SOUND AND TOUCH
Sound production should be considered part of technique in a broader sense, for technique is
much more than the ability to play notes rapidly and evenly.
An instructor should give advice on “how to achieve a beautiful sound, what do to with the
hands or arms to make the piano sing, or what one needs to du physically to create the
sensation of a change in color.
In short, you cannot refine your touch without refining your ear. Two kinds of “musical ears.”
One is the “subjective ear, ” the pianist’s image of the kind of sound he would like to produce.
The more specific the image, the better the results will be. The other is the “objective ear,”
which refers to the musician’s ability to monitor the sound that actually comes from under his
fingers.
There is no such thing as beautiful sound; but there is sound appropriate to a particular style,
piece, or passage
When talking about beautiful sound, they usually mean a singing, long-lasting tone that reveals
as little as possible of the piano’s inherently percussive nature.
“In” type sound：
Rachmaninov talked about fingers growing roots in the keyboard. Joseph Hoffmann said that
the sound should be produced as if there were a very ripe strawberry sitting on a key and you
had to push through it.
One is the deliberate speed of the process: the slow pace at which the roots grow, and the
unhurried tempo at which the strawberry must be penetrated to avoid a messy keyboard. The
other is the continuous quality of the process; the roots grow without stopping at a certain
point. The “in” type, is based on a slow immersion in the keyboard: the action continues even
after the sound has been produced as if the moment of the attack were ignored. The weight
brought into the key stays there without being released; it is then “poured” into the next note
of the phrase.
”Out” type sound：
The sound is produced by a quick stroke as if the finger left the key even before the sound
could be heard.
Playing in this way, the pianist should not direct the movement downward into the keyboard.
Rather, he should employ a circular (tangential) motion, as if passing through the key but not
stopping. The pianist directs the motion toward himself as if he were “grabbing” the sound
from the keyboard and bringing it out.
What is important to me is that both this motion and the “out” way as discussed above do not
aim vertically downward but touch the key at an angle. Both motions can be described as
caressing; they both allow the finger to glide along the key. I find it more practical to move the
hands toward me instead of away from the body because in the latter case the piano’s nameboard restricts the movement on the far end.
For loud playing, I am afraid, the “in” approach almost never succeeds.
My solution to avoid the harshness of sound is to switch to the “out” way using a “hit-and-run”
approach. The louder the dynamic level is, the faster the movement should be. If the notes
must be sustained, the fingers do not leave the keys, but the weight of the hands is used for the
attack only, and they do not sink into the keys even for a moment.
The pianist needs to know what physical actions influence the sound and in what way. First I
would like to mention one physical constant that is indispensable for producing rich, nuance
tone: flexible wrist. Josef Lhevinne compared its role to that of shock absorbers in a car. The
wrist cushions the sound and absorbs the excess force. (frequently the pianist uses the elbow
as an additional shock absorber)
1. Weight. The more weight that is applied to the key, the fuller (and/louder) the sound.
The pianist needs to be able to use the full weight of his fingers, hand, forearm, and
upper arm. Equally important is knowing how not to use weight when a lighter sonority
is required.
2. Mass. This variable concerns how much of the body is involved in sound production. The
sound can be produced with the finger alone or with the finger supported by the hand,
or with finger supported by the hand plus the forearm, or with the finger supported by
the hand plus the forearm plus the upper arm. The bigger the participation joint – that
is, the greater the mass – the fuller the sound.
When we want to increase the volume we activate the bigger joints. When we want to
stay at the same dynamic level, however, and at the same time, achieve a fuller sound, we seek
the support of the bigger joints, rather than their overt participation. To help my students
accomplish the goal, I often mention that they should develop the feeling of a long finger or
imagine that all the juices from the arm are flowing into the finger. Another useful image is that
of a “long neck” to help feel an uninterrupted succession of muscles from behind one’s ear to
the neck, to the upper arm, and so forth down to the fingertip.
3. Speed. The speed with which the finger strikes the key contributes to changes not only
in volume but also in articulation. Elementary physics teaches us that speed can be
developed only over a certain distance. This means that a finger needs to fall from a
certain height unless we want to play very softly. The greater the speed we want to
develop, the higher we should position the finger.
The “out” way of playing, I stated that its basic movement must be fast. Yet gradations
of speed can add much variety to this type of touch. I talk about “taking” the sound out
of the piano as opposed to “pulling” it or, on the other end of the spectrum, “tearing” it
out as opposed to “plucking.”
Speed not only can compensate for insufficient weight, it can also be interchangeable
with mass. A similar dynamic level can be achieved by using a larger joint with lesser speed, or a
smaller joint with greater speed. The decision regarding the course of action to take depends
on the pianist’s feeling of the sound that is best suited or most appropriate stylistically for a
particular piece of music. A mezzo-forte singing line in Mozart, for example, may require using
fingers to activate keys fairly, probably supported by the hand, possibly with just a little
participation of the forearm. In contrast, a similar dynamic level in a Rachmaninov work will be
best produced by bringing the weight of the arm into the key with a relatively slow speed.
When playing on a dull piano, the correct approach in such case is to use a very fast and
light stroke. In contrast, if the piano is very bright, a slower speed of the stroke and a very light
touch will prevent the sound from being ugly.
4. Perception of depth.
Deep and shallow touch. One usually plays deep into the key to achieve a singing tone.
A common mistake is to aim deep while playing loudly but to use a much shallower
stroke while playing softly. For developing the deep touch in piano, Esipova’s advice is
very useful: “First practice the phrase and in the dynamics of mezzo-forte. Afterward
repeat it with the same feeling of depth, but very softly. Keep switching from one way of
playing to the other.
The depth of the touch should remain the same for the duration of a phrase or passage.
Inconsistent touch, when adjacent notes are produced in different layers of depth, is
clearly noticeable to the trained ear and testifies to the pianist’s poor sound control.
However, not all lines in the musical texture need to sing; for those that do not, a
shallower touch may be more appropriate. For each particular line or phrase we aim for
a certain depth in keys. It is crucial to sustain this depth until the nature of the material
changes.
Very often we have two or more elements, played simultaneously or in quick
succession, each performed with a different depth. Obviously, this situation requires great
ability to control the touch especially when these different elements appear in the part of the
same hand. In such cases, the pianist develops the feeling of a “split hand,” when one half of it
aims into a deeper layer within the keys than the other.
When the “out” way of playing is used, the difference in depth can be as effective as
with the “in” touch. For the “out” approach I encourage students to imagine taking (or pulling,
tearing, and so on) the sound from a deeper or shallower layer within the keyboard.
5. The shape of the fingers. “it is almost an axiom the say that the smaller the surface of
the first joint of the finger touching the key, the harder and blunter the tone; the larger
the surface, the more ringing and singing the tone.” The difference in sound is made by
touching the key with either the fleshier part of the finger or with the tip. To play music
that requires clarity of articulation, the pianist often curves his fingers so that the
smallest joint is almost perpendicular to the keys. On the other hand, efforts to create a
singing sound of great warmth will succeed if the fingers assume a flatter position,
shaping the phrase as if molding warm clay. To avoid muscular tension, fingers should
never be outstretched more than is natural. The physiologically correct position can be
checked by letting the arm hang freely alongside the body; the fingers will naturally
assume their proper curved position.
6. The role of fingertips. Whether one uses flatter or more rounded fingers, the sensitivity
of the fingertips is of supreme importance. The tips of the fingers have to be “alert” and
active even in the softest and most delicate passages. Alertness and activity of the
fingertips are indispensable for projecting sound in a concert hall, especially in soft
passages.
Insufficient legato. To remedy it, the pianist needs to stay in the key with the weight he
brought in, not to withdraw it but to pass it to the next finger. I cannot emphasize
enough that I am talking here about the weight and not the pressure, which should be
avoided at all cost.
Control over dynamics is an important manifestation of cultivated touch. Heightened
awareness of the differentiation of dynamics can be traced to the piano literature of the
early twentieth century. Baroque music used just two indications, forte and piano,
almost exclusively.
It was Debussy who revolutionized our perception of the scale of dynamics. Whereas
Liszt reached new horizons in matters of velocity, Debussy raised the level of awareness
of touch control to an unprecedented height. His indications require precise changes of
minute dynamic gradations. Even more demanding are the occurrences when he uses
several layers of texture within the same dynamic level, each requiring a touch and
articulation.
Every pianist’s dynamic scale is different. Often ask a student to play a short melodic
phrase repeatedly, changing the dynamics on my request. Starting with mf, we proceed
to pp, to f, to mp, to p, and then back to mf. The objective of this exercise is to establish
a scale of dynamics to teach the pianist, for example, that mf is not merely somewhat
louder than p, but exactly two steps above it.
Playing two or more notes simultaneously, we must prioritize, or voice, the dynamics
between them. The more notes that are struck simultaneously, the more important the
issue of voicing becomes, particularly in loud playing. Nothing on the piano sounds more
vulgar than a loud chord in which all notes shout indiscriminately. Each chord must have
a certain leading note, while the other tones in the chords should be voiced down. To
accomplish this, the pianist needs to decide which sound in the chord (or which line in
the chordal progression) to highlight. Then he must have enough control over his fingers
and enough finger independence to execute it.
In the past several hundred years the leading melodic line was entrusted with increasing
frequency to the top voice. As a result, our ear habitually craves the clarity of the top
line. In chordal textures, the highest note of the chord is almost always the melodic one
and needs to be highlighted.
Even the less-complicated texture, for instance, of many Chopin nocturnes, valses, or
mazurkas requires careful treatment. What many inexperienced players regard as twopart writing (melody and accompaniment) is, in fact, three-part writing: melody, low
bass, and chords in the middle register, or the harmonic “stuffing”. Beautiful sonority is
achieved only if the bass has a resonant, airy quality and the stuffing is played very
lightly and sensitively. Balance among these components will determine the way one
uses the pedal. The separation of sonorities among these strata will help the performer
to reveal the inner life of each of these layers and enhance the clarity of the voice
leading.
In accompaniment presented in the form of rolled arpeggios, one should not play each
note of an arpeggio with the same degree of loudness. Usually after the full and
resonant low bass the few notes that follow it are played softer, gradually emerging
with a slight dynamic increase.
Phrases cannot sing without the pianist listening between the notes. (listening through)
Often a Classical or Romantic composer writes a melody in parallel thirds or sixth,
evoking the sonority of two woodwind instruments, or three-note chords that are
suggestive of trumpet or French horns. It can be useful to remember that in the
orchestra these instruments play such passages on the same dynamic level, without
highlighting the top voice.
Do not forget that the harp is a plucked instrument. The pianist should play harp notes
with round, tensed fingers – sempre poco staccato – within the sustained pedal. In
rapid, sharply ripped -off arpeggios, the finger-play is assisted by movements of the
wrist.
TECHNIQUES
(1) Independent use of well-articulated fingers
(2) Rotation movements of wrists or forearm, as well as thrust initiated by these body parts
(3) Use of weight of the forearm and upper arm as the source of the pianist's physical
activity
A combination of well-articulated action by fingers with the flexibility and fluidity provided by
the wrist assures naturally expressive and clear piano playing. Finally, the weight of bigger joints
gives body to the sound and often provides a welcome release of tension. Substitution of effort
with weight allows for brief moments of relaxation so important for the pianist. Relying to
much on weight, though, can also produce unwanted thickness and heaviness of playing.
Different actions almost never can be separated from each other. In practice, fingers are always
supported by bigger joints. At the same time, the action of the hand or forearm should never be
an excuse for the fingers to dangle passively, like limp noodles on a fork.
We should be prepared to use different technical approaches for different repertoire.
In my view, the style of the piece requires clarity of articulation best achieved by finger action.
Light, lateral movements of the wrist along the contour of the melodic line generally bring
natural expressivity to the playing.
In addition, a light, ascending movement of the wrist at the end of every phrase will help make
them sound light, inconclusive.