PHYSICALITY (TECHNIQUE AND TONE)

SEPTEMBER 13, THE PIANO MECHANISM

The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air. (Kenneth Miller)

Technique! We tumbled into Room 14 for what we suspected would be our most challenging course. We were well aware or our differing hands, hang-ups, history, and habits. Still, if anyone could teach personalized technique in a group setting, it would be the magician who had so captivated our opening assembly. We waited, suspiciously eyeing a lumpy table draped in a colorful cloth. Where were the pianos?

Professor Lambert entered the room crisply. He was grizzled but youthful, obviously on fire about All Things Technical. Over the year, he would turn our bodily assumptions inside out, explaining the differences between weight and energy, initiating and responding, visible and invisible.

He would replace our expressively swaying torsos with a serene stillness. Following the adage that ‘all good things come in threes,’ he would identify three stabilizing ‘pins’ to back up movement, three hand-arches to reduce muscular work, and many times three how to sculpt sound with ease.

All this Lambert delivered with infectious energy, vivid images, and rollicking humor. Eccentrically English, his sibilants whistled like a kettle and his laughter came out as a high-pitched ‘tee-hee.’ We came to love his wacky approach, and out of class came to call him simply “Lambert.”

37 THE PIANO MECHANISM

Giving a curt nod, he launched into his subject like a force of nature. “First, my young geniuses, it’s time you learned something about your instrument. You know how it looks, how it sounds, and how it feels – but you don’t have a clue about how it works! As a result, you spend hours developing physical gestures that have little or no effect on your sound. This is unfortunate because knowing what you can affect and what you can’t affect – is as important in piano as in life!” With a flourish, he whipped the covering off the table. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the piano mechanism!“

Lambert idly flipped up a hammer and confessed, “Some days, I have this weird fantasy. I want to climb inside the piano and throw fat felts up against steel strings like a crazed carillon player. I want to vibrate with the harmonics and experience from the inside how a percussion instrument can sing and sear with such eloquence. So today, let’s study the piano’s mechanism and how you interface with it – because to play well, you’ll need to know about both!”

Lambert patted the flank of the gleaming class Steinway. “Here’s how a fine Canadian teacher, Lawrence Pitchko, introduced the piano to his students:

“Why 3, not 4?” A pause before someone ventured, “3 legs?” “Exactly! And why 3 legs?” Some confusion and then, “It a triangle?” “Very close! – and why a triangle?” Hesitantly, “Because it’s less rigid than a square?” “Excellent! And why might we want flexibility?” Receiving no answer, Pitchko exploded, “Amplification! Think of the piano as one huge amplifier. When you play, the piano vibrates, the air vibrates, and the people in the room vibrate!”

Typical Lambert! He sat at the piano and riffed off an impossibly fast arpeggio. “Because of the piano’s built-in amplification, you needn’t pound the keys to make sound. Neither do you need to throw your weight around, drive your fingers into the keybed, hold your breath, nor clench your teeth. I want you to think of your piano as a

38 willing partner, bursting with power and eager to please. Treat it like a powerful black stallion waiting to follow your lead. Let out the reins and give it its head! Don’t clamp down, hang onto, or be afraid of its power. Because for spirit and responsiveness, this instrument is a bloody miracle!”

He gathered us around the Steinway and pointed inside the lid. “So, here are your three main sources of amplification. (1) A ‘mechanism’ of levers, shanks and pins that multiply your input by a factor of five. (2) A steel harp and strings that further amplify your effort with 20,000 pounds of tension per square inch – the lift of a jet! (3) A wooden soundboard that takes energy from the downward-bearing bridge and amplifies the soundwaves so the piano can soar over a whole orchestra.

“Demonstration time!” Lambert lowered himself onto the piano bench and launched into a murderous passage of Rachmaninoff. It was glorious, glamorous, and apparently effortless. But as much as we wished he’d keep playing, our elfin mentor was already heading back to the piano mechanism.

“Watch closely. Notice how little force it takes for me to depress this key – about 50 grams, the weight of ten nickels. About halfway down you can feel a little ledge of resistance. It’s called ‘the escapement.’ You can use this resistance to color your sound, but first you have to find it.” He stepped aside for each of us to slowly depress the key and feel the escapement partway down. “This is where the hammer flies off the rail inside the mechanism. You can accelerate the key only to that point, but then must let the mechanism do the rest of the work. Once the hammer has taken flight, you can’t alter the sound – so there’s no use pressing or hanging weight on the keybed.”

Useful! Lambert grinned and continued, “But that’s not all. If I lightly hold the key down at the keybed, you can see the hammer drop back a tiny bit from the string. Why? It prevents the felt from muting the vibration of the string. Without it, the felt would dull-out or even mute the sound. This drop-off is also essential for playing lightning-fast

39 repetitions.” He let go of the key. “And now if I take my finger off, the hammer drops back to rest again on its rail, ready to play another day.”

Lambert backed away from the mechanism and swung out his arm as if holding a racket. “Consider this. A tennis player accelerates his racket through the point of ball- contact, and then lets it carry through with no further effort. After he’s made contact with the ball, he can no longer affect its course. It’s like shutting a car door where a mere flick of the wrist accelerates the door towards the car body. The mechanism does the rest of the work. If you followed the door all the way in with your arm, you’d stress the mechanism and send damaging vibrations up into your shoulder. So, the rule for playing the piano is, ‘Play and let go – even if you stay in contact with the key.’ Sure, there may be psychological reasons to ground yourself at the keybed, but not mechanical ones. The damage was already done when the hammer took flight.”

PIANO TONE AND COLOR

Lambert casually flipped the hammer-shank up to the string and let it settle back onto the rail. Then he walked up to the class whiteboard and said, “My last point concerns that all-important quality that we call tone. First, a little lesson in physics. In 1929, a group at Oxford University graphed the shape of soundwaves when weight was applied vertically to the keys. Sure enough, more weight resulted in louder sounds and less weight in softer ones. But this hardly explained the differences we can get in piano color. Consequently, in the late 1970s, Scientific American refined the experiment such that the keys were engaged in more complex ways than purely vertical. What emerged were graphs of very different wave shapes. ‘Harsh tones’ showed up as having a sharp ascent, a serrated ‘shatter’ at the top, and then an abrupt descent. ‘Warm tones’ had a slightly slower ascent, a less violent shatter at the top, and (importantly) a longer descent. Shocking! With this experiment, piano color became audible, psychological, and ultimately graph-able.”

40 Lambert tapped on the second graph. “So, our mission is to find a way to depress the keys such that it creates as long an after-tone as possible. Try to imagine a little crescendo inside each note as if you’re a singer or violinist. Follow the soundwave in your ear from its beginning, through its blooming and diminishment, until its end. When you can subconsciously listen like that, you can become a master colorist. The piano is NOT just a piano-forte. It can express every dynamic and nuance between them.”

Letting that sink in, he continued, “So, how can we sculpt as warm and long an after- tone as possible without getting physically bogged down? Here are a few hints. This year we’ll talk about making the key an extension of your arm. We’ll study how to loosen your grip using your hands’ springy arches. We’ll learn how to deliver energy into the keys without pressing. Altogether, you’ll know you have it right when you feel as if you’re releasing sound up into the air instead of stuffing it in. When that happens, you’ll feel connected to the music, the room, and everyone in it. Your audience will hear the difference, so keep reminding yourself:

Let me connect to the hammer and ‘slow those big babies down.’ Let me play the soundboard, not the keys!

Seeing our dubious looks, Lambert exploded, “Come on, this is exciting stuff! It’s time to give your piano mechanism a little respect! Imagine an unbroken line running from your feet, up through your torso, over your shoulders, down your arms and fingers, and into the keys. Then imagine the line as continuing into the piano mechanism, through the soundboard, and out into the air. Play the room rather than the piano and paint vibrant colors on a canvas of silence. When it’s right, you can feel like playing the universe! Good?”

What a vision! This was so far from our usual understanding of ‘technique’ that we could hardly wait to get down to the practice rooms. Lambert dug into his briefcase for some Handouts. “This week apply what you’ve learned about the piano mechanism to as many instruments as you can. Make yourself a nuisance around town. Visit piano

41 shops. Sneak into churches. Play anything with keys. Check the hammers. Look at the grooves. Count how many seconds it takes for a note to decay. Play a chord at eight different dynamic levels. Sensitize yourself to key heft and escapement. Change the color. Check the repetition. Play footsy with the pedals. Make friends with as many pianos as you can and then come back next week in gym attire. It’s time we to build your technique from the ground up!”

42 HANDOUT ON THE PIANO MECHANISM

• The piano is not a typewriter to be thumped so that a sharp, clear type impression will be made. Rather imagine that you are actually playing upon the wires, ringing them with soft felt-covered hammers and not with hard metal bars. (Lhevinne, pg. 21) • Aim for a quick key descent without roughness. You must avoid JAMMING—energy being lost through misaligned joints. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 34) • The actual moment of playing is fleeting. A good premise for accomplishing this is to cease all activity instantly on the key reaching the keybed. (Pitchko) • When pianists talk about beautiful sound, they usually mean a singing long-lasting tone that reveals as little as possible of the piano’s inherently percussive nature (Berman) • Don’t give up on a key once played. Listen to it all the way and use it for the long line. (Fleisher)

THREE IMAGES on the PIANO MECHANISM 1. Car Door We open a car door by accelerating it towards the vehicle and then letting go. If we continue pushing it shut, we damage the door and send shock waves up our arm. At the piano, accelerate the key only to its ‘escapement’ and let the piano mechanism do the rest of the work. Once escaped, you can’t alter the hammer’s trajectory. 2. Tennis Player A tennis player engages the ball briefly at the point of contact and then lets his racket ‘carry through.’ Likewise, accelerate the key only through the escapement and let your fingers neutrally ‘follow-through’ to the keybed. 3. Unbroken Line Imagine an unbroken line running from your inner intention, into your body, the piano’s mechanism, and out into the room. Make it your job to enjoin your concept and sound with nothing between them.

43 ACTIVITY • Beauty of Tone Piano tone is perceived as ‘singing’ according to the quality of the hammer-strike and the length of sound decay. Warm the sound by imagining that you massage the soundboard rather than strike the keys. Get hooked on a ‘swimmy’ sound. • Wave Shapes The graph of a piano soundwave shows three parts: an upward almost- vertical ‘prompt tone’ as the hammer hits the strings, a shatter-bit at the top as the string settles down, and a slow drop-off during sound decay. Visualize this image while figuring out how to shape the soundwave. • Key Strikes Many pianists are shocked to hear that the only thing they can really affect is hammer speed. The magic lies in how the hammer begins its journey up to the springs. To investigate this, remove the music tray and watch the hammers respond to different kinds of ‘blows.’ If you hit the keys vertically, the hammer shudders on impact like a child being unsettled at the top of a teeter totter. It sounds like a cheap car radio. If you depress the keys too slowly, the hammer drops back too early and creates a vapid sound. Experiment with different touches such as using more finger flesh to ‘soften the edges’ of the sound and making the key an extension of your arm. • The Escapement Think of the escapement as the piano’s ‘sweet spot.’ This is where the hammer flies off the rail and begins its journey up towards the strings. After the escapement, you can’t change the sound – so it’s no use pressing, weighting, or ‘emoting’ at the keybed. To find the escapement, depress a key soundlessly and feel the little shelf of resistance partway down the key-descent. When playing forte, it’s hard to sense the escapement, but when playing quietly, you can use it to deliciously sculpt the sound. If the escapement is set too low, you can ‘hit bottom’ too early (like playing an electronic piano). If it’s set too high, you can feel as if you’re ‘skating’ because the hammer flies off too fast to control its speed all the way down. • Keybed Just as a gymnast uses the elasticity of the trampoline to launch himself upwards, think of the keybed as the jump-off point towards the next note rather than the end of the previous note. Thinking downwards (‘keybedding’), renders the sound dead on arrival.

44 • Springs Each key has a little spring in its mechanism that returns the hammer to neutral position. After playing a note, imagine riding the spring upwards and sensing its ‘push- back’ through your fingers. You don’t want to feel as if you’re having to pull up the keys using your top hand tendons. Fleisher once quipped “I’m paid to put the keys down, not to lift them up!” • Hammers In general, a hard hammer gives a harsh sound and a soft one a felt-y one. Over time, the hammer’s felt can dry out, compact, or get too grooved. It can be ‘needled’ to loosen it, or ‘hardened’ with chemicals if it’s too mushy. A grooved hammer makes a dull sound because the strings get stuck in its grooves and can’t ring freely. Off- center hammers also diminish the sound because not all three strings are struck. Piano hammers can be replaced, but be clear with your technician what sound you want. • Soundboard Test your piano by giving a mid-size blow to a key and count the number of seconds for the sound to disappear. Don’t panic when you see cracks in the soundboard. They don’t always destroy tone. • Breaking Point There is a divide in the tenor area of the keyboard where the strings transition from copper-wrapped to simple steel. Like a singer changing from chest to head tone, this can be difficult for you or the tuner to match tone. Sometimes you’ll have to compensate for somewhere between F and G below middle C. • Other Adjustments Are the keys level? Do they wiggle from side to side? Is there good dynamic control from ppp to fff? How’s the repetition? Is the action light or heavy? All can be adjusted by a piano technician. • Making Changes Your technician can adjust many aspects of the piano mechanism, but don’t stray too far from factory settings to which most performance pianos are set. It can be unsettling to perform on an instrument that feels radically different than your piano at home. • Piano Facts A typical concert grand takes an entire year to build. The rim of laminated rock maple (up to 16 layers) is bent into shape with powerful clamps. After slowly drying for 16 weeks the wood “forgets it was ever straight.” Each key has 57 moving parts from key to hammer, so ‘regulation’ is a complicated process. The 240 steel strings (some

45 wrapped in copper) give 40,000 pounds of pressure that are transmitted from the strings down through the bridge into the soundboard – such that the piano can whisper or soar. • Different Brands With the exception of its Concert D piano, the New York Steinway uses lower tension strings and a lighter more flexible soundboard and ribs for a warmer tone. European and Japanese pianos generally use higher-tension strings and thicker soundboard for brightness. Choosing between them is a trade-off between warmth and brightness – which is determined by personal preferences and repertoire choices.

TAKEAWAYS

How we accelerate a key through its escapement affects the shape of the soundwave and consequent tone. To make the sound ‘wider,’ imagine playing the soundboard or the room rather than the keys. Focus on what you’re hearing, not on how you’re moving your fingers or how you’re feeling. Befriend every piano and work together to release its most beautiful sound.

46 SEPTEMBER 20, GETTING PHYSICAL

You must have the thousands and show only the hundreds. (K.U. Schnabel)

Today, Lambert was late. We exchanged worried glances. Was he getting forgetful? Feeble? Maybe too old? Regretfully we began to pack up, and then we heard it – footsteps pushing something jangly along the hall. Lambert kicked open the door and steered a coat rack into the room on which was mounted a human skeleton. He casually set its bones rattling and draped his coat over its shoulders.

“Hang on there, Mr. Bones; we’ll get to you soon enough.” He turned to face us. “So now the fun begins! My aim this year is to cure you of all those little ‘viruses’ that infect your playing. Your cure will come in two parts: a term of functional Anatomy and then a term of fun Exercises. Are you game?”

Exercises fun? Since when? Lamber hiked himself up on a desk and dove into his subject.

TOWARDS A UNIFIED THEORY OF TECHNIQUE

“Let’s begin by talking big-picture. For centuries, scientists have sought a singular theory to explain the universe. Our quest will be the same – to find a technique that lets us play Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy and Schoenberg with equal facility. To build a keyboard approach that’s free, sensual, and capable of carrying strong emotions without tension. To explore how to switch instantly between singing legato and cascading staccatos, between ringing fortissimos and shimmering pianissimos. So, here’s my creed:’” If it sounds right but feels wrong, it’s still wrong!

Lambert popped off the desk to illustrate. “Let’s say that you’ve played all the right notes. You even liked your interpretation – but you felt tense while playing and sore

47 afterwards. Not good enough! You’re headed for a life of frustration and injury until one day you walk away from the piano and abandon the repertoire you love best. But it’s not necessary!” He wagged a gnarled finger at us. “This year we’ll explore your body limb by limb until you want to scream, ‘No more anatomy!’ But know this -- I’m not teaching technique, I’m teaching music! I’m here to prove that sound and sensation can be inseparable. I urge you to listen as faithfully to your muscles as to what’s coming out. In the end, try to think of technique as the physical embodiment of sound. Hopefully by May, you’ll be able to unleash torrents of notes with shockingly little effort. Because without technique, we can’t have music, and without music, we can’t live! Just think Dog and you’ll have it!”

MUSINGS ON THE DOG

Think dog? We startled as Lambert reached into his briefcase and flung a Frisbee at the class. Sergei hooked it expertly and was rewarded with a mock salute. “Bravo! You’ll need those reflexes at the piano. A great Canadian teacher, Marc Durand, once explained it this way:

How does a dog catch a Frisbee? He runs freely, banks sharply, leaps up, spins in midair – and then lands in fluid motion already in the opposite direction. His action is an explosion of strength, balance, quick reactions, and the joy of movement. And, why can the dog do this? Because psychologically, he’s not full of self-doubts. Emotionally, he’s not overwrought. Intellectually, he’s not over-analyzing. He just sees his goal, runs freely to get it, and comes back with the goods.”

Lambert’s enthusiasm was contagious. “This year let’s become that Dog. Whether catching a Frisbee or a executing a flight of octaves, we want our body to find the easiest solution. Then our brain stores it for later use. As much as we may value our brain and emotions, ultimately we play the piano with our fingers. Playing the piano is a physical act, so let’s find a way to make our bodies work more fluidly. Otherwise, we push our Dog to run faster and in a more complicated way than is necessary. Let’s

48 develop a vocabulary for ‘speaking dog’ that promotes agility, balance and strength. Ready?”

We grinned back at Lambert, now eager to meet our Inner Dog. But he never alighted anywhere for long. “What I’m saying is this. It’s time you learned to trust your humble body as much as your bossy brain. This is a distinctly non-Western idea but it’s important. Your body learns more slowly than your mind, but it can learn more faithfully. It’s less distractible and less judgmental. It asks only for enough repetitions to embed its new skills. Happily, once experienced, technical progress is exponential. Again, are you game?”

Our shining eyes said it all. We’d waited a lifetime for this. Here was a vision of technique far from the boredom, effort, and pain that had discouraged us for so long. Lambert held a sheaf of papers high above his head. “This year, I’ll fill your binders to overflowing with Handouts. Some will be long, and others will be short. Some concepts will take an hour to accomplish and others will take a lifetime. So, let’s first define the end game. How should a good technique feel? Any ideas?”

This we knew! Words tumbled out, testament to something so ardently desired but so seldom achieved: “Free…unforced…fluid…powerful…effortless…relaxed!”

Lambert frowned impatiently. “Yes, but be more specific. Think anatomy, my little Doggies, not adjectives!” He ducked behind the skeleton and punctuated his sentences with vigorous shakes. “Notice how all the body’s physical bits are interconnected – not in a dead mechanical way, but in a lively springy manner. When properly aligned and coordinated, your bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments can work together without tension, co-contractions, or friction. That lets you fill the room with sound that literally grabs the listener by the ear.”

He paused and challenged, “Any skiers here?” A few nods. “Then you know that a smooth run can feel like a seamless physical and mental line following the shape of the

49 hill. Your body works as a single unit from booted toes to gloved fingers. It’s the same at the piano. If you block, stiffen, or hold somewhere, the line is broken. For instance, tensing your thigh can tighten your neck. Holding your breath can lock up your hands. The beautiful thing is that once realized, these little habits can be corrected. I guarantee that when you’ve experienced an aligned body in fluid motion for even an instant, you’ll never look back. You’ll feel different and you’ll certainly sound different! And believe me, ease of playing doesn’t mean you’re not projecting – it just means you have technique!”

He rattled the skeleton again. “This guy will return next week, but in the meantime, watch a video of Horowitz. Observe his quiet body, neutral arms, level hands and expressive fingers. He is impassively and invisibly aligned. No throwing himself around the bench or grinding down into the keyboard. Just gorgeous sound!”

Oh, to play like Horowitz! Treating us to one of his ebullient ‘tee-hee’s,’ Lambert sobered. “But before we dig into all of this, I want to address five key issues regarding this course. I know it’s been a long day, but this is important.

FIVE TECHNICAL CAVEATS

“First, there are many ways to play the piano. Feel free to discard what doesn’t work, but only after you’ve seriously tried it out. I’m offering suggestions, not rules.

Second, there’ll be some repetition in the Handouts because the same principles apply to all moving parts. That’s okay and the wording will differ according to topic.

Third, I may seem to contradict myself until you want to scream, ‘But you said last week…’ And I’ll sympathize but not apologize. Life is full of paradoxes. For instance, I’ll tell you to strengthen your abdominals, and then ask you to release them and balance on your sit bones. I’ll tell you to lead with your fingers, but will start at your feet. And after three lessons on hand arches and fingers anatomy, I’ll urge you to steer your phrases from behind your elbows and even your lower back.

50

Fourth, I may suggest some pretty wacky images – from pulsing jelly fish, to slithering snakes, sagging hammocks, and even a car ferry. Why? Because images can combine many small actions into a single bigger one. Again, choose what speaks best to you and dump the rest. Don’t be shy. I won’t know exactly what you’re thinking, but I will see and hear what you’re doing!

And fifth, I debated for a long time whether to start at your fingers and work down, or start at your feet and work up. I chose the latter because, like any athlete, you’ll need a resilient base to support the working end of your body.” He winked. “Besides, fingers are a great jump-off point for Exercises next term – and I know how you love those!”

He slapped some papers down on each desk. “You’ll find that my Handouts all follow the same format: Quotations to inspire, Images to intrigue, Anatomy to educate, and Activity to set your body in motion. As I said, total fun!”

We grinned at him. This guy was pretty out there! Lambert stuffed away a few extra pages and closed the class. “So, my fine Bloodhounds, ask yourselves this. As you move through your day, do you sit Dog? Do you walk Dog? Are you balanced? Flexible? Stiff? Jerky? Graceful? Leaden? Phlegmatic? Agitated? Take a week to become acquainted with your inner Dog. Think about how you physically inhabit this earth – beginning with how you walk out of class today. Now stand tall and float into the hall with your best elastic grace. Use balance rather than strength and go fetch!”

A few of us barked playfully and waved a ‘paw’ at him. Then we slung on our backpack and attempted to look light and casual while we followed our Pied Piper down the hall. It wasn’t until we reached the Conservatory door that we realized that, for a chatty group, we’d said almost nothing in class. Lambert’s language had drawn us into a new world of physicality, and he seemed happy to answer his own questions. And so, the year’s pattern was set. He talked and played. We listened and obeyed!

51 HANDOUT ON GENERAL TECHNIQUE (Choose what works for you)

• The word “Technique” derives from the Greek word techne, which means “art.” (Berman, pg. 24) • Pianists do not devote their lives to their instrument simply because they like music… There has to be a genuine love simply of the mechanics and difficulties of playing, a physical need for the contact with the keyboard….This inexplicable and almost fetishistic need for physical contact with the combination of metal, wood, and ivory (now often plastic) that make up the piano .. is conveyed to the audience and becomes necessarily part of the music. (Rosen, pg. 10) • Technique is the ability to do what you want to do. Therefore, you must want something, not just to go to the instrument and put down levers in a certain succession at a certain speed. You must want a musical idea. You must have a certain intention, and the ability to do that is the index of your technique (pg. 88) …If it takes you a long time to achieve your intention, your technique is not so hot. (Fleisher in Noyle, pg. 100)) • The amount of physical strength required to play the piano is very little, and endurance is not an issue if one is moving efficiently. (Mark, pg.150) • Efficient use of the body’s skeletal arches reduces muscle work. Hands, feet and pelvis all have similar arches that give ‘springiness’ to the body.

FOUR IMAGES FOR PHYSICALITY 1) Water Reeds If your body was a water-reed, your abdomen would be the anchoring mud, your spine the stem, your shoulders the bend at the surface, and your fingers the trailing leaves. All are connected organically and work together as a single unit. 2) Hammock Imagine your body as a hammock swinging between your lower back and fingertips. Between these two anchors, your muscles and joints float freely and accommodate to each other.

52 3) Tree If your body was a tree, your legs and torso would be the trunk, your shoulders the larger limbs opening to the sky, your arms the smaller branches, and your fingers the dancing leaves. In both trees and bodies, as mass decreases flexibility increases. 4) Hockey A hockey player stick-handles the puck towards the net by remote contact without actually touching it. Similarly, a pianist activates the strings by remote control through a complex series of levers, hammers, and springs. Thus, a little finger-flick can activate the strings with surprisingly little effort.

ANATOMY • Gross Anatomy The body works through an alternating chain of joints and muscles: ankle joint, hamstring muscle, knee joint, thigh muscle, hip joint, abdominal muscles, shoulder joint, upper arm muscles, elbow joint, forearm muscles, wrist joint, palm muscles, and finger joints. Working together, they give a marvelous sprung ease to the body. • Bones and Muscles Don’t put all the work onto your muscles. Use your bones and springy skeletal arches to support and amplify the muscle activity. Reduce effort by learning to ‘play your bones.’ • Joints Because receptors of our kinesthetic sense are in our joints, this is where we feel pain. Joints are themselves vulnerable to inflammation, so make sure they respond to the muscular effort around them rather than initiate the sound. For example, rather than playing from your wrist, play from your arms and hands. Think of activity as flowing unimpeded through open joints as you visualize widening channels through which the nerves and tendons pass. • Nerves Find ways to avoid pinching or stretching nerves because, unlike muscles, they can’t be conditioned. Take note of the fact that all the nerves servicing the hand originate in the shoulder (See Shoulders later). • Arms Harsh tone is often caused by dead weight dropping down from the upper arm, and amplified by downward hammering from the forearm. To avoid these, shift your internal gaze from the bodily parts you can see (biceps, tops of forearm, wrist, knuckles

53 and hands) to the undersides that you can’t see (triceps and soft undersides of forearm, wrist and palm) – then play from there. • Hand Arches The hand has three bony arches. One runs horizontally across the knuckles, another vertically down the fingers, and the third between the thumb and 2nd. Use these skeletal arches to lighten your muscular work (described later in The Hand). • Fingers How your fingers depress the keys changes the tone – be it pulling, sliding, or myriad other variations (again, described later in Fingers). While you play mainly from the knuckles, the final subtle coloring is often done in the last finger joints. • Stay tuned All these physical concepts will be further described in later sections.

ACTIVITY • Sound Technique Think of technique as the best physicality to produce the best sound. Aim to unite your inner intention with your outer sound with minimal physical interference. • Ease Physical ease gives emotional lightness, cognitive clarity and listening acuity. It is therefore both the cause and result of good playing. • Change Don’t confuse yourself with too many new technical ideas at once. Make changes step by step, accepting and rejecting as you go along. • Attitude Understanding anatomy is necessary but not sufficient. Change must be experienced, monitored, and internalized. If you begin to tighten, go back to basics of correct sitting, easy breath, level forearms, and rebuild from there. • Looking Inwards Shut your eyes to increase your awareness of what’s happening inside your body. Can you discern places where you’re stuck, tense or weak? When you find them, open your eyes and fix them. • Internal Mapping Stated otherwise, become your own personal X-ray machine to visualize what’s happening inside your body. Check this internal ‘map’ frequently so you can subconsciously make quick physical adjustments ‘on the fly.’ • Brain Power To train your body is to train your brain. Watchful repetition builds robust neural pathways between your body and motor centers in your brain. Because your

54 brain is indifferent to whether it’s embedding good or bad habits, take care to teach it only good ones. Otherwise, your work increases three-fold – learn, unlearn, and relearn. • Self-Observation Be clear about what exactly needs fixing before starting. Ask yourself: o What is my main challenge when playing: technique, nerves, or memory? o Physically, do I suffer most from soreness, weakness, stiffness, or stamina? o Do I tighten up physically, emotionally, or both when I go faster? o Do I get ‘stuck’ at the keybed with excess pressure or weight? o Does my playing flow or does it plod squarely from note by note? o Do I feel physically connected with the keyboard or am I skating on the surface? o Do my hands run ahead of my head? o Do my fortes sound harsh and forced, or warm and blooming? o Do my pianissimos sound vapid and surfacy, or magical and penetrating? o Do my fingers and/or foot shake? • Viruses We all develop little bad habits that Leon Fleisher calls ‘piano viruses.’ Examples are chronic body-circling, raised shoulders, hammering forearms, stiff wrists, collapsed knuckles, pointy fingers, furled 5ths, pegged thumbs etc. To eliminate bad habits, calm down emotionally, observe carefully, and find the best cure. • Quiet Stillness As you watch great pianists on YouTube, notice how they don’t fling themselves around on the piano bench. Their actual ‘movement’ is internal and aural, rather than external. Balanced stillness means that your muscles don’t have to work to hold you upright. Also, it keeps your listening-perspective constant, avoiding the ‘wah- wah’ effect when you turn your head from side to side when listening to a radio. • Initiating and Responding Be clear about where you’re initiating the sound and where you’re neutrally transmitting or responding to it. Test what’s initiating or responding by playing a loud chord in two ways: with arm weight flowing down into a neutral hand, and with vigorous finger pulls reverberating up your arm. Toggle between the two. Which yields the sound you want? Which involves less tension? • Co-Activation When depressing a key with your fingers, be careful not to simultaneously tug up on your top hand tendons. Co-activation binds up your hands and wrist.

55 • Action and Release Trust the piano springs and ride them up without extra effort. Piano keys need putting down, not pulling up! • Direction Arrive early enough over the keys to play them with the desired tone. Because music flows forward, think East-West (horizontal) rather than North-South (vertical). • Three Support Pins Back up your flying fingers at your knuckles, shoulders and hips. Experiment with ‘stopping the sound’ at each place, noticing the difference in sensation and sound. When you can isolate these support ‘pins’ clearly, combine them in one continuous gesture from abdomen to fingertips. • Move it Back If you find yourself tightening, analyze where the tension originates, move the activity back a few joints, and rebuild from there. For instance, if your arms are tight, open up your mid-back and collar bones. If your hands are tight, loosen and float your arms. Aim to steer your phrases from your core and connect them to your breathing. • Weight If you’re becoming weight-bound, replace it with energy. While gravity works well for slow chords, it compromises agility in fast passages and reduces finger independence in contrapuntal ones. As above, try releasing weight from different locations such as your shoulders, wrists, or knuckles. Then keep that weight in motion rather than letting it arrive ‘dead’ on the keybed. • Keybedding It takes remarkably little strength to hold down a key for legato. To avoid keybedding, focus on up rather than down while keeping ‘lilt’ in your playing. • Legato In many ways the quality of the pianist is the quality of their legato. Develop many degrees of legato by playing slowly enough to appreciate the subtle ‘handoff’ of sound from key to key, and sensing how the fingers pass each other on the way up or down. Sometimes think of legato notes as enjoined at the knuckles rather than at the keybed. Eventually your ear will make this coordination subconsciously. • Two Essential Books: “What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body,” by Thomas Mark. This book has great explanations and diagrams explaining how to ‘map’ your body internally. Alan Fraser too is a passionately eloquent writer about anatomy and piano technique in several excellent books such as “The Craft of Piano Playing,”

56 “Honing the Pianistic Self-Image,” and “All Thumbs.” He also has many tutorials online and is available for lessons, piano institutes, and video lessons.

TAKEAWAYS

Take an internal x-ray. Ask, “Where exactly am I holding tension? How can I fix it?” Because we can hear physical ease, a good technique will sound musical. Step back from the details and develop a whole-body image – then play from that. Discover physical gestures that mimic the musical phrase. Be still. If you begin to tighten, move the source of activity down. Decide what is initiating and what is responding. Coordinate skeletal ‘support pins’ at your torso, shoulder, and knuckles – to back up your fingers.

57 OCTOBER 4, BUILDING THE BASE (Standing, Walking, Abdominals)

Draw strength up from the floor into your arms and hands.

This week, Lambert couldn’t herd us fast enough into studio. Scarcely had we taken off our coats before he launched into his subject. “When discussing technique, too many teachers begin with the hand. They curl fingers around imaginary balls, push down on collapsing knuckles, stretch finger webs, and pry up the keys while their student hangs on for dear life. The result? A lifetime of stiff fingers, painful wrists, sore elbows, and aching shoulders. Hardly a recipe for agility! So, let’s reverse course and build technique from the bottom up. Now, up on your feet! Let’s see how you stack up!”

STANDING AND WALKING

We heaved ourselves upright, to be greeted by a derisive snort. “You call that standing? Here, follow me.” He rocked back and forth on his feet as if circling an imaginary pole and returning to center. “It’s easiest to sense body alignment when you’re standing because you’re not cut off at your waist. Find a spot on the floor, close your eyes, and try to visualize your skeleton’s minute adjustments as you move in and out of balance.”

He waited for us to experiment, then continued, “Now let’s set this awareness in motion. Walk around monitoring the coordinated transfer of weight from foot to foot. It takes children 5-7 years to learn to walk fluidly, so be patient developing similar coordination at the piano.” He pointed wordlessly to a pile of blue mats stacked in the corner.

ABS-OLUTE POWER

“Grab one and lie down. Let’s first focus on your bone-movers – the muscles, tendons and ligaments that hold together your skeleton. Ever heard of abs?” We spread out our mats while he ranted on. “Today, we want to tone your core in preparation for the

58 momentous feat of playing the piano. Those abdominal muscles will someday free up your torso, arms, and hands to play with ease. We’re going to scan, isolate, and strengthen your foundational muscles before moving into your torso and arms. Let’s prove that the word ‘tone’ applies both to muscles and sound quality. Now, lie down while I explain.”

Looming above us, he thumped his abdomen. “Think of tonus as ‘readiness without tension.’ You need a certain amount of abdominal uptake to support your pelvis and spine, but not a death-grip that stops you from breathing. So today let’s focus below your waist.” He playfully poked Amy in her tummy. “No prissies here! For starters, where are your guts? Point to them!”

She gestured vaguely to her navel and he grimaced. “Go lower. About two inches down. Good! Now while you’re lying down, put your palm on your abdomen and feel that strong muscular wrap. This, my friends, is where ballerinas get their lift and martial artists get their power. It’s also where pianists get their support. Think of this as Support Pin #1 for your hands and fingers.”

As we gritted our way through the exercises, Lambert drifted among us making adjustments where necessary. Finally, he released us. “Next week, we’ll tilt you upright and consider your torso and spine in preparation for Sitting. All this may seem unnecessary – but if you sit poorly, no amount of arm and hand work will give you the freedom you desire. So for now, let’s see how lightly you can engage your abs and walk out of here. Yes Siree, next week, we’re moving up!”

Clambering to our feet, we self-consciously pulled in our tummies and paraded past Lambert. He held open the door and gave us a jaunty thumbs up. Frankly we were a little stiff but, as much as we had hated the mat-work, we had to admit that we felt taller and more buoyant than when we’d walked in. Lambert was probably right about all this basic work, but we were beginning to realize it was going to be a long trip from abs to fingers!

59 HANDOUT ON BUILDING THE BASE

• Play from your guts! All your power is below your waist, so use your core to drive your phrase. That’s where the music is. (Laplante) • Notice how you’re maintaining balance. Are you stiffening and holding, or releasing and returning to an expansive, elastic, natural poise? Let your neck and shoulders stay free and easy with your head balances on top of your spine. (www.billplakemusic.org)

STANDING AND WALKING • Elastic suit Imagine wearing a full-body elastic suit that uplifts you as you move through space. Don’t let gravity drag you down. • Anti-Gravity Think of the planet as a source of upward support rather than downwards gravity. • Breathing Arches Your skeleton has many arches that give strength and springiness while reducing muscle work. For example, your feet and hands have parallel arches running across and down them to give springiness to standing or walking. Similarly, hands have arches running across (knuckles) and down them (fingers) to help play the piano. Think even more globally where opposing arches in the pelvis and chest ‘breathe’ like a clam shell – as do the palm and forearm. Such images help us understand Chopin’s idea of “supplesse” (see later chapters on Hand and Fingers). • Neutral Standing Stand quietly until your feet no longer are making any tiny adjustments. Close your eyes and rock forward, backwards, and in circles until you almost fall over – then return to balance. Softly unlock your knees and release your buttocks so you’re not ‘holding yourself up’ with a clenched butt. Stack your leg bones, hips and spine in their natural curves. Feel your spine lengthen, your collarbones widen, your chest expand, your shoulder blades settle further down your back, your ears lift, and your breathing deepen. Relax all the muscles that aren’t needed to stand effortlessly, using gravity to maintain the structural integrity of your skeleton. You know you’re standing well if you feel a floating ‘up-ness’ rather than a heavy ‘down-ness.’

60 When all the little ‘tics’ along this chain are stilled and you’re in perfect balance, you may even begin to feel your fingers tingling a bit. Now, you’re ready to play! • Walking Walk around the room concentrating on the legato transfer of weight from foot to foot. Are your knees doing too much work? Are your pelvis or hips locked? Do your spine and head float neutrally? When your skeleton is well aligned, your muscles can make the exquisite adjustments necessary to move through space. Because your foot arches are mirrored in your hand, use walking to replicate the same smooth transfers from finger-to-finger as from foot-to-foot. • Bones. To explore your skeleton, lie on your back and make small circles with your pelvis as if tracing numbers on a clock. Or circle an imaginary dinosaur tail between your legs. Can you make these circles without muscular ‘stutters’? Again, transfer these smooth transitions from abdomen to palm and hand. • Joints This is where you often perceive pain because the nerves are constricted at the joints. Picture joints as ‘snug-but-open,’ bathed in synovial fluid. • Tibular System Oddly, your ankles, inner ears, eyes and nose are inter-connected in something called the tibular system. Does that mean that your ankles (pedals) and ears (listening) are similarly connected? See Pedaling in Possibilities (Interpretation).

ABS-SOLUTE CORE POWER • Image Imagine your abdomen at the center of a pinwheel midway between your hands and feet. • Tonus Muscular readiness does not mean tense or ‘held.’ It means readiness. With too little tonus, muscles become flaccid and unavailable for support. With too much, they become wooden and we lose flexibility of line. • Muscles To tone your abdominals, lie on your back with knees bent and feet hip-width apart. Breathe quietly and notice the natural curves of ‘neutral spine.’ Cradle your head with your fingers and raise your head using your deep inner muscles rather than the bodybuilder’s ‘six-pack’ of outer ones. Breathe into your sides like a fish expanding its

61 gills. A well-knit abdomen will give the toned strength to ‘back up’ your busy arms and hands at the piano. • Abdominals – Your 1st Point of Support With thanks to Alan Fraser, sit at the piano and push your fists against the fallboard. Feel your abdominals engage. Reduce this effort by about 80% until your core feels supportive rather than actively held. Stay ‘open to movement’ in order to play big power chords and octaves.

TAKEAWAYS

Music is anti-gravity. Like walking, it must have movement forward to keep the ‘swing’ in the playing. A well-toned body backs up your hands. If panic rises, support them from further down. Find ‘balance’ on your feet, then transfer that sensation to the bench. Muscles: Keep enough abdominal tonus to support your torso and free up your hands.

62 OCTOBER 18, TORSO TIME (Spine, Ribs, Back and Neck)

If you look at videos of old pianists, you’ll notice they’re remarkably still. Be a pianist, not a dancer! (Pitchko)

Entering class today, we warily circled the skeleton hanging from his pole. Lambert playfully set the bones rattling and turned to face us. “So, how was your week?” We averted our eyes. We were discovering how much we didn’t know about our bodies, as well as how little we liked mat exercises! Lambert just grinned and pounded his chest. “Be happy! It’s Torso Time! Some of this will seem to repeat what you learned last week, but a strong abdomen is useless if your torso is soft and squishy. So today let’s consider your upper body – admittedly prettier than mine. No mats today. And look, we have pianos! Some are better than others, but they’ll serve.”

We flew gratefully to the waiting instruments. “Let’s begin by running some scales. Find balance on your bench and build your torso up from there. Think centered, floating, and supported. Keep your torso still but un-held. Lead with your fingers and let your arms accommodate as you swoop up and then down the keyboard. Now go – I’m watching you!”

As the classroom exploded in scales, Lambert moved around the room adjusting a bench, running a finger up a spine, or easing back shoulders with a knee in the back. “What I’m doing here is supporting your torso so that you put the ‘work’ where it belongs – in your fingers and arms. Today, we’ll explore your torso in two parts: the back side which you can’t see (spine and shoulder blades), and the front side which you can (ribcage, collarbone, and neck). They both need attention. Please pass along these papers while I demonstrate.”

We accepted the pages reluctantly. For someone who insisted that we lead with our fingers, Lambert seemed obsessed with everything but! He sat and launched into Liszt’s diabolical Mephisto Waltz. Sure enough, his torso was still, his breathing even, his face

63 impassive, and his concentration total. The piano responded in kind with a sound that was gloriously unforced and free.

Executing an impossibly fast passage with his LH, Lambert pointed to his navel. “Observe! I’m grounded on the bench, not rolling from side to side. My abdomen is lightly engaged, my chest is uplifted, my collarbone and mid-back are open, and my head is floating. All this lightens my arms so that my fingers can fly. In fact, my fingers are leading rather than being pulled along by my torso. With my arms aligned and backing up my hand, the whole thing feels free, furious, and frankly fun!”

He stopped abruptly. “Surely you’ve all been to a concert where the pianist waves around wildly on the bench. It’s as if he’s proving how ‘musical’ he is, but not only are his antics distracting to the audience, they do little to help the actual sound. His fingers must keep reorienting to the keyboard because his body is destabilized. Even his hearing is compromised because his ears must keep adjusting to a new sound source. For those who are interested, I’ll post more on my website …” Our skeptical grins caught his attention. “Hey, geniuses, I’m not that old! I do know what a website is! Someday you’ll thank me when you’re eighty and pain free – and you WILL be eighty someday, so let’s build a technique that lasts!”

He rounded a dazzling arpeggio and suggested. “So today, let’s work on your torso. First, close your eyes and visualize playing a fast passage you know well. Without touching the piano, move up the ladder of your body. Are your ankles and thighs relaxed? Are you balanced on the bench? Can you feel your spine rising out of your pelvis in its natural curves? Is your mid-back open? Are your collarbones wide? Are your arms light? How’s your breathing?”

Private smiles soon permeated the classroom as we sensed tiny let-go’s throughout our bodies. “Now, open your eyes and play that passage lightly with total attention on those inner sensations rather than on the notes. The minute you feel tense or out of balance,

64 stop, roll around on your sit bones, and rebuild your torso from there. Think poised, balanced, and buoyant. And remember, centered doesn’t mean held. It means free!”

The classroom exploded in sound until Lambert motioned us to stop. “Any mountain bikers here?” A few nods. “Then, think! You ride a bike with your weight on the seat and your arms steering. Now ‘ride’ the piano in the same way. Think of your abdomen as the seat, your arms as the handlebars, and your fingers as the spokes that effortlessly navigate the bumps. Can you feel that?”

Lambert picked up the Mephisto where he’d left off. “One last point. Have you ever asked exactly where in your body you start and stop the sound? When you get home, try stopping the sound at your wrist, then your elbow, shoulder, and core. Paradoxically, where you ‘stop’ the sound is where you initiate it. So, there’s such a thing as hand- sound, an arm-sound, or a full-body sound. If you find yourself tensing or holding somewhere, move the ‘blockage’ further back into your body until it spills out onto the floor. Now, that’s what I call bliss!”

What a bombshell! Lambert waved us off. “Hey, be happy! Next week, we put this all together and talk about Sitting. After that, we’ll start at your Shoulders and work our way down into those fingers that you so desire to use. Now, scoot. I have some work to do here.”

Accompanied by his rhapsodic playing, we flew down to the practice rooms. Best to try out today’s ideas while they were still fresh.

65 HANDOUT ON THE TORSO

• There is a physical hierarchy. The head and trunk represent the macrocosm, the long line. The arm and fingers represent the microcosm of notes, motifs and phrases. If you use the trunk for the little things, it’s not available for the long line. [Leon Fleisher] • One practical aspect of Horowitz’s meditative, trance-like level of awareness was his remarkable economy of movement. Many people thought he was very stiff, but that incredible variety and richness of sound he produced belies the impression. I believe that although he did not appear to move much, internally his movement was exceptionally free, exact and effective. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 4) • Try to feel the simple line. Think of a great ballerina. Her toes, legs and arms may be in constant motion, but her torso is remarkably still as it floats above them. Ask, where is your center of gravity and which are the moving parts? (Fleisher) • Aim for fine micro movements within a stable macro body. Don’t get so excited that you lose physical steadiness. When your head and trunk are centered, your arms become available for the long line. If you use your upper body for the little things, it loses that important ability (Fleisher)

FIVE IMAGES FOR THE TORSO

1. Ballerinas and Hounds Both spinning ballerinas and hunting dogs raise their heads to enhance their vision and hearing. Do the same at the piano in order to open your ears. 2. Barrel To expand your ribcage, imagine clasping a large barrel between your arms and chest. 3. Body Chain Imagine an unbroken chain running up from your midback, over your shoulders and down into your hands. Playing with this whole-body image can open up your sound. Draw strength up from the floor into your body.

66 4. Fly Fishing Feed your arms in and out of the keyboard like a fly fisherman. Position your lure (hands and fingers) over the keys with a flexible torso and arm. Don’t clamp your arms in closely to your sides. 5. Belly Dancer When reaching for keyboard extremes, don’t lean your whole body to the side and lose your balance. Instead like a belly dancer, keep your torso basically perpendicular to the ground and shift your torso laterally from the waist. This allows quicker changes in direction (swooping around the corners) and again keeps your ears in a more constant relation to the keyboard.

ANATOMY • Bones Mentally map your torso from pelvis to shoulder blades. Notice how movement in one place causes adjustments elsewhere (usually diagonally) across the body. Skeletal balance lets you play more freely without using your muscles to hold you upright. • Muscles Coordinate your chest and back muscles to play without holding, gripping, or co-contracting. Let go after effort and stay light. • Two Surprising Connections Firstly, the sternoclavicular joint in the middle of your collarbone is where your arms ultimately attach to the rest of your body. Secondly, your fingers are ultimately attached by fascia to your mid-back (under your shoulder blades). Keep these in mind as you play from ‘further back’ with seemingly longer arms. • Inside Out The spine has two different surfaces. Its wide and relatively smooth inner side gives physical support to the torso. Its bumpy outside gives conduits for the nerves to activate your fingers. For pianists, the outside is obviously more important, but briefly put your attention on its smooth inner side to see if it strengthens your torso to again free up your arms.

ACTIVITY • Centered Spine Is your torso balanced on both sides of your spine? Is your spine aligned in its natural curves – not hunched, over-stretched, or tilted to one side? Is your torso centered such that your nose points straight ahead? If not, stop, re-center and restart.

67 • A Sense of Perimeter Establish a bodily ‘perimeter’ and stay inside it. Chronic circling may look more relaxed, but it actually unsettles your body, dissipates your energy, and disturbs the skeletal-neural connections between pelvis and hands. • Still, not held A still torso doesn’t mean that you hold yourself rigidly. It means becoming quietly centered so your whole body can participate in sound production. Don’t cut yourself off at the waist. • A Sense of Lightness Try to feel light above and below your sit bones. Avoid holding yourself upright by pressing into the floor with your heels or into the keyboard with your fingers. • Bodily Phrases Fleisher suggests sometimes slouching your torso inwards at the beginning of a phrase and straightening at its end for a blissful sense of release. • Midline Crossings If you tilt your torso to the right or left when crossing your midline, it can feel like falling off the bench. When reaching for a far note, root yourself on the opposite side of your pelvis and shift your torso laterally. This maintains your center of gravity in a vertical line between your legs, and keeps your arms in a more constant relationship with the keyboard. Play a 4-octave scale while maintaining a relatively vertical torso. • Horowitz Watch Horowitz on YouTube. Notice his soaring straight back with his head tilted slightly forward to bring his ears closer to the soundboard. • Spine Gently circle your pelvis on the bench until you can almost feel the spinal fluid flowing more freely. Flexibility of spine gives flexibility of line. • Front of the Torso Avoid curling protectively around the vital organs of your chest, or by over-lifting your ribs. Both cause you to play from the ‘front’ of your chest rather than from the back. This impedes your breathing and cramps your arms. Relax your jaw and neck, widen your collarbones, and settle your shoulder blades further down your back. • Back of the Torso Many pianists complain that “I can’t seem to unlock my mid-back.” Your mid-back has lots of bones and muscles, but few nerve sensors to help ‘will’ its release. To help with this, Alan Fraser suggests that your ask a friend to cup one hand on your mid-back and the other on your lower-back. This gives you supported resistance

68 (rather than just the air behind you), such that you often feel a little release in your midback. After long energetic practicing, you may notice a slight burning below your scapula because that’s where your finger fascia attach. • Leaning Forward and Backwards For fortissimos, lean forwards to deliver more pelvic power. For long singing phrases, try leaning back with longer arms to lengthen the line. • Neck We sometimes suffer neck tension where so many arm muscles and nerves pass through. To release this, stop and circle your head. Ask a friend to firmly grasp the muscles in the back of your neck to temporarily immobilize them (Alan Fraser). You’ll find your hands become strangely empowered when your neck is no longer trying to do their work. • Head A poking head strains your upper back, weakens your arms, and often pegs out your thumb. An over-raised head drains your arm strength. Therefore, float your head lightly atop your spine and notice how it affects your hand strength. • Jaws Your body is a wonderfully integrated system. Soften your tongue and let your jaw hang open to relax your arms and hands. • Breathing Like singers, good breathing is critical for pianists. It oxygenates muscles, quietens nerves, and defines phrase structure. Lower your shoulders and ungrip your stomach muscles to prevent cramping your diaphragm. If you feel your hands tightening, push your breathing further down into your abdomen, sides and back. • Athletes Dictum In music as in sports, ‘effort’ should begin on exhalation. Therefore, inhale between phrases and exhale on playing. Choreograph your breaths and ‘breathe out’ the music. This mysteriously draws in your audience because they’re subconsciously breathing and singing along with you. TAKEAWAYS

Sense your spine rising out of a centered pelvis with its natural curves. Focus on both the front of your torso (chest) and the back (spine) where finger fascia attach. Open your collarbones, relax your throat and jaw, float your head and smile to dispel tension. Choreograph your breaths. Your torso is an oxygenating machine, so don’t cramp it.

69 OCTOBER 11, SITTING FUNDAMENTALS

Don’t sit with such perfect posture that you can’t move! (Durand)

Though the skeleton still grinned at us from the front of the room, there was no sign of our professor. Disappointed, we dropped onto the scattered benches and made desultory talk in hopes he’d appear. In a few minutes, Lambert hurtled in the door and delivered a forcible blow to the skeleton. “Look how when I rattle him, he settles back into natural alignment from feet to skull. Now see what happens when I bend him in half.” Lambert lowered the skeleton onto a metal chair. “Observe how his torso is still upright. His hips and knees are bent at 90 degrees. His spine rises naturally out of his pelvis. He’s not slumped in his chest. His shoulders blades hang naturally down his back. In this position, he can breathe freely – that is, if he wasn’t dead!”

He grinned charmingly, then looked critically at us. “Why do you young people sit like marionettes who’ve lost their strings! Now stand and lower yourself onto the bench with the light touch of a butterfly. Sit up, not down! Notice, are you gripping your thighs? Tightening your abs? Overstretching your spine? Raising your shoulders? Holding your breath?’ Straining your neck?” He strolled across the room. “Use as little muscular activity as possible. Feel ‘light’ above and below your waist. Find balance on your sit bones and connect your hands to your abdominal powerhouse. Got it?”

While we squirmed into position, he elaborated. “Unclench your buttocks and let your knees fall apart a bit. Lift your head and release your jaw. Shift your weight onto your left buttock and notice how your right shoulder rises. Repeat to the left. Release your biceps if they’re trying to stabilize your torso. Because of these bodily connections, poor sitting actually disempowers your hands. You experience a cascade of problems even before you’ve played a single note!”

Lambert grabbed a bench and continued. “So now, we come to the all-important issue of sit bones. First, rock backwards and forwards on your pelvis. Can you find those two

70 egg-shaped sit bones at the bottom of what is politely called your butt? If you can’t find them – they’re pretty buried in there – just separate your buttocks. Sit bones are located below your hip bones at the very bottom of your pelvis. Try to rest naturally on their rounded caps and build your spine up from there. If you sit too much on their ‘front side’ towards the piano, you’ll cramp your arms. If you sit on their ‘back side,’ you’ll lean too far back for your arms to roam freely across the keyboard.’

“As I said about your torso, if you cut off your abdomen at the waist, you put all the work on your arms and fingers. Instead, find balance on the piano bench and draw strength up from the floor.” He began circulating some Handouts. “For balance and alignment, some people swear by Alexander or Pilates, others by Feldenkrais or Yoga. Research and choose which approach best suits your temperament and use it to ‘cross-train’ for piano playing. Each method deepens your body-awareness and offers a dynamic vocabulary for building a great technique. As physical trainers will tell you, words are important”

We shrugged and settled down to work. Honestly, would we ever get to play the piano?

71 HANDOUT ON SITTING

• When sitting, stay grounded and ‘play around your form.’ (Laplante) • Sit on your sit bones with lightness above and below them. Lengthen your spine without overstretching. (Alexander) • To improve your listening, sit back, and be at ease. Better hearing is irrevocable proof that your technique is serving you well. (Pitchko) • Develop an accurate body map and replace “posture” with balance (pg. 33)… If we fall into habits of imbalance, muscles that should be available for movement are being used for support. (Mark , pg. 34-5) • Since the sit bones are the lowest part of the pelvis, they are below the hip joints …This permits the weight of the torso to be delivered through the sit bones to the bench with none of the weight delivered to the legs. With weight properly delivered to the sit bones, the legs are free to move. (Mark, pg. 46-47)

THREE IMAGES FOR SITTING 1. Reservoir Imagine your pelvis as a bowl filled with water. If you sway too much, the water sloshes around and unbalances you – compromising accuracy and security. 2. Pelvic Mirror Think of your pelvis as the convex half of a globe that is completed by the concave arch of your cupped hand. This image connects your pelvis to your hands psychologically and technically. 3. Electrical switch A closed switch blocks energy. The human ‘electrical switch’ is located in your pelvis, so don’t tighten your abdomen in a death-grip. If you must tilt in towards the keyboard to reach a note, bend forward from your hip flexors rather than from further up from your tummy. A bent tummy corrupts your spine.

72 ACTIVITY (with special thanks to Alan Fraser) • Float, don’t Flop Rather than sitting DOWN on the piano bench, think of sitting UP to the keyboard. Imagine your head and torso as rising up while you lower your body down. Visualize wearing an elastic suit that supports and energizes you. • Sit Bones Center on your sit bones (not their back or front), stack your spine above your pelvis, and open up your chest. • Torso Once you’re effortlessly balanced on your sit bones, how many other muscles can you ‘let go?’ • Stability Playing the piano is difficult enough without having to ‘work’ at sitting. Observe: Are you pushing your feet into the floor, squeezing your knees together, clenching your buttocks, pulling up on your thighs, or locking your hip flexors? Don’t ask your hands or feet to hold you upright. Instead, trust your skeleton and draw strength up from the ground. ‘Rest lightly on the planet so your music can soar.’ • Pelvic Rocking When playing, use a tiny gentle rocking of your pelvis to breathe life into your hands and open up your sound. Observe how your spine and shoulders adjust naturally to pelvic rocking. It lubricates your spine and opens up your hip-flexors. Pelvic rocking is a great pre-concert exercise for limbering up before playing. • Spread your Legs Let your legs fall more apart for wider support and more open hip joints. Can you sense how pelvic stability can be felt in your hands? • How close to the keyboard? Generally, sit with your sit bones about 3” in from the edge of the bench such that your thighs hang down in front of the bench. Sitting either too far back or too far forward makes you hunch your shoulders. Instead, let your elbows hang down slightly in front of your torso such that your pedal foot feels light. • Bench Height Be obsessive about your bench height. Even a 2” difference can disturb your finger-memory. In concert, resist the temptation to just plop down and begin playing. Take time to assure the bench height is the same as at home for better accuracy for jumps and sound production. For fortissimos, sit at a height that lets you access your abdominals as well as your arms. Chopin advocated sitting with your forearm approximately parallel to the floor.

73 • Sitting too High Some pianists favor a high bench such that their arms slope down towards the keyboard. Although this can help deliver back strength, it can also indicate weak hand-arches and fingers. Signs of sitting too high are a caved-in chest, hunched shoulders, grinding down into the keyboard, and straining top hand-tendons. It can cause a vapid tone because the keys are too far away, or a harsh tone because you often jam down vertically into the keybed. • Sitting too Low This tends to over-arch your lower back while your hands attempt to ‘climb up’ to the keyboard. Sitting too low crowds your torso inwards, breaking the unity between forearm and fingers. Like high-sitters, you must tug on your top hand-tendons to lift your fingers, potentially inflaming your wrist and forearm. • Exceptions Charles Rosen suggests sitting slightly higher for thundering chords; Glenn Gould sat very low for rapid-fire small finger articulations. Genius has its privileges! • Breathing Don’t over-lift your chest so you can’t breathe naturally. • Making Changes When changing how high to sit, take a couple of weeks to give your body time to adjust.

TAKEAWAYS

Imagine sitting UP to the keyboard rather than DOWN on the bench. Chopin advised his students to sit with their forearms parallel to the floor. Center yourself on your sit bones with no abdominal gripping. Feel light above and below your waist to free up your hands and feet. Find your best bench height at home, and take time to replicate it onstage.

74 OCTOBER 25, SHOULDER ISSUES

The shoulders and arms ride the wave of the spine’s impulse. (Sherman)

Today, we had to squeeze by Lambert ostentatiously doing pull-ups on the doorframe. He dropped lightly to the ground. “Shoulder issues, anyone?” We pulled a face as we searched for our pianos. “It’s okay, shoulder pain is almost ubiquitous. The joints that gave our ancestors the strength and range of motion to swing from tree to tree, were hardly designed for playing the piano. They’re a marvelous concoction of muscles, bones, and tendons, but they’re hard to fix because we can’t really observe them. But shoulders are vitally important. Today we’ll study them as Support Pin #2 for your fingers -- #1 being your abs, and #3 being your knuckles. We’ll get to that in a minute.”

Lambert circled the class. “Unfortunately, generations of piano teachers have misunderstood, mis-explained, and mis-directed shoulders. First, a little demonstration.”

“Shoulders down!” Lambert stood behind Sergei and pushed down hard on his shoulders. Sure enough, his shoulders went down – but his chest caved in, his breathing became shallow, and his fingers ground down into the keybed. “Good?” Sergei winced. Point taken.

Lambert moved to the next piano. “Relax your shoulders!” Amy slumped, straightened, and then looked up confused. “Of course,” he said, “you’re wondering where your shoulders should ’go’ when they’re ‘relaxed.’ Down? Forward? Back?

Sorry class, but it’s anatomy time again! As a starting point, I’d like to watch you play some really loud chords and see what happens. Now go!” With everyone choosing a different key, it was pretty noisy, but Lambert seemed unaffected. He casually wandered among us, adjusting, supporting, massaging, or gently pulling back our shoulders. “Okay, my Winged Wonders, that’s it. Ask yourself, ‘Are my shoulders rising?

75 Hunched? Overactive? And what about my shoulder blades? Are they frozen or sliding easily over my ribcage on my back?”

At the end of the hour, he gestured to the door. “One last thought. As you walk out today, I want you to swing your arms naturally by your side. With your shoulders relaxed, can you feel your hands unclench a little? Have they a wider span? Do they feel more energized?

After Fall Break, we’re moving down into your arms and hands – but we still have miles to go. See you in two weeks!”

76 HANDOUT ON THE SHOULDERS

• There is actually no such thing as a ‘shoulder bone.’ Your arm is attached to your torso in only one place: almost at the center of your chest, just where your collarbone inserts into your sternum – nowhere else! This is why the shoulder blade can slide so freely over the ribcage. (pg. 99) …If my shoulder ‘fixes’ itself to provide stable support for the activity of my arm, it is already hindering movement. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 233) • Map the shoulder blade and collarbone as part of the arm…When we move our shoulder blade, the collarbone moves also. [These movements] are usually small, but they are absolutely vital for free playing. (Mark, pg. 65)

THREE IMAGES FOR THE SHOULDERS 1. Door Hinges Imagine your shoulder as a door hinge. Hinges don’t actually do the work, but respond passively to activity around them. Similarly think of your shoulders as responders to, rather than initiators of, sound. 2. Handshakes When shaking someone’s hand, you reach out your hand rather than your shoulder. Because shoulder-leading twists your whole body, make your shoulders follow rather than lead your arms movements. 3. Pinwheel Visualize your scapula as the center of a big circle from which your arms spiral out from your shoulders.

ANATOMY • General Anatomy A good internet anatomy site is www.eorthopod.com. Its clear explanations and colored diagrams show how bones, muscles, tendons and nerves are interconnected. Also read “What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body” (Mark). • Bones The shoulder has three bones: the clavicle (collar bone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone that inserts into the top of the scapula). Your upper arms are actually attached to the center-joint of your clavicle (below your throat),

77 not your shoulders. In the back, picture your scapula (shoulder blades) as a ‘girdle’ that slides easily over your ribcage without sticking. • Muscles, Tendons, Ligaments and Bursa You can’t watch your shoulder while playing, but you can visualize it. The big triangular deltoid muscle in back extends over the rounded shoulder cap. The other muscles and bones are held together with a complex series of ligaments surrounded by a watertight sac (bursa) that lubricates and lets everything slide without friction while avoiding the inflammation that can lead to frozen shoulder. • Fascia Fascia is the tough connective tissue that lies just below the skin. Ligaments join bone to bone, tendons join muscle to bone, and fascia bind them all together. As long continuous strands, fascia runs the whole length between fingers and their anchoring point below the shoulder blades. A slight burning sensation there confirms that you are playing from your back rather than from your vulnerable elbows and wrists. • Nerves Three nerves that service your fingers originate in your spine. They then pass through your shoulder, armpit and inner arm, and into your fingers as one long neuron without synapses (see Hand for more details). Damage to the brachial plexus nerves servicing the neck and upper shoulder can cause multiple problems such as loss of feeling in the arm or hand, trouble moving the arm, and general lack of muscle strength. Unlike muscles, nerves can’t be ‘conditioned,’ so find a way to play that avoids pinching or over-stretching them. Like many things, visualization will be key to fixing the invisible.

ACTIVITY • Exploring your shoulders Poke a finger into three points in your shoulder: (1) the outer side where it attaches to your upper arm bone (site of possible frozen shoulder), (2) the inner front hollow (where you can push the shoulder back and down), and (3) the shoulder blade where your finger fascia attach (hard to reach in your mid-back). As you play, willfully release any tension. • Mapping Visualize your shoulders as the midpoint in a long ‘arm’ running from abdomen into fingers. This image promotes whole-body playing rather than finger-work.

78 • Stay Light When you walk, your arms swing in a natural arc from your shoulders. Similarly, at the piano, keep your shoulders fluid and follow the movement of your hands in and out of the keyboard. • Stay Neutral Ground emotional intensity in your abdomen, not your shoulders. Both stiff and over-active shoulders cut off your hands from your pelvic support. • Support Pin #2 Imagine your abdomen as Support Pin #1, your shoulders as Support Pin #2, and knuckles as Support Pin #3. When aligned and naturally connected, they back up your fingers.

• Raised Shoulders One of the most common signs of stress is raised shoulders. This causes a cascade of problems throughout the whole body. Don’t forcibly lower your shoulders by pressing down from on top. This collapses your chest, challenges your arm joints, and disempowers your fingers. Instead, use the muscles in your mid-back to draw your shoulder blades down. This engages your back, opens your chest, lengthens and lightens your arms. It can even relax your jaw and face. • Initiating or Responding Are your shoulders initiating sound? Can you find a way to keep them pleasantly neutral? Rather than ‘stopping’ the sound at your shoulders, imagine letting sound flow through them. • Shoulder Health Take regular practice breaks to release and re-settle your shoulders. Circle your shoulders until they soften and ‘go with’ your arm movements. Then raise and resettle your arm vertically out of its shoulder socket. • Rotator Cuff Shoulders are prone to a debilitating condition called “frozen shoulder.” Sometimes called ‘inflamed rotator cuff,’ it is usually experienced as crippling pain originating in the outer side of the arm. Signs of an oncoming frozen shoulder are an aching upper arm or even a hot forearm. This can progress until it becomes impossible to raise your arm above your waist. Frozen shoulders can take a year to ‘release,’ but the good news is they rarely become a life condition. The bad news is that experts don’t know the cause or cure. In early stages, get lots of rest, change your bench height, take care to avoid ‘chicken wings’ (elbows out to the side of your body), and avoid arm- circling on each key. Book physio and massage sessions. Do some of your practicing

79 away from the piano. Take a few months to simplify your repertoire. Take anti- inflammatories. Above all, be patient! Frozen shoulders usually release after time.

TAKEAWAYS Avoid raised or rigid shoulders. Think of them as a neutral waystation along the chain between torso and hands. Let shoulders respond and support, rather than initiate sound. Lower your shoulders by settling the scapula further down your back.

80 NOVEMBER 8, UPPER-ARMING IT

I’m quite convinced that we spend far too much awareness and concentration on the finger in piano playing…Schnabel spoke in terms of not only fingering a pianistic passage; he spoke in terms of hand-ing it, and in terms of arm-ing it. (Noyle)

The holiday had obviously refreshed Lambert as much as us. He strolled into class nursing a lethal brew that would have been envied by the notorious coffee-drinkers, Bach and Beethoven.

“Be happy! Today, we finally move down into your arms. Did you know that the triceps under your arms carry the nerves, muscles, fascia and tendons that you use when playing? Let’s finally ignore those bullying biceps of which you may be proud, but are more useful for lifting pianos than playing them. Biceps hammer and triceps sing!”

Lambert raised his skinny arm and squeezed it. “First, take a few minutes to appreciate the heft of your upper arm.” We jiggled and squeezed our arms, surprised by their girth and weight. “These seven pounds, my friends, can yield warm blooming chords and searing melodies – or can hammer mercilessly. Think of your upper arms as accommodating ‘positioners,’ rather than instigators or weight sources. Next week we’ll take up the contentious question of ‘weight versus energy’ in piano playing. But first a little anatomy.”

81 HANDOUT ON THE UPPER ARM

• Don’t cut yourself off from your upper arm movements. (Laplante) • In playing, think of everything in curves: no angles, no stops, and no jerks…. Continuity of arm movement is one of my obsessions. (Petri) • Your fingers wiggle easier when your arm is in motion. Putting your arm in motion frees all its muscles to activate more effectively (Fraser, Craft, pg. 144-5) • Harshness of sound does not come from playing too loud but from poor organization…If hand structure is not secure then the arm muscles over-contract in order to produce the forte, and continue to contract after it has been produced, thus stifling the instrument and cramping its vibration. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 263) • Use appropriate arm movements toward and away from the fallboard to adjust for the different lengths of the fingers, so that the fourth and fifth fingers feel as strong as the other fingers. (Mark, pg. 109)

THREE IMAGES FOR THE UPPER ARM 1. Octopus Think of your upper arms as octopus arms spiraling out from your torso. 2. Ships Imagine your upper arm as the hull of a ship cutting through ocean swells. Heavy yet buoyant, the hull determines the boat’s direction – just as the upper arm steers musical phrases towards their destination while the fingers navigate the notes. 3. Sledding Stand and swoop your arms out-and-up in front of your body (like the leading edge of a sled.) In fortissimos, this upward gesture avoids jamming the keys like a sled in deep snow.

ANATOMY • Overview The upper arm weighs over seven pounds. Its heavy humerus bone is surrounded by bulging biceps on top and softer triceps underneath. Nerves, fascia and tendons run through the triceps, so focus there rather than the biceps that you see.

82 • As Thomas Mark points out, the arm has 32 bones and 24 joints. Because feedback comes mainly from joints, put your focus there and “think joints.” (pg. 68) • Muscles We contract our biceps to raise our forearm and lift heavy loads, not too useful for playing the piano. We use our deltoids to lift our arms out to our sides from our shoulders. And we use our triceps to lower our forearms and move our fingers. Therefore, put your focus under your upper arm rather than on tops. • Nerves All three hand nerves pass along the underside of your upper arm, so again, focus there rather than on top.

ACTIVITY • Arm-ing It Imagine your arm as one long bone that sculpts phrases while your fingers distribute the notes. Let your upper arm feed your hand in and out of the keyboard to exploit the whole length of the key. This reduces wrist-torqueing and brings your shorter thumb and 5th into contact with the keys. • Navigator Make your upper arm follow the melodic curves. Chronic shoulder-circling or inflexible arm-holding in a ‘perfect’ position are not helpful. • Stay Light Keep your upper arm as weightless as possible so you can appreciate its invisible ‘let-go’ while a finger plays. Although you can’t see this internal action, your arm should ‘release’ at precisely the moment your finger depresses the key. When these two actions are properly synchronized, the piano almost plays itself. • Fortes A responsive upper arm can decrease forearm-hammering and weight-hanging on the fingers. Both stress joints and destroy singing tone. • Free-falls For a loud chordal passage, try raising your forearm and releasing it to ‘fall’ onto a chord or octave. Be sure to relax your hand until the last mini-second of the descent and then activate your hand arches to grab the proper keys. Note that this free- fall should feel as if it’s initiated from the upper arm, not hammered down from elbows. • No Chicken Wings A common mistake is to hold your upper arms too high out to the side of your body. This breaks the connection between torso and hands and tests your elbow joints. (See Elbows)

83 • No Armpit Tightening Clamping your arms closely to your body stops your upper arm’s communication with your hands. Imagine your upper arm as a living, breathing entity, buoyed up on a cushion of air. This floating sensation gives breath to phrases and space for your fingers to work. Stay loose for melodic uplift while keeping key contact. • No Arm Pumping Young children sometimes try to increase their sound by pumping their arm on every note. This destroys the musical line and makes the playing sound notey. Counteract this by poking your finger up under their palm to support the knuckle arch, making the fingers do their work. • Agility Play a series of octave jumps up and down the keyboard. Rather than tugging your hands along with your upper arms, lead with your fingers and pivot outwards from your elbow. • Jiggle Test When playing well, you’ll sometimes see a slight jiggle in your triceps, armpit and breast area. This is a good sign that you’re staying loose and letting your upper arm absorb the key rebound. • Sit Back Try sitting back a little further to engage your back, pectorals and triceps rather than biceps and forearms. • Internal scan Close your eyes and listen to your upper arms. Ask, “Are my arms floating? Are my biceps and triceps co-contracting? Am I blocking my upper arms off from my fingers with a stiff elbow?” Then open your eyes and fix it. • Nudged Bones Imagine your arm bones as nudging into their joints as they back up the fingers. Use ‘one long arm-bone’ for long singing lines.

TAKEAWAYS

Focus on your triceps in order to unclench your biceps. Hang your upper arms naturally by your side rather than raised outwards. ‘Float’ your upper arms and don’t bear down on the keyboard with them. ‘Arm it’ rather than ‘finger it.’ Steer around melodic curves with a light upper arm. Nudge your arm bones together and play with ‘one long arm-bone.’

84 NOVEMBER 15, WEIGHT OR ENERGY (a short diversion)

Weight is for planets, not for fingers. The trouble with applying weight is that you have to keep picking it up again. In piano-playing as in life, weight is hard to shed! (Pitchko)

Today, we were greeted by an uncharacteristically impatient Lambert. Tapping his pen on the desk, he warned, “This may be the most contested lecture of this year. My claim is that your fingers can play with surprising volume and warmth without hauling around a lot of arm weight. And before you get all worked up, let me read you an important paragraph by Alan Fraser. See if it helps explain what I’m saying.”

“The idea of using arm weight to produce beautiful tone is one of the most widely held tenets of piano technique. There is much truth in the concept of arm weight, but it is rife with pianistic dangers as well….The debate between the arm weight and finger articulation schools is still going on because neither side will ever be correct…Is dropping the weight of your arm into the key to produce the most beautiful sound really free? Well, maybe – just like jumping out of a plane without a parachute is free! Perhaps a weight in free-fall is most ‘free’ but it is [also] most dead! … Arm weight does play a crucial role in tone production, but its quality is anything but dead. It is an active, intelligent mass, flexible in its actions, not the weight of an inert, inactive substance such as wood or lead.” (Alan Fraser, The Craft of Piano Playing, pg. 40)

Typically, Lambert began Big Picture. “Physics tell us that mass and energy are related. So, let’s apply this to piano playing. To the outsider, weight and energy may look the same, but to the player they feel completely different – and they certainly sound different! There’s a bendiness to the sound that makes the line sing.”

Lambert circulated some thick Handouts. “The point is that although weight can render beautiful warm tones, it can also leave us stuck on the keybed with nowhere to go. When we amplify upper arm weight with downward-bearing forearms, we tend to get

85 harsh tone. It also ruins the horizontal line and seriously compromises finger agility. The question becomes, is gravity using you, or are you using gravity?”

He lowered himself creakily onto the piano bench. “Today, we’ll study two alternatives to weight-playing for big sound. The first is the ‘pulling technique’ whereby elastic fingers depress the keys by pulling in towards the palm. The second is the ‘sliding technique’ whereby fingers slide along the key surface in either direction, steered by an active and ‘energetic’ arm. In both cases, your upper arm is backing up your hands and forearms rather than providing vertical weight. Freeing your arm with a combination of pulling and sliding fingers can render a round warm tone that is nothing short of magical. We’ll study more of this when we eventually get down to the Fingers.”

The proof would be in the demonstration. “Imagine that you’re playing a soulful slow movement using the natural warmth of arm weight. And I say, that’s fine as long as you shed the weight at the keybed without pressing, forcing, or squeezing” As he began playing the famous second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, we could see his upper arm sinking deeply into the keys. “This is lovely, but that weight would be lethal in the following Allegro. My bulky arm muscles can’t move as fast as my fingers and it sounds as if I’m struggling. Time to go on a weight diet!”

Lambert knew he was treading on dangerous ground here. Many of us had strong opinions about weight and deeply ingrained habits. Still, we were willing to play along. Following Lambert’s instructions, we sank weight into some chords and then tried to match their tone by using strongly pulling fingers backed by floating arms. Shockingly, we found we could achieve equal warmth and color nuance with less arm-weight. We felt physically less earth-bound and spiritually more uplifted. Even our listening seemed to rise into the air.

Signaling us to keep playing, Lambert strolled around the classroom checking for overactive or weighted arms. From behind, he’d cup an elbow to support the arm and take the weight off the fingers. From the side, he’d poke a finger under a palm to make

86 the fingers work more energetically from under the knuckles. Within minutes, there were grins all around. Our fingers were digging out sound like a dog burrowing for a bone. It was easy, free, and felt like flying!

Mission accomplished, we turned to Technique #2, sliding longer fingers along the keys. Whenever they stuck or trembled, we worked until their action smoothed out. Within a few minutes, we began to feel the bones snugging into their joints on the way ‘in’ and uncoupling on the way ‘out.’ Combining the two made the sound soar even on the crummy school pianos. Could ‘weightlessness’ be the secret to Lambert’s tone and facility?

Finally freed from gravity, we protested when Lambert drew the class to a close. “Okay, my fearless astronauts – just as you’re getting ready for liftoff, the cafeteria’s about to close. And as Lawrence Pitchko loved to say,

In piano-playing as in life, weight is hard to ‘shed’!

Lambert puffed out his tummy, bloated his cheeks, and waddled out of class.

87 HANDOUT ON WEIGHT AND ENERGY (A short diversion) (more discussion under Fingers)

• Use pulling, not weight, and listen for a singing sound. … Keep a monotone attitude, play with less effort, and be more fuel-efficient. (Covelli) • The upper arm as a source of weight is too heavy, incapable of speed. Using it breaks the elbow-hand fulcrum. (Taubman) • Don’t confuse emotional weight with physical weight. For louder playing, avoid weight and loosen all your joints. Lead with your arm and distribute the notes down through your knuckles into your fingers, letting the natural weight of your arm give inflection to the phrase. (Fleisher) • Listen to your arm and lighten it to make the sound go up. Imagine blowing air out of your armpit and work from underneath to accommodate ten unequal fingers. (Fleisher) • Don’t feel as if you play to the bottom of the keys. Feel as if you play to the end of your movement. (Laplante) • Let the weight of the bigger joints “pour” into the fingers (not to be confused with applying pressure). (Berman, pg. 10) • An arm in motion defies gravity. Replace arm weight with arm sliding-in behind the fingers to make a functional joining of the arm to the keyboard. Use skeletal alignment as an antidote to weight… (Fraser, Craft, pg. ) • Pressing will never create that ‘putta putta’ quality …. [Don’t] hinder the key’s ability to rebound. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 86)

FIVE IMAGES FOR WEIGHT VERSUS ENERGY

1. Trampoline Rather than relying on pure strength, gymnasts use the elastic energy of the netting to launch themselves upwards. Think of using the keybed in the same way as the piano springs propel your fingers upwards in a seamless rebound towards the next note. 2. Diving Board Similarly, divers use the springiness of the board to propel themselves upwards. Dead weight is slower and harder to shed than quick packets of energy.

88 3. Ping-Pong Ball A player uses the internal energy of the ball to accelerate it across the net. Internal energy, whether in a ball or arm, can ‘blister’ a mass forward with less effort. 4. Fly-fishing Imagine your arm as the flexible rod and your fingers as the lure. When they work together in one fluid motion, you can send sound-energy spiraling out into the air. 5. Patting a Dog You can pat a dog with your full arm or knead its fur with your fingers. Apply both techniques to the piano and decide which sounds and feels better.

ACTIVITY • Weight or Energy Replace heavy arms with energized fingers for effortless agility. • Preparatory Steps to Reduce Weight 1. Mentally align your bones from shoulder to fingertip. 2. Lighten your arm, checking for any clenching of biceps or forearms. 3. Rest your fingers silently on the keyboard. Circle your elbows and wrists until your arm ‘feels like nothing.’ 4. Depress a single key by pulling your 2nd finger from its surface. Stop exertion immediately ‘at sound.’ Keep the key depressed and notice how little effort is needed. 5. With the key still depressed, check for bone-alignment by sliding your 2nd finger along the key surface in both directions. Notice any trembles, stutters or sticking. 6. Mentally program your neuro-motor system for floating, responsive arms. Widen your collarbones and pull the notes from under your palm.

• Weight and Pressing A violinist who pressed his bow onto the strings actually reduces the sound because the vibrations are dampened. Similarly, a pianist who grinds his fingers down into the piano stifles the sound and injures his arms Once the hammer has escaped, nothing can be done to change the tone, so play and move on. • Smile Put a ‘smile’ in your sonority by trusting the piano will amplify your effort.

89 • Muscle Groups Don’t let your big muscle groups jump in to help your smaller ones. Use as little muscular exertion as necessary for the desired sound. • Repeated Notes Play fast repeated notes with light arms and quick fingers pulls; then try it with weighted arm. Which is easier? Imagine ‘tickling the keys’ in order to send out strings of repeated notes. • Arpeggios Play a fast arpeggio by ripping solid-chord handprints up and down the keyboard. Lead first with your fingers and then your arm. Which feels or sounds better? • Slide-Test To test for weight, see if you can slide your fingers along the keys in both directions without trembling or weighting. If necessary, warm your playing hand with your other hand until your fingers relax and quieten. • Loud Passages Increase volume with fast strong finger-pulls backed by very loose arms. • Soft Passages For transparent or filigree passages (such as Debussy or Chopin), keep your torso buoyant and use quick light finger-pulls from under your knuckles – like tickling the keys while your arm steers up and around. • Upbeats and Downbeats A conductor directs his orchestra with energetic upbeats rather than heavy downbeats. Downward thrusts cut off the musical line, not sending it up and out. Weight deadens downbeats and strangles upbeats.

LIMITED ADDITION OF WEIGHT • The weight of bigger joints gives body to sound and often provides a welcome release of tension. Substitution of effort with weight allows for brief moments of relaxation. (Berman, pg. 25) • Gravity technique must be done observantly and attuned horizontally rather than downwardly. Before a concert, assess how much downward pressure is needed to make the keys speak, and then move your attention to the horizontal line. (Covelli) • Stand on the hammer’s weight’ instead of on the keybed… All the skeletal-key connections are there, but must be totally fluid. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 236)

90 ACTIVITY • When to Use Weight For fast passages and virtuoso octaves, use lots of rhythmic energy and add in weight as needed (or possible) at that tempo. • Toggling Toggle between finger-pulling (small-muscle energy) and arm-weighting (large- muscle releases). Compare how they feel and sound. • No Muscular Forcing Natural gravitational weight has a different sound than vertical pressing. Keep your hand arches stable and loosen your other joints so your fingers can voice independently. • How to Apply Weight Do a quick scan of your three support-points at core, shoulder and knuckles. Then, play fortissimo chords with everything aligned from lower back to fingers. Keep a light torso and maintain forward motion towards the next chord. Close your eyes to better sense what you’re doing. • Legato When walking, we smoothly transfer weight from one foot to the other. Similarly, at the piano, keep weight in motion and transfer weight from finger to finger. Keep this action as horizontal as possible rather than depositing it vertically in weight- packets (pumping your arm up and down). Like walking, keep your attention on your destination (next chord) rather than the mechanics of how to get there. • Backing up the Weight Experiment with ‘backing up’ the sound at five places: at your knuckles (“finger weight”), your wrist (“hand weight”), your elbow (“forearm weight), your shoulder (“upper arm weight) and your abdomen (“full body weight). Notice how each alters the sound and internal feedback. • How Fast is the Key Descent? How fast you release weight affects the speed of the key descent – and hence how loud it is. Keep out of your forearms and play some weighted chords focused on key speed. Notice how a slower key descent warms the tone. • Weight Direction If weight was only about gravity, it would fall vertically down towards the floor. As described in Piano Mechanism, this takes the liveliness out of the tone. For a more nuanced sound, feel as if you deposit the weight diagonally in towards your abdomen or roll it up-and-out towards the fallboard. Experiment with depositing weight

91 in the three directions of down, in and out. Which gives the best tone with the most agility? • Curvy Thoughts Curves are natural to the arm. It’s hard to lock up a curve! • Avoid First-note Syndrome If you deposit weight on the first note of a piece or phrase, you’ll have to spend the rest of the time trying to shed it. Think up and forwards, rather than just down. • Notate your scores Where you feel ‘stuck,’ mark a downward-arrow to remind yourself to sink weight down towards your lap, and an upward-arrow to roll it into the fallboard. • Weight Uptake: Play a triad and lightly hold down the keys with your fingers while you gently shake your hand from side to side. Test for excess weight on the keybed. • Agility and Weight Shed weight in the direction of the next notes in order to position your hand for the coming event. • Lighten up To prevent weight from dragging down the melodic line, find moments of relaxation (or “air”) between events. Release the keys lightly as if floating up. • Buoyancy When using weight in loud passages, shed it in-and-up towards the fallboard rather than down towards the floor. This positions you for the next ff chord or octave. • Raised Forearm When a pianist’s forearm bounces up, it should be indicating an upward rebound after an event rather than preparation for a downward strike before it (which makes harsh tone).

TAKEAWAYS

Replace downward-bearing weight with elastic, energized fingers. Decide where you want to ‘back up’ the sound (at the knuckles, wrist, forearm, shoulder, or abdomen). They all sound different. Be aware of the direction of weight application and its shedding.

92 NOVEMBER 22, FLOATING THE ELBOW

Musically, go to the end of the movement from behind your elbow, and steer from there. (Laplante)

By November, we’d come to love Lambert’s props. Coming into class today, we had to duck around a whizzing skipping rope. Between puffs, Lambert said, “Don’t look at me – look at my elbows! They’re close by my sides in order to facilitate 360 degrees of rotation. Watch how when I move my elbows out from my sides, my shoulders have to work harder, my elbows lose their range of motion, and my wrists stiffen.” He pointed to a pile of skipping ropes. “Don’t believe me. Come prove it!”

We untangled the ropes and joined in. Soon, big smiles broke out. He was right! Our elbows worked best when resting quietly beside our bodies. Lambert set aside his rope and said, “Keep skipping while we talk tennis.” He swung an imaginary racket across his body. “Observe how tennis players briefly ‘set’ their elbow upon impact with the ball. This is the last thing we want to do at the piano. So, pack away those tennis rackets if you want to be a good pianist. Sorry kids, but life is full of choices!”

We groaned and set aside our ropes. Lambert held up a skinny arm. “I think I’ve explained before that your arm is an alternating chain of joints and muscles: shoulder joint, upper arm muscle, elbow joint, forearm muscle, wrist joint etc. All of these need coordinating while you play the piano. Blocking any one segment has repercussions further down the chain. Your elbow is particularly vulnerable because, located midway between your shoulder and hand, it plays an important role in helping your arm ‘breathe.’ You want to keep it as open as possible. Like your wrist, it’s a joint where nerves are constricted, so it can easily become inflamed. Here are ten ways to protect and use it properly:

93 1) Keep your elbow and forearm approximately parallel to the floor (Chopin’s advice). 2) Float your elbows beside your body, not high out to the sides (chicken wings). 3) Release, don’t grip, that tough tendon on your elbow’s inner side. 4) Make your elbow a conduit that responds to, rather than initiates, activity. 5) Let your elbow absorb forces up from your hand as well as down from your arm. 6) Never press down on the keyboard from your elbows like an isometric exercise. 7) Feed your elbows in and out to adapt to black keys, thumbs, and short fingers. 8) Make your fingers, not your elbow, lead towards the keyboard extremes. 9) Don’t let your elbows overshoot your fingers. 10) The louder you play, the more you must loosen rather than tighten your elbow.

Lambert prepared to leave. “Take special note of Chopin’s advice about playing with your forearms parallel to the floor. Floating your elbows quietly by your side rather than bearing down on them moves sound production from your elbows into your knuckles and fingers – preventing elbow-strain and hammering forearms. That said, don’t lower your elbows below your wrist because it tends to strain your elbow AND your wrist. We covered some of this in our lecture on Sitting, but this week experiment again with bench height while focused on how it affects your elbows. Just think ‘Joint Hygiene’ and get on with it. Now poof, I’m gone!”

With that, our Wizard scooped up his skipping rope and rocketed out the door. We secretly smiled when we spied the handle of a tennis racket peeking out of his briefcase.

94 HANDOUT ON THE ELBOW

• Have your elbow relax and glide IN rather than hold itself to the outside. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 234). • Keep your elbow level with your wrist to keep the unity of hand and forearm. (Taubman) • Imagine a parachute attached to the pianist’s elbow [in order] to add air to the sound. (Berman, pg. 43) • Musically, go to the end of the movement from behind your elbow rather than from a preset position – and then steer from there. A free elbow lets you position your hand to navigate the black and white keys regardless of their finger length. (Laplante) • Try not to stiffen your elbow, but have the power come from your fingers and from higher up your arm. Paradoxically, the softer you are … the greater effect your muscular power can have. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 107)

FIVE IMAGES FOR THE ELBOW 1. Chicken Wings A barnyard chicken flaps its clipped wings out to the side, but gets no ‘lift-off.’ In contrast, a swam swims along serenely with its wings folded quietly by its body, ready to spread and take flight. Rest your elbows neutrally by your sides, relaxed and available. Be a swan, not a chicken! 2. Pistons The wheels of a train are rotated by horizontal rods pumping parallel to the ground. Similarly, imagine your elbow as moving your horizontal forearm in and out of the keyboard to negotiate uneven keys with different length of fingers. 3. Hinge Like your shoulders, think of your elbow as a hinge that passively transmits forces between your upper arm and keyboard. 4. Windshield Wipers Car wipers swish back and forth from a central fulcrum. Similarly, picture your elbow as a fulcrum from which your forearm swishes from side to side up and down the keyboard. If elbows are a problem for you, briefly mimic this motion before starting to play.

95 5. Skipping When skipping, we hang our elbows by our side and circle our forearms. Similarly at the piano, hang your elbows neutrally by your side (not clamped) and pivot your forearms laterally up and down the keyboard.

ANATOMY • General Like shoulder joints, elbows are complicated concoctions of bones, muscle insertions, and nerves. They are protected by a bony outside ‘cap’ and are stabilized by tendons on the inner side of the elbow. Be aware that when your elbow moves, there are repercussions in your shoulder and sternoclavicular joint – so aim for fluid. • Muscles Fingers contract using muscles attached to tendons on the inside of the elbow. Fingers are lifted using muscles attached to tendons on the outside ‘bump’ of the elbow (your ‘funny bone’). Therefore, most fingerwork originates on the inner side of the elbow. Make sure the inner and outer sides are not working against each other. • Nerves All three nerves servicing the hand originate in the shoulder and cross through the elbow in separate tunnels. Constant bending and straightening of the elbow can cause nerve irritation, pain, numbness and hand weakness. If you experience any of these symptoms, check whether you’re holding your elbows too far out from your body or trying to initiate sound from there. Like the other joints (shoulders and wrists), consider your elbow a floating conduit rather than a sound-initiator. • Tendonitis “Tennis Elbow” can present itself as a tingling sensation in the outside of the elbow, an aching inflamed forearm, or even throbbing shoulder pain. It is aggravated by excessive circling or bearing down on the fingers. Stress-free elbows are the key to wrist, hand, and even shoulder health.

ACTIVITY • Position Chopin advises that the elbow, forearm, wrist and knuckles align in a straight line parallel to the floor. From that position, the arm supports and steers the hand from behind without putting stress on the elbow.

96 • No Chicken Wings Elbows held high out to the side have at least three serious consequences. They strain the shoulders, break the chain of bones from arm to hand, and torque the wrist. Briefly prove this by playing with your elbows high out to your sides. • Lubricating Elbows If your elbows get sore, rest your fingers on the key surface and lubricate your arms with quiet circles. This also opens up your chest for better breathing. • Playing from ‘Behind’ your Elbow Andre Laplante eloquently advocates playing from behind your elbow rather than down from it. Feed your fingers in and out of the keyboard, fluidly aligning your arm without blocking energy at the elbow. When everything unclenches, the music can spill out effortlessly. • Jumps When executing jumps, keep your elbows ‘inside’ and let your fingers lead to the destination note. Swivel your forearm from an elbow fulcrum, rather than tugging your fingers up and down the keyboard using your elbow. • Midline Challenge When crossing your body’s midline, don’t twist or stress your elbows. Instead, root your sit bones and shift your torso right or left as necessary. Lean in slightly to reach the far keys. • Rotation Use your elbow to position your hand over the keys and let it follow along agreeably without excessive rotation. Keep in mind that much elbow rotation will be invisible to the eye. • Perimeter Establish a sense of perimeter in your elbow motion. For better key control, bring your fingers to the keys with a soft fluid action and ‘check’ from behind your elbow. • False Sensation Although muscles do most of the work at the piano, we perceive activity as originating in the joints where our nerves are more constricted and give more ‘feedback.’ Therefore, elbow pain can be a sign of a poorly aligned forearm or wrist. • Grip-free Zone Are you subconsciously ‘gripping’ with your inner elbow? As a test, deliberately tense your biceps and notice how your inner elbow engages. Then release them both and move activity down into your hand and fingers.

97 • Co-dependence Put your awareness on your elbow’s adjacent ‘neighbors’: upper arm and forearm. Is your elbow helping or hindering their activity? A stiff or over-active elbow can force the forearm or biceps to overwork in an effort to bypass the elbow and ‘keep things going.’ • Pronation As discussed in the next chapter, your elbow must twist ¼ turn to bring your hands into playing position. Stay smooth and don’t resist this pronation at your elbow. • Rebounds and Releases Shed fortissimo releases with an upward rebound of your forearm at the elbow. The louder you play, the faster you have to ‘get out of there!’ • Pain Elbows are a notorious source of pain. To take the pressure off them, center yourself better and activate your hands from the knuckles. Slough off excessive elbow exertion by making the rest of your body do its work.

TAKEAWAYS

The elbow must always be fluidly responsive to arm and hand. “Make it nothing.” Position your forearm parallel to the ground with level forearms, wrist and knuckles. Let your elbows rest easily by your sides rather, not elevated out to the sides. Never hammer downwards from your elbows. It leads to harsh tones and injury. Feel as if you play from behind your elbow, pivoting your forearm as necessary to position your hands over the notes. Initiate sound with your arms, knuckles and fingers, rather than your elbows.

98 NOVEMBER 29, DISARMING THE FOREARM

It is as if your forearm is a lung, filling slightly, rising as it breathes in, and floating down again as it gently expels its air. (Fraser)

So seamless was Lambert’s course that he often picked up exactly where he’d left off. Today we arrived to find him already seated at the piano and ready to begin. “Okay, with your upper arm and elbow now floating quietly by your side, let’s discipline those bossy forearms. How they LOVE to hammer away all day – and then we wonder why they ache all night. Ignore this not! A sore forearm can signal oncoming problems such as frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, and wrist carpel tunnel syndrome. None are fun! The forearm can be a great saboteur, so watch here!”

He pulled up his sleeves so we could watch his scrawny forearms while playing the loud opening chords of Chopin’s Prelude in C-. We glanced uneasily at each other. Everything sounded uncharacteristically harsh. On closer observation, we could see that Lambert was pushing down with his forearms. Under their assault, we could see his shoulders rising, his wrists tightening, and his knuckles collapsing.

Glancing up, Lambert wordlessly changed technique. Even from four feet away, we could detect the ‘let go’ on top of his forearms. After each chord, his arms appeared to rebound towards for the next chord. His hands responded like living things, seeming to draw out the sound by pulling the keys in towards his palm and body. No weighting, squeezing, pressing, or forcing. Just active hands and responsive, neutral forearms feeding in and out to accommodate the chord shapes. Revelatory!

Lambert lifted and rotated his forearm in the air. Did you know that your forearm has not one, but two bones – the stationary ulnar bone near your 5th finger, and the twisting radial bone near the thumb?” We were silent, having generally thought of our forearms (and treated them) as a single solid bone. “To explore this, lay your forearm along your desk and roll it lazily from side to side up and over your 5th finger. See how your radial

99 bone twists easily over your ulnar bone. This is what you do when you ‘pronate’ your forearm to bring your fingers into contact with the keys. It’s not the most natural position in the world (although easier than a violinist), but it becomes quite natural. Your thumb flops agreeably from side to side. Yes?”

Indeed, it did feel good. “Now reverse the action. Rest your forearm on its thumb-side and twist up your 5th.” This was definitely more difficult, so Lambert explained, “What we’re doing here actually represents a serious problem for pianists. Many of us habitually ‘set’ our thumb as the stationary element and stretch or rotate our hand up towards our 5th. This aberration is called ‘ulnar deviation.’ It can torque your wrist, strain your pinky, and overwork your thumb. What we’ll work on today is to reverse this this orientation such that your forearm aligns with your 5th and you rotate downwards towards your thumb. First rest your hand silently on the keyboard in playing position and roll your forearm in both directions.”

We shrugged and experimented. Amazingly, Lambert was right. Many of us had it backwards! Simply realigning our forearm with our 5th and rotating downwards towards our thumb gave an instant sense of arm-release. We could feel our wrist float, our hand soften, and our thumb move with lightning speed. Even better, the sound improved. Now our pinkies sang, and our thumbs stopped thudding. Could it be that this one adjustment could eliminate all our elbow, wrist, and hand problems?

Still there were questions. For instance, what would happen when our hand was outstretched in octaves? What about passages requiring agile thumbs for inner voices. Obviously, these were questions for another day, so we settled down to work.

100 HANDOUT ON THE FOREARM (with special thanks to Alan Fraser and Thomas Mark)

• Keep monitoring for forearm tightening. It can indicate excessive arm weight, muscular hammering, or the use of the forearm to stabilize an un-centered body. (Pitchko) • Knowing which forearm bone rotates and which is stationary can make the difference between free, expressive playing and injury. (Mark, pg. 83) • The muscles that rotate the forearm are the deepest muscles in the forearm -- right next to the bones. When the forearm rotates freely, those deep muscles are activated. The superficial muscles of the forearm are not involved, so they can be loose. (Mark, pg. 109) • When the pianist is aware that he or she moves the fingers from the forearms, the pianist can create a conscious sense of ease and freedom in the hands and forearms. (Kind, Kindle loc 1826) • Tendonitis most commonly occurs in the forearm, not in the hand, when the forearm exerts too much stress in a vain attempt to compensate for the lack of function further down – the hand is not doing its job. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 105)

SEVEN IMAGES FOR THE FOREARM 1. Carpenter’s Hammer A carpenter grips his hammer shank loosely except for the fleeting moment of impact with the nail. Sustained clenching inflames the forearm. 2. Cables and sheathes Visualize your forearm as two bones surrounded by muscles, nerves and tendons. All are wrapped in sheaths. If you tighten your forearm, the sheaths squeeze around the cables – making them ‘stick’ and heat up with friction. Therefore, release your forearm muscles to protect vital nerves and tendons. 3. Pinwheels Rest your elbow on a table and raise your forearm to vertical. Flutter-rotate it, letting your fingers and thumb flap loosely. Then, lower your forearm to horizontal and keep fluttering. Notice how a loose forearm liberates your fingers and thumb. 4. Pen Holding Hold a pen loosely and flutter-rotate your forearm. Then tighten your grip and notice how your wrist and elbow lock up. Conversely, stiff fingers can cause your wrist to tighten. (Fraser)

101 5. Picking up a Tissue To pick up a tissue, you bring your fingers together with a little forearm rotation. This is similar to the minimal forearm rotation you should use to depress a key. (Fraser) 6. Books Forearm rotation can be likened to opening a book. Its stationary ‘spine’ is on the outer 5th side of your hand, and its pages are on the inner thumb-side. When playing, be clear about which bone is stationary (the 5th) and which rotates (the thumb). 7. The Forearm Arch Imagine a long arch running down from your shoulder into your fingers. Lower this whole structure onto a single key with as little muscular effort as possible. Conceiving your arm as a single bony structure helps you play with a full-arm sound and phrasing.

ANATOMY • Bones The two bones of the forearm twist agreeably around each other. The stationary bone near the 5th finger is called the ulnar, and the twisty one near the thumb is called the radial (this is important for ulnar deviation described below). • Muscles and Tendons The muscles that curl your fingers are located principally in the undersides of your forearm and palm, not in your fingers. That means that your forearm helps or sabotages everything that happens below it. The reverse is true. If you lift your fingers above your knuckles, your forearm can become hot and inflamed. If you stiffen your fingers, your wrist and fingers stiffen with it. Much of Chopin’s “supplesse” came from a floating forearm, so stay loose! • Nerves Because most nerves run along the soft underside of your forearm, focus attention on the underside that you can’t see, rather than the top that you can see. With this visualization in mind, play a passage that makes you tighten, keeping your focus UNDER your forearm.

102 ACTIVITY • Forearm Sensitivity “Wake up’ the nerves by stroking the velvety underside of your forearm. Then run your finger along any over-worked top muscles and cue them to ‘let go.’ • Hammering Never hammer down vertically with your forearms except on those rare occasions when you want a percussive effect. Forearm hammering is the most common cause of harsh fortes, and can seriously stress elbow and wrist joints. • Alignment Align your forearm parallel with the floor to get your arm behind your fingers. This is the key to singing melodies and warm fortissimos. • Motion Keep your forearm in motion, letting it quietly adjust to the hand activity in front of it and the upper arm activity behind it. • Elbow Fulcrum When your forearm moves horizontally along the keyboard from its elbow fulcrum, the fingers can fly with less wrist-torqueing or finger-stretching. For a demonstration of this, see Graham Fitch on YouTube. • Rotation Use gentle forearm rotation to mirror melodic shapes, but avoid rotating on every note lest you lose the line. To learn more about rotation, research the Taubman school of piano playing. • Pronation Take a break from reading this book and observe how pronation works. Begin by laying your forearm on a table. Notice how your hand rests naturally on its outer near your 5th. Rotate your forearm 180 degrees back and forth on the table so your hand rests on its topside and then its palm. Notice how your two forearm bones twist easily over each other to bring your knuckles level with the table (or piano). Try to pronate with as little involvement of the shoulder, upper arm and elbow as possible. When you arrive at optimum playing position, don’t grip or hold the position with your wrist or fingers. • Ulnar Deviation Despite its clumsy name, this is a very important concept for pianists. Lay your 5th flat on G and then reach down (or open your hand) towards your thumb on C. Then do the opposite, resting your hand on your thumb and then reaching upwards towards your 5th. In the latter, can you feel the stress in your forearm, 5th and thumb?

103 Oddly, many pianists habitually weight their thumb and stretch or reach upwards from there. This forearm alignment with the thumb is called ‘ulnar deviation’ and should be avoided as much as possible. Changing this habit can actually be simpler than it might appears once it is understood. It’s a change in mental attitude. (See Mark) • Canary in the Mine Even tough, bony forearms can ache or become inflamed. Take time to analyze the possible reasons for this: ulnar deviation, an overactive elbow, a torqued wrist, collapsed knuckles, even an on-coming frozen shoulder. If you have pain, stop, raise your forearm to upright position and flutter-rotate it with flapping thumb. This removes tension, liquefies your arm, and lets your hand rebuild its hand knuckle and finger arches. Similarly, if you get shooting pain in your 5th or thumb, check for ulnar deviation in your forearm.

TAKEAWAYS

The forearm has two bones, not a single rigid one. Be clear in your mind which bone is stationary and which twists. Then use that awareness to play more freely. If your tone sounds harsh, check your forearm – are you hammering down with it? Align your forearm with your 5th and reach down from there, rather than aligning it with your thumb and reaching up from there (ulnar deviation).

104 DECEMBER 7, DISSOLVING THE WRIST

The wrist contains 8 bones that roll around against one another like marbles, providing great flexibility. (Bruser)

Lambert never failed to surprise. Today he arrived playfully brandishing what looked like a small canister of oil. “Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you Human WD 40.” He mimed spraying his wrist. “A wrist can lock you up or give you a get-out-of-jail-free card, so let’s lubricate it and begin!”

He plopped himself unceremoniously on the piano bench. “First, a little Chopin.” Lambert’s demonstrations often said more than his words – and he certainly had lots of words! He laid his fingers silently on the keys and clownishly circled his wrists. Then he launched vigorously into the diabolical LH octaves of Chopin’s Grande Polonaise. This ‘wrist-breaker’ was infamous for binding up pianists, but Lambert seemed to ride the rebounds effortlessly. A marvelous circular rhythm invaded the room.

Giving a sly grin, he talked over his playing. “Let me remind you that a loose wrist doesn’t mean floppy. Your wrist needs enough ‘tonus’ to connect your arm to your fingers, but it mustn’t be stiff. In its position midway between hand and forearm, the wrist is critical to arm and hand freedom. Liquify it to follow the phrases, rising and dropping slightly as your fingers shape them. We’ll discuss this later in octaves, but think of shaking them out of your sleeve from further up your arm – like a violin bow bouncing lightly on the strings.”

Lambert shot us an endearing grin. “So, let’s set to work. Next week, we move down into the Hand, ‘home’ for all pianists. Happy? Now, show me your wrists!”

105 HANDOUT ON THE WRIST

• Nine flexor tendons (two to each finger and one to the thumb) pass through the carpel tunnel that is only about as big as the end of your thumb. The space is so narrow that some of the tendons are stacked on top of each other to form two layers. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome manifests itself as wrist pain, tingling or numbness in the hand (especially on the thumb side), and sometimes the feeling of a weak or clumsy hand. The symptoms may be worst at night. [paraphrasing Mark, pg. 145] • Because no bones pass through the wrist, we sometimes tighten it in order to stabilize our hands. Instead, stability should come from coordinated arms, balanced hands, and strong responsive fingers. Use a non-resistant wrist and imagine an unbroken line running from shoulder-hinge to your knuckle hinge – then play from there. (Pitchko) • When tendons slide through sheaths as they do in the wrist, a lubricating fluid ensures that the friction doesn’t occur. Nevertheless, this fluid is used up during movement and restores when we rest. Therefore, take regular breaks, limit repetitions, and avoid sudden dramatic increases in music-making time” (Klickstein blog, pg. 3-4)

FIVE IMAGES FOR THE WRIST 1. Sun and Planets Think of your wrist as the sun around which your forearm (on one side) and your hand (on the other side) circle. Like in outer space, let the sun and planets float in balance without friction or counter-pulls between them. 2. Ball-bearings Many machines use round ball bearings between their internal surfaces to dispel friction and heat. Let your ‘bracelet’ of wrist bones fulfill the same function. 3. Gear-Box Picture your wrist as a gear box where large structures from your arm are ‘geared down’ to fit your hand. 4. Traffic Merges When a highway loses a lane, the traffic slows or stops. Similarly, congestion can occur at the wrist where all the nerves, muscles and tendons servicing the hand must narrow. Can you keep the neuro-muscular traffic flowing through your wrist?

106 5. Can-Opener Don’t pry up your wrist as if poking a hole in a juice can. This uses too much forearm and makes your wrist a source of sound production rather than responding. 6. Pen Squeezing Hold a pen tightly and notice how your wrist rigidifies. Therefore, avoid gripping with your fingers in order to free up your wrist.

ANATOMY • Bones, ligaments and Tendons Fifteen bones connect the forearm to the hand. This includes eight round carpel bones in the wrist that allow 180 degrees of rotation. The flexor tendons that bend the fingers are on the wrist’s soft underside, and the extensor tendons that lift them up are on its flat upper side. All are held together with a lubricated sheath of ligaments wrapped around the wrist like a bracelet. • Muscles The wrist is not a muscle to be exercised and toned. It’s a joint where muscles originating in the forearm cross as tendons and re-emerge in the palm. Therefore, fingers are activated by muscles behind or in front of the wrist, not by the wrist itself. • Nerves The three nerves servicing your hand originate in your shoulder, travel down the undersides (triceps) of your arms, and then cross the constricted bony structures of elbow and wrist through separate ‘tunnels.’ Visualize opening up these joints and their ‘sleeves’ to protect your critical hand and finger nerves.

ACTIVITY • Words Matter Word-choice is critical for inspiring change. For instance, “float your wrist” or “dissolve your wrist” suggest something different than the usual “relax your wrist.” Which verbs work best for you to free up this critical joint? • Tonus Although ‘tonus’ generally refers to muscles, imagine your wrist (and knuckles) as having enough ‘tonus’ to transmit forces from your arm down into your palm without sagging. • Wrist Relief Rest your fingers silently on the keyboard and circle your wrists. This simple exercise lubricates your wrists, takes the weight off your fingers, and floats your arms.

107 When playing, find places to oil and loosen your wrists. Get your arm behind your fingers by properly aligning (and floating) your wrist. • Wrist-Tests To test your wrist for over-activity, stop and stroke its velvety underside with your finger. Find a way to play that reduces its underside activity to almost nothing. Then rest a finger on your wrist’s topside to test for any downward gripping. You want your wrist to be a neutral portal between arm and hand. • Quiet Wrist Strong independent fingers are the key to a quiet wrist – and vice versa. No matter what wrist height you prefer, your fingers should be able to wiggle freely without wrist involvement. Play through your ‘kissing wrist’ rather than with it. • Wrist Height A high wrist makes the fingers work harder because they have to depress the keys from a greater height. A low wrist makes the top tendons work harder because they have to physically release the keys. In both cases, the continuity between shoulders and fingertips is broken. Take a few minutes to experiment with different wrist heights, noticing how each affects your arm, shoulder, and fingers. What height makes you feel most connected to the keys? Which best enjoins your arm to your fingers? What creates the best sound? Of course, pianists vary in their preference for wrist height. As mentioned before, Chopin advised a height that levels the forearm. Brahms sat very high and Glenn Gould very low, but as said before, genius has its privileges! • Wrist Alignment As discussed under Forearm, don’t skew your wrist towards your thumb (‘ulnar deviation’). • Wrist Humping Pumping the wrist up and down on every note destroys the musical line. Wrist humping is caused by applying excessive arm weight to the fingers, by collapsed knuckles, or by poor passage of the thumb under the hand. Let your wrist mirror the longer phrase and make your thumb ‘small’ in its movement. • Agility The wrist is marvelously responsive joint relative to the rest of the body. When your wrist ‘dances,’ you might even notice your jaw and hips release! • Legato A flexible wrist enable fingers of different lengths to play evenly with a better legato. To prove this, tighten your wrist and listen to what happens to your legato.

108 • Consciousness Shut your eyes and toggle your attention between the hand-end of your wrist and the forearm-end. Try to open the wrist-valve between your arm and fingers. • Wrist Octaves Avoid flapping your hand above your wrist in classic ‘staccato wrist octaves.’ Instead, stay close to the keys and let your fingers lightly ‘pluck off’ the notes. In forte octaves, ‘shake octaves out of your sleeve’ from further up (see Octaves). • Underpasses and Overpasses Wrist action is critical for moving your hand up and down the keyboard. Keep your wrist fairly level, whether passing your thumb under your palm (traditional) or over your hand (in which your arm ‘throws’ your hand into position). See Arpeggios. • Pain If the inner side of your wrist hurts, check for a thumb pegged out to the side. If the outer side of your wrist hurts, check for fallen knuckles that are not supporting your 5th.

TAKEAWAYS

Keep your wrist fluid and open. It is a joint, not a muscle to be ‘toned.’ Lubricate your wrist by resting your fingers on the keys and silently circling your wrist. Don’t initiate sound from your wrist. Keep it neutral, responding to upward impulses from the hand and downward impulses from the arm. Keep its movements small. Avoid wrist humping on every note or over-rotation .

109 DECEMBER 15, THE ELEGANT HAND

Think of supplesse rather than a big hand. Chopin had a small hand, but it would open like a serpent’s mouth and swallow whole passages. (Ohlsohn)

We’d always admired Lambert’s hands. Sitting in cafés, we’d secretly compared them to ours in terms of stretch, thickness, flexibility and strength. Could hands reveal as much about a person as eyes? Enough speculation, today’s class was all business. Lambert motioned for silence and launched into his subject with the vigor of a pastor.

“So now at last we reach the ‘business end’ of your body!” He turned over his hand over thoughtfully and wiggled his fingers. “We pianists spend hours watching our hands. But too often, we focus on the tops that we can see rather than the undersides that we can’t. Strangely, the latter is far more important.”

He gathered himself for the assault. “We could spend weeks on hands alone, but for our purposes, I’ve divided this subject into three parts. We’ll spend today on the hand’s ‘body’ from wrist to knuckles. I’ll call it the Supported Hand, including the top tendons, the palm, and the critical side muscles for your thumb and 5th. After Christmas, we’ll discuss the all-important knuckle ridge, and then – you guessed it, fingers! Agreed?”

We nodded. Frankly, we were so thrilled to finally reach the Hands that we’d accept almost anything! During the next hour whenever we lost focus, Lambert would re- energize us in the way we loved best – with music. Spinning out Schubert’s liquid Impromptu in G-flat, he spoke quietly over his playing. “Let me explain what I’m doing here. Musically, I’m enjoying the unaccented flow of 16ths under Schubert’s floating melody. Physically, I’m using my body’s natural hierarchy. My torso is quietly centered and I’m steering the long melodic phrases from my abdomen and upper arm. Further down, my elbows, forearms, and wrist are fluidly responsive. My knuckles are fairly level with my wrist as my palms open and close around Schubert’s lovely accompaniment. My 5th fingers are supported to make the melody sing. Altogether, I’m aiming for

110 Chopin’s idea of ‘supplesse.’ And finally, although you probably can’t see it, I’m leading with my fingers and voicing, voicing, voicing – in three layers of melody, accompaniment, and bass. I don’t want to bury this lovely melody in yards of fabric like a dead corpse!”

We nodded, unwilling to interrupt the magical flow of notes. Lambert navigated a heartbreaking modulation and said over the coda, “Let me add here a little plea: please take care of your hands – both at the piano and away from it. Far too many pianists must give up playing, sometimes because of an accident but more often due to poor technique. And so, they must spend the rest of their life trying to find something as meaningful as playing the piano. They seldom succeed. Music is a potent addiction, and we all want to keep playing for as long as … well, me!”

We grinned at him. Lambert might be old, but he remained forever youthful. Finishing the Impromptu, he reverently patted the piano and moved back to the front of the room. “Now we’ll take up the details. And then, my stuffed turkeys, it’s Winter break! Spend some time sorting through what we’ve covered this term. Enjoy your holiday and come back safely. Now, I have a train to catch. It’s ski season!”

We gasped. Lambert skiing? What a horrifying thought! He was too impulsive! He could hardly finish a sentence before darting off in another direction. Would he stay ‘on trail’? Frankly, wasn’t he a bit old? Lambert shrugged off our concerns and surprised us with a hearty bear hug at the door. Human chemistry being what it is, he seemed to have developed a genuine fondness for our little group. We too would miss him, but were ready to spread our wings and head for home.

111 HANDOUT ON THE HAND

(with special thanks to Alan Fraser)

• The hand must be supple…It should move through space with the lightness of a hummingbird. (Sherman, pg. 19) • The hand must be quiet, poised, tranquil, and floating (pg. 9) …It must move elegantly and purposefully, often faster than the brain. (Berman, pg. 21) • Most of the time I feel the hand is almost too powerful for the piano. We don’t have to kill the darned instrument… Piano playing is not weightlifting. It’s more like dancing, or gymnastics. (Ohlsson in Marcus) • The composer’s hands and arms are not unlike our own, posing similar limitations… The technical problem has yet to be invented that has not been solved. (Bacon, pg. 71) • The fastest part of your body is in your fingers and hands, followed by your wrist and arm. The slowest is your core where the music is held. Learn to coordinate these anatomical levels. (Laplante) • As you move from one note to another, the ‘hand-platform’ moves as well…providing the centered, effort-free point from which the fingers drop in. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 233) • When you stay loose but in alignment, you get a tremendous feeling of fullness in your hand (Fraser, Honing, pg. 93) … There’s a sense of the bones of the hand swimming in a sort of ‘muscle soup.’ (Fraser, Craft, pg. 45) • Don’t keep your palm splayed like a dead starfish. Relax minutely between each application, especially in octaves and big chords (Jennifer Snow) • The palm is like a sphincter muscle encircling your palm, gently contracting. It’s your hand’s best source of power. It eradicates any danger of tendonitis, by centering effort in muscles directly attached to the finger instead of those connected by tendons through the wrist. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 79)

112 SEVEN IMAGES FOR THE HAND 1. Finger Beak To explore the hand’s natural folding and unfolding, rest your elbow on a table and raise your forearm to upright. Hang your hand down from your wrist. Now, slowly cock your wrist backwards and observe how your thumb and fingers fold together naturally into a beak. Your finger muscles are doing no work whatsoever. It feels good, even therapeutic. After a few times, lower your bunched fingers onto a single key with your 3rd finger. Circle this beak, motivating the action first from your arm and then from your fingertips. Can you feel the internal energy of your palm and the relaxation of your arm? When this circling is easy, slide your ‘beak’ along the key in towards the fallboard and back. Can you eradicate any trembles? Are your fingers, knuckles, wrist and arm aligned? 2. Jellyfish If your hand were a jellyfish, its body would be your palm and its stingers your fingers. Again with upright forearm, ‘pulse’ this jellyfish across your vision. Then lower it onto the keyboard and lightly pull your stinger-fingers into a small triad. Notice that as your jellyfish ‘stingers’ slide along the keys, your knuckles rise and fall with them. Just as a jellyfish never stops and rigidifies, keep your hands fluid as you ‘pulse, and phrase’ in an effortless nuanced sound. 3. Bird’s Nest Turn over your hand and gently stroke the soft muscles and rich nerves of your palm. Appreciate its lively suppleness. Imagine this cupped hand as a little bird nest framed by feather-light fingertips. Now, invert your hand as if to protect your little bird. Such ‘fledgling’ images can soften your palm and give it lift. 4. Bicycle If your body was a bicycle, your torso would be the frame, your arms the handlebars, your hands the wheel hubs, and your fingers the spokes. The fingers navigate the bumpy terrain of black and white keys, backed by stable hands and quiet free-wheeling arms that absorb the twists and turns. 5. Cables Imagine cables anchored in your mid-back under your scapula, then looping over your shoulders, down your arms, and into your hands. These cables must work in both directions, responding to finger-pulls at one end and weight-releases from further back. Allow no jamming and keep your cables lubricated.

113 6. Car Like the previous image, picture a power-train running from the ‘engine’ of your lower back, through the ‘gear joints’ at shoulder, elbow and wrist, and then into the ‘wheels’ of your hand and fingers. The power train is only as strong as its weakest link. 7. Clown-Hands Think of your hands as large floppy clown-hands on the end of skinny arms. This image helps small-handed pianists reduce their fear of wide intervals.

ANATOMY • The Palm Shut your eyes and poke an index finger into your palm at different ‘teeter- points.’ Notice how poking between your 2nd and 3rd finger causes your 2nd knuckle to rise to prominence. Poking between your 3rd and 4th fingers supports your 4th finger. Poking between your 4th and 5th raises your 5th knuckle and levels your hand horizontally. Each teeter-point aligns your hand differently with your arm. Make no judgements, but develop the ability to move these teeter points around inside your palm. • Palm Tendons The tendons that bend the fingers in towards the palm are attached to strong muscles under the forearm. They provide the fuel-efficient strength of the human grasp. • Hand Tendons The fingers are raised by tendons running along the top of the hand that are attached to muscles on the top of your forearm. These tough fibrous strands can’t be ‘conditioned,’ so avoid tugging up on them.

• Sides of the Hand Make a fist and observe the large bulgy muscles on each side of your hand. Both the thumb and 5th are anchored at the wrist for strong grasping.

ACTIVITY • Tonus Before playing, imagine a state of ‘readiness’ in your hand. Tonus is not tense but ‘available.’ At best, it feels ‘eager to play,’ even tingling with anticipation. • Stay Light If you find yourself weight-bound, be sure you’re not pressing down with your forearm.

114 • Stay Supported Align your forearm, hand, and knuckles such that your arm ‘backs’ up your fingers. • Stay Level Check for a curled 5th or peg-thumb that unbalances your palm and hand. • Palm Nerves Run a finger along the nerve-rich underside of your palm. Your palm holds the key to finger strength, control, and nuance. • Palm Muscles Keep a loose palm, activating your fingers from under your knuckles rather than lifting and striking your fingers down from on top of your hand. • Made to Measure When playing an unfamiliar piano, we can panic that the keyboard looks longer and more alien than our own instrument. Reassure yourself that the keyboard was designed to fit the human hand. Stay calm! • Ruler Your hand can serve as a natural ruler for gauging intervals. Shut your eyes and use the black keys as guides to physically ‘sense’ the distance between the notes. Hand- sense is not only essential for sight reading but connects you more closely to the keyboard. • Supplesse Garrick Ohlssohn points out that although Chopin had a relatively small hand, it would expand like a serpent to embrace wide intervals. This ability to contract and expand in a flowing manner gives ease and agility to the hand. • Softening the Palm (Alan Fraser) A flexible palm is the key to flexible sound. To explore this, lightly depress an octave of C – then root your thumb and quietly touch your 5th to it and back again. Reverse directions, rooting your 5th and reaching your thumb up to it and back again. Don’t let your wrist pop up and initiate this action from inside your palm. Practice a few lines of Chopin’s Etude #1 to improve palm flexibility and arm carriage up and down the keyboard. • Rotation Root your thumb on a key, then lift your 5th finger high and sting it down securely onto an octave (Alan Fraser). During this rotation, try to feel loose in your forearm and energetic in your palm. Reverse and do the same with your thumb rooted by your 5th. • Opening a Fan Think of softly opening up your palm like a fan rather than over- stretching your fingers to reach an octave.

115 • Hand Stretching Depress all 5 notes of a diminished 7th chord. Raise your hand arch and do light repetitions on each note without letting the resting fingers tense up. Work patiently with frequent rests to let everything settle and relax. When your fingers are looser and stronger, you can almost feel your hand grow in size. • Handprint Play a fast passage in solid hand-clumps, using your thumb to keep repositioning your hand. When the keys of a clump are covered, pearl them out individually from behind your elbow using a light hand-backup. Keep a level hand without wrist humping. • Hand Sting For fortissimo passages, establish your handprint in the air a millisecond before playing. Lead with your fingers, swooping down like an eagle, and then swinging upwards in one gesture. (Alan Fraser calls this a cobra sting). As the passage gets faster, gradually reduce the height of the ‘upness’ and internalize the action. • Orchestration To ‘orchestrate’ piano tone, lower your wrist until your palm rests on the keys and your fingers lay flat along them. Then raise your knuckles slightly and play with long fingers as if ‘palming’ the notes rather than ‘fingering’ them. This yields a wonderful three-dimensional tone. It also requires an advanced technique of strong, individuated fingers with a whole-arm connection between bones. • ‘Let-go’s’ In big octave and chord passages, decide in advance where you can take tiny palm relaxations. Rather than holding your hand open for the whole passage, let your fingers return to their natural elastic state between chords. Initially relax between every note, then between groups of chords that you can now play in one ‘go.’

TAKEAWAYS

Focus on the underside of your palm rather than the visible topside of your hand. ‘Open up’ your palm. Don’t over-stretch or rigidify it. Think soft, buoyant, supple, supported. Find opportunities to relax your hand to its natural resting state between events. Reduce finger work by moving your ‘handprint’ laterally around the keyboard. Keep out of your top hand tendons.

116 JANUARY 10, THE KNUCKLE PLATFORM

The Hand is always ‘willing,’ especially from the knuckle down. (Fleisher)

Snow was falling in big wet flakes when we returned from winter break. Some friskier members enjoyed a snowball fight outside the Conservatory, narrowly missing Lambert as he loped up the steps. He gave a playful ‘thumbs up’ and crooked it wordlessly towards the front door. We followed our affable Pied Piper into class, secretly happy to be back in the Land of Technique.

Lambert seemed refreshed from his ski holiday. Waggling his fingers in front of his face, he said, “See, all ten of them here and accounted for! Today we’ll study where the fingers meet the hand. ‘Knuckle’ and ‘metacarpal ridge’ may be unlovely words, but they’re a source of great beauty in piano playing. In his fabulous book, The Craft of Piano Playing, Alan Fraser eloquently describes the knuckle platform: 1) The knuckles and fingers are arranged in three bony arches: the ‘Cathedral Arch (across the knuckles), the Flying Buttress (between thumb and 2nd) and the Roman Arch (down the fingers). 2) The knuckle arch supports and empowers the fingers. If it collapses or flattens, the fingers must work harder because they have nothing to push back against. 3) The pouchy lumbrical muscles under the knuckles are the main finger-movers.

Lambert beamed. “The point is that once you’ve experienced the tingling potency of the human grasp from the knuckles down, piano playing is easy! Just align your arm with your fingers through a firm but floating knuckle ridge and you can color sound with infinite finesse. The metacarpal ridge is fundamental to happy fingers!”

We dubiously eyed the six pages coming our way, but Lambert was undeterred. “Think of your Dog. Your hand is his snout and your fingers are his sensitive nose. He says, “Trust me and I’ll bring back the goods. Don’t burden me with too much weight or I can’t run. Don’t fill my head with too much information or I’ll lose the scent (the musical line).

117 And don’t tug up on my head or I can’t connect to the ground (the keyboard).” Lambert feigned a sniffing dog and dove in, “So, let’s raise those knuckles and get moving!”

118 HANDOUT ON THE KNUCKLES (With special thanks to Alan Fraser and Lawrence Pitchko)

• The greatest finger activity is at the knuckle joint. [From there], the fingers are prepared for both the black and white keys. (Petri) • When you maintain the support structure of the metacarpal ridge [knuckles] to absolute perfection…your fingers acquire the freedom to do anything! You can use them as tools to feather stroke, curl, pluck, lift…[or give] a full muscular stroke for rich tone, or a poke for an insistent quality! (Fraser, Craft of Piano Playing) • Your second knuckle is the peak of the entire structure, the apex of not one, not two, but three arches. (pg. 4) … Don’t succumb to the temptation to hold that structure up with muscular efforts. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 72) • This is crucial, that legato is felt not just at the fingertips but across the metacarpal- phalangeal joints. (Fraser, Craft, pg. 62) • Level or even tilt your knuckles upwards towards your 5ths to give your outside fingers more room to play. (Pitchko)

FIVE IMAGES FOR THE KNUCKLES 1. Cat’s Tongue A cat’s head is steady when pulling milk into his mouth with his tongue. Similarly, keep your knuckles steady while your fingers pull the sound out of the keyboard. 2. Car Ferry When you rest your hand on a table, your thumb naturally rests below your finger knuckles. Alan Fraser compares this arrangement to a car ferry where the thumb is the lower car deck and the fingers are the upper passenger deck. Tilt this arch gently side-to-side like a quiet ferry at dockside, enjoying how your arm floats like a ship’s buoyant hull. 3. Shock Absorbers Imagine your arched knuckles as the shock absorbers of the hand. They smooth out the ride like the cushioning suspension system of a car.

119 4. Bridge Struts The triangle is a powerful geometric form , used in bridges and buildings for strength. Rest your hand on a table in playing position and study the triangular ‘port- hole’ made by your thumb and 2nd finger. Move this three-sided structure around on the table, making sure that the triangle keeps its shape. Motivate this movement with your arm rather than tugging it around with your fingers. Can you feel your finger bones nudging into each other? 5. Helium Balloon To lift your palm, imagine a helium balloon expanding under it. As your knuckles float up, your fingers get more space to move.

THE THREE ARCHES OF THE HAND 1. The Cathedral Arch Sometimes called the “Transverse Arch,” this arch runs under your knuckles like the span of a Gothic nave. Keep sufficient ‘air’ under it to let your fingers roam freely. Don’t let your thumb ‘peg out’ to the side in an attempt to level your hand. 2. The Flying Buttress With your hand lightly on the keys, examine the semi-rectangular arch between your thumb and 2nd finger. It is like a flying buttress that ‘lifts’ the Cathedral Arch. In its critical position at the apex of all three arches, your 2nd-finger arch is essential for keeping the arch raised and supporting the hand. 3. The Finger Arch This is the curve runs along each finger from its knuckle to its tip. Its natural shape is the same as when your hand hangs neutrally by your side. If you feel your fingers over-curling or flattening out, stop and hang your arm down by your side to recall that shape and transfer it back to the piano.

ANATOMY (with special thanks to Alan Fraser) • Grasping The knuckles (metacarpals) are critical to a fine piano technique. Buoyantly poised between the wrist and fingers, these bony arches are critical for the human grasp. • Knuckles What we call our ‘knuckles’ are actually the bony caps at the end of your fingers. If you pinch your knuckle and waggle its finger, you can feel how the knuckle is actually part of the finger and moves with it. Therefore, knuckles are not a static ridge,

120 but a series of five somewhat independent hinges. Unlike the fingers, the thumb’s ‘knuckle’ is further back in the hand in that little hollow near the wrist (see upcoming chapter on the thumb). Viewed this way, the thumb is the longest hand digit rather than the shortest. • Lumbricals are the short powerful muscles that look like puffy pillows under the knuckles. They attach to big flexor tendons running under the forearm. As prime ‘graspers,’ lumbricals are strong enough to hang your whole body from a doorframe. Lightning fast and fuel-efficient, they are also the prime finger-movers. To appreciate their strength and speed, drum out a fast 2-3 trill from your knuckles down. • Interossei These muscles run parallel to, and share the grasping function with, the lumbricals. However, they’re ‘deeper’ in the sense that they attach to bones rather than to tendons. Not only do we use them to waggle our fingers from side-to-side but, but we can actually depress a key by using the interossei on both sides of a finger. This is an advanced awareness that reduces finger work and keeps you closer to the keys.

ACTIVITY • Support Pins Sit quietly and mentally map your three points of support: abdomen, shoulder and knuckles. Visualize how each stabilizing pin supports the one below it (nearer to the hand). For example, the abdominals support the shoulders, shoulders support the knuckles, and knuckles support the fingers. Watch for any locking-up or taking-over of another’s functions. • Knuckle Support With good knuckle support, your fingers and thumb can rest quietly on their keys. Any trembling, curling or stiffening can indicate a lack of knuckle support, because the fingers are trying to hold up the hand. Warm the knuckles and fingers with your other hand until they all feel secure and empowered. • Strengthening your Knuckle Arch Splay ‘spider-fingers’ onto the wall and lean into them. Notice how the arch gets stronger as your knuckles consolidate under pressure and your internal hand-support grows. So strong is your knuckle arch that you can lift individual fingers off the wall when leaning your whole body into them. (Fraser)

121 • Emptying Your Hand Alan Fraser talks about ‘emptying out your hand’ if you let your knuckles flatten. Therefore, keep that arch intact and never lift your fingers above the

knuckle arch. • Initiating Points Where exactly do you initiate your sound? Sound backed at your shoulder (often perceived as arm weight) feels and sounds different than sound backed at your elbow, wrist or knuckle. Practice mentally moving these points around and observe their effect on sound. Generally, fast passages are best initiated at the knuckles where the fingers scurry around the keyboard and the arm sculpts the longer phrase. • Knuckle Leveling As discussed in the Forearm, almost any musician must pronate to play their instrument. When pronating to play the piano, you rotate your forearm from the elbow to bring the fingers in contact with the keys. Naturally, the hand slopes down towards the 5th, but you want to resist this downward tilt of the knuckles. Otherwise, your 5th becomes weight-burdened and loses its ability to sing independently. Similarly, you don’t want to tilt your knuckle ridge towards your thumb (ulnar deviation) because it loses its agility and tends to thump. Altogether, knuckle-leveling is critical for independent fingers. Practice leveling your knuckles away from the piano by threading a pen under your 2nd and 5th fingers (over your 3rd and 4th). Notice how your hand then floats and swivels like a single bony entity. • Knuckle Height A wrist held higher than the knuckles makes your fingers walk on tiptoe, causing a vapid sound. A wrist held lower than the knuckles makes your top tendons work hard to lift up your fingers. Both compromise the bony connection between forearm and fingers. Finally, sagging knuckles reduce agility, strength and tonal control. • Smaller Hands Pianists with small hands appear to flatten their knuckles to reach wide intervals. Still, they should try to raise their palm arch even a minimal amount to give more finger individuality. Ironically this raised position helps them reach further. • Hand Mashing As described by Alan Fraser, this exercise connects your core to your knuckles. Start with your fingers mashed down flat on the keys. (It actually feels quite unnatural because fingers aren’t naturally flat). Now, pull up gently on your fingers, sliding them along the keys until your knuckles rise into playing position. Can you sense

122 your hand drawing strength from this triangular arch? Can you feel a buoyant air balloon under your palm? Your finger bones nudging together? Your wrist and arm beginning to ‘breath’? Use your knuckle arch to play a longer, sweeter sound with less effort” • Key-slipping Again as described by Alan Fraser, flatten four fingers on the keys and hang your thumb down along the key-slip (as if grasping the keyboard). Slowly bring your thumb back up to the key surface and notice how your 2nd knuckle naturally rises, again creating that buoyant palm arch. If your wrist stiffens, return to key-slipping to rebuild the arch and give your fingers more space to move. • Hand Smooshing To set your knuckle arch in motion, slide your ‘block’ of five extended fingers soundlessly in and out along the keys relative to the fallboard. You’ll feel a slight tug on the skin of your fingertips. If your fingers shake, check whether you’re adding arm weight or haven’t aligned your finger bones properly. Repeat until the tremors stop. • Integrating Arm and Hand Play with a focus on how the bones in your arm nudge together from shoulder to knuckles. This feels very different than finger-playing and yields a wonderfully open tone. “Hand it or arm it, rather than finger it!” (Fleisher). • Finger Pulling Although this is largely the topic of the next chapter, knuckles form the all-important base from which we pull or slide our fingers along keys for tonal variety. • Advanced Knuckle Techniques As your fingers become stronger, you can lower your wrist and raise your knuckles higher. This is how Gould achieved his eagle-like clarity. Imitate this action by drumming your fingertips on a table with your wrist resting on the table, then let your wrist drop below the table and repeat. This technique is ideal for certain types of fast clear passagework. Horowitz, on the other hand, sat higher and used quite flat knuckles with outstretched fingers. Work to find the position and technique that best suits your body and concept of sound.

123

TAKEAWAYS Become familiar with your three hand arches and use them to reduce muscular work. Fingers can’t work well if the knuckle support is weak. Raise your knuckles to get your arm behind your fingers. Again, from where are you initiating (or stopping) the sound – shoulders, elbow, wrist, or knuckle?

124 JANUARY 17, EXPRESSIVE FINGERS

These fingers of mine, they got brains in ’em. You don’t tell them what to do – they do it.” (Jerry Lee Lewis)

Today Lambert hiked up on his desk, obvious eager to start. He waggled his fingers in front of his face and whistled, “Tee-hee! Finger time at last! Happy?” He was rewarded with delighted grins all around. “Let’s begin big picture. We humans are obsessed with our fingers. Babies suck them in the womb, infants grasp them, school kids play with them, adults work with them, and at the end of life, the finger grasp remains a last source of strength. Many scientists say the hand defined human evolution. And I say that piano playing is a bloody digital miracle!”

We smiled at the diversion, but sobered as Lambert slapped ten pages of Handouts on each desk. “Some of what we’ll discuss today will be easily observable and some will be invisible. Some will be obvious and some contestable. I know there are many ways to engage the key, but I’d like to suggest a default technique on which to build:

The optimum piano technique is a finger-pull at the key surface. This action is backed by three stabilizers at the knuckles, shoulders and abdomen. (Pitchko)

We frowned. Most of us had spent years trying to get rid of fingery playing, and this sounded suspicious. Lambert was undeterred. “Trust me here. I’ve spent years experimenting with flat, round, and curving fingers. I’ve pulled, weighted, lifted, and slid them. Today, we’ll study six ways to engage the keys, each offering its own special beauty.

He tapped together some loose papers. “Why I say ‘engage the key’ is that your final point of contact with the piano is your fingers – not your body, your brain, or even your heart. Let’s now teach your fingers to dance! Interested?”

Of course! We laughed in sheer exhilaration and dove into Lambert’s dense pages.

125 HANDOUT ON THE FINGERS (with special thanks to Alan Fraser and Lawrence Pitchko)

• In my father’s playing, the fingers seemed to come under the hand. (CPE Bach) • All fingers must adhere possessively to the keyboard. (Berman, pg. 4) • Ironically the stronger the fingers, the less fingery the playing! (Pitchko) • Play with ten independent fingers, not two meat hooks. Pull music out of the piano rather than stuffing it in. (Pitchko) • There are some who play as if their fingers had traction, and others who play as if their fingers were just bouncing or sliding over the keyboard. Those with traction seem to be headed somewhere, the others are just running for the running itself. (Bacon, pg. 155) • Good finger technique is like walking with a spring in your step – energy pushing up from the ground. You feel solid and supported by the ground, but also light… The fingertip initiates the bounce by grasping the key and propelling the arm up. Think of a trampoline. (Bruser, pg. 124) • The slight grip of the fingertips creates a penetrating sound. The looseness of the arm makes the sound full and relaxed as well. (Bruser, pg. 123) • Don’t poke down to the key bed with your fingertip. Sheathe those claws! (Fleisher) • Playing vertically on fingertips puts the note down too fast. Play with just enough grip to not let the finger slip. ‘Don’t slap the cow, milk the cow!’ (Durand)

SEVEN IMAGES FOR FINGER ACTION 1. Spider Set your hand on the table and scurry your fingers around like spider-legs. Notice how agile they are as they dart in all directions. Transfer this action to the piano and play with sloped finger-legs scurrying under your hand’s spider-body. 2. Pat the Kitty We pat a kitty by stroking the surface of its fur or by burying our fingers deep inside its fur and massaging there. For a rich sound, use the latter technique of full-finger movements under a supported palm. Sometimes knead, don’t scratch!

126 3. Cat’s Tongue The ‘pulling action’ (default technique below) causes a slight tugging of the skin on your fingertips. Fingertips should feel soft and sticky like a cat’s tongue! 4. Finger Painting When finger-painting, children pull thick paint across shiny paper with full arms while their fingers apply the final touches. Apply this painterly motion to the piano, loosening your arm and finessing with your fingertips. 5. Ring Nuts: Imagine that each finger joint has a ring-nut screwed into its underside. Thread a cable though each one connected to the forearm. If you gently tighten the cable, the finger will bend from underneath and consolidate the hand’s strength. 6. Hummingbird A hummingbird supports itself on rapid wings as it digs its beak deep into a flower. Likewise, a supported body lets you pull sound out of the piano with lightness and penetration. Otherwise, you come up empty! 7. Fingers with Eyes Imagine having an eye on the end of each finger. Let it scout out the keys and lead directly into the center of the tone with less fussy adjustments.

FINGER ANATOMY

• Most of the muscles that move the hand and fingers are in the forearm, not in the fingers. There are no muscles in the fingers. When doing exercises to “strengthen the fingers,’ we’re not really exercising finger muscles. We’re learning to free up our arm mechanisms and use the muscles in our forearms that are attached to their respective tendons – hence the expression, “tendonitis” (Paraphrasing Mark, pg. 144)

• Pads Your fingertip has an astonishing 42 nerves in it to distinguish hot-cold, sharp-dull, dry-wet etc. Gently stroke it to appreciate its nerve-rich sensitivity. Bite it lightly to wake it up. Slide it along a key to feel its slight stickiness. If you have wide finger pads that get stuck between black keys, let your elbow fall back a little. • Muscles Fingers don’t have muscles in them unless you count the soft pouches under the knuckles. Therefore, rather than ‘strengthening finger muscles,’ think of coordinating activity all the way from your back into your fingertips.

127 • Bones Each finger has three jointed bones: the phalangeal (nearest the tip), medial (middle) and metacarpal (the knuckle). Run a finger along the topside of a finger to feel how they tuck into each other. Then imagine ‘playing your bones’ by aligning these finger segments. • Tendons The last two ‘coloring’ finger-bones are pulled into position by tendons deep in the forearm rather than by ‘finger muscles’ per se. To avoid stressing these tendons, use your palm’s grasping muscles from the key surface (see ‘pulling technique’ below). • Fascia A chain of connective tissue runs from the fingers into an anchoring point under the scapula. This realization can help you ‘play from your back.’ • Nerves Three finger-nerves originate in your shoulder: The radial nerve runs along the top of the forearm into the thumb, 2nd and 3rd finger. Damage can cause numbness, pain or weakness on the top of the forearm and hand. The ulnar nerve passes along the underside of the forearm into the 4th and the 5th finger, potentially causing tingling in the ring and pinky finger. The medial nerve also runs under the forearm towards the thumb, 2nd, 3rd and half of the 4th finger – potentially causing numbness, tingling or burning in fingers, or wasting away of the thumb muscle. Be attentive to pain because although muscles can be ‘conditioned,’ nerves and tendons cannot. Sometimes just take time off.

THE FINGER FAMILY • Second Finger Index fingers are talented and charismatic, but can be bossy and insensitive. As the busiest digit, they like to take over the work of others. Because of interossei muscles, they have a wide sideways range. Watch for a collapsing 1-2 arch between the 2nd and thumb. • Third Finger As your longest strongest finger, your 3rd can be surprisingly lazy and wooden. Lacking the interrossei that help nuance the keys, it can be less than subtle. Listen carefully to the 3rds tone and make it work! • Fourth fingers These can be like loyal friends – humble, empathetic, and surprisingly lyrical. This finger can be surprisingly cantabile because it’s joined to (and supported

128 by) the 3rd finger. It sings best with long strokes initiated from far up the arm. To develop the 4th finger and avoid wrist torqueing, don’t habitually replace it with your 3rd finger. • Fifth Finger This smallest digit is the Queen of Melody. Unsupported, it’s easily strained – but when properly aligned with the arm, it can sing and soar with the best. Feed your arm in towards the fallboard if it needs extra support. Avoid outstretching, pegging or curling your pinky. Make sure the non-playing fingers rest quietly on their keys when your 5th is playing.

FINGER SHAPE • Liszt played on the ball of the finger, which flattens the hand. The hand falls from the wrist on the key in a rebounding movement. There was no set shape to the hand. (Cortot, pg. 60) • Horowitz and Gould used long flat fingers. This gives a sense of oneness with instrument, because the key becomes an extension of the finger. Let your energy flow through your fingers into the sound board as directed by your inner ear. (Fleisher) • Horowitz achieved his dazzling effects by FINGERS ALONE, using the pedal sparingly…And above all there were his stupendous fortissimos – that orchestral body of tone that only Horowitz could produce. (Schonberg, pg. 410-411) • Use the fat of the fingers in a “stickier” fashion for a rich, connected legato without tension. Flat hands crawl crab-like around the keyboard and sing through your fingers. (Covelli) • Whether one uses flatter or more rounded fingers, the sensitivity of the fingertips is of supreme importance…To quote Nathan Perlmann in St. Petersburg, “The soul of the pianists is located in their fingertips.” (Berman, pg. 13)

• Optimum Finger Shape Finger shape is a contentious issue for pianists. Should they be curved, flat, or in between? For master pianists, it matters little. They can dig out magical sound from any position. Still, the default shape is naturally sloping fingers that

129 contact the keys with soft finger-pads rather than sharp fingertips. This aligns the arm with the finger, giving a secure physical and psychological key-connectedness. • Rounded fingers Raise your forearm, relax your wrist, and loosely flutter your fingers from the knuckles. Then bend your fingers and repeat. Can you feel everything tighten? Round fingers rigidify the hand, reduce agility, and decrease finger individuation. They tend to carry more weight, thus increasing the work of top tendons raising the fingers and causing wrist tendonitis. Altogether, rounded fingers make it difficult to ‘bend’ the sound. The ring-off is shorter and more stifled, resulting in playing that is less singer-ly and more ‘notey.’ • Flat fingers Overly flat fingers can yield a stiff undifferentiated sound. That said, when advanced players like Horowitz use flatter fingers, the under-palm arch is still lively. • Curving Think of your fingers as neither flat nor curved -- but as dynamically curving at the key surface. This is less a ‘position’ than an activity. • 10,000 Colors As a percussion instrument, the piano can dramatically change sonority according to how you depress the keys. There’s no set ‘finger position’ for beautiful playing. Horowitz used fairly flat fingers to make the keys an extension of his arms for the big Romantics. By contrast, Gould used high flat fingers and low wrist for crisp sparkling clarity in the Baroque. Sound and sensation are intricately related, so take time to develop different keyboard approaches for different repertoire. • Co-contractions Don’t play with curled fingers (using flexor muscles) that necessitate lifting them higher towards your knuckles (using extensor muscles). This is co- contraction. • Short and Long Fingers If you have short fingers, find a way to lift your knuckle arch as much as possible to free up your fingers. If you have long fingers, sit further back and retract your elbow so you don’t ‘crowd’ the piano.

130 FINGER ACTIVITY • Brain and Fingers Imagine your fingers as working by remote control from your brain. Tension anywhere along the line complicates those transmissions. It even affects listening, so relax to hear better. • Stay Connected Cleave to the key surfaces and don’t let non-playing fingers kick up or curl as you massage the keys in towards your palm. • Stay Aligned Align your arm with your middle fingers not your thumb (ulnar deviation) and sense your finger bones nudging together at their joints. • Initiating or Responding Is your finger or your arm initiating sound? To explore this, lay your 2nd finger flat on a key and pull it (flex it) until it stops at the keybed. Notice how little effort it takes – the arm just ‘goes along for the ride.’ Now reverse the process. Neutrally position your 2nd finger on the key and depress it with a little arm weight plus forearm rotation. In this case, your arm does the ‘work’ and your finger neutrally ride along. Shut your eyes and toggle between the two strategies until you have a clear picture of the differences in feeling and sound. To the outside observer, this action may look the same, but it feels vastly different to the player. • Resistance and Rebound Sensitize your fingers to the heft of the keys, the escapement, and liveliness of the springs. To explore this, slowly depress a key with a finger and ride it back up to neutral position without leaving the key surface. This is what your fingers are working with when producing sound. • Testing for internal Twitches Rest all ten fingers quietly on the keys. Do any fingers twitch or tighten? Old habits die hard, and your fingers can get ‘busy’ the minute they feel the keys. To reduce trembles, warm your ‘playing’ fingers by softly covering them with your other hand. Wait until your brain recalibrates and the nerve-tremors steady down. After a few weeks, these ‘parasitic gestures’ will quieten, and your fingers will work more smoothly (Alan Fraser). • Assessing Your Finger Support • Shoulder Poke a finger into the hollow in front of your shoulder. This small gesture can ‘remind’ your upper chest muscles to release and let your fingers do their work.

131 • Elbow Touch your elbow to test for unnecessary activity. Mentally and physically float your elbow so your fingers can work without impediment. • Wrist Softly touch the underside of your wrist. If there’s a lot of activity there, find a way to use your fingers in a quieter way. • Knuckles If your knuckles are flat and collapsed, gently lift them by poking into your palm with the other hand. Manually support the arch and keep your knuckles lifted to support your 5th. Gently pull your fingers from the key surface. • Strengthen or Lengthen Fingers? The oft-repeated instruction to “strengthen your finger muscles” can be deceiving. Fingers are made not of muscles (except right near the knuckles), but of tendons, bones, nerves, skin and fat. Instead, imagine your fingers as extensions of your arm and play in a bone-aligned way rather than a weighted way. • Think East-West Although we depress keys vertically (North-South), musical phrases run horizontally (East-West). Focus forward rather than downward and see if it subconsciously changes how you use your fingers. Think East-West, not North-South. • Co-activation of opposing muscles is a common cause of hand tension. Don’t push down on your fingers while simultaneously pulling up on them using the tendons on top of your forearm. • Playing Blind Because humans are eye-dominant, the act of ‘looking’ at your fingers can interfere with their natural stroking action. Try shutting your eyes to discover what technique feels and sounds best; then open your eyes and analyze what you did. • Self-talk Put into words exactly what you want your fingers to do. Talk to them and give them enough repetitions to learn it. Happily, your fingers won’t talk back! • Legato requires fingers that are intimately connected to the keyboard. Ask yourself: does my finger legato originate at the key surface, from half-way down, or at the keybed? Are my fingers connected to, and backed up by, my knuckle arch, wrist and arm? Decide which degree of legato you want (thin, rich, or overlapping) and adjust your technique accordingly. • Leaving the Key At the end of phrases, sometimes float off your arm with your fingertip the last to leave the key surface. This releases both your hand and the phrase.

132 SUMMARY: SIX BASIC FINGER TECHNIQUES (There are many ways of engaging the key. Try these six techniques in isolation and then combine them. Listen carefully, focusing on how they feel and sound different.)

The List in Brief Depress the pedal and play single notes with your 2nd finger as follows: 1. Finger-pull: Pull the key in towards your palm (default technique: finger flexion) 2. Finger-drop: Tip the key down simply with no added weight or pulling action 3. Finger-slide: Ride the finger along the key with a long finger and light arm 4. Rotation: Tip down the key using mostly forearm rotation 5. Weight: Release weight into the finger from your hand, arm, and then torso 6. Thrusting: Add more muscular exertion from your back and upper arms

SIX FINGER TOUCHES IN DETAIL

1. Finger-Pulling a. Purpose This is the default technique for effortless warm singing tone. b. Physical Backed by your three stabilizers, pull your fingers on the key surface in towards your palm. For a more penetrating sound, pull more energetically as if pulling the piano into your body. Elastic fingers do the work with little wrist, forearm, or arm activity. The fingertip skin will pull slightly towards the nail. Away from the piano, practice finger-pulling on your thigh or table. c. Images Kneading a Cat, Jellyfish Pulsing 2. Finger-Dropping a. Purpose Ornaments, fast light passages or glissandos, pearling Mozart scales. b. Physical Lightly rest five fingers on consecutive keys. ‘Drop in’ each finger from a raised knuckle with little wrist or palm action. The key should ‘speak’ with little effort. Imagine using the bones inside your fingers rather than the outside flesh. c. Image Spider-legs

133 3. Finger-Sliding a. Purpose For an ethereal ‘lifted’ sound without ‘edges.’ Perfect for a swimmy legato and for floating off at phrase ends. b. Physical Align a flattened 2nd with your forearm and feed it inwards along the key as a single unit. Feel all the bones nudge into each other without jamming. Then reverse and slide a flat finger along the key out towards you, like stroking the key. If non-playing fingers lift up, restrain and warm them with your other hand. Finger sliding feels like steering from behind your elbows. c. Image Sledding 4. Rotating a. Purpose Small forearm rotation is a good for fast trills and Alberti basses. Also helpful for injured players and to warm the sound (see Taubman). b. Physical Rotation generates a warm free sound, but rotating on every note disturbs legato and breaks the phrase line. Think of internalizing the rotation as if your fingers are rotating around a central fulcrum. c. Image Doorknob turning 5. Weighting a. Purpose Weight from the back delivers penetrating, profound largos. Weight from the forearm and hand delivers singing tone and searing legato. Light finger weight from the finger can render delirious ornamentation like in Chopin. Practice 2-note phrases, sinking and floating off the key surface. b. Physical Weighting was discussed extensively in “Weight or Energy.” Although yielding rich tone at slow tempi, weight can slow fast passages where it must be repeatedly picked up and moved. To increase weighted agility, keep your joints fluid and maintain forward momentum to avoid gravitational pull. Think ‘weight-in-motion.’ c. Image Walking

134 6. Full Back Thrusting a. Purpose This is great for big Lisztian or Russian fortissimos, but should be avoided in fortes from earlier periods like Beethoven and Chopin. b. Physical Fortissimos sometimes call for more than the fingers, hands or arms can deliver. In this case, use a quick back-thrust to amplify the dynamic without harshness. Shed the weight up-and-in. Stay feather-light in your torso and quickly withdraw the thrusting action ‘at sound.’ Sit tall and lean into the piano – or tuck your left foot under the bench and ‘give it some leg.’ c. Images Pushing the piano away.

TAKEAWAYS

Use gently ‘sloping’ or curving fingers, rather than rounded or straight . Default finger action: pull your fingers gently in towards your palm from your knuckles. Fingers have bone and tendons, not muscles. Think of them as springy and elastic. Avoid co-activation in which fingers are pulled and lifted simultaneously . Choose the finger action that yields the exact tone you want. Eventually, your fingers will instinctively find the means to express intention.

135 JANUARY 24, THE THUMB – SAVIOR OR SABOTEUR

The Thumb is a friendly and vigorous snout, which goes right to the core of stabilizing the hand position. (Sherman, pg.14)

“Thumbs up!” Lambert flashed the universal hitch-hiking sign and looked thoughtfully at his thumb. “He’s a funny old digit, this guy – short, stubby, oddly attached, and clumsily named. But the thumb is the sturdy workhorse of the human grasp. Babies suck it for comfort, teen-agers text with it, and we pianists work it harder than anyone.”

He sobered. “Your thumb can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It can relax you or tense you up, guide you or unbalance you, make you sing or make you thud, soothe you or rough you up. Trust me: if your thumb stiffens, nothing else works. But if well used, it lets your arm breathe and your fingers fly. Regular thumb checks can sometimes solve 80% of your piano-playing problems. So, what I say is:

If a passage ‘sticks,’ take the Thumb Test. Is it resting lightly on the keys or sticking up in the air? Is it flexible and lightly bent, or pegged stiffly out to the side? Time to reboot!

Lambert sat at the piano. “Before we dig into details, let’s check out the thumb’s role in keyboard navigation. Watch!” He roared up a murderously fast scale using the usual thumb-under. Then he winked and played it even faster by flipping his thumb over his finger-blocks. His whole arm seemed to grab the upcoming notes in a sweeping horizontal gesture. “I know it may seem counter-intuitive to pass the thumb over, but it keeps consistent hand shape while the fingers lay down the notes. Even Liszt loved it!”

He stopped abruptly. “But I get ahead of myself. Today’s Handout is long and offers the same six techniques as for the Fingers. It ends with a two-page Summary of everything we’ve learned about Hands and Fingers. Use it or ignore it,” he paused dramatically, “Because, Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ve finally reached the end of Anatomy! Next week, we’ll set it all in motion with targeted Exercises.”

136 HANDOUT ON THE THUMB (With special thanks to Alan Fraser)

• The Thumb is the capital, the fingers are provinces. The thumb is the pivot, navigator, anchor, mooring, catalyst, carburetor, repository of memory and strategy.(Sherman, pg.

7) • The thumb’s main muscle forms the largest part of the heel of the hand, almost equal in bulk to the muscles of all the other fingers put together. (pg. 73) …The finger flexion is only half of the hand’s grasping action: the thumb does the other half. (Fraser, Thumbs, pg. 34) • In its role as a pivot in playing scales and arpeggio …It is the tip of the thumb that pulls the bigger joints into action when necessary, rather than the other way around. (Berman, pg. 33) • When the thumb is efficiently used, it receives support from the entire forearm through the forearm “arch.” (Mark, pg. 96)

FIVE IMAGES FOR THE THUMB

1. Flying Buttress The thumb and 2nd finger form a semi-rectangle that holds up the ‘roof’ of the palm like the flying buttress of a Gothic cathedral. If either the thumb or 2nd collapses, the structural function of the hand is weakened (see Fraser, “All Thumbs”). 2. Sailboat Imagine the thumb as the stabilizing outrigger of a sailboat. It is both separate from, and attached to, the ‘hull’ of the hand as it moves up and down the keyboard. 3. Lobster Claw The thumb and 2nd physically lift the palm, opening and closing like a lobster’s claw. 4. Inchworms The thumb can be likened to an inchworm crawling among the keys with sensual, flexible fleshiness. Use its pliability to play a legato scale with thumbs only, see- sawing from tip to tip. 5. Sprinting A runner propels his body forwards by pushing off sprint blocks. Your thumb can serve the same purpose, straightening vigorously to launch the hand outwards or

137 pulling forcefully to contract it inwards. These thumb ‘explosions’ are great for wide jumps as they dynamically reposition the hand.

ANATOMY

• The Thumb’s “Knuckle” Like the fingers, the thumb has three joints. Interestingly, its ‘knuckle’ is located in the hollow of the inner wrist. Poke a finger into that hollow to sense what happens when you lift or lower your thumb. • The Thumb’s Muscles Clamp your thumb against your 2nd finger and poke the tough puffy muscle that pops up between them. This powerful dorsal interosseus is the basis of the human grasp and gives strength to the thumb and 2nd. • Flexors and Abductors Whereas fingers depress keys with flexion inwards, the thumb depresses keys by tipping down the key vertically from its side. Play a note with your thumb only, trying to avoid any wrist rising, dropping, or getting too active. • Position Your thumb should be both independent from, and interdependent with, your fingers. It has an intimate connection with the twisting radial bone on the inner side of your forearm.

ACTIVITY • Prime Reference Read Alan Frasers, “All Thumbs: Well-Coordinated Piano Technique” For all of these exercises, see Alan Fraser. • General Maintain a light torso and keep your collarbones open to ‘keep your body out of your thumbs.’ Depress it simply with a pliable tip and no wrist-humping. • Remapping Think of activating your thumb from its attachment at your wrist rather than further down at the regular knuckle-ridge. • Beware! A stiff thumb locks up your whole hand. Whenever a passage falters, check for thumb tension. Is it stiff, pegged out to the side, or lifted high above the keys? • Thumb Flutters Similar to oiling your wrist by circling it, flutter your thumb loosely in the air and then lower it to the piano until it can lie quietly on the key.

138 • Bent Thumb Rest your thumb and 2nd finger lightly on a single key so their tips form a little “O.” Open them slightly to fit C-D, then C-E etc. Maintain a flexible thumb tip, keeping the 1-2 arch in place even as you widen the interval. • Thumb Tip Keep the tip flexible and the action small as you depress the key quietly vertical from the thumb’s side. • Peg Thumb A thumb often sticks up in an effort to level the hand when the knuckle arch has collapsed. A peg thumb rigidifies the fingers and thumps loudly. To fix this, reconstitute the finger arch and quietly tip the key down with your thumb at the surface. • Short Thumbs Those with short thumbs will need to feed their arms in and out of the keyboard to reach the notes. Make this action as smooth as possible. • Raising the 1-2 Arch Mash your fingers flat and raise the 1-2 arch. Notice how the thumb and index finger draw together and begin to ‘stand up’ the hand. If either collapses, its partner loses the ability to push against the other, thereby compromising power in both of them. • Walking Play a scale of C+, walking from note to note using only 1-2, then 1-3, or 1-4. Keep the action smooth, match the dynamics, and watch your thumb levering up the knuckle arch. • Windshield Wipers In this exercise, lay your four fingers on D-G with your thumb hanging below the keyboard. Swing it from side to side like a bus’s windshield wiper (Fraser). Notice how this action gently sets your arm into rotation and unlocks your hand. Now minimize the rotation, raise your thumb into playing position, and make small thumb circles. Keep the rest of your hand relaxed and initiate the circles with your thumb rather than your wrist. This develops thumb agility and re-establishes its working plane. • Thumb Pushups Like opening your hip flexors, stand your thumb up on its tip with the fingers stretched towards the sky. Then slowly lower the fingers onto a chord or octave without letting the thumb’s knuckle collapse. Keep ‘air’ under your palm and focus on

139 toning your thumb’s underside muscle. Now, reverse the pushup, standing on your 5th and lowering your hand onto your thumb again without losing its arch. (Alan Fraser) • Jet-Propelled Place your bent thumb on a key and forcefully straighten it. Your hand will be propelled sideways like a runner pushing off from his sprint blocks. • Fast Repetitions With your fingers resting on four keys, do quick light thumb repetitions. Do a scale of thumbs-only, making sure that each rebound carries you onto the next note. Take care to keep a light arm and fingers, working your thumb only. • Thumb ‘Kissing’ Alan Fraser suggests this wonderful exercise to enliven the hand and increase thumb agility. Depress D-G with your four fingers and lightly touch the underside of each finger with your thumb, returning it to C each time. • Thumb Releases Because of its bulkiness, the thumb can be slow to let the keys return to level. Feel as if you let go in your inner forearm. • Thumb Lifting Rather than lift your thumb high and strike down into the keybed, focus on using only the lower third of its natural arc. Play from the key surface and feel it play

through the resistance of the escapement (once realized, this becomes unconscious). • Solo Melodist This less-than-beautiful digit can render heartbreakingly rich tones. When aligned with the arm, it feels like playing with a single bone from shoulder to key. To explore this sensation, make a hand-fist with a protruding thumb and play a short melody with pedal. Slide it sinuously along the keys with forward motion rather than ‘placing it’ vertically. Let your hand ride up after each note so the tip is the last to leave the key. • Scales Play a legato scale with thumb only, ‘inching’ its tip from key to key. Then play the scale as normal, watching for wrist-humping, thumb-thudding, or weighting. • Octaves The thumb is extremely active during octaves. Play a scale of quiet octaves, ‘framing’ the two notes with a light hand grip. Lead with your 5th on the way outwards and your thumb on the way inwards. Then play a scale in fortissimo octaves, using your thumb energetically to ‘boing’ to the next note. For those who must flatten their knuckle arch slightly to reach octaves, try to maintain the sensation of its being lifted.

140 • Pain Thumb pain and sluggishness are common problem for pianists. In fact, poor thumb technique can create problems further up in your wrist, elbow or shoulder – so keep checking it for lifting or pegging out to the side. t. Re-align your arm with your

thumb and tip the key down vertically onto its loosely bent tip.

SUMMARY: SIX BASIC THUMB TECHNIQUES (There are many ways of engaging the key. Try these six techniques in isolation and then combine them, listening carefully. Focus on how they feel and sound.)

(1) Thumb-pulling: Lightly grip the key inwards from its knuckle (default) (2) Thumb-dropping: Tip down a key with no added weight or hand rotation (3) Thumb -sliding: Ride the key inwards or outwards, backed by a light arm (4) Rotating: Tip down the key by rotating the thumb with a loose wrist and forearm (5) Weighting: Release weight onto your thumb from your hand, arm or torso (6) Thrusting: Add muscular exertion from your back or upper arms

SIX THUMB TOUCHES IN DETAIL (1) Thumb-Pulling a. Purpose Default technique for a warm, singing tone. b. Physical Pull the thumb from its ‘knuckle’ at the wrist. Although fingers depress the keys vertically, the thumb depresses them on its fleshy side. To prepare, flatten your hand and use your thumb to raise the 1-2 arch. Keep your thumb independent from your fingers so that neither takes over from the other. c. Images Lobster Claw, Picking up a Tissue

141 (2) Thumb-tipping a. Purpose Ornaments, non-lyrical accompaniments, fast light passages or glissandos, and pearling Mozart scales. b. Physical Rest your thumb on the surface of a key and lightly tip it down with no additional muscular effort. Play the bones ‘inside’ your thumb rather than outside flesh. Check for over-activity by touching the wrist’s underside. c. Image Scurrying Spider-leg (3) Thumb-Sliding a. Purpose Great for an anti-gravitational, almost disembodied tone with no ‘edges,’ a whispered legato, or a ‘lifting sound.’ b. Physical Align your thumb with your arm bones and slide it inwards along the key. It should uncurl as if screwing into the key. Play from behind your elbow. If your 5th pops up, calm it by covering it with your other hand. c. Images Inchworm, Sledding (4) Thumb Rotation a. Purpose Use slight forearm rotation for a fast 1-3 trill. Also enhances singing tone. b. Physical Warm the legato by rotating your forearm slightly towards your thumb. For a stronger thumb-strike, rotate your forearm vigorously downwards with your thumb as the central fulcrum of a circle. c. Image Doorknob Turning (5) Thumb Weighting a. Purpose Great for a penetrating tone in slow movements. b. Physical Depending on the desired tone, slowly sink weight into your thumb from your upper arm, forearm, or hand. Although your bulky thumb is always eager to carry a load, stay aware that excess weight can lose agility and make it thud. Therefore, apply weight buoyantly and shed it fast. Keep forward momentum and resist gravitational pull downwards. Ironically, weight-in motion through fluid joints feels marvelously ‘weightless.’

142 c. Image Walking (6) Full Back Thrusting a. Purpose Great for big Lisztian or Russian fortissimo passages. b. Physical When aligned with your arm bones, your thumb readily accepts additional back-thrusts. Try to stay light in your torso and shed this thrusting action immediately ‘at sound.’ Try thrusting your right hip forward and tuck your left foot under the bench to ‘give it some leg.’ c. Image Pushing off from sprint blocks

TAKEAWAYS

Your thumb’s ‘knuckle’ is in that hollow near your wrist. Poke a finger there and tip down a key simply and vertically from level knuckles. Your thumb can easily lock up your hand. Keep it agile and weightless. Use as long as thumb as possible, lightly bent at the tip rather than stiffly straight. Avoid ‘pegging’ your thumb out to the sides to balance your hand.

143 HAND SUMMARY (including Fingers and Thumbs)

THE “STAY” LIST (20 TIPS) 1. Stay Still Avoid overactive, fly-away gestures that cause the fingers to lose contact with the keys, thereby reducing accuracy and compromising tonal control. 2. Stay Low Energize at the point of contact with the key, not in the air before playing. Cleave to the keys for a singing legato. Connect physically and psychologically to piano. 3. Stay Simple Aim for maximum effect with minimum effort. Use energy for listening. 4. Stay Small Use the smallest possible muscle-sets for the desired sound. 5. Stay Arched Maintain good hand arches to support and free up fingers for independent voicing. Focus especially on the ‘buttress’ arch between the thumb and 2nd. 6. Stay Level Level your knuckles to balance the hand and give room for the 5th to sing. 7. Stay Light Don’t press or hang weight on the keybed. 8. Stay Free ‘Take movement’ over stasis. Avoid ‘set’ positions. 9. Stay Relaxed Selectively relax muscles and release joints. 10. Stay Natural Align your arms and hands in a natural position relative to your body. 11. Stay Coordinated Coordinate different ‘levels of movement’ from shoulder to finger. 12. Stay Shapely Use sloping fingers and a lightly bent thumb to unlock the hands. 13. Stay Open Open your chest and imagine your thumb and 5th finger as long as possible. 14. Stay Buoyant Never leave weight ‘dead on the keybed.’ At phrase-ends, sometimes let the hand ‘collect’ and roll off such that the fingertip is the last to leave the key. 15. Stay Strong for Fortes Think of fingers as ‘steel wrapped in velvet.’ High arm gestures are okay for forearm rebounds upwards, not for violent high drops. 16. Stay Supported for Pianissimos For transparent glissandos, use quick shallow finger pulls with lots of rhythmic firmness. For quiet aching passages, slow down the keys and sink into them. Don’t think ‘up’ too early – it makes the sound vapid. 17. Stay Independent The articulation necessary for contrapuntal playing needs great finger independence and sometimes more finger strength than fortes.

144 18. Stay Sticky In melodies, maintain legato awareness from core to fingertip. For different tones, imagine the legato originating in different body joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc.) 19. Stay Finger-aware for Accuracy At best, an arm can say, “The note you want is somewhere near here.” (Pitchko) Lead with your fingers rather than your arm or torso. 20. Stay Clumped for Fast Passages Play in solid clumped groups, ‘laying them down’ from a stable hand platform. Shape phrases with your arm and torso, distributing the notes with your fingers and thumbs. 21. Stay Varied for Tone Experiment with caressing, pulling, stroking, sliding, rotating and weighting. Think the Four-S’s: strong, supple, soft and sensitive.

THE “AVOID LIST” (being mostly the inverse of the above) 1. Avoid Rounded Fingers Round fingers reduce agility and slow down tempi. 2. Avoid Over-articulation Finger-lifting above the keys wastes energy, strains top tendons, unsettles the upper arm, and makes a harsh, brittle tone. 3. Avoid Propping Don’t use your fingers to hold up your arm. All parts of the body should be self-supporting to free up the mechanisms lower down. 4. Avoid Co-Activation Simultaneous contraction of opposing muscles and tendons lock up the hand and can lead to injury. 5. Avoid Isometric Exercises Static muscular tightening impedes blood flow. Movement dispels tension, helps blood circulation, and refreshes muscles. Check for clenched biceps, raised shoulders, tensed jaw or squeezed abdominals. 6. Avoid Pressing Fill up the girth and width of the sound without pressing into the keybed. Build a column of sound and play inside it. Pull music out, don’t stuff it in! 7. Avoid Hovering When starting, don’t hover over the keys and wait. This tenses you up, like holding a camera too long before taking a shot. Instead, rest your hands in your lap while you imagine the opening tempo and tone, smoothly lift them, and begin. 8. Avoid Parasitic Contractions Watch for finger trembling, wrist torqueing, and excessive finger-substitutions that disturb the finger-contact with the keys.

145 9. Avoid Excessive Rotation Don’t rotate on individual notes. Hand-rocking and wrist rolling between adjacent notes impedes legato, agility, and phrasing. 10. Avoid Tucking and Pegging Let your thumb lie (and play from) the key surface, neither pegged out to the side nor tucked permanently under the palm. 11. Avoid Curling Take care that no fingers curl up above their knuckle. A curled or high pinky is often trying to hold up the hand arch.

146 TECHNIQUE PART TWO: EXERCISES AND STANDARD TECHNIQUE

JANUARY 31, EXERCISES GENERALLY

Lambert greeted us at the door and rubbed his hands together gleefully. “You now have a better grasp of Anatomy, so it’s time to get it all moving! Let’s go concrete with formal Technique. The fun starts now!”

Ignoring our slumping body language, he dumped a heavy stack of notes on each desk. “I’ve decided to give you all the exercises in one ‘go.’ A few rules: bring these pages to class each week. Don’t skip steps or rush ahead. Work slowly. Stop, analyze, and restart whenever you lose focus. And remember, quality beats quantity any day!”

This ‘Go Slow’ thing was getting tiresome, but Lambert was unstoppable. “I know that all of you love to plop down on your benches and launch immediately into your pieces. But concert pianists tell us otherwise. Almost invariably, they start with exercises to warm their muscles and refine their listening. And so my friends, it’s time to prepare to play like the small-muscle Olympians you are!”

He held aloft the first page. “To motivate you, let’s first consider ‘Why Exercise’ and ‘How to Exercise.’ After that, you’ll find a fair amount of repetition as we work through Scales, Arpeggios, Chords, Octaves, and Fast Passagework. But cool your brain. What might be anathema to your brain is food and oxygen to your body. Think of it this way. If your brain is a microwave, your body is a slow cooker. And we know which makes food taste better, right?”

Honestly, this man was hard to argue with! He finished up, “This month, I want to hear those practice studios throbbing with exercises. No complaints! You’re here to build a technique that lasts a lifetime.”

147 HANDOUT ON EXERCISES GENERALLY

WHY EXERCISE? • The Neutral Zone Exercises have several advantages over pieces, notably: o Simple repeated patterns are easily memorized so you can focus on physicality. o They are musically neutral, so there’s less emotional loading. o Exercises warm up the body to prevent injury. • Sound and Sensation ‘Connect your hands to your ear.’ While exercising, listen to your tone and your muscles. Stop the moment you stop listening.

HOW TO EXERCISE • How Long? ‘Tune up’ with 10-15 minutes of exercises a day. Don’t exercise to the point of mental exhaustion, muscle stress, or crushing boredom. Exercises should not replace pieces, but warm up for them. • Attitude Losing attention ingrains bad habits as firmly as good ones. Work slowly, dispassionately, rhythmically, and with tonal control. Accept that some skills take longer to develop than others. • Intent Create the sound and gesture in your mind before you begin. Developing these neuro-physical pathways puts you in control rather than your runaway hands. • Self-talk Put into words exactly what you want and explain it to your hands. At other times, turn off your analytical brain and see if your body can solve the problem. Work towards ‘no space’ between mind and body, intent and execution. • Shut your Eyes to reduce incoming visual information and increase your awareness of how something feels as well as sounds. When you have it right, open your eyes and replicate what you’ve learned. • Support Don’t rush into technique or exercises. Before starting, take time to settle. Visualize your three points of support (abdomen, shoulders and knuckles), root your seat bones on the bench, open your chest, release any tension, and begin.

148 • Stop and Regroup Whenever you ‘lose it,’ stop, rethink, and restart. Go back to abdominal basics and rebuild. Check for rising wrists, collapsed knuckles, or stiff thumbs. Eventually, you’ll be able to make these remedial adjustments ‘on the fly.’ • Breathe Like any athlete, inhale on preparation and exhale on effort. Choreograph your breathing with the musical phrases. • Minimalism Find the simplest way to play. Engage the smallest muscle groups for the desired sound and agility. • Tension and Weight Keep scanning for tension or weight. If you’re tensing, slow down and play less loudly. If you’re weighting, do quick repetitions on the keys. • Separate and Together When practicing separately, don’t let the passive hand mirror the active hand. Rest it neutrally in your lap or by your side so you can focus on the working hand. Sometimes use your stronger hand to ‘teach’ the weaker one with tone- matching. • Feed In and Out Use the whole key rather than just the outer third near your body. This reduces wrist-torqueing, frees up your elbow, and helps your upper arm deliver strength from your back. Don’t sit so close to the piano that you cramp your arms. • Variety For maximum benefit, play exercises fast and slow, loud and soft, staccato and legato, with a crescendo and decrescendo. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, variety keeps you mentally alert and listening. • Be Creative Make up exercises from within your repertoire to develop specific skills.

A FINAL PHYSICAL CHECKLIST FOR EXERCISING • Torso Sit evenly on your sit bones with your spine aligned from pelvic girdle to floating head. Us a light abdominal engagement and widen your collarbones. • Shoulders Slide your shoulder blades down your back. Keep your shoulders balanced, floating, and NOT initiating the action. No rising during fortissimos. • Upper Arm Let your arm follow your fingers rather than drag them along. Loosen your biceps and notice the little jiggle in your chest that shows you’re using your triceps.

149 • Elbow Keep your elbows level and floating as if riding a pocket of air. In swirling passages, steer from behind your elbow and feed your hands in and out. • Forearm Keep your forearm level with your wrist and knuckles, parallel to the floor. Review which bone is stable or twisting. Rotation comes from the forearm. Keep your forearm light, fluid and aligned rather than hammering downwards. Shed fortissimos with upward rebounds. • Wrist Release your wrist to let impulses flow freely between arm and hand. Rather than initiate sound with your wrist, let it adapt to what’s going on below and above it. Avoid torqueing, and keep it floating. • Hand Maintain a level hand that doesn’t collapse on the 5th or thumb. Open your hand like a fan and keep out of your top tendons. Level your hand to empower your thumb. • Knuckles Keep your knuckles lifted as if they have a helium bubble under the palm. Check your three hand arches to give fingers room to move, notably your 2nd finger knuckle at the apex. • Fingers Use a quick pull at the key surface, avoiding high-lifting fingers or key- pressing. Use enough key-length for your fingers to have room to move. Play on soft finger pads for security and sound modulation. • Unlock your thumb Bend it slightly and play it simply and vertically from the key surface. Above all, avoid pegging it out to the side. • Three Exercises o ABCs Lightly hold down the first 5 notes of a C+ scale. Play each note in sequence, making sure that no non-playing fingers kick up. Avoid tightening in your forearm, wrist, or top hand tendons. The basic action is a key-pull in towards your palm with only a light fingertip grasp. Reposition your thumb between two fingers and repeat the exercise. • Hanon For pure agility, there’s nothing like these simple warmups for finger and arm lightness. Enjoy the exhilaration of swirling Hanon passages up and down the keyboard at effortless speed.

150 • Philips: Lightly hold down the 5 keys of a diminished 7th chord. Toggle between pairs of fingers (i.e., 1-2, 2-3, etc.). Avoid lifting or pressing non- playing fingers into the keybed, tugging on your top tendons, or tightening your wrist.

TAKEAWAYS

Don’t over-exercise. They’re a means, not an end. When exercising, keep internally scanning what’s going on throughout your body. Listen to tone as well as muscular feedback.

151 MARCH 14, SCALES

Scales must ‘point, climax and aim somewhere. ‘Aim’ to please! (Covelli)

Seeing our apathy towards today’s subject, Lambert challenged us brightly, “So who here loves scales?” With no answer forthcoming, he persisted. “Come on! Scales are the workhorses of our trade. Great pianists run miles of them every day. Any ideas why?”

The class jokesters were quick to answer: “Lack of imagination?” “To drive the neighbours crazy?”

Lambert snorted. “So wrong you are! Scales check every box. Melodically, they’re beautiful. Harmonically, they underlay Western harmony. Rhythmically, they brim with energy. Visually, they offer easily recognizable, hand-friendly shapes. And Technically, they develop evenly pearling fingers. Yes Siree, you just have to love scales!”

He executed a quick glissando scale and added, “So the question now becomes, how to practice them.” Typically, he answered himself, “And I say, be inventive! Change it up to keep your brain engaged and fingers happy. Lead with your LH, then your RH. Reverse directions. Vary the dynamics from pp to ff. Throw in new rhythms and kooky accents. Play them in 3rds, 6ths, and 10ths. Split your brain with contrary motion. Defy your body with 3-against-2. Challenge your listening for ‘thumb-bumps,’ poor midline-crossings, and choppy U-turns. Above all, play ‘shapes’ not ‘notes.’ Composers never set out to write scales. They set out to write gorgeous melodies that happen to use scales!”

Lambert passed along some papers. “Treat these suggestions like a trip to Home Depot – pick up the ‘fittings’ you need and ignore the rest. But to begin, let’s hear what you’ve got!” As the classroom exploded in scales, he strolled around appreciatively. “See, even bad pianos love scales! All together now, in A+!”

152 HANDOUT ON SCALES

1. Daily Dozen: choose one or two keys and play these variations • Play from top-down-and-back to strengthen the downward direction. • Play hands-separately, listening for absolute evenness. No thumb bumps. • Play hands-together with your LH leading (louder) than your RH. • Rhythms: Play scales in 16ths, triplets, and dotted notes to accent different fingers.

2. Clumped scales • Play a scale separately using solid finger-clumps with intervening thumbs. When these ‘shapes’ are in hand, rip them quickly up and down the keyboard.

3. Chromatic Scales • Play chromatic scales with two fingerings: (1) use all 1-3s (except 123 on white semitones), and (2) fingers play 1-2-3 or 1-2-3-4, such that the thumb plays every second white key

• The great practical value [of scales] is for training the hand in fingering so that the best fingerings in any key become automatic…They also facilitate sight reading, because the hand seems to lean instinctively to the most logical fingering. (Lhevinne, pg. 10) • Practice scales slowly and rapidly – never in between – with expression, and in all keys in thirds and sixths. I work for evenness, control, speed and accuracy. (Serkin in Elder, pg. 56) • Cleanliness was the first thing I learned – accuracy and cleanliness, with good fingering articulation. That’s most important when you’re a kid. (Janina Fialkowska, Noyle 65) • Often scales are too equal in sound, so they don’t aim anywhere. Loosen up the wrist to make them more bending in sound. (Fleisher) • In scales, let your fingers ‘run like rhymes’ and express them out like toothpaste. (Bodle)

153 • The weight of the arm is behind the fingers. Practice scales with a firm touch, then fluttery, pianissimo scales with very small motions to quicken the fingers… Scales must be perfectly even. (Gieseking) • For legato scales, anticipate silently each note of a scale while playing the previous one. It is best to begin this process in a slow tempo. (Bacon, pg. 49) • When playing Beethoven’s passagework, don’t think of scales. He is not interested in scales. Instead, he/s linking up harmonic points in sequences as he tosses ideas through various instrumental groups. (Fleisher)

ANATOMY • Torso Avoid rolling from ‘cheek to cheek’ when rounding the tops and bottoms of scales. Stay centered with face front rather than turning your whole torso in the direction of the scale. • Arms Play scales in a single gesture with a smooth arm-carriage. Make your arm back your fingers and steer from there. Don’t let your upper arm tug along your fingers. • Joints Keep your elbows and wrists fluid with no ‘humping’ when the thumb passes under. • Knuckles Keep your hand arches intact as you move your finger-clumps up and down the scale. • Fingers Pull your fingers evenly at the key surface. Although fingers vary in size, think of them as equally long in order to make them sound equal. Play with fairly flat fingers, letting the unused fingers rest on the keys without kicking up. Back up your fingers at your wrist and support 5ths to energize the tops and bottoms of scales. • Thumb Keep your thumb unweighted and lightly bent as it levers the finger-blocks into position. To pass your thumb under, play a very slow scale. For a seamless legato, notice how the 3rd or 4th lengthens diagonally while you swing your thumb into position. Eventually, this action becomes minimal and unconscious. As below,

154 experiment also with passing your thumb over your knuckles rather than under your palm.

A NOTE ON THUMB CROSSINGS • You know, it has been at least ten years since I last crossed my thumb under the third finger.” (Rosen, “On Playing the Piano,” NY Review, Oct 21/99) • Instead of swiveling, feel your thumb extending, opening, so your hand-platform moves [left or right] but maintains its orientation in space towards the keyboard. ((Fraser, Thumbs, pg. 238) • Most of us were taught to pass the thumb under in scales. For velocity, try the opposite. Pass your thumb over the 3rd or 4th such that the next clump of notes is immediately in position. (Bodle)

• Thumb-Check Play a slow scale carefully monitoring your thumb. Is it bent? Straight? Stiff? Does it arrive too late? Early? Does it make a smooth legato? Does it thud with excess weight? Is it slow to release? Does it have room to pass under your palm? Is your wrist pumping up and down to accommodate it? Is your elbow helping feed it in and out of the keyboard? Make these observations at very slow speed, then let it fly. • Car in the Garage. Generations of teachers have insisted that their students keep their thumbs tucked under their palm before playing (“car in a garage.”) This helps raise the knuckle arch, but watch for thumb-thumping and wrist-pumping. Conceptually change your mind to leading with the thumb and letting it swing the finger-blocks into position. • Overpasses For faster scales, Chopin and Cortot suggest crossing the thumb over the fingers rather than under. In this case, the last finger before the thumb should rotate on its tip to facilitate the thumb’s overpassing and then snap back for the thumb’s note. Do this slowly at first, then speed up.

155 ACTIVITY • Under-passes Play a very slow scale separately. Let the thumb lightly touch the underside of each finger as it passes to make your hand ‘small’ for evenly pearling scales. • Black and White Generally, play black notes with flatter fingers and stickier finger pads. Align your arm with your fingers and feed your elbows inwards to accommodate the black keys. • Rotation Play a slow scale, focused on decreasing your forearm rotation. Keep it in your hand. • Squish Scales Play scales in solid finger-clumps, pausing on each thumb note to check for weight and check the 1-2 arch. Play these finger-blocks close to the keys and make them cover the upcoming notes before they’re played. • Staccato Scale For a lively palm and fingers, play fast staccato scales using quick finger- pulls in towards your palm. Vary the dynamics from pp to ff. Challenge yourself with double repetitions on each note. • Two-octaves apart Play a scale two octaves apart. This can reveal whether either hand is helping, pushing, or dragging behind the other one. • Centrifugal Forces Stop and draw a circle in the air with your full arm. Pause at the apex and accelerate for the down-and-around. Apply this gesture to scales, riding the centrifugal forces up and over. Feel a silent “Whoopee” at the peak. • Internal Harmony Each note of a scale has a natural color relative to the tonic. For instance, I is home, II starts the movement, III defines the major-minor, IV is warm, V is insistent, VI is deceptive and VII demands resolution. Play a slow scale, pausing on each tonic to appreciate the excitement of the dominant, the pull of the leading note, and the restfulness of ‘home.’ This understanding helps color your scales naturally and make them aim somewhere. • First Note Syndrome Avoid starting a scale with an accent or weight that you’ll have to shed later. Rather than hovering on the first note and accelerating, start easily and immediately. Imagine the scale as already having started and pick it up from there.

156 • Top-Note Syndrome Rather than stab the top note of a scale, imagine a silk scarf floating upwards and touching its apex before billowing down. ‘Round’ the top rather than force it. Think of top note as beginning the descent rather than ending the ascent. • Last-Note Syndrome ‘Stay present’ right to the end of the scale and don’t lose steam. Finish with as much dramatic intensity as you started. • Walking Enjoin each note physically and mentally as you walk your fingers through the centre of each tone. Keep everything in motion rather than imprinting each note on the keybed. • Variety Vary the touches (staccato, detache, legato), dynamics (pp, ff, cresc-decresc), and tempi (slow, moderate and fast). While fortissimo can develop finger strength, pianissimo can promote arm-lightness. Detache checks evenness, and legato minimizes re-articulation between notes. • Smell the flowers Don’t play scales as if rushing along a crowded sidewalk. Slow down and drink in their beauty. Listen to their internal circles, staying fluid even sexy. Scale passages within pieces should never be played as ‘routine.’ Keep them shapely and make them sing! • Composers As a general rule, Bach’s scales are played detache, Mozart’s scales pearl close to the keys, Beethoven’s demand energetically pulling fingers, and Romantics necessitate applying more ‘back.’

TAKEAWAYS

Warm up with scales every day. Choose different keys, tempi, and touches. especially

Make scales ‘beautiful’ with aiming points, momentum, and evenness.

Bring out the implied harmonies of each degree of the scale. Pay special attention to thumb crossings. Try passing them both under and over the hand. Listen for thumb thuds or bumps.

157 MARCH 21, ARPEGGIOS

Like scales, arpeggios must ‘point, climax and aim somewhere. If all the notes are too equal, create sweep by loosening your wrist and making the sound bend. (Fleisher)

Privately we all agreed that if scales were hard, arpeggios were even worse. Today we struggled late into class to find Lambert idly decorating a big letter A on the whiteboard. He welcomed us warmly and announced, “A is for Arpeggios!”

He grinned. “Hey, no complaints! If scales build basic technique, arpeggios just raise the ante. They’re ready-made exercises in mental and physical agility. But they’re also musical in their own right. Romantics loved them to ‘open up the keyboard’ under their lush melodies.” He relented, “Still, I admit that arpeggios can be challenging – where poor pianists flounder and great ones soar. So, let’s begin our mandatory mileage!”

Lambert scooped some papers off the bench and prepared to demonstrate. “Many pianists get stuck on thumb issues in arpeggios. But fluid arpeggios are less about thumbs than about wrists and elbows. Your thumb merely passes through its usual ‘tuck’ under the hand with no wrist humping or twisting. Just now, wiggle your thumb out and under your palm. It’s not a huge reach.”

We obliged, as he demonstrated a quick flourish up the keyboard. “In many ways, arpeggios are easier at faster speeds than at slower ones. At slower tempi, I imagine my hand as slinking evenly along the keyboard like a sea creature along the ocean floor. Think starfish, and you’ll have it.”

He sped up again. “But at faster speeds my arm remains fairly close to my body as it carries my hand up and down the keyboard in one smooth gesture. My pedal holds the legato, my thumb is light, and my wrist is quiet. Even if I eventually choose to pass my thumb over my hand (see Scales), my fingers are sufficiently secure enough on the keys to let me rip up the arpeggio with effortless speed. Try it and feel the fear factor melt away!”

158

We began to drift back towards our pianos, but Lambert held up his hand. “Before you get there, Alan Fraser points out that playing arpeggios is a lot like walking.” He demonstrated. “When I walk, I swing my legs from my hips – not by rotating my torso on every step. Similarly, when I play the piano, I drop my fingers into position from their hips (knuckles) rather than a humping wrist and elbow. Walk with me and see what you think.”

After just a few steps, we understood. What he was suggesting was that we ‘walk’ our fingers through arpeggios with springy fingers (legs) under stable hand arches (hips). A few of our more adventurous souls tried to walk surreptitiously out the door, but Lambert playfully signaled them back to their pianos. “A few more miles, my friends! I want to hear more of that lovely bone-tone! Then, you can go. Have a great week and come back ready to tackle the piano’s unique glory – chords!”

159 HANDOUT ON ARPEGGIOS

1 Daily Dozen (Choose a key) • Play arpeggios from top to bottom to strengthen the downward direction. • When playing inversions, remain with root-position fingering or ‘inversion fingering’ that puts your thumb on the first white key after a black one (i.e., in D+ first inversion, put your thumb on A after the F#). • Variety: Practice arpeggios separately and together, slow and fast, soft and loud, and with crescendo-decrescendo.

2. Clumped Arpeggios • Practice arpeggios in solid finger-clumps using your thumb like a spacer-bar. Use a light active arm that ‘throws’ the hand into position. Then separate out the notes and ‘rip’ the arpeggios quickly up and down the keyboard.

3. Eleven-Arpeggio Series • On a single note, play this sequence of eleven arpeggios based on a single home key. For example, on C, play C+ and C- (roots); A-flat+ and A- (1st inversions); F+ and F- (2nd inversions); C7, A-flat7, F7, D7 (dominant 7ths); C-diminished (diminished 7th). Move up to D and do the same thing. This sequence is great for mental and physical agility.

• Like an amusement park ride, glue your swirling arpeggios against a curved wall of sound – but don’t give into them, lose control or tighten at the top. Let your fingers distribute the centrifugal forces onto the assigned notes and follow the curve ((Laplante) • Take time to ‘place’ the bottom note of an arpeggio for a fraction of a second then let it go. Like archery, pull back the bow, pause, and then let the arrow fly. (Laplante) • For legato arpeggios, think of power applied evenly to successive notes so there’s no bump in dynamic and the hand is thrown into position. Think of the thumb as the first

160 digit of a chord ripped slowly and evenly, rather than thumb-finding and subsequent hand-positioning.(Matthay)

ANATOMY • Torso Find balance between your legs, engage your abdomen, center your midline, and open up your chest . Before starting, visualize your three support pins at core, shoulders, and knuckles. Avoid rolling from hip to hip or carrying your whole torso up and down the keyboard. • Shoulders Make your shoulders support rather than initiate arm activity. Don’t let them rise with emotional tension, or pull your upper arms away from the piano. • Upper Arm Get your arms ‘behind’ your fingers with loose triceps. Feed your arms in and out, focusing on smooth arm carriage. Think horizontal not vertical. • Elbow Let your elbow FOLLOW your fingers from a neutral position near your waist, rather than tugging them along the keyboard. Don’t grip with your inner elbow to stabilize the arpeggio. • Wrist To avoid straining the top tendons of your hand, keep your wrists fluid. Especially in arpeggios, a high wrist can give the scary sensation of skating out of control. • Hand “Play your arches” to give space for your thumb to pass under your fingers. Avoid ‘grabbing at’ the notes with individual fingers, thinking in handprints to sound less notey. • Fingers Use long sloping fingers that remain pliant rather than forcibly spread in a set position. Tune into the intervals between notes and find ‘aiming points’ along the way. • Second Finger The index finger is the workhorse in arpeggios because it’s used so frequently. Picture it as part of the 1-2 arch rather than a solitary player. Together, they lever the rest of the hand into position. • 5th Finger Prepare the tops and bottoms of your arpeggios by tilting your hand upwards to support your 5th finger (rather than collapsing down at the top or lashing out). • Fourth Finger Don’t avoid your 4th finger in arpeggios. Give it plenty of knuckle support and align it with your arm bones.

161 • Thumb Because distances are wide, it’s easy to deposit weight on the thumb. Reduce thumping by playing an arpeggio with quick light repetitions of each thumb. Experiment with passing your thumb over your knuckles like a series of imperceptible hand-throws to the next ‘triad.’

ACTIVITY • Fingering Teachers disagree on whether to use different fingering for each inversion or to maintain root-position fingering. The latter may be simpler, but the former increases mental agility, better fits the hand, and makes a more seamless legato. It’s up to you. • First and Last Notes Because an accented first note unsettles your hand, begin playing as if the arpeggio has already started and ‘join in.’ Round the top gently like a silk scarf filling with air. Follow the curve and don’t stab at the top or thud at the bottom. • ‘Stay in’ your arpeggios and don’t let them run away with you. Finish them with as much dramatic intensity as you started. • Chunking To prevent arpeggios from getting notey, lay down your fingers in clumps and use your thumb as a light passing note. Practice arpeggios in solid triads to get your arm moving. • Black and White It’s easy to slip off black keys. Practice slowly with sticky finger-pads and long diagonal fingers. Feed your hand in and out. Don’t over-rotate your forearm or wrist. • Too Deep For fast accurate arpeggios, accelerate the keys through their escapement, “touch bottom,” and immediately let go (almost like a staccato). • Too Shallow Skimming is frightening psychologically and physically. Dig in deeply enough to ‘feel’ each note. You’re hydroplaning if you find yourself holding your breath. • Legato Minimize constant re-articulation by silently anticipating each note. Musically cruise above the arpeggio and emotionally follow its sweep up and down. • Staccato arpeggios are great for exercising individual fingers. Keep a smooth arm carriage, maintain a low-traveling arch, and stay low to the keys. • Pedal Use your pedal to connect awkward arpeggio intervals.

162 • Mental Agility Arpeggios give you little time to think because they traverse the keyboard so fast. In preparation, visualize the arpeggio with closed eyes. ‘Twitch-play’ it on your leg and then play it on the piano. Make your brain lead your fingers. • Thumb-stops Try pausing lightly on each thumb to visually assess where you are in the arpeggio and give time to assemble your hand for the next octave. • The Pause that Refreshes If you feel tension or inattention creeping in, stop and restart. • Musical Intent Don’t practice unmusically because you think arpeggios are hard. Conceive of them as a buoyant (even joyous) sweeps up and down the keyboard. Decide their musical purpose – to mimic a harp glissando, build rhythmic excitement, maintain a harmony, or build a long crescendo? Once decided, your body will often find the solution. • Take your Time Don’t play arpeggios as if rushing along a crowded sidewalk. Think broaden and expand, not force and accelerate. Find a musically convincing tempo that puts you in control. • Listening To make your arpeggios soar, send the sound out rather than stuffing it in. Imagine the line spiraling out from the soundboard, rather than sitting dead on the keyboard. • Enjoy! Arpeggios offer some of the most exciting music you’ll play. Even as exercises, enjoy the exhilaration of their swooping upwards and free-falling back down. Practice arpeggios slowly and neutrally until they are truly ‘in hand,’ free of fear and emotional loading – then let them rip!

TAKEAWAYS Like scales, aim for evenness, beauty of tone, aiming points, and effortless agility. Listen for thumb-bumps, and experiment with passing the thumb under and over the hand. Avoid squareness by conceiving arpeggios as shapes rather than notes.

163 MARCH 28, CHORDS

Play chords with ten independently voicing fingers rather than two clubbed hands. Let the fingers individually pull the keys and keep out of your wrist. (Pitchko)

Today, the Conservatory gleamed with a fresh coat of wax. Lambert sniffed appreciatively and announced, “Chords, everyone! You can just smell them!” We averted our eyes. Chord exercises were easy to skip.

Lambert protested, “Hey, here you play one of the few instruments that can play chords, and you look away? Chords are inherently emotional. They evoke magical atmospheres. They wrap melodies with a potent three-dimensional cloak. They brim with inner voices. They’re ravishing in any flavor – major, minor, dominant, diminished, and chromatic. Over the years, chords have changed from the intimate closed positions of Baroque figured basses, to the ecstatic wide sweeps of high Romanticism. So, the question becomes, how should we best play them?”

A few hands snaked up, but Lambert shook his head. “And please don’t say arm weight. As we discussed earlier, this works fine for slow passages but is death for fast ones. Today, I’m going to suggest a technique rooted in elastic fingers and supported arches…” he grinned, “…as if you haven’t heard that before!

He shrugged. “I admit that chords present unique challenges in terms of physical balance, agility, and three-dimensional thinking. Tune into how they feel in your hands and how they sound in your ears. Then you can drench yourselves in sound. Like this!”

Just two hanging chords transformed the classroom. As Lambert morphed from Bach into Prokofieff, the world of chords came alive. Some floated up to the ceiling, others rang out exultantly, and others whispered almost beyond bearing. Lambert’s tonal variety was astounding. Even if we couldn’t see what he was doing, we could certainly hear it! Time to set to work!

164 HANDOUT ON CHORDS

1) Solid 4-note Chords • Play 2 octaves of solid chords with varied touches: Light staccato, detache, pp and ff. • Play chords with double repetitions. Use elastic, pulling fingers without weight. • Play solid root-position chords up and down a chromatic scale (C+,C#+, D+, etc.).

2) Broken Chords and Alternate-Inversion • Play broken chords with varied dynamics, rhythms and touches. • Play alternate-note patterns (1325, 1425, 1425) while listening for evenness. • Challenge: Play 4-note chords in alternate-note pattern (root-2nd inversion, 1st- root position; 2nd -1st inversion, and repeat). Great for mental and physical agility.

3) Voicing and Dynamics • Play solid 4-note chords, voicing towards your thumb, then 2nd, 3rd or 4th and 5th. • Play 8 repetitions of a chord from pp to ff to pp with controlled crescendo- decrescendo.

4) Finger Independence • Lightly hold down all five notes of a diminished 7th chord. From there, play adjacent fingers in triplets: 121, 232, 343, 454; 545, 434, 323, 212, 1. Avoid pressing or over- lifting your fingers. Use a light grasp and floating wrist.

• Chord technique is like gripping the keys as one would grip a ball. Independently grip with the singing fingers while the rest are just loosely held. (Cortot, pg. 48) • Play your chords mentally in your head before playing them physically on the piano. (Covelli) • When playing chords, move into the [arched] structure in the moment of play. To make long notes ‘lift,’ slide your chords forwards on the keys. (Fleisher)

165 • Once your pelvic base is engaged, you can either roll your chords inwards towards the fallboard or outwards towards your lap. But remember this ‘weight playing’ is just ‘backup’ for active fingers…Prepare all notes on the key surfaces, then let your body roll them in. (Brendel) • Go for the curve and don’t drop chords down from on high. The essential thing is that there is DIRECTION in the harmonic progression. (Durand) • Play long chord phrases from behind your elbow … as if clasping your arms and steering from behind. If you use a free-fall, you must be firm in your hand BEFORE you fall. Stay in the harmony and don’t rush your phrases. (Laplante) • Keep consistency between adjacent chords. You can’t play one chord in Buffalo and the next one in Toronto. (Perry)

ANATOMY • Torso Sitting too close to the piano cramps your hands. Root yourself on both sit bones and steer chords from your hips. Ground your lower back, lightly engage your abdominals, and open up your chest. Amplify fortissimo chords with a quick thrust from your back, then let go immediately. • Shoulders Raised shoulders can indicate poor arm alignment, fallen hand arches, or excess weight. To lower your shoulders, use your back muscles to lower your scapula. • Upper Arm Warm your chords by unclenching your biceps and riding your arms towards your lap or towards the fallboard. Move your arm faster to help give a mini-second of finger relaxation between chords. • Elbow and Forearm Play through your elbows rather than with them. Avoid downward- bearing forearms and absorb fortissimo rebounds upwards with loose arms. • Wrist Keep your wrist loose but with enough tonus to play all the notes together. • Hand and Knuckles Reconstitute your hand’s arches between chords. Support your 5th by scooping your knuckles upwards rather than lifting your elbow high. If your knuckles flatten on certain chords, mark an ^ into your score to remind you to lift your palm.

166 • Fingers Wait for any finger tremors to disappear. Lengthen your fingers and lift your arches, especially in wide chords. When chords come in a series, register how far the inner fingers move between chords as well as the outer ones (thumb and 5th). • Thumb Try to maintain a slightly bent thumb to prevent your hand from rigidifying.

ACTIVITY • Less is more Avoid using largest muscle groups to compensate for weak fingers. • Weight Where possible, intensify dynamics with faster finger pulls rather than added weight. If weight slips in, depress the notes of a 4-note chord and gently shake your arm to loosen its joints. ‘Give the chords away’ as if sending them out on a cushion of air. • Togetherness Help the notes of a chord arrive together by finger-gathering the keys simultaneously into your palm. • Voicing Too little voicing makes chords sound flat, monochromatic, and too thick to hear all the notes. Too much voicing causes the chord to lose color and internal counterpoint. Decide in advance which notes to bring out and which to submerge. Think three- dimensionally, listening horizontally to inner melodies more than vertical blocks. • Dynamics Chords don’t always need volume for quality – they need differentiation

(voicing) and longevity (for beauty of tone). • Long Chordal Passages. Practice long passages of chords in light bouncing staccato groups of increasing length. Play each group with one gesture, identifying its aiming and passing chords. Don’t ‘place’ your chords and try to find miniscule relaxations between chords or groups of chords. • Releases The louder you play, the faster you have to ‘get out of there.’ Aim for a continuous flow between stroke and rebound. Follow the soundwave in-through-and- out, rather than down-stop-and-stay. After an explosive chord, let your forearm rebound upwards towards your shoulder. • Direction of Rebounds Deliver free ringing chords from your back, shedding the energy up-and-in towards the fallboard. To warm a chord, imagine it as descending and

167 returning in a fluid “U” shape (rather than a mechanical series of ‘down-ups’). Use the kinetic energy of the rebound to propel you to the next chord. • Trampoline Use chords like a trampoline. When you hit bottom, bounce up-and-in towards the next chord. Keep the cycle going as you propel yourself forward like a pogo stick. • Bowling Ball Think of pushing a chord away like a bowling ball. For longer phrases, listen to where the sound goes and pick up the next chord at the level to which it’s faded. • Navigating Fast Chord Passages Practice the framing octaves and then the inner notes. When both are secure, combine them and increase the tempo. • Finger Legato For a searing legato, cultivate a finger legato between at least one note of successive chords. Finger legato has the further advantage of connecting you to the keyboard. • Chordal Jumps Move as early as possible and play as late as possible without being too late. Conceive jumps mentally and physically before you play them. Lead with your fingers rather than your arm to prevent over-shooting or under-shooting the mark. • Play-jump-stop Play the first chord and use its rebound to propel you to the next chord. Silently pause there without twitches or tension. Then go back and play the jump aloud. Repeat with subsequent pairs of chords, gradually reducing the number of pauses. • Ebb and Flow Slow down for difficult chord sections and then seamlessly pick up the tempo. Later you can straighten out the tempo when your hand knows its chord-shapes. • Phrasing Think horizontally rather than vertically and aim for a continuous flow between stroke and rebound and. Use the whole length of the keys. Like melodies, make sure adjacent chords are not of the same dynamic lest the playing sound square. • Descending Lines It’s generally easier to build crescendi rather than decrescendi. Keep your descents potent by following the downward curve and listening through to the end. • Upbeats and Downbeats A conductor energizes the musical beats with an upward bounce of his baton rather than a downward thrust. Similarly, ‘touch bottom’ of your

168 chords with the desired energy and rebound upwards. Think “up-up-up” rather than “down-down-down.” • First Chords Weight deposited on the first chord is hard to shed. Avoid putting an ‘edge’ on chords by using longer fingers. • Last Chords Don’t let last chords sluice off. ‘Stay in’ them physically and listen to their decay. Sometimes follow your arm in-and-up such that your fingertips are the last to leave the keys. • Quiet Chords Stabilize your wrist and play from the key surface. Control the slower key descent. • Warm Chords Soften your hand without collapsing its arch, and pull or sink deeply into the chord. Feel the bones nudge into each other from shoulder into fingertips. • Massive Chords Consider sitting back on your sit bones with a slightly rounded back and then rolling your spine up-and-in to play with your whole body. (Fleisher) • Forte chords Stay buoyant but firm in all three finger joints. Amplify sound with rhythmic intensity rather than forced finger action. In long loud chord passages, find miniscule relaxations between chords or groups of chords. Play forte chords from your back, not your wrists. • Bright Chords Use whippy hands with a light arm. Choreograph your hand to assume its ‘structure’ a micro-second before playing. If you set the chord-shape too early, the gesture becomes too vertical and makes a harsh tone. Boing forward off the keybed with a quick finger grab not initiated at the wrist. • Ethereal Chords For a sound that lifts, slide your fingers in towards the fallboard and release the chord upwards. • Orchestration To mimic different orchestral timbres, try lowering your wrist – even putting the heel of your hand down on keyslip and ‘palming it’ for greater finger individuation. Go for rhythmic intensity and voicing rather than volume. • Pedal opens up the harp and alters the tone. For big Romantic climaxes, see how much ‘smushing’ together of chords you can tolerate to intensify the crescendo.

169 • Mark your Scores Different sound qualities ask for different techniques (pulling, sliding, boinging, ‘staying in’ the keys, floating off them etc.). When you want a special effect, annotate how you want to play it (i.e., an upward arrow for sliding, downward arrow for weight, long dash to sustain it). For tricky adjacent chords, draw a straight line between notes in common and a diagonal line between those that move. • Listening ‘Place’ your chords somewhere in the room. Generally, imagine a ‘focal point’ 8-15 feet away. Make sure that all chords inhabit the same universe.

TAKEAWAYS

Chords are all about listening – to sound quality, voicing, legato, and pedal. In fast loud chords, move EARLY and play LATE. See if you can find inner melodies and use them to color and stabilize the chords. Practice long chordal passages in increasingly longer clumps with relaxation between them.

170 APRIL 4, OCTAVES

For big octave jumps, feel as if you play them before you play them. (Covelli)

Today there was no mistaking Technique Central. Even from outside, we could hear torrents of sound spilling into the square. We took the Conservatory steps two at a time and burst in the door. Lambert greeted us enthusiastically. “Don’t you just love octaves? Once you get the hang of them, they feel like flying! Hopefully by the end of today, you’ll be able to toss them off as if to say, ‘Some people find this difficult!’ It may sound a little smug, but hey, if you’ve done the work, you’ve earned the privilege to be proud!”

Launching into the infamous wrist-breaker of Chopin’s Grande Polonaise, he gave us a sly grin. “See? Easy! It’s like bouncing a bow on a violin. Or using the internal energy of a ping-pong ball to blister it across the net. Soaring octaves use the elastic energy of our arms, fingers, and soundboard.” He dramatically plucked off a fortissimo octave, letting his forearm rebound high into the air and holding it with the pedal. “See, I don’t initiate this octave from my wrist or elbow. Nor do I grind it downwards with my forearms or biceps. I just lightly pinch it off with my fingers, like a quick sting – or brushing a bee off my arm. Then I let my arm forearm rebound upwards. As I said, easy! “

Honestly, that Lambert could coax the birds out of trees! He gestured to the pianos. “Okay, let’s begin with a little pre-exercise. Open up your palm slowly like a fan and play a quiet octave. Hold it down and lightly shake your arm from side to side to release any tension. Next, pluck off a medium-loud octave from the key surface and use its rebound to position yourself over the next octave. Play that octave and do the shake-test again. Believe me, when you’ve learned to pinch off and release your octaves rather than hammering them down, you’ll come to love them. Ready?”

We happily joined in. Octaves were always a challenge and, though many of us could manage moderate speed and dynamics, we often locked up in fast, loud passages. As Lambert obviously knew, we wanted octave technique so much we could taste it!

171 HANDOUT ON OCTAVES

1. Octave Scales • Play octaves up and down the first five notes of a scale from C to G and back again, ending with I-V-I. (C-G-C). Then move up a semitone and repeat in a new key. • Play octave-scales in a gesture, pausing on the home notes. Then reduce the number of pauses until you can play four octaves in one ‘go.’ • Play chromatic scales in light fast octaves, using 4ths on the black keys.

2. Arpeggios and Alternate-Note-Octaves • Play an arpeggio in octaves, starting with one octave increasing to 4 octaves. • Challenge: play alternate-note chords in octaves (i.e., C-G-E-C, E-C-G-E etc.)

• Boing in and then let go immediately at the keybed. Don’t leave the knife in! (Laplante) • While playing an octave, the pianist must muster the courage to have the arm pick up the hand and ‘throw’ it to the next position with no hesitation. This throwing is in an arc with no square corners. (Cortot, pg. 56) • While your fingertips hold an octave, release everything in your hand and arm…The looser a joint, the more it can feel the movement going on within itself. (pg. 116) …As you gradually increase your dynamic, notice the physical adjustments you must make to stay loose, close and accurate. Do not increase strain or ‘trying.’ Instead, increase explosiveness! (Fraser, Craft, pg. 117) • In playing chords and octaves, the wrist is higher than it is in single-note playing, but there can still be a sense of support through the bony structure. (Mark, pg. 112) • You can allow your hand to fall on the chord or octave without setting it in advance…

“Let the piano open your hand” (Mark, pg. 112) • Play octaves from the key surface as much as possible. With lots of incidentals, stay close to the black keys. Although arms can rebound high at the end of a ff phrase, elevated actions are more for ‘show’ than effectiveness. (Pitchko)

172 ANATOMY • Legs For wide-ranging octaves, sit on your seat bones and spread your legs or retract your left foot to widen your base. • Torso Open your chest and stay light. Try increasing your power by starting low in crouched position and straightening up as you crescendo. For maximum power, add energy from your back and lean in with your torso. • Upper Arm Although it can seem counter-intuitive, loosen your arm joints to increase speed and loudness. Don’t let your arms get ahead of your hands. • Elbow Don’t let your elbows cramp your 5th finger or pull your thumb away from its key. For ‘boinging’ octaves, dissolve any little knot inside your elbow and feel as if you play from behind your elbow. • Forearm Always avoid hammering your forearms! Prepare by playing a simple octave, resting your fingers silently on the keys until your forearm ‘melts.’ When you feel the ‘let go,’ lightly play the octave with no added activity. • Wrist: Wrist height in octaves is contentious, partly because different dynamics or tempi can ask for a different physicality. Generally, pianists with small hands sit higher and use a higher wrist to ‘shake octaves out of their sleeve.’ Those with bigger hands can lower their wrist and pull octaves into their body using strong fingers. Imagine your wrist as a neutral joint, rather than an initiator of octaves. To relax it during long octave passages, choreograph it up and down in rhythmic groups. Avoid waving ‘bye-bye’ from your wrist, or ‘grabbing’ octaves with it. If you feel your wrist tensing, focus on relaxing that little hollow on your wrist’s inner side where your thumb attaches. • Hand Play octaves with a lively palm, buoyant 1-2 arch, supported 5th, and unlocked thumb. If your arch flattens, gently lift it with your free hand. You want to use your knuckle arches. If your top hand tendons get sore, raise your wrist higher. Find relaxation points in long octave runs to relax your hand tendons and restore springiness to your fingers. • Fingers There are at least three ways of playing octaves: ‘jelly-fish’ finger-pulls from an active palm, flat finger-bounces from a raised wrist, and quick arm ‘stings’ from the

173 shoulder. Support your 5th, un-peg your thumb, and never raise your middle fingers above them (it strains your top hand tendons). • Thumb Imagine your thumb as the brains behind your octaves. Maintain the 1-2 arch and feel as if the center of gravity is in your thumb not your 5th. Then reverse. Octaves ‘stall’ when your thumb locks.

ACTIVITY (similar to 4-note chords) • Attitude Often octave passages are more problematic than they need be because we’re psychologically afraid of them. To lower the temperature, play more lightly and think horizontally rather than vertically. Try closing your eyes to help your body memorize an octave-passage without visual distraction. • Travel Low Imagine a perfect flight of octaves and travel low to play it as one event. • Buoyancy Generally pull octaves in towards your body rather than jamming them in towards the fallboard. If you find yourself holding your breath, clenching your jaw, or bearing down aggressively, relax your upper body, slow down and play more quietly. • Bones, not Muscles In long passages, concentrate on aligning your arm bones behind your octaves. Liquefy your joints and play your skeleton. • Opening your Hand Visualize your hand as opening from further back than your fingers. Instead of ‘setting’ your hand, open it up like a fan and let if fall naturally onto the keys. • Small Hands If you have small hands, don’t give up. Instead, say to yourself, “It’s ONLY an octave!” and launch in with confidence. Here are some strategies: o Use a higher wrist and lightly ‘sting’ your octaves onto the keys from higher up. o Don’t forcibly stretch your fingers for any length of time and find relaxation points between octaves. o Play more on the outer edge of the keys. o Lift your palm arch as much as possible. o Widen your palm like a fan and keep your thumb loose. o Play octaves from behind your elbow, using invisible rotation inside your forearm rather than torqueing your wrist.

174 o Feel as if you’re playing octaves with big loose clown hands o See Taubman on YouTube for healing ideas about small hands. • Black and White When doing a fast flight of octaves, nudge in closer to the black keys to

reduce arm motion in-and-out. • Thumb Leading Lead with your thumbs rather than your 5ths (especially on the way down). Because they’re fundamental to the human grasp, they’re stronger than your

outer fingers. • Palming it As unnatural as it might seem, advanced pianists with big hands can almost

rest the heel of their hand near the keyslip and play octaves with more voicing. • Checking for grip To dispel tension, loosely hold down a silent octave and gently shake your wrist from side to side. When you feel the ‘let go,’ release the keys and play on. • Cobra Stings Alan Fraser suggests starting with a raised forearm and spreading the hand immediately before landing on the octave. Play a scale of cobra stings as an exercise. • Weightless Arm weight kills octave agility. Especially avoid dropping weight on the first octave of a series. Don’t hang weight on vulnerably outspread fingers. • Mini-relaxations In fast runs, find momentary relaxations between octaves. Initially this may seem to slow you down, but eventually your hand will learn to subconsciously snatch quick releases. Plan these relaxation points in advance and gradually reduce their number until the octaves flow better. • Cramp protect Don’t ‘set’ octaves in your hand and letting your arm tug them along. This inflames joints and muscles from rotator cuffs to forearms, wrists, and hand tendons. • Arm Feeding To reach the black keys, feed your arm in towards the fallboard rather than twist your wrist (to accommodate your thumb). Think up-and-in rather than twist- and-grab. • Springy Rebounds Use the unleashed energy in the piano mechanism to propel you to the next octave. Mentally focus on elastic uptakes rather than downward key pressings. • Body Crossings If your octaves cramp when you cross your midline, engage your core and lean back a little to give more room for your arms to cross your torso.

175 • Direction To give melodic direction to octave passages, think horizontally rather than vertically. • Go into the Curves Play up, over, and around the curves of octave passages in a single swing. Feel as if you lean into the turn and fall back towards the middle. • Timing Octaves require full-body coordination. Make yourself aware of the hierarchy of movement from shoulder to fingertip. From where along your body chain do you gain the most freedom and produce the best sound quality? • Tempo Fast confident octaves take patience. Rather than inching up the metronome, try establishing the optimum technique at very slow tempo and then jump to warp speed. Keep checking whether your octave technique works at fast tempi. • Shhh Practice loud passages quietly to reduce the emotional loading and fear factor. • Working Backwards If tension builds over a long octave passage, work backwards through the octaves from end to beginning. That means, play the last group of notes (i.e., 16th-notes or triplets), then add successive groups backwards until you can play them all in one ‘go.’ This helps you play towards strength rather than weakness. • Play-jump-stop To work on octave jumps, play the first octave aloud and rebound silently to the destination octave. Check for tension there. After a few of these silent rebounds, play the jump aloud. If a passage has many jumps (for instance, bounding up a diminished 7th arpeggio), practice each interval with play-jump-stop and gradually increase the number of octaves in each ‘go.’ • Three Kinds of Octaves Graham Fisk eloquently describes three styles of octaves on YouTube: (1) Legato octaves: voice towards the top finger with a light thumb. Practice the 5th only and then add the thumb. (2) Rapid wrist octaves: use a higher wrist so you never raise your fingers above your wrist. (3) Virtuoso octaves: use your arms and practice play-jump-stop, keeping forward momentum by rebounding to the next octave. • Light Octaves Don’t let your hands run away with you. Imagine playing only to the escapement and letting momentum take you down to the keybed. Keep your torso light and feed your arm in and out. If you want to add some wrist, shake it loosely from further back rather than your wrist.

176 • Forte Octaves Loud dynamics can tense you up, so find strategies to stay loose. Practice loud octave passages quietly and then ramp up to forte. For really loud fortissimos, secure your left foot, lean your torso slightly forward (without cramping the keyboard), and add some back. Keep your collarbones wide, your arms floating, and your hand arches intact. Stay close to the keys and think horizontally. Take a lesson from the masters: Horowitz played loud octaves staccatissimo with a whippy finger action. • Peeling Octaves Don’t force the sound. Think of mallets striking big church bells as if you throw the piano hammers up to the strings. Imagine the sound going up-and-out rather than down-and-in. Then find a physical gesture that mirrors that sound. • Fast Octaves Octaves are too fast if you can’t hear them. Don’t try to overwhelm your audience, the music, or yourself with too much speed or volume. Play only as fast as you can conceive, hear, and play the line. • Voiced Octaves Voice octaves as diligently as chords. Decide which note is prime (5th or thumb) and make it sing. To prevent octaves from sounding flat or undifferentiated, keep both sides of your hand independent. Make sure one side doesn’t ‘contaminate’ the other. • Singing Octaves Play octave passages ‘with your ears.’ Aim for the longest possible after-tone, focused on what the audience is hearing rather than the effort you’re feeling. • Legato Octaves Increase the legato line by using your 4ths on black keys. Feel the legato transfer between notes and make considered decisions about your pedaling. Octaves need a fine ear to prevent them from becoming thick and gluey. • Tremolo Octaves Sit back, use long arms, align your arm with your 3rd finger, and rotate around this central axis. As preparation, flutter-rotate an octave in the air before lowering it to the keyboard. Play from the key surface with a quiet wrist rather than higher up with a lot of forearm rotation.

177

TAKEAWAYS

Open up your hand from under your palm rather than by stretching out your top tendons. In long fast octave passages, find relaxation points and practice in rhythmic groups. There is no single octave technique. Much of it is psychological and varies according to individual physique. Generally, stay close to the keyboard and lead with your thumbs.

178 APRIL 11, FAST PASSAGES

Don’t let your running 16ths sound like “mosquitoes in a jar!” (KU Schnabel)

Today, Lambert seemed uncharacteristically distracted. He absently ran a few impossibly fast scales, played a fierce Beethoven allegro, and then some luminous Chopin filigree. Finally, he turned to face us.

“Margrit asked me to add this last exercise. She’s a great poet of the piano and will guide you through Legato and Singing Tone, but I seem to have the reputation for playing fast!” He grinned. “Frankly, I think that I got the better deal. With the right technique, fast romps are easier than intense, slow playing. Fast playing is often more difficult psychologically than physically – so let’s replace fear of failure with the thrill of tempo. Believe me, when it works, it’s exhilarating!”

Lambert pointed to Sergei and patted the bench beside him. “Hey, Mr. Speed-freak, let’s figure out how to set you flying without losing control.” He subdued Sergei’s nervous noodling at the piano with a restraining hand and turned to us. “Today’s Handout is a grab-bag of ideas to increase your keyboard freedom. At the end, I’ve added a page on the big Composer Etudes. Etudes could be a whole course in itself, but let’s just start with some fun fast-finger exercises. See what you think.”

After an hour, we were whizzing around the keyboards like crazed birds. Giggles could be heard as we wheeled through Lambert’s playful patterns. Finally, he plugged his ears and announced triumphantly, “And that, my Friends is the end of Exercises! For the few remaining classes, I’d like to address six problems that pose special challenges for pianists: relaxation, agility, jumps, accuracy, security and pain -- RAJASP. Because we begin with Relaxation, I’d like us to meet next week at my house. It’s cozier and frankly less tense than this Conservatory hothouse. I’ve posted directions outside my office. See you in seven!” With a wink, Lambert gave a jaunty salute and exited the room.

179 EXERCISES FOR FAST PASSAGEWORK (To improve overall agility)

1) Finger-Runs • “Pacman”: Play very fast triplet sequences: cde, def, efg, using all 123s, then 234s, etc. Move up to C# and repeat. Soften your palm and quicken your thumb. • Hanon: Start at the first one, and let them fly!

2) Hand Expansion-Contractions • Play octave-Cs up and down the keyboard using quick finger-substitutions of 5-1 in the outward direction and 1-5 in the inward direction. Move up a semitone to C# and repeat. Like walking, pass the notes from one side of your hand to the other.

• Mine your pieces for potential exercises. Mimic their patterns and extend them until they feel effortless. On return to the piece, the passage will feel easier. (Covelli) • To prevent harshness and fatigue in fast passages, keep all your arm joints loose. With loose levers, your arm can float agreeably and free up your fingers. (Fleisher) • Go fast without hurrying. The hurrying feelings appears when the action is disorganized … [such that] the sensory and motor neurology start stumbling over each other. Get it well-organized and then you will see that speed and power come. (Fraser, site)

ANATOMY • Torso Sit lightly on relaxed buttocks. Open your chest and collarbones to breathe freely. • Upper Arm Steer the long line from your arm and let your fingers distribute the notes. • Elbows Make your elbows serve as balance points from which your fingers scurry around the keyboard. Avoid gratuitous elbow-circling that unsettles your fingers and stresses your shoulders.

180 • Wrist Think level rather than lumpy. High wrists can make fast passagework ‘stick’ because the fingers can’t easily reach the keys. Low wrists engage too many top hand- tendons. Like the 3 Bears, find the golden mean. • Fingers Your fingers are built for speed. They move faster than your eyes, so don’t try to see every note – focus on the beginnings of each group and let it fly. Play from the key surface with quiet fingers. Find a fingering that lies most naturally ‘under the hand,’ write it down, and stick with it! Increase clarity by practicing with energized staccato. ‘Talk to your fingers’ and tell them what you want (yes, it’s kooky stuff). • Thumb Fast passagework stalls whenever your thumb stiffens. Bend your thumb lightly and tip down the keys simply from its ‘knuckle’ at your wrist.

ACTIVITY • Freedom Effortlessly pour out your fast 16ths like squirrel’s chatter. Support your core, dissolve your arm joints and play from ‘inside your hand.’ Keep a clinical attitude and don’t give into accumulating momentum. Think ‘fun and free,’ not ‘fast and forced.’ • Confidence Visualize playing a fast passage effortlessly and then play it that way! Reduce the notes to ‘shapes’ and play them like a ‘sleight of hand.’ • Intent Make fast passagework ‘say something’ rather than sluice away. If it’s merely ‘fabric,’ stay neutral and don’t overwork it with too much expressivity. • Phrasing Stabilize the opening before you let it fly, then ‘stay in’ right to the end. Create a long line inside yourself and fill it up to the brim. Highlight accents, aiming points and harmonic changes that prevent fast passages from falling forward. • Tempo and Beats Your audience will accept any tempo if you’re clear about what you want to say. Therefore, don’t practice faster than you can shape the phrasing. Work through fast passages in strongly organized beats before giving into tempo excitement. • Chunking Conceive fast passages in clumps rather than individual notes. Sometimes play them in solid form to get your arm moving. • Rotation We see little arm rotation by great pianists. Again, see Taubman on YouTube.

181 • Standard Technique Take advantage of standard scales, arpeggios, chords and sequences that can reduce your workload in fast-running passages. • Dynamics and Color Subtly adjust the tone by using your last finger joint to control the key’s acceleration. Because undifferentiated passagework can sound like ‘just too many notes,’ orchestrate it with different dynamics and colors. • Light Passagework Play light fast passagework with quick pulls and releases. For a translucent sound, play only to (or from) the escapement. Fast light passagework needs twice as much rhythmic firmness, or it’ll sound ‘small.’ • Loud passagework Practice loud passages soft-and-fleet to eliminate muscular tension and emotional loading. When all is free, raise the dynamic. • Pedal In fast passages change your pedal according to the speed of harmonic change. • Play Along Good performers can make fast passages look easy by using internal energy and articulation as much as raw speed. If a piece feels technically impossible, play along with a CD or YouTube and mimic the performer’s gestures. Study his physical ‘tricks.’ For instance, Horowitz gave the illusion of great speed (and loudness) by using lots of articulation and voicing.

COMPOSER ETUDES • Etudes: Many composers wrote wonderful studies to develop technique. Among others, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Liszt, and Dohnanyi wrote great etudes that are both physically and musically satisfying. They are terrific concert pieces in their own right. Try to keep at least one Etude in hand as part of your daily warmup. • Purpose When starting an etude, decide what skill the composer is developing (Examples: security on the black keys, double thirds, accurate arpeggios, roaring octaves, singing tone, etc.). Be clear about the etude’s purpose to make your practicing more efficient. • Reduce Sometimes just work on the first 3 lines of an etude. Once you’ve found the right gesture, the rest of the etude will come quickly. You can always add the rest of the etude later to increase stamina or prepare for performance.

182 • Tempo After working slowly to find the right gesture, play it at full tempo to check your fingering and technical approach. Then return to slow practice to give your hands time to assimilate the shapes. Be vigilant for any tension slipping in and keep a neutral attitude while you ‘teach’ the etude to your fingers.

TAKEAWAYS

Enjoy the exhilaration of fast passagework, focusing on shapes rather than notes. ‘Tickle’ the keys from under your palm and steer from behind your elbow. Try to keep at least one Etude in your hands a daily warmup.

183 PART 3: SPECIAL PIANISTIC CHALLENG (RAJASP)

APRIL 18, RELAXATION

By relaxing, I do not mean flabbiness or the tendency of some pupils to flop all over the piano. Relaxation signifies control. (Cortot)

Happy to be out of the Conservatory for a while, we followed Lambert’s map to his cottage. After creeping along a cobbled alley, we knocked timidly at the back door. To our surprise, we were greeted by a wildly enthusiastic Sebastian. Lambert held the leash tightly and waved us inside. “Professor Pavel’s away, so Sebastian’s my houseguest this week. Don’t worry, he’ll join us presently. He practically lives under the piano these days.” He pointed down a narrow dark hall. “You’ll find the piano at the end of the hall.”

We stalled, basking in Sebastian’s frenzied attention until Lambert reprimanded us. “Get on with you! There’s not space for all of us here in the hall.” Reluctantly, we retired to a room as eccentric as its owner. Every square inch was covered with momentos, music, newspapers, pillows, and woollen wraps. There was so much ‘stuff’ that it was easy to miss the worn Steinway beneath a jangly Tiffany lamp. We settled into some floor cushions while Lambert waved Sebastian to lie down. He eased himself into a faded orange leather chair and said, “First, let’s talk. What still bugs you about technique?”

We muttered the usual litany: “Tension, stiffness, inaccuracy, pain, tedium…”

Lambert laughed. “Whoa! Let’s go more positive! Today, I’d like to introduce you to RAJASP – and it has nothing to do with India. Interested?”

India? What next! “AHA – caught ya! RAJASP – for Relaxation, Agility, Jumps, Accuracy, Security, and PAIN. If you think about it, each one depends on its predecessor, so today we begin with Relaxation.” He pointed to the wall. “Let me first

184 direct your attention to that Renaissance print. As you can see, it’s of a languid nymph reclining by a pool of water. There’s not a sign of tension in her body from slender ankle to outstretched arm. She’s my daily reminder to let go of intrusive thoughts and physical stiffness.” He paused. “But can we work at relaxing? Can we will ourselves to relax? Or does the very act of willing cause tension?”

Lounging on our pillows, we said nothing. It seemed unanswerable. Lambert eased himself up from the chair and explained, “Okay, today let’s explore how to generate relaxation, how to recognize it, how to maintain it, and importantly, how to induce it on the fly.” He stepped delicately over some outstretched legs and assured us, “Trust me, I won’t step on you. Relaxation too is about trust– trusting your practicing, your technique, your memory, your instrument, even your audience. Possible?”

Maybe. Sometimes. He continued. “So, let’s get specific. Relax where? Relax how? Relax physically? Relax emotionally? Is it active? Passive? Observable? Attitudinal?” He paused and looked down at us. “And now, I need a volunteer at the piano. Any takers?” Amy extracted herself from her pillow nest and stood up.

“Thanks, Amy. So now I want you to play something, anything, while I do a few body adjustments on you. Is that alright?” She nodded. “Wherever I touch you, I want you to consciously let go of that place – but keep playing!” Over the next few minutes, Lambert poked, supported, elongated, and adjusted wherever he sensed she was holding tension. There was nothing sexual about it, just a physical reminder to focus somewhere. Typically, he began at her torso and worked down towards her fingers. Honestly, it was like watching an iceberg melt! • When I circle your torso, can you return to balance on your sit bones? • When I cue your tummy, can you lightly engage your abs? • When I run my finger up your spine, can you lengthen it without over-stretching? • When I cradle your jaw, can you lengthen your neck and unclench your teeth? • When I cup your shoulder blades, can you settle them further down your back? • When I touch your biceps, can you unclench them?

185 • When I cue your triceps, can you sense their activity? • When I ease your elbows in or out, can you float them more? • When I stroke the tops of your forearms, can you release them? • When I circle your wrists, can you not resist me and loosen them? • When I poke my finger under your palm, can you raise your knuckle arch? • When I cup my hand over your fingers, can you feel their joints tuck together? • When I touch your thumb, can you dissolve it and maintain hand balance?

As Amy gamely kept playing, Lambert stepped back. Under his prompting, the sound transformed. Even more impressive was the difference in Amy herself. Gone was her strained expression. She looked like an extension of the instrument itself. Finishing up, Amy returned to her pillow and thoughtfully stroked Sebastian’s ears. She’d never felt like that before.

Lambert smiled. “But physical tension is only one part of today’s story. We must consider also mental and emotional relaxation. I won’t ask anyone to play this time, but when you’re home and feel overwrought, briefly set aside your piece. Go for a walk. Play something simpler. Put on a CD. Do whatever you can to rekindle your emotional engagement and reboot your listening. Don’t worry about lost time. The piece will improve on its own while you’re gone.” Lambert eased himself onto the piano bench. “And here’s one final thought:

Don’t confuse intention with tension. The first is musical; the second is physical.

“It’s easy to confuse the two. We’re so eager to play in a certain way (intention), that we tighten up (tension). Then when we loosen, we assume we’re not ‘saying’ anything. But we’re probably saying more with less effort! Let me prove it.” After about fifteen minutes, Lambert waved us away. “Now, off you go and let an old man practice. Sebastian will see you out, won’t you boy!” Sebastian padded obediently down the hall, patiently accepting our lavish hugs. With Lambert deeply lost in Bach, we quietly let ourselves out through the back garden.

186 HANDOUT ON RELAXATION

• When we think we are in a complete state of relaxation, we can generally find some part of the body that could relax more. (Casals in Bacon, pg. 39) • There is nothing as conducive to good hearing as a state of muscular relaxation. Release the effort to sharpen the ear. (Bacon, pg. 39) • Relaxation is the art of letting go. Its true meaning is not the training of muscles used, but rather finding the knack of loosening others. (Bodle) • The term stiffness is used here in its accepted sense – the muscular exertion of a limb impeded by its opposite, contrary or ‘antagonistic’ exertion (Matthay) • To translate tension into firmness, follow your energy and set it in motion. (Laplante) • There’s no one hurrying you in this room, so finish your phrases and don’t prepare for the next one too early. (Pitchko) • The looser a joint, the more it can feel the movement going on within itself. (Pitchko) • Breathe! Anything without breath is a corpse. Inhale inspiration and exhale expression. (Bodle)

ACTIVITY • Simplicity Rules Even after you can play all the notes accurately, keep looking for an easier means to play them. • How Muscles Work Fear-based adrenaline diverts blood into our inner organs from our outer playing mechanism. This weakens our arms and is perceived as tension. Let go of opposing muscles and don’t confuse tonus with tension. • Lactose Intolerant Working muscles create a waste product called lactose. To prevent its buildup, find momentary releases. Maybe change fingerings and carefully use more pedal so you’re not isometrically holding down notes. • Relaxation Response Deep breathing triggers the body’s relaxation response. If you find yourself holding your breath, stop, take a deep breath into your abdomen, exhale the air through pursed lips, and circle your head to release your shoulders.

187 • Maintain Movement Don’t stop your action at the keybed. Keep phrases in motion, letting the rebounds carry you to the next event. • Releases Focus on ‘letting go’ of the keys as much as depressing them. Decide where exactly you’re relaxing your muscles as well as where you’re engaging them. Induce relaxation by staying within the curves of your body. If you keep banging away at something in hopes the tension will leave, you’re only learning to play ‘tense.’ • Initiating-Responding If a passage sticks, you’re probably initiating the sound from a difficult place in your body. Stop, think, and move the sound source elsewhere. • ‘Making the soft’ A figure skater ‘softens her knees’ to carve her edges. A tennis player diffuses the impact of the ball through freely absorbing joints. Like them, soften your arm joints to play with less tension, harshness, and injury. • Shoulder tension Over-active shoulders corrupt both the torso and the arms. Lead with your fingers backed by floating arms and less shoulder engagement. • Thumbs If your thumb stiffens, practice light thumb repetitions on the key surface. • Replace ‘tension’ with ‘intention’ When you’re clear about what you want to say (intention), you’ll often feel physical tension melt away. Give music away, don’t stuff it in! • Bottled Up Like anger, over-control makes everything worse. Therefore, practice mental-emotional relaxation on the fly. Find places where you can find tiny muscle releases between events. If you sense tension rising, assess where you’re holding it and find a way to diffuse it. • Stay in Synch Speed up as only fast as your mind, emotions and body can ‘be present’ and available to each other. If one lags behind or surges ahead, fix it! • Go Slow to Go Fast Tightness is an ingrained habit, so insist on non-tension whenever you’re practicing. That means, work only as fast as you believe you can play. If by performance time, you’re not up to speed, invent a convincing musical reason for the slower tempo and go with that. Stay within your technical parameters to avoid sounding frantic or rushed.

188 • Note-Diet Relax by reducing the number of notes in a passage until it feels less ‘busy,’ and then play as written. • Rhythmic Diet Increase relaxation by cutting in half the number of ‘counts’ in each bar (i.e., from 4 counts per bar to two, or from 3 to 1). As the passage becomes more expansive, you too will expand and relax. • Forte Diet Shh! Work quietly to let your hand find the most peaceful way to navigate a passage. • Dance! In fast loud passages, replace brute force with élan. Substitute forced fortes with rhythmic liveliness. Physically root yourself in your abdomen, lift your hand arches, check your support pins, and ride the rebounds. • Legato Relaxation is essential for legato. When you’re at ease, you can almost feel the fluid interplay between physicality and notes. • Tone Relaxation reveals itself in longer soundwaves. • Mind-body Exercises Supplement piano studies with classes in Yoga, Alexander, Feldenkrais, or others. Cross-train to learn how to isolate, engage, and relax muscle groups. Then apply these skills to the piano. • Repertoire Choices Don’t over-reach. Include in your daily practicing some ‘easy’ pieces that help you relax. Do the same when program planning. • Pain Treat pain as an Early Warning System that you’re beginning to tense up. Stop, circle your head and shoulders, re-conceive, regroup, and restart.

TAKEWAYS Think of relaxation as something that is physical, mental and emotional. Relaxation does not mean flaccid. It’s a buoyant state of readiness. Don’t confuse intention with tension. Open your joints and avoid co-contractions of your muscles. Find mini let-go’s. Relax, listen, and breathe out your phrases.

189 APRIL 25, JUMPS AND AGILITY

Readiness is not a state of tension, but of alertness. Visualize and spot the target before you leap for economy of motion. (Sherman, pg. 28)

April was proving to be one of the coldest on record. Truth to tell, both the weather and courses were proving rough. Reading our slumped bodies, Lambert picked up the pace.

“Cheer up, you’re almost done! To move things along, I’ll combine the next two subjects of Jumps and Agility. They’re obviously related. The end’s in sight, folks! Happier?”

We grinned back, as always invigorated by Lambert’s energy. Just then, he shot something into the room. Sergei instinctively hooked it and looked up in astonishment. That Frisbee again? He tossed it back and Lambert chuckled. “Yup, it’s time to bring back your Dog!” Spinning the Frisbee on his finger, he ruminated, “We pianists have superb physical tools: great peripheral vision, quick reflexes, and super-charged neural connections. Like that dog, we often have to execute lightning-fast jumps over the uneven terrain of black and white keys.” He puffed his cheeks. “So, why might we splash on jumps?”

Loosened up from last week’s house visit, we dove in. “Tension!” “Weight!” “Stiffness!” “Terror!”

Lambert gave us an enthusiastic thumbs up. “Bingo! I told you there’s a logic to RAJASP. Without relaxation, you’ll never nail your jumps! Without nailing your jumps, you’ll never achieve good accuracy.” Turning too quickly, he knocked a pile of Handouts onto the floor and snorted, “Ach, So much gravity on this planet! No wonder our jumps suffer! They can tense us up in advance, and leave us shaky afterwards. So, let’s make ‘fear of flying’ a thing of the past. We’ll start with Jumps followed by a short written comment on Agility. Here goes!”

190 HANDOUT ON JUMPS

• Neuhaus said that … the shortest distance between the two points is a curve. “ (Berman, pg. 47) • For big jumps between registers, keep your elbow inside and go directly. (Laplante) • The impulse into the key must come from the finger – the arm is too big, unwieldy and inexact. My fingers lance out like striking snakes to create clean, light-filled, incised tones. (Fraser, Honing, pg. 135)

THREE IMAGES • Ballerina Think of a ballerina or figure skater. In the split second before jumping, they solidly ‘spot’ their destination and then jump directly to it. Similarly at the piano, set your aiming points in advance and move through them sequentially. • Pogo Stick Like a pogo-stick, consider the leaving-note as an upbeat propelling you to the destination-note in a single fluid gesture. • The Three Bears You want to land on your arrival note neither too early (which causes hovering) nor too late (which causes inaccuracies and harshness). Like the Three Bears, find a happy median.

ANATOMY • Torso Tension in the upper torso plays havoc with jumps. Circle your head to loosen your neck, wag your jaw to relax your face, and circle your shoulders to open your collarbones. Breathe naturally and keep a quiet torso. Then do your jumps without throwing yourself around. • Arms Avoid extravagant gestures and ‘fly low.’ Work ‘small’ because big-arm movements destabilize your hands.

191 • Elbow Hang your elbows lightly by your side. For wide jumps, pivot your forearms like windshield wipers out from your waist to position your hand over your destination notes. Follow the natural arc and avoid over-active elbows. • Palm Silently practice jumps by sliding your palm along the outer edge of the keys. When the distance is internalized, raise your palm and play. • Fingers Generally use flatter fingers to ‘land’ your jumps securely. Imagine your fingertips as having ‘eyes’ to spot and nail their landing. Play on the pads of your fingers rather than their tips because you have wider contact with the keys.

ACTIVITY • Anticipation Audiences can hear when our jumps are just ‘lucky.’ Lack of calculation and confidence make the playing sound erratic. Practice visualizing the exact shape and distance between two notes, and then play them in one smooth gesture. • Mapping If your mapping is clear about the leaving and arrival notes, your body will often find the necessary skeletal organization. Because it works spatially not alphabetically, jump by interval (i.e., a 10th) rather than letter-name. • Hand Ruler Imagine your hand as a ruler that instinctively knows the distance between keys. Trust your fingers’ precision guidance system for sight-reading. • Jump Blindly Only consider a jump secure when you can play it while looking away or with your eyes closed. Train your neuro-system to feel the distance between the notes. • Play-jump-stop! Use play-jump-stop to secure your jumps. Play the first note or chord and then jump at lightning speed to the next position – but don’t play it yet! Repeat this silent jump several times. When you can dependably land on the final note without tension, play it aloud. • Set and go! Some people prefer to think of “Play-jump-stop” as “Set and Go.” This is more of a mental preparation. Rest on the leave-taking note for a moment to physically and mentally assess the jump. Imagine the jump several times, and then execute it in one fluid gesture.

192 • Quick Reflex Motion Lisa Spector describes practicing jumps in terms of “Quick Reflex Motion.” Look away and physically play your jumps three times correctly to reinforce your neuromotor connections. Insist on 100% accuracy, even if you must slow down. Every mistake in practice confuses your brain and will haunt you onstage. • Questions If a jump is still giving you trouble, ask yourself specific questions: “Am I sliding off black keys? Is my fingering helping? Am I using too much fingertip rather than finger pad? • Timing and Tempo Don’t jump faster than you think. Trick your brain into perceiving the interval as smaller than it is. Aim to arrive early enough to play the right note with the right tone. To sound more expansive, lengthen the takeoff note. Jump fast even if you’re playing slow. • Perception Good athletes say that when they’re playing at peak, time feels as if it slows down. Similarly at the piano, if you’re relaxed and free, you’ll sense plenty of time to jump and land safely. • Shape of Jump Does this jump work better when I move horizontally, in an arch, or diagonally? What is the shortest path between two notes? • Use the Rebounds Jumps need coordination on many levels. Use your body’s natural arches and find ‘the shortest bodily distance’ between notes. This will not necessarily be a straight line. Shed rebounds upwards and inwards. Ride the rebounds rhythmically, using your natural arm arcs and key-seeking fingers. • Forearm Rotation Rotating from your elbow can loosen your arm, but rotating on every note ruins the melodic line. Pivot your forearm from your elbow and travel low. • Two Hands Jumping Don’t try to jump with both hands at once. Instead, strategize which hand has the smaller interval or more time in which to jump – and move it first. If both hands must jump at the same time, mentally feel as if one moves first. Oddly, your LH is often the better jumper, so launch it a millisecond before your RH. Practice this split-choreography slowly and purposely, then speed up. When you play at tempo, it’ll sound as if both hands are jumping together, but you’ll know which had the head-start! • Common Notes Notice common notes that help define the jump.

193 • Be Frugal In a long passage of jumps, work on each jump as a single unit. Eventually, you can combine them into longer runs. • Be Bold Jump sufficiently loudly to experience the jumps solidly, even when you make a mistake. Limply uncommitted jumps don’t get well embedded. (Westray) • LH Accompaniments Chopin’s accompaniments often feature a low bass note that establishes the harmony, followed by a wide jump. Generally, move down to the bass note in one gesture and pause there, rather than pausing before it. This lets the harmony resolve on its home-note, giving the ear time to register the harmony and the natural place for you to breathe between phrases. Not only does this sound more ‘singerly,’ but you don’t sound as if you paused because you’re afraid of the jump. Eventually you can reduce the pause and make the accompaniment flow more. • Color Arrive early enough to color the arrival note exactly as you wish. • Double the Challenge As an exercise in jumping, practice two-octave jumps up and down the keyboard (i.e., CàC, DàD, etc.).

TAKEAWAYS

Practice jumps silently several times, and then play aloud. Arrive early enough to temper the sound – but not so early that you hover. When both hands jump, lead with one (usually the LH). Stay loose and arc naturally to the destination notes in a single gesture. Psychologically think of the jump as smaller than it is. Practice your jumps while looking away from your hands.

194 HANDOUT ON AGILITY

• To increase agility, practice quietly and observantly – as if learning an etude. Enjoy the flow of 16ths, and let your hands play calmly together. (Covelli)

• Attitude Agility is often less about speed than being mentally with, or slightly ahead of, your fingers. “Practice slowly but think quickly” to connect your brain to your fingers. • Arm Feeding Align your arm bones behind your fingers so they can fly faster. • Buoyant Palm Maintain a pocket of air under your palm and drop in the notes from a slightly elevated hand-platform. • Black Keys Keep your arm in motion and use diagonal fingers on black keys for more secure skin contact. • Fingerings Find economical fingerings that fit your hand. Where possible, use standard fingering of scales, arpeggios and chords. Consider using similar fingerings on sequences even if your thumb must play on a black key. • Finger Substitutions Increase agility by doing quick 5-1 substitutions up and down the keyboard. Instead of rotating your elbow during the transfers, move your arm lightning- fast to throw and reposition your hand. When playing contrapuntal music, don’t let too many finger-substitutions render your hand ‘nervous’ and ruin the line. • Midline Crossings When crossing your midline, sit back so you don’t compress your arm. A short preparation is to stop and draw a few serpentines in the air with your thumb. Then return to the passage. As counterintuitive as this might seem, it works! (Pitchko)

TAKEAWAYS

“Practice slowly but think quickly” to connect your brain to your fingers. Align your arm bones behind your fingers. Keep arms in motion (not clamped to your side). Maintain a pocket of air under your palm and use economic fingerings that fit your hand.

195 MAY 2, ACCURACY and SECURITY

Stay low and work horizontally for a more secure connection to the keys. (Pitchko)

It had been so long since we’d heard Lambert play that it was wonderful to hear him unleashing his formidable technique on Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy. Honestly, the man played with an élan that left us breathless. But equally impressive was his soaring tone and intense musicality.

He turned to welcome us. “So, spring comes at last. Open the window and drink it in. Listen to the rushing streams. Smell the pines. Admire the sprouting wildflowers. Now, don’t look at me like that! What might spring in the mountains have to do with technique? A hint here, we’re talking senses.”

A pause, and then a jumble of suggestions: “Melting joints?” “Subtle colors?” And then from Amy, the clincher. “Rock strength below, with subtlety on top?”

Lambert punched the air, “Exactly! There’s nothing like metaphor, is there! Rock strength with subtle color is about strong bodies with velvety fingers to color the sound. At the risk of being tiresome, I refer you again to RAJASP. You needed Relaxation to unlock Agility. Agility to secure Jumps. Jumping technique to guarantee Accuracy. And Accuracy to give physical and psychological Security. I think these few pages will speak for themselves, so let’s begin.”

196 HANDOUT ON ACCURACY

• Focusing on the sound of the piano, leads to more accurate playing than focusing on one’s fingers. … Focusing on the trajectory of a tennis ball over the net leads to more accurate shots than focusing on the contact point of the ball on the racket. (Noa, bulletproofmusician.com, November 11, 2018) • ‘Aim’ to please. (Covelli)

• Learning and Re-learning Because the body makes no distinction between learning wrong notes and right ones, insist on practicing only correct notes. Mistakes triple your work because you must learn, unlearn and then relearn the passage. Repeated inaccuracies lay down neuro-muscular traces that will inevitably pop up during performance. Insisting on complete accuracy may feel slow at first, but you’ll get to a ‘final product’ faster. • Aiming Like walking, conceive exactly how you want to play rather than the means of getting there. As in so many things, intention directs accuracy. • Tempo Practice only at a tempo that lets you play accurately. If you’re not in your ‘Security Zone’ 95% of the time, you’re practicing too fast. • Ebb and Flow Imperceptibly slow down to navigate difficult passages, and then seamlessly return to tempo. This lets you perform the whole piece correctly in one ‘go.’ Soon, the slower sections will come up to tempo with less tension and inaccuracies. • Inner Notes Increase your accuracy in chordal passages by sometimes focusing on the inner rather than framing fingers.

TAKEAWAYS Insist on 100% accuracy when practicing. ‘Fixes’ tend to resurface during performance. Practice only at a tempo that lets you play accurately. Find a musical justification for tempo. Observe inner fingers as well as outside ‘framing’ fingers. Use Ebb and Flow, slowing for hard bits and then imperceptibly speeding up.

197 HANDOUT ON SECURITY

• Follow your hands visually, watching them crawl among the white and black keys. Memorize their motions, even for a few bars at a time. This caterpillar action fills up your legato, renders longer melodic lines, and increases a feeling of security. (Covelli) • Play with girth and width for sure-handed security. Let go of the keys as late as possible, rather than abandoning the keys early while your pedal holds the notes. (Covelli)

• Three of Four Security is about physical support, emotional calmness, mental focus, and independent fingers. Decide which aspect is most problematical for you and work there. Aim to both be secure and feel secure. (There’s a subtle difference between them). • Coordination and Balance Security demands coordination between interconnected body parts. For example, raised shoulders can lead to clenched biceps, and stiff elbows can lock up hands. Security comes from balance rather than holding. • Body Stillness A swaying torso disrupts keyboard contact and reduces overall stability. If you find yourself hanging onto the keys, pause to lightly re-engage your core and steady your torso. Then put your ‘movement’ into phrasing, listening and intent. • Weightless Make peace with gravity and use it for security. • Fingers and Thumb The slight pull of skin on your fingertips will signal your brain where you are. For increased security, fill up the tone with a light inward-grip. Avoid dusting the keys or playing on finger tiptoes. Check your thumb for tension. • Performing Security is both physical and psychological. Onstage, remind yourself that every unfamiliar piano has the same number of keys and basic mechanism as yours at home. Make friends and partner with it, rather than fighting it. ‘Viva la difference’ and play your heart out! TAKEAWAYS Security is both the aim and result of a good technique executing a clear musical intent. Stay still and balanced – rather than ‘hanging on’ or gripping for security. Practice and perform at a tempo that makes you feel secure and relaxed.

198 MAY 9, PAIN

The list of famous pianists with injuries is much longer than most people think – it includes Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, Artur Schnabel, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Clara Schumann, Glenn Gould, Richard Goode and many others. (Mark)

Despite the seriousness of the topic, Lambert seemed positive – even ebullient about the topic of our last class. “I hate to end on a negative note, but many of you have asked me about Pain. What causes it, how to avoid it, and how to fix it. You’re not alone. Pain is pretty common for even the greatest pianists. Glenn Gould, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Artur Schnabel, and many others suffered pain. As Thomas Mark noted,

Their injuries indicate that their techniques were flawed from a movement point of view.

Lambert handed out what was to prove one of our most useful summaries. “Today we finish up RAJASP, so that tomorrow you can fly home and start practicing properly!

No one moved. Was this to be our goodbye? Even with final concerts looming, we were reluctant to leave our favorite professor. Frankly, we were feeling a little sentimental. It would take years to absorb the treasury that Lambert had given us. But mostly we would miss the man – his warmth, his energy, his humor, his optimism, and his fanatical insistence on excellence. Pretending to misunderstand our silence, Lambert briskly began packing up his papers. We slung on our backpacks, but were arrested by his now-familiar chortle.

“Hey, you think we’re going to part like that? After all we’ve been through? Here!” He reached under his desk and took out a tray covered with a fresh white linen. As he whisked it off, we gratefully inhaled the mouthwatering scent of buttery croissants. “Help yourselves!” We rushed up front, as eager for Lambert’s company as for the treat. And then a strange silence fell ….

199 Unobserved during our chatter, Lambert had lowered himself onto the piano bench for the last time. He bowed his head reverently and began playing the unearthly opening of Beethoven’s Adagio, Opus 111. “Don’t think for a minute that this course has been about Anatomy and Exercises. It’s been about music all along. As Leon Fleisher famously says,

All the technique in the world does no good if you don’t have something to say.

“So, let’s listen to what Beethoven had to say in this last movement of his last sonata.” We drifted back to our seats, eager to hear an extended piece without Lambert’s usual self-interruptions. The playing was breathtaking. Heartbreaking. Holy. And oh, so Human! Fifteen minutes later, Lambert rose creakily from the bench and joined our party. His laugh was as hearty as ever, but he was obviously spent. These classes had probably taken as much from him as they had given us. How could we thank him for all those weeks of fierce instruction and copious handouts?

Determined to celebrate, we whooped our appreciation and escorted him into the square for a parting beer. Spring had come at last with its promise of renewal. And we too were ready to fly off and begin afresh our life in Piano.

200 HANDOUT ON PAIN

• Roughly 95 percent of pianists’ injuries are not medical problems; they do not come from illness or trauma but from the way the person habitually uses his body…An injured pianist does not need a doctor, he needs a teacher, and the solution to the near- epidemic of pianists’ injuries will come not from therapy but from education. (Thomas Mark, “Pianist’s Injuries”) • Our bodies can become used to inefficient movements as well as efficient ones, and when we become used to them, the inefficient ones feel "natural." (Mark, “Pianist’s Injuries”) • Force that is not converted into movement does not simply disappear, but is dissipated into damage done to joints, muscles, and other sections of the body used to create the effort. Energy not converted into movement turns into heat within the system and causes changes that will require repair before the system can operate efficiently again. (Fraser, pg. 398)

• Repetitions It is said that any activity requiring 1500 repetitions per hour is considered “highly repetitive” This is nothing compared to piano playing. If we were to practice 16th notes at 120 for an hour, we would be playing 28,800 repetitions in an hour! • Painful Reminders Think of pain as an early warning system that you’re misusing some part of your body. If you notice heat building up in your wrist or elbow, stop and slowly investigate another way to play that will take the pressure off your joints. • Co-contraction Avoid co-contractions such as lifting rounded fingers above your knuckles. In this case, you’re using your flexor muscles underneath your hand at the same time as extensor muscles on top of it. Let the springs return the keys to neutral with no effort on your part, so you’re playing mostly your flexors. • Static muscular activity When a muscle contracts, it gets shorter and inhibits blood circulation. If contracted too long, it becomes fatigued and prone to injury. When a

201 muscle releases, it lengthens again and lets blood carry away its waste products. (see Klickstein blog, “5 Causes of Injury”) • Excessive force It takes 50 grams or the weight of ten nickels to depress a key. Doubling the exerted force multiplies the stress on the tendons by a factor of five. So, aim for maximum effect with minimum effort. (Klickstein) • Overuse When tendons slide through sheaths at the joints, a lubricating fluid reduces friction. This fluid is used up during movement and is restored during rest. Therefore, take regular breaks, limit repetitions, and avoid sudden increases in practice time. • Accidents Take care of your hands in daily life. Don’t rush, use wheeled carts, and be attentive when lifting or carrying things with your hands. • Height of Bench and Wrist Both sitting too high and too are problematical (see Sitting ). Follow Chopin’s advice to sit with your forearm parallel to the floor and see if this helps. • Twisting Avoid ulnar deviation of the forearm or over-rotation of the wrist. Both stress the tendons passing from the forearm into the hand.

If your fingers hurt • Stabilize your fingers at your knuckles. Don’t let them collapse. • Use finger elasticity rather than dead weight. Especially don’t drop weight on your 5th or thumb. • Use flatter fingers, pulling them naturally in towards your palm rather than poking them down. • Play from the key surface, never lifting your fingers above your knuckles. • ‘Give it away’ with no pressing, clinging, or gripping of the keybed. • Develop finger agility with quick light repetitions on a single key. • Put your awareness on your palm muscles (that you can’t see) rather than the top tendons that you can. • Let the keyboard open up your fingers rather than raw stretching of them.

202 If your wrist hurts • Keep it basically level with your elbow and knuckles. • Gauge the key bottom and don’t push extra weight through your wrist onto your fingers. • Whenever possible. let your hand return to ease – especially between octaves, big chords. • Use quickly applied finger energy for fortes rather than wrist force. • Make sure your wrist isn’t initiating sound. Let any weight pass through it neutrally.

If your elbow hurts • Imagine your elbow as floating and reacting to finger action rather than initiating it. • Use your elbow to feed your hand in and out of the keyboard. This feels like playing from behind your elbow. • Never administer hammer-blows from your elbow. • Let your elbow hang naturally by your side rather than stuck out to the side or circling too much.

If your shoulder hurts • Lower your shoulders by sliding your shoulder blades down your back. • Never grind weight downwards from your shoulders into your chest and arms. • To stop your heavy head from pressuring your shoulders, look up and smile. • To reach the keyboard extremes, lean in a little as if embracing a big keg of beer. • Become aware of that little ‘pin’ in the front hollow of your shoulder. Use it as a point of stability and play from there rather than from the top, sides or back of your shoulder.

203 If your back hurts • Spread your legs to sit more forward on your sitting bones. Then feed your torso in and out from your hip-joints. • Adjust how closely you sit to the piano. Generally, sit about 3” from the edge of a bench such that your top leg muscles hang down from your bones and your elbows hang slightly in front of your torso. • Movement dispels tension and heat, so steer your phrases from free stable hips. • Engage your front abdominal wrap to support your lower back and hip cradle. • Use visualization to move the initiating point of your playing mechanism lower in your body (even right into your abdomen). • Raised elbows put pressure on your mid-back, so let them hang naturally by your sides.

• Strengthen your fingers to reduce the work of your lower back.

204