The Visible and Invisible in Piano Technique - A Digest

THE

VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE

IN PIANOFORTE TECHNIQUE

being a

DIGEST

of the author’s technical teachings

up to date

BY

TOBIAS MATTHAY

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A History of the Piano

The piano (an abbreviation of pianoforte) is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. It is widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, accompaniment and for composing and rehearsal. Although the piano is not portable and often very expensive, its versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the world’s most familiar musical instruments. A piano usually has a protective wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings, and a row of black and white keys (52 white keys and 36 black keys). The strings are sounded when the keys are pressed down, and are silenced when the keys are released. The note can be sustained even when the keys are released, by the use of pedals at the bottom of the piano.

During the Middle Ages there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings, and by the seventeenth century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well known. The invention of the modern piano however, is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua, Italy. He was employed by Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany as the Keeper of the Instruments. Cristofori was already an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the existing body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. In an inventory made by his employers, a piano is listed in the year 1700–but the three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.

Cristofori’s great success was solving, with no prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the string, but not remain in contact with it (because this would dampen the sound, as with a clavichord). Moreover, the hammer must return to its rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. This new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer; Scipione Maffei wrote an enthusiastic article about it in 1711, including a diagram of the mechanism. After this the piano took off! Piano-making flourished in the late eighteenth century Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Streicher (daughter of Stein) and Anton Walter. Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers. It was for instruments such as these that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas; the pianos of his day had a much softer, more ethereal tone than today’s instruments, with less sustaining power.

By the 1820s, the centre of innovation had shifted to Paris, where the Pleyel firm manufactured pianos used by Frédéric Chopin and the Érard firm manufactured those used by Franz Liszt. In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which incorporated a repetition lever (also called the balancier) that permitted repeating a note even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position. This facilitated rapid playing of repeated notes, a musical device exploited by Liszt. When the invention became public, as revised by Henri Herz, the double escapement action gradually became standard in grand pianos, and is still incorporated into all grand pianos currently produced.

Mass production in factories made pianos more affordable for a larger number of people. They appeared in music halls and pubs during the nineteenth century, providing entertainment through a piano soloist, or in combination with a small band. Pianists began accompanying singers or dancers performing on stage, or patrons dancing on a dance floor.

During the nineteenth century, American musicians playing for working-class audiences in small pubs and bars, particularly African-American composers, developed new musical genres based on the modern piano. Ragtime music, popularized by composers such as Scott Joplin, reached a broader audience by 1900. The popularity of ragtime music was quickly succeeded by Jazz piano. New techniques and rhythms were invented for the piano, including ostinato for ‘boogie-woogie’, and Shearing voicing. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue broke new musical ground by combining American jazz piano with symphonic sounds. Honky-tonk music, featuring yet another style of piano rhythm, became popular during the same era, as did Rock and Roll music subsequently. In the late twentieth century, Bill Evans composed pieces combining classical techniques with his jazz experimentation.

As is evident from this brief introduction to the history of the piano, it is an incredibly versatile instrument, with a long and intriguing history. We hope the reader enjoys this book and is encouraged to find out more.

To

MY WIFE

WITHOUT WHOSE CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT NO BOOK OF MINE PROBABLY WOULD EVER HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

For teaching is only of whither and how to go, the vision itself is the work of him who hath willed to see.

Plautinus

The Visible and Invisible in Piano Technique

PREFACE

It is now over a quarter of a century since my Act of Touch appeared—in 1903—my first essay on Pianoforte Technique.

Necessarily it was cumbrous, since there was then little, if any, common-sense knowledge of the subject; and as the great majority of the ideas I had put forward were new, these were of necessity protected and fenced round with defensive arguments. But now all this has changed, the basic principles of my teachings are generally accepted, and indeed have become axiomatic as pianistic knowledge.¹

True, some things which then seemed of the gravest importance have since passed into better perspective, while others, which then seemed almost subsidiary, have since loomed up into greater prominence. I have endeavoured both to clarify and simplify, enlarge and modify, my ideas in subsequent books and lectures, which have become more and more concise in utterance as the facts have become more widely accepted,—indeed my last booklet The Nine Steps towards Finger Individualization covers only four pages!

However, I feel the time has now come when all this material should be gathered together, for the convenience of teacher and learner, and also to prevent misunderstanding as to what my teachings really are today. In fact, there have been issued lately a number of piratical works and writings founded on my ideas, sometimes avowedly so, which, while showing much felicity in expression, are nevertheless inadequate, and most inaccurate upon very important matters, thereby forming actual perversions of my teachings. To mention only one instance, these writers have almost entirely overlooked the important changes of state of exertion and relaxation of the playing limb which form THE REAL BASIS OF GOOD TECHNIQUE, but which, being invisible, have escaped their attention. Hence I feel that it is most urgent that the present AUTHORITATIVE work be issued by me, and trust that it will serve as a corrective to so much spurious Matthay teaching which is to be met with today.

It will be seen that I do not here more minutely stress the locality of muscles or anatomical details at greater length than I thought fit in my first work, The Act of Touch. There is good reason for this. The fact remains, that beyond certain quite simple generalizations, the attempted realization of the precise locality of the muscles concerned is not only futile, but is bound to impede the learner’s progress, since it must take his attention away from the points where it is most directly needed. Anyway, it is futile, since it is practically impossible, both physiologically and psychologically, for us to influence or provoke any particular muscle directly into action, however hard we may try. No muscle responds that way! Moreover, were such attempt possible, it would indeed be hopeless to essay so to impart or acquire the correct playing actions, considering that even the most simple actions of our limbs (both the visible and the invisible ones) require a complexity of muscular interplay that would at once render such problem unthinkable.

Moreover, the precise action of the deeper-seated muscles in playing is still largely a matter of conjecture.

What we can learn and should teach is what may be termed the general Muscular Mechanics of the limbs we use. We can learn which section of the playing limb should be exerted and which should be left lax; and by thus willing the desirable LIMB-stresses into action and by inhibiting the undesirable ones, the concerned complex muscular co-ordinations will indirectly but surely be called into responsive operation. This basic principle which underlies all my technical teachings is also carried out in the present work.

Our business as teachers is to make clear to the learner which are the limb-stresses (both visible and invisible) needed in playing, and which are the ones to be avoided. It is the only way by which the learner can be directly helped.

The physiological aspect of Touch and Technique is usually found to be the most difficult problem to grasp by the learner. Necessarily it is complex. It is here that the most fantastic notions have arisen in the past, and are indeed still lamentably evident even in the work of some writers of today, who ought to know better.

To ensure that consideration of the necessary details does not jeopardize the true apprehension of the subject as a whole, I have planned my work on the same lines as in actual teaching; although in teaching one is able to bring the details to the notice of the pupil as required at the particular moment.

The main physiological facts are therefore first stated broadly in Chapter IV, "The Physiology of Touch. This is followed by an exposition of the details implicated in Chapter V, The Physiological Details. These are further elaborated in the succeeding Chapters. Additional Notes" are added in further elucidation of these matters. All is then clinched in a Recapitulatory Section of the work—a close-up Summary, under the title of "Epitome."

This Epitome, however, is sufficiently complete in itself to form an independent booklet, and is issued separately for School use, etc.,—an important mission. It is followed by fifty-five Daily Maxims and a page of Final Precepts—concise axiomatic outlines intended as constant close-up reminders of the main technical essentials to be kept in view alike by Student, Teacher, and Artist.

Obviously this plan entails much repetition and reiteration. But unless the various facts are thus brought into close juxtaposition in their presentation, their bearing upon each other might easily be overlooked and lead to serious misunderstandings.

While such reiteration may be resented by the casual reader, it is imperative for the true student. It is only by repetition of the same point under various aspects that facts are eventually brought home and grasped; and vision of the whole not lost sight of while in pursuit of the details of structure.

A genius may not need such treatment; he may see things in a flash of intelligence. Geniuses in the past have thus subconsciously realized the true processes of technique, else there never would have been any great players before the appearance of the Act of Touch! A work of the present nature, however, is designed as an endeavour to help the ordinary worker and Seeker after Truth; the genius, himself, may also save years of time and feel surer of his ground by taking the trouble to master the facts thus intellectually, as well as by intuition.

NOTE.—Where more detailed information is desired, my older works should be referred to, preferably in the inverse order of their publication. Thus:—

"The Nine Steps towards Finger Individualization along with The Child’s First Steps (Joseph Williams), and its complement for Children, The Pianist’s First Music-Making (Oxford University Press), First Solo Book and Playthings for Little Players (O. U. Press), First Principles and its complement Some Commentaries on Piano Technique (Longmans); Relaxation Studies (Bosworth), and finally, The Act of Touch (Longmans). Along with these should be studied (not merely read through) my most important work of all, MUSICAL INTERPRETATION, its laws and principles (Williams); and the recently issued supplement to this The Slur or Couplet of Notes (O. U. Press); also when needed: On Method in Teaching, On Memorizing (O. U. Press), Forearm Rotation" (Williams), etc., etc.

I wish to acknowledge the great help I have had with my proofs from my devoted disciple Alvin Goodman.

NOTE.—Also I must thank Miss Helen Marchant for her patiently devoted work as stenographer and typist.

TOBIAS MATTHAY.

HASLEMERE. SURREY, ENGLAND.

April, 1931.

¹ In fact they have become so much Common Knowledge that they are no longer attributed to me! Already in 1913 the Musical Times wrote: And now? The one man’s fad (as it had been supposed to be) has within ten short years altered radically the whole system of modern pianoforte teaching. . . . Probably never before in art has an almost world-wide revolution been accom-plished in so short a space of time."

CONTENTS

CONTENTS OF DIGEST

PREFACE

CHAPTER

ADDITIONAL NOTES

NOTE

CONTENTS OF EPITOME

FOREWORD TO EPITOME

SECTION

Daily Maxims (55 Pianistic Aphorisms)

Final Precepts

DIGEST:

The Visible and Invisible in Piano Technique by

TOBIAS MATTHAY

ERRATA

Page 53—13th line (fifth line of third paragraph) correct humerus into ulna.

Page 160—7th line correct Hugo into Otto.

Page 106—Correct diagram and note underneath:—the blade of the penknife should be between the fingers and thumb, not the handle as shown! and the words handle and blade in the note underneath should be reversed. Thus:

That is: the weight of the blade (upper-arm, a) is here pushed back by the weight of the hand and forearm, the handle, at b.

Chapter I

PREAMBLE

The meaning and purpose of Technique

Definitions:

1. TECHNIQUE means the power of expressing oneself musically. It embraces all the physico-mechanical means through which one’s musical perceptions are expressed.

2. It is therefore absurd and hopeless to try to acquire Technique dissociated from its purpose to express Music.

3. Typewriter-like strumming or note-rattling does not constitute Music.

Technique is rather a matter of the Mind than of the fingers.

4. To acquire the necessary muscular discrimination for playing, implies the acquisition mentally of the power muscularly, so to direct your limbs in their work, that your musical purpose shall accurately be fulfilled.

Technique and Music inseparable:

5. To acquire Technique therefore implies that you must induce and enforce a particular mental-muscular association and co-operation for every possible musical effect.

6. The folly in the past has been to suppose that one could acquire a musical technique dissociated from the practice of actual, real Music.

7. On the contrary, be sure to realize from the very beginning, that what you have to do, is to make a strong bond between Musical Intention and the means of its practical Fulfilment. From the very first, you must try to make strict association between the spiritual and physical in playing.

8. Never sound a single note without a distinct musical purpose. This implies a definite rhythmical Intention for each note, and also applies to your very first experiments at the keyboard.

The Act of Timing:

Realize that you cannot play any note with musical purpose without such accurate Timing.

9. Pianoforte technique is therefore essentially an act of "aiming" or timing the right activities of the limb at the musically right moment during key-descent—an accurate timing of the beginning, culmination, and cessation of the needed limb-exertions for each note. Solely by such Act of Timing, can you bind Technique and Music together.

Relaxation:

10. RELAXATION implies (a) the Elimination of all unnecessary exertions, (b) the Cessation of the needed impulses at the right moment, and (c) Weight-release—the cessation of limb-support, and hence Weight-manifestation where and when needed.

The connection between Music and Technique:¹

11. To summarize this: no successful technique can ever be acquired without this element of timing. Mastery of Technique and mastery of Interpretation alike rest on the same basis—a basis of rhythmic impulse and control.

12. You now realize why the study of Technique should never be separated from the study of Music; how they are connected-up, and why they must be associated from the very beginning.

You must acquire a strict mental Association between every musical effect and its technical reproduction. Hence it is harmful to try to acquire a Technical effect without making such association.

13. In short: every note must be sounded with definite musical purpose—rhythmical purpose and tonal purpose, and this from the very beginning.

The four forms of Rhythmical Movement:

14. There are four main divisions of rhythmical purpose or attention in playing:—

(a) Key-movement—the swing of the key downwards, towards Tone-emission.

(b) The group-sensing of notes in a quick passage, as groups of notes always leading towards each next pulse or beat.

(c) The growth or progression of the Phrase-unit towards its rhythmical climax—near the end of the phrase, and

(d) The movement or progression of the piece as a Whole towards its climax.

15. The ever-present problem during Practice and Performance is never to let your attention flag or waver, either musically or pianistically, no matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced artist.

Remember, only through the rhythmical sense can you bring your mind on the needs of the Music and the Keyboard for every note. Time-spot is the ground upon which Mind and Matter here meet. This also fully describes every other act of Concentration.

16. While musical attention and technical attention thus coalesce (or are linked together) in the rhythmical act, we must remember that besides the laws of Physical technique there are also just as inexorable laws of Interpretation. These laws we must equally learn to obey, if the emotional effect of the music is to be achieved in good taste and effectively.¹

¹ This is enlarged upon in Chapter III.

¹ These laws of Interpretation are dealt with in my "Musical Interpretation (Joseph Williams, London, and Boston Music Co., U. S. A.) and in its Supplement: The Slur or Couplet of Notes in all its Variety" (Oxford University Press).

Chapter II

THE PHYSICAL OR KEY–ASPECT OF TECHNIQUE

Tone-production:

1. The more speed in the string, the louder the resultant sound. Only by making the Key (and the String therefore) move quickly can you produce loudness. There is no other way.¹

2. The Piano Key is a leverage system, a machine, to enable you to get speed with the string, and to ensure dynamic control—of the exact speed (or tone) desired.

3. Open your Piano lid, so that you can watch the Hammerheads. Now put a finger upon a key, and notice, when you depress the key its 3/8 of an inch, that the