12
1. Posture and hand positions
Eigeldinger has provided a good summary of Chopin’s approach.
42
As noted above,
Chopin’s basic idea of piano playing is that the fingers lead while arms naturally follow the
direction of the fingers.
43
For sitting, Chopin preferred to sit in front of the middle of the
keyboard and fit the level of the elbow and forearm to the same level as that of the white keys.
44
For hand position, Chopin stated that the naturally formed hand position, such as longer fingers
on the black keys and shorter fingers on the white keys, could have the most supple and free
movement.
45
Chopin believed that this natural way can help pianists make a beautiful sound.
46
2. Using the wrist
Chopin stated that the importance of using the wrist can be compared to the breathing
used by a singer.
47
Bending the wrist is a necessary skill in order to move the hands smoothly on
the keyboard. According to Chopin’s student, Mikuli, Chopin’s secret of playing wider intervals
with a beautiful legato was his frequent bending of the wrist.
48
Further, Chopin directed his
students to use their wrists in a vertical motion when playing repeated notes or octave passages,
rather than pressing the keys with the fingers.
49
3. Fingerings
Chopin believed that proper fingering is one of the most important skills for piano
playing. He wrote in his own method, “As many sounds as there are fingers – everything is a
42
Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils, 1986, the materials in my dissertation taken Eigeldinger’s
book.
43
Mikuli, iv; Eigeldinger, 30-31.
44
Chopin, “Sketch for a Method”; cited in Eigeldinger, 190.
45
Ibid., 192.
46
Ibid.
47
Eigeldinger, 45.
48
Ibid., 29.
49
Reginald Gerig, Famous Pianists & Their Technique, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007),
166.
13
matter of knowing good fingering.”
50
Chopin considered differences in pianists’ fingers, such as
length, thickness, and positioning in the choice of the fingerings. He insisted that pianists should
be able to understand the differences between the different fingers of the hand and that they
should work to develop the unique qualities of each individual finger.
As would be expected, one of Chopin’s priorities in teaching was finding good fingerings
for the pieces his students were studying. In observations of Chopin’s annotations on his pupils’
scores, Chopin wrote fingerings with consideration of each character or mood of the work.
Chopin often used fingers 1 and 3 on loud dynamics and relatively longer note-values,
particularly notes in slow tempos. In particular, he frequently used the thumb to emphasize the
tonic note and sometimes the third scale degree, and also to bring out non-chord tones or
rhythmic patterns. Finger 3 was often used for singing tones.
51
In contrast, Chopin frequently
used fingers 4 and 5 for light sounds, such as the higher pitches in passages with soft dynamics.
Lastly, Chopin tended to use the same finger in passages of consecutive notes, where the same
color of sound is required musically on all the notes.
Chopin freely used fingerings that were different from the traditional fingerings of his
time. His willingness to use nontraditional fingerings may have been inspired in part by the
pianist Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837). In his method, A Complete Theoretical and
Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (1828), Hummel suggests
several unorthodox approaches to fingering that are also included in Chopin’s own method.
52
Some of these nontraditional fingerings employed by Chopin include using the thumb to play
black keys, using only one finger (instead of the traditional two fingers) to play from black key
50
Chopin, “Sketch for a Method”; cited in Eigeldinger, 195.
51
Eigeldinger, 48.
52
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ausführliche theoretisch-practische Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel, 3 vols.
(Vienna: Tobias Haslinger, 1828). Translated in English as A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of
Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (London: T. Boosey, 1829).
14
to white key or white key to white key when the keys are adjacent to one another, using
substitute fingerings in order to create a seamless legato, using the same finger on a repeated
note, placing the third finger over the fourth finger, and placing the thumb over the fifth finger.
More detailed information on Chopin’s fingerings can be found in Jeanne Holland’s 1972
dissertation, “Chopin’s Teaching and His Students.”
III. The Teaching of Technique
Chopin considered technique an essential skill to be able to play expressively. In his time
technical perfection was emphasized, and many piano teachers wrote technical exercises aimed
at furthering one’s technical prowess. In addition to the numerous piano technique books that
abounded, many devices were invented that were meant to aid in this technical development.
One such device was the “Chiroplast,” invented in 1814 by John Bernhard Logier (1777-1846), a
German piano teacher. Constructed with brass and wood, it supported the pianist’s hand and arm
and placed them in the correct position.
53
In opposition to this approach, Chopin’s teaching
philosophy on technique started with an individual’s naturally comfortable position by placing
longer fingers on black keys and shorter fingers on white keys. Chopin directed his students to
develop their own individual fingers’ uniqueness rather than trying to have equal strength in
every finger.
54
1. Practice
Chopin specifically advised his students to work on technical skills daily. He guided
students to warm up by stretching fingers and bending wrists.
55
He directed his students to work
on the “mechanism” for a maximum of three hours per day. Further, he warned his students
53
David Charlton and Michael Musgrave, “Logier, Johann Bernhard,” In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2nd ed., edited by Stanley Sadie, 15:75-77 (London: Macmillan, 2001), 75-76.
54
Chopin, “Sketch for a Method”; cited in Eigeldinger, 195.
55
Gerig, 165-166.
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