August

Studio News

August, 2006 --

Recital Plans AMEB News AMEB Exams Piano Technique Relaxation, the Key to Speed Spatial Memory Debussy

Welcome to August’s issue of Studio News.

I want to mention what a great pleasure everyone is to teach. You are a special group of people, with so much enthusiasm and everyone is learning so well. Everyone has his or her own strengths and areas in which they are excelling. It is a privilege to be your teacher.

In this issue of Studio News, we will take a quick look at piano playing technique and the sets of skills that underlie the ability to play harder music fluently. We will also meet Claude Debussy, a French Impressionist who was born in August.

Recital Plans - 10 and Under

I have been reviewing, once again, the date for the 10 years and under recital. Some scheduling conflicts arose for 4^th November. The event will probably be moved to the following day – Sunday 5^th November. This date will be confirmed and finalised in the next two weeks and formal invitations will be sent out.

AMEB News

I apologise for creating some confusion by omitting the date, in the last newsletter, for the newly announced AMEB Music Craft syllabus and exam schedule. The free exams will be held in August of 2007.

AMEB is not releasing any more information about the new syllabus until late September. However, they are advertising the new syllabus as a completely new approach to music theory – “the biggest change in over 30 years” (AMEB publications). The new syllabus seems to focus on the creative aspects of writing music with the work presented as a set of modules.

AMEB Piano Exams

AMEB provides piano exams twice a year, for all levels of performance. The next available session will be in May 2007. Entry for this session will not be required until February next year. However, preparation takes time – learning the pieces and developing the confidence for performance. Several students, who have not sat for these exams before, are now capable of passing the early grades. If you are interested in these exams, I encourage you to discuss the issues with me over the next few months.

Playing up to Speed - Issues of Technique

Pieces that we learn to play for performance are usually challenging. These pieces have more expressive detail or move more quickly than we can read all at once at full speed.

When watching a virtuoso pianist perform, it’s easy to wonder how they could possibly read all the dots and lines on the page quickly enough to keep up with the pace of the music – that is, if they are apparently following the score and not playing from memory. In reality, the virtuoso pianist does not follow every note and detail. They use the same skills a less advanced player needs to learn to be able to play pieces fluently.

By starting off with slower reading and playing of the music, the pianist learns the rhythms and notes of the piece being studied. (The speed of the earlier readings is affected by the speed of sight-reading, as discussed in June’s newsletter.) As the piece is practiced, the picture patterns of the notes are recognised as groups that make sense together, rather than as individual notes. The patterns become road maps for the directions our fingers, hands and bodies need to move. The movements are then memorised. They are triggered by the sounds we hear and the patterns we read.

Once the patterns of a piece of music are recognised, it is time to work on the technique needed to be able to play the music the way the pianist wants it to sound – for expression and speed. Technique is the name given to the group of skills that allow us to play with the most suitable expression and speed. The best technique is the movement that allows us to play with the least amount of energy.

To play up to speed, the pianist needs to develop two important skills – memory and relaxation.

Relaxation: Relaxation is possibly the most important skill for playing expressively and at increasingly faster speeds. There are many different types of movement needed to play different sounds on the piano, and different levels of energy are used with these movements. Yet, to be able to produce any of them effectively it is important to relax. (If a pianist doesn’t relax, their hands and shoulders start to hurt and they hit a speed-wall – a maximum speed they can play at for a short time before the notes and rhythms become messy.)

	Relaxation needs to be practiced from the very beginning of learning to play. Relaxation exercises and thoughts should be included in practice routines. It is also important NOT to practice when we feel frustrated – tension reinforces bad technique, which makes any difficulties even worse.
	Try turning down the lights so you can only just see the keys and the music. Play quietly and slowly, concentrating on using the smallest possible movements to play the notes. Soak in the darkness and the quiet notes. Let your hands and arms feel heavy and only just rigid enough to stay on the keys and play. Remember how this feels and try and feel the same way whenever you play.
	When you are playing, give each hand a break every five to seven minutes and hang your arms loosely by your sides.
	If your hands begin to hurt, stop playing and check for tension. Then relax your arms and start playing again, from about 2 bars before the place you stopped.
	Think carefully about relaxing while you are playing.

It is impossible to play faster by trying to make your fingers move faster.

Spatial Memory: The other important part of learning to play at full speed is learning how a group of notes ‘feel’ when you play them. This is spatial or body memory. Groups of notes can be played almost without thinking – just like riding a bike; your body remembers what movement is needed next. This is when playing fast really becomes fun - instead of hard.

	Repeatedly play a group of notes (one phrase or sometimes even just two notes that you are learning). Once you have done this about six times in a row, you should begin to know how the notes ‘feel’. Then it becomes so much easier to play them.
	Scale passages and runs are much easier when your fingers simply take in turns hitting the keys. Let your hand be in control of moving them in the right direction while your fingers just move up and down in a pattern. (Decide on a finger pattern that works and stick to it.) Use fingering numbers to learn the movement patterns and then focus on the feel of the patterns rather than on the numbers.
	When you have to make long jumps between keys, close your eyes and learn how it feels to move the distance. Given the chance, your body is much quicker at being the judge of distance than your eyes are.
	At all levels of playing, it is great practice to close your eyes and play. Think about how the notes feel and sound. Try feeling distances between keys with your eyes closed. How does a step or a skip between notes feel? Can you close your eyes and find all the groups of 2 black notes or all the Cs? Can you cross your hands over and play all the Ds up and down the piano, one at a time? Can you play five fingers in a row or a scale with your eyes closed?

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy, born in France in 1862, experimented with sound in the same way as the artists of his time experimented with shape and colour. Traditional forms and rules of art and music were set aside, and new techniques were used to create ideas instead of realistic pictures. Debussy used harmonies and rhythms that had never been used before. The new sounds challenged all the old rules of writing music. Much of his music was supposed to create a picture or a mood. The same title is given to Debussy’s music as is given to the painters of his time – Impressionist.

Debussy started learning music when he was young and entered the Paris Conservatorium of Music when he was only 11 years old. He studied at the conservatorium for eleven years. At 22 years of age, he won France’s highest award for a composer – the Rome Prize. He worked as a composer and a music critic in Paris until 1918.

Debussy had more friends who were painters and authors than musicians. He was encouraged by his friends’ new ways of painting and thought the same revolutionary ideas could be used in music. He based several of his compositions on these paintings and poems.

Debussy wrote many interesting pieces for piano solo. He also wrote operas and music for orchestra and for string quartet. Clair de Lune (Moonlight) is one of his best-known compositions for piano. Many of his piano solos use three staves of music played at once, instead of the usual two.

Annah-Valerie Hyrst (teacher)

Individual dynamics

Rouse Hill, NSW

Studio News

Last modified: January 16, 2008