Piano Playing Part 17

"Etudes," by Carl Baermann (two books), published in Germany.

"Etudes," by Ruthardt (Peters Edition).

But why not select an easy Etude by Chopin and make a start? The best preparation--if not the Etudes themselves--is h.e.l.ler's Opus 154.

[Sidenote: _Etudes For Advanced Players to Work at_]

What regular technical work would you prescribe for a fairly advanced pianist--one who plays pretty well such things as the Chopin Etudes in C minor, Opus 10, No. 12, and in D flat, Opus 25, No. 8, and the B flat minor prelude?

My advice to advanced players is always that they should construct their technical exercises out of such material as the different places in the pieces at hand furnish. If you should feel the need of Etudes for increasing your endurance and control of protracted difficult pa.s.sages I suggest that you take up the Etudes by Baermann and those by Kessler.

The former are a little easier than the latter.

[Sidenote: _The Value of Clementi's "Gradus" To-day_]

My first teacher laid great store by Clementi's "Gradus ad Parna.s.sum,"

and insisted upon taking every study in it, while my new teacher, with whom I recently started lessons, says that it is "outlived, superannuated." Was my old or my new teacher right?

They were both right; one as a pedagogue, the other as a musician. As you do not mention the reason of your first teacher's insistence, I must a.s.sume that he employed the "Gradus" as exercises, pure and simple. It serves this purpose quite well, though even as studies for the applying of technical disciplines they are, on account of their dryness, "outlived," as your new teacher correctly says. Modern writers have produced studies which combine with their technical usefulness greater musical value and attractiveness.

POLYRHYTHMS

[Sidenote: _Playing Duple Time Against Triple_]

How must I execute triplets played against two-eighths? In Clementi's Sonatina, Opus 37, No. 3, first page, you will find such bars.

In a slow tempo it may serve you to think of the second eighth-note of the triplet as being subdivided into two sixteenths. After both hands have played the first note of their respective groups simultaneously, the place of the aforesaid second sixteenth is to be filled by the second note of the couplet. In faster motion it is far better to practise at first each hand alone and with somewhat exaggerated accents of each group until the two relative speeds are well established in the mind. Then try to play the two hands together in a sort of semi-automatic way. Frequent correct repet.i.tion of the same figure will soon change your semi-automatic state into a conscious one, and thus train your ear to listen to and control two different rhythms or groupings at the same time.

[Sidenote: _The Two Hands Playing Different Rhythms_]

How should, in Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu, the four notes of the right be played to the three of the left? Is an exact division possible?

An exact division would lead to such fractions as the musician has no means of measuring and no terms for expressing. There is but one way to play unequal rhythms simultaneously in both hands; study each hand separately until you can depend upon it, and put them together without thinking of either rhythm. Think of the points where the two hands have to meet, the "dead points" of the two motions, and rely on your automatism until, by frequent hearing, you have learned to listen to two rhythms at once.

[Sidenote: _The Old Problem of Duple Time Against Triple_]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

How should the above-quoted notes be brought in with the lower triplets?

It would be futile to attempt a precise and conscious division in such cases. The best, in fact, the only, way to do is to practise the hands separately with an exaggerated accent on each beat until the points where the hands meet are well conceived and the relative speed ratios are well understood. Then try to play the hands together, and do not be discouraged if the first attempts fail. Repeat the trial often and you will finally succeed if the separate practice has been sufficient to produce a semi-automatic action of the hands.

PHRASING

[Sidenote: _The Value and Correct Practice of Phrasing_]

Can you give an amateur a concise definition of phrasing and a few helpful suggestions as to clear phrasing?

Phrasing is a rational division and subdivision of musical sentences, and serves to make them intelligible. It corresponds closely with punctuation in literature and its recitation. Find out the start, the end, and the culminating point of your phrase. The last-named is usually to be found upon the highest note of the phrase, while the former are usually indicated by phrasing slurs. Generally speaking, the rising of the melody is combined with an increase of strength up to the point of culmination, where, in keeping with the note design, the decrease of strength sets in. For artistic phrasing it is of the utmost importance properly to recognize the princ.i.p.al mood of the piece, for this must, naturally, influence the rendition of every detail in it. A phrase occurring in an agitated movement, for instance, will have to be rendered very differently from a similar-looking phrase in a slow, dreamy movement.

[Sidenote: _Do Not Raise Wrist in Marking a Rest_]

In observing a rest should the hand be raised from the wrist?

Never! Such a motion should be made only in rapid wrist octaves or other double notes when a staccato is prescribed. The regular way to conclude a phrase, or observe a pause, as you say, is to lift the arm from the keyboard and keep the wrist perfectly limp, so that the arm carries the loosely hanging hand upward.

RUBATO

[Sidenote: _As to Playing Rubato_]

Will you please tell me what is the best method of playing rubato?

The artistic principles ruling rubato playing are good taste and keeping within artistic bounds. The physical principle is balance. What you shorten of the time in one phrase or part of a phrase you must add at the first opportunity to another in order that the time "stolen"

(rubato) in one place may be rest.i.tuted in another. The aesthetic law demands that the total time-value of a music piece shall not be affected by any rubato, hence, the rubato can only have sway within the limits of such time as would be consumed if the piece were played in the strictest time.

[Sidenote: _How to Play Pa.s.sages Marked "Rubato"_]

I find an explanation of _tempo rubato_ which says that the hand which plays the melody may move with all possible freedom, while the accompanying hand must keep strict time. How can this be done?

The explanation you found, while not absolutely wrong, is very misleading, for it can find application only in a very few isolated cases; only inside of one short phrase and then hardly satisfactorily.

Besides, the words you quote are not an explanation, but a mere a.s.sertion or, rather, allegation. _Tempo rubato_ means a wavering, a vacillating of time values, and the question whether this is to extend over both hands or over only one must be decided by the player's good taste; it also depends upon whether the occupation of the two hands can be thought of as separate and musically independent. I a.s.sume that you are able to play each hand alone with perfect freedom, and I doubt not that you can, with some practice, retain this freedom of each hand when you unite them, but I can see only very few cases to which you could apply such skill, and still less do I see the advantage thereof.

[Sidenote: _Perfect Rubato the Result of Momentary Impulse_]

In playing _rubato_ do you follow a preconceived notion or the impulse of the moment?

Perfect expression is possible only under perfect freedom. Hence, the perfect _rubato_ must be the result of momentary impulse. It is, however, only a few very eminent players that have such command over this means of expression as to feel safe in trusting their momentary impulses altogether. The average player will do well carefully to consider the s.h.i.+fting of time values and to prepare their execution to a certain degree. This should not, however, be carried too far, as it would impair the naturalness of expression and lead to a stereotyped mannerism.

[Sidenote: _The Difference Between Conception and Rubato_]

Is there any difference between conception and _rubato?_

Conception is a generic term and comprises the service of each and all means of expression, among which _rubato_ plays a somewhat prominent part. For it is, so to speak, the musical pulse-beat of the player.

Being subordinate to conception, its function and manner must be governed by the latter.

CONCEPTION

[Sidenote: _Different Conceptions May be Individually Correct_]

Can one and the same phrase be conceived differently by different artists and still be individually correct in each instance?

Certainly! Provided that--whatever the conception be--it preserves the logical relations of the parts in building up the phrase, and that it is carried through the whole course of the piece in a consistent manner.

Whether a certain conception of a phrase is or is not compatible with the general character of the piece and how far the freedom of conception may extend, it will be for the aesthetic training and the good taste of the player to determine for each and every case separately.

[Sidenote: _Which Should Come First--Conception or Technique?_]