Tone Production Education  «Prev  Next»

Keyboard Agility and Technique

Those who are naturally gifted with coordination easily acquire facility in the department of tone-production, for coordination enhances agility and technique. Gifted musicians easily acquire facility in other important departments of technique by providing tone-varieties of every kind. Such endowment forms both talent in tone-production and finger-talent, an endowment quite distinct from the one that enables us to attain a large tone at the piano forte. When providing tone varieties of every kind, we are able to generate an adequate sound from the piano. We must not forget, that such endowments are moreover distinct from musical-talent, however they may be mistaken for such.

Physical Endowment

It is evident then, that physical endowment for the piano is as divergent[1] as that for vocal performance, and that at the piano we may produce a naturally large "voice." This depends on the actual size of the arm-muscles, provided these are thoroughly healthy muscles. For it is the amount of arm-weight we can set free, that forms the possible extent of our ability to produce "singing" tone-quality at the pianoforte. Either by means of
  1. arm-vibration touch or
  2. walking-arm.

A properly produced voice carries well, and sounds fuller, than a badly produced voice. Precisely analogous is the case at the piano and it is astonishing to most people, how large the contrast is of which even the smallest piano-voice is capable, once the problems of correct tone production have been mastered. Good tone production signifies that we make the best possible use of our four components.
  1. finger,
  2. hand,
  3. forearm, and
  4. upperarm.
We must accurately direct these four components at the keyboard.
[1]divergent: tending to be different or develop in different directions.