Chapter 12

I liked the Lebert and Stark method because of their stand that technique is not separated from musicianship. Their method goes back to the older methods we’ve seen that describe in detail the position of the arm and hand. They endorsed mechanical apparatus only in extreme cases. The also strongly endorsed the whole arm (not to say that pianists weren’t actually doing this, but they verbalized a great part of the virtuoso technique).

As far as hand gymnastics, I wish they would have explained how they were executed, but this makes me think they really didn’t do that much good, or we probably would still do them to some extent.

Mason’s technique was interesting to read, again, concern about avoiding the stiffening of the wrist and arm. I also liked his descriptions of touch and his exercises would certainly help with all three types.

I loved Marx’s thought that “a pianist virtuoso’s technique is meaningless if it does not exist to portray the deep inner meaning of the music itself” (247). This reminds me of the recital we went to on Saturday evening featuring the winners of the American and Canadian Chopin Competition. The American winner could play so blindingly fast, which was quite impressive, but I lost the musical meaning. Just because you CAN play fast and loud, doesn’t mean you SHOULD all the time.

As I was reading about Deppe, I liked what he had to say about technique. And how ironic that he died for his study material was formalized. I wasn’t sure about his stance on bench height. I usually sit higher than most people, so I think I need to experiment with height to see if that stance has merit. He let the students play through the entire piece before interrupting. This can be good and bad and I think greatly depends on the level of learning the piece as sometimes it’s necessary to stop a student mid-piece. His technique advocated upper arm and shoulder muscles, using arm weight at times, but also holding back. He was also concerned about the aesthetic element. Again, DON’T MAKE unnecessary GESTURES THAT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A FOOL! Deppe really anticipated modern technique as we know it with the emphasis of upper arms and weight manipulation. I really liked a lot of his ideas.