Holding Notes   «Prev  Next»

Process of holding Notes down

Question: What is the proper techniques for holding notes down on the piano, after sound has been initiated and the hammer has struck the string?
Maintaining notes on the piano, after the sound has been initiated and the hammer has struck the string, requires specific techniques to ensure a clean, sustained sound. Here are some key points to consider for a correct approach:
  1. Relaxed Posture: Posture plays a crucial role in successful piano playing. When holding a note, ensure your shoulders are relaxed, not raised or hunched, and your back is straight. Keep your elbows slightly away from your body, allowing for free movement of the forearms. The wrists should be flat, neither too high nor too low, aligning with the keyboard.
  2. Finger Position: Your fingers should be curved and relaxed, not stiff, to effectively transfer the weight from your arms to the keys. When a key is depressed, the finger should maintain contact without excessive pressure. This is key to allowing the hammer mechanism to reset properly.
  3. Weight Control: A good technique when holding notes is to use arm weight rather than finger strength. After depressing a key, transfer the weight of your arm onto it to keep the note sustained. This allows for a controlled, even sound and also prevents unnecessary muscle tension.
  4. Use of the Pedal: The sustain pedal is often used to maintain a note or chord's sound, allowing the pianist to remove their fingers from the keys while the sound continues. However, it's vital to use the pedal judiciously to avoid blurring the music. When holding notes with the pedal, make sure to lift it whenever there's a need for a clear change of harmony or to articulate a particular musical phrase.
  5. Listening and Adjusting: Holding notes requires attentive listening. Each piano has unique acoustics, and the same note may sound different on various instruments. Always listen to the sound you are producing and adjust your touch accordingly.
  6. Consistent Practice: Developing a proper technique for holding notes requires consistent, mindful practice. Gradually increasing the duration for which you can comfortably hold a note can be an effective practice method.
  7. Consistent Practice: Developing a proper technique for holding notes requires consistent, mindful practice. Gradually increasing the duration for which you can comfortably hold a note can be an effective practice method.

By following these techniques and maintaining a diligent practice routine, pianists can ensure a smooth and sustained sound when holding notes, improving the overall quality of their performance.
As important as the proper sounding of notes is also the proper mode of holding them down once they are sounded.
All accuracy, musically, and ease in keyboard progression is instantly ruined if you hold notes down wrongly, by continuing the same force needed to sound them except in pp; it will ruin agility and accuracy of tone-response. As already insisted upon, however powerfully you may need to move the key down, once it is down it must be held quite lightly.
This is a first law of Technique.

Now recall that you can only satisfactorily sound a note when you actuate the finger by its "strong" muscles which are situated on the forearm (namely the flexors and extensors). During the moment of key-descent you will therefore quite feel a slight tension on the underside of the wrist-joint.
But in sounding the note you are also using the "small" muscles of the finger, which are situated on the inside of the hand.

Notes held only by the Weak Muscles

Now, it is imperative to learn to hold notes down solely by continuing the action of these last, the so-called "small" muscles (or lumbricales[1] ) of the finger. 1
Remember, precisely the same applies with regard to the Hand. When helping the finger-exertion by hand-exertion during key-descent, you may use the "strong" flexor muscles of the hand; whereas to hold the notes down these are no longer required.
The moment, therefore, that you have completed the action of sounding a note, you must instantly cease the action of the "strong" muscles with their slight straining across the wrist, underneath; and you must fulfil the holding of that note in tenuto or legato solely by the "weak" (or "small") musdes, with complete cessation therefore of the strain across the wrist-joint, and it will then fed as if the holding were done on the underside of the fingers themselves in fact, it may seem as if there were no effort at all.
[1] lumbricales: The lumbricals are deep muscles of the hand that flex the metacarpophalangeal joints and extend the interphalangeal joints. It has four, small, worm-like muscles on each hand. These muscles are unusual in that they do not attach to bone.