Archive for the ‘Musical Signs & Notation’ Category
What Is “Staccato” And How Do I Play It?
December 14th, 2009
Staccato Notation
By its simplest definition, staccato is the execution of play in which the finger is instantly bounced off the key, producing a very brief sound with absolutely no sustain. Basically, it’s a very swift and quick “plunk” of the piano key or keys.
Playing staccato ensures that the backcheck is not engaged and the damper cuts off the piano’s sound immediately after the key is pressed. There are two music notations to denote staccato, the normal (dot) and hard (triangle). For normal staccato, the jack is released, while in hard staccato, the finger moves up and down much more quickly and leaves the key before the jack is released.
So, when playing in normal staccato, the key drop is generally about half way down, while in hard staccato, the key drop is usually less than half way down. The damper returns to the strings more rapidly, thus resulting in a shorter note duration. Since the backcheck is not engaged, the hammer can actually bounce and make repetitions seem very tricky depending on speed of playing.
In staccato, there is no sustain. Play the staccato notes as if they all include rests after each of them.
I, myself, have experienced problems executing staccato at relatively quick speeds. This happens with many piano players, usually because it is being played at the wrong frequency where the hammer bounces the wrong way. Changing the speed and the amount of key drop will help optimize the sound staccato and correct execution.
Considering the fact that I’ve talked a lot about key drops and hammers, you should know that it really helps to understand how a piano works to learn how to play staccato correctly. Staccato can be divided into three groups depending on how it is played:
Finger Staccato. This is played by holding the hand and arm still, using the finger to press the key in a pull motion.
Wrist Staccato. This is played with a very neutral motion. The hand neither pulls nor thrusts, and is mostly played with a flick of the wrist, or wrist action.
Arm Staccato. This is played using a thrusting motion, with the upper arm executing the motion.
As you progress from finger staccato toward wrist staccato and arm staccato, you’ll likely discover a number of new things. Working toward wrist and arm staccato adds more mass behind your fingers. Therefore, using finger staccato will give you the ability to produce the lightest staccato, and is mostly used for single notes, or notes played pianissimo. Obviously, arm staccato allows you to use the heaviest touch and is useful four passages that use a number of notes and/or chords and which are generally played forte. Wrist staccato lies there somewhere in between.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Some music teachers frown upon the use of some staccato plays (specifically, wrist staccato), but it is generally very useful to become familiar with all three types. Changing between the three types of staccato can help reduce fatigue during a long piece. Body movement plays an integral part in playing in staccato, and you must learn to use the weight of your body to execute the sound, while remaining relaxed at the same time so as not to produce stress over the course of playing the passage or composition. To vary the speed of staccato you must remember that staccato repetition is controlled by the amount of up and down motions. Therefore, the smaller the motion, the faster the rate of repetition.
Posted in Musical Signs & Notation, Piano Playing Physics, Technique (Discussions) | 
Tags: Notation, Staccato | 
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The Art And Physics Of Mastering The "Trill"
November 11th, 2009
The Trill
If you are an intermediate to advanced piano player, it’s very likely that you’ve come across the trill in your compositions. Generally, a trill is shown in modern musical notation with the letters “tr” above the trilled note, and a wavy line that proceeds. In musical pieces composed during the baroque and early classical eras, the wavy line on its own is used.
Musical Notation Denoting A Trill
The usual way of performing a trill is to rapidly alternate between the note indicated on the staff with the “tr” and/or wavy line and the note that is directly above it in that given scale (unless the trill indicates an accidental).
This Is The Way You Would Execute The Trill As Shown In The Previous Notation Above
Many of Chopin’s classical compositions include trills. They sound like a fast, flicking motion of the two fingers playing two successive notes very, very fast.
There are two main problems that the piano player MUST solve in order to play the trill effectively: (1) speed and control, and (2) continuity.
With a simple trill, there are only two notes you need to focus on: the note indicated, and the note that lies directly above the one indicated. If the first two notes are not started properly, learning the trill will become a very difficult task.
We can solve the problems of the trill by applying an exercise called “parallel sets.” A parallel set is a group of notes that can be played as a chord, and all parallel sets can be played infinitely fast. Within the parallel set, the delay between the successive fingers is called the “phase angle.”
As an example, if we were going to used fingers 2 and 3 to execute the trill (2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, etc.), you can use the 3 as the conjunction and get those first two notes right. Next, practice 3,2. Then, move onto 2, 3, 2, and then 3, 2, 3, 2. It’s really just this simple.
Try not to focus on speed, as this is insufficient. Experimenting with hand and finger motions is also a must. Try soft fingers, rolling motions, flat fingers, and so on. Relaxation is also one of the most important aspects for executing the trill; more than almost any other technical skill out there because of the need to acquire rapid momentum and balance. Allowing stress to build up will cause the fingers to lock into its larger members, such as the palms, hands, and wrists, which in turn increases the effective mass of the fingers.
Your physics lesson for the day: An increased mass means slower motions. Relatively speaking, a hummingbird can flap its wings thousands upon thousands of times faster than other relative species of birds, and small insects can flap their wings even faster than that of the hummingbird.
Therefore, it’s very important to free yourself from stress when practicing trills, in order to let the fingers do the work without the weight of the rest of your body. Trills are one technical skill that require constant practice and maintenance.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
The chord attack is the best practice method for keeping your trills in shape. See my post on The Chord Attack Method to learn more. Make sure that you don’t treat your trills as a series of staccato notes. Your fingertips should be placed at the bottom of the keydrop as long as possible, and make sure you stay aware of the minimal lift needed for the repetition. If you practice on a grand piano, take a mental note that this lift distance can vary from around twice as high as those who practice on an upright piano. Remember, fast trills mean smaller lifts, so on an upright, you may need to slow down your trills.
The Chord Attack Method
October 11th, 2009
Chord B-E-G
A “chord attack” occurs when you play a sequence of notes as chord. For example, say you had to play the quadrulplet, C-G-E-G in the left hand. If you practice this slowly and then speed it up gradually, you will eventually hit a “speed wall,” which is a speed that you can’t pass because stress builds up. To break the speed wall, you would have to play the quadruplet as a single chord, C-E-G. A “chord” is a combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously when played together. You will then go from slow speed to infinite speed! And that’s why it’s called a chord attack.
Let’s take a closer look. Examine the passage below:
In the right hand, the passage begins with the triplet, E-G#-C#. The fastest way to play this sequence is to play it as chord, along with the corresponding fingering. When you play a chord, there is zero delay between the playing of notes, so you are playing the notes infinitely fast. Chord attacks are a great method to enhance speed and velocity. You can use then wherever you find a series of notes that can be played as a chord.
Now that you can play a chord very fast with the chord attack method, what happens if you want to slow down? Firstly, you can play the chord while moving the hand up and down at the frequency at which the chord or quadruplet should be played. Try between one and two times per second. Experiment with your movements by varying your bouncing hands, and remember to adjust your wrist, arm, and finger movements as well. If you begin to feel tired after a while, you might be doing something wrong, or you haven’t quite figured out the technical movements.
Basically, practicing the up and down movement over and over again until you do not feel tired is necessary. And if you feel tired by practicing the motions with chords, you’ll definitely have a hard time with quadruplets.
But how should you move? This depends on your own body and level of comfort. You need to find the most efficient motions that personally compliment you. Try keeping your fingers very close to or touching the keys as you increase your speed, and get your whole body involved in the movements. This should definitely include your shoulders, your upper and lower arms, and of course, your wrists. Don’t play from your fingertips, use your shoulders and arms.
How will you know when you’ve done it? When you find that you can play the chord or quadruplet softly, relaxed, and without tiring, then you have definitely made great progress.
Remember that you need to play the notes as perfect chords, meaning that all notes should land one after the other, no stops, delays, or flub; note after note, infinite playing. Without this, you won’t acquire the accuracy needed to play them fast.
Practice the bouncing hand motions slowly. This is the best way to work on acquiring accuracy. Accuracy will improve faster when you practice them slowly.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Practicing chords can solve a lot of problems in piano practice and improvement. I’ve found some great resources for chord practice, even if you barely know a thing about chords.
The Talking Chord Chart
The first is The Talking Piano Chord Chart, which gives you some great virtual piano lessons, allowing you to see and hear each chord and how they are formed. You’ll know everything about major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords in no time. If you use this chart right, it’s quite likely that you can learn up to 48 different chords in a matter of 15 to 20 minutes.
Power Piano Chords
The second is Power Piano Chords, which gives you 39 separate lessons on piano chords. When you study and practice enough about chords, you can actually improvise in your music and even write your own arrangements, because you’ll understand how certain notes fit together to create desirable sounds and harmonies. I advise you to check them out soon!
Posted in Musical Signs & Notation, Piano Chords, Technique (Discussions), The Practice Routine |
Tags: Chords, Quadruplets, Speed, Triplets |
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Does Every Good Boy REALLY Deserve Fudge?
September 12th, 2009
Today we’re going to look at part two of the Grand Staff.
So, in my first (or second) lesson, remember that we looked at some acronyms to help us name the line notes and the space notes for both the treble clef and the bass clef.
What’s that? You don’t remember them? Well, we’re going to come up with some more so that your brain is just exploding with these notes.
So, here’s the first acronym we looked at for the line notes of the treble clef: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. These represent letters E, G, B, D, and F going upwards on the lines of the staff. Now, if you’re not a little boy who doesn’t like fudge, this may see boring to you.
Lines Notes
So, let’s try a new one, shall we?
Every Good Bear Deserves Fish
and
Every Good Bird Does Fly
If you want, you can make up some really ridiculous ones to make sure you NEVER forget.Here’s my personal favourite:
Elise Gardens Big Dumb Flamingos
Does it make sense? No. But it’s funny, and a lot more memorable. See, learning music can be fun!
So, for the space notes, we usually just use the word FACE, for the notes on the spaces going upward, F, A, C, E. Let’s make it more interesting, shall we?
Frogs And Crocodiles Everywhere
If you don’t like reptiles and amphibians, that one might not be so good.
Foreign Alien Come Earthbound
If you’re afraid of aliens, you might want to skip that one.
Fly Away Crazy Elephant
Who doesn’t love flying, crazy elephants? Okay, now we’re moving onto the bass clef.
For the line notes, we use Good Boy Deserve Fudge Always to represent G, B, D, F, A going upwards along the staff.
Boring. Let’s change it up a little
Great Big Dogs Fight Animals
Good Birds Do Fly Always
Grandma Bit Dan’s Finger Again.
I don’t know who Dan is, but it sounds funny. And now for the space notes. We normally use All Cows Eat Grass.
Space Notes
How about All Cars Eat Gas for those car lovers out there?
All Chickens Eat Grain
Any Creature Escapes Geometry
Wow, that’s a pretty weird one. So, if you like this game, go pull out a dictionary and see what acronyms you can come up with to remember the line and space notes for each clef. I hope you have hours of fun discovering new acronym and PRACTICING with them!
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Today’s mini lesson has been brought to you by: the Letter E. E is for the E major scale. The E Major Scale has four sharps. F Sharp, C Sharp, G Sharp, and D Sharp. To play this scale, play the notes E – F# – G# - A – B – C# – D# – E using the finger 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 1 – 2 – 3 for the right hand, and 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 1 for the left hand.
Posted in Musical Signs & Notation |
Tags: Acronyms, Bass Clef, Keys, Musical Notation, Notes, Treble Clef |
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The Bass Clef, The Treble Clef, and Barlines
September 4th, 2009
Today, I’ll be sharing a little information about the two clefs that we use in music.
I know, I know, EVERYONE knows about the treble clef and the bass clef. You almost don’t even have to play a musical instrument to know about these two clefs.
Well, I need you to listen closely, because we’re going to dig down just a little bit deeper into the history of the clefs. Even if you know that the treble clef represents higher notes played with the right hand and the bass clef represents lower notes played with the left hand… do you actually KNOW where the clefs even started?
Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. But I will explain it anyway. So, as we know, the bass clef is written in musical notation on the lower part of the grand staff, and this tells us that the pitches belonging to these notes can be found on the left side of the piano.
Did you know that the bass clef is supposed to resemble the shape of an ear?
Originally, the bass clef was never called “the bass clef.” It used to be known as “the F clef.” The German letter F is exactly reversed from the F that we use, except it has two slashes across the middle.
Over time and most likely because of messy writing (yes, it’s true), the F clef evolved into the bass clef that we know and use today. The two slashes in the F clef eventually turned into the two dots that we see on the bass clef nowadays.
Bass Clef
So now, we’ll move onwards to the treble clef. The treble clef also used to have a different name from: the G clef. The G clef actually evolved into the treble clef from using the letters G and S side by side.
The Letters "G" and "S" formed the Treble Clef
Again, because of messy writing, the letter G and the letter S came together to form the treble clef. Do you sort of see how the treble clef looks like the letter G and the letter S at the same time?
Treble Clef
SO, the treble clef is found on the top level of the grand staff, telling us that the pitches of these notes can be found on the right side of the piano, therefore played by our right hand.
Next, we’re going to look at barlines. What do barlines do? They pretty much divide staves into separate sections called bars or measures, which hold certain values of notes and rests. Right now, we’ll look at three different kinds
The first is a single barline, and it really just separates notes, rests, and beats, and it’s the most commonly used. This is what they look like:
Single Barlines
Double barlines are used to show a slightly bigger break between sections of music.
Double Barlines
And then Final or Closing double barlines are used to show that a piece is ending, or the end of a specific movement.
Closing Barlines
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
This mini lesson has been brought to you by the letter D, which is for the D Major scale! The D Major scale has two sharps in it: F Sharp and C Sharp. You can play D – E – F# – G – A – B – C# – D with the fingering 1 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 for the right hand and 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 1 for the left hand.
Posted in Musical Signs & Notation |
Tags: Barlines, Bass Clef, F Clef, G Clef, Musical Notation, Piano Vlog, Treble Clef |
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