Hello,

I've been playing for about five years, taking lessons on and off, and I want to acquire a more sensitive touch. I would like to be able to play more lightly that is, and more lightly at fast tempos. What exercises are there that will help me develop a more light/soft/sensitive playing ability? It'd be nice to be able to play Chopin without pummeling the keys with every stroke. Well, I suppose I'm exaggerating a bit, but I do need some help. Anything'll help. Thanks!

M321 :

Welcome to the Pianist Corner!

This is a case, I think, where advice is best offered after hearing and seeing you play, seeing your attack, seeing how weight is distributed, seeing how you sit and work at the keyboard.

"Playing lightly" to some may involve just skimming the tops of the keys and not producing solid "tone," which would be an approach to avoid.

Any exercises (scales, arpeggios, broken chords, Hanon, Pischna, etc.) that work on developing accuracy and speed may indeed help develop a more delicate - for lack of a better word - playing style, but my suggestion would be to continue lessons with a good teacher who can help you approach and address this problem.

I think there are too many variables in approach that would make verbal advice without demonstration somewhat impractical.

Regards,

If you want a "lighter" and "more sensitive"
touch, and can't seem to achieve it, then
the reason, in my view, is (and this might
at first seem paradoxical) lack of strength,
not lack of "sensitivity" or "finesse."
The force needed to press a key on the
piano is minimal, and even a small child
can do it, and so one does not usually
associate the piano with an activity
needing great strength, but in even
a relatively short piece the number of
keys needed to be struck can easily approach
one thousand. One key is not much to press,
but a thousand key strikes is not insignificant,
even for a grown man. And if those
thousand strikes are at high-speed and
in complex, finger-twisting combinations,
then even a relatively short piece
can become a monumental physical effort.
Thus, the great physical strength that is needed
for higher-level pieces.

This strength is not the same type of
strength that a weightlifter of NFL
linebacker needs. Thus, you can't simply
squeeze a hard rubber ball or one of
the spring-loaded grip strengtheners
that body builders use or do pushups
on your finger tips and get great results
afterwards on the piano. This is a more
subtle kind of strength employing different
sets of muscles and that is developed
deep within the tissues almost next to
the bone it seems. But strength it is
indeed, and a great amount of it is needed
in piano playing. The more of this
kind of strength that you have, the
"lighter" and "more sensitive" you
can make your playing--it's great
(piano-type) strength, not "finesse,"
that enables you to do this.

The single best way that I have found to develop
this type of piano-related strength is by
the playing of scales in diatonic
(not chromatic) intervals of thirds,
fourths, fifths, sixths, and sevenths.
This is very old-style technical study
at the keys that is all but forgotten today.
This apparently was the basic technical
study at the keys in the 17th to 19th
centuries, before there was a Hanon
and Czerny, etc. Pianists like Beethoven
and Chopin apparently did these daily.

When playing scales in diatonic intervals,
you use only the notes contained in the
scale. So C maj. in diatonic thirds
would be CE DF EG, etc. A chromatic-type
of scale in thirds starting on CE would
use notes that are not in the C maj.
scale: CE C#E# DF# D#G, etc. I consider
chromatic interval scales to be a trendy
modern device that is worthless from
a technical point of view.

Scales in diatonic sixths and sevenths are
particularly valuable because the large
stretch forces the employment of the
fourth and fifth fingers, the weakest in
the hand, to a considerable degree.
You don't get this kind of isolation
of the fourth and fifith fingers in any
other technical study.

See also:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/37/1529.html#000003

M321,

I wrestle with this issue to a degree also. I've always had a greater affinity for the percussive than the lyrical, but sometimes even fast pieces require a light touch—including a handful by Chopin I'm working on right now.

The only concrete thing I can suggest to you may be a very obvious one: I believe that the kind of rapid lightness that's our objective here can only be achieved once the notes are completely secure; therefore, I consider it part of the polishing process rather than the learning process.

I wonder if this really is restating the obvious, but it came as a minor epiphany to me when—finding myself wondering why I couldn't seem to produce the kind of lightness of touch I wished—I realized that I was still learning the piece. At that point, I hadn't yet seriously begun to address dynamics, phrasing or pedaling yet, either!

I hope this might be in some way useful to you. My background, practice structure and learning style are probably quite atypical, so, as they say, FWIW and YMMV!

Steven

When I wish to play something lightly, I practice it in very small sections fortissimo, rather slowly. I repeat groups of two to four measures around 50 times; when I've worked this way for an hour or two or three, everything comes very easily after.

This is a page out of the "old Russian school" - practice with highly lifted, strong fingers, very slowly. I believe many here may disagree on the grounds of tension, but with care and concentration, one reaps great rewards without any detriment. It is important to monitor any pain that sets in - if something hurts, don't do it, no matter what anonymous fellow on a forum recommended.

BruceD's exercise suggestions are also spot on, as is his suggestion to go to your teacher with the question too (and if you don't have a teacher, please find one!).

Best of luck in your hard work.

- Silence

I hear Prokofiev and Bartok are good for developing a soft touch, but maybe that's just hearsay.



In seriousness, playing pianissimo scales with a steady gradient has always been helpful to me.

Bach.

Interestingly, Prokofiev's recordings of his own solo piano music reveal a very light, controlled approach to even his more brutal music - here's a YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVd1nYrS50M

- Silence

For me, playing anything very lightly is all about control, and I get control from speed and relaxation.

They have to work together. A lot has to do with the speed I attempt to play. If I push beyond my limits, within seconds I lose everything. I'm no longer able to play loud or soft, and evenness goes right out the window.

So for me the right speed combined with an absolute minimum of motion and focus on the idea that feeling relaxed is more important than being "correct" is the key.

By that, I mean that if I pay more attention to the overall feeling of being relaxed and feeling no stress, I feel that I can instantly play with more power *or* more lightly.

For me, the two go together. And when I was younger, when I always tried to force speed, that was the main cause of tension. When I was tense, I could never play lightly.

When I say "minimum movement", I'm only talking about the general idea of not using more movement (of anything) than is necessary to get the job done.

Like Chopin's trendy thirds etude?

Well put. As you play with greater ease the power and speed seem to increase of themselves.

The technique can, and should be, prepared separately from the studying of the actual piece.

Playing pianissimo with firm, not sloppy fingers is the key IMO. in addition to the exercises suggested above I would include playing scales pp to p with accents after 5, 6 and 8 notes.

Even playing of a piece requires a clever fingering. And also a sensitive action with progressive response. There must not be a big treshold between no sound and to loud a sound.

Wow! Damn, you guys replied quickly! Thank you all for your replies, especially you Gyro for that novel of a post! I feel like a have a lot more insight on the matter. Thanks again.

M321, stick around. There's lots more where this came from:
:D

Gary, are you here?

Steven

For once I agree with some of the things you said Gyro, I believe control comes from relaxation and relaxation comes with strength.

My 2 cents:
Playing lightly requires that you feel the keys and play only to the point of sound...the point in the key's descent at which the hammer lifts off and strikes the strings. You can experiment by slowly pressing down on a key, feeling the key resistance and noticing when sound is produced. Avoid "keybedding" or dwelling at the bottom of the key with unnecessary pressure after you've played a note.

A good Bach piece for developing a light touch and fleet fingers is the D Major Prelude from WTC1. Timing of the keys is essential: you depress a key after you've arrived on top of it not while you're getting to it.

So, control is attributed to relxation, and relaxtion is attributed to strength. I'm a little afraid of building finger strength with the Hanons, because I've heard they're dangerous -- but I've use them before. What is the most efficient way to build good finger strength? And after how long can I expect to see any differences, or improvements rather, in my ability to play with "finesse"(Gyro's word)?

"Strength" is a dangerous word.

What you need are dexterity, stamina, control and coordination.

"Finger strength" implies something different and, as regards piano playing, it's a misnomer.

Steven

In that case when is it not a misnomer?

Oh I dunno, I suppose when you're referring to eye-jabbing, cow milking, digging the meat out of shellfish, marksmanship, carpentry ... not to mention lifting weights with those teeny tiny finger-sized dumbbells. That's how you get finger strength!

Steven

You left out scratching your arse!

I'm surprised you didn't think of pot-stirring first. Or maybe not.

Steven

I'll make it simple.

PLAY FAST AND LOUD

Seriously. I worked on trying to get a Horowitzian pianissimo for awhile to no avail. Obviously I haven't gotten there, but my soft touch has improved dramatically when I haven't worked on it. The louder and faster you can play, typically the softer you can play. This is just from my experience, which makes it worthless

One way is to practice scales (hands separate) with the widest possible dynamic range you can manage, either going from fff to ppp or the opposite, over four octaves. And select what seems a slow tempo for you. It's not about speed, at least not right away. You can push the tempo once you get the hang of the process.

At least for me, working with the dynamics in crescendo or diminuendo somehow gets me to extend how far I can go in either direction. On the soft end, I try to taper off to the tiniest whisper possible, barely audible.

If you are expending great amounts of strength to play , you aren't going to make it through even a simple piece.

And even if you do, you are soon going to do damage to your body.

Plus you will be using the wrong muscles, which does not allow the right ones to develop.

Agreed.
Also, when you exert your full strength to do anything, any semblance of fine motor control goes out the window.