Brainstorming (Form)

• Playing Apparatus
• Fingers
• Hands
• Forearms
• Forms
• Chopin Form
• Tension: Resulted from the effort of keeping in a specific shape by pushing and pulling at the same time (= dual muscular pulls)
• Music can be tense, but the playing apparatus should not be tense
• In Chopin Form, the playing apparatus should be kept in a way that does not require additional effort
• Fingers
• 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s
• Play on the pads instead of tips
• Nail (First) Joints: Straight
• Second Joints: Slightly curved
• Knuckle (Third) Joints: More curved than Second Joints, but not curled
• Move from Knuckle (Third) Joints, but not Nail or Second Joints (Active Movement)
• Thumbs
• Nail + Second Joints: Straight
• Move from the carpometacarpal Joints (Active Movement)
• Length of Fingers need to be maintained: 3rd fingers the most forward (closest to the inside of the piano), followed by 2 or 4 (varies by person), 5, then 1.
• Some introductory books instruct the students to curl/curve the fingers so all the fingers will be on the same line. This is a BAD habit.
• Stretching and Crowding of fingers should be avoided.
• Stretching:
• Between 1 and other fingers, wider spans can be taken.
• The following melodic intervals require walking arm (forearm movements)
• over seconds between 2-3, 3-4, and/or 4-5
• over thirds between 2-4, and/or 3-5
• over fourths between 2-5
• Crowding:
• The following melodic/harmonic intervals should be avoided
• Less than seconds between 2-3, 3-4, and/or 4-5
• Less than thirds between 2-4, and/or 3-5
• Less than fourths between 2-5
• Hands
• Should have no angles other than 180 degrees between pinky side of the hand and the forearm
• Twisting should be avoided
• Twisting is caused when putting the 5th finger as far as the thumb.
• Should not move from the wrist very much except for bouncing technique
• Forearms
• Wrists:
• Should be kept higher than the hand (and therefore fingers and finger pads/sides) and forearm.
• Often, when a pianist is asked to raise the wrist, they raise the shoulders.
• Raised shoulders cause another technical problems or fatigue.
• Instead of raising shoulders, the elbow should be bent more slightly to raise the wrist.
• Elbows:
• Should not be touching the body, or far away from the body.
• 1-1.5 fists away from the body
• The movement of the playing apparatus is initiated at the elbows, but elbows themselves should not be moved (shoulders should not be involved in playing the piano)
• Shoulders:
• In general, shoulders should not be involved in playing as they are large and slow muscles (and so are upper arms)
• In very rare occasions, shoulders may move the playing apparatus in in-and-out and walking arm (forearm movement).
• Distance between the keyboard and body
• In playing in the middle, the body should take more distance from the piano than in playing in extreme (high or low) areas to have enough space for the hands to move.
• Using keys are external assistance
• While Chopin Form should not require excessive amount of effort, keys can be used as an external form to keep the form
• Ideal form of the playing apparatus is Japanese letter "へ" (pronounced "he") where the upper corner symbolizes the wrist.