Piano Technique: Tone, Touch, Phrasing and Dynamics (Dover Books On Music: Piano)
Practice
is indeed the soul of piano technique and this concise handbook — by a
noted pianist and teacher — tells you how to get the most out of it. It
is a working manual, containing technical studies, excerpts from the
works of the great piano masters, and photographs — all of which help
the students develop a sound technique in a comparatively short time.
Beginning
with such elemental topics as seating position, hand and finger
positions, and scales, the author proceeds to trilling, exercises, thumb
exercises, four-finger exercises, accent, tone production, chords,
fingering, pedaling, phrasing, sight-reading, and other essentials of
keyboard art.
Ms. Philipp has distilled the experience of a lifetime
of playing and teaching (she studied with students of Liszt and Busoni)
into a highly useful guide for all piano students. The text is replete
with hints and suggestions for developing better technique:
Melody — If you want a melody to sing, keep the accompanying figuration softer and you will get the desired effect.
Practice
— Practicing pianissimo, as many great pianists have been known to do,
will help further technique and improve velocity.
Pedaling — If you want an individual tone to be particularly beautiful, catch it with the pedal just after you have hit it.
These
hints, and a host of others, are complemented by 63 musical excerpts
from the masters — Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Bartók, Mendelssohn,
Liszt — and numerous exercises illustrating various technical,
stylistic, and musical approaches. Close-up photographs indicate proper
positioning of hands and fingers to achieve the proper playing skills
and practicing techniques.
Pianists at all levels can benefit from
careful study of this unique book — beginners will find it particularly
helpful in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the essentials;
intermediate and advanced pianists will appreciate its review of basic
principles and the author's authentic and interesting treatment of
problems concerned with the study of the piano.