Some Problems associated with Practicing and Performing on the Piano

趙曉慧

Introduction

The evolution from piano learner to competent pianist is a long process. Pianists spend a great deal of time practicing to perfect their art， a process which needs to start at an early age. We encounter many problems in the practice room， such as poor posture， unreliable memory， inappropriate use of the pedal， and misjudgment of expressive and emotional content. In this paper， I will point out some problems which most piano learners encounter， such as posture， pedalling， memory， phrasing and emotional content as part of the mental process and the positive and negative elements of the performance.

Posture

Before starting to practice， it is so important to control the distance and height between chair and piano. The suitable distance and height can help us to maintain a comfortable posture during practice for many hours. The next point about posture is the body itself. Take me， for example： my shoulder and waist can not to be straight when I sit in front of the piano to play. This would not only look unnatural but it would lead to tension and lack of mobility. When you modulated the suitable distance between chair and piano， put your hands on the piano which can help you to check if you get a good situation before starting. Owning the suitable situation before playing is to get a good beginning.

Pedalling

In discussing piano performance， the use of the sustaining pedal is very important. Most importantly， pedalling should be independent of keeping time. That is， do not let movements of the foot， in relation to pedal， become a channel for feeling the meter. As an excellent musician frequently use foot to tap a meter， but that tap is not in connection with the damper pedal. It is better to play without using the damper pedal， until you have got a habit that to express spacing and rhythm in the fulcrums of the playing mechanism. The better the playing is， the less you need to use the damper pedal. Because of it should be to block the outline of musical progression. The soft pedal should be used more； it can be most effective in producing a subdued passage， it is very little value for playing more softly. The sustaining pedal is effective in holding musical organ points， and is often indicated by the composer when it is desired.

Memory

The most important thing about memorizing is an accurate aural image of the music. It is the aural learners who have security with music memory. Muscular habits are a constructive assistance to memorizing， which correspond to a flowing rhythm. The harmonic analysis for the musician is association of ideas. “If the eyes have never been involved in the learning， if ears alone have guided the movements that find the tones on the keyboard， there is the valuable “first experience” lending its tenacious quality to the most expert tool of remembering.” （Whiteside， A. New York， 1961， p.62） The next point is the question of nervousness in playing. This may be caused by a number of things， but certainly the fear of forgetting contributes to a great extent to that nervousness. The best way to resolve this problem is to be able to depend on the greater security in the aural memory. The other way is constant practice.

Channelling of Emotion

The channelling of emotion to create beauty without distortion is an integral part of piano performance. The idea is to express the intensity of feeling that as an unconscious part of the projection of the music. If these musical gestures and interventions are misjudged they can appear to the audience as mannerisms. As a pianist must get excited with his phrase rhythm， in performance procedure， the expression of emotional intensity must be expressed through the feeling. Practice is a base of performance， but the expression of emotion add colour to the music. Keeping a kind of exciting situation on the stage can help your performance reach the heights of emotional expression.

Phrasing

Except for a certain kind of reaction to editors ‘marks， phrasing could be a power to support the pianist to express the beauty of playing. The editing of phrasing more often stands in the way to find the inner meaning of the music. When the performer reacts intuitively to the music he can hardly fail to put forth phrases of grace and charm. When a strong sense of rhythm is absent from a performers equipment， there can never be graceful phrase modeling. Good use of phrasing implies absorbing the rhythm and applying it to details of the phrasing to augment that rhythm and not destroy it.

Imagination

Every piece will express different emotion， such as you can not image a lovely picture in your mind when you played romantic piece； you could not image so happy thing in sad piece. The good imagination suggests a result there are far more chances for nature to take over the coordination. Most of imagination needs to depend on your experience： you need to listen to more works， watch more films； this can help your imagination with more understanding. “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge，” says Einstein. （Whiteside， A. New York， 1961， p. 61）. When I practice the piano， I will use the imagination to deal with the composition， which allows me to express the formation of different piece with different technique. But I often use the imagery when I play the lyric part of piece.

Comment of recorded performance

After listening to the result of recorded performance， I found some problems about my performance. Firstly， I am nervous to take my performance in public. I can not express in public the same as in the practice room when I play the piano with other people. Sometimes， my finger can not strongly hit the keys when I am so nervous； it is as if my fingers are flying over the keys rather than depressing firmly， particularly when I play the fast passages. The way to resolve this problem is that I practice the piece slowly and hit every key with a firm finger stroke in the practice room. This helped me a lot. However， it brings me another problem， namely， that I can not play cantabile in another part of the piece. Every tone sounds percussive.

Secondly， I found that memory is so difficulty with the increase of technique level. When I was a primary piano learner， I could remember the piece so fast， but now it has become a difficulty thing for me.

Finally， it is difficult for me to incorporate others suggestions， which I realize that it is a bad habit. It is necessary to get a good habit for studying piano. To accept others advice can help me constantly get new knowledge. The subjective character only holds up my progress of technique.

Of course， I have some advantages about my piano skills， such as I try to keep playing every tone correctly when I practice slowly. That can keep playing every tone correctly when I am playing fast， or using the normal speed to play. To play the piano well is a gradual process. Of course， it can not apart form your insistence and passion， in particular your interest； they can help you to establish a good mood and estate to enjoy the happiness which brought from music. Every performance could not get the best result you desire， but one failure can not prove anything. I believe that I will be successful if I insist on practicing for piano.

Conclusion

Music is a representative of beauty， in china there is an old sentence： your performance takes your one minute on the stage； you must spend ten years on practicing. These prove that to be a pianist is not moment achievement， we need to do much hard work and depend on the spirit of persistence. Do not be afraid the failure， failure is a mother of success. Although I do not think that I played the performance very well last week， I will take some lessons from that performance lead to never make them in my future.

References：

[1]Goldstein，J.A Beethoven Enigma，（New York，1988）.

[2]Bazzana，K.The Performer in the Work，（Clarendon，1997）.

[3]Whiteside，A.Indispensables of Piano Playing，（New York，1961）.

[4]Ben-Tovim，A.Children and Music，（London，1979）.