Les Doigts Française

Mais oui, the French, with their precise language, heavenly baked goods, divine painters, three musketeers, Cyrano de Bergerac, sun kings, silly queens, and those little round, floppy hats. The French have a rich culture encompassing many art forms, among them music. While there are many French composers whose music I admire greatly I had not, until I read this chapter, given as much consideration to French musicians and performance practices as I had to those of other countries. The French are dancers and painters and bakers (and poets and lovers and fighters), thought I, others do music. The French school has, however, included many fine musicians, and there are in fact a few things we can learn from them.

First, Cortot, whose Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique seemed that it may be a little like Hanon, except encased in an entire method, complete with graded repertoire. If this is the case, it may not be a bad, all encompassing method particularly for high school students. What I think we can learn most from Cortot, however, is in his quote on page 318 of Gerig's text ". . . the mechanical and long-repeated practice of a difficult passage has been replaced by the reasoned study of the difficulty contained therein, reduced to its elementary principle." If we, in searching for a solution to a problem passage in a piece of music, can pinpoint the exact issue (tension, fingering, the left or right hand) that is causing the problem, and directly address that, we will waste a lot less time in practice.

From Marguerite Long we are again reminded of the importance of slow practice, and also of practice without the pedal. Practicing without the pedal is, I think, often overlooked as a valuable tool for working on articulation. It stands to reason that if the blurring effects of the pedal are eliminated, we will be able to hear, and so improve, our articulation with more ease.

In Debussy, we have almost a school of piano technique all to itself. His gorgeous impressionist style for the piano is unique in the repertoire, and therefore must be given special attention when played. The overriding principle I shall take from the the section on Debussy, however, is the account of his overwhelming fastidiousness. His neat, precise, and perfectionist's personalty undoubtedly carried through to his music, and in light of this, perhaps I should attempt to take on that personality more in my playing of his music; his tempi, articulation markings, and many dynamic shadings.

Does anyone have a croissant?

Chapter 15

I think some amateurs let the art of subtlety and nuance be superseded by a powerful technique and impressive velocity. There is a lot of value in the French school by their sensitivity to each note, without of course trying to do too much in every moment.

Marguerite Long mentions how important it is to follow composers’ fingerings since they know what will best facilitate their musical ideas. I don’t think a pianist should blindly use the composer’s fingerings to help convey the musical content… Understanding the musical content can come before any choice of fingering has been decided. Every hand is different, so what brings out the musicality for one person may not for another. She cites how enlightened she was by following Ravel’s fingerings, but she should have mentioned Debussy as well… I don’t think Debussy would write fingerings in his music because he knew how different everyone is… this does not inhibit understanding of his music.

Long also mentions on page 320 that “it is not our mind which moves our fingers, but our fingers and their almost conscious movements which set our mind in motion.” This does not make any sense to me… The mind would always be behind the music, which is not at all helpful. Kinesthetic memory should never be the primary means of securing a piece of music in one’s body. Kinesthetic memory will be a natural consequence of enough practice, and of course it is useful, but to rely on this would be dangerous in performance. Fingers do not have a memory; I think all that happens is that with enough repetition an unconscious memory results in the brain, which we call finger memory. If we just learn music consciously it will not only be a deeper understanding but a more secure one too.

Marguerite Long’s method Le Piano was insightful, I think her methods can easily be applied in our studies and teaching. I liked her view on technique and how she stated, “there is nothing more important to strive for than finger articulation…this is an elementary truth.” (320) I remember how my teacher made me practice a new major and minor scale every week when I started playing piano. Looking back I am glad she made me practice them because they really are a strong backbone to playing the piano. I like how she compares diligent technique training to runners and dancers and their work toward developing their legs for strength. Once you have that strength you just keep getting stronger and faster as long as you are still working hard. Therefore, once we have the technique down we will continue getting better and stronger fingers if we keep practicing well.

Debussy was an interesting character, the way his personality is described in the book as being so neat and clean, a perfectionist puts his music in a new light for me. Now, I look at it as very precise and exact, only one way of executing it. I thought his reasons for omitting pedal markings was interesting and also what was said of Chopin. He wanted his students to practice without the pedal and to only use it sparingly when performing. Was this an idea that was still lingering on from the baroque period? Why was he against the pedal? One reason I though Debussy and Chopin might seem, lets say 'leery' of the pedal is because without it one has to depend much more on ones ears and fingers to get a beautiful sound.

Chapter 15

The focus on finger training, particularly emphasized in the description of Long's and Cortot's methods, contrasts with the increasing attention to the use of the arm that we have recently read about. Long may have been somewhat critical of the current trend in relaxation, but her encouragement of suppleness sounds comparable. Her comment, "Ugly to the eye, ugly to the ear," (p. 321) is also reminiscent of Deppe. Her quote on the fingers setting the mind in motion rather than vice versa is a good counterpoint to the many suggestions of the opposite. In the end, I think there needs to be a balance between control with the mind and leaving room for instinct to guide the body.

Camille Bellaigue's description of Marmontel as teacher was interesting: "Perhaps he had at one time been a virtuoso; he was now not even a pianist." (317) It sounds like he was an effective teacher despite the limitations of his playing abilities. While perhaps not an ideal situation, it goes to show that being a good teacher requires more than being able to play well.

I admire Debussy's principle behind not indicating fingerings and pedaling. The description of his personality shows that he was a perfectionist; thus, it would be in keeping with that trait to only indicate the absolutes in his scores. From a practical standpoint, though, his pedal markings in particular would be helpful starting points.

The French School

I really agree with Marguerite Long about Faure. " the depth of sound in the suppleness of the attacks, the even lightness of the fingers (the famous gliding over the keyboard), the rapid, winged action which characterizes the technique of Faure" Frankly speaking, I never play the Faure's ketboard music, but I played approximately fifteen Faure's lied. I felt that first, it is a little bit difficult to read and harmonies of Faure's pieces were not harmonized with the melody reasonably and clearly. It is also difficult to make a sound such as dreaming and grey sounds. Marguerite suggests how we play the Faure's music using the unique sound of Faure. He emphasized that the fingers and arm which is realted with the pianistic technique. I will try to his suggestion above when I play the Faure's work and I belive it is really valuable guidence.

I was impressed about Marguerite Long's teaching. She emphasized the finger activity and she said the fingers have to move with the mind in motion. I usually move the fingers unconsciously when I practice playing the piano. But I realized that it is unuselness. I have to practice consciouly with thinking in order to improve my techniques even though I play just dotted rhythm scale and so on. Also, I am having a trouble that each finger is not even and each finger has each problem. But she said "five fingers should be thoroughly trained for vigor, elasticity, firmness, and independence so that each can overcome common obstacle." I think it is the fundamental stage of the piano technique. If we know each finger's characteristic and problem, we could overcome each's finger's problem. Moreover, we could play the piano very comfortable and confident.

Chapter 15: The French School

Cortot's method appears to be one of the most concise and comprehensive. I appreciate his methodical presentation of five basic principles that are then divided into three sub-groups each. The importance of being able to play in all keys is apparent, and adds to the schedule of practicing, allowing 36 days for each chapter.

Phillip emphasizes slow practice to avoid tension. I know this has been addressed previously, but I feel it's importance should not be overlooked. So often we hear fast passages repeated over and over again in the practice room. There is much can be learned from concentrated slow practice, which in the end could provide more successful that repeating fast passages.

At this point while reading the text, a state of confusion came over me. We have been reading about so many successful performers and teachers, who all present a different take on technique. Is there ever an end? Who is right? I guess I just have to live in the comfort that we have all this knowledge that we can combine into our own individual technique. In a similar respect, I like Segonzac's aphorism, "One spends his entire lifetime building his house," meaning that we spend our life perfecting technique.

Debussy seems to be a very interesting persona, and I was hoping this chapter would have included more about him. I appreciate both his individuality and his non-conventional approach to performing and composition. I think the descriptions of his sensitive touch are an integral part in his music and something I will consider when playing his works.

Chapter 14: Russian Nationalism

"Before your fingers touch the keys you must begin the piece mentally--that is, you must have settled in your mind the tempo, the manner of touch, and above all, the attack of the first notes, before your actual playing begins. And bye-the-bye, what is the character of the piece? Is it dramatic, tragic, lyric, romantic, humorous, heroic, sublime, mystic--what?" I think this is something too often forgot about. For me, I perform much better if I take a minute and mentally prepare to play. If I think of the opening measures, the rhythm, character, dynamic, etc., I will usually start more confidently, which can then hopefully continue through the performance. I think Rubinstein is wise in saying this.

I enjoyed reading Lhevinne's description of the technical standards of the Russian Conservatories. Scales and arpeggios are important, and probably an important aspect of daily practicing. I think that these fundamentals are often forgotten about in the practice room, and would be something beneficial to add to our daily practice routines.

The production of tone at the piano I think is somewhat hard to explain. Recently, I have been experimenting with similar directions that Lhevinne gives. The wrist and arm are to be loose, but the fingers must be firm and direct. In trying to resolve my tension problems, I developed flabby fingers, which then produced a whimpy tone without much direction and substance. I am currently experimenting with finding the right balance between firmness in the hands and looseness in the wrists and arms. It is not easy, but I feel like my tone is improving, and therefore, think there is something to what Lhevinne has to say about tone production.

I like Horowitz's description of the process in practicing. It is more valuable to work on sections and details, rather than constantly playing through the piece. This is a hard think to do, and requires a lot of discipline and concentration. However, the outcome is worth it; by focusing on details and working slowly from one section to the next, provides a greater learning curve for the piece than continually running the entire piece. I also like the idea of working on parts of one movement one day, and then choosing a different movement or piece the next day. Variety in practicing keeps it interesting and allows reflection in between each session on a particular piece. Then, when returning to that piece, a fresh approach can be taken, rather than a monotonous one.