Does it pass the "smell" test?

 

I think you all know what I mean by the "smell test." Does something seem legit, or is there something fishy about it? We use this "test" in many areas of our lives.

As I wrote in my post titled "Who can you believe?" (April 2021), when it comes to playing and learning to play the piano, you will hear many different ideas or opinions regarding how to go about it, expecially regarding technique. For someone attempting to learn on their own (which I don't advise) or even someone who has teacher, it can be difficult to know who and what to believe. So, you must use the "smell test."

I often read blogs, articles, or books on the subject of the piano. Here are some recent ones I've encountered.

In one recent blog, the person said you cannot play loud chords "coming from above" because you will get a harsh sound, and he demonstrated in the video. Yes, he got a harsh sound because he used what I call a "hammer stroke," the way you would hammer in a nail, using your forearm. The reason it works for the hammer and the nail (a sharp movement) is similar to why it sounds harsh on the piano. Instead, he said, you must have your hands right on the keys and then play, giving you a "gorgeous sound," which he demonstrated (he didn't actually get them very loud or gorgeous). However, consider this: when the baseball player or tennis player or golfer wants the ball to go far, they pull their arms way back in order to have the greatest possible momentum when the bat or racket or club contacts the ball. If they want a short shot, such as a putt or bunt, they hold the club or bat right in front of their bodies and move it more slowly, and with only a little momentum. The same is true for piano; if you want it to be loud, the hammers must hit the strings at high speed, and for that you need momentum. It doesn't mean you start from above and crash down on them, but it does mean you need the whole arm, played in a motion coming towards yourself at high speed, which gives volume without harshness. Starting right on the keys and having no momentum just doesn't pass the smell test. 

However, he said that you do want to come from above for staccato playing, but using the wrist. I'm not sure how this would even work, because if you come from above, but then flex the wrist, you negated the movement you started with your arm. But any time someone says to use the wrist, I am immediately suspicious. Overuse or incorrect use of the wrist can lead to pain, fatigue, and even tendinitis and/or carpal tunnel syndrome.

This person recommends lots of exercises where you lift each finger high as you play. He says it will give you precision in your playing. However, he also says that if you want good phrasing and beautiful legato, it is necessary to learn to transfer the weight of the arm to the fingers, with the fingers close to the keys (this is correct). Does it make sense to practice "exercises" one way, when you want to play your actual music in the exact opposite way? No, it doesn't pass the smell test.

In discussing rapid playing, he says "the arms are too heavy and too slow" to accomplish it. Again, we must look at other disciplines. Are the tennis player's arms too slow? Are the ballerina's arms too heavy? I suppose you could say that they train their arms to be fast and light. But of course, so does the pianist. I'm thinking of the very end of the Chopin B-flat minor Scherzo, which has both hands on a chord in the center of the piano, and then rapidly -- as a grace note, which must be quite fast -- both hands jump to notes at the opposite ends of the keyboard. It's obvious that your fingers won't cover these distances. I could give dozens of examples like this. I like to say that "the fingers aren't going anywhere the arm doesn't take them." Arms too heavy and too slow? Nope --- doesn't pass the smell test.

This person's blog was a hodgepodge of different techniques for different types of playing. That's not how it works. Good, or great, technique at the piano, stems from some core principles, which are grounded in the physics of the piano mechanism itself and the working of the arms, hands and fingers, as well as some elements of physics, such as the momentum example, above. You don't have to study anatomy or physics to aquire good technique, but if your teacher shows you specific techniques, he or she needs to understand why they work, and why others don't work, and to be able to put them into practice at the piano. Ideas which seem to defy physics, or just common sense, for that matter, just don't pass the smell test.