The idea is the same as in the scale. The problem which presents itself is how to smooth over the jump between G and C. On the accompanying diagram I attempt to show, by the small lines underneath the notes, how the finger which falls just before the thumb (in this case it is the 3rd, on G) is raised from the wrist and inclined towards the direction to which the hand has to proceed.

Showing the 3rd finger placed with raised wrist for passage of thumb.

This 3rd finger should be placed upon the note exactly one and three-quarter inches length away from the edge of the key towards the back of the keyboard, and the thumb should fall underneath it upon C, just the length of its own nail away from the key edge, that is about a quarter of an inch. Thus :

Arpeggio. C major. Right hand ascending,
showing relative positions of the thumb and finger.

Coming down the position is reversed, as follows: The thumb falls upon the note at the one and three-quarter-inch position from the edge of the key, when it is lifted up by the wrist movement, and the 3rd or 4th finger, as the case may be, then falls over the thumb on to the note below, about one-quarter inch from the edge of the key. Thus :

Arpeggio. C major. Right hand descending (starting from right of diagram),
beginning with 2nd finger on E, so as to show relative position of the fingers used.

The movement of the wrist makes for smoothness at the jump and helps to prepare the hand for the next position. The principle is similar in both hands as in the scales, only reversed in the left; that is to say, when the left hand ascends the thumb is lifted by the wrist and placed one and a quarter inches from the end of the key, while going down it is the 3rd or 4th finger which assumes that position, the thumb falling on the key at the quarter inch from the end of the key, as in the ascending right hand arpeggio.

Arpeggio. C major. Left hand ascending (starting from left of diagram),
beginning with the thumb on C, so as to show the relative positions of the other fingers.

Arpeggio. C major. Left hand descending (starting from right of diagram),
beginning with the 4th finger on E, so as to show the relative position of the fingers used.

Exactly the same rules apply in all the varieties of arpeggio playing.

It is absolutely imperative for students who wish to acquire any proficiency in pianoforte playing to practise a good amount of scales and arpeggi every day. Therefore, he who starts his work regularly and thoroughly every morning with a course of scales and arpeggi will gradually find a fine easy technique coming to him and a mastery over the keyboard which will be of inestimable advantage to him when he starts investigating the treasure house of pianoforte literature.

They will most often complain bitterly themselves of the lack of that foundation of technique they never had the opportunity of acquiring, and the want of which continues to hamper them through life. In fact, one of the greatest living pianists, who was practically self-taught, once told me that he would have saved himself ten years of drudgery if he had been able to study one year with a great pianoforte teacher like Leschetitzky.

The hands and movements of such self-taught pianists, too, almost always look ungainly and distorted on the keyboard when playing awkward passages. And this is not only disturbing to the eye but very often also to the quality of the sound, which quickly becomes laboured and heavy under severe strain. The player who “arrives” with such disabilities must indeed have genius for the piano! But there are not many such highly gifted people in the world, who succeed in spite of every obstacle. I believe the inhabitants of this globe number over fifteen hundred millions, but amongst them all there are not more than a dozen really great pianists!

Therefore, student, learn to play scales carefully, tunefully, exactly, rhythmically, smoothly, and eventually quickly, and arpeggi evenly, clearly, and elegantly before embarking upon the performance of the great works of pianoforte literature. Many cast up their eyes to Heaven in an inspired way while playing, hoping, I suppose, thereby to make up for lack of practice on this earth! But Heaven cannot help them if they have not learned to play scales and arpeggi properly.

I am constantly seeing advertisements by teachers of “how to play the piano in five minutes by correspondence!” But I know by my own experience that after thirty years of continuous study there are still many problems in piano-playing that I cannot solve.

Taking the ascending scale of C major, in the right hand, for example, and illustrating what I want to point out by a diagram thus :

It will be seen that upon the E, which is struck by the 3rd finger, the line underneath is raised and inclined towards the direction the hand has to go, so as to represent the lifting up of the wrist, and the inclining of the finger. The thumb then passes easily underneath the fingers on to the next note F, without any awkwardness. The same movement is repeated further up the scale after the 4th finger, and so on through all the octaves in ascending scales for the right hand. For descending scales, the process is reversed. The wrist is raised when the thumb falls, and the finger which follows it is inclined downwards in the direction the hand has to go.

In the left hand exactly the same process is used as in the right, only the order is reversed, that is to say, the wrist is raised at the thumb, in the ascending scale, and at the 3rd or 4th finger, in the descending one, the inclining position of the fingers being correspondingly observed. In all scales in every tonality, this action of the wrist and fingers should be similar, and the principle of lifting the wrist at the finger before the thumb passes, and inclining the finger in the direction the hand is to travel, greatly facilitates this passage of the thumb, and ensures smoothness and freedom of motion. In fast scales this movement practically disappears, as exaggerated actions only impede swiftness and look ungainly, but a smooth and undulating motion remains, which is elegant and imparts an elastic and supple articulation, and also gives character to the various passages.

Care must also be taken not to allow any beating of time by the head or foot, as this may easily degenerate into a nervous trick, and certainly tends to encourage jerky and rigid movements of the body. It is a good plan to make the beginner, after each exercise that he does, lift the hand off the keys and shake it gently from the wrist, so as to ensure that the relaxation is preserved, and that there is no excessive effort or fatigue of the muscles or any cramped action whatsoever. I do not believe in striving to lift the fingers too high off the keys every time when striking each note, because, in a highly complicated mechanical instrument like the piano, every movement must be conserved as much as possible, and naturally any extra effort only tends to lose time, thereby impairing the velocity in fast passages.

Some people think that by teaching that the fingers be lifted very high they can get a clearer and more distinct articulation, but I do not agree with this, as I have always found from my own experience that if the wrist is relaxed, thus allowing absolute freedom to the fingers, they will articulate just as distinctly, and with much added lightness and quality of tone, if not lifted too high.

The most important elemental stage of thus holding the hands in a natural supple position, having been well initiated, by means such as I have just been trying to explain, the pupil will do well to proceed with five-finger exercises of all descriptions, until he has thoroughly mastered the position in question, and it has become a second nature to him to hold his hands thus. With a child beginner of from six to ten, after a month of practising for not more than ten minutes a day, if well watched, the hands, according to my personal experience, should be absolutely in order. The Five-Finger Exercises of Hanon are excellent in this respect for settling the fingers in the right way, and also will keep a child interested in the different groups of notes presented. I know of none better for the purpose of elementary practising.

This acquiring of the cup-like position of the hand will be found enormously useful later on, in the playing of scales and arpeggi, as it allows easy passage of the thumb under the other fingers. In connection with the striking of the keys by the fingers, I would further say that merely putting down the finger and letting it strike with its own weight, is no good, as the sound produced thereby is inadequate and uncontrolled.

My idea is that when lifted, the finger must be brought down with a certain amount of pressure upon the note which is struck. This pressure should be produced from the forearm and transmitted through the fingers to the key, the wrist being all the time absolutely relaxed. Later on, as the student arrives at a higher development of finger technique, the articulation can be exercised purely from the fingers, but in the beginning, in order to acquire a full round tone, the control must be taught from the forearm by means of pressure from that part.

Again, above all, I cannot too much insist upon the necessity for relaxation of the wrist,” and the rest of the body, for in it consists, I am convinced, half the secret for obtaining an easy and sure technique. It must also never be forgotten that as the piano is a purely mechanical instrument, the great object must be to produce all gradations of tone without the sound being either forced, harsh or stiff. Moreover, the cardinal principle in the production of such tone is that the body, and especially the wrist, remain in complete relaxation.

Nothing tends so much to hardness of tone on the piano as any rigidity in any part of the body. Also to obtain this most precious quality of flexibility, the articulation of the fingers must be entirely generated by the muscles of the hand, and controlled, as I have already explained as regards force, by the forearm.

The elbows should be held closely to the body, and the wrist dropped slightly below the keys. Being thus seated, the next matter we come to is settling the position of the hand itself. This should be as follows: The fingers should fall arched upon the keys, the knuckles raised, the wrist just below the keyboard, and the palm of the hand forming a sort of cup as shown above.

It is a very good plan with a beginner, to make him take an apple or a ball of similar size in the palm of the hand, hold it lightly with the fingers spread out round it, and then drop it out of the palm as the hand descends upon the keyboard. The hand will then retain the cup-like position with the fingers spread upon the keys.

Having thus described what I consider the perfect position of the hand, I will now proceed to explain how to exercise the fingers in order to retain that position, and make it become a habit. This will be arrived at by practising in the following manner: / Press the fingers down well arched on to five consecutive white notes, and hold them down altogether. Then lift each finger in turn, holding the others down meanwhile, and strike the key with the lifted finger, taking great care all the time that the hand is perfectly supple and relaxed, and that nothing is stiff/^This exercise, done every day for five minutes by each hand separately, will soon give the fingers and hands a perfectly easy and natural position upon the keyboard, and preserve the cup shape of the palm of the hand.

The first thing, then, that presents itself is the position of the body when seated at the instrument. With regard to this, the pupil should be seated with his chair exactly at the middle of the keyboard, and at a medium distance, that is to say, neither too near nor too far, but so that his fingers reach and fall easily and naturally upon the white notes when he is sitting upright on the front half of the chair.

On no account should the pupil be allowed to lean back, but always be seated on the forward portion of his seat. The seat should be sufficiently raised so that the pupil’s elbows at their natural angle will be almost on a level with the keyboard, if anything just a little below it as shown in above.

Now, as regards the mechanical beginning, without which no one can really play the piano properly, the most important thing is to start with a good method of playing. For there is no doubt that all reliable technique is the outcome of a good common-sense system to begin with. Of course there exists many crankisms about this; the student may go to one teacher who will tell him the only way to play the piano is to sit practising at it from fourteen to fifteen hours a day, just doing finger exercises. He will go to another who will assure him he will only arrive at success if he persists for years, never lifting his fingers more than exactly one-half an inch from the keys!

Again, another will pretend that the only way to learn is by always playing pianissimo, another that it is necessary to do exercises only on a table, and never use the keyboard for practising at all, while still another believes in the purely mechanical development of the fingers, by playing hours and hours of scales! Then there are many also who declare that all technique is “Anathema,” and that every one should play as nature tells them to !

Perhaps this might occasionally be successful with a natural-born genius, but it would be an exceptionally gifted being who would go very far without any method or school, as we call it, to start with. For the human mind needs, at the outset, the guidance and direction
in all the arts of certain elementary rules, born of the amassed experience of the best teachers and thinkers; and the complete assimilation of these rules are the best aids and helps to the attainment of a more perfect self-expression, when the time comes for the individuality of a great talent to assert itself.

But what is a good method ? Why, a common-sense one, surely ! And is such a method far to seek ? No, undoubtedly not ! It must be merely a system which does not exaggerate, and that leaves every part of the hand and arm in a natural easy position. The hand will then look comfortable upon the keyboard, and endless time will be saved in arriving at an easy supple velocity of the fingers. For the terrific labour which is involved by the neglect of these simple principles, in mastering swiftness and lightness of articulation, only those can testify to who have had the bitter experience of bad teaching to start with. I am, therefore, going to give here a few of what I consider the essential points to aim at, when commencing to learn the piano.