Frederic Chopin and the Art of the Piano

A JOURNEY THROUGH CHOPIN'S TWENTY-SEVEN ÉTUDES, THE FOUNDATION OF VIRTUOSO PIANO TECHNIQUE, REVEALING HOW THE HAND ACTUALLY WORKS, IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF THE PIANO AND THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT IN MUSIC

© ALAN KOGOSOWSKI 2009 GENIUS OF THE PIANO - ÉTUDE!

chopin's series of 27 Etudes constitutes a virtual compendium of piano technique. In the course of the series we can find the paradigms for everything our hands could ever be called upon to do. Thus, by examining these miniature masterpieces, we are able to uncover exactly how the piano is played, how the hand works at the keyboard, and what we really mean by 'technique'. We are able to address the physical mechanism we all share - how the hands operate, and how we actually control the movements of our hands, both physically and mentally.

From the perspective of a performer - one recognized as a unique authority in the performance of this music - the reader will share the secrets of the virtuoso pianist, as well as relevant historical and biographical background information about the composer. He will also gain an understanding of the development of the piano and the culture surrounding it, as well as the nature and significance of the Romantic movement in European music and culture in general.

The series of Etudes, or Studies, by Chopin, is one of the cornerstones of the piano repertoire. Each Etude deals with a specific question of piano technique, and the set as a whole covers everything a pianist could ever be called upon to do. Kogosowski takes the reader on a journey through the rich terrain of the entire set in the order in which they were published, grouped in twelve chapters in such a way as to reveal a different area of investigation in each. Each chapter thus becomes a self-contained unit within the whole.

Information about all aspects of performance - physiological, musical and stylistic - is imparted in a way not only of interest to professional and amateur, but to the ordinary reader, who will be 'let in' on the world of the virtuoso, and at the same time learn about physical processes which we all share in common, and about the entirely avoidable danger of Repetitive Strain Injury. This is one of the most fascinating and instructive areas of human creativity, one of relevance and application to everyone, musicians and non-musicians alike.

Besides being the best studies in the art of piano playing ever conceived, and also being representative in many ways of the whole direction taken by European music, Chopin's Etudes are exquisitely beautiful and enjoyable simply as great music. For the most part no longer than two and a half minutes' duration, the self-contained perfection of each Etude makes it a veritable tone-poem, and as the composer covers every element of piano playing and piano music without ever repeating himself, the great variety from one Etude to another throughout these twenty-seven miniature masterpieces.

The Essence of Part 2

If you are a Martian and you are reading this book in the 25th century, trying to figure out what humans were doing in the 19th and 20th centuries, before they blew themselves up - this book concerns the very best thing they were doing, and it's the best thing they ever did - you may be able to teach yourself to play the piano as did the most exciting of them all, a quirky Russian Jewish fellow by the name of Vladimir Horowitz; you might even be able to do better: it's possible.

That's providing you can find a piano, as all human-made music, played by individual people with hearts, minds and souls, became obsolete in the 21st century with the universal adoption of 'virtual music' - music composed, reproduced and marketed by computerized methods.

If you are a particularly clever Martian - or even just an open-minded and attentive one - you will notice that playing the piano revolves around one fundamental issue: the application of the human body's physiological resources at all times in the most sympathetic ways possible. That is to say, one should not fight against the body's natural inclinations, but work with it in the directions that its design and structure demand, or request - it's not our enemy, after all: it's on our side.

This fundamental concept, which, with their obtuseness and combativeness - even against themselves - very few humans ever understood, can be subdivided into three main areas, which are the principal subject of Part 2 of this book:

1. Position. The positioning of our physical resources - our body, our arms, our fingers, and most of all our hands, is of paramount importance in everything we do, down to each individual note we play on the piano. This freedom of physical movement is inextricably linked with the flow of ideas from our brains.

2. The design of our hands. Human hands were built to grasp things - including notes - being constructed of four jointed fingers and an opposing thumb, the latter separate and distinct from the other fingers and needing to be allowed to remain free and loose, never being pushed to operate in the same up-and-down manner as the other fingers.

3. The movement of our hands - not by means of having them struggle to stretch from one place to another, but by gently displacing them with the unforced participation of their supporters, the forearms - which are willing, waiting, wanting to do so.

Then you also need heart and soul, and this book can't help you there. It is about how physically to play the piano: the physiological in conjunction with the aural effect - how to hear and think about what you're doing. Horowitz was lacking in the heart and soul department, being overly self-centred and neurotic - even for a celebrated performer - but as for the physical and aural control, he had it down to a fine art. So you should have quite a lot to go on by reading this book.

But even if you don't want to play the piano, the co-ordination of mind and hand that comes with an understanding of the principles involved will improve your ability to do anything at all. Tactile function and brain function go together. So good luck!

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The Author: Alan Kogosowski ...