Playing with Expression

I have talked about the importance of playing with full emotional engagement at all times, at all stages of learning and working on your pieces. But how exactly do you do that?

If you think about jazz and rock musicians, you might say they always play with expression. I doubt that the Rolling Stones ever gave a performance where they were just phoning it in. I doubt they phoned it in during rehearsals either. Why is this so? 

First, if they wrote the music they are performing, they probably have a deep connection to the music -- it really means something to them. Second, if they wrote it themselves (and even if they didn't), they didn't learn it from a written score. so they didn't spend time learning "the notes" and then have to add the expression later. If they are improvising, they definitely are not restricting themselves to written notes. Either way, they know the sound they are looking to achieve, and the ear is running the show. The ear directs the body what to do to achieve that sound. 

The process of learning, playing, and performing classical music is so different from rock or jazz that it is difficult to draw parallels. Sorry folks, I know I'm biased, but classical music, played at a very high level, is the most difficult. Playing a Brahms or Rachmaninoff piano concerto lasting 40 minutes is a world away from playing a set of ten 4-minute songs on guitar. The technical challenges alone are vastly different. It may take months, even years, to learn, master and memorize a classical piece. 

For the average amateur or beginning pianist, the process of learning and absorbing the notes of the piece can be quite daunting. It helps to be great sight-reader but there is a lot more to it than that, specifically, the technical aspects. Because of those two challenges -- reading the notes and then training the hands to find and play them -- the musicality tends to fall by the wayside. It doesn't have to be this way, but it ofen is. Sadly, a lot of teachers don't even talk about this. They figure you either "have it" (musical talent) or you don't.

I recently saw a video on You Tube where the teacher, to her credit, did emphasize the importance of always playing with expression. The problem is, she couldn't tell you how to do that. Her only suggestion was to listen to a lot of recordings of great pianists. If only it were that easy. Even if you can tell by listening that the pianist has tremendous musicality and expressiveness, you are not going to be able to identify what exactly they are doing to achieve that. The notes are flying by at hundreds per minute so you couldn't focus on what they are doing on a note-by-note basis even if you wanted to. And if you could (you can't), you'd end up playing like that person; it would not be your own expression, it would be theirs.

The problem is that many people view the "expression" as separate from the notes, like a coat of paint you put on at the end. The expression comes from nuances of touch and timing, phrasing, dynamics, and much more. Everything you do physically affects the sound. Let me say that again: Everything you do physically affects the sound. Not just the sound of each note, but more importantly, the sounds of the notes in relation to each other. In the video mentioned above, she says no two notes of the phrase will have the same dynamic level. Not true, but even so, how would you micro-manage that? Trying to do that note-by-note would give a very stilted and artificial sound. Instead, to create a long phrase (also called a long line) you need the arm to initiate the movements which subsume the individual notes within the phrase. The fluidity of the arm movements will create the arc of the phrase. I realize that just saying this is not going to enable most people to actually do it. It's just an example of how the physical  movements determine the sounds. In my lessons, I have my students place their hands on my hands and arms to feel what I am doing. I also move their hands and arms for them (briefly) just so they can experience the feel of it. You've got to experience it, physically. Just watching someone do it is not enough. After experiencing it, you try to "cultivate" that experience, meaning, do it all the time until it becomes natural for you. You would be learning a whole new way to move. Again, this is why you need a teacher who can help you with this.

Here is one of the most profound statements my brilliant teacher, Joseph Prostakoff, said: "You play the way you hear, and you hear the way you play." What this means is that if you play in a very note-wise manner, using primarily finger technique, your ear will absorb that sound and impel you to play that way in the future. The more the ear expects that sound, the more you will do it, and so on in an endless loop. Likewise, if you play in a very fluid manner, integrating the arms, hands and fingers into larger movements to create phrases, not just notes, you will hear music that way, and your ear will direct your body to play in that way. Whichever "loop" you are in, you are constantly reinforcing it. You can see why it would be foolish to think it's OK to play without expression some of the time; you are reinforcing the loop you don't want. You'd be learning the piece with one set of physical movements, only to have to replace it with a different set when you want to perform and play "musically." No wonder some people have such a hard time playing expressively; they spend the bulk of their time NOT doing that.

If I could teach you how do play expressively by just telling you. I would do it. Sorry, but it can't be done. I can only give you warnings about what NOT to do, and some hints at what to focus on if you want to change your playing to be more expressive.