use of weight

There is a weight, the natural one, that allows you to be relaxed. Dynamics depend on the velocity you impart to the key: the faster it descends, the louder the sound will be. Usually, one is taught to play everything loudly first and then apply dynamics; I do the opposite: I play everything softly, i.e., by lowering the key slowly, because I maintain that only if I acquire the capacity for slowness will I be able to speed up the gesture and achieve a "physiological" forte. Then consider that the piano gesture must be transmitted to the hammer felt, which must perform a fast and elastic movement: a force applied in an unnatural, stomped way (when you see playing from above, by "uncontrolled" falling), imparts a braked run to the hammer at the most decisive moment when the sound is realized, the moment of contact and the fall onto the string. The force does not come from the muscles of the fingers (which are actually in the forearm!) or the arms, but from the shoulders, the back, and the diaphragm. In fact, I tell you that for a decisive forte, the force must come from the anal sphincter, as if you had to perform an evacuative effort. Even the way you breathe is decisive. Try applying the same weight: during inhalation, everything moves upwards (suspension); during exhalation, downwards. Our breath coincides with musical breath: inhalation (suspended sound), exhalation ("visceral" sound), and again inhalation (suspended sound). If you think about it, the leg does the same: during inhalation, little or no pedal; during exhalation, more abundant pedal; the wider the breath, the deeper the pedal sinks, with the possibility of being changed without ever being removed (the "pedal tremolo"). Therefore, the pedal is not just an effect, but it is our breath, the equivalent for the pianist of the conductor's baton or the bow of string instruments. All this while applying the same weight of the arm, which is only a means to connect the fingers to our viscera, the true participants in the piano touch. Try never to feel the bottom of the key (wasted energy, especially in the grand piano), or if you do, your bottom must not correspond to the keybed under the keyboard, but to the hammer felt. Think of the key as your hammer and that you have the possibility of coming into direct contact with the string. Logically, it also depends on the mechanical regulations: there are adjustments that require greater muscular commitment, others (which I prefer) that allow for a more thoughtful and instinctive approach. On this, pianoexpert can give you clarifications. I will tell you one thing: with my approach, it paradoxically becomes harder to play on an "easy" keyboard, because it is harder to manage the "slowness of the key," thus requiring greater dynamic control; therefore, I am wary of adding lead to strengthen technique. The sense of a "heavy key" must be acquired by your mind. With the right weight imparted TO the fingers, you will succeed in feeling a 47-gram key as heavy! Crazy dynamic control!

This is just my way of thinking and playing: listen to other bells [other opinions] as well.

Francesco says many interesting things. However, it is easier to exemplify than to state. In this case, words are more complicated.

I warmly invite you to read G. Sandor's book - How to Play the Piano. A pretentious title, but perhaps one that greatly stimulates reading. Then, whoever has a little time can revisit my tutorials on piano technique. Far from exhaustive, but they can help.

In reality, weight is important. Rubinstein insisted much on weight and gravitation. Pollini also tells this in a video. He would stop a lot to talk (and he did so with me as well) and often repeated this principle with the famous example where, by placing his robust hand on someone else's shoulder, he made them feel what his gravitation was in the cantabile. With the system of gravitation, one can play on many keyboards. Gravitation and knowledge of the bottom of the key lead to rotation movements that make certain alternating passages more powerful and less tiring. Small builds and small hands should exploit rotations with a slightly high wrist. But there could be many examples. Undoubtedly, learning to take weight off and put weight on from the shoulder and arm leads to security and less fallibility. Yes, sometimes it is appropriate to study forte and sincere, just as in speed, one should not insist on articulating and playing with the fingers. In medium stat virtus. It seems to me to sense that the method applied by Francesco is precisely that of French music, the jeux perleé so loved by devotees of this music. In this technique, there is no need to reach the bottom of the key: by letting the fingers fall with their weight, the escapement lever launches the hammer, which sounds even before the lever has escaped under the roller and before the finger has reached the bottom of the key. Sometimes the hammer, in mezzo-piano and pianissimo, is not even "caught" and is always more ready to sound again. As if one were playing on a higher leveling of the keyboard, as if there were a higher bottom of the key. I don't know if I am making myself clear. But it is not all like that. Depending on the type of passage and the type of music, we must possess and know a vast formulary of technical solutions for the pianistic gesture. Technique books were born precisely for this purpose and not to "repeat" in order to "loosen up" and "warm up" the fingers. For this reason, books like Hanon are useless except to lure the pianist into the "trap" of gymnastic repetition. What definitively resolves a passage is precisely the understanding of how to overcome it, once and for all, without useless "drills". When we sit at the piano we are "cold" because we must enter the dimension of movements, micro-movements, and coordination altogether. It is enough to start playing to enter "the dimension," and relaxation will immediately help us find the best "contact" with the instrument....that is, to "warm up."

A few of my ideas, but not sufficient naturally. We are on a very vast "Terrain."

Reading texts like this text certainly doesn't hurt

http://davidelaurino.altervista.org/G.%20Sandor%20-%20Come%20si%20suona%20il%20pianoforte%20(2005).pdf

Guys, he's a spammer... I'll kick him out but let's keep the discussion as it might be interesting for someone.

Those who listen to me say that I have the technique to play Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven well. Even though I love the music of Chopin and Schumann very much, it is an important part of my repertoire. I have always studied applying a lot of weight and a technique based on the drop. But I changed my way of playing a year ago, since I purchased my Yamaha C3, which is particularly snappy and sensitive compared to the others in the shop. It comes from Angelo Fabbrini's shop and was sold to me by his brother Vittorio.

I am not saying that one shouldn't reach the bottom of the key, but rather that one shouldn't dump all the energy onto the keybed: even when pressing down decisively, I like to feel the hammer.

Yes, but Mozart and Beethoven already use techniques among themselves that are very far apart... Schu and Beethoven are more similar, but with Mozart... not so much.

As I have already said in other contexts, I believe that a pianist's technique (which should encompass the experience of various schools of technique) should be chosen based on the sound one wishes to produce. One cannot speak of playing with weight as if it were an absolute and indispensable value to be used always and in any case, also because each of us possesses our own anatomical and physical characteristics... The point of reference must therefore be the sonority one wishes to achieve, and the rule is to achieve it with the least possible physical effort, i.e., through fluency. Let's take Debussy's "Le jardins sous la pluie" as an example. In the first measures, one must release weight and try to play on the escapement. In Chopinesque cantabile passages, however, it is important to use weight to find the bottom of the key. I believe everything is relative, but the important thing is to know and make one's own all these techniques and gestures, which must be used wisely during musical performance with the aim of producing that particular sonority.

Exactly Simone. As far as I'm concerned, one could even play with their nose, as long as the result is dignified. Often it transgresses certain principles of mine because, in my opinion, the transition requires it. There are no fixed rules in medicine, let alone in art. However, it is beautiful and interesting to know how each of us does it, from which schools our approach derives, and what considerations have arisen from personal reflections and experimentation—the most important ones in my opinion, because they are at the foundation of 'our school' and what we will pass on.

My approach is derived from that of Emilia Fadini and Jorg Demus... On original instruments (copies)

Simone completes my idea. It all depends on the sonority one wants to achieve. Technique for Beethoven or for Schumann? I don't know. Listening to the sound is a good way. Clarity and cantability. I believe we are all in agreement. We can notice among the greats that the same Beethoven sonata is treated in a completely different way. Compare, for example, Bachaus - Rubinstein - Kempff......

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was a pianist extremely attentive to sound. His technical skills certainly helped him, but in the scale of importance, the search for the right sound was certainly in first place, to which technique bowed in order to be able to produce it.

Michelangeli always had great control of the levers (arm, wrist, forearm, shoulder) and torso position.

He was a great magician. Sometimes one sees him almost motionless during passages of incredible sonic power.

But if you observe closely, he is working with weight and the various functions of lever and joint from the shoulder to the phalanges.

How magnificent.

Today I was intent on researching the best fingering for a Mozart sonata when, without even thinking about it, I found myself experimenting with an unknown "absence of tension."

Coincidentally, while messing around at the piano, I "let my shoulders drop."

I realized that I have always played (...or rather, strummed) "shrugging my shoulders," if you'll excuse the term.

But by letting the shoulders yield to gravity (just as happens when standing with arms at one's sides), a small miracle occurs. Muscle tension is drastically reduced. Trying a scale, the fingers finally transfer the weight and those that are not playing are at rest (...and not, in tension, like antennae, as before!). The sound is rounder. Above all, there is finally the perception of discharging all the weight of the limb onto the keys. I almost have the impression that my digital piano's keys cannot withstand the "load."

Now, I realize that the ongoing discussions are at an "advanced" level. However, I just wanted to understand if "playing with weight" is roughly the experience I had. So, whether I should insist on it, re-habituate myself to this new "dropped shoulders" posture, or if it is a wrong approach.

Thank you

You have reached "point zero" as it is called by the pianist Monique Dechausée in her very interesting book "L'Homme et le piano" (in French). In my opinion, everything starts from here. Rubinstein used to make others feel on their shoulder the weight that he transferred into the cantabile, as I have already mentioned. I reiterate everything I said in the previous post of Dec 16, 2016 (three years have already passed!!!!?)

Paolo, am I mistaken or do you have a deep admiration for Rubinstein? If I'm not mistaken, you wrote that you had met him.

My teacher, on the other hand, always mentioned Horowitz!

Returning to us, if I understood your intervention correctly, I should insist on this approach. Because it doesn't feel natural to me yet, I would need to work on my posture. At the moment, as soon as I stop thinking about it, my shoulders rise up along with the associated tensions.

I met Rubinstein personally and spoke with him many times! Perhaps, I don't want to be wrong, but in one of my videos on piano technique, I show how to isolate finger firmness from the relaxation of the arm and forearm. Having "presence" in the small and large muscles. It takes a little time, but it is a mental matter.

Thanks again. I will go watch the videos you posted again!