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Table of Contents
Testimonials.................................................................................................................................................... 6
Abbreviations and Frequently Used Phrases................................................................................................. 14
Preface........................................................................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER ONE: PIANO TECHNIQUE ......................................................................................................... 24
I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 24
1. Objective ........................................................................................................................................... 24
2. What is Piano Technique?................................................................................................................. 25
3. Technique, Music, Mental Play ........................................................................................................ 26
4. Basic Approach, Interpretation, Musical Training, Absolute Pitch .................................................. 26
II. BASIC PROCEDURES FOR PIANO PRACTICE ................................................................................. 28
1. The Practice Routine......................................................................................................................... 28
2. Finger Positions................................................................................................................................. 29
3. Bench Height and Distance from Piano ............................................................................................ 30
4. Starting a Piece: Listening and Analysis (Fur Elise)......................................................................... 30
5. Practice the Difficult Sections First .................................................................................................. 31
6. Shortening Difficult Passages: Segmental (Bar-by-Bar) Practice..................................................... 31
7. Hands Separate Practice: Acquiring Technique................................................................................ 31
8. Continuity Rule................................................................................................................................. 32
9. Chord Attack..................................................................................................................................... 33
10. Gravity Drop, Chord Practice, and Relaxation............................................................................ 33
11. Parallel Sets................................................................................................................................. 35
12. Learning, Memorizing, and Mental Play..................................................................................... 36
13. Velocity, Choice of Practice Speed............................................................................................. 38
14. How to Relax............................................................................................................................... 39
15. Post Practice Improvement (PPI) ................................................................................................ 41
16. Dangers of Slow Play - Pitfalls of the Intuitive Method ............................................................. 42
17. Importance of Slow Play............................................................................................................. 43
18. Fingering ..................................................................................................................................... 44
19. Accurate Tempo and the Metronome.......................................................................................... 45
20. Weak Left Hand; Using One Hand to Teach the Other............................................................... 46
21. Building Endurance, Breathing ................................................................................................... 47
22. Bad Habits: A Pianist's Worst Enemy......................................................................................... 49
23. Damper Pedal .............................................................................................................................. 51
24. Soft Pedal: Hammer Voicing, Physics of the Piano Sound......................................................... 52
25. Hands Together and Mental Play ................................................................................................ 55
Beehoven’s Moonlight, 1st Movement, Op. 27, No. 2 ......................................................... 56
Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca, from Sonata K300 (K331). ..................................................... 59
Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66, Fast Play Degradation (FPD)................................. 61
26. Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 64
III. SELECTED TOPICS IN PIANO PRACTICE ....................................................................................... 64
1. Tone, Rhythm, Legato, staccato........................................................................................................... 64
a. What is "Good Tone"?
The Basic Keystroke. .......................................................................................................... 64
Tone: Single versus Multiple Notes, Pianissimo, Fortissimo. ............................................ 65
b. What is Rhythm? (Beethoven’s Tempest, Op. 31, #2, Appassionata, Op. 57) ........................... 69
c. Legato, Staccato .......................................................................................................................... 71
2. Cycling (Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu).............................................................................................. 72
3. Trills & Tremolos ................................................................................................................................. 76
a. Trills ............................................................................................................................................ 76
b. Tremolos (Beethoven's Pathetique, 1st Movement).................................................................... 77
2 4. Hand, Finger, Body Motions for Technique..........................................................................................79
a. Hand Motions (Pronation, Supination, Thrust, Pull, Claw, Throw, Flick, Wrist).......................79
b. Playing with Flat Fingers (FFP, Spider, Pyramid Positions).......................................................80
c. Body Motions ..............................................................................................................................88
5. Playing Fast: Scales, Arpeggios, and Chromatic Scales........................................................................89
a. Scales: Thumb Under, Thumb Over (TU, TO)............................................................................89
b. The TO Motion, Explanation and Video .....................................................................................91
c. Practicing TO: Speed, Glissando Motion ....................................................................................92
d. Scales: Origin, Nomenclature and Fingerings .............................................................................96
e. Arpeggios (Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu, Cartwheel Motion, Finger Splits) ..........................98
f. Thrust and Pull, Beethoven's Moonlight, 3rd Movement..........................................................100
g. Thumb: the Most Versatile Finger.............................................................................................103
h. Fast Chromatic Scales................................................................................................................103
6. Memorizing .........................................................................................................................................104
a. Why Memorize? ........................................................................................................................104
b. Who can, What to, and When to, Memorize. ............................................................................106
c. Memorizing and Maintenance ...................................................................................................106
d. Hand Memory............................................................................................................................107
e. Starting the Memorizing Process...............................................................................................107
f. Reinforcing the Memory............................................................................................................108
g. Practicing Cold ..........................................................................................................................109
h. Slow Play...................................................................................................................................109
i. Mental Timing ...........................................................................................................................110
j. Establishing Permanent Memory, Mental Play .........................................................................110
Music memory.....................................................................................................................111
Photographic memory..........................................................................................................111
Keyboard memory and mental play.....................................................................................112
Theoretical memory.............................................................................................................114
k. Maintenance...............................................................................................................................114
l. Sight Readers versus Memorizers..............................................................................................115
Bach's 2-part Inventions: #1, #8, and #13. .........................................................................116
Quiet hands.........................................................................................................................120
Sinfonia #15.......................................................................................................................121
m. Human Memory Function; Music = Memory Algorithm..........................................................122
n. How to Become a Good Memorizer ..........................................................................................124
o. Summary....................................................................................................................................125
7. Exercises..............................................................................................................................................126
a. Introduction: Intrinsic, Limbering, and Conditioning Exercises ...............................................126
Fast vs. Slow Muscles .......................................................................................................127
b. Parallel Set Exercises for Intrinsic Technical Development......................................................128
c. How To Use The Parallel Set Exercises (Beethoven’s Appassionata, 3rd Movement) ............134
d. Scales, Arpeggios, Finger Independence and Finger Lifting Exercises ....................................135
e. Playing (Wide) Chords, Finger/Palm Spreading Exercises .......................................................136
f. Practicing Jumps........................................................................................................................138
g. Stretching and Other Exercises..................................................................................................139
h. Problems with Hanon Exercises ................................................................................................139
i. Practicing for Speed ..................................................................................................................142
Speed Stroke, Relaxation...................................................................................................142
Other Speed Methods ........................................................................................................143
Speed Walls .......................................................................................................................143
8. Outlining (Beethoven's Sonata #1)......................................................................................................145
9. Polishing a Piece - Eliminating Flubs..................................................................................................146
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10. Cold Hands, Slippery (Dry/Sweaty) Fingers, Illness, Hand Injury (Carpal Tunnel), Ear Damage
(Tinnitus) .................................................................................................................................................14711. Sight Reading.................................................................................................................................... 153
12. Learning Relative Pitch and Absolute Pitch (Sight Singing, Composing) ....................................... 155
13. Video Recording and Audio Recording Your Own Playing............................................................. 159
14. Preparing for Performances and Recitals.......................................................................................... 160
a. Benefits and Pitfalls of Performances/Recitals. .............................................................................. 160
b. Basics of Flawless Performances.................................................................................................... 161
c. Practicing for Performances. ........................................................................................................... 161
d. Practicing Musically. ...................................................................................................................... 162
e. Casual Performances. ...................................................................................................................... 163
f. Performance Preparation Routines. ................................................................................................. 164
g. During the Recital. .......................................................................................................................... 166
h. That Unfamiliar Piano..................................................................................................................... 166
i. After the Recital............................................................................................................................... 167
15. Origin and Control of Nervousness................................................................................................... 167
16. Teaching............................................................................................................................................ 170
a. Types of Teachers. .......................................................................................................................... 170
b. Teaching Youngsters, Parental Involvement, Mental Play, Absolute Pitch. .................................. 170
How to teach your child. ............................................................................................................ 172
c. Memorizing, Reading, Theory. ....................................................................................................... 174
d. Some Elements of Piano Lessons and performance skills. ............................................................. 175
e. Why the Greatest Pianists Could Not Teach. .................................................................................. 178
17. Upright, Grand & Electronic Pianos; Purchasing and Care.............................................................. 179
a. Grand, Upright, or Electronic?........................................................................................................ 179
b. Electronic Pianos............................................................................................................................. 180
c. Uprights........................................................................................................................................... 183
d. Grands. ............................................................................................................................................ 183
e. Purchasing an Acoustic Piano. ........................................................................................................ 184
f. Piano Care........................................................................................................................................ 185
18. How to Start Learning Piano: Youngest Children to Old Adults...................................................... 187
a. Do You Need a Teacher?. ............................................................................................................... 187
b. Starter Books and Keyboards.......................................................................................................... 188
c. Beginners: Age 0 to 65+.................................................................................................................. 188
19. The “Ideal” Practice Routine (Bach’s Teachings and Invention #4) ................................................ 191
a. Learning the Rules. ......................................................................................................................... 191
b. Routine for Learning a New Piece.................................................................................................. 191
c. “Normal” Practice Routines and Bach’s Teachings........................................................................ 191
20. Bach: the Greatest Composer and Teacher (15 Inventions and their Parallel Sets).......................... 197
21. The Psychology of Piano .................................................................................................................. 199
22. Summary of Method ......................................................................................................................... 201
IV. MUSIC, MATHEMATICS, AND RESEARCH .................................................................................. 202
1. Can We All Be Mozarts? .................................................................................................................... 202
2. Scientific Approach to Piano Practice................................................................................................. 203
a. The Scientific Method..................................................................................................................... 203
b. Principles of Learning..................................................................................................................... 204
3. Why Is Intuition So Often Wrong? ..................................................................................................... 206
4. Mozart's Formula, Beethoven and Group Theory............................................................................... 206
Mozart (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Sonata K300)............................................................................ 206
Beethoven (5th Symphony, Appassionata, Waldstein)................................................................... 209
5. Learning Rate Calculation (1000 Times Faster!)................................................................................ 212
6. Future Research Topics....................................................................................................................... 215
a. Momentum Theory of Piano Playing. ............................................................................................. 215
b. The Physiology of Technique. ........................................................................................................ 215
c. Brain Research, Using the Subconscious........................................................................................ 215
4 d. The Future of Piano … ……………………………………………………………………………217
. e. The Future of Education..……………………………………………….………………………….219
V. JAZZ, FAKE BOOKS, AND IMPROVISATION.................................................................................220
CHAPTER TWO: TUNING YOUR PIANO..................................................................................................222
1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................222
2. Chromatic Scale and Temperament.....................................................................................................223
a. Mathematics of the Chromatic Scale and Intervals .........................................................................223
b. Temperament, Music, and the Circle of Fifths................................................................................225
c. Pythagorean, Equal, Meantone, and “Well” Temperaments. ..........................................................226
3. Tuning Tools .......................................................................................................................................228
4. Preparation...........................................................................................................................................228
5. Getting Started.....................................................................................................................................228
a. Engaging and Manipulating the Tuning Lever. ...............................................................................229
b. Setting the Pin..................................................................................................................................230
c. Tuning Unisons................................................................................................................................230
d. Sympathetic Vibrations. ..................................................................................................................232
e. Making that Final Infinitesimal Motion...........................................................................................232
f. Equalizing String Tension................................................................................................................233
g. Rocking It in the Treble...................................................................................................................233
h. Rumblings in the Bass. ....................................................................................................................233
i. Harmonic Tuning. ............................................................................................................................234
j. What is Stretch?................................................................................................................................234
k. Precision, Precision, Precision.........................................................................................................234
6. Tuning Procedures and Temperament.................................................................................................235
a. Tuning the Piano to the Tuning Fork...............................................................................................235
b. Kirnberger II....................................................................................................................................236
c. Equal Temperament.........................................................................................................................236
7. Making Minor Repairs (Voicing and Polishing the Capstans)............................................................237
a. Hammer Voicing. ............................................................................................................................237
b. Polishing the Capstans.....................................................................................................................239
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................239
Book/Video Reviews...............................................................................................................................241
Reviewed Books: Classical Music ......................................................................................................241
General Conclusions from the Reviewed Books.............................................................................241
List of MUST READ Books & MUST VIEW Videos....................................................................242
Reviewed Books: Jazz, Fake Books and Improvisation......................................................................253
Reviewed Videos.................................................................................................................................254
Web Sites, Books, Videos .......................................................................................................................254
General ................................................................................................................................................254
Sites with Free Sheet Music and Other Goodies .................................................................................254
Piano Instruction (Classical), Teachers, Schools.................................................................................254
Books Not Referenced Above, by title................................................................................................255
Piano Technology, Tuning, Parts, Manufacturers ..............................................................................256
Injury from Piano Practice..................................................................................................................256
Jazz, Chords, Theory, Instruction (Popular Music) ............................................................................256
Sheet Music, Video, CD, Book, Stores.................................................................................................257
Notes for Translators:..............................................................................................................................257
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.............................................................................................................................258
List of Tables, Equations, and Videos.........................................................................................................258
Index............................................................................................................................................................258
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