Repeated Notes

 

Repeated notes, that is, playing the same note in succession, sounds like it would be easy. And it can be. But once again, there is a lot of misinformation, or "300-year-old ideas," as I call them, on this subject. There is an old idea that, if playing the same note, you must use a different finger each time you play it. I have to assume that this idea came from the technique for harpsichord, which has an very different mechanism than the piano. The "key return," the speed at which the key itself comes back after being depressed, was slower on the harpsichord than on a piano, and certainly slower than our modern piano, assuming it is of good quality. (I am not an expert on the harpsichord, but I feel confident that my information is correct.) Theoretically, the fraction of a second it would take to change to a different finger would be enough for the key to return. But on our modern pianos, I can play a very fast repeated note using the same finger, by starting with a good strong pulse with the arm, and the rest of the notes "bounce" off of that pulse. A drummer does this with the drumstick to achieve rapid iterations. Since the drummer is not using his fingers per se, he has to use the power of the arm. Or think of skipping a stone in the water: after the initial impulse (the throw), the stone hits the water and then bounces several times. I can get quite a few repetitions this way with no change of finger.

However, if I had a great number of repetitions, I would change finger. But that doesn't mean the work is done by the fingers alone. It is necessary to get a good pulse going with the arm. Changing fingers slightly changes the angle of the arm and wrist to the fingers, and prevents the hand from stiffening as it might if playing with the same finger over and over. Take Scarlatti's sonata in D minor, K. 141, which has rapid-fire repeated notes for most of the piece. Since there are six sixteenth notes in the measure, I would do fingers 1 (thumb), then 3 then 2, twice for each measure. When you start the measure with the thumb, the arm does a small pulse and the other notes come from that pulse. In this way you can get speed without fatigue, because the bigger muscles of the arm are doing a lot of the work. Trying to do this with only finger technique would produce pain and fatigue in almost everyone. (Watch the Martha Argerich performance of this piece on YouTube if you want to have your mind totally blown!)

If the repeated notes are slow, and you want them to be legato, just as you would if they were two different notes, then changing fingers will almost certainly ruin your chance of legato. In the moment of changing fingers, the damper would come down on the string and make a fraction of a second gap between the notes. Instead, you must not let the key up all the way before depressing it again. If you look at the white keys from the side, you can see if you have let the key all the way up, or if you have let it come near to the top but not all the way. If you re-depress it before the damper comes down, you will have legato. This is absolutely the effect we should strive for in many instances. When you hear a not-so-good pianist you may notice they never achieve that effect. (If the composer has marked it detached, then obviously you don't need to do this.) 

One of my pet peeves is that when you see fingering marked in the musical score (usually by an editor, not the composer), you will see a change of finger on a repeated note, even when it is a moderate or slow tempo. This is very inefficient and has absolutely no benefit. And, as mentioned, you won't be able to make it legato. This is another example of people clinging to old, out-dated ideas that are not supported by the facts -- the physical properties of the piano itself or of the human body.