For instance, it would not be natural to hold the hands as formally when playing Chopin as in the performance of sixteenth century music. Again, in a vivacious piece the hands should look sprightly and full of energy, while in slow cantabile movements they should present a soft and sinuous appearance. For even the fact of the hand looking hard and stiff during playing will assuredly affect the sound adversely, and rob it of beauty of quality.

All these things are intimately connected with the preparation of a fine touch upon the piano. The word “touch,” as a musical term, signifies really the mode by which the fingers attack the keyboard. For the great difficulty to be contended with on the piano when it is necessary to produce a singing tone lies in this, that by its mechanical composition, if once a key is struck upon the instrument, no further modification of the sound-quality is possible. No vibrato or mellowing of the tone can be afterwards applied as on stringed instruments; with the piano, all is over when the ringer has once fallen and the hammer has struck the strings.

Therefore anything that can be done to sweeten the tone must be attempted before the striking of the note. By this I mean that an infinitesimal time should elapse between the action of lifting the finger to strike and the definite falling of the finger upon the key. Touch must be thus prepared in the playing of all melody and singing passages with a slow pressing movement of the hand and fingers. This caressing touch could not, of course, be employed in rapid difficult passages, where direct quick blows of the fingers are indispensable in order to save time. In such cases, and in the higher development of technical brilliance, no more lifting of the fingers is necessary than is compatible with distinct articulation.

Lack of rhythm, or faulty rhythm, will take all character from a musical performance, and will leave an impression of insipidity and monotony where there is no rhythm, and of irritation where the rhythm is inexact, as the case may be.

Close on the heels of bad rhythm comes the weakness of always using the same kind of tone while performing. Plenty of variation of tone-colour is absolutely necessary for inspired and interesting playing on the piano, as, indeed, on all instruments.

On the piano this is more difficult to arrive at than on the stringed or even the wind instruments, and needs much study of the technique of touch. For frequently we cannot understand, after coming out from a concert, why what we appreciated as a really fine performance of a musical work had not arrested our attention more, or aroused keener pleasure. A certain sense of monotony or dullness had crept over us while listening.

Such a feeling, or rather want of feeling, is almost always the result of the performer’s failure to grasp the possibilities of his instrument in relation to tone-colour. Everything he plays is in a similar hue of tone, therefore a sameness and lack of life and contrast pervades the whole. It is a strange anomaly that the more beautiful is the touch of the pianist by natural instinct, the 1 more he is apt to fall into the fault of using it indiscriminately in the same strength, because he takes so much personal pride and pleasure in it. It is like the case of singers who are gifted with wonderful top notes, and, therefore, are always inclined to warble them forth in full but monotonous volumes of sound.

Passage from C minor Concerto of Saint-Saëns to illustrate the mental device of
considering the Octaves in groups of threes, as indicated by the lines below,
though the sound of the rhythm must remain in 3/4 time.

Still more hard than so-called simple octave technique is that where intermediate notes between the octaves have to be struck together with them, as in successive progression of rapid chords, such as are to be found in the opening cadenza of Liszt’s E flat Concerto. (Picture 1) This starts with a tremendous sequence of grand chords in C major, which is extremely difficult to play accurately, and can only be mastered by unceasing practice. In such a passage the wrist should be kept loose and the intermediate notes (in the chord of C major it is the second finger on G) should be struck with rather a stiff finger, so as to form a sort of point of support, the thumb and 5th fingers, however, falling loosely on the two octave notes, C and Octave C. The hand should be arched and form a cup-like position. Thus :

Showing position of hand when playing Octaves
with intermediate notes.

The stiffening of the intermediate finger must be very slight and almost imperceptible; in fact, here again it should be little more than a mental impression. I give the fingering which I use in the afore-mentioned passage in chords out of the Liszt concerto, in the hope that it may help some who may be struggling with that particular cadenza. (Picture 1)

For very rapid octave scales with intermediate notes, it is of assistance, instead of striking the middle note with the finger in its natural position, which interferes here with speed, to strike it upon the key with the first phalange joint of the finger, as in the following passage out of Saint-Saëns C minor Concerto. Thus :

Showing intermediate note taken
with phalange joint to help speed.

Extract from Saint-Saëns C minor Concerto.

The above is a passage where the intermediate notes between the Octaves can be struck with the whole of the first phalange joint of the finger instead of with the tip of the finger simply. This is a device for facilitating speed, and can only be used in the right hand.

But this last is a technical hint for helping rapidity, to be used only by those who have already reached a considerable stage of virtuosity and also possess a wide stretch of the hand, and it should in no case be adopted by the student even of advanced technique! I merely mention it as a curious instance of the little ingenuities that can make the greatest difficulties become possible.

What are termed broken octaves are also continually to be met with, especially in adaptations of pieces from orchestral scores and in the works of Beethoven and Mozart. These have to be played with great skill if they are to sound really well and make a good effect, therefore they must be patiently studied. For practising them I advise using the 1st and 5th fingers with equal strength, the wrist being kept stiff and the hand oscillating to and fro as if it and the fingers were made of one piece with the forearm. There are excellent studies for the development of broken octave technique in Czerny’s “Kunstfertigkeit.”

Picture 1
Extract from Liszt’s Concerto in E flat, showing fingering of opening Cadenza.

As far as the practice of octaves go, I do not think merely playing them in scales is efficacious, and, as I have already said, there are so many studies devised on this most difficult branch of piano technique that it is best to work with them. Those of Kullak are, I find, especially excellent. It is very unwise ever to work at octave playing for more than ten minutes at a time, as it is so fatiguing and may injure the arm if overdone. But there are ways of helping oneself to relieve exhaustion during long sequences of octaves. Some of these devices are useful for all, though generally each player finds out means for himself according to the structure of his own particular muscles.

To illustrate what I mean by these helps against fatigue, I will give an example from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin. The great octave passage in the second part for the left hand lasts 34 bars, which is a tremendous length, as all pianists know, and the strain may become almost unbearable.

Extract from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin, showing
Octave passage in left hand, which lasts 34 bars.

Here it is a considerable relief to think of the passage as in a semi-circular motion from left to right.

Above illustrating the mental device of placing each
group of four Octaves as component parts of half a circle.

Again, in the enormously difficult octave passage for the right hand in the Sixth Rhapsody of Liszt, it will be found to be of assistance to keep changing the position of the wrist from being high to becoming low.

First position of hand with wrist held high in Octave playing

This very small action of the wrist gives respite for a second from the tension, and sets the momentum of the nervous contraction going again.

Second position of hand in Octave playing,
with wrist held low to give relief from fatigue.

This same movement can apply to most continuous octave sequences of any length, provided they are in scale-like progressions, or in the form of reiteration. But for octaves which move in arpeggi, this same action would not answer, because here the mind has to be occupied with the matter of judging the distances, or I should rather say, feeling them. For all jumps are very uncertain quantities, and no eye judgment can be possible where a high rate of speed has to be obtained. Therefore in arpeggio-like octave passages only a mental device will be of any help in the difficulty. This contrivance is to imagine the octaves in groups of threes in the mind, no matter what the rhythm is in which they are written. I take an example out of the Hungarian Fantasie of Liszt for piano and orchestra to show the idea.

Extract from “Hungarian Fantasie” of Liszt,
showing difficult Octave passages.
Note : The lower bridging lines indicate the mental
measurement of the Octave passages
in Triplets. The upper lines

Example to show holding on of top note in Third Scales after lower note has been released.

though it will not be distinguishable in the sound of the rhythm. This method is, of course, only for slow practice; the action will disappear in fast tempi, but what will remain is a clearness of outline on the upper notes of the thirds, which is the object to be achieved. The wrist should be held higher than in ordinary scales, where it is kept low, except at the passage of the thumb. But by holding the wrist somewhat elevated in third scales, it ensues that the pressure of the top fingers is accentuated.

Although it be held higher than in single note scales, the wrist must still be kept absolutely relaxed, and the pressure must be obtained through the forearm acting direct upon the fingers. When the 5th finger is arrived at, it should be placed on the key on the side or ball of the finger, the wrist being meanwhile raised even a little more, and the hand inclined in the direction upwards to which it is proceeding. (Picture 4)

Descending, a similar inclined position is taken by the thumb. (Picture 5)

In the left hand it is the thumb in the ascending scale, and the 5th finger in the descending one which assumes the position.

At the end of this chapter on page 60 I give what I find the best fingering to be used for simple third scales, and also for chromatic scales in thirds.

Picture 1
Position of hand upon commencement of Third Scales

Picture 2
Position showing the raising of the lower finger whilst
the upper one is slightly stiffened and held on.

Picture 3
Position of hand in Third Scale after the progression from the
1st Third to the next one has been accomplished.

Picture 4
Right hand ascending assumes the above inclined position in
passing from the 5th and 3rd fingers to the 3rd and 1st.

Picture 5
Right hand descending, showing inclined position of the hand when
passing down from the thumb and 3rd fingers to the 5th and 3rd.

That is why some people are able to learn to play a scale in thirds in an hour quite decently, because they possess the necessary power of brain, while others who may have quite as much musical talent will never master one at. all though they work six hours a day at it! I do not mean to say by this that thirds do not require an enormous amount of study, because of course they do, only to be successful the practice must be accompanied by much concentrated brain effort. Therefore one of the principal efforts of a good pianoforte teacher should be to stimulate in every possible manner the mental faculties of his pupils.

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.

Even tone is another most difficult object to strive for in playing scales, for the human hand is physically so constituted that certain of the fingers are weaker than the others, namely, the 4th and 5th are the weak ones, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd the strong ones. From this fact ensures the natural consequence that the notes struck by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers are liable to be louder and firmer in tone than those upon which 4th and 5th fall.

This weakness can only be corrected by pressure from the forearm transmitted to the fingers, as I have already insisted upon when speaking of the articulation in five-finger exercises. The pressure is here used as an equalizer, in this fashion, that the conscious habit of the pressure having been established by practice, it works upon the mind and forces the performer unconsciously to give an extra compensative pressure to the weaker fingers, according as he detects by his ear that they require it.

This equalizing of the tone by pressure serves again to illustrate how the theory of its administration through the forearm, working upon the fingers, establishes absolute control of the muscles, not so much by its direct action on the fingers as by its indirect stimulus to the mind, which through it becomes conscious that it has work to do, and is alert to command the muscles properly.

Later on it will be seen how vital a part of piano technique this control of the muscles by the mind is, constituting, as it does, the principle upon which is based the imparting of light and shade, gradations of expression and tempo, in fact the life which changes the sounds of the mechanical instrument into music.

Scales should be played every day and in all tonalities. Upon the black notes the fingers may be slightly extended, as it will be found difficult to keep them quite as rounded as on the white ones, owing to the lack of space. Finally, it is important in practicing scales that they should be played absolutely correctly, therefore it is always best to practice each hand separately.

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.