And now for a few words about individual chord playing, as it is so important to discover the right way to produce a fine and noble sound when striking these. The first essential here is to find how to obtain strength without hardness of touch. Strength there must be, of course, tempered by judgment, for without it the pianist will be unable to give out enough and graduating increase of tone when necessary. For especially in a dramatic piece where one often meets with an ever-growing crescendo of tone culminating upon a given point, if the performer lacks accumulative force he cannot achieve this effect, and so the piece may end in an anti-climax and the whole artistic meaning of the work be missed.
Now one way to produce strength of tone is to throw the hands down on the chords by lifting them high above the keys before striking. I do not advocate this, as it is so uncertain, and disaster may easily overtake the player at any moment by his falling upon the wrong notes. For it needs great precision of eye to strike many notes together correctly from a height.
How, then, can extra force be applied without sacrificing the accuracy of notes or the tone quality? With abrupt chords I find the following method efficacious, namely a quick contraction of the forearm, accompanied by an action of the fingers, as though they were trying to dig themselves into the keys.
For final chords at the end of a great passage, the same digging of the fingers and contraction of the forearm should be supplemented by a motion of the hand turning round upon the notes with a sort of jerk, as if it was trying to lock or unlock a key in a door. The fingers at the same time having finished their digging action should contract slightly towards the palm of the hand. Passages ending with a single note that has to be struck with great power or vehemence can also be manipulated by this same action of the hand, which I call the “lock-the-door motion.” It is most effective in adding extra strength when necessary, and even in pianissimo chords, where distinctive accent is required, it will be found to apply successfully, though with these, of course, the turning and contraction of the hand will only amount to a slight pressure abruptly administered.
In general, I advise that with all chord playing, whether in abrupt individual cases or in successions of legato chords, the strength and volume of tone should be produced by concentrated pressure from the forearm. For thereby will the pianist draw from his instrument a deep and resonant sound, and avoid hard blows that recall the wood and iron elements of its constitution which it should always be his first aim to make his audience forget.
Scales in Thirds with Fingerings Marked
Chromatic Thirds
