Breithaupt:"Seriously people, relax!"

What does "the profile of a musician" look like, anyway? What defines it? What features stand out? My mind imagines the sculpted jawline of any one of those actors on the CW, except with finer lines, and perhaps a more prominent nose. Whatever a musician's profile is, I'm pretty sure I don't have it, but I do know, because Florence Leonard told us, that Rudolph Maria Breithaupt did. He also had a very popular piano method which influenced the technique of his day, and which provoked a rather vitriolic response from our esteemed author, Reginald R. Gerig.

Before we get into Breithaupt, however, we find out a little about the other pianists and pedagogues of his day. What Godowsky said on the nature of technique versus virtuosity is interesting to me. If we look on technique as encompassing all aspects, including artistic, of good piano playing, then the term is not quite as upsetting as it is if we associate it more with scales and doubled thirds. Also, his exhortation to listen to oneself and to emphasize all musical ideas clearly, so the audience can understand them, is good. I find often that what I feel is enough voicing, or sufficient cadence, when playing to myself, is not nearly enough when I record myself and listen from the perspective of an audience member.

Moving to along Breithaupt himself, however. Although Gerig deplores Breithaupt's inability to notice the fallacies inherent in his writing, there is still something to be learned from this extremely relaxed, 'weight' technique. One of the most important points in this chapter is on page 343 (after depressing the key) "leave the (finger) hand on the key and let the descent be followed by instant relaxation." The hand, therefore, is relaxed, as soon as the force needed to depress the key is exerted. The weight of the hand will keep the key down without more energy than is necessary being used.

The majority of the chapter, then, is spent dissecting Breithaupt's method and the exercises therein. I found these exercises to be interesting, and not a little confusing. Breithaupt focuses a great deal on the movement of the whole arm dictating the movement of the fingers. While I certainly think that the whole arm should be involved in playing the piano, I found that it was actually more difficult, and uncomfortable, to execute a scale or a tremolo using only the "rolling" arm motion he described. While it is possible that Breithaupt just wasn't completely adept at expressing his ideas, I think that the main critique of his school is that it was too relaxed. Relaxation is a wonderful thing, but jellyfish cannot play the piano. We must endure a little tension, and it is immediately after that tension that the relaxation comes in.