non-use or from wrong use. a.s.suming the latter, I should recommend studies in wrist octaves, but you must watch your wrist while playing and rest at the slightest indication of its stiffening.

6. ACTION OF THE ARM

[Sidenote: _When Tremolo Proves Unduly Fatiguing_]

I cannot play tremolo in the left hand for any length of time without great fatigue. I have tried changing the position of the hand from high to low, the sidewise motion, and the quiet hand. What is the correct method, and may the difficulty be overcome by slow practice?

The tremolo cannot be practised slowly, nor with a stiff or quiet hand.

The action must be distributed over the hand, wrist, underarm and, if necessary, the elbow. The shoulder forms the pivot whence a vibratory motion must proceed and engage all the points on the road to the fingers. The division of labour cannot be done consciously, but should better proceed from a feeling as if the whole arm was subjected to an electric current while engaged in playing a tremolo.

[Sidenote: _Play Chords With a Loose Arm_]

Should octave chords be played with rigid arms, the wrists and fingers thereby increasing the tone volume, or should the arms be loose? My teachers differ in their methods; so I turn to you for advice.

With few exceptions, dictated by certain characterizations, chords should always be played with a loose arm. Let the arm pull the hand above the keys and then let both fall heavily upon them, preparing the fingers for their appropriate notes while still in the air and not, as many do, after falling down. This mode of touch produces greater tone-volume, is least fatiguing, and will have no bad after-effects.

7. STRETCHING

[Sidenote: _Fatiguing the Hand by Stretching_]

I stretch between my fingers--taking the second and third, for instance, and trying to see how many keys I can get between them. It has helped me, but shall I be doing wrong to continue?

If, as you say, you feel benefited by your stretching exercises you may continue them. But in your place I should beware of fatigue, for while the hand may show an improvement in its stretch while you are practising these exercises, if it is fatigued it will afterward contract so that its stretch is liable to become narrower than it was before.

[Sidenote: _Do Not Injure the Hand by Stretching It_]

Is there any way to increase the stretch of my very small hand?

Any modern teacher, acquainted with stretching your hand, can devise certain exercises that will be applicable to your particular hand. As the lack of stretch, however, may be due to a number of different causes I should advise you to desist from any stretch exercise that might be recommended to you without a close examination of your hand, since the wrong kind of exercise is not only apt, but bound, to injure it, perhaps permanently.

[Sidenote: _A Safe Way of Stretching the Small Hand_]

Is there any exercise, on the piano or otherwise, that would tend to stretch my hand so as to enable me to play octaves? My fingers are short and stubby. My teacher has not given me anything definite on this score.

The attempts to widen the natural stretch of the hand by artificial means lead easily to disastrous results. It was by just such attempts that Schumann rendered his hand useless for piano-playing. The best I can recommend is that before playing you soak your hands in rather hot water for several minutes and then--while still in the water--stretch the fingers of one hand with the other. By doing this daily you will gain in stretch, provided you refrain from forcing matters, and provided also that you are still young, and your hands are flexible.

8. THE THUMB

[Sidenote: "_What is the Matter With My Scales?_"]

What is the matter with my scales? I cannot play them without a perceptible jerk when I use my thumb. How can I overcome the unevenness?

In answering this question I am in the position of a physician who is expected to prescribe a treatment for a patient whom he has neither examined nor even seen. I can therefore advise only in a very general way--as I have done with many questions to avoid the eventuality of being confronted by an exceptional case. The cause of the hand's unrest in the pa.s.sing of the thumb lies usually in transferring the thumb too late. The thumb waits usually until the very moment when it is needed and then quickly jumps upon the proper key, instead of moving toward it as soon as the last key it touched can be released. This belatedness causes a jerky motion of the arm and imparts it to the hand. Another cause lies in a fault no less grave than the first. Since the hand has only five fingers while the scale numbers many notes (according to its length), the player must replenish his fingers by pa.s.sing the thumb under the hand so as to form a conjunction between the notes played and those to be played. This pa.s.sing of the thumb conditions a change or shifting of the hand toward the keys to follow, but the shifting of the hand must not coincide with the pa.s.sing of the thumb or the result will be a jerk. The position of the hand in relation to the keyboard must not change. It must remain the same until the thumb has struck its new key.

Not until then must the shifting of the hand take place. In this way the jumpiness or jerkiness of the scale can be avoided, provided one can follow this precept punctiliously--which is not an easy matter, especially in great speed. Alas, why are those pesky scales so difficult, in fact, the most difficult thing to do on the piano?

[Sidenote: _How to Hold the Thumb_]

What is the correct position for the thumb? Should it be curved well under the hand while playing?

In scale-playing the thumb should be slightly curved and kept near the index finger in order to be ready when needed. In pieces this position of the thumb cannot, of course, always be observed.

[Sidenote: _Which Fingers Demand Most Attention?_]

Should one pay special attention to the training of the thumb?

It may be said that the thumb and the middle finger are the two arch-conspirators against a precise finger technique. They crave your greatest attention. Above all, you must see to it that, in touching the keys with these fingers, you do not move the whole hand, still less the arm.

9. THE OTHER FINGERS

[Sidenote: _The Fourth and Fifth Fingers_]

What exercise would you recommend for the training of the fourth and the fifth fingers?

Any collection of Etudes is sure to contain some that are devoted to the training of those two fingers. In the Cramer Etudes (Bulow's selection) you will find Nos. 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 20 adapted to your case, but do not pin your faith to the print! In all matters of art the "how" is of far more consequence than the "what." Play what you will, but bear your weak points in mind while you play. This is the real remedy. Keep hand and arm as loose as you can while training the fourth and fifth fingers.

[Sidenote: _The Action of the Little Finger_]

In making wide skips in which the little finger strikes a single note, as, for instance, in left-hand waltz accompaniments, should one strike on the end of the little finger or on its side; and should the finger be curved or held more or less flat?

The little finger should never strike with its side. It should always be held in its normally curved condition, and straighten at the stroke only on such occasions when its own force proves insufficient and requires the a.s.sistance of the wrist and arm muscles.

10. WEAK FINGERS, ETC.

[Sidenote: _To Strengthen the Weak Finger Use It_]

How can I strengthen the little finger of my right hand? I avoid it in playing, using the next finger instead.

By employing your little finger as much as possible and at once quitting the habit of subst.i.tuting another finger for it.

[Sidenote: _The Weak Fingers of the Left Hand_]