Poised Balanced Arm

You may "poise" (or balance) the whole arm by its raising muscles, causing it (as it were) to float above or on the keyboard. No part of its weight or force rests upon the keyboard when the arm is fully poised or completely balanced^[1], by its own muscles. When fully (or nearly fully) poised, its inertia^[2] alone, suffices as a basis for the exertion of the hand-and-finger in light, rapid passages, etc. Also, thus poised, it serves, in every passage (in between the sounding of the notes), as Basis for the action of the fingers in holding down notes, as in artificial legato.

Within the context of piano technique, having the forearm and upper arm poised or balanced means ¹ ²:

• Forearm poised: The forearm is balanced on the surface of the keys, which is one of the six ways of arm functioning. The forearm rotation element is required, whatever the nature of the passage.
• Upper arm poised: The upper arm forward drive along with the forearm down-exertion, which is optional and depends on the tone required. The upper arm is held in position by the outer bone of the forearm.

Within the context of piano technique, "arm-vibration touch" is used in "rapid agility" passages to achieve a sense of fluidity and speed. This technique involves:

• Relaxing the arm and hand, allowing them to vibrate or oscillate freely
• Using the weight of the arm to generate momentum and drive the fingers
• Allowing the fingers to move rapidly and effortlessly, with minimal finger independence
• The arm and hand work together as a unit, creating a smooth, connected sound

In rapid agility passages, arm-vibration touch helps to:

• Reduce finger tension and fatigue
• Increase speed and accuracy
• Produce a clear, singing tone
• Create a sense of forward motion and energy

This technique is often used in virtuosic passages, such as those found in Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and other Romantic-era composers.

In rapid "Agility" passages, where you must thus use the fully-poised arm continuously, the tone is produced by individually- timed exertions of the finger and hand (either exhibited as finger movement or as hand-movement), and the arm itself will here be sympathetically driven into vibration by reaction from these individual and momentary impulses of the finger-andhand, against and with the keys. This constitutes "Arm-vibration touch" and all rapid but musical passages should thus be played by arm-vibration touch, whether legato or not.

[1]balanced: The player should be able to rest on the keys with the fingers gripping them and without depressing the keys and the whole playing mechanism of the humand being should feel at rest.

[2]inertia: Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its velocity. This includes changes to the object's speed, or direction of motion.