Chapter 16: Breithaupt and Weight Technique

The term "controlled relaxation" coined by Teresa Carreno is better than the generic "relaxation" and prevents the floppy playing she refers too, however, I think there can be better terms to describe the sensation she is describing. As a student in Alexander Technique, we use the word "release" instead of "relaxation" when referring to ridding ourselves of useless tension. Of course playing the piano requires some tension, but it is possible to play more efficiently with little tension, thereby, decreasing the likelihood of injury.

I kind of like Godowsky's thinking about technician vs. virtuoso, and while I agree that artistic piano playing encompasses fingering, phrasing, pedaling, dynamics, etc., I do not believe that any "fool" off the street can learn to play the piano, at least with the success of the virtuosic players mentioned in this text. I also think that while many virtuoso's have flashy technique, it doesn't go without saying that they probably thought about and, if not included, at least thought about phrasing, fingering, pedaling, etc.

Also, he mentions that pianists do not listen to themselves with enough attention; if they did, "they would hear what they do and correct it." I think it is easy to get caught up in all the, notes, rhythm, technique, phrasing, articulation, and our brains is trying to process so much information at the same time that we often forget to actually listen to what we are producing. It is a very liberating experience to take the time and actually listen to your sound, and it is quite amazing what one can notice about their own playing. I think this is the a key aspect to becoming an individual artist, as we will not always have our teachers to correct our mistakes or misinterpretations.

Breithaupt has some good things to say regarding relaxation, however, possibly due to influence from the author, many explanations are quite confusing, which unduly gives a sense of discredit to his ideals. His exercise of dropping the hand on the table to release the tension in the shoulder joint is a good one, and allows a pianist to feel the mobility in the shoulder joint by letting the arm swing. I think this, and many of the other exercises, are good for loosening the joints of the arm, but will not work effectively in when actually playing.

Later, Breithaupt basically discusses the two releases of the key when directing the pianist to let the key push the finger up. However, I think that our fingers and arms weight more than the key itself, and therefore, we actually have to release our fingers in order for the key to come up. Otherwise, the weight of our arm will continue to depress the key. In the same section, the preliminary exercise is good because the octave position allows more focus on arm weight and the oscillating wrist movement more than the same effect that is desired from the action of single fingers.

I think that Breithaupt's methods strongest aspect is to loosen up all the joints in the arm. I think he fails to mention that playing piano requires muscle tension and that the arms must be supported by the back muscles and the core. With this support the arms can be light and devoid of useless tension. I think the method is also weak in describing how fingers are used. Some of the rolling and rotation descriptions will not depress the keys alone, and while these movements are necessary, they also require finger action.

To answer Dr. Huckleberry's third question, I mostly felt confused when at the piano. His descriptions are very wordy, and I had to ready them multiple times to try and understand the basic idea he was trying to convey. I felt I had to use my own knowledge and ideas in order to extract what he was really trying to explain. I think that had Breithaupt been more clear in his writing, the author would have been less harsh when critiquing his method, as it was rather easy to find faults in the descriptions.