Over the years, I have had a number of students who have a very light touch on the piano. I try to encourage them to play louder, and have used Hanon, etc. to build finger strength, but in many cases, it is not lack of strength in the fingers but rather fear of being heard playing wrong or making mistakes that is causeing them to press down so gingerly. So my question is twofold: 1) Are there any exercises simpler than Hanon specifically for finger STRENGTH (not coordination or technique)and 2) Have you any strategies for dealing with the psychological aspect I spoke of? Thanks!!

I've had a few of them as well. It seems to happen for all sorts of reasons so the only way to deal with it is to get to the bottom of the probelm. Possible reasons I can think of:

Lack of confidence (like you said).

Weak fingers that just don't articulate properly.

Not using the natural weight of the arm, as in holding back.

Having a poor instrument at home with too light a touch.

Under developed listening skills, thinking they are playing loud enough when in fact they are not.

Once you work out exactly what it is you can start to help them.

Jed, welcome to the forum. Be certain to annotate your signature block to show you're a teacher. It helps us differentiate posters.

Students' fingers are not the problem, as you note. It's mostly the lack of recognition that the piano has a huge dynamic range and players should avail themselves of it. As my studio has two instruments, it's easy for me to illustrate without disrupting them. Have them play over or under you to get the feel of the possibilities. For a single piano studio, I'd recommend simply illustrating what you want, and having them repeat it until they produce the sound you're looking for.

I teach my students to let the weight of their arms sink into the keyboard. I find that soft playing *usually* comes from tension and anxiety. I try to make sure they are relaxed in their shoulders and are not afraid of really sinking in.

Rachel, the piano is a velocity instrument, as you know. Loudness depends solely on the speed of the hammer, which is in direct proportion to the downward velocity of the key. Half-way down. After that, all energy is wasted, because the hammer is in free flight.

I find that with my students, rather than confusing them with terms like "weight" I have them put their fingers on the keys then try to make progressively louder sounds. The faster their fingers descend, the louder the sound. This can be achieved by flexing the fingers at the 3rd joint, adding a wrist motion (really pulling down on the hand at the wrist joint) and/or controlled release of the arm, allowing gravity to help, or a purposeful downward thrust of the arm, to a shoulder pushing.

We don't want our students thunking the bottom of the key bed, so a slight in or out motion of the fingers will serve a cam-like function, allowing deceleration of the fingers before pounding the key bed.

That is very unMatthay but very James Ching and it's called flexion of the wrist.

I had a teacher once say to me "If you are going to make a mistake, make it nice and loud so we can all hear it." He had a deadpan face.

After my initial shock, we both burst out laughing!

That's my approach as well, especially when it comes to scales, arpeggios, etc. I do that at home, but when I forget to tone it down during my lessons, my teacher would remind me that I need not to break the piano in playing it!

You could reason with the student that if he (or she) played too softly, he might not be able to catch his own mistakes during practice and miss the chance to correct them. In any case, make sure the student understands that you're not encouraging him to make mistakes for the sake of humiliating himself for your or others' entertainment. That's something I wouldn't have understood without a straightforward explanation when I was a kid, I would've immediately proceeded to guarding myself against incoming meter sticks, feather dusters, pinching, and poking instead. :p

This is just one more reason why
digital pianos are so superior
to acoustic ones and are sending
them the way of the harpsichord
and clavichord. A student who
practices on an acoustic piano
can develop this tendency, for
fear of having his wrong notes heard
a block away. But with a digital
this problem disappears, because
you can practice with the volume
turned down or with headphones,
and no one can hear your wrong
notes as you work out the difficulties
in a piece.

And this is not at all a new idea.
This is precisely why silent keyboards
were first introduced in the late
19th century. A silent keyboard
is like a digital piano with the
power turned off, and it enabled
a concert pianist to practice more
and develop better technique, since
there was no longer a concern about
people hearing your wrong notes.
Arrau used one all his life.

It could be a number of factors as Chris said. Usually, it's a matter of the student not listening, though. Sometimes you tell a student to play forte and they say "I am!!" to which I reply, "You are only playing forte if it *sounds* forte".

Yes, address the how of playing forte with arm weight and firm fingers and releasing the weight. To practice this, I will have students play a C major 5 finger pattern, hands separately, and bounce the wrist down while pressing down each key, playing legato and then the wrist comes back up to parallel to the keys. They do this very slowly, and practice only that for a week or so until it's comfortable. It is an exaggerated movement, of course, but it teaches them to keep the wrist flexible and the fingers firm.

Once they do this, then they will have more technical control over dynamics. Then it's just a matter of listening. I will have a student play p, mp, mf, f in succession on one key. This helps them realize just how loud they can get and it helps them gauge where their p should begin. You can also start them at F and work backward to help them realize that if their forte isn't loud enough, they'll be down to no sound by the time p rolls around.

i find that my students who play too softly out of fear are OVERLY relaxed. they tend to limp up their hands as if to say, "I am not involved in the making of any future mistakes." to this end, I often tell them to ignore the dynamics (which is quite a shock) and play everything ff. i also have them practice their scales 1xp 1xmp 1xmf 1xf, etc. so they hear the control they have over dynamics. usually one or two lessons like that clears it up, but i have 1 in particular who has to do it with every piece so far. we'll see.

I find it is usually one of three things, the student may be very frail (this is rare) However a students health and body energy effects the energy played on the piano and this is a very real thing. Usually it is the touch of the piano at home and it needs to be calibrated a little differently. And or the student doesn't like to make a mistake and thinks if they play it soft you won't be able to tell or it won't sound so bad when they play. I tell my students it's wrong whether it's soft or loud, so you might as well play it wrong good and loud so that you catch it right away correct it and stop playing it wrong. If it's soft it's easier to ignore and keep practicing wrong. Obviously since I am telling you it is incorrect I can hear whether it's wrong, soft or loud, playing soft to cover it up didn't do you any good, did it? Then when attention is called to their soft playing after a while they seem to start correcting it. Good excercises added help as well and then the problem isn't as much of a problem.

I think the impediment is first of all within the student: timid, frail, uncertain, not confident, nonassertive behaviors in place because of things like "children should be seen and not heard", or a child actua;;u having been severely criticized or punished for noise or behavior, having a parent sleeping day time, a baby in the house, neighbors in close quarters.

If you see this, you'll have to try to overcome it. These kids don't seem to fill up the space they are in, they talk softly, the don't speak unless they have to, they have slight postures. They wait for your instruction and then for your permission for them to go ahead. When they play, they play slowly and tentatively. They ask you if that is right. The piano is barely making sound.

It is not so much about what you do to teach "touch" at the piano, or the exercises you assign, most students will do those things with flare and vigor. But, they won't do them if they can not access and initiate the action from within themselves.

This is an emotional issue, I think.

You need to teach discovery about the piano as an instrument and discovery about the human capacity to make music coming from the brain through the neurological and muscle paths of the human body. This is how it's done - this is how it happens.

You also need to help the child build imagination in music, you have to give permission and lead the thinking and the acceptable behavior at the piano.

Sometimes you see clues in the parents as to how and why this is happening in the child, and sometimes it is the child's own nervous system that has created obstacles to overcome. Perhaps the child is being medicated for a disorder and it impacts their responses. Sometimes there is an emotional trauma that has happened and is not recovered from yet.

There could be many causes for what you see when a child appears handicapped to approach the piano. Hopefully the parent will help you find the reasons why this is happening, but I have found that many parents will look the other way and not provide information that they have to help you.

Thank you so much for the information in this thread, and thank you Morodiene for the exercises above; I look forward to trying these.

Thanks also to John..Brook, I have never understood that the velocity all happens in the first half of the key strike. I've known what to do to play forte, I was taught well enough, I do it and teach students not to make the slapping sound when playing loudly, but I never understood the mechanism in relation to the touch. I've just had a eureka moment! It's funny, as soon as I read that I could visualise the mechanism, so I had understood the mechanism but never connected it to how the touch of the finger applies to this. I definitely prefer to understand why.

I had a quiet player and it was mainly a consequence of unconfidence - she is somewhat overwhelmed by a clever older brother and I have noticed that her parents never pay her compliments on her piano playing, in fact seem mostly not to notice it. All the approaches of improvising, some easy repetative pieces, playing with friends, humour, Laughing at mistakes (then improving them and laughing some more) and recognising and celebrating her achievements have finally born fruit. She owns her music now and is suddenly learning pieces at 5 times the rate. Parents commented that "she's playing all the time" (nearest they've come to a compliment in my hearing). There were a couple of years of patient waiting to get to this point; slow, tentative, boring in fact. She is on fire now, and proud of herself and it fills me with joy just to think about it.

Interesting that this coincides with her being selected in some team of the brain competition that is off to the national finals this week, something that the brother is not part of.

Also problem is compounded by her piano being old with light action, but I guessed that this was secondary to the other influences

I don't think anyone has said yet, but simply picking up a student's finger and thrusting it into the key (with a feeling of driving through, with no immediate intention of stopping) is invaluable. Whatever you might say, few things can compare with sensation of actually producing a big sound from your own finger, without using any great effort to achieve it. It's important to speak of playing confidently, but this is one of the most important things to start off with, in my opinion. They need to see what it feels like to play 'through' a key- not merely to prod at a key. Confidence is a big issue in the long run, but first they need experience of the physical sensation that goes into producing a deep sound- and the feeling of just how comfortable it is when you aim through the point of contact, instead of using muscles to willfully apply the brakes.

To give credit where credit is due, my recent teacher, Dr. N. Jane Tan, brought this incredibly obvious fact to my attention and yes, what a difference understanding it makes!

I can't recommend Otto Ortmann's Physical Basis of Piano Touch and Tone enough. It's now out of copyright and last time I looked was available free at http://www.archive.org

It's a valid point, but I think it's important to see it from both sides though. While I've had some students who indeed crash into the keybed without any sense of releasing the exertion at all, I think it's far more common for a thud to occur from attempting to actively slam on the brakes (or simply locking the arm up too much in the first place). Such students reduce the thud by aiming through (but releasing the effort when they feel contact with the keybed)- not by aiming to stop. When muscles try to deliberately slow things down, the added tension makes far less likely to absorb the crash. When you aim a little through the point of contact, you are far more likely to have the muscular freedom that can absord the impact. It's simply not possible to slow down a key in the loudest sounds- you can only allow the keybed to do so, by ensuring that you have enough cushioning to prevent a heavy impact. It's important to feel you are releasing the exertion (as soon as the keybed pushes back), but it's equally important NOT to feel that you are willfully slowing anything down. The tensions involved in actively stopping a movement that is in full flow are phenomenal. If you don't leave that for the keybed to do, you a huge thud is almost guaranteed. When you aim past the point of contact (as if not even expecting to contact anything) you are far more likely to get the freedoms that will absorb an impact. Any intention of stopping tends to result in the unwanted tensions of anticipation.

I simply don't believe that it's possible to 'slow down' the movement in a true fortissimo, over such a short period of time, with such collossal momentum in action. Even if it is possible, the only way both the momentum and continued action of gravity could be stopped in such a short period of time, would be to employ enormous tensions in the arms. That could hardly be desirable, surely? I think the only possible way of fully explaining what goes on is to consider a 'cushioning' effect and how to maximise that. Different people will lead to that in different ways, but I can't see any other plausible explanation for the precise details of what actually occurs. I don't believe that a pianist can willfully slow down between escapement and key-bed any more than a golfer can hit a good shot when willfully restricting the follow through. You can merely let go of the effort while allowing the momentum to flow on, just as a golfer does. I think the secret is to allow the key to slow down, not to attempt to make it happen. While the illusion can work for some, to be honest I think that any attempt to hold back before reaching the keybed is extremely risky. Aiming through to the bed is never a problem. It's tension in places that ought to provide cushioning that causes a thudding impact.

I'll throw another one in, since no one has mentioned it: playing too loudly hurts my ears. It was one of the sequelae of an extended course of Cipro, in combination with other medications that have tinnitus as an unlikely, but known, side-effect.

Leaning into the piano to use arm weight brings my ears that much closer, and makes the perceived sound that much louder. A lighter touch is less battering.

"The tensions involved in actively stopping a movement that is in full flow are phenomenal."..."I simply don't believe that it's possible to 'slow down' the movement in a true fortissimo, over such a short period of time, with such collossal momentum in action."
Yes Nyiregyhazi, you describe it well. There is no time to slow down!

I have not thought about aiming through. I will try this at the piano. I can't remember a teacher describing it this way, but again that may be a procuct of having reasonable forte technique anyway. It's often harder to teach the things one hasn't had a problem with. I vaguely remember something about sponginess... but don't remember details.

I would imagine coming at the problem obliquely, but with understanding for those old enough to use it, via such exercises as Morodiene suggested. Then engaging ears bigtime, as always.

The concept of following through and not stopping is demonstrated here via analogies such as pingpong. I think it makes the same point and which instrument is involved doesn't matter. Scroll to around 1:51. Is what Stern says related to piano too?
"follow through"

(not teacher)

very interesting. I'm very thoughtful. Great video, and singing what you play is a whole other topic that will probably come up at some time.

just back from piano. I find myself coming back to sponginess of wrist, or even analogies to car suspension, or mountain bike jumping; the way the whole body visibly absorbs the shock, and especially the way the body needs to anticipate the shock before the wheels hit the ground through having practised lots of jumps already. I have Follow Through, and also Suspension in wrist next time this comes up with a student.

Follow through with bow is something i'm very familiar with, it just makes sense with bowing because of the sound of the join, and for good arm use.

Yeah, interesting to see that. Now I think about it, it's even closer to the follow through of a golf shot than I thought. The obvious difference is that a golf club isn't stopped a tiny distance after contact with the ball. HOWEVER- no golfer seeks to actively slow down the club at any point. You stop adding additional force after contacting the ball but you would never think of deliberately slowing the club down. Even in golf, the club finally stops because the motion reaches a point where it cannot be continued any further. Keep the muscles loose and you can allow the momentum to ease away naturally. I think this is actually quite identical to what happens when the key arrives at the keybed.

To further the analogy, if someone tries to push actively for too long, it's equivalant to trying to further accelerate the club after you've already hit the ball. Any additional impetus would be useless. However, it's essential to remember any pre-existing momentum simply cannot be taken away before the keybed except through muscle seizures. I think a far more common problem is to fail to play through the point of contact, than to push too far. You see countless amateur golfers take a big backswing for short pitches and then try to 'slow down' before the ball. Sometimes it shoots twice the distance of the green and sometimes it rolls a foot along the floor. Trying to take energy away from a movement that is in mid-flow is simply not conducive to control or consistency. I think it's rare (in both golf and in piano playing) that anyone adds additional wasted energy after the point of contact. However, there are plenty of people who worry about slowing down and completely compromise the moment of contact (as well as additionally having a locked up follow through) from doing so. Rationally speaking, it's extremely unlikely that anyone can actually do anything other than ease the moment of contact with a loose arm.

(incidentally, it is simply not accurate that the energy applied to the string is solely dependent on a single key velocity. I forget the equation but it's something about 'impulse'. A slower start followed by a large acceleration through the point of release has very different results to a rapid start to a strike. Any talk of a single velocity alone is a tremendous simplification of the physics involved that has no bearing on the actual reality. Hammer speed simply is not 'proportional' to a single velocity of the key. Optimal energy transfer to a hammer is related to timed acceleration, just as surely as you seek to accelerate through contact in a golf or tennis shot, rather than merely swing the club as fast as possible during the whole motion. You have to save the maximum acceleration for exactly the right moment.)

For piano, most of the problems of playing too softly seem to be caused by students keeping their fingers on the keys, which I encourage "dropping" into the keys. For clarinet students, it's usually the speed and amount of air they put through the instrument...

Meri

That it takes effort to not do something is a new one on me. I shouldn't worry about the mechanics just stop what you're doing. Think of a Sumo wrestler pushing an opponent out of the ring, do they fall over themselves? Very occasionally.

That Isaac Stern video is very important.

While it is true that sports analogies are a favorite on Piano World, I think that what he says about the voice is more important for the question at hand, that of "playing too softly", than the question of pingpong and follow through.

Unfortunately, Mr Levine hasn't come back to say what he thinks of the various responses, I'd be curious as to what he thinks.

F=ma, buddy. You should have studied harder in physics. Also, perhaps if you worried more about the mechanics, you wouldn't be so cripplingly tense on so many of your videos?

Is it possible that on one side you have a concept of playing that involves some element of free-fall or momentum (as in the word "thrust"), while on the other you have a motion that is controlled and directed throughout? If our finger or hand is a projectile toward the keys then we will tense or pull back in order to not hit the wall, unless we can allow the motion to continue in following through. But if we're not doing that, then there is no need for this "follow-through".

Kbk, what happens between the down (or in?) and the up in the way you play?

Or if there is momentum, it's the cushion of the springy wrist that absorbs it.

John, you have long advocated having a proper acoustic instrument. I experimented with my DP, by lowering a key as slowly as possible, 3 seconds to go down, in fact. As soon as the key was a mm. from bottom, it sounded. A real piano would have given no sound. The feedback this instrument gives will cause one to aim for bottom. There is no way that I can experience what you have described and work with it, while having this artificial instrument. It can produce impressive sounds for an audience, but I cannot learn to play using it.

What does a Sumo wrestler do after pushing an opponent?