(42) Musicality, Touch, Tone, Color
Music is an combined inborn and acquired language we use to communicate with one another and even with ourselves. Bach and the great composers embedded the definition of music in their compositions because the human language and scientific knowledge were, and still are, inadequate. In addition, their own understanding of music was incomplete, and we can not even decipher every lesson that they embedded in their music. We can only reverse- engineer existing music to see what it is made of. The result of this reverse-engineering is the subject of today's music theory (Scoggin, Nancy,).
Teachers play a critical role in showing students how to play and practice musically. After many years of lessons, students are expected to learn technique and to develop a sensitivity to musicality. For example, most pieces of music begin and end with the same chord, a somewhat mysterious rule which is a result of basic chord progression rules. Combe taught that musical phrases generally start and end with softer notes, with the louder ones in between; when in doubt, this is a good default principle. This is one reason why so many compositions start with a partial bar – the first note of a bar usually carries the beat and is too loud. There are many books that discuss musical interpretation (Gieseking, Sándor), and we will encounter numerous pointers throughout this book.
Although musical talent is necessary to compose music, the ability to play musically is not that dependent on the brain. In fact, a majority of us is more musical than we give ourselves credit for and it is the lack of technique that limits our musical expression at the piano. We have all listened to famous pianists and noticed that one is better than the other -- that is more musical sensitivity than we will ever need to make music.
Music is a partly inborn language consisting of rhythm, melody, and logic. During one's life (including the time in the womb), a person can learn additional elements of musical language, so that music appreciation is partly acquired. Rhythm incorporates timing and dynamics (loud, soft). Melody operates in pitch space and is based on harmony; i.e., the most important pitch space for music is a subset of pitch space called the (76) Chromatic Scale. Logic contains everything we know and don't know about what makes music, music; it is defined by how the brain reacts to music. Logic makes music limitless, free from our limited knowledge of math, science, cosmology, etc. Thus Beethoven used "group theory" concepts [(67) Mozart's Formula, Beethoven and Group Theory] before mathematicians and physicists recognized their importance to semiconductor technology that led to computers — Beethoven is the grandfather of the internet! Statements such as "music is not math" makes no sense because music includes math — there is no reason why anything should be excluded from music. Knowledge can only help the musician. Musicality is learned by playing music from many composers, and knowing the details of how and why each one was composed.
Carefully connect each bar to the next bar (or measure, or phrase). These bars/measures do not stand alone; one logically flows into the other and they all support each other. They are connected rhythmically as well as conceptually. This point may appear to be trivially obvious; however, if performed consciously, you might be surprised by the improvement in the music.
There must always be a conversation between the RH and LH. They don't talk to each other automatically even if they were timed perfectly. You must consciously create a conversation between the two hands, or voices.
"Cresc." means that most of the passage should be played softly; only the last few notes are loud, which means that it is important to start softly. Similarly, for other indications (rit., accel., dim., etc); make sure that you have reserved space for the action to take place mostly near the end. These "expression tools" create mental illusions; for example, if you ramp up a cresc. gradually, it is like walking up a slope, whereas if you wait till the last moment and increase it exponentially, it is like being thrown up in the air, which is more effective.
Strive more for accuracy than expressive rubato; rubato is often too easy, incorrect, and not in tune with the audience. Expressions are usually the tiniest deviations from strict accuracy; they are seldom big.
Many students feel uncomfortable practicing when others are around to listen; some even think that intense piano practice is necessarily unpleasant and punishing to the ear. These are symptoms of common misconceptions resulting from inefficient practice methods. With correct practice methods and musical play, there should be nothing unpleasant about piano practice sessions. It makes no sense to practice non-musicality! The best criterion that you are practicing correctly is the reaction of others -- if your practice sounds good to others, then you are doing it right. Musical practice builds mental stamina because it requires so much concentration. Laziness of the brain is in fact the major cause of the desire to separate technique from music, and practice non-musically; this is not the brain's fault — evolution has conditioned it to conserve energy. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for pianists because it only cultivates non-musical playing, and reduces brain stamina [(20) Endurance, Brain Stamina]. The need for musicality is a major reason why exercises don't work.
Touch is a basic aspect of musicality and must be developed from day one of piano lessons. Beginners always start with inappropriate touch that teachers can immediately spot and correct by demonstrating what musical touch sounds like. As students develop, it becomes a personal thing; if poor touch becomes ingrained, it becomes difficult to change because the brain has become de-sensitized to it. Students should listen to others playing (especially teachers and other students, not only concert pianists); they will hear a surprising range of touch and can compare them to their own. It is important to hear the bad and the good. The idea is not to imitate someone else's "beautiful" touch, but to eliminate undesirable aspects of their own. Imitation is impossible because touch is influenced by everything from how the music is visualized in the brain to every aspect of a person's technique and musical history. Touch should be practiced at all speeds all the time, unlike color which is easiest to bring out near the final speeds.
Tone is like touch, but is partly dependent on the piano, such as the distribution of harmonics and other sounds produced by the piano. Typical descriptions of tone are light, smooth, clear, heavy, deep. Light and clear can be practiced using staccato practice. Smooth, heavy, and deep might be achieved with heavier use of the damper pedal and practicing legato play. Playing deeply can be achieved by acceleration through the keydrop, making use of the hammer shank flex (Askenfelt, Anders, Ed.,). An accelerating keydrop creates maximum hammer shank flex, which maximizes the effective mass of the hammer. The effectively heavier hammer creates more low fundamental frequencies, a characteristic of deep tones. This is particularly easy for the grand because the acceleration is needed only until the jack releases the hammer, not all the way to the bottom of the keydrop. This property of grands is one reason why students need to practice on grands when they advance beyond intermediate level (because it requires a different technique) and why grands are superior to uprights.
Pianos make a lot of extraneous sounds. To hear them, play fast, FF music on a digital with the sound turned off. Most acoustic pianos create even more extraneous sounds than digitals, but they are not audible because you are accustomed to them, and the string sound can not be turned off. To hear some of the extraneous sounds of acoustics, play fast, FF music for 20 minutes using ear plugs or head phones so that most of the high frequency noises are filtered out and you become accustomed to this new sound. Now, remove the ear plugs and play the same music — you will be surprised by the amount of non-music noise you will hear! These noises are an integral part of the piano sound and can add to its richness for quality pianos.
The condition of the hammers and the elasticity of the strings affect the tone. Compacted hammers and old strings that have lost their elasticity produce more higher harmonics and the "honky-tonk" type of sound.
Color is a unique musical quality of a particular piece of music, a composer, a scale, etc., created by the sum total effect of all the elements in the music. It becomes increasingly important as the pianist advances to higher levels. It is frequently discussed, but specific colors have seldom been described in words (except for simple descriptions such as happy, sad, energetic, etc.) because the human languages are inadequate. A few aspects of color have been identified, such as key color (Bach), Chopin's special staccato and legato, or elements of Debussy associated with nature and water. Mozart has his own unique color like no other; it is conceptually deep, yet is based on the simplest constructs. Thus, although it may be exciting to play Mozart like a Beethoven, it is not true Mozart that reflects the instruments of his time and the simpler musical expectations before Beethoven exploded on the scene. Color depends mostly on the composer, so try to recognize color in performances by concert pianists and to bring them out in your playing. Practicing too loud produces a harsh touch and erases most color; of course, color does not automatically disappear in passages played FF. Thus it is important for students to develop the ability to recognize color.
So, what is musicality? It is (1) following the expression markings, time signatures, etc., on the sheet music, (2) listening to the tone of the piano and your personal touch, (3) making sure that each element of music: speed, rhythm, dynamics, melodies, etc., are properly taken into account, (4) bringing out the characteristics of each composer, (5) bringing out the color of the music, and (6) adding your own interpretations. Musicality must be practiced at all times, from day one of HS practice. Not practicing musically is the main reason why so many pianists are afraid to perform.