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Social Sciences & Humanities Library
University of California, San Diego
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CI 39 (5/97) UCSD Lib.
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HOW T O PLAY THE PIANO
MARK HAMBOURG
HOW TO
PLAY THE PIANO
BY
MARK HAMBOURG
WITH PRACTICAL - ILLUSTRATIONS AND
DIAGRAMS AND AN ABRIDGED COMPEN-
DIUM OF FIVE-FINGER EXERCISES, SCALES,
THIRDS, ARPEGGI, OCTAVES AS
PRACTISED BY HIM
THEODORE PRESSER CO.
I7I1 CHESTNUT STREET
♦ PHILADELPHLA*
COPYRIGHT, 1922.
BY THEO. PRESSEE 00.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEDICATED TO MY FRIEKD
D. MUIR
FOREWORD
Mark Hambourg was born in Bogutchar in the province of
Voronesh, South Russia, on May 30th, 1879, and showed promise
of great musical talent at such an early age that his father, himself
a professor of advanced piano-playing, personally took his musical
education in hand, and brought him out at Moscow as a juvenile
prodig}' in 1889, afterwards taking him to tour in England. In
1891 he left London, whither his family had migrated, and went to
study under Leschctitzky in V^ienna, where he remained three
years. After winning the Liszt Scholarship during that period,
he made his debut as a full-grown pianist in 1894 at a Philharmonic
Concert in Vienna under the conductorship of Dr. Richter, and
a year later made his bow to the London public at a concert of
the Philharmonic Society, following this up by giving four recitals
of his own as well as fulfilling a number of important engagements
in the principal cities of Europe.
In 1895 came IMark Hambourg's first Australian tour, which
was a sensational success. During the following year he played
at many important concerts in England before leaving for a second
tour in Australia in 1897. For two years after the conclusion
of this tour Mark Hambourg devoted himself more particularly
to general study, his public activity being confined to a few concerts
in England, Germany and Switzerland. This period of study
paved the way for further achievements during the first American
tour upon which he embarked in the autumn of 1899. A period of
great activity followed in England and on the Continent, the
pianist's engagements including a series of recitals at the Queen's
Hall, appearances at the Cardiff Festival in 1902, and at Lamoureux
and Colonne Concerts in Paris.
A second American tour of 80 concerts, followed by a third
visit to Australia and a tour in South Africa, which latter was
undertaken primarily for change and rest, but which proved also
to be a most successful venture, fully occupied Mark Hambourg's
time until 1906, esiK-cially as he had to fulfil many engagements
in ICngland as well. His recital at the Queen's Hall on June i8th
of the same year marked his one thousandth appearance in public.
In 1907 he made his second tour in South Africa, which occupied
the whole of that spring and sununer. In October of the same
vii
▼iii FOREWORD
year followed a third American tour, while in July, 1908, after
a great farewell concert at the Albert Hall, which was attended
by over 6000 people, came a fourth visit to Australia extending
over six months.
He has been twice touring all over Canada and then again
throughout Europe. In 191 4 he was in the United States for the
fourth time. Mark Hambourg's activities are ever on the increase,
and during the year 1920 he played over 120 recitals in Great
Britain alone, while since he has been continuously playing in
Paris, on the Continent generally, and all over the world.
CONTENTS
PART ONE: HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
rAGB
CHAPTER
I PROLOGUE : PREPARING FOR THE PIANISX'S CAREER ... 13
II HOW TO PRACTISE *"
III ON TECHNIQUE GENERALLY ^7
IV CAN YOU PLAY A SCALE? 3°
V ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES FOR STUDY .....•• 35
VI SOME FURTHER HINTS HOW TO MASTER THE KEYBOARD . 42
VII ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES ... 47
VIII ON FINGERING AND MEMORY OI
IX SOME COMMON MISTAKES AND ADVICE HOW TO AVOID THEM 70
X HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND HOW TO USE THE
PEDAL 70
XII A SPECIMEN LESSON : THE ' MOONLIGHT SONATA FIRST
MOVEMENT ( BEETHOVEN) 9^
XIII PLAYING IN PUBLIC 9°
XIV EPILOGUE : THE PIANO AS A HOUSEHOLD FRIEND, AND HOW
TO CHOOSE AND CARE FOR ONE 103
PART TWO: ABRIDGED COMPENDIUM OF EXER-
CISES, ETC.. FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS
XV FIVE-FINGER EXERCISES, SCALES AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES . IO9
XVI SCALES IN THIRDS AND OCTAVE EXERCISES II8
The fingering used in this book is the Continental fingering.
PART ONE
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
Chapter I
PROLOGUE: PREPARING FOR THE PIANIST'S CAREER
Let us consider a little what possibilities and difficulties await
the youth who desires nowadays to take up the piano professionally,
and carve out a career for himself with its aid. It is, first of all,
necessary to bear in mind that the present-day public demands
greater attainment than ever before from executant artists. At
least the case is rather that the existing conditions under which
we live tend to make all endeavour very strenuous, therefore it
grows increasingly hard to arrive at distinction in any walk of life.
COMPETITION IN THE MUSICAL WORLD
To begin with, competition is very great, and in the musical
world there are many more artists, and many more concerts than
formerly; also though the best talent is still most rare and precious,
yet the general level of achievement is no doubt a good deal higher
than it used to be. The young student therefore must seriously
consider the outlook in front of him before he decides to take
up the arduous career of a pianist, and I need scarcely mention
that his first business should be to try and ascertain whether he
has a decided disposition for the instrument. Unless he possesses
this, it is in the highest degree a waste of time for him to commence
the study of it at all.
Of course it is hard for the young, or even for friends around
them to determine the exact measure of their capacity at the outset,
for real talent is in itself a fusic^n of so many different qualities.
The gift or inborn disposition for music does not necessarily
develop into true talent in the sense in which T understand it,
namely, as a certain power containing within it elements which
are able to bring forth great superiority of atlninment in whatsoever
branch of the human intcIHgcnce they actuate. It is strange that
13
14 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
the faculty of easy musical expression alone is not enoug^h to ensure
success, though people have often been dehuled into thinking so,
and thereby much bitter disappointment and misery have been
caused to unrecognized aspirants after fame.
How many there are who give the impression of being
astonishingly endowed with the musical instinct, and even possess
what is known as perfect pitch, which appears to be an unerring
discrimination of the ear between the various sounds of the scale.
Such people certainly seem to have a wonderful natural facility in
all things appertaining to music, yet they often do not arrive at
any particular eminence in the profession. One is told that it is
such a pity "So and So" has such a genius for music, but is so
lazy he will not work, or so nervous he cannot do himself justice,
or that some other drawback hinders him ! But the fact probably
is, in cases like these, that the musical propensity is there no doubt,
sometimes even in a high measure, but the necessary talent or
power is not present with it, to enable it to attain a successful
development.
What, then, should the student seek for in himself when he
feels that he has the gift of music and wonders whether he possesses
sufficient talent accompanying it to succeed professionally? Well,
he must consider, amongst other things, if he is capable of many
years of hard unremitting work at the development of the technical
side of his art. He must also find in himself physical endurance,
courage, coolness in emergency, command of nerves, determination,
inexhaustible patience, self-confidence, and, above all, such a love
of his art for its own sake as will carry him over every
disappointment.
THE BEST TEACHER
But allowing that he has the signs within him of all these
needful qualities, or at least he thinks he has, and he decides to
take up the study of the piano seriously, he has then to make up
his mind about his first practical necessity, and this is undoubtedly
to go and learn with the very best teacher he can procure. There
is nothing that helps so much as to be really well taught from the
very beginning. So many artists have had to go through irksome
and irritating labour in later life, and lost much valuable time
in having to undo the effects of bad tuition in student days. It
is therefore an enormous benefit to the beginner if whoever is
responsible for his education insists on his being sent from the
outset to a really good and experienced professor. At this early
stage, also, I estimate it as most important that the student, though
PROLOGUE: PREPARING FOR THE PIANIST'S CAREER 15
he should work regularly and conscientiously, should not study for
too long at a time.
Personally I have always found that two hours at a stretch of
careful practice is quite enough at one sitting, and it is far better
to do several periods of work in the day of shorter duration than
to be at it for many hours together. The mind and ear only
become confused after a protracted time of work by the constant
blur of sound and then the practising degenerates into merely
senseless repetitions without discrimination. Besides w^hich the
fatigue and strain put upon the nerves by such protracted study
are very injurious to the young student's health, and tend to impair
his constitution before any of the wear and tear of his profession
begin.
TAKE CARE OF THE STUDENT's HEALTH
Here let me say, that it is most important to remember to look
after the physical health of the youthful pianist, and to build up
his strength by constant exercise and fresh air, for later on if he is
to be successful, he will have to be fit to endure every sort of
strain, such as long hours in the train, much nervous excitement,
great bodily fatigue. I am perfectly certain that good health and
strength are absolutely indispensable to the modern professional
pianist, and the sort of notion that an artist consists generally
of a pale and sickly creature with delicate lungs and over-strung
nerves is a conception of fiction! High strung, his profession will
make him, and sensitive, but he must have his nerves well under
control and healthy, otherwise he will never survive the tension of
public life.
There is no doubt that the unaccountable failures of some people
with really great talents, who deserved recognition, have been due to
their neglect of health and their consequent inability through sheer
physical weakness to face the tests put upon them. Just think what
a long concert tour means to the artist in the way of endurance!
Night after night appearing in big important engagements, with all
the responsibility they entail ; day after day long journeys by train
or steamer, often many nights travelling too; yet, in spite of all
that, on arrival he must always i)e ready to play with energy, spirit
and unflagging interest, otherwise he will not inspire or convince
his audience. The faculty of interesting and carrying away his
hearers by the power of his imagination working upon them through
the music, is another cjuality most needful to the artist. H he is
to succeed he must acquire it. or rather develop it. and it can only
come through his learning to sink himself in whatsoever he is
16 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
playing to such a dogrce that his whole soul and mind become one
with the music he is interpreting, and thus it speaks forth with
mesmeric conviction to the listeners around him.
I suppose one could fill volumes if one wished to descant upon
all the points which go to the making of a fine pianist. But this
is only meant to be a general introduction to my remarks on the
study of the piano, which I have been asked to write for students
and others who may be interested in the subject. I can therefore
only touch here, as they occur to me, upon a few of the most
salient essentials for those who intend to go in for the profession.
DEVELOPING THE MUSICAL MEMORY
Having spoken of good tuition, hard work and health, I come
to another vital consideration, namely, the development of a reliable
memory. It has become the fashion for all instrumental soloists
to perform in public by heart; it is a habit that has only grown
up in the last thirty years, and I do not know that it is always
a good one. For the mere presence of the music upon the piano
will often give greater confidence to the nervous performer, and
ensure his giving a good account of his work, while the absence
of it-may so obsess his mind with the fear of forgetting that he
will be unable to let himself go in the interpretation which he
had prepared. However, the public generally, more or less, expects
that the pianist should play from memory, and probably, if he
has no fear of its failing him, he does under these circumstances
give a freer and consequently more inspired rendering of his music.
At any rate, it is an urgent point to cultivate a good memory.
With many musicians this memory is a gift of itself, and needs
only constant and ordered use to make it perfectly reliable. On
the other hand, there are frequent instances of very great artists
whose memory will play them tricks, and from one cause or another
even the best of them have been known to fail at times, often
merely from over-fatigue, ill-health, or some preoccupation. One
of the most extraordinary examples of this happened to a very
famous pianist at a concert. He was playing the Concerto of
Beethoven in C minor and had arrived at the second subject of
the beautiful slow movement which starts with a very similar
progression to the beginning of the second subject in the Adagio
of Mendelssohn's Concerto in G minor. The pianist started the
Beethoven second subject correctly, and then in a moment of
oblivion wandered away into the one in the Mendelssohn Concerto
to the astonishment of the audience and his own dismay when he
PROLOGUE: PREPARING FOR THE PIANIST'S CAREER 17
realized what he was doing ! It is said that this particular artist
never would play in public again without his music, so greatly
had he been upset by the occurrence.
The pianist has also to learn to control himself in the emergency
of forgetting, which is one of the most agonizing experiences that
an artist can undergo in public. But if he can only keep his
presence of mind, he can often extricate himself from his
predicament with the aid of his musical instinct, and that sometimes
so cleverly, that his lapse will pass unnoticed by any save the most
knowing amongst the audience. To do this of course needs great
command of nerve on the part of the performer, but as in every
public career emergencies do arise occasionally, it is an essential
part of the professional artist's equipment that he should know
how to meet them.
Kis own nervousness is one of the worst demons he has to
combat. Even very experienced players suffer from this on the
concert platform; in fact, as the artist gets older and under-
stands his responsibilities better he will feel, as a rule, more
nervous than the youth who does not realize so much. But his
greater experience will help him naturally to obtain the mastery
over this difficulty, and even to turn the inner excitement it causes
to good account. For when he can command it, this tension of
the nerves will stimulate the brain to greater activity and thus
will help the performer to give a more vivid interpretation to the
music than if he was feeling quite cold and indifferent. I have
never known any really fine artist who did not sometimes suffer
from nervousness in public, but that need not frighten the beginner,
as through constant playing in concerts he will acquire the habit
of the platform to a certain extent, and gain the necessary control
over himself.
MINOR DIFFICULTIES
Many minor upsets in the way of small emergencies may occur
at any time during a concert which also the artist must not allow
to put liini r)ut. For instance, he may have a difficult or
unsympathetic conductor, if it is an orchestral concert, or the
orchestra may be poor and unreliable, and come in at the wrong
places. It once happened to mc that the wrong parts had been
brought for the orchestra, and when I came in to play and sat
down, prepared with the F IHat Concerto of Liszt, to my horror
they gaily started the opening bars of the Saint-Sacns' Concerto
in C minor! There was no time to protest, the audience was
sitting expectant. Luckily T knew the other concerto and so followed
18 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
bravely on with it. but I was certainly not prepared to play it at a
moment's notice in i)ublic. without looking through it first!
That contretemps arose from having no time to rehearse, and
I earnestly counsel all young pianists to insist upon a rehearsal
when pla\ing with the orchestra wherever possible, no matter how
much extra travelling or fatigue it may cause them. For it is
almost out of the question to obtain a really satisfactory performance
of a work from anyone's standpoint by just scrambling through
it, in terror all the time lest the orchestra should not follow you,
as happens when concertos are played in public without rehearsal.
Of course if the artist has done the same concerto many times
with the same conductor and orchestra, and they well know the
rendering he gives of the work, the case is rather different. Under
such conditions the pianist would be justified, if there was any
difficulty about a rehearsal, in doing without one, but even then
it is far better for the young artist to make a point of it.
There are two other things I would like to speak about before
closing this chapter, which are in close connection with the pianist's
outlook upon life. The first is, that I do recommend him most
sincerely not to neglect his general education and risk becoming
what used to be called " music simple ! " Music is such an absorbing
study, and taken professionally it uses up so much energy and
mind power, that it is difficult I know sometimes to keep up interest
in many other subjects at the same time, especially during student
years. But I am certain that it is an inestimable advantage to the
virtuoso to have his brain alive to every branch of intellectual
endeavour. For the broader and more enlightened his vision of
life, so much the finer and profounder his own art will become.
NEVER PLAY DOWN TO AN AUDIENCE
Secondly, though not quite in the category of what I have
just been saying, yet relative to the same high conception of his
art, I greatly urge the young professional never to play down to
an audience. By this I mean, never to be persuaded to play
second-rate music to a certain class of public on the plea that they
are not sufficiently educated to appreciate the best. This is the
greatest possible fallacy, as I know by experience, for I have
played all over the world to every sort and condition and class
of people, and I have always found that they respect and are
interested in one's art even when they do not quite understand
it all, and that they appreciate and desire the best a man can do.
The artist should always try to stimulate his public up to the
PROLOGUE: PREPARING FOR THE PIANIST'S CAREER 19
highest kind of music and never sink to clap-trap in order to
entice their passing fancy. Otherwise, though they may enjoy
themselves for the moment, they will not want to come again and
he will be lowered in their estimation to the level of what they
have heard from him.
To play up to the highest standard ought to be the cardinal
maxim of the young pianist, and then with hard work, enthusiasm
and unfailing resolution he will in time make his way up the
steep ladder into first rank and win the rewards of success.
Chapter II
HOW TO PRACTISE
I AM devoting this chapter entirely to the subject of how to
practise the piano, and shall try to point out here what I have
found from my experience to be the most efficacious way of
setting about it.
Broadly speaking, the cardinal rules to be observed in all
practising should be, first, great attention to detail ; second,
avoidance of over- fatigue, both mental and physical. It is also
most necessary for the attainment of the best results to set up
from the outset some fixed schedule of practising. Systematically
ordered work is such an inestimable help in all stages of piano-
playing, but more especially in the elementary one, as I myself
well know, for I had the good fortune to start my . pianoforte
education with teachers who were steeped in the best traditions.
My first one was my father. Prof. Michael Hambourg, who had
been a pupil of Nicholas Rubinstein; while my second, the famous
Leschetitzky, had studied with Czerny.
And Czerny especially represents the school of pianoforte
playing which has produced many of the greatest pianists of modern
times, his influence extending through Liszt, Anton Rubinstein,
Tausig, etc., down to many famous pianists of to-day. Therefore
I am a great believer in starting to study according to a good
method, or school, as we call it. Such a method will train the
mind and fingers in a definite and organized trend of technical
development.
Of course, it is a good thing as well to acquire a theoretical
and general musical education, but I think, especially in the training
of children who intend to become professionals later on, that it is
imperative that their main energy and time should be directed first
of all to learning how to master the technical difficulties of their
instrument. I do not believe that musical children learn much
away from the piano, at least they cannot acquire the actual
mechanical facility of playing except at the keyboard. I wish to
lay stress on this fact, because there are in fashion just now so
many clever ways of educating children musically. For instance,
they are taught how to compose fugues in imitation of Bach after
30
HOW TO PRACTISE 21
a few hours of tuition, etc. This kind of instruction is doubtless
of advantage in stimulating general musical knowledge and, above
all, for training unmusical little ones and developing the faculty
which might otherwise be completely lost to them, but in the
education of the young pianist such systems must never be allowed
to obscure the main issue, which has always to be, first of all,
the acquirement of absolute proficiency at the keyboard.
Practice in early childhood should never be for a period of
more than half an hour, aad the whole amount to be done should
not exceed one hour. Also care ought to be taken to procure music
for children to study which will appeal to their imaginations, and
even their exercises should be in pleasant forms of sound, which
will help to keep them interested. And the best thing is to instil
as soon as possible into the mind of the child the desire for beauty
of touch and clearness of execution.
NO CHILD SHOULD PRACTISE ALONE
No child ought to be left to practise by himself; someone
should always sit with him and see that he gives each note its
full value. To attain this object it is excellent to make the little
one count out aloud while playing. The pedal should never be
permitted, and each hand ought to be practised separately. For
if the two hands are worked together the concentration of the
mind is divided, instead of being directed to one thing at a time.
Besides, a certain amount of covering up of the sound goes on
when both hands are playing, which is bad, and impedes clearness
of execution and conception of the difficulties to be contended
with.
These remarks about the separate practice of each hand are
intended to apply mainly to the purely mechanical exercises, such
as are used for the articulation of the fingers, etc. It is important,
also, that such exercises should be easy and not strain the hand,
for very serious results can develop from overstraining of the
hand in childhood. Exercises and scales must be practised in all
the keys, not only in C major in which they are generally written,
as it is of great benefit to the child to be able to play as easily in
one key as another. Another good maxim to be observed is not
to allow exercises to be repeated ad nauseam, over and over again,
as the mind only gets bewildered with the unceasing repetitions,
and no result can then be obtained.
I am speaking here at some length about the practising of a
child, as, if the routine of good systematic work is acquired in
22 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
early yoiUh, it becomes a habit and continues naturally throughout
lite.'
I now arrive at a further stage, when, having been carefully
initiated, the young student begins to consider the piano as his
life-work. His problem then becomes that of all pianists, both
great and small, namely and principally, how to practise in such
a way as to obtain the maximum of economy in time and effort,
to keep always fresli in mind and to avoid too much repetition.
Generally I advise that the average practice of an advanced
student and, indeed, of any pianist, be not more than five hours
a day, and not less than three, under ordinary circumstances.
Those who have no technical talent at all and have great difficulty
in acquiring adequate mastery of means, or those whose musical
memory is weak, can practise more, and often do, but on the whole
very extended hours of study only tend to staleness. In any case
the student should devise a systematic way of dividing up his
hours of practice if he wants to get the best profit out of his
work. For until he has experience in concert playing and the
frequent opportunity of performing in public (which thing, of
course, impedes practising and also obviates to some extent the
necessity of it), he must always give a certain definite time every
day to purely technical study.
A REGULAR DAILY COURSE
To this end the pianist ought to draw up for himself a regular
course to be pursued, such as the following. First, a short space
should always be given to finger technique, ten minutes of scales,
ten minutes of arpeggi. Scales to be played in four different keys
each day, with their accompanying arpeggi in every development,
also the chromatic and contrary motion scales. Thus if four
scales in four different keys are done each day, the whole range of
scales will be got through every three days. After these scales
ten or twelve jive-finger exercises, comprising all the positions
of the hand, can be worked at. Hanon's and Czerny's Exercises
are the ones which I particularly recommend; they are quite
excellent for helping to acquire an even and rapid articulation
of the fingers. Also as the student advances he should add
Moszkowski's school of thirds and sixths to his daily round.
The reason why all this technical daily study is so essential is,
because to obtain a supple, easy mastery of the piano, it is necessary
to possess a real athletic agility of fingers, hands and arms. And
just as an athlete in training does a fixed amount of regular exercises
HOW TO PRACTISE 23
every day, to keep the muscles of his whole body in elasticity and
fitness, so must the pianist go through a similar process to train his
arms, hands and fingers.
COMMON SENSE PRACTICE
Now there are many common sense axioms to be observed
in the details of practising, which the student will find out by
experience. For instance, if he has to play on a certain day a
piece in which many octaves and double notes occur, he should
on that day make a point of practising only scales and exercises
for the simple articulation of the fingers. He should take care
during his working hours not to study the same octave and double-
note techniques as are to be foufid in the piece that he will be
playing later on in tlie day, for if he does so he will risk suffering
from lameness of the hands. Such lameness will appear from
working the hands too long in certain extended positions as are
peculiar to octave playing, etc. Therefore great variety of motion
must always be aimed at, in order to keep the hands fresh and
vigorous. Also should the student experience the slightest fatigue
in the hand when playing scales and passages, let him instantly
cease until that feeling has quite passed away.
OCTAVE EXERCISES
Much practising of octave exercises should ever be avoided, for
as the action used in playing octaves is a good deal produced by
the contraction of the muscles of the forearm, continuous work
of this sort tends to strain them, and generates a sort of cramp
which is very difficult to cure. Personally, I think that students
should only study octaves when absolutely imperative for some
piece they are learning, and then, if they used Kullak's Octave
Exercises, they will find them amongst the very best of their kind.
If I had to pronounce an opinion as to what I had found to
be the most absolute essential of a physical kind for a pianist's
equipment, I think I should declare for a perfectly supple and
loose wrist. How few students consider this acquirement enough,
yet it is the secret of all softness and roundness of attack, all bril-
liancy and finish of passage playing, all grace of expression. He
who forces the tone and gets harsh, unpleasant sounds from his
instrument — the unfortunate, who, after many hours of hard work
finds himself hopelessly incapacitated by a sudden swelling in one
of the tendons of his arm, or a stiffness in his hand — both these
are always victims of want of care given to the development of
24 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
a supple wrist. Without perfect freedom of action, there is no
real power or elasticity, no proper play for the tingers, and the
performer will generally fail at the critical moment in difficult
rapid passages.
There are many schools of piano playing, various of which
advocate lifting the fingers as high as possible off the keyboard,
with a view to acquiring greater power, but I camiot help thinking
that the tone thus produced is of a hard, disagreeable nature, and
the time lost by such high articulation detrimental to the smoothness
and rapidity which are so necessary. Myself, I greatly advocate
keeping the fingers close to the instrument and pressing the keys,
thus giving the sound a warmer and more elastic quality and
modifying the naturally more or less wooden tone which pianists
have always to contend against to a certain extent even in the
finest pianos, by reason of their constitution, as compared with
stringed instruments.
I do not find elaborate studies very efficacious for the purely
mechanical development of technique, as the embellishments and
harmonies which make the palatableness of such studies only
distract the student's mind away from the main point of advancing
the technical power, and thus cause loss of time and effort. For
the only really valuable study is that which concentrates its whole
energy in pursuing the true object to be achieved in each particular
branch of work. And it is far more profitable to practise for
a short time with absolute concentration on the technical problem
in order definitely to surmount it, than to pass several more or
less wasteful hours dallying with the difficulties wrapped up as
they are in elaborate studies with a pleasant gilding of harmonies
and progressions.
Also, many of the studies which are given to students with
a view to helping them technically are in themselves bad music
as well as indifferent mechanical aids. Of course, these remarks
with regard to studies in general are certainly not meant to include
real concert studies, such as those of Chopin, Liszt, etc., but it is
scarcely necessary to say that these are not purely studies for
technique, but are rather beautiful musical problems to be unravelled
when a certain amount of facility has already been acquired by
the student.
Advanced students should also endeavour in their practising
to prepare themselves along certain lines of study, with a view
to making a repertoire of pieces, which will be useful to them
when the time comes for them to make up programmes for their
concerts.
HOW TO PRACTISE 25
Now as regards how to start the study of a piece, it is as well
first of all to look at it from the technical point of view alone.
For until means have been mastered no proper musical expression
or interpretation can be adequately conveyed. First of all, then,
the pianist ought to dissect the piece from the mechanical side
and find out where the most difficult passages occur. Technically
speaking, of course, all pieces are merely collections of scales, thirds,
passages, etc., harmonically treated in different ways and used
as the vehicles to express the composer's ideas.
MASTERING DIFFICULT PASSAGES
Having decided which are the most awkward passages to
master in his piece, the student should not then just play themj
over and over again, as so many do, hoping that by much repetition
the difficulties will finally be surmounted. He must rather play
his passages once or twice, then stop and think, about them for a
minute, and try to get a clear definition of them in his mind.
Then start afresh, and having worked a little more, pause again.
By thus stopping to think and keep his mind lucid he will both
master and retain passages with much greater ease and rapidity
than by confusing his mind through continuous reiteration without
ever pausing to listen properly or to consider what the passage
should sound like.
It is also a very good thing when first learning a piece to
divide it, taking, -say, each eight bars or so at a time to work at,
and thus getting to know the component parts well before reviewing
the work as a whole. Another branch of practising which is too
aften neglected by the young pianist is the study of the bass or
frame work of the music he learns. Many times one hears
something played in such a way that the bass part is completely
swallowed up, and nothing can be heard but the right hand. This
defect is the more difficult to conquer, because the left hand, to
which the bass in entrusted, is naturally with most people the feebler
member. Yet weakness in the bass parts is a very serious fault,
for it often undermines the whole construction of a piece and
upsets all the harmonies. After all, nuisic, like everything else,
must have a good, stable foundation. Therefore the student must
give much care and attention to the bass parts of his piece.
I cannot end this cha|)ter about practising better than by
earnestly recommending all students, from the very outset, to apply
themselves to the diligent study of the works of Hach. There is
no composer who.se music is so well calculated to give the best
oQ HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
-i,k1 most detailed knowledge of polyphonic playing in addition to
perfect freedom of technique in both hands and mdepcndence of
action and thought. It also goes without saying that constant work
amoncr Bach's masterpieces of intellect and feelmg are of
immeasurable value in developing the whole artistic taste and
understanding of the mind.
Chapter III
ON TECHNIQUE GENERALLY
The bare word technique, when appHed to pianoforte playing,
seems often to give people an erroneous impression of its real
significance. It seems to mean to them just the power of being
able to play very rapidly, and also to perform very difficult passages,
upon the keyboard, and often the word seems to carry with it a
strange sort of odium to certain kinds of music-lovers. ** A
wonderful technician," they cry, about some pianist, " but nothing
more."
How can this prejudice against great development of technique
have arisen? I think that it is just because technique is sometimes
considered as meaning only that one-sided capability pf being able
to move the fingers and hands with special agility — " digital
dexterity," as the critics call it!
That particular capacity is no doubt a very important and
necessary branch of technique on the piano, but it is only one
small part of the whole immense subject; and the pianist who has
given all his attention to that branch alone can certainly not be
called in the best sense of the word a great technician, nor can
he arrive at the highest results with only that development.
SIGNIFIES PERFECT ATTAINMENT
Technique in pianoforte playing, as in all other arts, signifies
far more than agility and rapidity of finger action. Rather does
its perfect attainment comprise within itself every means of
expression that it is possible for the artist pianist to command.
Thus technique rei)resents to him in all its varying branches,
endurance, tone or colour production, touch, intensity of feeling,
phrasing, elegance of execution, symmetry of detail. And the
man who has only studied and can merely produce agility, has
but acquired one-fifth part of pianoforte technique; therefore how
can he be the highest kind of artist, if, indeed, a real artist
at all !
Now I believe that many people have the imagination and the
emotions of the artistic temperament, but these qualities with them
27
28 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
lack outlet for want of adequate means of expression. They
cannot jj^ive a vent to their tlunii^lus, because they do not possess
the technical development sufficient to enable them to do so.
Technicjue should therefore comprise the mastery of all means
of self-expression in nuisic, and on the piano especially can no
player atTord to ne<:i^lect any manual facility that tends in the long
run to help him arrive at the summit of interpretation. For it
stands to reason that the more physical capacity the artist possesses
for clothing his thoughts, the less hampered will he be in giving
expression to the best that is in him.
AN INFALLIBLE TEST
The artists who have really g'eat command of means are the
ones who, no matter how hard or elaborate in musical writing the
passages are which they have to play, manage to make those passages
sound so beautiful and full of expression that the listener will
never notice whether the music that is being performed is difficult
or not, so absorbed will he be in the delight the playing gives him.
How much consummate technique is there sometimes expended upon
the execution of a quite simple melody, slow, soft and melting,
the tones flowing into each other, so that no one who listens can
realize that the piano which is being played is only a mechanical
instrument with hammers that strike upon copper strings. What
patience and study, too, is needed to develop the deep sonority of
touch in massive chords, and the light brilliancy of rippling
progressions.
All this is impossible without technical command, and it is
only when mastery of every kind of vehicle for expression has
been acquired that interpretation can be approached with confidence.
There is no greater suffering to the artist than to have in his mind
a certain impression which the music has created in it, and not to
be able to reproduce the picture on his piano, because he has
shortcomings in technique which deter him. On the other hand,
what joy it is to a pianist to resume the playing of some great
masterpiece, which he had studied diligently in former years, and
at that time had never succeeded in giving to it the rendering that
he sought, owing to insufficient mastery of means. But upon
starting upon it again after this long period during which he
had doubtless been developing gradually, and probably unconsciously,
he finds tha^ now he can at last do with ease what he wants in
the piece, and which he never could arrive at before. To attain
such a reward is worth all the labours of Hercules!
ON TECHNIQUE GENERALLY 29
A GREAT FALLACY
It is a great fallacy to think that it is more difficult to play
passages and intricate ornamentation in music very fast, or very
loud, than softly and at a moderate speed. It is often the contrary
which is the case. Pianists sometimes increase their tone and their
tempo more than they intend to do through nervousness and want
of confidence or from fear of failure of memory. The pianist who
can plav a long series of intricate and more or less rapid successions
of passages in a slow tempo, and pianissimo, with a lot of rh>1;hm, is
often doing thereby something that is actually harder to achieve
than the more showy splash-dash which to the uninitiated might
seem most wonderful.
Of course the greatest technique implies absolute mastery and
judgment in ever>1;hing, so that the brilliant fast passage is given
with the necessary force and elan, while the soft elegant
ornamentation receives in its turn grace and finish. To play
rhythmically the pianist must possess technique of finger articulation,
to play with colour he must acquire the technique of the pedal,
to play with feeling and emotion he must have the technique of
touch, to play with power he must learn the technique of how to
apply strength. All these many branches go to make up the one
comprehensive material called technique which the pianist must
work with to produce his aesthetic objective.
Therefore no student may despise or undervalue even its most
mechanical aspects. For as in architecture every humble and
uninteresting stone has its own indispensable aesthetic necessity
in the building of the palace or cathedral, even so is it also in
pianoforte playing; to attain the noblest results no details of
workmanship, however insignificant, should be neglected.
Genius means not only imagination and temperament, but also
the capacity of conveying them to the world through the vehicle
of some medium, over which a complete mastery has been obtained.
Chapter TV
CAN YOU PLAY A SCALE?
Among the many students who come and play to me and ask
me for advice, the majority remind me of a well-known limerick
about a certain young lady of Rio, whose skill was so scanty she
played Andante instead of Allegro con brio!
I must be excused for drawing attention to the young lady
of Rio, but it is because her case is true and typical of so many
other young females — and also males — whose houses are much
nearer London than Rio. I should like, therefore, to say a few
words about attempting to play great masterpieces of pianoforte
music without sufficient knowledge of technique, and especially of
that immensely important branch of it, the mastery of scales.
It has been my experience that whenever particularly young
and raw students come to play to me and want to show what they
can do, they invariably attempt such giant works as the Brahms-
Handel Variations, or the Appassionata Sonata of Beethoven, or the
Chopin Ballads. After they have finished playing a sonata or
two (most often in tempo andante, like our friend of Rio), I ask
them to play me a scale. They usually evince astonishment at
my request, and answer that they never practise scales at all.
If ever they do what I ask, their performance of them proves
to be, as a rule, unrhythmical, uneven and altogether unsatisfactory.
Yet most pianoforte works contain passage-writing which is
directly based upon scale progressions. I have known many
advanced pianoforte students who are quite unable to arrive at any
high standard of performance through lack of technical knowledge
and want of proficiency in scale-playing.
EXPRESSION OR EXECUTION?
Who does not quote, at times, in referring to such performers,
the hackneyed plea for indulgence : " He makes up in expression
what he lacks in execution " ? As if this excuse itself did not
prove upon examination to be a sheer piece of nonsense. For
where there is no sufficient command of execution the expression
30
CAN YOU PLAY A SCALE? SI
can only be halting, stilted, and ineffective. In a reproductive art,
such as pianoforte-playing, the perfect rendering of all the emotions
inspired by the music can only be obtained through unlimited control
of technique, which, of course, implies absolute mastery of manual
dexterity.
So many talented amateurs who really wish to study their art
to the backbone and attain professional proficiency do not realize
that they must first acquire what is generally known among artists
as a good " school." The world " school " used in this sense
means a firm background of technical principles by which difficulties
can be solved in the most logical and profitable manner. The
acquirement of these principles can only be gained in the years
of hard work which should precede any serious attempt at
performance.
It was interesting to me, in the light of my views on this
subject, to have been present recently at the Dancing School of
the Russian Ballet. Here their greatest stars practise every day,
for several hours, technical exercises and steps which eventually
constitute a wonderful and intricate ballet. And though to the
impatient the mere study of scales may seem intolerably dull, yet
it is a wonderful feeling to notice power growing gradually, and
things becoming easy which at first seemed insurmountable.
PERFECT SCALE-PLAYING
On the piano there are many branches of virtuosity to be
mastered, but none more essential than perfect scale-playing. Much
of the bad fingering which impedes pianists from getting through
passages of elaborate runs is due to ignorance of this important
technical detail.
Almost of equal necessity with scales are arpeggi, which should
always be practised in conjunction with them, with every kind of
different accent and rhythm. The serious student should make
a point of studying these for at least one hour every day, playing
scales and ar])cggi in ff)ur different tonalities each day, and going
through all their harmcjiiic developments as set down in the
compendium at the end of this book.
I believe in ])ractising scales slowly, and playing each hand
.separately, and, above all, in working with the utmost concentration
of the mind. One hour of concentrated practice is worth ten
hours of mechanical repetition of difficulties by people who scarcely
think what they are doing. Practising, even of scales, must never
become mechanical, fjr the labour is vain.
82 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
The student should always he intently listening, and be sure
that no sini:;Ie note has an uj^ly st)und, hut that each is played with
a musical touch antl the tone produced is round and full. Even
the most uninspiring exercises can be made to sound pleasing and
harmonious if played with scrupulous attention to the quality
of tone.
A MENTAL STIMULUS
It is to this end essential in scale-playing that a certain pressure
should be given on the keys with every linger as it falls. The
importance of this pressure lies not actually in itself, but in the
principle it contains. For the action of making the effort of
pressure upon each note gives a mental stimulus. This idea of
continually renewed pressure to " activate " work is also advocated
by some of the professors of physical culture. Springs are made
in dumbbells for the hands of victims to press upon. These
trainers of the body have realized by experience that unless the
minds of their patients can be concentrated on their work by having
to press the spring of the dumbbell, their actions soon become purely
automatic and cease to exercise their muscles properly.
So it is also on the pianoforte keyboard. The player's mind
is kept alert by having to press the fingers down upon the keys,
and being thus forced to think about what he is doing. For if
the fingers merely run over the keyboard without attention, that
kind of practice can do no possible good whatever. The mind must
ilways be present like a general, whilst the fingers are the soldiers
who obey his behests.
No doubt every beginner should seek out a good teacher to
show him how to set about conquering difficulties, but however
wonderful the teacher, it is up to the pupil to concentrate and see
that his mind works in conjunction with his fingers. Hard work
for the mastery of detail and unlimited concentration of thought
are necessary for arriving at any really fine performance on the
pianoforte.
A COMMON FAULT
The fault of most players who come to me is that their
preparation before attempting to attack a great work has not been
sufficient. And for this the teacher must sometimes be held
responsible to a certain degree, because, naturally desiring the pupil
to make quick progress, he gives him Liszt's Rhapsodies and
Beethoven's greatest Sonatas to play, after only a few months of
perfunctory study. The students also YiLve a natural desire to
CAN YOU PLAY A SCALE? 83
astonish their parents and gratify their patrons, and often to justify
the spending of a good deal of money on their musical education.
Most of them rely on so-called musical feeling, charming touch, and
other elusive qualities, which have possibly been " enthused " over
by their supporters ! Thus they fritter away valuable time in chase
of shadows, instead of settling down under a severe and accomplished
master to genuine hard study of scales ^nd other exercises.
I am constantly seeing advertisements by teachers of " how
to play the piano in five minutes by correspondence! " But I know
by my own experience that after thirty years of continuous study
there are still many problems in piano-playing that I cannot solve.
SELF-TAUGHT PIANISTS
There certainly are occasional geniuses whose exceptional powers
and facilities for the pianoforte enable them to perform in public
without having been through the workshop of the technical school.
But these are few and far between, and upon inquiring closely about
them it will generally be found that their labour and difficulty in
mastering technical passages are immeasurably greater than those
of other pianists with far less talent who have had the advantage
of thorough schooling.
They will most often complain bitterly themselves of the lack
of that foundation of technique they never had the opportunity
of acquiring, and the want of which continues to hamper them
through life. In fact, one of the greatest living pianists, who was
practically self-taught, once told me that he would have saved
himself ten years of drudgery if he had been able to study one
year with a great pianoforte teacher like Leschetitzky.
The hands and movements of such self-taught pianists, too,
almost always look ungainly and distorted on the keyboard when
playing awkward passages. And this is not only disturbing to
the eye but very often also to the quality of the sound, which
quickly becomes laboured and heavy under severe strain. The
player who " arrives " with such disabilities must indeed have
genius for the piano! Hut there are not many such highly-gifted
people in the world, wlu) succeed in s])ite of every obstacle. I
believe the inhabitants of this globe number over fifteen hundred
millions, but amongst them all there are nc)t more than a dozen
really great pianists!
Therefore, student, learn to play scales carefully, tunefully,
exactly, rhythmically, smoothly, and eventually (|uickly, and arpeggi
evenly, clearly, and elegantly before embarking upon the performance
84 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
of the great works of pianoforte literature. Many cast up their eyes
to Heaven in an inspired way while playing, hoping, I suppose,
therehy to make up for lack of practice on this earth! But Heaven
cannot help them if they have not learned to play scales and arpeggi
properly.
N.B. — A compendium of scales, arpeggi, thirds and octaves
is given at the end of this book.
Chapter V
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES FOR STUDY
To arrive at any real result in the study of the piano, it is
essential to start very young, and to train both the ear and the
hand from childhood. In the case of the beginner, the purely
'mechanical side of how to hold the hand and produce a supple
articulation, is, of course, the main object, but together with this,
I am of the opinion that elementary instruction should be given
in harmony and the rudiments of music, that the pupil may begin
to understand a little about the progressions of sounds and the
sense of rhythm which is so necessary to musical development.
Nowadays, there are many and various systems of teaching children
these elements of music, in forms that will interest and entertain
them while they learn almost unconsciously. And such teaching
greatly facilitates the technical study, as it makes the child interested
in what he is learning, and able to appreciate to a certain extent
the difference and gradations of the tones he produces.
Now, as regards the mechanical beginning, without which no
one can really play the piano properly, the most important thing
is to start with a good method of playing. For there is no doubt
that all reliable technique is the outcome of a good common-sense
system to begin with. Of course there exists many crankisms
about this; the student may go to one teacher who will tell him
the only way to play the piano is to sit practising at it from
fourteen to fifteen hours a day, just doing finger exercises. He will
go to another who will assure him he will only arrive at success
if he persists for years, never lifting his fingers more than exactly
one-half an inch from the keys!
Again, another will pretend that the only way to learn is by
always playing pianissimo, another that it is necessary to do exercises
only on a table, and never use tlie keyboard for practising at all,
while still another believes in the purely mechanical development of
the fingers, by playing hours and hours of scales! Then there are
many also who declare that all technicjue is "Anathema," and that
every one should play as nature tells them to!
Perhaps this might occasionally be successful with a natural-born
35
S6
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
genius, but it would he an exceptionally gifted being who would go
very far without any method or school, as we call it, to start with.
For the human mind needs, at the outset, the guidance and direction
in all the arts of certain elementary rules, born of the amassed
experience of the best teaclKTrs and thinkers; and the complete
assimilation of these rules are the best aids and helps to the attain-
ment of a more perfect self-expression, when the time comes for
the individuality of a great talent to assert itself.
Fig. I. Correct position when seated at the keyboard.
But what is a good method? Why, a common-sense one, surely!
And is such a method far to seek ? No, undoubtedly not ! It must
be merely a system which does not exaggerate, and that leaves every
part of the hand and arm in a natural easy position. The hand will
then look comfortable upon the keyboard, and endless time will be
saved in arriving at an easy supple velocity of the fingers. For the
terrific labour which is involved by the neglect of these simple
principles, in mastering swiftness and lightness of articulation, only
those can testify to who have had the bitter experience of bad
teaching to start with. I am. therefore, going to give here a few
of what I consider the essential points to aim at, when commencing
to learn the piano.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES FOR STUDY
37
POSITION AT THE KEYBOARD
The first thing, then, that presents itself is the position of the
body when seated at the instrument. With regard to this, the pupil
should be seated with his chair exactly at the middle of the keyboard,
and at a medium distance, that is to say, neither too near nor too
far, but so that his fingers reach and fall easily and naturally upon
the white notes when he is sitting upright on the front half of the
chair.
On no account should the pupil be allowed to lean back, but
always be seated on the forward portion of his seat. The seat
should be sufficiently raised so that the pupil's elbows at their
Fig. 2. Showing cup-like position of the hand.
natural angle will be almost on a level with the keyboard, if any-
thing just a little below it as shown in Fig. i.
The 'elbows should be held closely to the body, and the wrist
dropped slightly below the keys. Being thus seated, the next matter
we come to is settling the position of the hand itself. This should
be as follows : The fingers should fall arched upon the keys, the
knuckles raised, the wrist just below the keyboard, and the palm
of the hand forming a sort of cup as shown on this page (Fig. 2).
It is a very good plan with a beginner, to make him take an apple
or a ball of similar size in the palm of the hand, hold it lightly with
the fingers spread out round it, and then drop it out of the palrn
as tiie hand descends upon the keyboard. The hand will then retain
the cup-like position with the fingers spreatl upon the keys. (See
Fig. 2.)
Having thus described what I consider the perfect position of
the hand, I will now proceed to explain how to exercise the fingers
in order to retain that position, and make it become a haf)it. This
38 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
will be arrived at by practising in the following manner: Press the
fingers down well arched on to five consecutive white notes, and
liold iheni down altogether. Then lift each finger in turn, holding
the others down meanwhile, and strike the key with the lifted finger,
taking great care all the time that the hand is perfectly supple and
relaxed, and that nothing is stiflf. This exercise, done every day
for five miiuites by each hand separately, will soon give the fingers
and hands a perfectly easy and natural position upon the keyboard,
and preserve the cup shape of the palm of the hand. (See Exercise
No. I in compendium at the end of the book.)
A CUP-LIKE POSITION
This acquiring of the cup-like position of the hand will be found
enormously useful later on, in the playing of scales and arpeggi, as
it allows easy passage of the thumb under the other fingers. In con-
nection with the striking of the keys by the fingers, I would further
say that merely putting down the finger and letting it strike with its
own weight, is no good, as the sound produced thereby is inadequate
and uncontrolled.
My idea is that when lifted, the finger must be brought down
with a certain amount of pressure upon the note which is struck.
This pressure should be produced from the forearm and transmitted
through the fingers to the key, the wrist being all the time absolutely
relaxed. Later on, as the student arrives at a higher development
of finger technique, the articulation can be exercised purely from the
fingers, but in the beginning, in order to acquire a full round tone,
the control must be taught from the forearm by means of pressure
from that part.
Again, above all, I cannot too much insist upon the necessity
for relaxation of the wrist, and the rest of the body, for in it con-
sists, I am convinced, half the secret for obtaining an easy and sure
technique. It must also never be forgotten that as the piano is a
purely mechanical instrument, the great object must be to produce
all gradations of tone without the sound being either forced, harsh
or stifif. Moreover, the cardinal principle in the production of such
tone is that the body, and especially the wrist, remain in complete
relaxation.
Nothing tends so much to hardness of tone on the piano as any
rigidity in any part of the body. Also to obtain this most precious
quality of flexibility, the articulation of the fingers must be entirely
generated by the muscles of the hand, and controlled, as I have
already explained as regards force, by the forearm.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES FOR STUDY 39
FINGER CONTROL
To recapitulate the whole matter and condense it, the principle
set up is that all control on the keyboard should be established by the
fingers, the hand and the forearm, the wrist remaining entirely
supple. This, in my opinion, applies to all finger technique, and
is essential for arriving at a completely successful issue.
Care must also be taken not to allow any beating of time by the
head or foot, as this may easily degenerate into a nervous trick,
and certainly tends to encourage jerky and rigid movements of the
body. It is a good plan to make the beginner, after each exercise
that he does, lift the hand off the keys and shake it gently from the
wrist, so as to ensure that the relaxation is preserved, and that
there is no excessive effort or fatigue of the muscles or any cramped
action whatsoever. I do not believe in striving to lift the fingers
too high off the keys every time when striking each note, because,
in a highly complicated mechanical instrument like the piano, every
movement must be conserved as much as possible, and naturally any
extra effort only tends to lose time, thereby impairing the velocity
in fast passages.
Some people think that by teaching that the fingers be lifted
very high they can get a clearer and more distinct articulation, but
I do not agree with this, as I have always found from my own ex-
perience that if the wrist is relaxed, thus allowing absolute freedom
to the fingers, they will articulate just as distinctly, and with much
added lightness and quality of tone, if not lifted too high.
The most important elemental stage of thus holding the hands
in a natural supple position, having been well initiated, by means
such as I have just been trying to explain, the pupil will do well to
proceed with five-finger exercises of all descriptions, until he has
thoroughly mastered the position in question, and it has become a
second nature to him to hold his hands thus. With a child beginner
of from six to ten, after a month of i)ractising for not more than
ten minutes a day, if well watched, the hands, according to my per-
sonal experience, should be absolutely in order. The Five-Fingcr
Exercises of Hanon are excellent in this respect for settling the
fingers in the right way, and also will keep a child interested in the
different groups of notes presented. I know of none better for the
purpose of elementary practising.
TECHNIQUE IN EXTENDED POSITION
We must pass on from five-finger exerci.ses to the technique of
extended positions of the hand, such as are to be found in scales,
40 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
arpeggi, chords, thirds and octaves. I propose here to speak of
scales and arpeggi only, and shall first say a word or two about scales,
for which the tive-finger exercises I have just been discussitig are,
of course, merely a preparation. But the great difficulty of scale
playing, which consists in learning how to pass the thumb successfully
under the other fingers, without causing a break in the continuity
of the sound, is absent in five-finger exercises, though through them
the student learns the right way of holding the hand on the keyboard,
so that it is always ready to do its work when called upon in the
scales, and also the fingers are trained to exert the necessary pressure
on the key.
BETTER SCALE STUDY
In order to obtain this smooth passage of the thumb in scales, I
advise that the wrist always be kept absolutely loose, and that in
slow practice, when the thumb is ready to pass, the wrist be raised
temporarily from its usually low position to a higher one ; also the
finger which strikes the last note before the thumb has to pass (in
scales it is always the 3rd or 4th finger), should be slightly inclined
towards the direction in which the hand is going to travel.
Taking the ascending scale of C major, in the right hand, for
example, and illustrating what I want to point out by a diagram thus :
C. D. E. F. G. A. B. C.
(i). 2. 3. (i). 2. 3. 4. (i).
Thumb. Thumb. Thumb.
-^Ascending right hand.
It will be seen that upon the E, which is struck by the 3rd finger,
the line underneath is raised and inclined towards the direction the
hand has to go, so as to represent the lifting up of the wrist, and the
inclining of the finger. The thumb then passes easily underneath
the fingers on to the next note F, without any awkwardness. The
same movement is repeated further up the scale after the 4th finger,
and so on through all the octaves in ascending scales for the right
hand. For descending scales, the process is reversed. The wrist is
raised when the thumb falls, and the finger which follows it is in-
clined downwards in the direction the hand has to go.
C. B. A. G. F. E. D. C
5. 4- 3- 2. (i). 3. 2. (I).
Thumb. Thumb.
-^Descending right hand.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES FOR STUDY 41
In the left hand exactly the same process is used as in the right,
only the order is reversed, that is to say, the wrist is raised at the
thumb, in the ascending scale, and at the 3rd or 4th finger, in the
descending one, the inclining position of the fingers being corre-
spondingly observed. In all scales in every tonality, this action of
the wrist and fingers should be similar, and the principle of lifting
the wrist at the finger before the thumb passes, and inclining the
finger in the direction the hand is to travel, greatly facilitates this
passage of the thumb, and ensures smoothness and freedom of mo-
tion. In fast scales this movement practically disappears, as exag-
gerated actions only impede swiftness and look ungainly, but a
smooth and undulating motion remains, which is elegant and imparts
an elastic and supple articulation, and also gives character to the
various passages.
Chapter VI
SOME FURTHER HINTS HOW TO MASTER THE
KEYBOARD
SCALES CONTINUED AND ARPEGGI
Even Tone is another most difficult object to strive for in playing
scales, for the human hand is physically so constituted that certain
of the fingers are weaker than the others, namely, the 4th and ^th
are the weak ones, and the ist, 2nd and 3rd the strong ones. From
this fact ensues the natural consequence that the notes struck by
the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers are liable to be louder and firmer in tone
than those upon which 4th and 5th fall.
This weakness can only be corrected by pressure from the fore-
arm transmitted to the fingers, as I have already insisted upon when
speaking of the articulation in five-finger exercises. The pressure
is here used as an equalizer, in this fashion, that the conscious habit
of the pressure having been established by practice, it works upon
the mind and forces the performer unconsciously to give an extra
compensative pressure to the weaker fingers, according as he detects
by his ear that they require it.
This equalizing of the tone by pressure serves again to illustrate
how the theory of its administration through the forearm, working
upon the fingers, establishes absolute control of the muscles, not so
much by its direct action on the fingers as by its indirect stimulus to
the mind, which through it becomes conscious that it has work to do,
and is alert to command the muscles properly.
Later on it will be seen how vital a part of piano technique this
control of the i.iuscles by the mind is, constituting, as it does, the
principle upon which is based the imparting of light and shade,
gradations of expression and tempo, in fact the life which changes
the sounds of the' mechanical instrument into music.
Scales should be played every day and in all tonalities. Upon the
black notes the fingers may be slightly extended, as it will be found
difficult to keep them quite as rounded as on the white ones, owing
to the lack of space. Finally, it is important in practising scales that
42
FURTHER HINTS HOW TO MASTER THE KEYBOARD 43
they should be played absolutely ct)rrectly, therefore it is always best
to practise each hand separately.
ARPEGGI
In some ways smoothness is even more difficult to master in
arpeggi than in scales, as in them the intervals necessitate wide
jumps, which have to be negotiated. I will take the arpeggio in
the common chord of C major in the right hand, to illustrate first
the method which Lhave found very successful with students.
Right hand ascending. — >
C. E. G. C.
(I). 2. 3. (I).
Thumb. Thumb.
E.
G.
/
3-
C.
2.
(I).
Thumb
The idea is the same as in the scale. The problem which presents
itself is how to smooth over the jump between G and C. On the
accompanying diagram I attempt to show, by the small lines under-
FlG. 3. Showing the 3rd finger placed with raised wrist
for passage of thumb.
neath the notes, how the finger which falls just before the thumb
(in this case it is the 3rd, on G) is raised from the wrist and inclined
towards the direction to which the hand has to proceed.
This 3rd finger should be placed upon the note exactly one and
three-quarter inches length away from the edge of the key towards
44,
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
the back of the keyboard, and the thumb should fall underneath it
upon C, just the length of its own nail away from the key edge, that
is about a quarter of an inch. Thus:
aHUMB)
(THUMB)
Fig. 4. Arpeggio. C major. Right hand ascending,
showing relative positions of the thumb and finger.
Coming down the position is reversed, as follows : The thumb
falls upon the note at the one and three-quarter-inch position from
the edge of the key, when it is lifted up by the wrist movement, and
the 3rd or 4th finger, as the case may be, then falls over the thumb
on to the note below, about one-quarter inch from the edge of the
key. Thus :
Fig. 5. Arpeggio. C major. Right hand descending
(starting from right of diagram), beginning with 2nd
finger on E, so as to show relative position of the
fingers used.
The movement of the wrist makes for smoothness at the jump
and helps to prepare the hand for the next position. The principle
* Arrows show direction.
FURTHER HINTS HOW TO MASTER THE KEYBOARD 45
is similar in both hands as in the scales, only reversed in the left;
that is to say, when the left hand ascends the thumb is lifted by the
wrist and placed one and a quarter inches from the end of the key,
w^hile going down it is the 3rd or 4th finger which assumes that
position, the thumb falling on the key at the quarter inch from the
end of the key, as in the ascending right hand arpeggio.
Fig. 6. Arpeggio. C major. Left hand ascending
(starting from left of diagram), beginning with the
thumb on C, so as to show the relative positions of
the other fingers.
Fic. 7. Arpeggio. C major. Left hand descending
(starting from right of diagram), beginning with the
4th fmgcr on E, so as to show the relative position of
the fingers used.
Exactly the same rules apply in all the varieties of arpeggio
playing.
It is absolutely imjK-rative for students who wish to acquire any
proficiency in pianoforte playing to practise a good amount of scales
and arpeggi every day as given at the end of this book, for these
* Arrows show direction.
46 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
difficulties are the A B C of the piano, without which no one can
get on. Therefore, he ivho starts his work regularly and thoroughly
ever}' morning with a course of scales and arpeggi will gradually
find a fine easy technique coming to him and a mastery over the
keyboard which will be of inestimable advantage to him when he
starts investigating the treasure house of pianoforte literature.
Chapter VII
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS AND
OCTAVES
I PROPOSE here to discuss briefly the higher or advanced technique
of pianoforte playing as is to be found in the study of Thirds, Sixths
and Octaves. Of course this is really a highly complicated subject
about which innumerable books and treatises have been written with-
out nearly exhausting all the material for discussion to which it
gives rise. But the few remarks that I am going to make now are
chiefly intended for the practical help of working students, and I
shall confine myself more or less to explaining one or two of the
methods which I personally find useful in mastering the difficulties
that occur in these complex stages of virtuosity. For as modem
pianoforte technique requires great development of double note play-
ing and such-like independence of the fingers, so it must be the aim
of every student to discover the easiest and shortest cuts which may
bring him to proficiency in this branch of his art.
A MELODIC OUTLINE
To commence then with the study of passages in thirds: — A
great many people seek to play these in what I term a "player-
pianistic style" instead of a "pianistically plastic" one. By this I
mean that they make a point of striking both the notes that compose
thirds together with exactly the same pressure of tone, thus giving
no doubt an absolutely mechanical precision to double note progres-
sions, but thereby taking away from them, in my opinion, all their
melodic character and charm. For I maintain that all passage playing,
whether it be in thirds, sixths, or single notes, should necessarily
preserve a melodic outline, otherwise it degenerates into mere
sequences of notes for the display of agility and loses every musical
significance.
For whereas some regard elaborate passages as entirely mechani-
cal embellishments, the earnest musician will realize that this is not
often the case; on the contrary, close analysis will almost always
prove them to be intricate and reasoned embroideries of melody.
47
48 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
Now in sinj]^le note passaj^es it is easy to obtain some sort of
musical contour, because tbe l)rain bas only one line to develop. But
witb double notes tbis is all far more complicated, especially as the
melodic ideal remains to be acbieved bere, just as mucb as in the
simpler case. And bard enoujj^b as it is to accomplish satisfactory
results with only one fin^^^er to think of, what is to be done when
two are having to be managed at once ?
USE MENT.M- CONCENTRATION
Well, I will start from the first third in the scale of C major,
which will be C and E. Next come D and F, and in attempting to
pass rapidly from the first tliird to the second one a difficulty will
be immediately encountered. This is the ungovernable tendency of
each finger to run apart from each other, and refuse to pull together
at all, A purely mental difficulty though is tbis, and it can be over-
come by training the mind, and accustoming it to govern the hands
and fingers in complete independence one of the other. In fact I am
convinced that in general, technical facility and control can only
be obtained by great mental concentration, and not merely through
mechanical practice.
That is why some people are able to learn to play a scale in thirds
in an hour quite decently, because they possess the necessary power
of brain, while others who may have quite as much musical talent
will never master one at .all though they work six hours a day at it!
I do not mean to say by this that thirds do not require an enormous
amount of study, because of course they do, only to be successful
the practice must be accompanied by much concentrated brain effort.
Therefore one of the principal efforts of a good pianoforte teacher
should be to stimulate in ever>' possible manner the mental faculties
of his pupils.
Thirds should be worked with pressure of the finger on the top
note, that is to say. in the third of C and E the pressure should be
on the E, in the third of D and F on the F, and so on up the scale.
(See Fig. 9.) In continuing the scale, after having struck C, with
the 1st finger or thumb (taking the right hand ascending), the
finger is raised and D is approached with the 2nd finger. The ist
finger on the C is taken oflF very abruptly, almost as if it was on a
spring hinge, whilst the top note E is held by the 3rd finger, which
becomes slightly stiffened and is kept down after the lower one has
been raised. (See Figs. 10 and 11.) The bottom note of the third
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES 49
might almost be ^ of the value of the top note by the way it should
be released, practically equivalent to the following example :
W^^
Fig. 8. Example to show holding on of top note in Third Scales after
lower note has been released.
though it will not be distinguishable in the sound of the rhythm.
This method is, of course, only for slow practice; the action will
disappear in fast tempi, but what will remain is a clearness of outline
on the upf>er notes of the thirds, which is the object to be achieved.
The wrist should be held higher than in ordinary scales, where it
is kept low, except at the passage of the thumb. But by holding the
Fig. 9. Position of hand upon commencement of Third
Scales.
wrist somewhat elevated in third scales, it ensues that the pressure
of the top fingers is accentuated.
Although it be held higher than in single note scales, the wrist
must still be kept absolutely relaxed, and the pressure must be
obtained through the forearm acting direct upon tlir fingers. When
the 5th fmger is arrived at, it should be placed on the key on the
50
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
side or ball of the finder, the wrist being meanwhile raised even a
little more, and the hand inclined in the direction upwards to which
it is proceeding. (See Fig. 12.)
Desceiuling, a similar inclined position is taken by the thumb.
(See Fig. 13.)
In the left hand it is the thumb in the ascending scale, and the
5th finger in the descending one which assumes the position.
Fig. 10. Position showing the raising of the lower
finger whilst the upper one is slightly stiffened and
held on.
At the end of this chapter on page 60 I give what I find the best
fingering to be used for simple third scales, and also for chromatic
scales in thirds.
PRACTISING SCALES IN SIXTHS
Passages in sixths are extremely complicated and are rarely to
be met with, as they necessitate so much extension of the hand,
and it is consequently difficult to play them legato at all. The general
principle for playing sixths is the same as that for thirds, but it is
not advisable to practise them a great deal,, because the continued
extension of the position may prove injurious to the hand, and
strain or cramp can result.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES
51
Fig. II. Position of
hand in Third Scale
after the progres-
sion from the ist
Third to the next
one has been ac-
complished.
Fig. 12. Right hand ascend-
ing assumes the above in-
clined position in passing
from the 5th and 3rd fin-
gers to the 3rd and ist.
Fig 13. RiRht hand descending, showing inclined position
of the hand wlicn passing down from the thumb and ird
fingers to the 5th and 3rd.
St
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
THE PRACTICE OF OCTAVES
I now come to Octave Technique for which every sort of studies
have been and continue to be written. Now the real octave wrist,
combining great strength with high nervous tension and suppleness,
is a gift of nature, like the capacity for playing staccato bowing on
the violin. But those who do not possess the power can develop it
to a limited extent. There are several methods of playing octaves,
one being with a loose wrist and the 5th finger slightly stiffened.
This is a good way for octaves in a slow tempo, but when speed is
required it can only be secured by nervous contraction of the arm,
the wrist being kept stiff meanwhile. To accomplish this needs
much muscular strength, as the advantage of the loose wrist has to
be discarded, and whenever the rapidity of the tempo intreases, the
stiffening of the wrist must increase also.
As far as the practice of octaves go, I do not think merely play-
ing them in scales is efficacious, and, as I have already said, there
are so many studies devised on this most difficult branch of piano
technique that it is best to work with them. Those of Kullak are,
I find, especially excellent. It is very unwise ever to work at octave
playing for more than ten minutes at a time, as it is so fatiguing
and may injure the arm if overdone. But there are ways of helping
oneself to relieve exhaustion during long sequences of octaves.
Some of these devices are useful for all, though generally each
player finds out means for himself according to the structure of his
own particular muscles.
To illustrate what I mean by these helps against fatigue, I will
give an example from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin. The great
octave passage in the second part for the left hand lasts 34 bars,
which is a tremendous length, as all pianists know, and the strain
may become almost unbearable.
Fig. 14. Extract from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin, showing Octave passage
in left hand, which lasts 34 bars.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTH^ OCTAVES 53
Here it is a considerable relief to think of the passage as in a
semi-circular motion from left to right. Thus :
(m
i
e
Fig. 15. Diagram illustrating the mental device of placing each group of
four Octaves as component parts of half a circle.
Again, in the enormously difficult octave passage for the right
hand in the Sixth Rhapsody of Liszt, it will be found to be of assist-
ance to keep changing the position of the wrist from being high
to becoming low. Thus :
Fig. 16. First position of hand with wrist held hi^;h in
Octave playing.
This very small action of the wrist gives respite for a second
from the tension, and sets the momentum of the nervous contraction
going again. (See Fig. 17.) This same movement can apply to
most continuous octave sequences of any length, provided they are
54
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
in scale-like progressions, or in the form of reiteration. But for
octaves which move in arpeggi. this same action would not answer,
because here the mind has to be occupied with the matter of judging
Fig. 17. Second position of hand in Octave playing,
with wrist held low to give relief from fatigue.
tlie distances, or I should rather say, feeling them. For all jurnps
are very uncertain quantities, and no eye judgment can be possible
where a high rate of speed has to be obtained. Therefore in
arpeggio-like octave passages only a mental device will be of any
^v****i ^
^:^
Fig. 18. Extract from "Hungarian Fantasie" of Liszt, showing difficult
Octave passages.
The lower bridging lines indicate the mental measurement of the Octave passages
in Triplets. The upper lines indicate the 2/4 time in which the sound of the
rhythm must proceed undisturbed.
help in the difficulty. This contrivance is to imagine the octaves
in groups of threes in the mind, no matter what the rhythm is in
which they are written. I take an example out of the Hungarian
Fantasie of Liszt for piano and orchestra to show the idea.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES 55
It must always be remembered, of course, that the device is only
a creation of the imagination and must in no wise be allowed to
become evident or interfere with the proper rhythm. But as a
mental measurement it will always facilitate the negotiating of rapid
jumps correctly and continuously. The last passage in the Concerto
in C minor of Saint-Saens for piano and orchestra, also serves to
illustrate the method of reducing the difficulty by this calculation of
the mind. (See Fig. 19.)
^^ W
Fig. 19. Passage from C minor Concerto of Saint-Saens to illustrate the mental
device of considering the Octaves in groups of threes, as indicated by the lines
below, though the sound of the rhythm must remain in 3/4 time.
Still more hard than so-called simple octave technique is that
where intermediate notes between the octaves have to be struck
together with them, as in successive progression of rapid chords,
such as are to be found in the opening cadenza of Liszt's E flat
Concerto. (See Fig. 23, p. 57.) This starts with a tremendous
sequence of grand chords in C major, which is extremely difficult
to play accurately, and can only be mastered by unceasing practice.
In such a passage the wrist should be kept loose and the intermediate
notes (in the chord of C major it is the second finger on G) should
be struck with rather a stiff finger, so as to form a sort of ix)int of
support, the thumb and 5th fingers, however, falling loosely on the
56
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
two octave notes, C and Octave C. The hand should be arched ana
form a cup-hke position. Thus :
Fia 20. Showing position of hand when playing
Octaves with intermediate notes.
The stiffening of the intermediate finger must be very sUght
and almost imperceptible ; in fact, here again it should be little more
than a mental impression. I give the fingering which I use in the
afore-mentioned passage in chords out' of the Liszt concerto, in
the hoi)e that it may help some who may be struggling with that
particular cadenza. (See Fig. 23, p. 57.)
For very rapid octave scales with intermediate notes, it is of
assistance, instead of striking the middle note with the finger in its
natural position, which interferes here with speed, to strike it upon
the key with the first phalange joint of the finger, as in the following
passage out of Saint-Saens' C minor Concerto. Thus :
Fig. 21. Showing intermediate note taken with phalange
joint to help speed.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES 57
Fig. 22. Extract from Saint-Saens' C minor Concerto.
The above is a passage where the intermediate notes between the Octaves can be
struck with the whole of the first phalange joint of the finger instead of with
the tip of the finger simply. This is a device for facilitating speed, and can
only be used in the right hand.
But this last is a technical hint for helping rapidity, to be used
only by those who have already reached a considerable stage of vir-
tuosity and also possess a wide stretch of the hand, and it should in
no case be adopted by the student even of advanced technique! I
merely mention it as a curious instance of the little ingenuities that
can make the greatest difficulties become possible.
What are termed broken octaves are also continually to be met
with, especially in adaptations of pieces from orchestral scores and
in the works of Beethoven and Mozart. These have to be played
with great skill if they are to sound really well and make a good
Cpdcnra Grand io*o
5
Fk;. 23. Extract from Liszt's Concerto in K flat, showing fingering of
opening Cadenza.
58 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
effect, therefore they imist be jiatieiitly studied. For practising]; them
I advise iisin^ the ist and 5th rin«:;ers with eciiud strength, tiie wrist
beinj:; kept stiff and the hand oscillatinjj; to and fro as if it and
the fingers were made of one piece with the forearm. There are
excellent studies for the development of broken octave technique in
Czerny's "Kunstfertigkeit."
INDIVIDUAL CHORD PLAYING
And now for a few words about individual chord playing, as it
is so important to discover the right way to produce a fine and noble
sound when striking these. The first essential here is to find how
to obtain strength without hardness of touch. Strength there must
be, of course, tempered by judgment, for without it the pianist will
be unable to give out enough and graduating increase of tone when
necessary. For especially in a dramatic piece where one often meets
with an ever-growing crescendo of tone culminating upon a given
point, if the performer lacks accumulative force he cannot achieve
this effect, and so the piece may end in an anti-climax and the whole
artistic meaning of the work be missed.
Now one way to produce strength of tone is to throw the hands
down on the chords by lifting them high above the keys before
striking. I do not advocate this, as it is so uncertain, and disaster
may easily overtake the player at any moment by his falling upon the
wrong notes. For it needs great precision of eye to strike many
notes together correctly from a height.
How, then, can extra force be applied without sacrificing the
accuracy of notes or the tone quality? With abrupt chords I find
the following method efficacious, namely, a quick contraction of the
forearm, accompanied by an action of the fingers, as though they
were trying to dig themselves into the keys.
For final chords at the end of a great passage, the same digging
of the fingers and contraction of the forearm should be supplemented
by a motion of the hand turning round upon the notes with a sort
of jerk, as if it was trying to lock or unlock a key in a door. The
fingers at the same time having finished th'Mr digging action should
contract slightly tow^ards the palm of the hand. Passages ending
with a single note that has to be struck with great power or vehe-
mence can also be manipulated by this same action of the hand,
which I call the "lock-the-door motion." It is most effective in
adding extra strength when necessary, and even in pianissi^no
chords, where distinctive accent is required, it will be found to apply
successfully, though with these, of course, the turning and con-
ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: THIRDS, SIXTHS, OCTAVES 59
traction of the hand will only amount to a slight pressure abruptly
administered.
In general, I advise that with all chord playing, whether in
abrupt individual cases or in successions of legato chords, the
strength and volume of tone should be produced by concentrated
pressure from the forearm. For thereby will the pianist draw from
his instrument a deep and resonant sound, and avoid hard blows
that recall the wood and iron elements of its constitution which it
should ahvays be his first aim to make his audience forget.
See Tables of Scales in Thirds on next page.
60
HOW TO PLAY THE PIAxNO
SCALES IN THIRDS WITH FINGERINGS MARKED
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Chapter VIII
ON FINGERING AND MEMORY
Correct fingering is a very essential part of piano playing, for it
not only conduces to an easy supple technique and to the proper per-
formance of the music, but it also assists in giving light and shade to
passages.
This is because some of the fingers are stronger by nature, and
some are weaker, and by using them according to their different
strength when required, a certain natural gradation of tones is
thereby generated.
In the early days of pianoforte playing it was considered wrong
to use the thumb or the 5th finger at all upon the keyboard, and
later when these two were admitted it was still forbidden by teachers
to take a black key with the thumb, and this even until quite a short
time ago.
The reason that the use of the thumb was thus limited was partly
due to the fact of its working rather awkwardly on the black notes
owing to its construction. But the main objection to it really was
that it was impossible to get a legato tone on the black keys if the
thumb was employed. This would be so still if it were not for the
help of the pedal; but until recently the pedal had not reached the
perfection of mechanism which it now enjoys, and was consequently
not applied so much. At any rate people did not think of using it to
facilitate the free employment of the thumb. Nowadays, of course,
even jumps can be bound over by the skilful application of the pedal,
and a smooth, flowing, continuity of tone can be obtained in the most
awkward passages.
NATURAL TECHNIQUE
Pianoforte technique might almost be said to be divided into two
schools.
The one seems as if it were exactly adapted to suit the peculiar
powers of the instrument, and is that which, having been greatly
modernized by Choj)in, culminated in the genius of Liszt. The
passage writing of both these j)rc-emincnt composers for the piano
are unsurpassed as pure pianoforte technique both as regards ex-
pression, effectiveness and brilliancy.
62 now TO PLAY THE PIANO
The other school, on the contrary, could almost be described as
having developed on lines antagonistic to the piano's natural limita-
tions and even to those of the human hand. Some of the finest
pianoforte works, however, are to be found in this category, two of
its greatest representatives being Schumann and Brahms. ( It nmst
be remembered that I am speaking here entirely from the point of
view of purely mechanical technique, and not considering the musi-
cal side of the question at all.)
This is why many of the pianoforte compositions of Schumann,
and especially also of Brahms, are so terribly difficuk; to master.
Brahms never seemed to stop to consider much about the limitations
of the instrument he was writing for, but let his imagination and
creative faculty develop unhindered, and undeterred, by questions
of technical unsuitability. Thus some of his most beautiful passages
are written almost in defiance of the natural technique of the piano,
so that the pianist, in order to arrive at investing them with their full
significance and effect, would often be glad of twenty fingers to play
them with instead of the mere ten which he possesses!
In this kind of music, tending as it does more towards orchestral
efifects than to purely pianistic ones, the player must often resort to
fingering that at first seems against all reason, to obtain the mastery
over the difficulties. For though in general in all piano playing the
principle should be firmly established that the hand must look natural
and elegant to the eye upon the keyboard, yet here that rule must be
thrown overboard, in order to preserve the necessary expression and
plasticity.
MY METHOD
There are countless methods of fingering, and most pianists dis-
cover for themselves certain particular combinations to specially
fit their own hands.
My method is to finger any given passage by starting with the
thumb on the first note of the passage, irrespective of whether any
of the notes are black or white keys. I then use up the fingers, that
is to say, 2, 3, 4, 5, as they naturally fall within the contour of the
passage. But as the passage deploys under the hand, I substitute
the strongest for the weakest fingers upon the notes which those
weak ones would take in the ordinary course of succession. The
strongest fingers should be selected on the strong beats of a passage,
and the weaker ones on the weak beats, thus producing natural light
and shade. The strong fingers are the ist, 2nd and 3rd; the weakest
of them all is the 4th, the 5th being somewhat stronger than the 4th.
If by natural sequence it becomes advisable to take the 4th finger it
ON FINGERING AND MEMORY
63
should be preceded wherever possible by the ist or 2nd finger, as
this arrangement will enable it to strike with more power. Thus :
3 I U^^ i
^1
X3L
^e
J ' 3 X
Fig. 24. Extract from Chopin's Ballade in A flat showing substitution of strong
for weak fingers.
The fingering above is as usually played without substitution of strong for weak
fingers. Lower fingering eliminates the 4th finger completely, thus substituting
the strong for the weaker.
In passages where there are big intervals between the successive
notes, I use whichever fingers fall easiest within the radius of each
gap.
Fig. 25. Concerto in D minor of Rubinstein.
It is not always possible to start a passage with the 1st finger, on
account of what has gone before, but when this is the case the next
best finger can he employed, and can be ])roceeded frcjm ui)()n the
same basis, using up the fingers that come nearest to the starting
finger.
6i
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
I make no distinction between tlie white and black keys what-
ever, but employ the linjj^ers alike on both kinds of notes.
To iihistrate the usinj:^ of the thumb upon the black keys I give
here an example from Rubinstein's Concerto in D minor. (See
Fig- -'5)
Now as to ///(' fingering of trills, some pianists play these by
using the two fingers next to each other in succession ; but I find that
the better way is to employ the ist and 3rd together in trilling, or
the 2nd and 4th, or 3rd and 5th, as the case may present itself, as in
the example given below. (See Fig. 26.)
-2E
5i
J*
I kenL t-i^ tl t-ii(t tt* ht[<n^
Fig. 26. The Fingering of Trills,
Nu/ CITvJ^
This mode of fingering trills gives velocity and smoothness with
the minimum of effort. There are pianists who change the fingers
frequently while trilling, as in the example given in Fig. 27, page 52.
But I do not find that this repeated moving of fingers produces either
smoothness or extra rapidity, in fact I do not advocate its use, and
in any case it would not be possible where the trill lay between a black
and a white key.
Fig. 27. Frequent changes of fingers during trills which I do not
advocate.
When practising trills, it is best to start slowly in triplet time
and gradually increase the speed until the requisite rapidity combined
with an even articulation can be attained.
ON FINGERING AND MEMORY 65
Great technicians are always inventing new methods of fingering
for difiicLilt progressions, in order to try and make them easier and
quicker of mastery. One of comparatively recent origin is for
playing chromatic scales in thirds as follows : Slide the 2nd finger
from black note to white one, thus using that finger twice running ;
for instance, proceed from the third D sharp-F sharp taken with
the 2nd and 3rd fingers, to the third E-G taken with the 2nd and 4th.
I give on page 60 an illustration to show more clearly what is meant.
This fingering is a great help to clearness of articulation in chromatic
third scales, which clearness, moreover, is always so diflficult to obtain
in double-note passage playing.
THE BEST GUIDE
It can be safely said that the very best guides for the right
application of fingering are to be found in the different scalej and
Fig. 28. Extract from Prelude in D flat (Chopin), showing substitution of
fingers in legato passages.
^rpeggi of every kind, which form the basis of all pianoforte tech-
nique. For every passage is primarily made on the principles of
these progressions, and therefore if students apply the fingering as
given especially in my Compendium which deals with Scales and
-Arpeggio Exercises, they will easily be able with these as a guide to
finger cf^rrectly most kinds of passages they may find in their pieces.
They may, of course, have to make certain modifications in
places upon the lines I have just pointed out in my remarks on the
different strength of the fingers, etc., and also because they will
have to discover what suits their individual hands best. For it is
only reasonable that a hand which can easily stretch the length of
twelve notes must needs finger differently from the one that can only
reach the distance of six with difficulty! The latter, it is hardly
necessary to say, is at a disadvantage, as he has to change fingers
so much more frequently than the former with his superior length
of hand.
A device which helps to promote a good legato tone is to quickly
CO HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
change the fnii^jers from 5 to i, or from 1 to 5, on the same note
while still h(^Klins; it clown, so as to be ready to proceed to the next
note without a break in the sound ; but this can only be used when
the tcvipo is of a very moderate speed.
This substitution of fmj^ers is a very effective way of producing
legato octaves witiiout using the pedal at all, but it is only possible
for hands with a long elastic stretch. Sometimes it may be advisable
to divide a passage so that it is spread over both hands, if by so
doing greater brilliancy, rapidity or smoothness can be obtained.
In general, unless such a disposition of the passage is specially
marked by the composer, its use must be left to the discretion of the
teacher or the ingenuity of the student. For there can be no fixed
rule about the employment of such divisions ; expediency and suc-
cessful effect are the motives for their introduction.
HINTS ON MEMORY
Correct fingering is also a help to memory. And memory is a
most important asset to the modern pianist, as it is now the fashion
for him to have to play everything in public by heart. It will,
therefore, not be out of place here, if after speaking about fingering
I now turn to consider a few points in connection with the faculty
of memory.
For the pianist, then, especially, will memory always be a serious
study as he has so much to remember at once, and often it is of
such a complicated nature. Also he must be of much greater
accuracy in his memory than, for instance, the singer or the actor.
For the actor can often substitute one word for another without
unduly disturbing the sense, while the singer has the accompaniment
to support and remind him if he forgets for a moment. But with
the pianist everything depends on the correctness of the text, both
from the standpoint of his getting through his performance, and
from that of the enjoyment of his audience.
Now the more logical the composition is, the easier it is to learn
by heart. Therefore the works of Bach and Beethoven are never
so hard to remember as those of the modern composers such as
Debussy, Ravel, Scriabine, etc. The former, being built up on
general principles of structural symmetry that quickly impress them-
selves on the brain, are much easier to memorize than the latter, that
depend p:iore on atmosphere and harmonic colouring and therefore
pos.sess a less definite outline to fix in the mind.
Most people have their own way of learning by heart on the
piano. I myself find it is a good plan to look upon memory as
ON FINGERING AND MEMORY 67
divided into three distinct parts of the same facuhy, each one being
able to supplement the others in case of lapse or failure of one of
them. These three I distinguish severally as the Harmonic, the
Ocular, and the Mechanical memories.
THREE DIVISIONS
The Harmonic memory is that which comes from acquiring the
knowledge of the combinations of sounds, development of progres-
sions, modulations, and general musical construction of a composi-
tion. This kind of memory can be obtained by dissecting the music
into so many periods, subdividing it into harmonic sections, figuring
out the various changes of tonality and thus stamping upon the mind
a clear perception of the form of the music.
The Ocular or Visual memory is generated by the impression
made on the brain by the written pages of music as transmitted to it
by the eyes. These get accustomed to seeing the various notes and
lines in certain places on the pages, and in definite dispositions in the
different periods of the piece, and the reflection of their vision on the
inner eye of the brain remains after the actual visible written page
of music has been removed.
The third kind of memory, the Mechanical one, comes from the
fingers, which from continual mechanical practice and repetition of
passages during study, take the habit of playing the groups and
progressions of notes almost unconsciously. This last is certainly
ilie most unreliable of the three memories; because, if by inadvert-
ence the pianist takes only once in a passage a different finger from
the one his hand is accustomed to, it may put him completely out, and
a breakdown can ensue if he has not got the other memories to aid
him to retrieve his momentary lapse.
Therefore, like everything mechanical, this finger memory is not
to be solely depended upon without the help of the other two, in fact
I call it sometimes the Auxiliary memory only. In any case, which-
ever of the three modes of memory fail, the others can come to the
rescue, therefore all three must be cultivated as much as possible.
LEAUN BIT BY BIT
It is advisable for the purpose of memorizing, as well as for the
general mastery of a piece, to learn it bit by bit, taking eight bars or
so at a time. Constant reiteration is bad, for it only fatigues the
brain without producing the ref|uisite imj)ressi()n. It is better to
play s(jinething once or twice over, carefully noticing each detail and
68 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
then stop to (lii^cst it. A good way is to learn each hand's part
separately by heart so as to visualize it mentally with such distinct-
ness that the student can, if recjuired. play any given bar by itself
and be able .to commence unhesitatingly at any point in a piece,
when asked to do so. Sometimes it is effective to study a piece in
the evening, then go to bed and think the music over mentally, note
by note, and chord by chord, as if really performing it, and after-
wards sleep.
Having done this, the student, upon going fresh to work next
morning, will often find that the new piece of the evening before
returns clearly to his mind as if it was already a familiar old friend.
No one need be downhearted if the power of learning by heart
does not come immediately. For nearly everybody can obtain it in
a considerable degree by training, though some people no doubt
have a natural talent for it that scarcely seems to need exercising
at all to keep it vigorous. Certainly the pianist who possesses by
nature a good memory and has also trained it carefully can arrive
at the most incredible rapidity in learning music by heart. To wit.
Van Bulow, the great pianist, of whom the story is told that he
learnt the whole of Tchaikovsky's Variations in F Major for the
piano in the train between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and played
them by heart at a concert the same evening when he arrived !
No doubt the more musical talent a man possesses, the easier
he will learn music by heart, and the longer he will retain it. It is
equally certain that temperament, though one of the greatest
enhancements of talent, is to some extent prejudicial to reliability
of memory during public performance in the following way. The
temperamental player loses himself in the beauty of his music. He
imagines that he is improvising, he feels as if what he is playing
is really the expression of his own soul. Suddenly the dream
vanishes ! He awakes to actuality and finds that he is still playing
a certain part of a set piece by a certain composer ! He is perhaps
bewildered by the sudden cold douche of consciousness. He
realizes his surroundings, he falters, he forgets what comes next !
Rubinstein, greatest of pianists, suffered terribly from this kind
of lapse of memory, which he put down entirely to being carried
away by his temperament. Still, better the temperament of
Rubinstein than the exactitude of the pianola! However, the
student is not by any manner of means a Rubinstein, and what was
forgiven to his commanding genius cannot be conceded to the
ordinary mortal ! Therefore the temperamental player will find
in his public performance that memory will generally be a source
of anxiety to him. But this anxiety ought to be more than com-
ON FINGERING AND ME MORI 69
pensated for by the reflection that memory can be acquired by
patience and reasoning power, while true temperament can never
be even simulated, but is a gift of God. The music of Bach is most
admirably adapted for developing a precise memory. For in his
compositions are to be found the most complicated forms of poly-
phonic writing, where the mind must be always on the alert to
distinguish the many different parts with each their individual
workings.
Chapter IX
SOME COMMON MISTAKES AND ADVICE HOW TO AVOID
THEM
When a student comes to play to the artist with whom he desires
to study, how often does he ask, when he has finished his per-
formance : " Master, what I really want you to tell me is, whether
I have any very serious faults in my playing? "
Serious faults in his playing! Poor fellow! He probahly has
several which he has not yet discovered himself, and which most
likely no one has ever drawn his attention to.
What, then, are some of the most common faults, and at the
same time some of the worst of those which students of the piano
may fall into unsuspectingly through careless tuition? Well, these
are many and various, and are generally very difficult to eradicate.
Aloreover, they beset the most talented players, just as much as their
less gifted brethren.
WRONG USE OF PEDAL
To begin with, there is no more usual failing, or one more
damaging to good piano-playing, than too much use of the pedal,
and its application in the wrong places. The pedal is really a
very dangerous attraction to the inexperienced and yet enthusiastic
performer. It is such an alluring temptation to hear the notes
welling into one another, also the blur of sound produced by much
pedalling covers up so many deficiencies of execution.
There is no doubt that the pedal carries with it a sort of special
glamour of its own, so that even children when they first start
learning the piano are always clamouring to be allowed to play
with the pedal. It is their greatest ambition. Yet bad use of the
pedal is quite capable of completely marring the effect of what
might otherwise be a fine rendering of a piece of music. The
pedal should be used to enhance, but never to cover up, and should
be regarded as a means for producing certain definite tone-effects
and variations of tone-colour at precise moments, and not as a
sort of general mist of hot vapour or steam by which each note,
passage and chord becomes enveloped.
Misuse of the pedal is a horrible fault, and can affect great and
70
COMMON MISTAKES AND ADVICE HOW TO AVOID 71
small alike ; it should be carefully guarded against. Indeed, the
state it produces on the mind of the listener is similar to that
which overheated air creates in the lungs, namely, fatigue, nausea,
lassitude, and even, alas, drowsiness!
ANOTHER BLUNDER
Now comes along the temperamental student, burning with
ardour for the beauty of the music, longing to make the noble
«^A Pfd7
Fig. 29. Prelude in C Sharp minor. S. Rachmaninoff, Op. 3, No. 2.
Examples showing (above) an excerpt from the Prelude in C sharp minor of
Rachmaninoff, as written by the composer, and (below) as often played by
enthusiasts with the rig^ht hand striking each note in the first two bars a frac-
tion after the left. In the third bar of the lower example the chords will be
seen arpeggiocd instead of together, and again the right hand coming in after
the left in the last two chords.
{\
elx
Fig. 30. Prelude in C Sharp minor. S. Rachmaninoff, Op. 3, No. 2.
chords of some fine melody speak out its message! What special
pitfall lies ready to cntr.ip his zealous endeavours? Why, in his
enthusiasm that the melody in I>otli hands slionld Ik- j)r<)perly
72 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
brought out, he gets one hand playing after the other! Only a
fraction of a second after the loft hand tloes the right hand strike,
but in that loss of siniultancousncss of sound the whole grandeur
after which the performer is striving will he dispelled in the irritating
effect of one part of the harmony always reaching the ear at a
slight interval after the other. This is a most frequent failing
amongst very musical people who enjoy tremendously what they
are playing; and especially does it occur with them in slow move-
ments, when they will arpeggio the chords between the two hands
so much that it sounds to me like drawling in speech, or even like
stuttering. These enthusiasts lose their sense of the symmetry
of the sound in their intense pleasure over its component parts,
and it is hard that the very virtue that lies in their love of the
music can thus lead them into danger.
Dragging the time, another tiresome error of judgment, proceeds
generally from the same cause of over- fervour. The player who
suffers from this blemish mostly owes it to a lack of sense of
proportion and taste, and to a certain want of artistic perception
of the guiding line between true sentiment and sentimentality.
HURRYING THE TEMPO
Hurrying the tempo is nearly as bad, and is sometimes caused
by nervousness, though indifference, want of confidence, and the
very general mistake of looking upon a crescendo as an accellerando
also give rise to it. People who are inclined to be nervOus when
playing before others often get a queer kind of defiant sensation
when technically difficult passages hover in sight ; the " let's get
it over and be done with it " sort of feeling, which makes them
hurry in an extraordinary manner.
Of course, hurrying may just as well arise from a lack of instinct
for rhythm in the student. Where this is the case, it is rather a
hopeless look-out, as it is so hard to inculcate a real feeling for
rhythm into someone who is not naturally endowed with it. But
it has often been my experience to listen to students who were
gifted with a most highly-developed sense of rhythm, and yet who
hurried, especially over their technically difficult passages, until I
began to get positively breathless. This kind of increasing the
speed was, of course, due to want of nervous control.
FAULTY RHYTHM
As hurrying and also dragging the tempi are both errors con-
nected somewhat with faulty rhythm, I will speak of this next as a
COMMON MISTAKES AND ADVICE HOW TO AVOID 73
highly unsatisfactory failing. Rhythm is no doubt to a great extent
instinctive, and is bound up a good deal with individual tempera-
ments, . But it must be carefully developed by teaching and analysis,
for too much emphasis can never be bestowed upon giving every
note in music its proper value, apart from any other rhythmical
consideration. For rhythm in piano-playing is so essential a factor
in obtaining a good tone-production, that it is imperative to cultivate
it with great attention to correctness of outline.
Lack of rhythm, or faulty rhythm, will take all character from
a musical performance, and will leave an impression of insipidity
and monotony where there is no rhythm, and of irritation where
the rhythm is inexact, as the case may be.
Close on the heels of bad rhythm comes the weakness of always
using the same kind of tone while performing. Plenty of variation
of tone-colour is absolutely necessary for inspired and interesting
playing on the piano, as, indeed, on all instruments.
On the piano this is more difficult to arrive at than on the
stringed or even the wind instruments, and needs much study of
the technique of touch. For frequently we cannot understand, after
coming out from a concert, why what we appreciated as a really
fine performance of a musical work had not arrested our attention
more, or aroused keener pleasure. A certain sense of monotony
or dullness had crept over us while listening.
Such a feeling, or rather want of feeling, is almost always the
result of the performer's failure to grasp the possibilities of his
instrument in relation to tone-colour. Everything he plays is in
a similar hue of tone, therefore a sameness and lack of life and
contrast pervades the whole. It is a strange anomaly that the more
beautiful is the touch of the pianist by natural instinct, the more
he is apt to fall into the fault of using it indiscriminatelv in the
same strength, because he takes so much personal pride and pleasure
in it. It is like the case of singers who are gifted with wonderful
top notes, and. therefore, are always inclined to warble them forth
in full but monotonous volumes of sound.
OTHER SERIOUS FAULTS
There are other serious faults which hamper pianists, pertaining
more to purely tecbnical matters. Such is, for instance, sticking
out the tlinuih. instead of always keeping it ready underneath the
palm of tbe band in order to facilitate its rapid passage during the
changes of position on the keyboard. This is an important affair,
as if this sticking out of the thumb is not checked, it will impede
74 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
the technical perfection of passage-playing and cause it to be awk-
ward, heavy and laboured.
Kccpiiuj the clh(K\.'S out is a trick that many fall into, which is
IxDth unsightly and tlctriniental in tone-production, because it forces
the hand into unnatural positions, and stiffens the wrists, as well as
impairs rapidity and suppleness of execution.
E.x-cessiir movement of the body, too, while playing, is disturbing
to the sight and to the player's power of elasticity, yet it is a bad
habit which is much indulged in. No doubt it seems to help people
to intensify what they are feeling, but this is an illusion. Exag-
gerated gesture, on the contrary, tends rather to diminish an
impression which might otherwise be deep, and weakens it, by a
suggestion of hysteria, while too frecjuently it borders on the
ridiculous, in which case the impression is altogether lost. Move-
ments of the body while playing can be divided into two classes,
namely, jerky movements (generally confined to the head and
shoulders), wdiich produce stififness and tension, and swaying move-
ments of the whole frame, which disturb the rhythm.
don't make faces
Some players pick up the peculiarity of making extraordinary
faces during their performance of music. This is a very absurd
fault, but it too often becomes a habit that is terribly hard to get
rid of, because it is done quite unconsciously as a rule, and is also
instigated by a desire to express the maximum of emotion, and
sometimes provoked by the physical exertion necessary for the
performance of a technical feat. The only remedy for " making
faces " is to have a mirror hung in front of the culprit whenever
he is practising.
And how about the student who loves his right hand better
than his left? Pie seems to follow the Bible maxim of not letting
his right hand know what his left hand is doing, chiefly because
his left hand is not doing much at all! By this I mean that it is
bad to neglect the left hand, which is generally the weaker member,
anyhow, and not to allow it to develop its fundamental notes with
just as much significance and sonority as the more obvious work
of the right hand. Of course, the left hand should never be
permitted to drown the right hand, but it should sustain and
harmoniously support it.
Young players also err very often by incorrect style in their
performance of different kinds of music. Bach cannot be played
with the highly-coloured romantic passion which should pervade
COMMON MISTAKES AND ADVICE HOW TO AVOID 75
renderings of Schumann or Tschaikovsky, nor with the weird
ethereal atmosphere that surrounds the music of the modern French
school. Music approached thus in a totally false appreciation of
its spirit becomes merely caricature. Yet I have had Chopin
played to me with all the dryness and precision of the most pedantic
classical manner, and Bach distorted with rubato and unnatural
limelight effects.
It is perhaps disheartening to think that there are so many
pitfalls lurking for the pianist in every direction, but there remains
always this consoling reflection, that the man of real genius, even
when he suffers from every one of the faults mentioned here, will
not thereljy be prevented from still being a great player. These
deficiencies of detail are only grave hindrances to the commonplace
ability which has no divine fire to sustain it. And when all is
said and done, each individual possesses the right to hope that
the spark of genius which palliates so many evils may lie in him
too, if only it can be discovered.
I well remember Leschetitzky, the greatest of pianoforte
teachers, finishing up his lessons to his dejected pupils, after telling
them in his most forceful manner of all their heinous faults, with
the following exhortation : " I would say nothing, gentlemen, of
the manner in which you play, if only the result was a satisfying
one. You may play with your feet upon the keyboard if only it
sounds well, but remember they must be talented feet."
Chapter X
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND HOW TO USE
THE PEDAL
The true interpretative artist should not only be content with
" letting the music speak for itself " (to borrow a stereotyped
phrase of those critics who regard personal thought and individu-
ality as a source of reproach). Such a passive attitude is merely
looking at the musical art from the standpoint of photography.
No; rather must the interpreter endeavour to step into the com-
poser's shoes, to imagine with the poignancy of his imagination,
to feel again what he felt, and by so doing to rekindle in the music
all the power of fantasy, life and individuality with which it was
originally endowed by its creator.
For music is essentially an art that demands interpretation —
at least, for its highest effect and appeal. There are continual
controversies about this aspect of music, but in my opinion the
pianist whose part it is to be the public performer must find in the
interpretation of the music the kernel of his whole profession.
Of course, the boundary line between interpretation and the
odious vices of distortion and perversion must be kept carefully
in view, and for this reason there are some basic rules to guide
the student, from which it is impossible to diverge, and it is about
some of these that I wish to speak here.
As regards what is now commonly called classical music, as
distinct from the romantic or modern creations, it comprises most
of the compositions that were written up till the death of Beethoven
in 1826. In this kind of music the ideas and effects are for the
most part presented by means of certain recognized and distinct
forms of expression, and these, though greatly amplified and
varied according to the genius of the composer, remain very similar
as regards the main structural features.
Around this great school of musical thought, which contains
some of the finest treasures of pianoforte literature, many tradi-
tions have arisen as to the methods by which the interpretation
of such masterpieces should be approached. This is due partly
to the distance that separates us from the time of their creation,
but mainly to the fact that some pre-eminently great performers
76
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND USE PEDAL 77
have given renderings of these works at various periods, which
renderings have been handed dov.n by their pupils and followers,
who afterwards themselves became teachers on a lesser plane. Thus
the tradition grew up from teacher to student, until by degrees
it crystallized itself into a prescribed and definite point of view
that has to be taken into account.
NEW LIGHTS ON TRADITION
It is to-day, as always, the mission of the authoritative inter-
preter to amplify and throw new lights upon these traditions, and
not be content to accept the general version which his less-gifted
brethren have to subscribe to with reverent faith. Still, even for
the great artist the fundamental principles must remain the same,
and for him, as for the student, they will form the guiding line of
his mental vision.
Of course, I know that there is a school of musical thought
which practically condemns any effort at interpretation or emotion
in music. They like to be given just the notes as they were
written down, like so many words recited without a shadow of life
or expression. Artists have often been much called to task by
critics who hold such views because their interpretations of the
masterpieces of music are based on the natural conviction that
the greater the music, the more power of colour, fine feeling and
poetry it ought to be able to express. It is difficult to understand
the people who talk with arrogant authority about how exactly a
musical work should be interpreted. They like to invest it with
a sort of traditional dryness of expression which tends to render
especially the older of the great classics a sort of trial of tediousness
which many genuine music lovers submit to endure only as a kind
of educational duty. It is, I am sure, a good deal a matter of
temperament that controls these radical divergences of ideas about
musical performance. It seems to me that to hold such views
is not to get any further than mere arrangements of detail and
narrow perspective, while the true majesty of the picture is missed.
I have many times met truly musical people who found liach and
Beethoven dull, and were surprised at having been stirred by a
great fugue or sonata which they had never appreciated before.
And I am certain it was because they had never been allowed the
opportunity of realizing the full glory of such music. For can
one imagine a nobler or wider range in wliich to find every
wealth of imagination, intellect and feeling than is to be found in the
great sonatas of I'cctbr)ven.
78 HOW TO PI.AY THE PIANO s
The earliest pianoforte nuisic we know of was written in the
form of simple dance measures such as courantes, alleinandes,
pavanes. gigues and so forth. These were performed upon very
primitive-keyed instruments, amongst the best known being the
virginals, harpischords and spinets, and they were only suitable
to the plainest methods of treatment.
Indeed, the story is told of Dr. Arne, the celebrated eighteenth-
century English composer, that he said about one of those instru-
ments, " It is the devil's own instrument, my masters, like the
scratch of a quill with a squeak at the end of it."
Only since the variety and capacity of instruments have de-
veloped, and also since Bach created the complex and polyphonic
harmonies which revolutionized pianoforte music, has the scope
of harmonical expression become so greatly enlarged, and the
problems which surround it so complicated. The discovery of the
pedal, too, changed the whole complexion of interpretation on the
piano, while in the light of modern technique it seems strange to
think that before the advent of Bach the use of the thumb and
also of the 5th finger was absolutely forbidden by the best teachers.
In those days the wrist was held high and the hand stiff; a
high chair was no doubt also used for sitting at the instrument,
and the whole attitude while playing must have been one of rigidity
and precision. Any rendering of this primitive music was necessarily
very quiet and limited in the means employed. All violent crescendo
or diminuendo effects were impossible, and the rhythm was con-
fined to the swaying but monotonous lilt of the gigues of that
day, or to the more stately measures of the pavanes. Certainly
it would seem, to say the least of it, indecorous to play a piece of
the sixteenth century even on a modern pianoforte with the aban-
donment of a Liszt Rhapsody, or, vice versa, to render the passionate
music of Chopin or Liszt with the demure coldness of the early
masters. This is where a sense of style should come in, to help
the artist in his conception of the different aspects of musical
composition.
MUSICAL STYLE
And what is musical style? I think it can be explained as the
impression reflected upon the music by the manners, customs, and
modes of thought which were characteristic of the epoch when it
was written. For, after all, people lived, loved and suffered every
kind of emotion in former centuries just as we do now, only each
period has had its diverse ways of expressing these things in the
arts.
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND USE PEDAL 79
What, then, do we mean by the interpretation of music itself
for the purpose of performance? Is it not the employing of all
possible technical means to infuse the spirit of life into the inanimate
musical form, and cause it to be kindled into a definite sound-picture
for the mind of the Hstener? On the pianoforte this is done by
means of accents, variations of tone-values (crescendo and dimin-
ticndo), variations of rhythm {acccllcrando and ritardando) ,
variety of touch, and manipulation of the pedals. Accents enable
the pianist to bring into prominence certain notes, or groups of
notes, which might be comparable to cries, exclamations, interjec-
tions in the elocutionary art, or to sudden bursts of colour in
painting.
These and other similes could be followed up through the whole
scale of human emotions, for the well-trained hand of the pianist,
being the pliant tool of his imagination, represents to him what
the brush does to the painter, or the voice to the actor. And many
of the same aesthetic laws govern all these in their work as far as
is possible, when the difference of circumstance and material is
taken into account.
RULES OF INTERPRETATION
As far as the general rules of interpretation are concerned, I
will give a few which appertain to what might be called the syntax
of music. Such are the following. An ascending passage should
be played with a crescendo, a descending passage with a diminuendo.
The pedal must be changed according to the harmonies, in order
to blend tlie tones, and to enable notes to be held on which the
fingers could not manage without its assistance. Rhythm, too,
as distinct from time, must be clearly marked, so as to indicate
where accents ought to fall, and to create atmosphere. Music
played without true rhythm will always sound colourless and insipid.
Time should also be well defined, that it may preserve the general
form of the composition.
Skilful use of all these means makes up the art of interpretmg.
and it is for the mentality of the pianist to employ them in their
varying degrees, to mould them, combine them, and dispose of
them, and thus invest the whole work with the pulsating breath of
actuality. No doubt there must exist in the interpreter a natural
good taste which will govern his outlook, and this can only .spring
from a sound musical instinct trained by education, and by hearing
great artists perform. For it goes without saying that there are
no absolute rules about interpretation. There can but l)c some
so
now TO PLAY THE PIANO
broad outlines of stylo and taste to stimulate the imagination of
the student, and help him in his task.
As I have already pointed out, thq interpretations of the
masterpieces of music by great artists become established as tradi-
tioiis. Still the personal thought of the performer should make its
influence felt in the rendering of all music, even of the most
classical type, if that rendering is to be of any real value and
interest, only this personality has to conform to the general dicta
of the style. Thus it will be found that no two fine artists will
interpret a piece in the same way. There may be a thousand
Fig. 31. Opening subject of Chopin's Prelude in F major.
I. — Medium Tempo. Accompaniment very legato in the right hand and fingers
very near the keyboard. No crescendo or diminuendo. The impression is
one of complete tranquillity or twilight.
differences of expression in their particular performance, and
each of them equally correct. This fact only illustrates how
imagination and colour may be infused into interpretation in much
variety. For great musical compositions may well be compared
to beautiful landscapes, which are ever-changing in colour and
effect through the action of atmospheric conditions. On no two
days does the country look alike, yet its composition and outline
remain fixed, everlasting.
It is told of Beethoven that he played over one of his own
compositions to a talented pupil in order to give him some idea of the
interpretative side, and then asked the student to play the same piece
again. This was done, and the master complimented him, remark-
ing that although it differed greatly from the original, it was de-
cidedly better.
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND USE PEDAL 81
This reminds me of Tchaikovsky, who was asked, after con-
ducting a composition of his own, why he did not do so in the
same way as he had once done before. "My friend," the master
repHed, "if you ever see me conduct this again, it will be different
still. It is merely a matter of mood."
To show how different renderings of the same piece may be
possible without the structure of the w^ork being in any way altered,
I give on page 80 two interpretations of the opening subject of
Chopin's Prelude in F Alajor, which both possess equal merit.
(See Figs. 31 and 2^2.)
Fig. 32. Another rendering of the same subject.
2. — Slow Tempo. Accompaniment in the ripht hand half-strength with thrown
fingers — left-hand melody brought out with accents as marked. In the right
hand undulatirfg movement expressed by a diminuendo and crescendo. The
impression is one of movement — birds singing, or water rippling.
Another detail which it is necessary for the student to bear in
mind is that technical passages ought never to be played as if they
were of purely digital dexterity, as this method makes of such
passages only hard, uninteresting interludes of display, wearisome
to the listener and of no value musically. All technical passages,
even the most difficult ones, shfmld be considered as embroideries
of tht main harnK^nies; in fact, they are the rhetoric of the
composition.
Melody also should not be knocked out with unbalanced en-
thusiasm to the entire detriment of the accompaniment, nor should
any two notes of a meUxly be given with exactly the same tone-
colour, for this will Create monotony of sound. Every single tone
should l>e on a genera! .scale of gradation, each having its own
place in the scheme of chiaro.scuro ; because the mechanical lone
8'3 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
of the piano itself, with whicli wc arc deaHng^, makes it imperative
that every device to conjure up perspective and cliarm should be
hroui^ht into service, and above all typewriting effects of precise
striking must be strenuously avoided.
THE ATTITUDE OF THE HANDS
In fact, the keyboard ought never to be struck hard at all in
Irgato passages or in melody of any kind. On the contrary, the
keys must be caressed with a sort of almost stroking movement,
to obtain the requisite tone-values. And in connection with this
there is another thing to which I attach great importance, namely,
that the hand in its attitude on the keyboard should reflect in some
degree the spirit of the music.
For instance, it would not be natural to hold the hands as
formally when playing Chopin as in the performance of sixteenth-
century music. Again, in a vivacious piece the hands should look
sprightly and full of energy, while in slow cantabile movements
they should present a soft and sinuous appearance. For even the
fact of the hand looking hard and stiff during playing will assuredly
affect the sound adversely, and rob it of beauty of quality.
All these things are intimately connected with the preparation
of a fine touch upon the piano. The word " touch," as a musical
term, signifies really the mode by which the fingers attack the key-
board. For the great difficulty to be contended with on the piano
w'hen it is necessary to produce a singing tone lies in this, that
by its mechanical composition, if once a key is struck upon the
instrument, no further modification of the sound-quality is possible.
No vibrato or mellowing of the tone can be afterwards ap-
plied as on stringed instruments; with the piano, all is over
when the finger has once fallen and the hammer has struck the
strings.
Therefore anything that can be done to sweeten the tone must
be attempted before the striking of the note. By this I mean that
an infinitesimal time should elapse between the action of lifting the
finger to strike and the definite falling of the finger upon the key.
Touch must be thus prepared in the playing of all melody and
singing passages with a slow pressing movement of the hand and
fingers. This caressing touch could not, of course, be employed in
rapid difficult passages, where direct quick blows of the fingers
are indispensable in order to save time. In such cases, and in the
higher development of technical brilliance, no more lifting of the
fingers is necessary than is compatible with distinct articulation.
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND USE PEDAL 83
THE SOUL OF THE PIANO
I now come to the loud or sustaining pedal, which Rubinstein
aptly called " the soul of the piano." It certainly is the best friend
the pianist has at his disposal for helping him to overcome the
material drawbacks of the pianoforte's constitution, and without it
no legato playing or prolongation of tone would be possible at all.
Of course, there are two pedals on the modern pianoforte, even
sometimes three, but the soft one is only used, as its name implies.
for deadening the sound. The loud pedal, as it is called, is the real
important factor, and when I speak of the pedal in future as a
general term, it is always to this one that I am referring. The
name "loud pedal'' is really a misnomer, as its function is rather
to sweeten the sound and render it more open, and also to add
brilliance to the tone rather than actual loudness. If the pedal is a
good friend it can also l)e the worst possible enemy if badly employed.
Nothing is more terrible than the general blur cast over everything
by the pedal when it is applied without expert knowledge. A few
simple rules about how it should be used are as follows.
I have already mentioned that the pedal must be changed on
different harmonies; it should also never be taken directly on the
first beat of the bar to obtain the best results, but in syncopation
with that beat, as in the example below.
DO NOT IMPAIR DISTINCTNESS
The pedal can also be used in passages to give a more sus-
taining quality to the tone, though here care must be taken not to
impair distinctness, but a great deal more pedal can be applied
without causing any blur if an accent is given on the bass note on
which the passage is built. The pedal may be applied in a greater
degree in the higher than in the lower registers of the instrument,
as the higher tones can stand, and also need, more sustaining
than the lower ones, whilst these last possess of themselves a certain
sustenance of tone, and therefore blur more quickly. When ap-
plying the pedal it should never be banged on, but pressed down
gently and gradually.
It is essential to possess a good knowledge of harmony in order
to be able to apply the pedal correctly, for it is necessary when using
it to understand something about the structure of chords. All
blurring over of tone by the pedal produces a most unpleasant
impression upon the ear, and must be rigorously guarded against,
except when, in some particular passage, a special effect is required.
84
HOW TO I'LAY THE TIANO
such as in the F minor liallade of Chopin, in the example given
below.
But this is only an outlying instance which really appertams
to the most elaborate study of tone-colour. The general elementary
^^lf^iy<. ^C
% ?^t
Fig. 33. Prelude in D flat (Chopin).
Example showing tlie pedal taken in syncopation with the beat.
It will be noticed that the pedal is taken directly after the note is struck and not
on it the finger not being released until the pedal ,s pressed down 1 he clamp
Snde'r the bass part indicates the exact duration of holdnig down the pedal.
rule for the student, however, remains that the blurring of tones by
the pedal is bad— in fact, it is one of the worst faults a pianist can
commit Professional pianists use the pedal very much more than
amateurs, but it will not be so apparent in their playing. This is
because the experienced artist takes his pedal in a correct way
Fig 34 Example showing special blurring effect of pedal in Chopin's
^'^' F minor Ballade.
Here the oedal is taken for two bars instead of being changed at each bar. This
Here the P^*^^' '=. "^^" .ff„-. „. surging water, or the wind whisthng through the
Trelr^^L^X unfefthe'bS'pa'rt indicates the exact duration of holdmg
down the pedal.
harmonicallv, so that it blends the tones naturally and does not
upset the' outlines, while the player who does not possess the under-
standing or the training neglects to change the pedal with the
harmonies, and thereby produces a smudge of sound mstead of
clear colour.
HOW TO PLAY WITH EXPRESSION AND USE PEDAL 85
The pedal is indeed the essence of life to the pianoforte, and
by managing it wisely the pianist will conjure up out of his music
the most vivid and satisfying impressions, while to the lovers of
beautiful sound there can be no more fascinating study than the
many and varied combinations which the pedal is able to obtam
by the binding together of different tone-colours.
Chapter XI
HOW TO MAKE THE PIANO SING
What is the most elusive and difficult thing to teach, and yet at
the same time the most necessary of all the powers which a pianist
must acquire to be successful in his art? Is it not surely the power
to produce a fine, noble singing tone from his instrument?
The study of tone on the pianoforte in all its infinite varieties
of loudness and softness, of roundness, of purity, of abruptness, or
sensuousness, is as intricate and absorbing as anything in the world
of musical technique. For it combines within itself not only the
highest technical attainment, but also much that properly belongs
to the province of interpretation and inspiration.
Looking at the piano merely from the standpoint of a mechanical
instrument, it is wonderful to realize how much can be done by the
skill and taste of the player to vary and qualify the sound it gives
out. Constantly people are heard to say, " How he makes the
instrument sing! " This is the kernel of the whole matter, namely,
to " make the instrument sing." It is not enough to play clearly,
to play fast, to play slowly, to play loudly, to play softly; all these
different gradations must be alive with the requisite tone to make
them real and atmospheric.
THE STUDY OF TONE
Tone represents to the pianist what colour does to the painter,
and some artists possess a finer perception of that quality than
others. Besides, some pianists are not mainly interested in the
study of tone, but are content with striking the keys always more
or less in the same way, either loud or soft, or messo forte, as the
case may be. In the performance of the more modern and romantic
schools of musical compositions such as Chopin and Schumann,*
and those of our own day, this indifference to variety of tone will
pass muster more or less easily, as this kind of music is in itself
generally so full of colour and elaborate harmony in its combinations
of sound that the lack of much subtlety of tone on the player's
part will not be so much felt. And this more especially upon the
86
HOW TO MAKE THE PIANO SING 87
modern pianoforte, which yields a good full tone without any effort
if not struck too directly.
But when playing classical music a dry or prosaic tone is a
terrible drawback, for it renders it, even to musical people, tedious
and wearying to listen to, because of the dead monotonous delivery
of the performer. Whereas if each chord, each phrase, each melody
is reverently thought out and made to glow with beauty and variety
of tone, all the glory and worth of the great music can be brought
home to those very listeners who otherwise might have been bored
by it.
Beauty, and with it variety, of tone, can be obtained on the
pianoforte by several means. Rhythm has something to do with
it. Pressure of the fingers when striking the notes affects it ;
suppleness and elasticity of the wrists help to attain it. In melody.
tone should be caressed out of the piano, rnelting one note into
another by an undulating movement of the hand. In sparkling
technical passages it should be outlined concisely by means ot
rhythm, in the w^ay of accents in some places, and in others by
careful divisions of values, with regard to the balance of light
and shade in the structure of the passage. Such conciseness of tone
will produce a fine relief for the technical ornamentations and
impart to them vigour and brilliance.
AVOID HARSHNESS
Great power of tone is very difficult to produce without harsh-
ness, for chords struck with direct and powerful blows of the
hand will emit hard, metallic sounds that must shock the ear.
But if the strength is concentrated and applied through the forearm
to the keys, the fingers being pressed down into the notes as if
about to force a great weight out of the piano, the harshness will
be avoided, and a full, deep singing tone will be the result.
Sometimes in a concerto with the orchestra the piano is left
alone suddenly to usher in a grand and powerful phrase, the
orchestra having just before been playing with immense tone and
wealth of sound. This hay)pens, for instance, at the end of the
last movement of Grieg's Pianoforte Concerto. (Sec Fig. 35.)
In such a place, unless the pianist can bring his tone up to some-
thing approximating to the volume and richness which the orchestra
has just left off giving out, the pluase which he now has to bring
in alone will miss its whole effect. His performance of it will give
the impression of a poor, stilted, hard imitation of the orchestra,
or, in fact, it will sound like the effort of a mouse trying to carry
8S
HOW TO PLAY THK PIANO
on the work of a lion. So to acconii)lisli this tremendous halanee
of tone with a whole orehestra against him the pianist must be
able to combine ji^reat strenijth witli (Iii)th and sonority.
The ii^raiuhose cadenza of chords in the (i|HMiinij^ bars of Liszt's
Pianoforte Concerto in E tlat is anotlirr instance where hardness
of tone makes the wh(^le passa<::e unbearable, instead of, as it should
be. if given with the right quality of sound, profound, and fraught
with an atmosphere of impending excitement. (See Fig. 27,, page
57-)
Fig. 35. The end of the last movement of Grieg's Pianoforte Concerto in
A minor, showing after two bars that piano is left alone to continue in
triple forte.
For if a pianist just comes down like a sledge-hammer upon
the chords, as some do when endeavouring to obtain great power
of tone, it only degenerates into mere noise, and can contain none
of the epic quality with w^hich a grand sequence of fortissimo chords
should be invested. In pianissimo tone much the same sort of thing
applies as regards the quality of it. if the tone produced is only a
quiet sound, the result of a very gentle fall of the finger on the
key and nothing more, what is there in it? It may be soft, but
it will remain cold, impersonal, insii);d, without any aesthetic value
or significance. Therefore the pianist's business is to put warmth
and tenderness into the softness, so that, though pianissimo, the
sound clings and appeals to the ear.
Abrupt chords and outstanding notes at the end of a passage
are also difficult to play with sufficient terseness without sacrificing
beauty of tone ; but here again concentration of the force of the
blow given will rob it of the hard noise of the impact, without
losing one jot of its energetic character.
HOW TO MAKE THE PIANO SING 89
One of the best developments of tone-production on the piano
is to be able to strike the same note several times, and each time
not only to make a crescendo or a diminuendo of the sound, but
also to give an actual change in the character of the tone. In a
dccrcsccndo where the repeated note has to die away, it is most
essential to get this change of tone quality, as it is so true to nature.
Every time a natural echo resounds again the tone loses a little
more of its significance and the quality diminishes, and thus, too,
must it be managed on the piano.
It is a good deal owing to clever manipulation of the pedal
that such an effect can be produced, and also to a constant modifica-
tion of the mode of attacking the note. Upon each occasion that
the hand strikes the note it should approach closer and closer to the
key, until at last the action becomes the merest pressure of the
finger on the note to bring forth the final vague tone, that floats
into nothing at the end of the echo.
BAD INSTRUMENTS
The pianist who has attained a perfect development of tone-
quality ought to be able to make a melody sound well on any piano,
even the old cracked tin-kettle sort of variety one sometimes finds
in country villages. This will be no partly due to his high technical
skill, but also because the artist who makes a great study of tone-
colour comes to obtain a sort of intuition, after he has played on
any instrument for a few moments, as to how he can obtain the
best results from it, even when the means at his disposal are very
limited.
Therefore it is not always a disadvantage to the student to
have only an indifferent instrument to practise on at home, for
he is obliged to take far more pains to arrive at a fine tone-
[)roduction on his poor piano. lie will consequently learn more
at the outset of the particular technique necessary for its achieve-
ment, and will possess a wider range of experience to apply when
be reaches the possibility of more adequate means of expression.
The pedal, of course, is the greatest adjunct the pianist possesses
to sweeten and enrich his tone, though it may equally well ruin
its quality unless applied with much care and technical under-
standing. For if the pedal is carelessly used, and blurs and slurs
over everytbing, nothing comes of it save a heavy atmosphere of
unclean tone.
This fault is almost worse than harshness or monotony. And
DO 1K)\V TO PLAY THE PIANO
it is monotonous in any case, just as nuich as tone that is unsweet-
ened by the pechil, because the continual bhir of this murky sound
wearies the ear ahnost .beyond en(hirance. But intelHgent study
of the effects of the pedal, and careful management in changing
it when the basic harmonies of the music alter, can develop it
into the most precious essential for imparting warmth and life
to tone.
Still, an initial dry and hard tone-production on the player's
part cannot be entirely transformed or beautified by application of
the pedal, however skilfully it is done. This is because the pianist's
finger-attack is at the outset hard and direct in the actual striking of
the keys, instead of being caressing, and there is nothing to be
done until this fault is eradicated. So when practising it is a good
thing to endeavour to produce a melting and sustained tone in
melody without first applying the pedal at all ; and the same should
be done with chords.
The pianist should learn to attack them with power and volume
of sound, avoiding harsh blows, before evoking the pedal to come
to his help. Then, when he is able to produce beauty of tone-
quality unaided, he can study pedal effects with profit and enhance-
ment to his playing.
A pianist's best inspiration
Some people no doubt are endowed with a natural facility for
producing a beautiful tone on the piano, generally owing to the
particular constructions of their hands, which are pliable, elastic
and sinuous by nature. But I think that, with sufficient careful
study and attention given to the subject, every player can arrive at
its acquirement, even though to some it seems a greater difficulty
than to others.
Anyhow, it is one of the most necessary branches of pianoforte
technique, and without possessing it the pianist will find it im-
possible to make charm or poetry of expression emanate from his
instrument.
I can think of no more fitting conclusion to a chapter on beauty
of tone than to refer to Anton Rubinstein's attitude towards this
question. For that master of touch, who was undoubtedly one of
the greatest exponents of " how to sing on the piano," used always
to tell his pupils that he had acquired his knowledge from listening
to the singing of the great tenor Rubini. He happened to hear
Rubini sing one day, and was so impressed by the wonderful
HOW TO MAKE THE PIANO SING 91
quality of his sound-production that ever afterwards his ideal
remained to reproduce something of the tone of Rubini's voice upon
his piano. Certainly, Rubinstein's idea that the sound of a beautiful
human voice is the best inspiration for the pianist to imbibe is
one which every student of tone-production would do well to follow.'
Chapter XII
A SPFXIMEN LESSON: THE "MOONLIGHT SONATA"
FIRST MOVEMENT (BEETHOVEN)
I HAVE chosen the first movement of the Sonata in C sharp minor
of Beethoven, commonly known as the " Moonhght Sonata," as
the subject of my specimen lesson, because it is so universally
beloved by all sorts and conditions of people, and is so well known.
It is, therefore, one which all students of the pianoforte must learn.
I will first give a short history of the Sonata, as this should also
be of special interest to students.
The Sonata in C sharp minor, which was entitled by Beethoven
himself " Quasi una Fantasia," was one of two sonatas written
in the year 1801 and published in March, 1802, and forming to-
gether Opus 27. These years of 1801 and 1802 were of great
creative activity on the part of Beethoven, and his works produced
during this time belong to what is general classified as the Master's
second period.
Grove says that the Sonata in C sharp minor was dedicated
to the Contessa Gulietta Guicciardi, and much romance has been
invented on this score. But the lady herself rather discounts this
romance by recounting how Beethoven gave her the Rondo in G, and
then, wanting to dedicate something to the Princess Lichnowsky,
he took the Rondo away and gave the Contessa the " Moonlight
Sonata " in its place. In my own edition of the Sonata, which is
an old one published by Hallberger in Stuttgart in 1858. and edited
by Moscheles, the pianist, a personal friend of Beethoven, it is
stated to be dedicated to the Princess of Liechtenstein.
The title " The Moonlight," w^as supposed to have been given
to the Sonata by Rellstab, a celebrated contemporary musical critic,
who compared the first movement to a moonlight scene on the Lake
of Lucerne. But it may also have received the name from a
publisher who, after the custom of publishers, christened several
of Beethoven's sonatas by various titles in order to make them
more popular with the public (such as the "Pathetique," "Pastor-
ale," " Les Adieux, L' Absence, Le Retour," etc.). I myself think
the title of "Moonlight" not inappropriate to the spirit of the
first movement of the C sharp minor Sonata, which reflects the
romantic atmosphere and mysterious light and shade connected
92
SPECIMEN LESSON: FIRST MOVEMENT (BEETHOVEN) 93
with the presence of the moon. But certainly the last movement
has nothing to do with moonlight, biit represents a great storm of
emotion, where all is cloud, wind and fury.
WHY IT IS POPULAR
The Sonata in C sharp minor was a great favourite from the
moment of its publication, and Beethoven jokingly even pretended
to be annoyed about it, as he considered many of his other sonatas
to be finer works musically; but still the " Moonlight Sonata " re-
mains a warm favourite. Probably the fact, technically, the lovely
slow movement with which it commences is well within the reach
of very moderate performers on the pianoforte may help to account
for its extreme popularity over its fellows, since so many amateurs
are able to derive pleasure from their own rendering of it,
Beethoven wrote thirty-two sonatas in all, of which certainly
nearly half are still as beloved and admired as ever they were, and
continue to form an absolutely essential part of the repertoire of
every pianist. He brought the sonata form to its highest perfection,
and, having found the models of his predecessors too stilted and
formal for the wider expression of his thoughts, he made innova-
tions of what in those days were considered the most daring kind,
and improved upon the forms he found. Like all original men of
genius, he could not tolerate being fettered by conventions, and his
mighty spirit soared untrammelled.
The " Moonlight Sonata " is one of Beethoven's most original
compositions of the so-called second period of his works, and in
it he shows his freedom of thought by commencing the Sonata
with an adagio movement which is not in sonata form, and which
was at the time an entire innovation. In fact, the whole work is
a precursor of the modern sonata. According to Beethoven's own
directions the three movements were to be played straight through
to the end without a break. He puts " Attacca subito il sequente "
after each movement, showing that the three movements were
designed to represent a continuous thread of thought running
throughout the whole work. This unusual and free treatment of
the Sonata's structure has imparted to it a modernity and
freshness which ensure it an everlasting place in the literature of
the pianoforte.
THE FIRST MOVEMENT
The first movement of the " Moonlight Sonata " consists of
a haunting and beautiful melody, full of romance and pathos.
!)t
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
tloatiiig on a continuous stream of undulating harmony. The
interpretation of it should be of the highest imagination, glowing
with a quiet radiance of fantasy and feeling. The tone employed
must be warm and melting in quality, imparting at the same time
the mysterious resignation and the vague unrest of the music's
atmosphere. The opening five bars should be played in a manner
to convey a kind of rhythmical stream to the triplet figures, and
thus create an impression as of a continuously undulating back-
CUO)uy^
CJ-bo
I 1
Example No. i, bars 1-4.
ground for the melody which is presently to start. The octaves
in the bass should be played somewhat louder than the triplet
figure in the right hand, so as to produce the requisite depth of
tone, though the volume of sound should not overstep the bounds
of "piano" {p).—Ex. No. i, bars 1-4.
The melody is introduced in the
fifth bar, and must give the idea
of floating on the accompaniment.
At the tenth bar there comes a
change of harmony from the
major into the minor key, and
here the note G (the first G) in
the right hand should be accen-
tuated. — Ex. No. 2, bar 10.
Proceeding onwards to the last quarter of the fifteenth bar and
leading to the sixteenth, the melody adopts a more insistent temper,
which may be rendered by emphasizing the notes B and C of the
melody in the right hand, especially the C. In fact, this note C
Example No. 2, bar 10.
SPECIMEN LESSON: FIRST MOVEMENT (BEETHOVEN) 95
should be taken arpeg^ato with the accompaniment underneath. It
seems to me to represent a cry of unutterable heart-ache, a sudden
longing which cannot be appeased. In the following bar, where
these same notes of appeal appear again, they may be repeated
pianissimo as a kind of echo. — Ex. No. 3, bars 15-18.
Example No. 3, bars 15-18.
Coming to the twenty-fifth bar, there seems to be like a second
voice appearing with a question in the treble and an answer in the
base, and then another question, and the answer. In these bars
the amount of tone can be somewhat increased and a plaintive
expression imparted to the questioning phrases. — Ex. No. 4, bars
28-31.
Example No. 4, bars 28-31.
96
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
A similar development is to be fouiid in bars thirty and thirty-
one. At bar thirty-two a storm begins to rise in the harmonies,
and continues to increase with
a gradually ascending crescendo
of tone and acccllerando of
movement until it reaches its
culminating point on the first
note (B sharp) of the thirty-
sixth bar, which should be
brought out with considerable
force. — Ex. No. 5, bar 36.
From here onward the storm
of emotion gradually diminishes in intensity until it returns with a
rallentando in the fortieth and forty-first bars to the subdued spirit
of the original atmosphere of the piece. It is of great importance
during the gradual calming down of the stress of the music from
bars thirty-seven to forty, that the melody w^hich has embodied itself
in the inner structures of the harmonies should be brought out thus.
— Ex. No. 6, bars 37-40.
Example No. 5, bar 36.
^..'^j r^ r ""^
• 4 1 n
A A
Example No. 6, bars 37-40.
The next part of the movement resumes the opening melody,
and then continues its course with some variation on the original,
both in modulation of key and progression of passages. In the
fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh bars the melody should be especially
brought out and made apparent above the rhythmical figures of
the accompaniment. — Ex. No. 7, bars 56-57.
The movement now sinks towards its close, and from the sixtieth
to the sixty- fourth bar the fateful notes in the left hand right down
SPECIMEN LESSON: FIRST MOVEMENT (BEETHOVEN) 97
Example No. 7, bars 56-57.
in the bass must resound, though not louder than mezzo-forte, but
still with an ominous emphasis which should pervade the last few
bars of the movAnent. — Ex. No. 8, bars 60-63.
Example No. 8, bars 60-63.
Again, from bars sixty-four to sixty-eight, these deep bass
notes should speak out like the ringing of a knell of doom, but this
time, though equally distinct as before, they should be given as
soft as possible, like an echo of the former ones. The movement
is thus brought to a conclusion in an atmosphere of melancholy
tinged with vague foreboding.
Chapter XIII
PLAYING IN PUBLIC
It is an art almost to be acquired of itself to play in public with
success, that is to say, to interest and give pleasure to the audience,
and at the same time to afford more or less satisfaction to the
performer's sense of achievement. For, no matter how good a
training has been gone through, or how much technical means has
been mastered, none of this seems to count for much in the naked
and exposed atmosphere of the public platform. For there Mag-
netism, Personality and Power of Concentration, are the only
sources of commimication by which the pianist may hope to
convince his hearers.
And in order to stimulate in his performances these three great
essentials, it is imperative for him to throw himself so completely
into his work while on the platform as to become oblivious of his
surroundings, and thus be transformed into a complete medium, or
vehicle of transmission, between the composer's ideas and the
audience. I am persuaded that at certain moments during a
performance the magnetism of the player compelling the attention
of his listeners, creates in him a sort of state of hypnotism. Hence
I have often noticed the fact, that any sudden outside noise in the
hall, however slight, will startle the performer almost out of his
wits, and give him a shock quite out of proportion to its small sig-
nificance, and this because his mind was not at the moment quite
sentient of its actuality.
A SPECIAL GIFT
There is no doubt that some people have a special gift, or are
temperamentally predisposed for appearing in public ; the throbbing
expectancy of the crowd around them acts as a stimulus to the
activity of their brains and imagination. To the student who has
such a temperament (and most of those who succeed in becoming
great interpretative artists possess it), there is only a question of
time and experience before he learns to feel instinctively the vary-
ing moods of his audiences. Once having acquired this sensitive-
ness to receive impressions from his public, it will be his privilege
98
PLAYING IN PUBLIC 99
,to compel them to follow him in all he does, and thus an under-
standing between them will be soon perfectly established. And
when this understanding is accomplished, 1 have found that the
performer ceases to be conscious of his surroundings any more,
because all adverse elements have become reconciled and he can lose
himself in his interpretation, secure that the mind of the public is
with him. But as long as the artist is conscious of their presence
through unquietness amongst them, coughs, whispers and rest-
lessness, etc., so long is his spell not woven. Then will he put all
the resources of his technical equipment into play to endeavour
to produce the magnetic current from himself to the audience.
Possibly it may be a monotony of tone which prevents him
reaching them ; to counteract this he will try to change and vary
his tone-colour with greater subtlety, or he may feel that the rhythm
is not charged with life. He will then strive to put more pulsation
into it in order to focus the attention of the public and to give a
finer relief to the music he is setting before them, so that their
minds cannot fail to apprehend its beauty. For though many
single individuals in an audience may know nothing and care little
for music, yet the general collective mass of a great big public can
be galvanized into becoming like one single vibrating nerve, re-
sponding instantaneously to every variation of colour, rhythm and
passion.
" ABSOLUTE MUSICIANS "
Now all good musicians who play instruments are what I call
absolute musicians, that is to say, they depend entirely and solely
on the music for their expression of thought. They are independent
of all gesture, word or scenery, and their appeal is a direct one to
the emotions, through the medium of combinations of sound,
variously presented. Therefore has music in the widest sense
no bounds of nationality, no stumbling blocks of race or language
to confine it. Its api)cal can ])e felt as well in Kamschatka or Terra
del Fuego as in London and Paris.
I have played the Beethoven "Moonlight" and ".\ppa.sssionata"
Sonatas alike to gokl miners and empire bnilckMs in South .\frica,
to cowboys and niiliinnnires in the Western States of America, to
ranchers and railway magnates in Canada, even to Maoris in New
Zealand, and Chinamen in Vancouver, and found they all listened
and were interested even when they did not (|uite understand. And
it is a curious fact that I have noted the finest niasteri)ieces of music
almost always produce a greater itni)r(ssi()n than inferior works on
audiences which are more or less uiufhu atcd musically.
100 HOW TO PI.AY THE PIANO
Another strangle thing which I have personally experienced is,
that sitinctimes when 1 am feeling untit physically, at the crucial
moment 1 will very likely play better than usual. The effort is a
greater one for me, but no doubt my mind, having to be more
alert to overcome bodily weakness, acts consequently more power-
fully all around. I do not mean to say for a moment by this that
it is an advantage in public playing to be in a weak state physically;
that would obviously be an absurdity. In fact, there is of course
no public profession where good, sound bodily health and strength
are not necessary essentials to success, because the wear and tear
of excitement are so continuous. But the mind, and imagination
and temperament controlled by the mind, must always be the
dominant factors of every sort of condition and remain undisturbed
by unexpected eventualities. And in this dominance over conditions
lies what I call the technique of the platform, and comprises also
the mastery of such things as different acoustical properties of the
place the pianist is called upon to play in. This may often prove
a difficult problem and require much experience to negotiate suc-
cessfully, especially if the artist has only to appear for a short
performance and that in a building where he has not played before.
But by long experience the pianist can more or less tell after
striking a few preliminary chords the kind of acoustical difficulty
which he will have to contend with. If, for instance, a hall has too
much resonance for the piano, then the music must be taken at a
slower tempo and with more emphasis than elsewhere. In places
like the Albert Hall, in London, or the Free Trade Hall, in Man-
chester, this is the case. It is, of course, a good deal also a matter
of perspective and atmosphere. For it is quite obvious that a
fine nuance which would be perfect in a small place might be entirely
lost in the Albert Hall ; and vice versa, the emphasis and delibera-
tion necessary to give the right outline to a big declamatory phrase
in the Free Trade Hall might sound rough and exaggerated in a
building of lesser dimensions. Now the business of the true artist
and the best amateur is to propagate the finest art wherever they
happen to be. For though the popular tune of the moment may
have an immediate success, it will not last, neither can it make
any abiding impression. But once a great musical work has struck
the imagination of even the most superficial mind, it will leave
an unefifaceable memory. In fact it is quite astonishing how manj
people there are who though otherwise quite unmusical, yet will
always go to hear and enjoyone particular great work, such as one
certain symphony, or opera, or sonata. And this, just because the
special work happened once to make some unforgettable impression
PLAYING IN PUBLIC 101
upon them, so that they really continue to enjoy it without knowing
anything more about other music than before.
HOLDING THE PUBLIC
To return once more to the kind of magnetic spell which should
bind performer and audience together, I wish to show how this
power of holding the public, as it is sometimes termed, can be
turned to advantage if an outside emergency arises, such as may
occur occasionally in every walk of life. I well remember in this
connection when I was giving a concert once in St. John's, New
Brunswick, Canada, that there being no available concert hall, the
performance was held in a big public meeting-room on the first
floor of the building. The only entrance to the room was by one
rather narrow wooden staircase, and the same staircase was the
only way out.
The room was crowded so that there was no space to pass in the
hall at all, and people were everywhere, even crowding on the plat-
form. In the middle of my first piece all the electric light went out
suddenly, leaving the vast crowd plunged in the blackest darkness.
They began to get up and grope for an outlet to the one narrow
stair, which in the congested state of the room would soon have
caused a panic if it had continued. Luckily I was so absorbed in
what I was playing that I never actually noticed that the lights had
disappeared and I went on playing quite unconsciously (I think it
was a fugue of Bach). And when the audience realized the music
was proceeding as if nothing had happened, insistent and command-
ing as is ever the music of Bach, they subsided into their seats and
did not attempt to move again till an attendant, after a short time,
found a candle, lit it, put it on the piano and eventually succeeded
in extemporizing enough light to keep things going.
Another incident of the same kind happened to me once in Sydney
Town Hall, in Australia. It is a vast place, and there were about
five thousand people in it that night. During the performance a
tropical storm broke out and affected the electric dynamo, so that
there also all the light went out, and some foolish people shouted
"Fire!" I never noticed anything this time either, so engrossed was
I in the music I was j)laying, and I continued as if nothing had
occurred. Here again the public hearing the music still going on
regained their trancjuiliity, supposing that there could not be very
much wrong if it was not necessary even to cease playing, and they
remained listening without panic till light was procured.
Becoming .so absorbed in the music has been a peculiarity of mine
102 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
since earliest chiUlhood, and when only a little boy of nine it nearly
cost nie my future career, and incidentally gained me a very fine toy
steam entwine ! 1 was taken by my father to play before one of the
Russian Grand Dukes who was interested in music. I was to play
a pianoforte concerto with the orchestra which, if the Grand Duke
was satisfied with my performance, and thoujj^ht I had talent, meant
mv remainiiii; in Moscow to study. In the middle of the concerto
there was a cadenza for the piano which I had to play alone, and
then at a given point the orchestra joined in again. While perform-
ing this cadenza I somehow got so interested in the musical pro-
gressions that I forgot what I was doing, and began developing
other progressions and wandering into other keys. The orchestra
sat aghast, they did not know how to catch me, the conductor looked
terribly dismayed, he could not understand what I was at ! Suddenly
I came to myself, found I was miles away from the original key,
and had to modulate back by a series of chords. Without stopping
mv playing I managed to get into the right music again and gradu-
ally arrived at the point where the orchestra were able to pick
me up.
The Grand Duke, who was musical, laughed when the perform-
ance was over ; he had been entertained by this contretemps. At the
same time he was so pleased that I had been able to extricate myself
from the imbroglio, that he not only complimented my father about
me, but asked me what I should like him to give me. The only
thing I wanted in the world at that time was a toy steam-engine and
I boldly said so, to the amazement of all present. And I got it too.
and a beauty it was ! I fear no one would give me an engine now
if I wandered off into improvisation in the middle of the cadenza of
the TchaikovsJcy concerto 1
Chapter XIV
EPILOGUE: THE PIANO AS A HOUSEHOLD FRIEND,
AND HOW TO CHOOSE AND CARE FOR ONE
The rapid rise of the piano and the enormous growth in its popu-
larity during the last fifty years is the best tribute to its unparalleled
powers of bringing even to the humblest homes a little of the divine
spirit of music. This universality of the instrument, and its ad-
vantage as a real household friend, is due in a great measure to its
accessibility to everyone in the elementary stages of playing. It can
yield pleasant effect at once without any great amount of labour,
and a little gentle strumming on the piano gives a great deal of joy to
many who never meet with any higher form of music in their lives.
The wideness of its scope, too, in the combinations of sound,
and its adaptability to serve the moods of every sort of occasion, go
to make it one of the most wonderful developments which the science
of men has evolved for the nurturing of musical life amongst all
sorts and conditions of people. The cracked old piano of a village
hall rattling out polkas and waltzes in its tin-kettle voice, but pro-
viding plenty of spirit and go for the dance; the hymn tunes rever-
ently fingered out on the much-treasured instrument in the remote
country homes ; the hospital or institution, where its indispensable
presence helps to soothe and cheer, or, by contrast, any place of
entertainment where it enlivens the merrymakers; this adaptability
of the piano perhaps tends to vulgarize it a little, yet it does not
prevent its being a truly noble vehicle for the highest art of expres-
sion and interpretation in great masterpieces of music.
THE SPELL OF THE PIANO
The piano has also, I think, a humanizing and softening influence
on the most unexpected people. I have found this so much amongst
my travels, even hard business men, pioneers, backwoodsmen, rough
miners from out West, farmers on the lonely prairies, sailors, some-
times the stokers from the ship's hold, people of all races and all
cokmrs can come under the spell of the piano.
It is tf)ld of Fouf|ti('t. the splendifl and ill-fated minister of Louis
XIV, that when speaking of music with one of the Court who was
103
101 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
not an amateur, he exclaimed, "How, Monsieur, you care not for
music, you do not play the clavecin, I am sorry for you, you are
indeed condemninj:^ yourself to a dull old age!"
He was thinking no doubt of the joy which all can experience,
even without being great performers, in picking out favourite tunes
on the piano, stumbling over the themes of well-loved masterpieces
and thereby reviving memories of enchanted hours passed in the
concert hall or opera house.
We all know the unutterable satisfaction which even the most
halting travesty of the real thing affords to the imagination of the
devotee, and how much intensity and enthusiasm of expression make
up for lack of execution 1
What an inestimable boon, therefore, is the piano in the home !
A friend, a companion, a comforter, a magician, all in one! Always
ready to give its best, always sympathetic, unchanging, patient, with-
out rancour for the outrages it sometimes has to suffer, at all times
a never-failing resource.
No musical instrument has ever attained such universal popu-
larity as the piano, because it is so easy to handle, so quick to give
to those who ask from it. Therefore, almost everyone desires to
have a piano in the home, and indeed something does seem strangely
lacking if there is not one to be found anywhere throughout a house.
THE RIGHT CHOICE
If, therefore, the piano means so much to so many people, it
surely follows that to know how to choose a good instrument at the
outset is very important. Of course, pianos, like everything else,
are largely judged and selected according to the degree of reputation
enjoyed by their respective makers, and the person who has no spe-
cial knowledge of what is a good or bad instrument is well advised
to look for his piano at a first-class firm, who can show him examples
by all the best producers. At any rate, he is safe to get a good
article from them, and also find experts to pivise him about the
quality of the instrument. It is very unwise to go and buy a piano
by any maker at an auction room unless it can be inspected by some-
one who possesses professional knowledge.
But it is not everything to have a first-class instrument ; it is also
of the utmost importance to look after it well. I cannot bear to go
into a room and see a fine piano covered over with family photo-
graphs, and vases full of flowers, as one often does. The housemaid
is sure to upset one of the vases, and the water trickling down
through the hinges of the lid ruins the action ; while the family
EPILOGUE: THE PIANO AS A HOUSEHOLD FRIEND 105
portraits dance and jingle merrily as an accompaniment to the Bee-
thoven Sonata or the exquisite Chopin study, and generally end by
tumbling down with a bang, scratching all the polish off the top,
and causing terrible trepidation to their owner, not to speak of the
poor performer. I speak wath feeling, from grim experience!
ITS WORST ENEMY
Most people know^ that a piano should not be kept in a draught,
neither just under the w'indow, nor between the door and the
window, A long time of standing in such a position will spoil the
best instrument, and if it is kept for many months in an unoccupied
room it will deteriorate badly unless a fire is lit to dry the atmos-
phere from time to time. Damp is the worst enemy the piano can
have. It is wise, too, if you wish to preserve your piano to the
best advantage, to have it constantly tuned and examined by a first-
class tuner. It is very much more difficult to repair satisfactorily a
piano that has been systematically neglected (it can scarcely ever
regain its original excellence) than to look after it carefully from
the beginning, when it will last for years.
Size is an urgent point to be considered in the selection of a
piano. An enormous and powerful Concert Grand is obviously
unsuitable for a small and private drawing-room, and there is nothing
better for a moderate-sized room than a Boudoir or Baby Grand.
A good Upright is also by no means to be despised, for these are
excellent instruments provided they have plenty of resonance, and
are not too stiff in action.
MECHANICAL PLAYERS
One can scarcely discuss nowadays the merits of pianos in our
homes without mentioning in connection with them the latest de-
velopment of modern musical invention, the mechanical piano-
players. Some musicians affect contempt for the mechanical piano-
players and ridicule their value, but I do not agree with this view,
for, though, no doubt, they cannot be said to contribute to the
highest realms of musical expression, still I think they possess a
very real value in that they educate the public taste, and enable
people who would otherwise have no inclination or impulse to hear
good music to become familiar with it. Therefore, let us not dis-
parage the mechanical piano-players, even though they are trying
neighbours in the next house when one is working or sleeping.
Of course, it is not quite the same thing, choosing a piano for
106 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
one's private use, or sclectiii}; the Concert Grand from a professional
point of view for a performance in a bisj^ hall. l'\)r instance, when 1
give a recital my piano is selectctl by me and my piano-maker some
weeks before the concert from several special ones which I am in
the habit of playing. It is tested as to its power of tone and
resonance with reference to the acoustical properties of the hall. It
is tuned, the action regulated, the pedals adjusted — in fact, it is
prepared and brought into perfect condition, like a well-trained race-
horse before it starts its race, so that it may be equal to all the
demands imposed upon it.
If I were going to buy a piano for my own house, what should
I look for? I should first of all search for one with a good even
tone throughout, as well in the treble and bass registers as in the
middle. Next, I should try the action by ascertaining if the keys
repeat perfectly and whether the touch is easy and pliable under the
fingers, and also whether the pedals act promptly.
But. as I have said before, it takes real knowledge to judge of
such things oneself. If one has not had the opportunity of ex-
perience, the next best thing is to go to a first-class firm where only
first-class instruments are kept and are looked after by experts.
And now, as a fitting finale, let me once more myself eulogize
my beloved instrument and let me emphasize again what a wonderful
work of human ingenuity it is. Who can but marvel when he hears
the variety of its effects, the power and wealth of sound it possesses,
its wonderful mechanical soul, the pedal, how it is able to produce
such great emotions, tears, laughter, excitement, enthusiasm. It
can give at the same time complete satisfaction to those of its un-
ambitious devotees who seek only to pass away a few pleasant
moments in evoking charming sounds and yet prove its stimulation
as an instrument of superhuman difficulty and interest to those who
desire to master it, and make it disclose all the richness and extent
of its possibilities. And for such as are not easily tired or dis-
couraged, the piano can be a glorious friend and companion, only
they must have the w^ill and perseverance, and above all talent and
temperament, to inspire the instrument with life and master its
secrets.
PART TWO
THE DAILY PIANIST
BEING EXTRACTS FROM FIVE-FINGER EXERCISES, SCALES,
ARPEGGI THIRDS, OCTAVES AS PRACTISED BY
MARK HAMBOURG
'■<
Chapter XV
FIVE-FINGER EXERCISES, SCALES AND ARPEGGIO
EXERCISES
I STRONGLY advisc the student, as he advances, to play through some
of the Exercises every day, increasing the Tempo gradually but
never playing them too rapidly, and paying careful attention to the
articulation of the fingers. It is also advisable to play the scales
and Arpeggio Exercises straight through without a break in each
key.
All the Exercises given here should always be played by each
hand separately.
The following Exercises can be played either Forte or Piano,
and may be repeated three or four times, but without fatiguing the
hand.
Each bar to be repeated four times.
The semibreves to be kept pressed down, and the crotchets to be
played with the fingers marked under them, while counting aloud
and lifting the different fingers about an inch from the keyboard.
1. Right hand.
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The same exercise for the left hand to be played the same way.
2. Left hand.
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109
no
HOW TO PI.AV TFIE PIANO
SCALE AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES
These scales should be practised every day with the accompany-
ing arpeggio exercises in four different keys. Thus every scale and
arpeggio in all the tonalities will be gone through twice during the
week.
Thus : First day— C, D flat, D, E flat.
Second day — E, F, F sharp, G.
Third day— A flat, A, B flat, B.
Fourth day — Begin again on C, etc., etc.
Scales to be practised as below every day slowly with each hand
separately, care being paid to the passage of the thumb and to the
flexibility of the wrist.
Scales in C and Arpeggi. Right hand.
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SCALES AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES
111
Scales in C and Arpeggi. Left hand.
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112
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
Scales in D flat and Arpcggi. Right hand.
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SCALES AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES
Scales in D flat and Arpeggi. Left hand.
U3
And so on throughout the different keys.
114
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
The fingering given in the C major example is similar in the
keys of D. !•:. V, G, A, and B. For the E flat and B Hat scales the
fingering is the same as that given below.
Scales in B flat and Arpeggi. Right hand.
SCALES AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES
115
Scales in B flat and Arpeggi. Left hand
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116 HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
The fingering for the F sharp scale is as follows :
Scales in F sharp and Arpeggi. Right hand.
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SCALES AND ARPEGGIO EXERCISES
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Scales in F sharp and Arpeggi. Left hand.
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Chapter XVI
SCALES IN THIRDS AND OCTAVE EXERCISES
SCALES IN THIRDS WITH FINGERINGS MARKED
I. Right hand.
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These fingerings can be used in all tonalities.
II. Left hand.
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CHROMATIC THIRDS
III. Right hand. Minor thirds.
IV. Left hand. Minor thirds.
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V. Right hand. Major thirds
VI. Left hand. Major thirds.
Il8
SCALES IN THIRDS AND OCTAVE EXERCISES
119
OCTAVE EXERCISES
To be practised slowly and very staccato, wrist very loose.
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120
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
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SCALES IN THIRDS AND OCTAVE EXERCISES 121
OCTAVE JUMPS
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HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO
REPEATING OCTAVES
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