Mastering Piano Technique - Practice in Chords

With this post, I will begin a series of articles which will present my technical ideas. Many people feel that good piano technique is the playing of glittery piano passages cleanly, quick and speedy playing, and big sound. On the other hand, interpretation of the piece is also an important component of performance mastery. In addition to finger dexterity, elements of tone production, rhythm, pedaling, dynamics, and musicality must be taken into consideration.

In my own experience, true mastery of technique came when I suddenly had the control to reproduce with my fingers what I heard in my mind. I will begin a series in this blog called “Mastering Piano Technique” which will help you and your students do the same. I will even discuss the teaching of a number of favorite student pieces from a technical standpoint.

A Simple Exercise

As I had mentioned in a previous post, one of my favorite exercises is to practice passages in chords. Passages that lend themselves well to practice in chords include Alberti base passages; similar passages with the right hand, passages consisting primarily of broken chord patterns, and of course, arpeggios.

Some of the advantages of practice in chords include:

1) Establishing a good set of fingering patterns – When you block a passage out in chords, chances are that the way your fingers fall into the chords will be the correct fingering to use for these passages.

2) Proper positioning of the fingers – By practicing in chords, you teach your fingers where they need to be placed to perform the passage accurately.

3) As an aid to memorization – Learning the chordal patterns found in the music is an aid to memorization.

4) Mastering Arpeggios – Arpeggios, are basically an extended chord, for example, a C Major chord repeated over 2 or 3 octaves. Practicing in chords will help you gain the accuracy and speed needed to play arpeggios cleanly which can be difficult to achieve. Rather than trying to connect each chord, after practicing in chords, play the arpeggio by just quickly hopping over to the next chord while keeping the fingers close to the keys to make it sound connected. Also, be sure to keep the thumb pointing down in a slightly diagonal position rather than flat to keep the arpeggio smooth and even. The result will be a very clean and well articulated arpeggio.

5) An Easy Exercise for Students to do – Practicing in chords is a very simple exercise for the student to do, yet this practice technique always yields results.

Here are some examples where practicing in chords is effective:

Advanced Elementary

Little Song by Robert Schumann –Have students practice the left hand in 2 note chords e.g. c-g, d-g, e-g f-g, etc. Than have the student play the left hand quietly and evenly maintaining the position of the chords. Have the student practice the right hand with good tone, since this is the melody. After each hand is mastered, have the student perform the piece hands together.

Waltz by Shostakovich – I find that having the students practice the left hand in chords for this piece is very effective towards gaining mastery. Have the student play the entire left hand in chords using single notes in the non-chordal passages.

Intermediate

Clementi Sonatinas – The Clementi and Kuhlau Sonatinas immediately come to mind with all of the Alberti bass passages.

Solfeggietto by K.P.E. Bach –This is another one of my favorite intermediate teaching pieces. There are many passages that lend themselves to practice in chords.

Advanced

Schubert Impromptu op. 90 #4 in A-flat – One of my favorite short pieces, the cascading broken chords in the right hand of the A section of this piece must sound smooth, sparkling, even, and effortless. Practicing these passages in chords will teach your brain the proper placement of the fingers. You will want to supplement the practice in chords with additional exercises. Another problem is the smooth transition between the broken chords. On the switch of fingers on the repeated note, be sure to never leave the feel of the key as you make the switch in fingering. Another useful exercise for mastering this beautiful piece, is to practice a beat and a note e.g. Cb-Eb-Cb-Ab-Ab several times followed by Ab-Cb-Ab-Eb-Eb, etc.

You will find many other passages in the pieces that you perform or teach that will lend themselves well to this simple but effective exercise.

Piano Practice Techniques that Everyone Can Use

One of the most important things that I can do as a piano teacher is teach both beginning and advanced piano students effective piano practice techniques. Of all the instruments, piano requires a great deal of coordination. Not only must the pianist be able to use both the right and left hands simultaneously, but the performer must use his or her right foot on the damper pedal. Even the left foot is used on the soft pedal in more advanced literature.

Pianists are constantly performing different motions with each hand. For example, one hand may be playing legato (connecting one note to the other) while the other hand is playing staccato (short). Often the performer will be performing different motions with different fingers of each hand, particularly in more advanced literature. A common problem is to be able to bring out the melodic line over the accompaniment no matter where that occurs in the music.

Here are some practice techniques that both beginning and advanced students can follow:

1. Hands Alone Practice – One way to master the coordination needed to be able to do different motions with each hand is to devote some time to hands alone practice. It is amazing how much easier it is to perform a piece hands together after considerable time has been spent on hands alone practice. Also, hands alone practice on more complex pieces of music allows you to concentrate more fully on what each hand must do.




2. Establish a Good Set of Fingering – Good fingering is very important to your success as a pianist. As you practice hands alone, establish comfortable fingering that you will use at all times. Experiment with different fingerings to see what works best for you. If you are taking lessons, your teacher should be able to help you with this. Remember that a good set of fingering can mean the difference between mastering that difficult run or passage.




3. Work Slowly and Be Accurate – A common problem is that the student wants to play too fast. Remember that you must establish an accuracy of notes, rhythm, and fingering before you bring a piece up to speed. You will be able to maintain a proper speed when you know the piece extremely well.




4. Do Spend Some Time on Rhythm and Counting – I always have my students count aloud. Besides establishing a rhythm pattern, I find that counting can help with concentration, and it also helps to maintain tempo (speed). Some teachers recommend use of a metronome. I personally don’t own a metronome as I prefer to establish an internal “body rhythm” where I feel the beat and rhythm of the music. Also, many pieces, particularly of the Romantic era, do not have a strictly regular rhythm. In other words, there are places in the music where you might speed up or slow down. You can’t do this with a metronome. With a metronome, you tend to get a mechanical feel to your music and sound like the pianist for a ballet class. Metronomes can also be tricky for beginners to use. Perhaps my prejudice against metronome use comes from my own frustrations as a student when I was made to use a metronome.




5. Master One Small Step at a Time – This is actually a continuation of the hands alone practice above. After each hand is mastered, practice your pedaling. In most situations, pedaling follows what the left hand is doing. As you begin to place the two hands together, remember to work slowly for accuracy. Later add in your phrasing, dynamics, and shadings.




6. Break the Piece Up into Practice Sections – This is one of the methods that really help students with mastering a more difficult piece. I will break the piece into one page at a time, a section at a time, a line at a time, and even one bar at a time. If a passage is difficult enough, I will even have the student do a ½ bar at a time. For example, there are 4 difficult measures in the J.S. Bach Invention #1in C Major. I find that students are able to master these 4 bars after hands alone practice and working small sections of this passage hands together.




7. Practice Alberti Bass Left Hand Passages in Chords – Another very effective practice technique that I use with students is to have them practice broken chord passages such as Alberti bass passages in chords. This practice method is appropriate for any passage, right hand or left, consisting primarily of broken chords such as the Bach C Major Prelude from Book I of The Well Tempered Clavier. By practicing in chords, we teach the brain where the fingers must be placed and positioned. Try this practice technique and you will see quick results.




8. Perfecting the Finished Product – Once you have learned the piece, a good way to keep it in top shape is to play it through each day. Take note of the passages that could use more practice. Devote some time to practicing these “hard” parts. Then go back and play the piece once again. You should see an improvement.

Let me know if you find these practice techniques helpful by leaving a comment on this blog. Your own practice suggestions will be welcome to our readers.