There
is an old technique called carrezando which literally means to caress
the keys. Carrezando playing can injure a musician, it is very
dangerous. The reason is because people think it is a technique when in
reality it is the symptom or end result of technique. It should not be
sought after but rejoiced when it appears.
This
is a condition of virtuoso teaching. Many virtuosos move properly and
never fully learned the biomechanics of playing because playing well
came naturally to them so when they teach, they tell the student what
they feel and not what they are doing to get that feeling. The student
then tries to force that feeling into their playing but they can make many
mistakes while trying to obtain it. Virtuosos are often the worse teachers because they
sometimes don’t know how they do what they do.
Consequently
students who try to force caressing into their technique begin pressing
into the keys, playing with flat fingers and doing all sorts of things
which will strain the tendons and then crippling pain will ensue over
time because the damage is cumulative. The pianist will ignore the warning signs
until one day something just breaks.
Ergonomic
playing requires in/out motions, up/down, forward/backward and
left/right. When you combine all these movements the player begins to
play up and allows gravity to play down. The symptom of the congealment
of all these motions is the feeling of caressing the keys. The pianist
should not be caressing them but should feel like they are caressing
them. When done properly the pianist won’t even feel their fingers
because the skeleton will be playing from the arm muscles while the
tendons in the hands predominately relax.
Much
like petting a dog. Your arm lifts up, you move it toward the head,
then down, then you pet down the dog’s back. There are four movements
there and without them, there would be no petting. The petting is the
result of the four movements where the hand appears do be doing the petting, using the arm.
Better
yet, lay your arm on a table and lift your elbow off the table, allow
your wrist to flex but keep all your fingertips on the table top. Now
pull your arm off the table. Feel that your fingers are caressing the
table but the fingers are NOT doing the caressing, it is the result of
the arm pulling away. THAT is the carrezando technique.
But every motion
MUST have an equal and opposite motion. Like petting that dog, before
you can pet down the dog’s back you must first lift up and forward
before you can drop down and backward. If you focus on caressing, you
will lose the equal and opposite motions required to play properly. Your
fingers have no muscles, all the muscles which move your fingers are in
your arm. The finger bones move by a pulley system of tendons. All
these equal and opposite motions are what gives a pianist a graceful
look but some players force that look into their playing. Now, some
schools of technique, such as the Russian, will teach you to do this
hoping that carrezando will magically appear but shortcuts often come at
a cost. If not pain, ignorance of the mechanics.
It
is erroneously thought that the carrezando technique will give you
great speed and a very light pearly touch. Again, that is the end result
feeling of a proper technique. Don’t ever seek it, it will find you if
your technique is proper.
First,
you have to find a good teacher. If you want to find a good teacher,
don’t listen to them play, listen to their students. If 90% of them play
the way you want to play, you found the right teacher. Hopefully that
teacher provides student recital opportunities for you to go hear several at a time. Otherwise, go to any of
those ubiquitous Chopin competitions and ask the good students whom they
take lessons from. CAREFUL the student isn’t a virtuoso whom the
teacher is just guiding.
*I* have a virtuoso student but it is nothing I did. The kid just plays correctly naturally and i keep out of his way.
Answer requested for Malcolm Kogut
