The Piano in Black and White E-Book

Mark Tanner

• Herausgeber: Faber Music Limited
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 277

Beschreibung

The full eBook version of The Piano in Black and White by Mark Tanner. In fixed-layout format, with downloadable audio. The Piano in Black and White is for everyone with an unrequited love for the piano. It will entice complete beginners to climb a few important rungs up the ladder, coax the fainthearted to become fully fledged players and welcome back those whose previous pianistic experience did not take them far enough. Packed with inspirational advice, this book demystifies the process of learning the piano through easy-to-follow photographs, 'play along' online audio and unique techniques such as Finger Pilates and The Ten-by-five Practice Method. By the end of the book you will be able to play 12 beautiful pieces - making this an unmissable book for all would-be pianists!

Leseprobe

MARK TANNER

LEARN THE PIANO WITH THIS

INSPIRATIONAL GUIDE FOR

ALL WOULD-BE PIANISTS

P

IA

N

O

THE

IN

BLACK

AND

WHITE

This book has superior sewn binding that enables the spine and

pages to be pressed fully open for use on a piano stand or table.

© 2021 by Faber Music Ltd

This edition first published in 2021

Bloomsbury House 74–77 Great Russell Street London WC1B 3DA

Audio played and recorded by Mark Tanner

Book design by Adam Hay Studio

Photography © Andy Griffin Photography and Getty

Music processed by Sarah Lofthouse

Printed by Imago in Turkey

All rights reserved

ISBN10: 0-571-54077-5

EAN13: 978-0-571-54077-8

To buy Faber Music publications or to find out about the full range of titles available

please contact your local music retailer or Faber Music sales enquiries:

Faber Music Ltd, Burnt Mill, Elizabeth Way, Harlow CM20 2HX

Tel: [phone]

fabermusic.com

CONTENTS

5

GETTING

STARTED

7

The pianist inside you awaits

10

Your own piano

17

Getting to know your instrument

22

Are you sitting comfortably?

24

Starting the journey: how to tackle

the pieces in this book

27

SESSION

1

28

Ode to Joy (Beethoven)

36

Finger pilates 1

40

Express yourself: dynamics and articulation

42

The ten-by-five practice method

49

SESSION

2

50

Symphony No.1 (Mahler)

56

Tension busters

58

Mirror, signal, manoeuvre

60

Finger pilates 2

63

SESSION

3

64

La Mourisque (Susato)

69

Getting to grips with

staccato

70

Finger pilates 3

72

Have a go at scales

79

SESSION

4

80

Canon (Pachelbel)

86

Finger pilates 4

88

Mind the gap: intervals, what

they are and how to find them

93

SESSION

5

94

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart)

104

The everlasting note

106

Finger pilates 5

108

Twenty practice tips

110

Progress chart

111

SESSION

6

112

Bizet Medley

118

Wrist

staccato

120

Finger pilates 6

122

Improvisation: unleashing

the creative you

125

SESSION

7

126

New World Symphony (Dvořák)

134

Pedal power

137

Ghosting the piano keys

138

Balancing act: how dynamics are

shared between the hands

140

Chord-voicing

141

SESSION

8

142

To a Wild Rose (MacDowell)

146

Making a beautiful sound

148

A jazzy improvisation

149

SESSION

9

150

Gymnopédie No. 1 (Satie)

158

Pedalling for colour and atmosphere

160

Reading the road ahead

165

SESSION

10

166

La donna è mobile (Verdi)

174

Finger pilates 7

176

Glissandos

180

The point of sound

181

SESSION

11

182

The Entertainer (Joplin)

189

Chromatic scales

190

The ‘switcheroo’ (or the art

of finger substitution)

191

SESSION

12

192

Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)

204

Wide open spaces:

diminished seventh chords

206

Playing octaves

210

Arpeggios: what pianists love

to harp on about

213

Your onward journey: a final word

215

Glossary

Scan the QR code or go to

fabermusic.com/audio

to download the audio tracks

3

The Piano in Black and White

A warm welcome to the glorious world

of piano playing. As you read this chapter

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

STARTED

A warm welcome to the glorious world

of piano playing. As you read this chapter

you will embark on a joyful voyage of

self-discovery and musical enrichment.

Here you’ll find help with sourcing an

instrument worthy of your enthusiasm

and positioning yourself comfortably

in readiness to play – there’s also a little

encouragement as you gear up for

an epic piano journey.

GETTING

GETTING

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

GETTING

GETTING

STARTED

The pianist inside you awaits

Your own piano

Getting to know your instrument

Are you sitting comfortably?

Starting the journey

A warm welcome to the glorious world

of piano playing. As you read this chapter

you will embark on a joyful voyage of

self-discovery and musical enrichment.

Here you’ll find help with sourcing an

instrument worthy of your enthusiasm

and positioning yourself comfortably

in readiness to play – there’s also a little

encouragement as you gear up for

an epic piano journey.

A warm welcome to the glorious world

of piano playing. As you read this chapter

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

STARTED

A warm welcome to the glorious world

of piano playing. As you read this chapter

you will embark on a joyful voyage of

self-discovery and musical enrichment.

Here you’ll find help with sourcing an

instrument worthy of your enthusiasm

and positioning yourself comfortably

in readiness to play – there’s also a little

encouragement as you gear up for

an epic piano journey.

GETTING

GETTING

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

GETTING

GETTING

STARTED

7

The Piano in Black and White

The pianist inside you awaits

Wherever I travel in the world as a pianist and educator, I

am struck by the number of adult music lovers whose early

flirtations with the piano were stymied in their teens or

twenties. There are possibly as many who feel they missed

out on the opportunity to learn when they were younger

and would welcome the chance to have a go. Now, perhaps

decades on, there comes a point when our unrequited love for

the piano has finally earned its moment of glory.

This book is for the erstwhile pianist, but also for pianists on the up, on the return and on the

rebound. There is no reason to suppose that the ideas here would not work admirably as a

shared experience, either in the company of a teacher or friend. Either way, the book aspires

to entice the novice to climb a few important rungs up the ladder, coax the fainthearted to

become fully-fledged members of the piano-playing community, and welcome back those

whose previous musical encounters did not, for whatever reason, quite work out.

The trouble with many crash courses – not just driving or flying – is that they do indeed

often crash. The internet is now replete with how-to websites and bespoke YouTube piano

channels for those wanting to learn. While some excellent examples exist, a number appear

to be selling us the idea that Rome can be built, if not in a day, in a matter of weeks. We’re

living longer and yet, ironically, becoming more impatient; we feel the impulse to cram more

and more into our day, while secretly hoping someone might soon devise an app to take the

pressure off. While we probably think a little harder about the food we eat these days, few of

us factor in time to muse, to cogitate, to consider. Even in our leisure time we feel pressed

into accomplishing things as quickly as possible – whether it be doing something ‘for fun’,

such as learning to cook or swim, or a supposedly more cerebral activity, such as learning

Spanish, or indeed the piano. Paradoxically, having saved time by surrounding ourselves with

digital devices, we’re now in a hurry even when we relax! (Thankfully, the only digital devices

you’ll need for playing the piano are your fingers.) Surely now that we have reached a certain

point in our lives, we can call a halt to end-gaming and savour every joyful moment of our

improvement. For if we are not in love with the process of learning, I can’t help but feel that

we are missing the point. Time invested in your instrument is time invested in yourself.

... there comes a point when our

unrequited love for the piano has finally

earned its moment of glory.

GETTING

STARTED

8

The Piano in Black and White

Going it alone

Many piano teachers will be justly sceptical about the idea of learning the instrument under

one’s own steam, especially from scratch. This will be in part because they question a

learner’s capacity to be effective in their judgements. If a learner doesn’t yet know what they

don’t know, how can their progress be smooth or rewarding? Without an expert’s pair of

eyes and ears, how can the learner be trusted to correct fundamental defects of technique,

let alone grapple with the niceties of style? These are not irrelevant reservations, though in

my view they overlook an important cog within an adult’s learning machinery: the potential

to be both the teacher and learner at the same time. I am not suggesting that teachers are

superfluous, merely that, with a little help, we have the capacity to teach ourselves. The key to

achieving this is to take responsibility for our own learning.

Information overload

A piano lesson, in the conventional sense, is the place where our learning takes on a particular

shape, direction and motivation. Importantly, a teacher may show us what and how to

practise, but our actual, measurable improvement during a lesson is often disappointingly

small. The eureka moments learners crave from teachers also tend to be few and far between,

and this applies especially to the masterclass scenario where expectations are easily blown out

of proportion. Though the wisdom and insights of others may turn out to be more profound

than our own, it is our powers of absorption and ability to teach ourselves which dictate our

pace of learning. I am still only beginning to make sense of suggestions teachers casually

scattered in my direction decades ago. Effective learning can only happen at a pace that our

mind and body are able to make sense of. We don’t become cleverer simply by spending an

afternoon in a library, indeed we are perhaps just as likely to pick up a life-changing idea from

skimming through a magazine in a dentist’s waiting room.

Measuring success in inches, not miles

My approach in this book is the product of working with learners of all ages and abilities.

Aspects of it first came to me when teaching very young learners, whose attention span at

first seemed startlingly short, but over the years I’ve come to realise that the approach can

be adapted to suit any age of learner. This is because we all have something in common

– our need to digest, reflect and reconnect with the task at hand. Surely it’s best to build

on a succession of small successes than to look back on a learning journey riddled with

setbacks? Learning to teach ourselves gives us the advantage of becoming masters of our

own universe; we get to decide how fast we move from A to B – or even if we’d prefer to go

from A to F; we get to change our minds about what we wish to achieve and we get to learn

important lessons about ourselves. Satisfaction requires management of expectations –

keeping a balance between feeling satisfied with our current learning

and

being ready to

be challenged by what comes next.

GETTING

STARTED

9

The Piano in Black and White

Learning to play versus learning to read

I’ll begin with an important disclaimer: this book does not set out to teach music theory. A

knowledge of theory, for all its obvious benefits, too easily becomes a self-serving distraction

from the main event. That said, one ought not to shrink from learning to score-read for too

long, irrespective of whether one wishes to play classical piano, jazz or any hybrid style for

that matter, for it is the gateway to an Aladdin’s cave of repertoire that we’d otherwise have

to learn entirely by rote or by ear. At the same time, I feel it is important to view these two

aspects – playing and reading – as quite separate activities, at least at first. They call upon

largely unrelated learning skills and can therefore be encouraged to evolve according to

subtly different timescales. Besides, fluent reading is not a prerequisite to fluent playing, as

jazz pianist Oscar Peterson ably demonstrated. But for most of us, an amount of theoretical

understanding is of immense help – once we’ve begun to move easily around the keyboard.

Music theory is nothing to be terrified about:

it’s just a bunch of dots and squiggles.

For the adult learner, theory is often learned independently – for one thing, most of us can

immediately see the point of it; moreover, we recognise that any practical skill will invariably

have a theoretical dimension, which we can choose to engage with at whatever level we

see fit. In my experience, adult piano learners frequently enjoy getting to grips with theory

because it unlocks mysteries and gives them a sense of being ahead of the game. Most will

pick up theoretical concepts such as rhythms or modulations considerably more quickly than

they’ll be able to rattle them off at the keyboard. Theory can also be a welcome diversion from

a strenuous piano practice.

Having said all of this, without a basic knowledge of theory and score reading you will find

it harder to get very far with this book. I do include some fingering charts and audio tracks

that are free for you to download via the QR code. Buy yourself an adult-friendly theory book,

a pad of manuscript paper, set aside the odd hour on a rainy evening, and bite the bullet.

Having learned to read words fluently, then getting the gist of music notation as an adult

is unlikely to cause you too much difficulty. The glossary at the end will help with specific

queries, but this is no substitute for understanding the rudiments of pitch, keys, time and

rhythm – the nuts and bolts of music notation. Music theory is nothing to be terrified about:

it’s just a bunch of dots and squiggles.

GETTING

STARTED

10

The Piano in Black and White

Your own piano

Treat yourself to a beautiful instrument

There can be fewer more memorable moments in a pianist’s life than the day a delivery

van pulls up outside the house and a new instrument is painstakingly hoisted down,

indulgently padded and strapped up like some priceless Egyptian heirloom. It’s the dawn

of a relationship which may well endure beyond romantic liaisons, the lives of beloved pets,

or perhaps even the span of one’s entire career. A well-chosen instrument could still be

there when your children have children of their own – it’s good to know that some things

will remain stable through the slow turn of time. It’s also right that we should get a little

emotional when talking about our instrument, because we love it, we’re proud of the journey

that we have so far travelled together, and we look forward to the progress we hope to make

in the company of our trusted companion.

It’s important to assess every instrument on its own terms, and also to be realistic when

making comparisons with other instruments. A piano’s sound and touch form its core

personality, and without necessarily realising it, these characteristics may subtly alter the way

our own personalities as players evolve over time. Our love affair with a piano, irrespective

of whether it started in a piano showroom, an auction or someone else’s living room, ought

not blind us to practical matters as we reach for our credit card. Unquestionably, the better

quality the instrument, the more beautiful the music we are likely to hear emanate from it as

the years unfold. A piano is a significant investment that doesn’t stop at the initial purchase,

so it’s worth asking ourselves, will we give it the affection it deserves? Instruments, not unlike

their owners, change over time – and sadly not always for the better. In my experience, an

antique instrument, however classy it may appear when polished to within an inch of its life

in a showroom, more often than not disappoints. Similarly, if we attach too much importance

to the brand, we could be on a hiding to nothing. Conversely, a gleaming new Japanese

model, which might not be quite what you’d had in mind initially, could prove to be the

wiser investment.

Every piano has its own voice

The most immediately alluring feature of any piano is its unmistakable shape and majestic

presence. A piano lends a certain mystique to the smallest room, yet many instruments

languish patiently, as if waiting to be noticed. Even a neglected old instrument is a thing of

beauty, chipped and yellowing from decades of being admired, played or used as somewhere

elegant to place a vase. The sensual dimension of a piano is possibly a little hard to grasp

for those who have always seen the piano as a piece of mahogany that happens to tone in

conveniently with the sideboard. But for the pianist there is immeasurable beauty beyond its

case and brass fittings. A rather special relationship forms between a piano and its player,

and every instrument will be subtly different, no matter how many of the same model were

churned out from the factory that year. As each musical thought trickles down to the fingers,

a kind of magic happens: the thought turns into sound, which curls around the ears and

feeds directly back into the imagination. For a fluent pianist, this virtuous circle becomes so

immediate that a chain of musical thoughts appears to have no beginning and no end; the

idea, the action and the sound become inextricable from each other. A novice pianist can

instantly breathe life into an instrument too, just by affecting the subtlest of caresses.

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

STARTED

GETTING

STARTED

12

The Piano in Black and White

The action, as it’s called, is responsible for how

each individual key feels under the fingers.

The tone, tuning and attack of every piano key will be subtly different from its neighbours,

which is partly a function of the hammer’s precise strike-point on the strings, the efficiency

with which its damper falls, and where in the register it happens to be. The soundboard,

made from spruce planks glued together, is doing all the real work in sculpting the sound

and giving it its resonance. The action, as it’s called, is responsible for how each individual

key feels under the fingers – not just how light or heavy, but how progressive, and precisely

where that satisfying ‘click’ of the escape occurs during the descending stroke of a key. Since

a piano’s action will usually be made of wood (some cheaper examples are plastic), even

the tiniest expansion or contraction – not to mention uneven wear-and-tear in some regions

of the keyboard – can impact significantly on how well regulated a piano’s action feels. This

strange alchemy of variables explains why it is that we might particularly love the sound from

one part of our piano’s range, but find other parts of it thin and flimsy, or overly clamorous

and edgy. Of course, we all wish to make our instrument purr at our fingertips, but in the

end we’ll need to accept and embrace such foibles, just as we do the quirks and mannerisms

of our friends and loved ones, for it is important to regard these as the nuances – not

annoyances – which make up an instrument’s character.

Uprights versus grand pianos

The main difference between an upright piano and a grand piano is the way in which the

strings are strung. An upright is vertically strung to make the instrument more compact,

whereas a grand piano retains the horizontal strings of the original pianoforte, which allows

for a greater dynamic range and has a different action. There are also some differences with

the pedals.

A good quality upright will likely be a better instrument than a tired boudoir grand. If you’re

unsure about the options available to you, close your eyes and trust your ears and fingers

(also your pocket!) to do the choosing. If you’re worried about the scruffy appearance of what

you’ve chosen, set aside a budget for a year or two’s time and have it reconditioned. The

cosmetic aspects shouldn’t be a game-changer, but who am I to say what would work best

in your home? On the other hand, big grands can have a lighter action than small ones, and

of course the keys themselves won’t vary in dimension. It’s a good idea to sit at a few grands

and uprights if only to check that your line of vision is equally good – grands can be less

comfortable for shorter people.

A grand piano is certainly worth aspiring to, though in

my experience, for most people on a budget, an upright

purchased with the recommendation of a reputable

dealer will stand you in good stead for many years.

It’s worth noting that some smaller uprights don’t have the full complement of keys, and

they’ll probably make a markedly smaller sound throughout their register. Upright pianos

have the virtue of being great space savers, and the best examples are exquisite instruments.

The size of the soundboard in a large upright could exceed that found in a 5’ grand, and its

strings could be longer also. It’s when we move to grands that are 6’–9’ in length that there

can be little doubting the supremacy of this splendidly flamboyant, iconic instrument.

GETTING

STARTED

13

The Piano in Black and White

When it comes to actions, there’s little contest between a grand and an upright – much of

this comes down to one word: gravity. Grands have actions that move up and down; this

harnesses gravity to the best advantage, since gravity bears down on the action in an even

fashion. Uprights, on the other hand, not only have their strings vertically mounted, but their

actions too, meaning that the horizontal plane of movement is not assisted by gravity at all.

Instead, springs are fitted which can to an extent mimic the effect of gravity, though of course

springs wear unevenly over time and can result in an action that feels unregulated. Repetition

of notes is another very important factor when discussing the relative merits of piano actions.

With an upright, the player cannot send the hammer back on its way to the string until the

key has fully come to rest at the top of its stroke. Compare this with a grand’s action, which

can be re-engaged when only roughly a third of the key has come back up to its resting

position. In practical terms then, an upright will not normally be capable of playing repeated

notes at anything like the same rate as a grand, nor will there be a comparable feeling of

control when it comes to gauging the subtleties of tone and dynamics.

Room to breathe

Do decide at the outset which room your instrument will live in – people often change their

mind once the instrument’s arrived, realising that a) it doesn’t fit next to the exercise bike

after all and b) the new baby’s room is right next door, so all hopes of late night playing

instantly evaporate. Also, c) the instrument can’t actually negotiate the final steps from the

landing and d) it sounds far louder (or quieter) than they’d imagined. Walk through your

home with a tape measure and make sure all doorways and corners will be big enough to

make the trickier manoeuvres.

From a sound perspective, acoustic pianos ideally need room to ‘breathe’ – the tone

quality that first attracted you to it can easily become subsumed by the surrounding clutter;

conversely of course, there’s the impact your new instrument could have on your existing

living space. Bear in mind that, with the lid up, the sound on a grand is not only appreciably

louder but will be funnelled off towards the treble (top) end of the instrument. An upright, on

the other hand, will have the bulk of its sound coming out from the back (the small top lid

can be opened too, though this is probably of greater benefit to the player than the audience).

GETTING

STARTED

14

The Piano in Black and White

Take a moment to measure the space behind the piano stool that you’ll need in order to

walk around it (or to house a second stool for duet playing). Weigh up whether the flooring

and drapes are going to allow the instrument to sound well – thick carpets, curtains and

upholstery can deaden a room to an unacceptably dry state. Mind you, the opposite effect

can be just as detrimental – wood-effect laminate flooring, together with Venetian blinds and

hard surfaces, can make your instrument ‘ping’ to the point that your ears won’t let you stray

much above

mezzo forte

.

Never put your new piano in a room with

underfloor heating or you’ll need to pay for

a piano tuner on a weekly basis!

A grand that’s six feet or more in length really deserves to have its lid open (or at least placed

on half-stick) if it’s going to be more than an expensive ornament, so again, don’t be totally

led by your heart. The relationship between an instrument and the space it occupies is a

subtle but important one. Buying a splendid piano and squeezing it into a box room will

quickly seem self-defeating.

Private purchases

If you’re considering buying an instrument through an advert or auction, the customary

‘buyer beware’ advice applies; it would certainly be sensible to take someone along with you

who knows one end of a piano from the other. You can undoubtedly save money this way, but

there are risks to making private purchases, and without a warranty you’ll have no comeback.

Apparent defects in an older instrument may be hard to evaluate at a flying visit. The worse

symptoms (notes not sounding, one or more pedals not engaging properly, overall tuning

suspect) may ironically be the easier things for a registered piano technician to put right (in

the UK the Piano Tuners’ Association can recommend such people). On the other hand,

strange buzzes and double-notes (two notes sounding from one key), or deeply grooved

hammers and dampers might not be cost-effective to fix. Bear in mind that the felt used on

hammers is applied under high pressure at the manufacture stage, so you won’t be able to

simply replace it. Over time, the treble hammers can become especially threadbare, so that

the moulding is actually striking the string instead of the felt. A damaged pin-block or bridge

(over which the strings run clear of the soundboard) could also spell trouble.

Beware of accepting a freebie piano – it could end up costing you more in moving it and

rectifying problems than if you’d bought a modest instrument from a showroom. Speaking

of showrooms, in my experience these are the first places to go hunting because you’ll get

advice aplenty, a ‘feel’ for what’s what, value for money and perhaps an ongoing tuning/

repair deal that will ease the burden of your decision. Some stores offer a buy-back policy

whereby you can be assured of getting a fair re-sell price at some later stage. If you’re new

to playing or feeling particularly rusty, then hearing someone competent play a range of

instruments for you (and describe the differences in how they feel under the fingers) may

turn out to be the best option.

Tuning: a final word

A final word about acoustic pianos: tuning. Tuning is an aspect of owning a piano that is

easily overlooked at the purchasing stage when the instrument may well be beautifully in

tune. Depending on where it will be living – whether in a draughty thoroughfare or bespoke

music room – a piano can sound out of tune frustratingly quickly. It’s important to allow

your newly purchased piano to sit in its new space for a few weeks (preferably in a room with

consistent humidity and not subject to drastic temperature changes) before getting it tuned.

GETTING

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The Piano in Black and White

Digital pianos

Digital pianos have become ubiquitous. Long gone are the days when these instruments

were regarded as second-rate approximations of the ‘real thing’; indeed the likes of Yamaha,

Roland, Kawai and Casio have invested impressively in this market, to a point where many

players move between acoustic and digital pianos without turning a hair. As with acoustic

uprights and grands, there is a vast array of digital uprights and grands on the market at

a variety of price tags. The advantages are not just compellingly practical (more portable,

cheaper to buy, no tuning charges, neighbour-friendly, easy to resell), but musical, too. Many

players prefer to spend longer periods of time playing a digital piano because they enjoy the

consistency these instruments offer; what’s more, every owner of a particular model will

be hearing the same sound, which is the opposite attribute to an acoustic piano of course,

wherein personality traits quickly emerge. Simply being able to adjust the volume of your

instrument is an immeasurable advantage, especially if you happen to live in a house or

apartment where noise levels are a potential bugbear for others. Wearing headphones

neatly sidesteps this. A digital piano can tuck into the smallest of spaces and will tolerate

a far wider bandwidth of temperatures and humidity.

Simply being able to adjust the volume of your

instrument is an immeasurable advantage

Weighted keys are an absolute must – I certainly wouldn’t recommend the flimsy ‘organ’

touch associated with older instruments, as this negates profitable practice and robs the

player of the ability to vary dynamics, let alone matters of balancing and voicing. Building

and sustaining finger independence will benefit from a bit of resistance from the instrument,

and even though many pianists prefer a lighter action, a good technique presupposes

an instrument that is capable of reacting in a positive, dependable way. The best digital

instruments boast adjustable, weighted actions so that the player can opt for a lighter or

heavier touch at the flick of a switch. This is a major advantage over acoustic pianos and will

certainly appeal to families where there are two or more players taking their turn to play.

The ability to turn your digital piano into a ‘dummy’ keyboard is something I have greatly

appreciated over the years – interestingly, there are acoustic instruments that also have a

silent function, just as there are digital pianos which utilise ‘real’ hammers. These latter

instruments can give the player an experience that closely rivals that of an acoustic piano

because the dynamic shades of one’s playing are captured faithfully. Digital hybrids combine

something close to the direct, resonant impact from an acoustic instrument (which

dissipates its unique sound using sympathetic vibration across a soundboard) with the

unquestionable advantages that digital pianos offer.

GETTING

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16

The Piano in Black and White

The pedals on digital pianos work very well indeed, and many of the subtleties one diligently

hones on an acoustic instrument will transfer across convincingly – even more sophisticated

effects such as flutter-pedalling and half-pedalling.

One quickly learns to accommodate the seemingly boundless character-giving advances

in digital pianos, and any shortcomings that remain are balanced by the many practicalities

they possess. You may wish to make use of the capacity to vary the acoustic (‘concert

hall’, etc.), switch between different piano sounds (‘grand’, ‘honky-tonk’, etc.) or to record

yourself practising, perhaps hands separately. This all means we can make balanced choices

between digital and acoustic pianos without any longer feeling compromised by how these

instruments sound, feel or look. Digital pianos will doubtless continue to evolve and diversify

in response to what players want, and this makes for an even rosier future for all of us.

Don’t forget the seat!

The message here is short and simple: a good quality, comfortable seat will help you to play

better as well as stave off back pain and other afflictions. There seems little point in investing

in a wonderful instrument and then overlooking the need to care for your playing health and

comfort. A padded adjustable seat is to be highly recommended since you may be sharing

the instrument with others in your household, and all talk of good posture at the piano

becomes academic if you are forced to sit too high or too low. Try out different stools in

friends’ houses or piano showrooms to get an idea of what you prefer to sit on for any length

of time. The price tag for a good quality piano stool may well raise an eyebrow – hydraulic

models can set you back rather more than the cost of a modest quality upright piano – so

you may want to plan for these necessary accessories.

GETTING

STARTED

17

The Piano in Black and White

Getting to know

your instrument

Make your first connection with your piano in private. Allow yourself to be fully in awe of

what you have before you. Place both hands on the keys straight away, with the two thumbs

spaced about ten inches apart, and enjoy the sensation of the white and black keys under

your fingertips. When you are ready, play a few notes, slowly and thoughtfully in each hand,

and latch on to the sound you are making. See how gently you can depress certain keys to

make different sounds. Enjoy the texture and slenderness of the black keys, which stand

conspicuously proud of the whites and are set some way back; slowly work your way up and