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Basic Principles of Beginning Piano Study: A
Comparison of Methodic Approaches of Josef Lhevinne
and Abby Whiteside

presented by

Graciela Guadalupe Martinez

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Ph .D . degree in Performance- ~Theory-

History/Literature

 

 

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Date June 1. 1990

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chfl.‘

 

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF BEGINNING PIANO STUDY: A COMPARISON OF
METHODIC APPROACHES OF JOSEF LHEVINNE AND ABBY WHITESIDE

By

Graciela Guadalupe Martinez

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Music
1 990

 

a <71. 7~ 07/007

ABSTRACT

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF BEGINNING PIANO STUDY: A COMPARISON OF
METHODIC APPROACHES OF JOSEF LHEVINNE AND ABBY WHITESIDE

By

Graciela Guadalupe Martinez

This paper deals with a comparative study of two approaches for
teaching beginning piano students how to practice. Josef Lhévinne
and Abby Whiteside, two outstanding performers and pedagogues
with contrasting ideas in regard to piano instruction and basic
training, are the authors considered. A summary of the basic
principles for methodic practice which should allow a piano student
to obtain the most efficient use of time and procedures to develop
successful performance is provided. The following points of view of
these two authors in regard to different aspects of piano playing and
teaching are compared; the role of piano instructors in training of
beginning piano students, selection of students who could become
future performers, grading of the repertoire to be learned, choice of
editions, and function of coaching and imitation in piano training.
General conditions and procedures which could be helpful to develop
methodic practice are considered; among the former, self-criticism,
listening, attention, mental image, analysis, alertness, and emotion;
among the latter, clear purpose, focus of attention, rhythm as an

organizer, slow and fast practice, progression and continuity, and

correct chaining. Finally, the results of methodic practice are
mentioned: good habits, concept of whole, and imagery. Specific
considerations the two authors have in regard to some issues in
piano performance are compared: technical exercises, finger action,
weight, legato, touch, fingering, pedaling, and memorization.

This comparison between the two approaches illustrates the
different points of view between a concert pianist and a studio
teacher, who have one common goal, to develop successful playing
from the earliest stages in the students' training. The apparently
contradictory concepts expressed by each one of these authors could
rather complement each other, bringing a better understanding of
performing and teaching goals and techniques. With a training based
on general principles which have wide application, the students
should eventually develop into independent pianists able to plan and
realize their own musical achievements, and the teacher should aid

them to be creative and active participant in their own growth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERI. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER II. REVIEWOFLITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . 4

CHAPTER III. GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARD MUSICAL TRAINING 13
A. Role of the beginning piano instructor
. Criterion for selection

8
C. Grading the difficulty of the repertoire
D. Selection of editions

E

. Coaching and imitation

CHAPTER IV. METHOD OF PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . . . 28
A. Mental awareness while practicing
Self-criticism
. Listening

. Attention

. Analysis

1
2

3

4. Mental image
5

6. Alertness

7

. Emotion

B. Procedure for practicing . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
1. Clear purpose

Focus of attention

Rhythm as an organizer

Slow practice

Fast practice

Progression and continuity

NP’WPP’I"

Correct chaining

C. Results of methodic practice. . . . . . . . . . . 67
1. Good habits
2. Concept of whole

3. Imagery

CHAPTER V. SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT METHODIC PRACTICE 74
A. Technical exercises
B. Finger action
C. Weight
D. Use of legato
E. Touch
F. Fingering
G. Pedaling

H. Memorization

CHAPTERVI. SUMMARYAND DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . 99

BIBLIOGRAPHY.................. 107

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

As a teacher of beginning piano students, one can see the
necessity of helping students develop a method for practicing which
should be both efficient and time saving. Musicianship implies a
rather complex set of skills which require careful and systematic
training. Fine musicians should possess good ear, excellent
technique, creative and vivid imagination, seriousness, and clarity
of purpose. Since students are required to achieve a high technical
and artistic level, teachers should first establish a series of habits
which will enable students to play with musicality, fluency, and
correctness. One of the teachers' first goals, rather than simply
covering a number of pieces from the repertoire, should be to define
an attitude toward practice, and specify clear principles to
establish a solid foundation for successful performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze selected methods of
practice which may be considered fundamental in the development of
beginning piano students. The methods selected are attributed to
the writings of two authors, Josef Lhévinne and Abby Whiteside.
Both roughly lived at the same time, and each had a different but
important career as performer and pedagogue. Their view-points in
regard to piano performance have been influential and acknowledged
for their positive results. The fact that several concepts are in

opposition to one another makes the comparison between the two

approaches particularly interesting. Books dealing with teaching,
performance, and interpretation are numerous. Ideas in this respect
are enormously diverse and even controversial among performers and
pedagogues. In the matter of piano performance it seems rather
difficult to talk in some specific way about such issues as tone
production, quality of sound, and effective muscular coordination.
All these aspects require a great deal of visual and even more aural
demonstration for the discussion to become meaningful. However,
the need for some kind of written evidence has prompted teachers
and musicians interested in transmitting their findings to formalize
in some sort of essay their thoughts and experiences, and thus give
these findings a wider exposure. In order to limit this study, only
the writings of the two mentioned authors have been considered.
Neither of these approaches is intended to be covered in all its
details. Instead, those principles which seem fundamental and the
most important in developing a proper foundation for musical
performance have been extracted. To undertake a complete
comparison of the technique of these two authors would require an
entirely new study, involving a physical and anatomical analysis of
the playing mechanism. The plan here is to focus only on some of the
fundamental aspects of performance in order to summarize the most
essential principles which could ensure the student an effective use
of practice time. This paper is then directed to those teachers of
beginning piano students who are seeking to define an efficient
method of practicing which will enable their students to get the

best results from their time and efforts.

3

This paper is divided into four sections. The first part is a
review of literature by the two authors, and those writings that
quote or refer to either Lhévinne's or Whiteside's teaching.

The second part discusses the attitude that Lhévinne and
Whiteside have toward musical training in general and piano
instruction in particular. In this section reference is made to the
following: the function beginning piano instructors have in the
further development of a piano student; the criteria cited by
Lhévinne as being used in Russian conservatoires for selection of
students, as opposed to Whiteside's ideas regarding who can play the
piano efficiently; the importance that each of these approaches
gives to grading the difficulty of the pieces a student learns; the
opinion of both musicians in regard to the selection of editions for
the study of beginning piano literature; and finally, the
effectiveness of coaching and imitation in piano training.

The third section deals with the basic principles involved with
building discipline in beginning piano students, necessary in practice
and refinement. It is divided, in turn, into three parts dealing with
the mental awareness a student should achieve during practicing,
the procedure itself, and the long-term consequences of methodic
practice.

The last section refers to some specific problems of piano
performance, such as: technical exercises, finger action, weight, use
of legato, touch, fingering, pedaling, and memorization.

The final chapter is a summary and discussion of the main points

of the study, from this author's own perspective.

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

BMW

Josef Lhévinne's main ideas concerning piano performance and
practice are contained in W,
originally written in 1924, and reprinted in 1972 with a Foreword by
the author's wife, Rosina Lhévinne.1 In this book he summarizes
what he thinks about such issues as piano technique, foundations in
musicianship, ways of acquiring delicacy and power to obtain a
beautiful tone, accuracy and control of the instrument, staccato and
legato touch, and pedaling. Other scattered writings of his are

included in general books about piano performance: ”The Art of

Modern Pianism,” in W? and ”Piano
Study in Russia," in W?

Abby Whiteside has produced three major writings, in addition to
selected publications in journals which duplicate much of the

material contained in her books.4 These are, in chronological

1Josef Lhévinne. Wining. with a Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover

Publications, lnc.,1972).

2Josef Lhévinne, ”The Art of Modern Pianism,‘ in W,
ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, l926; reprint,
1969).

3Josef Lhévinne,'Piano Study in Russia,“ in W, 2d.
ed., ed. James Francis Cooke (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Co., 1 917) 169- 180.

4Abby Whiteside, “The Physical Sensation Comes First," ed. R. Sabln,Musjga1
America 71 (December, l951), 25- 6, quoted in Max W. Camp, W

 

4

5

order: IhLELamstLMechamsm5 from 1929. MW
WP written approximately in 1948 and published in

1961. and WW]
published in 1969, after her death in 1956, by her students Joseph
Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff. This last book contains a number of
articles written at different times during her life which have been
revised by the editors. A Foreword was added summarizing the

stages of development in her thinking regarding piano technique.

W

Among the secondary sources which mention Lhévinne's or
Whiteside's writings, Camp's Wage, is one of
the most comprehensive. It summarizes the most important
philosophical and pedagogical approaches to piano teaching and
discusses the development of the student from early stages to more
advanced ones, ”different stages of advancement [being] incorporated
into this one book because piano playing is not different at the
advanced level; it is only more complex."8 The author recognizes
the necessity of well founded training in beginning piano lessons to

provide greater assurance on future success. As he states, good

Why (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Hinshaw Music,
lnc., 1981), 24 n. 83.

5Abby Whiteside, Wham (New York: a. Schlrmer, 1929).

sAbby Whiteside, mm, 2d. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, l961).

7Abby Whiteside. WWW. ed. by Joseph

Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969).
8Max W- Camp. WWW (Chapel Hill.

North Carolina: Hinshaw Music, lnc., 1981), VII.

 

teachers prove the truth of their ideas with a ”line of successful
students coming out from their studios."9 They help the gifted
student as well as the slow learner, because their teaching is based
on a logical pedagogic philosophy.1o He mentions Abby Whiteside's
approach to rhythmic control of the music as a whole, in each of its
architectonic levels,11 with the entire body working as a rhythmic
coordinator in the musical performance.12 Camp mentions
Whiteside's statement that an effective instructional approach must
help all kinds of learners, whether they are gifted, average, and
below average.13 He remarks that although there is a lack of
writings stating clear objectives to piano study--like Chronister's
statement that students should be guided to become musically
literate rather than limiting themselves to learn repertoire‘4--
Abby Whiteside is one writer who does mention objectives and goals
for piano study, namely, to teach students to discover and solve
problems with their practice procedures.15

In the beginning of this century, music educators began to focus

on developing methods which were more effective in piano learning,

 

9Ibid.

"’lbid.

11Grosvenor W. Cooper and Leonard B. Meyer, W
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960), l.

12Max W- Camp. W. 23-4.

13lbid., 29. He mentions also Heinrich Neuhaus. Wan (New York:

Praeger Publisers, 1973), 8-9; and James L. Mursell, WW
(Boston: Gin and Co., 1948), 7-9.

14Richard Chronister, "Piano Teaching--Past, Present, Future," W
(Winter, 1977), 3.

”Max W- Camn. W. 42.

particularly through the Gestalt principles. This cognitivist
psychology considers learning as a process of gaining insights. It is
a psychology of perception in which the most important goal is not
the acquisition of a series of behaviors but rather of wholes or
Gestalten, the perception and understanding of relationships within
an organized whole. The concept that "the whole is more (or
different) than the sum of its parts” expresses how the different
elements which constitute an experience are subordinated and
perceived as parts of the entire phenomenon, and not as separate
entities which, added together, do not necessarily provide the
impression of the whole.16 James Mursell is one of the exponents
of Gestalt psychology, and he explains in his W17
how these principles work in the perception of music, and how they
apply to musical learning.18

Both Lhévinne and Whiteside exhibit elements of Gestalt
principles in their teaching. Camp mentions Josef Lhévinne's
approach to "understanding and aural perception!” which should be
taught to the student from the beginning lesson. In order to play a

piece of music the student should understand it and not merely

 

16Joe B. Buttram, W (Lawrence, Kansas: National
Association for Music Therapy, I980), 251.

17James Mursell, W (New York: w. w. Norton, 1937;

reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1970). For a discussion of Gestalt

principles in the perception of rhythmic units, see Mursell, W,
176-98. For a short discussion of the Gestalt theory of melody, see Robert W.

Lundin, WW, 3d. ed. (Malabar, Florida: R. E. Krieger
Pub. Co., 1985), 74-5.

18James Mursell, WWI: (Boston: Gin and Co., 1948).
19Calm). W. 18.

8

approach it as a challenge to bravura.20 Camp goes on to quote both
Lhévinne and Whiteside as part of a group of artists who established
the thought that successful piano performance requires the
development of aural, rhythmic, and technical control,21 stating
that in order to integrate all the complex and diverse aspects
involved in piano performance, a Gestalt approach would appear
necessary.22

William Newman mentions the writings of recent years by several
musicians--all of whom have done successful teaching», among
them Abby Whiteside, who discuss the approach to the musical
composition as a whole or Gestalt. These authors ”suggest that
concentration on an aural image of the piece will direct the learning
subconsciously,23 more efficiently and musically than any
conscious, piecemeal methods of building up to performance
level."24 Newman remarks, however, that he has some reservations

regarding this approach:

 

20mm.

211818., 46.

22lbid., 47.

23The idea of subconscious Ieaming could be related to Gordon's concept of

'audlation'. He defines this term as the ability to recall or create musical sounds
when the source which produced them is not physically present anymore. He
developed various tests to measure the student's audiatlon: Edwin.E.Gordon,
W (Chicago: G.I.A. Publications, 1979), and
10W (Chicago: G.I.A. Publications, 1982). In the

University of Iowa he developed a test to predict student's achievement in
instrumental music: Edwin.E.Gordon, WW (Boston: Hougthon
Mifflln Company, 1965). He discusses his ideas about Ieaming processes in

Edwin.E.Gordon, MW (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, lnc., 1971).

24William s. Newman. Wm
W (New York: Da Capo Press, 1984), 198.

the momentum of even the fastest running start toward the
goal cannot pick up all the details along the way. Certain
ornaments simply will not solve themselves, certain
fingering will not see ahead to what must come out, certain
touches will not coordinate without very considerable
stepping for analysis, planning, and that notewise

practice.25
The Gestalt approach, however, differs between the two authors

in regard to piano technique: Whiteside contemplates the pianistic
mechanism as a whole entity, coordinated by a rhythmic response
from the entire body to the musical patterns, while Lhévinne
encourages the training of individual motions for every finger. Irene
A. Glasford exposes a theory quite similar to that of Whiteside in

her book WWW
1999.11.91.- In her bibliography she quotes Whiteside's book

WWW.” Glasford contemplates rhythm
as the general coordinator in musical performance. She states that
”one may conclude that music--and indeed all art-~ccntains a basic
rhythm and is the source of its own organic unity.”27 She says that
”technique, in the large artistic sense, implies 'how' to reach the
goal through the control of the parts (the pianistic patterns) within
the total rhythm."28 Like Whiteside, she believes that rhythm
should be controlled by the performer's body, acting as a whole

coordinated entity.

 

25lbid., 199 9.

26Irene A. Glasford, :r m. :: - ; -
1989119.: (New York: Exposition Press lnc.,1970),154.

27lbid., 100.
23lbid., 120.

 

10

When the student[s have] actually earned a kinesthetic
response to the keyboard vocabularies and from the
principles of the wholeness of rhythmic motion [which] can
extend [their] control from center through the articulation,
[they] will not find it necessary to spend hours acquiring
facility and speed. [their] challenge lies in [their] ability to
move the pianistic patterns in the motion of the whole.29

Like Whiteside, Glasford stresses the necessity of developing
technique as an entire coordination of lovers,” rather than to train

individual motions, like finger-drills.

I believe that such drills are useless unless they are rooted
in a total technique. One technical pattern is not a whole
technique. There is a gap between these fragmented,
external, drilled maneuvers and the pianist‘s need for a
totally cooperative system of leverage. . . . All appendages
or levers should be balanced through their deep association
with and connection to the one fulcrum, the torso.
Interdependence of leverage is indispensable because of the
need for the entire arm to be supported and carried by the
torso in a rhythm of wholeness. Through the stabilization of
the torso (the "master lever”), the top arm, forearm, hand,
and fingers, joined as one piece, are supported, directed, and

freed for movement.31
On the other side, Ahrens and Atkinson quote Lhévinne as part of a

group of teachers from the late nineteenth century until the present
day who stressed such matters as relaxation, use of arm weight, and

rotation,32 all of these separate concepts which should supposedly

 

2911319, 120-1.

3°Whiteslde and her students refer to the different parts of the playing mechanism
as levers. They describe the torso as the center of activity, the upper arm (or upper
leverage) as the one that starts the movement, which is transmitted to the fingers
(called periphery).

31mm. 50-1.

32Cora B. Ahrens and G. D. Atkinson, MW 2d. ed.
(England/Canada: The Frederick Harris Music Co. Ltd., 1956), 35.

11

add toward building an efficient technique. In regard to finger

action, they state that

Lhévinne . . . rather favoured having the first phalanx of the
finger at a slight angle to the key, and then preserving this

same curved position throughout the stroke up and down. This
would then leave the whole movement at the joints confined

to the knuckle joint only.33
In this technical approach each finger is considered to act

independently and, therefore, it must be trained to perform a
separate movement, raising and falling upon the keys to produce the
sound. Such idea of unconnected or separate reactions for each part
of the mechanism stands in opposition to the holistic approach
exhibited by Whiteside and her students.

Some Gestalt ideas do apply to Lhévinne‘s thinking, however. For
example, in reference to the assumption that fingers should play
legato on arpeggios, Ahrens and Atkinson encourage the student to
keep the tone even in length and strength, and not to worry too much
if the arpeggio is not always perfectly legato where the thumb goes
under the hand or the hand goes over the thumb. They quote Mme.
Rosina Lhévinne who ”always maintained that if the other factors
are carefully observed a slight non-legato will never be
detected.'34 This perception of the arpeggio as a continuous
pattern, even though a break exists between finger-connection, may
be considered in accordance with a Gestalt principle of closure,
which refers to the tendency to perceive incomplete patterns (such

as unconnected geometric figures) as complete wholes.35

 

331m, 39.
34lbid. 44.

 

12

Both Lhévinne's and Whiteside's approaches, even though departing
from different technical principles, have however produced good
pedagogical results. The success of Josef Lhévinne as a pianist and
teacher has been acknowledged in several writings and interviews
with his former students.36 His love for performance and teaching
has been shared equally by his wife Rosina Lhévinne, who was an
acknowledged teacher, having taught at Aspen, and for almost five
decades at Juilliard.37 Both Lhévinnes excelled as great musicians,
and their students have been among the most prominent pianists in
America. Some of these are Mischa Dichter, John Browning, Byron
Janis, Rosalyn Tureck, Adele Marcus, and Van Cliburn.38

Among Abby Whiteside's students there are some who became
teachers themselves and produced their own writings, in which they
acknowledged the effectiveness of Whiteside's ideas. One of them is
Marion Flagg, who wrote a book on W in which she
developed Whiteside's principles of body response to rhythm.39 She
refers to Whiteside's piano teaching that ”shows how a free,
completely adjusted mechanism opens the channels to a revelation

of the subtlety and power of musical beauty.”o

 

35Joe B. Buttram, W (Lawrence, Kansas: National
Association for Music Therapy, l980), 253.

36Elyse Mach. W (New York. Dodd. Mead & Co.,
1980), 38, 63, 43-4, 48, 131-3, 164.

37James Bastien, "An Interview with Rosina Lhévinne,” In W119
W, 2d. ed., 435-8 (Illinois and California: General Words and Music Co/Neil
A. Kjos, Jr., Publishers, 1977), 435-8.

38David Dubai, WWW (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.,
1985), 115, 218, 309.

39Marion Flags. WWW (Boston. 0. c.91rcharo
and Co., 1949). 4°1o1d., v.

CHAPTER III. GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARD MUSICAL TRAINING

Perhaps one of the factors which makes the comparison between
the approaches of Josef Lhévinne and Abby Whiteside so interesting
is the fact that they have such a different background. Even though
both strive to attain a fine performance from their pupils, their
points of view in regard to piano playing and training of professional
piano students are very different. They disagree in several aspects
of technical approach, and the achievements they expect from their
students are quite dissimilar. Their teaching philosophy is by no
means the same. Their points of view represent two different
fields, yet they complement each other quite successfully. Their
common goal remains to produce the best quality in piano
performance.

Even though both excelled in the fields of performance and
pedagogy, Lhévinne was remarkable as a concert pianist,
acknowledged for his extraordinary technique and innate
musicality,‘ while Whiteside has been better known for her
writings about pedagogical aspects of training all types of students,
whether highly gifted, average, and slow learners.2 Whenever she

tried a technical idea, she applied it with tenacity to every situation

‘Harold c. Schonber9.1ha_GLeaLElanists_fmm_Mozad_to_tl19_Emsent. 2d. ed.
(New York: Simon 8 Schuster, lnc., 1987), 404.

2Max W. Camp. WNW (Chapel Hill,
North Carolina: Hinshaw Music, lnc., 1981), 29.

 

13

14

and with all her students until she found that it actually worked;
otherwise, she discarded the concept and strived to look for a new
one that could have general application and effective results for all
her students.3 She acknowledged the great accomplishments of

pianists like Josef Lhévinne himself, stating that:

The list of players from which to choose models for
production is fairly long. To insure a clear understanding of
the mechanism under discussion, two names will suffice--
Rachmaninoff and Lhévinne. Each is a distinct personality,
with a technical equipment which allows full range in speed
and dynamics, without effort and always with beautiful tone

quality.4
Her research aimed to discover the most efficient use of the

pianistic mechanism, by observing how such gifted musicians used it

so skillfully.

In this analysis no attempt is made to give the explicit
action of the muscles which produce the desired tone. The
desire is to suggest the simplicity in coordination that one
sees and hears in the playing of such men as Rachmaninoff

and Lhévinne.5
Quoting a teacher of hers, she said that it is difficult to find

somebody to excel both in performance and pedagogy: ”Few people
create in two fields, and teaching and playing are both creative
fields."6 So even though she was a great pianist, she devoted most
of her energy to teaching and discovering new principles and
concepts which in many ways challenged traditional thinking about

piano performance and pedagogy.

 

3Joseph Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff, in Fonlvord to Abby Whiteside, MW

W (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969), 11.
4Abby Whiteside, Winn (New York: G. Schirmer, 1929), 2.
5lbid., 19.

elbid. 3.

15

Born in South Dakota in 1881, Whiteside graduated from the
University of South Dakota and travelled to Germany, where she
studied with Rudolf Ganz. She returned to the United States, settled
in Portland, Oregon, and in 1923 moved to New York to teach there.
She also taught in Chicago, Dallas, Portland, San Francisco, and Los
Angeles in the Summers from 1922 to 1956, when she died. Her
students published posthumously some of her writings.7

Josef Lhévinne was a noted and exceptionally gifted pianist with
a characteristic virile style, comprehensive technique, and finely
trained artistic judgment.8 He appeared in New York, impressing
his critics, and attained great celebrity status in America. Born in
Russia in 1874, he was a son of a professional musician. At the age
of six he became a student of a Scandinavian teacher named
Grisander, and he made his debut at eight. When he was twelve years
old he started studying with the Russian Wassili Safonoff at the
Moscow Conservatoire, where he was a fellow student of
Rachmaninoff.9 He studied theory and composition with Teneieff
and Arensky. In 1891 he was selected by Anton Rubinstein to play
the Emperor Concerto under his direction, and in 1895 won the
Rubinstein Prize in Berlin. From 1902 to 1906 he was Professor of
Piano at the conservatory in Moscow.10 Then he came to America in
7Joseph Prostakoff and Saphia Rosoff, in Fonlvord to W
antLQtneLEssailsrz

8James Francis Cooke, “Josef Lhévinne, Piano Study in Russia,“ in W
Mum, 2d. ed. (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Co., 1917), 169.

9Haro|d C. Schonbero. 111W. 29. ed. (New
York: Simon & Schuster, lnc., 1987), 402-4.

10Cooke, ”Josef Lhévinne, Piano Study in Russia,” 169.

 

16

1907 and taught at the Juilliard School of Music. His students excel
as wonderful pianists, several of them contest-winners. He died in

1944. A recording of his playing is available.11

A. Role of the beginning piano instructor

Musical instruction in Russia is quite different than in the United
States. Russian schools and conservatoires are required to provide a
thorough technical training, and this is one of the first and most
important concerns. Rosina Lhévinne states that ”as students in
Russia, we were taught from the earliest age to strive for a perfect
technique, in other words, 'a complete command of the
instrument.”12 Several years are employed in this training, and
students must pass a number of examinations to secure a certificate
to teach.13 "In Russia the teacher of beginners is often a man or
woman of real distinction” who ensures a strong foundation for the

students' further development.14

 

"David Dubal,1hg_flgdd_91_mg_Qqngen_Ejamm (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.,
1985), 356, mentions RCA VIC-1544, stating that Lhévinne's performances of the

Strauss-SchuIz-Evler 'Blue Danube' and the Schumann-Liszt 'Fri’lhllngsnacht are
unparalleled.

‘zRosina Lhévinne, in Forword to Waging
(Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover Publications,
lnc.,1972). v.

13Josef Lhévinne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,” in W,
ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, I926; reprint,
1969), 79.

14Josef Lhévinne, Wing, with a Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover
Publications, lnc.,1972). 2.

17

Lhévinne states that in America there is a great need for careful
instruction especially in the early years of the student's training.
The teacher at more advanced levels should not be compelled to
provide basic explanations that students are supposed to have gotten
from their first lessons. The beginning piano instructor has then an
important position as the one who must provide the grounding on
such fundamentals.15

Another priorities are concerned in Whiteside's approach. She
states that beginning musical training should provide joy and
excitement for performance in the first place. The students are
meant to love their job and persevere in it mainly because they feel
comfortable playing, and this gives them great satisfaction and
happiness.16 Therefore, among the instructor's first goals should
be the development of a basic technique which permits the student
to play with ease and comfort. This technique should be the most
natural and simple. She states that ”above all teachers should
remember that nature is the prime factor in playing the piano as in
every other human activity. They must help nature, not impose
intellectual or physical concepts that cannot be understood and
motivated from within the body."17

As a piano instructor, one might consider that one of the first and
most important goal which one has as a teacher is to motivate
students to learn to play, and to do so in the best and most efficient

way. This should be the reason for developing a technique. Even

 

1 slbid.
16Whiteside. InLEianist'LMmhanism. 6-7.
17Abby Whiteside. WWW. ed. by Joseph

Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969), 163.

18

though the means might not be the best possible ones, if students
are self-motivated they will persist in looking for solutions on their
own, and their learning will never end. A piano instructor who
discourages students, or presents subject matter as unattainable,
would probably be defeating the purpose of succeeding as a teacher

and educator. Seroff states that:

The most important objective for a teacher is to awaken in
the student a love for the piano and curiosity sufficient to
overcome its technical difficulties. This is much more
important than practicing scales and exercises, which could

destroy the beginner's desire to become a musician.18
Teachers should not lose track of the fact that developing

technique for its own sake can become a dangerous trap which may
actually drive beginning students away from piano study, rather than

convincing them that eventually technique will serve an artistic end.

B. Criterion for selection

Lhévinne states that in the Russian conservatoires, the talent
students have, whether they are more or less naturally gifted, is a
determining factor in allowing them to pursue a performance
career.19 Great emphasis is placed on the students' mental and
physical characteristics, such as the size of their hands, their
rhythmical sense, their muscular coordination, as well as their
inborn musical talent. These are factors that might decide whether

or not a child could consider a professional career as a performer.

18Victor Seroff, W (New York: Funk 8. Wagnalls, 1970),
38.

19Josef Lhévinne,'Piano Study in Russia," in W, 2d.
ed., ed. James Francis Cooke (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Co., 1917), 176.

 

19

On the other side, Whiteside believes that anybody with an
average talent could develop a reasonable technique and play the
piano with efficiency, as long as the right mechanism is being used.
Her focus is not on the individual characteristics of the student, but
rather on the teaching process. To play with the simplest means in
the most effective way is what constitutes a good technique. The
task of the teacher is to develop a good technique in all their
students, whether gifted or not. She believes that if a solution does
not work for all of them--specifically those who have naturally
less skill than others--the conclusion is that such a solution is
wrong, or at least not completely correct.20

One might consider that the challenge of teachers at a school of
music is to try to develop all the possibilities--technical and
musical--of the students under their direction, even those who are
not particularly gifted. Probably at a certain point in their
development students decide themselves if they want to perform
professionally or not, but this should be the students' choice.
Teachers should be efficient in the task of searching for adequate
pedagogical solutions to help any student play with ease. They
should correctly diagnose difficulties in order to solve technical and
musical problems. If a student is particularly gifted, the teacher
might or might not be of great help. Talented students will probably
play well anyway. The teacher's job is to look for feasible solutions
for those who have the most trouble in order to make them succeed
to the best of their abilities.

20Joseph Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff, in Forward to W
W. 3.

 

20

C. Grading the difficulty of the repertoire

Lhévinne states that in Russia teachers are greatly concerned
about carefully grading the pieces the student learns, and they
expect pupils to play acceptably all pieces of a given level in order
to go on to the next one. The material to teach a beginning student
should still be interesting and challenging enough to keep the
student interested. "The main duty in all elementary work is to
make the piano study interesting, and the teacher must choose the
course likely to arouse the most interest in the particular pupil."21

On the other side, Whiteside encourages teachers to accept
challenges and once in a while allow students to play a more
difficult piece than what actually corresponds to their level. She
says that this is really when the help of the teacher is needed, since
problems arise when such pieces rather than the easier ones are
played.22 Student are actually confronted with their limitations,
and the urgency to solve them becomes even more intense. She gives
an example of a beginning adult student whom she taught Bach's c
minor prelude BWV 999, not an easy piece to learn at the first
lessons. The goal was to transmit the sense of rhythmic vitality
which should be the foundation of piano technique.23 This could be
an example of her teaching philosophy, where the idea is to develop

in the student a certain concept or ability, rather than just to play

 

”Lhévinne, ”Piano Study in Russia,” 174.
22Whiteside. WM 39.

23Abby WhiteSide, MW, 2d. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, I961), 141-2.

21

the piece. Actually, to allow a student to learn a difficult piece
could become a profitable experience for both the student and the
teacher. This might not be the norm, however, and students most
commonly progress according to a specific program, well planned
and sequenced. But to sometimes challenge them with a piece
slightly above their possibilities might be a good way of forcing
their achievement a step ahead. The factor of motivation is a very
strong one, especially when the student really likes the piece, and is
looking forward to studying it. Even though the performance might
not be completely solved at the moment, it will favor progress in
ways which one could not imagine. The technical mechanism must
necessarily work; otherwise, the piece is not achievable. So the
student is pushed toward right solutions by means of the auditory
image. At this point the goal is not the piece itself but rather the
student's technical development. Students would likely result
benefited from a transfer of learning from the more difficult piece,
as they play the other works of the repertoire which actually
correspond to their level. Actually, the human brain can work in an
insightful way that does not always require a sequenced and
perfectly established pace in order to learn a new concept or develop
a new skill.24

Newman mentions the benefits of allowing a pupil to study a
piece above her level, stating '[it] showed that careful, intelligent

practice in the music itself, and in it alone, could produce specific

 

24For a discussion of left-brain (logical, analytical, sequential, linear) and right-
brain (intuitive, general or global, spatial) Ieaming, see Thomas A. Regelski,‘ Who
Knows Where Music Lurks in the Mind of Man? New Brain Research has the Answer,"

W31 63 (May 1977): 31-8-

22

achievements far in advance of her general technical level, thanks
largely to her knack for creating self-corrective exercises out of
the various difficulties that arose."25 He says that students should
be invited to choose the piece they want to study, and to be provided
with ”access to a basic library of piano music and [do] daily planned
sight-reading in it” in order to become acquainted with the
literature for the instrument.26 The students' interest might be
greater if sometimes they, instead of the teacher, suggests the

repertoire to be studied.27

D. Selection of editions

One general concern of beginning students when they start
learning repertoire is which edition might be the most acceptable.
In this regard, Rosina Lhévinne states that, in order to remain as
faithful as possible to the composer's intentions, the student should
look for a good edition, one, such as the Urtext, without editorial
markings, and pay great attention to any original phrase by the
composer which can lead to discover the mood or character of the
piece (such as "Allegro con brio").28 "The performer has the

tremendous responsibility of remaining true to the composer's

25William S. Newman. W
W (New York: Da Capo Press, l984), 91.
261919., 197.

2"A pedagogical apprach in which the student becomes an active participant in his
own growth, and his learning Is in part self-directed, is mentioned in the humanistic
psycology of Maslow and Rogers. For a short discussion, see Joe B. Buttram,

W (Lawrence, Kansas: National Association for Music
Want”. I980), 260-2.

28Rosina Lhévinne, in Forward to W, vi.

 

23

ideas."29 The importance of consulting the best edition should be
stressed from the beginning. If there are editorial markings,
students should consider them as more suggestions, and decide on
their own which ones to perform, according to the style of the piece
and their own interpretation. To obey editorial markings blindly
will not provide good training.

In order to discover the correct style of the pieces being studied,
Mme. Lhévinne says that students should be encouraged to read about
the lives and environment of the great masters to try to understand
their thoughts at the time they wrote the compositions in question.
Some knowledge about painting and architecture of the time is also
of great help in determining the stylistic characteristics.30 The
right choice of the most reliable editions that actually reflect the
intentions of the composer should be the first step toward an
authoritative interpretation; therefore, this should be a point to be
stressed in the student's training.

Whiteside does not think either that editorial markings improve
the development of musical judgment or taste. Sometimes there is
no significant change in the student's playing when different scores
are used, because listening and rhythmic habits are not modified by
editorial suggestions; thus, the music does not gain a lot from these
markings.31 It also happens that ”the edition of phrasing more
often stands in the way of finding the inner meaning of the music

than it helps. . . . because there is no physical counterpart of that

 

2919111., v.
3°lbid, vi.
31Whiteside. W. 57-8.

24

phrase--no movement that is continuous and intensifies the
meaning."32 Instead of following editorial markings, she suggests
the teacher should focus on making the student feel the rhythmic
motion through the entire body in order to provide vitality to the
phrasing.

The important fact that underlies the concerns of both
Whiteside's and Lhévinne's approach is that the teacher should
develop musical judgment in the students. It does not help much
when editorial suggestions get in the way of assimilating the
composer's own ideas. When students are presented with an original
edition it is likely that they will develop their own musicality to
guide them in the correct interpretation of the work. Specifically
when studying compositions from the early literature of the
keyboard, a good Urtext edition would be most appropriate.

An excellent idea not explicitly mentioned be either Lhévinne or
Whiteside could be to make the student compare different editions
of the same work, in order to check for accurateness as well as
develop criteria for different fingerings or possibilities for
interpretative nuances. Careful editors usually provide their own
suggestions in small characters and footnotes which are clearly
distinguished from the composer's original markings. Such editorial
indications are often useful for young beginners, as long as they

consider them just as suggestions.

 

321913., 94.

25

E. Coaching and imitation

Coaching and imitation are two very common procedures used in
piano lessons to guide the students' interpretation of the piece they
are learning; however, their effectiveness is another point of
controversy between the approaches of Lhévinne and Whiteside. Even
though Lhévinne does not talk specifically about this matter, his
wife Rosina Lhévinne makes some general commentaries that
suggest the way in which they both worked with their students.
They do use coaching to direct the students' performance of a work,
though remain flexible so as to allow students to decide for
themselves, for example, where to situate the climatic points of the
phrases, even though they might have a different opinion. ”We agreed
that each phrase must have one high point--but as to where that
point was, we often felt quite differently.”33

On the other side, Whiteside has reservations regarding the
effectiveness of coaching, which she says can only "touch the
surface of a musician's playing habits.”34 The problem with
coaching, as she states it, is that it usually involves imitation. The
students' means of producing an interpretation of the passage are
not always considered, but rather the teachers try to transmit into
the students' mind and physical mechanism their own concept of the

music. Whiteside states that:

Coaching is supposed to deal with interpretation. This
implies that one handles the manner of using shading,
retards, accelerandos, specific ways of turning a phrase, etc.
Coaching almost exclusively involves attention to

33Rosina Lhévinne, in Forword to W vii.

34Joseph Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff, in Forword to W
W 20

 

26

discriminating listening, so that the student can skillfully
imitate the master. In order to do this the student must have
the same kind of physical equipment as the master has, as
well as the discriminatory ear. This is the reason why he
[she] frequently does not profit from expert coaching. The
coach may demonstrate the beauty of a phrase, but he [she]
does not deal with the physical basis of producing this
beauty--at least not enough to rectify the faulty physical
habits of the student, and to supply him [her] with the same
controls for power, distance, and rhythm that the master

uses.35

In her opinion, teachers should analyze and diagnose the musical
or technical problem students have in some particular passage, in
order to provide the pertinent advice, and then make the students do
themselves what they are asked for in order to play the passage
with the right coordination or musical expression.

We need to learn that facts, as related to skills, become
pertinent and usable only when the body has learned the
movements that produce the right results. It is the doing
that teaches students the facts. The intellectual concept is

not meaningful without the experience of achievement.36
Eventually, students should become independent and base their

interpretation of the pieces on their own musical concepts.

One should consider that even though coaching is necessary, it
should not be the only procedure by which the student learns to play
a piece in correct style and good taste. In order to teach students
which are the things they have to listen for, the teacher should do a
far more complete guidance directed to develop the students'
musicianship as applied to the instrument. Critical hearing and

observation of fine musicians in recordings and live performances

35Whiteside. W. 1997.

36lbid., 199.

 

27

are some of the activities that could increase the students' musical
understanding. ln lessons, teachers should base their commentaries
and criticisms on the positive aspects already achieved in the
students' version, and try to correct the less successful parts by
giving reasons why they might not be working. A diagnosis of the
problem will be most useful for the students' further development,
since it will provide a principle to be applied in any similar
situation. Perhaps the last note of the phrase is accented, or there
is not enough breath between sections, or a note sticks out of the
dynamic contour the students are creating, or they are not using the
precise movement to deliver power to the keys. Whatever the cause,
teachers should point it out to help students analyze the problem the
next time it occurs. This might be more effective than merely
playing their own version for the pupil to imitate it. In this way
students should gradually acquire judging elements, and could be
able to direct their own practice by helping their ear keenly

discriminate what is coming out in their playing.

CHAPTER IV. METHOD OF PRACTICE

In this chapter some of the fundamental principles in which
students should base their practice will be discussed; certain
mental awareness the student must achieve, some procedures to
develop discipline in methodic practice, and long-term consequences
which such discipline will provide. Application of such principles
might vary widely, according to particular requirements. Students
should observe some basic principles, however, in order to establish

solid foundations in their training to become professional pianists.

A. Mental awareness while practicing

One of the most challenging tasks with which teachers are
confronted when working with beginning students is teaching them
to create musical concepts. Eventually students should be able to
build their own artistic personality, and perform with conviction
and effectiveness. In order to succeed, they must establish good
mental and physical habits from the very beginning. Their
imagination should be stimulated and refined so that they become
critical thinkers and performers. The teachers' task is to direct the
students to play on their own initiative, helping with constant
analysis and proper diagnosis of the cause for any musical or
technical problem which could arise, but always suggesting rather

than imposing their own musical concepts.

28

29

In order to provide the right expression for the passage, Rosina
Lhévinne insisted that her students define one and only one climatic
point for every phrase--”Josef always said that to have two peaks in
the same phrase would be like having two heads on one torso"--1
though there was not always an agreement as to where such an
expressive climax must be.2

Whiteside stresses the idea that ”the pupil[s are] better off if
[they] use [their] own ideas of interpretation at any early date, and
the teacher should keep hands off, except where flagrant bad taste
is displayed."3 The task of the teacher is to provide the right
tools and specific remedies for the correction of difficulties.
Students, however, should do their own building. ”It is always the
aim of the efficient teacher to strive to make the student[s]
independent, and able to make [their] own criticism and
correction."4

In order to eventually achieve their self-dependence, students
should seek from the very beginning a mental awareness when they
practice. One will actually learn what one does, playing just the
way one practices; therefore, any mental, physical, and aural habits
should be established while practicing, in order to ensure that the
reSults are carried into performance. Students should seek for a

certain mental awareness with the following characteristics.

1Josef Lhévinne, Waxing, with 9 Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover

Publications, lnc.,1972). vii.

2191a.

3Abby Whiteside, W (New York: G. Schlrmer, 1929), 9.
4Whiteside, MW. 51.

 

30

1. Self-criticism

Student should develop a discipline that involves criticism to
what they do; otherwise, they might be establishing faulty habits
which can later interfere with successful performance. They should
assume the r6le of the performer and the listener, in order to
develop a critical attitude which allows them to realize objectively
what is coming out of the instrument. Every time they play a
passage they should judge the result, evaluating by comparison with
their own aural image. By doing so they should be able to improve
their performance, and new ways of approaching the piece should
arise from their critical judgment.

Lhévinne stresses the fact that students should always be self-
critical of their own playing. Their improvement will be conditioned
by this attitude, and without it practice will be a waste of time.5

Whiteside states that when students develop the habit of self-
criticism, they can learn from any teacher or artist they hear or
watch. They could then be able ”to make every concert a lesson for
perfecting [their] own playing."6

Students should learn from the earliest lessons to realize at
what point they have achieved a certain objective. During practice,
their own judgment should become the leader. If they lack the
discipline of evaluating their own playing, it will become extremely
difficult to establish any lasting qualities in their performance, and
they might be guideless to plan and direct their own learning when

the teacher is not available to help them.

 

5Lhévlnne. WW9. 39.
6Whiteside. WM. 52.

31

2. Listening

The ear is for the musician what the eye is for the painter. The
necessity to refine auditory discrimination becomes one of the first
and most important goals in the students' elementary stage of
training. The primary tool musicians use to shape and define their
work is the ear. Therefore, students must rely upon critical
listening at every moment during their practice session in order to
decide if they are moving in the right direction.

Lhévinne states that the value of ear training in piano
performance can never be overly stressed. The sense of aural
harmony is very important. A student should be able to identify all
kinds of chords, such as common chords, seventh chords, and any
others by ear as a basic foundation for achievement in any musical
ground.7

The tight connection between ear, brain, and mechanism has been
extensively acknowledged by performers and teachers. Lhévinne
continues to say that the ears must act constantly during practicing
to achieve beauty of sound. He encourages the students never to
practice with inattentive ears; even with technical studies: ”Scales
are valueless unless the student[s] practice them with [their] 'ears’
as well as [their] fingers. . . . Try practicing for beauty as well as
practicing for technic."8 The finest students, he says, are those

who have learned how to listen.9

 

7lbld., 11-12.

8thawinna. WWW. 39.
919111., 11.

32

Whiteside states that for the pianist the ears are the main guide
in developing a good technique. "Little of value to the performer is
accomplished in ear training classes when there is no associated
muscular action."10 Ears rather than eyes should point out the
problems which should be analyzed in order to perform with the
right coordination.11 She assigns to the ear the function of major
controller in developing a good technique. The eye can help locate a
problem, but it is the ear which should decide if the musical
message is not getting across.12 Students' listening habits,
however, are conditioned by the muscular habits they use while

practicing; notewise practicing develops notewise listening:

For a performer all listening is conditioned by the kind of

physical activity which dominates his [her] playing. If there
is a separate initiation of power for each tone he [she] will
listen notewise, and then there will be insufficient subtlety
in the use of power to create a beautiful statement. But, if
tones are produced inside a current of power, . . . he [she]

will listen in a comprehensive manner from the beginning to

the end of the musical statements.13
Whiteside suggests that with beginning students who are not very

fluent with their reading skills, a new piece could be taught by rote,
in order to enhance the r6le of the ear in the learning process. Other
means to develop the aural image are to practice transposition and

improvisation. These activities force students to think the entire

1oAbby Whiteside. WWW. ed. by Joseph

Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969), 173.

11Abby Whiteside. NW. 2d. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, I961), 140.

”Whiteside. W. 45.

131913.. 29.

 

33

phrase as a unit, rather than learning note by note as might occur
when they are learning to read notation.14

One could also consider that a suitable way to improve students'
hearing capacity is to ask them to sing what they play. A melody
that because of the nature of the instrument cannot actually be
sustained, a hidden voice within an intricate texture, a bass-line
sustained with the pedal, provide instances in which the student
could take advantage of singing in order to help them perceive a
melody as a unit.

Often the voice provides a wonderful means to shape dynamic
contour. The piano can become an extremely mechanical instrument,
since no breathing or bowing is necessary for sound production. A
good pianist should imitate the sound which a string-player does
with the bow, or the phrasing a wind-player or singer does with the
breath, in order to make the music sound expressive. Sound must be
prolonged in one's mind as if it was physically sustained through
contact with a vibrating string, or with a continuous breathe, so
that the succession of tones are produced within the right dynamic

level.

3. Attention
This aspect is closely associated with the two preceding ones. In
order to be critical when they listen, students should keep their
attention as sharp and keen as possible. Nothing positive will be
derived from mechanical playing, without care and a conscious

attempt to improve the passage musically and technically. Lhévinne

14Whiteside. WOW. 62.

 

34

states that:

A beautiful touch, a beautiful legato, will not come by merely
wishing for it. It will not come by hours of inattentive
playing at the keyboard. It is very largely a matter of
developing your tonal sense, your aesthetic ideals, and mixing
them with your hours of practice. . . . Technic is worthless
in your playing, if it means nothing more to you than making

machines of your hands.15
Whiteside remarks that students should strive to keep their

attention keen in order to get the right idea of a new piece they are
learning from the first time they read it. First impressions are the
most lasting; therefore, students must avoid faulty first
impressions both aural and muscular.16

The span of time that attention can be maintained varies from
person to person. Student should be alert to the moment in which
concentration is lost, and either take a rest, or change to a different
passage, piece, or composer. Whiteside warns students not to try to
cope with fatigue. Once they get tired, they should quit practice and
return later to the problem to approach it fresh, and with better
chances of solving it in a fast and efficient way.17

One might consider, however, that to practice attentively for a
period of time every day is not an isolated factor when considering
methodic practice. A certain amount of time and work is necessary
in order to ensure improvement. Playing an instrument implies the
development of complex muscular and mental habits, which need

enough repetition to be established.18 The important thing is how

15Lhévinne. WM 39.
”Whiteside, W. 45.
17Whiteside.Inlll$19.90iia1219.3.Si.f.£lal1.(2_EIaiilntl. 149.

18Lundin explains how repetition affects learning of musical skills in Robert W.

 

35

to make this repetitive process effective, without wasting too much
time on passages that can already be played with ease and working
longer with the most difficult ones.

In order to increase the students' attention, Lhévinne proposes
that they divide their practice periods, doing technique at one time
and repertoire at another. He recommends to spend two hours on
each aspect as a good measure. ”Over-practice is just as bad as

under-practice."19 During this time, he suggests:

Avoid worry and distractions of any kind when you are
practicing. Your mind must be every minute on what you are
doing, or the value of your practice is lessened enormously.
By intense concentration, love of your work and the spirit in
which you approach it, you can do more in a half hour than in
an hour spent purposelessly. Do not think you have been
practicing, if you have played a single note with your mind on

anything else.20
Students should secure variety in their practice, in order to avoid

dull repetition. To play scales with different touches, dynamics,
rhythms, speeds, is a way of keeping the mind concentrated on what
could otherwise become boring and mechanistic practice.21
Beginning students often waste time and energy practicing
inattentively because it is so easy for them to play for the fun of

playing that they tend to lose track of the discipline involved in

Lundin, WWW, 3d. ed. (Malabar, Florida: R. E. Krieger
Pub. Co., 1985), 135-6. The thoughts of some behaviorist psychologists in reference

to the r6le of repetition--Watson (frequency). Guthrie (stimulus pattern), Thorndike
(law of exercise), and Skinner (operant conditioning)--are summarized in Joe B.

Buttram, W (Lawrence, Kansas: National Association for
Music Therapy, l980), 238-45.

19Lhévinne. Wm. 43.

2019191.. 44.

21lbid.

 

36

becoming professional performers. Playing should always be
enjoyable, but yet a high quality should be developed by practice
done in a methodic manner. From the beginning students should

enhance the habit of keeping their mind precisely on what they do.

4. Mental image

One of the most important aspects in the students' training is the
development of a mental image to direct the performance of a piece
of music. From the early lessons students should be able to imagine
the sound they are about to produce; otherwise, they have no way to
verify when they have produced the right result. Lhévinne states
that ”every piano student who aspires to acquire a beautiful tone
must have a mental concept of what a beautiful tone is."22 Poor or
successful performances depend to a great deal on the mental
concept students have of the piece they are learning, and the tonal
quality they aim for in their mind.

A different aspect of imagination is referred to by Whiteside.
Mental images might often help to solve a technical problem which
is not easily grasped by a student. Teachers should transmit any
image which could exemplify the action desired, such as for example
pulling down a window sash, or turning the steering wheel of a car
to learn the movement of the top arm.23 Analogies are useful tools
to transfer a meaning to a new situation, either muscular action or
musical concept. To produce mental images that suggest the right

22Lhévinne. MW. 17.
23Whiteside. indispensableLQLEianLElaiiing 38.

 

37

coordination is an excellent means of actually achieving it.24

As piano instructor, one should realize that mental images of
musical patterns should be developed from the very first stages in
the student's training. When students are first introduced to the
keyboard, a way to reinforce the aural image is to have them play
without looking at the keys. Even at this early stage, when they
start sight-reading and establishing the relationship between
written notes and the sound produced, they should do so guided by
their ears and kinesthetic sense rather than their eyes, which should
remain on the score.

A mental image also refers to the muscular aspect of
performance, the actual connection between a certain fingering and
the corresponding key-pattern (scale, arpeggio, chord). It is a
mental-muscular-aural relationship established by the students
when they practice a piece away from the keyboard, as they imagine
the sound. This is an excellent way of enhancing the mental
conception of the piece, the musical and technical relationships
become clear and more distinctly imprinted in one's mind, and this
provides an effective and more lasting means for memorization.

One should realize that imagination should grow in the musician's
training hand in hand with the physical medium to translate the
musical concepts, and the ear should be in charge of evaluating that
such correspondence between mechanism and mental image does

OCCU r.

 

241913, so.

38

5. Analysis

Analysis allows students to improve on every aspect of their
performance by discovering suitable solutions for problems which
their ears have detected. It is necessary, however, to create the
habit of precisely defining the spot where the difficulty occurs. To
be able to point out the problem is actually part of its solution. A
vague description of the trouble is quite common in the early stages,
when students still do not have a clear perception of what they need
to look for in order to solve a certain difficulty. The sooner they can
become aware of this first step of the analysis, the faster they will
learn to solve the challenges present in a piece.

In order to describe the problem and design a strategy to solve it,
Whiteside determines that cars must lead brain and muscular
activity in order to conform the actual performance with the aural
image.25 Her approach is to analyze the physical aspect of the
mechanical problem (scale, arpeggio, chromatic scale), isolating it
as a first step toward finding a suitable solution. Analysis of the
mechanism which produces the movement, starting from the upper
arm and connecting with the bony structure of hand and fingers, is
as important as the pattern itself. Not what is practiced but how it
is practiced puts emphasis on the movement rather than the pattern.
A correct movement has to be used; otherwise, the repetition of a
wrong coordination will be harmful rather than profitable. To
perform with the wrong movement merely perfects the mistakes;
therefore, students should analyze and seek for a balanced

combination of movement that produces the desired progression.26

 

”Whiteside, W. 2-3.

39

Another aspect of analysis is discussed by Lhévinne. He states
that playing should be thoroughly grounded on real musicianship.
Students should be aware of the form, harmony, and general design
of the piece they are learning. Knowledge of the key, common
chords, seventh chords, scales with their fingerings, enharmonic
relationships, harmonic progressions, fingerings for chords and
arpeggios should be as familiar to the students as their own name;
otherwise, they put themselves in the position of the parrot that can
only repeat words but does not understand what it says.27

In summary, analysis should be applied in two senses, to the
structure of the music itself, to discover the composer's intentions
as appearing in the score, in order to develop a thorough musical
concept to support the interpretation of the work, and to the
technical or mechanical aspects of the performance in order to solve
the difficulties present in the piece, so that the entire message can

come across to the audience with clarity and conviction.

6. Alertness
The preceding principles refer to the mental characteristics
students have to have when they practice. This one deals with the
physical aspect. Whiteside states that a performer should adopt,

when playing, an attitude of alertness and activity.

Action does not necessarily mean the moving of a lever; it
may mean simply holding the lever in alert readiness for
movement. It certainly does not mean relaxation. It is the

cat ready to spring-mot the cat sleeping in the sun.28

 

26lbid., 3.
27Lhévinne. WW. 9.

40

In regard to relaxation, Whiteside warns the teacher against
using such a word to refer to an efficient pianistic action. There
should not be relaxation but rather a blended coordination of the
entire mechanism, which should be at every moment active, alert,

and elastic to transmit the vitality of the rhythmic flow.

Relaxation in no way suggests the alert blended action that is
the basis for speed; and it develops habits of releasing power
between tones. Rather, beautiful playing is related to the
absence of releases. They ruin both a rhythm and the subtle
use of dynamics. . . . Speed is the result of an alert blended

balance in activity--not of relaxation.29
Lhévinne agrees that there should be ”firm, elastic, vibrant tones,

not produced by flabby, relaxed fingers. . . . There must generally
be resistance in the fingers, no matter how loose wrists and arms
may be.”30

Piano teachers must consider that the correct use of the
mechanism should encompass the entire body, from the torso to the
tip of the fingers. The actions should be performed with accuracy
and effectiveness. This idea is not precisely suggested when the
term ”relaxation” is employed. The inert, passive concept of weight
is not the exact image one would want to transmit to the students in
order to make them play with speed and alertness. They should be
using their muscles, bones, articulations in the most comfortable
and effective way, and to do so they should avoid any unnecessary

action which might get in the way of good coordination. But one

28Whiteside. MW. 36.
29Ibid., 54.

3"Josef Lhévinne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,” In MW

ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, I926; reprint,
1969), 76.

 

41

should not forget that the coordination itself must involve a group
of muscles and levers in movement, not only one single action which
puts the rest of the mechanism into a straight jacket. As Mursell
observes: ”Any movement, even the smallest, involved in actuating a
musical instrument, is essentially a coordination of many
cooperating muscles and an intricate system of leverage. It directly
involves the entire arm to the shoulder, and indirectly the whole of
the body."31

An attitude of alertness refers then to a physical awareness of
all the subtleties demanded by the mental image. Muscles should be
prompt to achieve the exact action required to play any specific key
or group of keys with the desired dynamics and in the precise
moment it must occur. Music is an art which implies dynamic
motion. As an activity that occurs in time, and requires
manipulation of time to be expressed, the attitude which better
corresponds with a musical idea should be that of movement and

alertness.

7. Emotion
The emotional element should not be underestimated as a
fundamental part of the students' attitude. Projection of the
expressive content of music students are learning must be a primary
concern, even though they might have played it several times,

repeating passages and dividing up technical problems in order to

 

“James L. Mursell, W (New York: W. W. Norton, 1937;
reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1970), 250.

42

solve them mechanically. At a certain point during the practice
session, even if students have to play at a very slow tempo, they
need to put together the separate elements and bring out the musical
expression of the passage. This should represent the synthesis of
all the work done up to that moment, and it is necessary in order to
make sense of the entire passage when put into context.

Whiteside proposes a solution to achieve a blended attitude of
physical alertness and emotional projection which consists of using
the body as a whole coordinated entity to reproduce, through a
rhythmically organized physical response, the mental image
previously conceived. The routine repetition of purely mechanical
habits should thus be avoided, and instead an attitude of
commitment and concern about expressive projection of the musical

content should be achieved:

The entire musculature changes when the emotions are
involved. Routine drill of mechanics excludes this emotional
factor. Practice perfects only the elements in use. Why not
consistently practice using the complete tools needed for an
arresting performance. No other kind of practice is adequate
for developing the full potential capacity of the performer,
and routine practice may very easily balance the odds against

the exciting performance.32
Whiteside states that students should not be embarrassed about

expressing physically what they feel. Though several of these
movements have been labeled as mannerisms, they truly express the
response of the performer to the music.33 These movements,
however, should not distort the rhythmical integrity of the piece,

32Whiteside. MasterinthLQiionlnfludes. 110.

33Whiteside. indispensableuzLEiamLEiaxinn. 65. and MW.
29.

 

43
but rather intensify and underline its rhythmic basis.

Lhévinne writes that ”one cannot always be in exalted mood,
either when alone or before an audience.” In such cases, one needs to
think of what the music expresses, and try to voice its meaning.
Performers should be in complete control of themselves, their
mechanism and the instrument. That should be the purpose of all the
technical work}34

One should encourage students to strive to maintain a fresh
impression of the piece at every moment during their practice
period. They should make sure that they are able to transmit the
emotional content of the music to the audience at the moment of
performance. The job of the pianist, like that of the actor, requires
the quality of being convincing. Only if students assume a strong,
assertive attitude to transmit what they are trying to express will
their message get across to the audience and be perceived by
sensitive listeners. The emotional factor in practicing is the one

which could provide such strength.

 

34Lhevlnne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,‘ 90.

44

B. Procedure for Practicing

One of the most important factors when one is considering
methodic study is the use of time during the practice session. Time
must be used in the most effective way so that the best results are
achieved without waste of energy and concentration. Superfluous
repetition and playing without some specific purpose in mind should
be rejected, and convenient strategies should be taken to solve the
specific problems with which the student is engaged at that
particular stage. The art of efficient practice of pieces already in
the repertoire, as well as the learning of new works, consists of
conveniently dividing into achievable objectives a goal that might
otherwise seem unattainable. Some principles that should be

observed are the following.

1. Clear purpose

Students should define a clear goal for every repetition of a given
passage they are learning. This specific purpose should direct their
activity at any particular moment during the practice session. As
long as this principle is observed, any dull or wasteful repetition
will be avoided. Each time students play the passage they should add
a new feature, a new nuance of which they have to become aware.
They should never allow themselves to play the passage without
clearly stating their purpose.

Lhévinne suggests having a different purpose in mind for each
repetition; students could change the touch, tempo, dynamics, play

one hand legato while the other is played staccato, and notice every

45

imaginable detail that could improve their perception of the passage.
In order to maintain interest, he states: "Practice in this way, using
your brains and your ingenuity, and your practice will not be a bore
to you."35 This will create the habit of searching for specific

goals, no matter how insignificant or easy to achieve they seem at
one particular stage.

One might consider that a useful procedure which will greatly
assist students throughout their development is that of dividing into
shorter segments the longer sections of a piece. A complex work
can always become simpler if one separates its parts into phrases,
semiphrases, or even motives which are easier to understand and
assimilate. By practicing short sections, the student should
establish ”landmarks every few measures at logical cadential
points,” as Newman suggests.36 A good procedure is to "practice
skipping about arbitrarily from one to any other” to ensure that the
student is able to start playing at any point within the piece.37 In
the process of learning a work, students should start with a new
segment every time, rather than practicing always from the
beginning, "thus doing [their] hardest concentrating while [they are]

freshest."38

 

35Josef Lhévinne, W, with 3 Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover

Publications, Inc. ,,1972) 44.

36William s. Newman W
W (New York: Da Capo Press I984) 137
37lbid.

38Ibid., 129, 136.

46

Procedures such as learning left-hand parts separately from
right-hand parts, dividing longer units into shorter ones, playing the
structural tones of the melody to understand its shape, are some
examples of how to separate concepts in order to make them easier
to achieve, and gradually build larger units toward the performance
of the entire work.~'-"9

A rather different idea is suggested by Whiteside, who proposes
that students should learn a piece as a whole. She encourages
teaching by rote at the beginning, when student are not familiar yet
with musical notation. When pieces become more complicated,
however, she does suggests learning them in shorter segments,
building up from a basic rhythmic framework which gradually adds
more notes to its basic scheme until the entire pattern is completed.
She describes this process as ”outlining" or "scanning" a piece, and it

will be further discussed in the section referring to Rhythm.40

2. Focus of attention
This condition is tied to the preceding one. Once a clear purpose
has been stated, students should observe attentively whether or not
they have achieved their goal. One specific thing at a time should be
observed and evaluated. Working systematically, students will
gradually build longer sections, until the entire piece can be played

precisely as they aim, with ease and accuracy, in tempo, and with

 

39The process of gradually shaping more complex responses is discussed by

behaviorist psychologists. See Robert W. Lundin, AW,
3d. ed. (Malabar, Florida: R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1985), 132-8.

4oAhoy Whiteside, WWW 2:1. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, I961), 141-2.

47

the right expression. The principle is simply to focus each time on
one aspect until it is mastered, and gradually integrate more
complex goals, depending on how fast the mind, ears, and fingers can
assimilate them. Newman states that the student should devote
more practice time to the difficult spots, rather than wasting much
time with those which take care of themselves.“

Lhévinne points to clarity, accuracy, and beautiful tone as factors
on which students should focus their attention. In his approach:
”Accuracy, beautiful legato and refined staccato are so
important."42 Students should be trained to control their fingers in
order to provide a successful performance of the music they are
studying. He comments that ”in these days of keenest competition
the student must look upon inaccuracies an unpardonable."“3

Both authors agree that inaccuracies occur because of a faulty
mental image. Lhévinne states that mental uncertainty is the reason
for inaccurate playing. "Take your simplest piece and play it at a
normal tempo. Keep your mind upon it, and inaccuracy
disappears."44

Lhévinne recommends that one take special care with the left
hand, since a great number of inaccuracies occur in this part. The
student must treat both hands as having an equal r6le, and practice
the left hand alone as though it were the only one, giving to each

part its own individuality, independence, and character.45

 

41Newman. Minimums. 128.

42Lhévinne. WW9. 39-
431518., 32.

44lbid., 33.

48

Whiteside states that students' attention should be focused in
both the horizontal and vertical aspects of their performance. There
are two fundamental distances they should be aware of, the
horizontal distance, which controls the right pitches (movement
from one side to the other on the keyboard), and vertical distance,
which controls the touch to produce the sound (key-drop, downward
movement for each key). Horizontal distance is responsible for
accurate playing; vertical distance, for tone production.46

In Whiteside's approach, ”ease must come first and accuracy
second.”7 She regards ease and clarity as results of a good
perception of the rhythm, which becomes the maximum organizer and
coordinator of the action to transmit emotion to performance.
Accuracy and speed are achieved later, once students have been able
to obey this basic rhythm. They command their entire body to
respond to it, and do the necessary muscular adjustments to

transmit to the music a sense of progression:

Stopping for a faulty tone is one of the deadly sins
established when a faulty tone is made more important than a
going rhythm. See to it that the aural image is accurate; but
see to it that a going rhythm is more important in your piano

playing life than a faulty tone.48
One should realize that, even though students need to become

extremely careful and concerned about reading and playing with
accuracy, this should be mainly observed when they are learning and

practicing a piece. Once they have to play it in a recital or other

 

45lbid., 35.

“Whiteside, Wm, 72.

"Abby Whiteside, W (New York: G. Schirmer, 1929), 47.
48Whiteside, mm, 145.

49

sort of public performance they should not be concerned about
hitting incorrect notes. Accuracy should take care of itself, if the
practice has been effective. They must have already adjusted their
mechanism correctly in order to play with the greatest possible
neatness and ease. If they remain too preoccupied about playing
perfectly, their performance will probably become less free and
spontaneous. At the moment of performance their mind should be
concerned only with transmitting the musical message. The whole

concept is more important than too much concern for the details.

3. Rhythm as an organizer

Every nuance of musical interpretation and fluent technique is
realized within a precise rhythmic scheme. Such a scheme
constitutes the framework into which the rest of the elements--
pitch, phrasing, dynamics, articulation--are organized. The
rhythmic element has the function of unifying all the different
aspects of performance.49

Both Whiteside and Lhévinne agree that rhythmic precision is a
fundamental aspect the student should develop through training.
Without this basic element all the rest might become meaningless.
Mursell remarks that ”the on-flowing steady beat which the German
writers have called the Takt, and which is one but only one of the
constituent elements of musical rhythm, is the spine of the

composition."50

49Grosvenor W. Cooper and Leonard 8. Meyer, W
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960), 1.

50James L. Mursell, mmmoston: Gin and Co., 1948),
182.

 

50

For Whiteside, rhythm is the foundation of a good technique. It is
the very first thing students should be aware of, and the only one
which will permit them to coordinate their entire body as a unit to
transmit the musical image through a muscular action. She

considers rhythm as the main factor to achieve such coordination.

A basic rhythm is the only possible over-all coordinator, for
it is not merely the instigator of beautiful musical
production, but it is the sole factor that can successfully
translate the image in the ear and the emotion which must be
at the bottom of all beautiful music into a function of the

whole body.51
Lhévinne remarks that nothing bothers him more than students

that play with a lack of rhythmic control.52 He says that "among
the fundamental things pupils generally lack are rhythmic precision,
variety of tone color, principles of relaxation, and the like.”53
Students should regard rhythm as part of the personality of a piece.
”It should be marked by a strong vigorous design in the
background."54 ”Rhythm should not be thought of as something dead.
It is live, vital, elastic. . . . Whether the piece is played slower or
faster the rhythmic design must not be obscured.”55 He thinks that
rhythm must be felt, so that it can be transmitted to the audience

and become contagious to a certain extent.56

 

51Whiteside. mm. 4.
52Lhévinne. WW, 7.
53Josef Lhévinne, 'T he Art of Modern Pianism," In W,

ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, I926; reprint,
1969), 77.

54Lhévinne. WW3 44-
55mm. 45.
56lbid., 9.

51

For Lhévinne, the fact that students can handle timing correctly
depends to a great degree on their ability to remain calm. Nervous
haste could destroy the proper poising of the music.57 In order to
develop a rhythmic sense, he recommends playing duets, hearing a
great deal of rhythmic music, or accompanying an instrumentalist or
a singer with a strong rhythmic sense.58 He thinks counting and
time beating will develop a rhythmic feeling in the students,
particularly in the early stages of their training.59

On the contrary, Whiteside observes that counting is inadequate
to develop a subtle sense of timing. ”Counting takes care of the
sequence of beats; . . . it does not connect up with the physical
action of progression where rhythm is ensconced."60 In order to
make it work, a definite association should be made with the
physical action. In addition, counting is not concerned with the time
unit of the measure, so it establishes no mold of which the beats are
a part, a subdivision. The subtle sensing of time values lies rather
in ”the physical action of progression, a timing which is related to a
rhythm."61

Whiteside suggests that the rhythmic feeling must be in charge of
producing both the right coordination and the best emotional
reaction to music. The excitement of a performance depends on this

precise factor.62 She suggests the use of improvisation to help the

 

57Lhévinne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,‘ 78.

58Lhévinne. W. 9-7.
59Lhevinne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,‘ 77, 79.

6°Whiteside. MW. 56.
611919., 59.

52

student feel the sense of continuation that an ongoing rhythm
produces, the going toward a destination. Improvisation uses ears
and rhythm as a fused units3 Other means to transmit to the
student a rhythmic feeling is through duet playing.64

Whiteside proposes another primary tool for achieving a basic
rhythm which she calls "outlining” or ”scanning,”65 a procedure she
created in which the student plays the piece through ”pulsing” only
the important tones and creating with them a ”starkly simple but
beautiful line of musical progression."66 These tones could be the
first beats of the measure; or being more creative, students could
choose from the entire texture those notes which they find to be
more significant. The important thing is to keep a clear sense of
rhythmic flow, and to shape notes, whatever they are, into this basic
background. The same spontaneity and freedom as in improvisation
should be achieved. This procedure provides a means to subordinate
the details to the main line, and thus produces a phrase as a whole
musical unit. When one is first learning a new piece this procedure
might help more than the common sight-reading that gets so much
involved with details. ”If details are stressed at the beginning,
there are innumerable chances for going wrong in the process of

developing the entire mechanism as a unified whole."67

62Abby Whiteside. WWW. ed. by Joseph

Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969), 27.

63Whiteside, mdisnensableuLElancflaxinn. 135-9.
541919. 139-40.

65Whiteside, W, 54.
66Whiteside. indispensablauLEianLElallinn. 149.
67Whiteside, MW. 133.

 

53

Whiteside notices yet another way of making students aware of
the basic rhythm, to make them play the bass line alone. In many
cases here is the harmonic and rhythmic support for the entire
piece, especially in dances like a waltz, mazurka, or march. Living
rhythm is related to dancing, or skating. It must be felt with the
entire body.68 A way of doing this is to play the bass with both
hands one or two octaves apart, depending on the musical texture.69

One could consider that with beginning students, the procedure of
counting and time beating might be a preliminary means to help them
understand the relations between time values and meter. But the
teacher should be aware that correct counting does not guarantee
correct sensing of the rhythm of the music, and that probably
performance might still lack rhythmic vitality. Sometimes a
physical action, such as beating the time values on the knees, or the
lid of the piano might help a young beginner to sense the relationship
between the two hands, and the correct pacing and distribution of
time values. Any type of corporal activity that could help the
student to establish a rhythmic feeling should be encouraged.70
And perhaps counting could be rated as one of the weakest means to
provide the desired result. The swinging 0f the torso could better

°°wniteside.innisoensaoles_oi_91ano_maunn 19-20

”Whiteside, 94W. 57.

7"In reference to the relationship between rhythm and muscular movement, see
Raymond. B. Stetson, “A Motor Theory of Rhythm and Discrete Sensation,“
W 12 (1905): 250-70, 293-350, and Christian. A.
Ruckmick,"The Role of Kinaesthesls in the Perception of Rhythm,“ mm

mm 24 (1913): 303-59.

 

54

transmit, in some cases, a sense of rhythmic motion.

The connection between playing and dancing or skating--or any
physical activity that involves rhythm as one of its essential
elements--has been extensively discussed by music educators. The
Dalcroze philosophy of Eurhythmics is based on this concept, and is a
very successful approach which makes students feel the connection
between body movement and musical rhythm.71 Music must be felt
through the entire body, and then rhythm will be positively
translated into the performance.72 Once students are aware of this
basic movement the entire rhythmic element becomes evident and

their playing improves.

4. Slow practice
Without losing track of the basic rhythmic activity, at whatever
tempo the student chooses to play, slow practice will ensure control
and attention to the minimal details of the musical texture. This
procedure can be recommended as a valuable aid for mind and fingers

to learn intricate passages which might otherwise seem

 

71 Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, W (New York: G. P. Putnam's

Sons, 1921). An historical antecedent for Dalcroze's education, as well as other
music pedagogy theories, could be traced to the 181h century writings of the
Enlightenment. Rousseau (1712-1778), in his Emile (1762), refers to the individual
as a complete, Integrated human being with his own needs and potentials. Children
should not longer be treated as small adults, Into whom knowledge should be poured,
but rather as persons with capabilities to Ieam, according to their particular stage of
development.

7QT he findings of psychologists in regard to rhythmic response as dependent on the
action of voluntary muscles (Motor Theory) are mentioned in Robert W. Lundin, An

W. 3d. ed. (Malabar, Florida: R. E. Krieger Pub. Co.,
1985). 123-5.

55

incomprehensible. It could be established as a basic principle for
students to learn a new piece or to practice one in their repertoire.

One should instruct students to choose a tempo that is slow
enough to allow them to perform precisely all the notes, rhythms,
dynamics, and expression without altering the basic rhythmic
scheme. A common mistake of beginning students is to play easier
passages faster, and to slow down toward a more comfortable pace
when difficulties arise; rather, they should create the habit of
keeping the same tempo all the way through, particularly when
learning a new piece for which they have not clearly understood its
rhythmical organization. A basic rhythmic figure--eighth, quarter,
or whatever might be convenient depending on the passage--could be
taken as the basis to establish a consistent tempo throughout. All
the elements will thus achieve their right proportion, and the piece
as a whole will acquire significance. Newman points out that “the
metronome may be of some help, for its use can pull together the
over-all form of a piece that has a single or prevailing tempo by
integrating its diverse rhythms.”73

Lhévinne recommends slow practice as a useful procedure to
acquire accuracy and neatness in performance: "It takes strength of
will to play slowly."74 It is much better to play accurately than to
play fast. To play at a faster tempo, without poise or repose,
produces no artistic pleasure. It is always necessary to have the
fingers under control, and to do so, the student should be able to play

a fast composition at any speed: "Start playing with it very slowly,

 

73Newman. IDLEianistiiLEmblems. 141.
74Lhévinne. MW 93.

56

and gradually advance the speed with succeeding repetitions.”5 To
help regulate the speed students could use the metronome, and then
do the same thing without it. They should develop a sense of tempo,
and never exaggerate to either the slow or the fast side.76
Whiteside dismisses the effectiveness of slow practice to
develop virtuosity and ease in performance, however. She thinks
that this procedure emphasizes notewise production of sound and
thus leads to notewise hearing, so a complete phrase is not grasped
as a unit. "Slow practice does not perfect the blend in activity that
is necessary for speed. . . Slow practice, particularly when it is
legato, may permit the establishing and constant strengthening of
habits which inhibit beauty and the easy flow of music."77 She
argues that the type of coordination used when playing slowly is
different than when playing at a faster tempo: ”The chief reason that
slow practice is often injurious is that the entire adjustment is
more lax, and the application of the power is far slower than it
should be for speed.”73 She also opposes the usefulness of this

procedure to ensure accuracy in a fast tempo, pointing out that:

The matter of accuracy which has led to the belief in slow
practice hints at concentration on precision, while speed
hints at taking chances. The physical attributes related to
these attitudes are quite dissimilar. . '. Accuracy in speed is
dependent, first of all, on an accurate aural image; second, on
the smooth continuity of a basic rhythm; and third, most
emphatically 0n the right control for horizontal distances.
This right control must be at the center of the radius of
activity of the playing mechanism and not at its peripheral

7519191.
751519., 34.

77Whiteside. MW. 180.
78Whiteside. IhLEianistLMecnanism. 13.

 

57

extensions. Slow practice may very well not include any of
these attributes.79
Whiteside recognizes, however, that slow practice might be

useful to change old faulty habits into new correct ones, as long as
the student makes sure that when the tempo increases the same care

and control continue.80

Unless the student[s] can duplicate, in a slow tempo, the
action that [they use] when momentum is gathered, [they are]
never completely master of [their] mechanism, . . . care
should be taken in slow practice to use the exact mechanism
which can be carried over into the fastest playing without

any change in the action.81
As piano teacher, one realizes that slow practice might provide a

very good way to achieve muscular control, as long as the right
actions are used. The coordination should be the same as that which
will be used at tempo, and it will help one learn the exact distances
of the keyboard, and to perform with confidence. If students know
exactly which keys should they play, the upper arm will coordinate
the movement, and the only difference from the actual performance
is that more time will be allowed to ensure this coordination. In
addition, the emotional aspect may also be enhanced. By playing at a
slower tempo, the ears are forced to pay attention and react to all
the notes in the musical texture which might otherwise be
neglected. The accompaniment could be placed in its right
proportion in relation to the melody, the counterpoint could become
clear, so the student can become aware of the voices which might

have been missed when playing faster, time relationships will

79Whiteside. IndispensableuLEianLElayinn. 55.
”Whiteside. MW. 51 -
81Whiteside. Watson. 14.

 

58

become precisely established when the correct proportions are
carefully observed, and the large gesture will intensify the
emotional meaning of the passage. These are some of the multiple
advantages from which students will benefit from slow practice, if
conscientiously done. But, as Newman warns, even though slow
motion might present a problem of keeping the flow going throughout
the phrase, a broad sense of direction that transcends the beats and

even the barlines should be consistently maintained.82

5. Fast practice

In spite of the fact that this principle might seem to contradict
the preceding one, this is not actually the case. The procedure
referred to here implies a different stage in the study of a piece.
Once the notes have been learned, and the rhythmical units and
musical expression understood, fast practice might be employed as a
technical solution to achieve speed, easy, and virtuosity. As
Newman points out, ”some difficulties show up only at full
speed."83

Whiteside proposes an interesting idea, based on the assumption
that the type of coordination used when playing at speed is not the
same as when doing the passage slowly. Just as the feeling is
different when walking and when running, a change in the mode of
coordination occurs when playing slowly and when playing at a

faster tempo. She states the differences by saying that “slow

 

82Newman. IbLEianisrLBroblems. 114.
831919., 129.

59

practice can establish habits which are completely unrelated to the
coordination demanded for speed. Add legato playing to slow
practice and the result will be that one is tied to a post rather than
skimming the ground."84

Whiteside suggests achieving the rhythmical shaping of difficult
passages through rough movements, not completely defined in all
their details. Starting from a rhythmic movement as the basis, the
different elements are gradually shaped into a more defined and
accurate performance. In order to integrate details into the idea of
a whole, she recommends playing succession of notes as a glissando,
or as grace-notes or embellishments. In this way they will be
produced in the same impulse, and thus the coordination will be the
simplest. lnaccuracies will be avoided by ”adjusting to position on
the keyboard, without tone."85

The rapid realization of a group of notes will force both mind and
fingers to respond quickly, and thus find the right coordination
which will be used when one is playing at speed. Of course, it is
essential not to lose clarity and control of every single note, even
within a fast glissando, and this might represent a challenge for the
ear, which will anyway benefit with such activity.

In regard to developing speed, Lhévinne and Whiteside have
opposite points of view. Lhévinne states that not all students are
able to play with virtuosity. He says that there might be a physical
limitation according to individual characteristics. ”It is mental as

well as muscular and nervous."35 In order to develop velocity the

 

84Whiteside. NW. 54.
85Whiteside. IhLEianisi'LMeshanism. 51.

60

student could follow a general principle, the habit of playing with an
extremely loose, floating hand, avoiding rigidity of muscles.” He
remarks, however, that those students who are able to play fast
should rather develop their weak points, and play enough pieces
where there is no occasion for bravura, virtuosity or velocity.88 He
stresses the danger of bravura and recommends that the faster the
piece is played, the more clarity is required in its performance.89

On the other side, Whiteside supports the idea that anybody who
uses the right mechanism could be able to play with ease and
virtuosity. Speed depends on the correct handling of the power from
the upper arm to the fingers. In her approach, the most simple and

natural coordination should ensure ease in performance:

If ease, not accuracy and speed, were always the first
requirement, and if it were always demanded, many of the
common faults in piano playing would not appear; for, where
there is talent and industry, accuracy and speed naturally

result when there is ease in production.90
As long as students use the right coordination, there should be a

chance to develop their technique in order to achieve efficiency in
performance. It is the task of the teacher to discover the
mechanical principle and its application in order to help the student,
especially one not particularly gifted, to achieve such ease and
virtuosity. Fast drills are invaluable patterns that can help to
coordinate the mechanism with efficiency, and they have been

recommended by several teachers as being very useful to develop

86Lhévinne. mm. 45.
371919.

83lbid., 49.
391919.
90Whiteside. WM. 4.

 

61

alertness both of ear and muscular actions.

6. Progression and continuity

At any moment during practice, if the piece is already in the
students' repertoire or if they are learning a new one, if they are
practicing slowly or can already play at tempo, a sense of
progression and continuity must be achieved. The movement of
fingers, wrists, arms and torso should be continuous, giving the
impression that it never stops. As in dancing, where the continuity
of the movement is an inherent part of its aesthetic effect, pianists
in a certain way are choreographing their own playing; therefore, no
stumbling or stopping which breaks the continuity of the movement
must be allowed. Such interruption hinders the principle of
continuity which should be present if the work is to be performed
with fluency.

Several pedagogues have noticed the relationship of movement to
space and music. Reference has been made to Dalcroze's philos0phy
of Eurhythmics which is based on this idea.91 Mursell mentions a
motor theory of rhythm which many musicians and dancers apply in
their teaching.92 Whiteside refers to the vivid effect of balancing
the body to feel rhythmic continuity, just as in dancing or skating.
She says that ”rhythm stems from the point of resistance to the

application of power. It creates its magic by a follow-through

91Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, W (New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons, 1921).

92James L. Mursell, W (New York: w. w. Norton, 1937;
reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1970), 157-64.

 

62

activity which involves a balancing of weight of the entire body.”93

In addition to playing the right notes as a flowing progression,
the student should keep in mind the musical continuity and play each
phrase as a unit. Here is another instance where the voice could
serve as an aid to achieve continuity in playing; namely, to sing and
play a melody breathing properly and giving it its right musical
inflection. Many pedagogues advise one to take advantage of
breathing, even though it may not be an inherent characteristic of
the piano mechanism. Glasford states that ”respiration is a means
to create unity of rhythm in performance.”94

In Whiteside's approach one of the main ideas is to strive for
continuity, which is the only source that will achieve a rhythmic
coordination. She proposes the procedures of "outlining” or
”scanning" already described to achieve a sense of progression. In
this way the student will learn to practice the line as a whole, with
details subordinate to the general rhythmic continuity of the phrase.
She says that ”an integral factor in a rhythm is that it is going
forward: its essence is destination."95 Even silence should be part
of the general movement. She describes a sense of progression
where rests are as full of action as held tones.96

Lhévinne also points out that ”rests have powerful dramatic
effect.”97 Therefore, they are of vital importance. Their full value

93Whiteside. mosoensamaumianwaxino 8.

“Irene A- Glasford. WWW
league: (New York: Exposition Press lnc., 1970), 88.

95Whiteslde. indispensablessLEianLEIaxino. 127.
961919., 59.

97Lhévinne. W, a.

 

63

has to be carefully observed. "They provide the element of balance
and symmetry which is natural to art."98 They are part of the
rhythm of the music as much as the sounds. Lhévinne emphasizes
that students need to be aware of them, ”the method of stopping the
sound of the note is quite as important as the method of sounding
it."99 The wrist is gradually raised until the finger leaves the key,
so that the damper functions smoothly.100

Piano instructors often report that accurate and meaningful
performance of rests is one of the points where beginning students
usually have a problem; therefore, it is one of the first things to be
established as a habit in their practice and performance. An action
to release the key should be as clear as the one to bring it down. The
student should become aware from the earliest lessons of the
importance of silence in the musical texture. Rests will acquire
significance only if they are perceived as part of the rhythmic
continuity, and should be performed as thoroughly and accurately as

the sounds themselves.

7. Correct chaining
One last principle which should be mentioned is that of correct
chaining. Chaining is the process of connecting one unit to the next

one so that the entire section becomes smooth and continuous.101

 

981919.
99lbid., 22.
1001919., 23.

1("Skinner defines chaining as the process by which one behavior becomes the new
stimulus for another response, until a complete chain or unit of behavior is

established. See Joe B. Buttram, Wm (Lawrence, Kansas:

64

Not only when reading a new composition, but also when memorizing
one, students should establish effective connections. Muscular
actions and auditory images should interact in order to build blocks
that succeed one another in a continuous flow. Each segment should
be practiced in order to function as a stimulus for the following one,
until the entire section is accomplished as a unit. Memorization is
the immediate result of good chaining habits. If a proper chaining
has been established, and students do not interfere with the natural
course of their memory by trying to anticipate in their mind what
must come next, the correct succession of musical ideas should then
follow each other, in a fluent and effortless way.

In order to connect one section to the next, Lhévinne recommends
a focus upon the musical meaning rather than the symbols or
notation. Students should be able to recall what makes sense to
them, rather than a sequence of unrelated units. ”The thing to
remember is the thought, not the symbols."102 He says that just as
in remembering beautiful images and phrases in a poem, students
should rely on the musical content of the units to help them relate
one event with the next.103 ”Chords are musical words,” and
students should grasp their harmonic meaning in order to understand
and make some sense out of the whole progression.‘°4

Mental connections established by students work most efficiently

if they discover the interrelationships themselves in order to make

 

National Association for Music Therapy, I980), 244.
‘°2Lnevlnne. MW 42.
10311119.

1°4lbid.

65

them meaningful. Newman points out that:

He must see the details in intelligible groups and patterns. A
succession of dominants, a chord built in fourths, a series of
three-measure phrases, a bass line that descends by two, a
rondo design, a canonic progression-all of these are

dependable aids to the player who discovers them.‘°5
In regard to the muscular habits of chaining, Whiteside

discourages the use of a procedure commonly suggested for
connecting one section with another; namely, that of ”preparation,”
which consists of reaching the next key before it is actually
sounded. She says that it causes a useless habit, because it "makes
for a procedure by dots and dashes, rather than smooth
continuity."1°6 As an alternative, the process of ”outlining” already
discussed would be more adequate, as long as it provides such sense
of progression and thus helps muscular coordination to work in a
simpler and more effective way.

Several teachers, however, find very useful the procedure of
preparing new positions in the keyboard, particularly when wider
distances are implied. To separate the horizontal movement
(sidewise through the length of the piano) from the vertical (to play
the group of notes itself) helps the student achieve control and
confidence in accurately reaching the right place for the next unit.
An ultimate goal of continuity, however, has to be achieved, and the
student should strive to play an entire passage within a rhythmic
unifying movement which contemplates the entire section as a

whole.

 

105William 8. Newman. WWW
Wanna (New York: Da Capo Press. 1994). 134.

1°6Whiteside. moans-1W. 51-2.

66

In any case, whatever procedure the student chooses to apply, the
connections between one unit and the next should be worked out as
much as the units themselves. Sometimes the beginning student
presupposes that a smooth continuity will eventually come by itself,
and therefore neglects to think and practice the connections
between groups of notes. It should be remarked that this is an
important aspect of learning which should be taken into
consideration for the student to achieve fluency and smooth

succession of musical ideas and physical actions.

67

C. Results of methodic practice

The long-term consequences that systematic study brings to the
students' growth will become evident as they develop their musical
mind and kinesthetic response. They would have a number of means
to plan and evaluate their own performance. Through continuous
discipline enhancing correct habits, students should be provided
with ever increasing elements of analysis which will permit them to
design adequate strategies for the solution of technical and musical
problems to further their development. Eventually, students should
be responsible for creating their own ways of solving any specific

problem.

1. Good habits

Throughout methodic training students should create a stock of
aural, mental, and muscular habits which will assist them in the
solution of increasingly complex pianistic challenges. By providing
them with a set of principles which could be applied to a number of
works, teachers will enable their students to become self-
dependent. As Newman remarks, "the guiding of the practice toward
the day when student[s] can become [their] own teacher[s] is the
most important mission of the piano teacher."‘°7 Whenever the
pupils are confronted with new pieces, or if they eventually become
teachers themselves, they will have a wide variety of approaches

and resources to solve performing and interpretative problems. This

1°7William S Newman. WWW
WW9 (New York: Da Capo Press I984) 94

 

68

should be the ultimate goal of their training. The transference of
musical and technical concepts will depend on the well-established
habits of methodic study and analysis. As Seroff points out: ”Only
analysis of all the problems can lead [students] to complete
independence and eventually enable [them] to study and interpret a
new work without help from anyone and on [their] own authority."108
Whiteside repeatedly points out that first impressions are the
most lasting; therefore, the right habits of coordination should be
learned from the very beginning, and habits related to the actual

performance must be established:

First impressions have been linked with first things in

importance. And the first plank of all future complicated
coordinations has been put down. . . . Some way must be
found to practice for performance at the outset, not after

habits unrelated to a performance have been established.‘°9
Newman agrees, pointing out that ”we learn exactly what we

practice.” Therefore, to establish correct habits from the very
beginning and avoid faulty ones as much as possible should become a
main concern when practicing methodically.110 That is the reason
for avoiding any stuttering and errors: ”Whatever is done is learned
and becomes a muscular coordination. Mistakes become learned and
stick just as correct procedures do."111

Lhévinne's approach is directed as well to the creation of good

habits of tone production, musical thinking, and professional

1“Victor Seroff, W (New York: Funk 8 Wagnalls, 1970),

 

X.
1°9Abby Whiteside. lndlsnensableuLElanoflaxinn. 2d. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, I961), 145.

11°Newman. IbLEianisflLEmblams. 125.
1111519., 129.

69

reliance. The student should strive to develop themselves into
infallible performers who accurately interpret the composer's
intentions, as they appear on the written score.112 The technical
and musical abilities should have a solid and substantial basis in
habits of effective technique and musicianship.113

In order to develop a set of'good habits teachers should force
themselves to teach principles, as general as necessary, rather than
focus the students' training in learning pieces from the repertoire.
Their function is not only to coach but to actually teach students to
think by themselves, in order to apply those principles to different

shuafions.

2. Concept of whole

This is a principle that causes a great deal of controversy among
musicians and pedagogues. Lhévinne and Whiteside have
contradicting view-points in regard to this concept. Lhévinne
recommends great attention to details, while Whiteside
contemplates the details in the context of the piece as a whole.

Lhévinne thinks that details are of great importance and
establishes that the final result depends a great deal on those little
things in which artistic progress must be based.“4 How long a note

is held, how short it should be, what precise dynamic or timing it

 

112Josef Lhévinne, WW9. with a Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, 1924; reprint, New York: Dover

Publications, lnc.,1972). v.

113Josei Lhévinne, "Piano Study in Russia,” in mm, 2:1.
ed., ed. James Francis Cooke (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Co., 1917),177.

"fulewnne. W. s.

70

should have are very important issues of which the student has to
become aware. The technical aspect should be carefully analyzed in
all its details if one wants to achieve a professional performance.
Details are those upon which the ones that aspire to be masters
work the hardest.115

Whiteside establishes that too much attention to details could be
dangerous, since they may distract from the building of a phrase as a
whole. The meaning of each nuance could only be clear if it is part
of a general progression in which rhythm is the main factor of
unification. The entire body should find the right coordination to
transmit the feeling of the whole-~phrase, piece, or entire
performance--and the details should be shaped within this concept
without disturbing it but rather contributing to its beauty.116

Whiteside also states that students could be able to improve even
when there are overwhelming things to correct in their playing. ”It
is always possible to make progress without attention being focused
upon old faults."117 This is In complete accordance with pedagogical
principles which state that the teacher should take into account the
students' development, and from this stage start changing what
needs to be shaped, but without destroying what they have already

achieved.118

 

1151519., 23.

"eAbby Whiteside, Wm, 29. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, l961). 56-7.

1‘7Abby Whiteside, W (New York: G. Schirmer, 1929), 50.
118For a discussion of the effect of positive reinforcement in musical learning, 599

Robert W. Lundin, We, 3d. ed. (Malabar, Florida: R. E.
Krieger Pub. Co., 1985), 132-8.

71

Both Lhévinne and Whiteside are actually referring to different
stages in the learning of a piece of music. The idea of careful and
precise work on the whole, as well as the details, is necessary. The
two concepts enhance and complement each other, although a pianist
will focus on each one of these aspects at a different point during
the study of a piece. One might observe that frequently teacher and
student provide criticism and evaluation of a number of particular
features which are considered to get in the way of successful
performance. It is difficult, however, to keep the right perspective
if these specific factors are isolated. Rather the details should be
considered in reference to a general framework. Once a particular
stage of the study has been completed, when students can play the
notes accurately, and needs to evaluate where they are, they might
want to tape the whole excerpt in order to facilitate re-hearing.
Then they could ask themselves general questions, such as what is
the Character of the piece, it the dynamic range is wide enough to
provide emotional effect, if the section flows and sounds lively or if
it is static and lacks rhythmic interest. They can then start
analyzing specific aspects, such as what is missing and what is
already sounding right. Details acquire significance only when they
are considered in the context of the piece as a whole.

Newman agrees that the student should stress the over-all
perspective of the work before becoming concerned with specific
details. He encourages students to read the entire piece a couple of

times until they get familiar with it.
An understanding of form is an important means of arriving

72

at a concept of the whole in performance, . . . Even
established performers will play through extended
compositions with remarkable attention to detail and little
or no sense of the broad interrelation of large sections. They
will fail, for example, to perceive the climaxes on a
comparative basis, or will lose track of the prevailing tempo,
or do each return to a theme in the same manner, or make a
sudden dynamic thrust, such as an extra-loud final chord,
that is wholly out of keeping with the general level of the

piece.119
Understanding of the piece as a whole should arise as a natural

consequence of careful and methodic practice. It students have
successfully achieved each one of the stages in the study of a piece,
the entire composition will gradually acquire significance as a

complete unit.

3. Imagery
At a certain point, reliance upon imagery might become necessary
and desirable. A touch of imagery might help to clear out a problem
which has not been solved by analysis. Whiteside refers to imagery
as that element which can bring life and actually suggest a solution
for a certain passage after one has struggled with it for a long time.

She states that:

Failure in achieving a result, when working with a planned
procedure which includes many repetitions of the balky
passage, can sometimes be turned into success by a flash of
good imagery. When all is said and done, we do not know so
very much about what actually happens in the body to make
beautiful playing a reality. Nature has far greater skill in
action than teachers have in making an analysis of that
creative activity. Imagery touches off that capacity which is

inherent in a skilled coordination.120

11“’Newman. Warns. 141.
12°Whitesld9. W 59.

 

73

By keeping their imagination fresh and alert, students become
aware of these flashes of so called 'inspiration' which insight
produces, and which bring a sudden solution, long searched through
reasoning and analysis. Not only musical, but also physical ease and

fluency might arise from this element.

Muscles act in areas, and when imagery stimulates a
coordination there is no boundary line for these areas. There
is, instead, cooperation from all the areas. When good
imagery suggests a result there are far more Chances for
nature to take over the coordination in a skilled manner than

when a so-called analysis of leverage is made.121
Lhévinne recommends using imagery to get the idea of the sound

students are looking for, stating: ”Think moods and conditions into
[their] arm and fingers. [Their] mental attitude means a great deal in
the quality of [their] playing."122 Arm and fingers in some way
respond to the different qualities of emotion; joy, horror, pain,
sorrow, scorn, meanness, and project them in playing, without one's
mind being concerned about the details, which have become
automatic.123 In this way such emotions will be transmitted to the
audience and the whole performance will become meaningful.

After a long period of practice, when students can already play a
piece, and feel comfortable and confident with it, they acquire a
sense of security by which, relying on their musical instinct, they
react to the mood and inspiration at the moment of performance.
This is a rewarding experience which will compensate them for all

the time and effort spent practicing.

 

121lhid., 90.

122Lhévinne. Won. 26.
‘23lbid.

CHAPTER V. SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT METHODIC PRACTICE

In this Chapter reference will be made to some specific aspects
of piano performance, as regarded by Lhévinne and Whiteside. This
should further Clarify the ideas discussed in the preceding sections.
Many of the issues exhibit divergences between the two approaches;
therefore, the discussion compares points of disagreement and sets
forth some applicable principles which could be profitable for
beginning students. Aspects which show the greatest differences
are the following: importance of technical exercises in order to
develop a solid foundation for the pianist's further development, use
of finger action, application of weight to produce a beautiful tone,
concept of touch, and handling of legato in piano technique,
importance of fingering as an aspect to be emphasized in the
practice of beginning students, use of the pedal, and function of

memorization in the overall training of a pianist.

A. Technical exercises

Technique is one of the fundamental elements of the students'
training toward the goal of becoming accomplished performers. No
matter how musical students' ideas might be, they require an
efficient mechanism to transmit them to the audience; therefore, a
major portion of students' daily work should be devoted to this

aspect. Bastien suggests dividing the beginner's lesson into four

74

75

main areas, repertoire, technique, sight-reading, and theory.1

Technique is a controversial aspect between Lhévinne's and
Whiteside's approach. Several of their technical concepts are based
on different principles. According to Lhévinne, technique is a very
important aspect in the training of a Russian pianist. Considerable
time and efforts are employed to strive for an efficient technique.
Students need to spend several years building a substantial
foundation for their further development; five of the eight or nine
years at the conservatoire emphasize work on scales and arpeggios.
Several hours a day are devoted to practice technical exercises, and
pupils are not supposed to play pieces of the repertoire if they lack
a solid technique to support them?

Rosina Lhévinne states that Russian students are trained to
strive for a perfect technique. But ”technique was never a goal in
itself; rather, it was only a means to express the ideas of a
composer."3 Performers should adjust their interpretation to
whatever the presumable intentions the composer are, as they
appear in the written score (on a reliable edition, such as the
Urtext).4 Emphasis on scales, arpeggios, and technical exercises

in the pianists' training could be summarized in Josef Lhévinne's

1James Bastien, WW 2d. ed. (Illinois and California:
General Words and Music Co/Neil A. Kjos, Jr., Publishers, 1977), 153.

2Josef Lhévinne,”Piano Study in Russia," in W, 2d.
ed., ed. James Francis Cooke (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Co., 1917),176-7.

3Josef Lhévinne, Wag, with a Foreword by Rosina
Lhévinne (Philadelphia: Theo Presser Company, l924; reprint, New York: Dover

Publications, lnc.,1972). v.
4191a.

 

76

phrase ”regular daily technical work systematically pursued through
several years."5 This philosophy, however, does not mean that
practicing scales should become dry or tiresome; new interest
should be added by emphasizing nuances like evenness, touch, or
rhythm.6 Throughout the years scales and arpeggios become more
complicated, more varied, more rapid, but are never omitted from
the daily work.7

Whiteside regards technique as an analytical and creative
process in the pianists' work, which will aid emotional
development? ”Technique is not only a means to an end: it can be a
stimulating factor in emotional expression."9 It will provide the
ease and fluency in the playing mechanism to respond to the artistic
image the performer has in mind. In her approach mechanical
problems are analyzed as patterns to be solved through an integrated
coordination of the different lovers, with the action starting at the
upper arm and being transmitted to the fingers. She thinks that
scales and arpeggios should be left last, because of the danger of
overusing finger actions. They present more problems of
coordination than other patterns that use the entire arm as the
center of activity. Scales and arpeggios demand a difficult
coordination to develop a feel for the movement that starts at the
upper arm and is transmitted to the fingers. Fingers should not be

trained to reach for their positions at the keyboard or initiate any

 

5Lhévinne, “Piano Study in Russia,” 177.
elbid.
7191a.

8Abby Whiteside, W (New York: G. Schirmer, 1929), 3.
91919., 9.

77

movement by themselves, but only to provide a connection between
the upper arm's action and the keyboard. Thus scales should be left
for later in the student's training. Octaves or chords are more easily
played from the center (torso) to the periphery (fingers) and
therefore could be taught earlier. The coordination required to play
wider intervals on the keyboard will help students to sense the

action of gauging distances with the upper arm.

There is value in using a difficult pattern early, but only the
kind of pattern which balks until a right balance in activity
is established. Octaves and double thirds are examples of
this kind of useful difficulty. They remain difficult and
practically unplayable until they are produced in the easiest
possible manner. Thus they are extremely valuable in
establishing a technique. . . . Educators in other fields have
learned to start with the large movements first in

establishing a desirable coordination.1o
For more advanced students, Whiteside suggests that the focus

of technical training should be the musical problems themselves.
Pieces like Chopin Etudes, that present varied and comprehensive
technical and interpretative problems are used as a source of
material to solve mechanical Challenges. They offer musical
interest enough to raise the enthusiasm and motivation of the
students, providing better material than simple scales, which might
lose their beauty--as a musical pattern--when they are subject of
dull and boring repetition. She warns that the repetitive drill of an
inadequate coordination might actually damage the student. Correct
use of the mechanism rather than the dull routine of technical

exercises should be the foundation of technique. Solidly built, good

1"Abby Whiteside, WWW, 2d. ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, I961), 51. '

 

78

technique will not be lost if students have to spend some days away
from the piano. If the correct coordination has been learned, it will
be easy to recover when they sit down again to practice.11

Teachers should consider that there is always a danger that
mechanical drill might become tiresome; even if students are given
different goals to achieve (evenness, touch, rhythm, dynamics). It is
hard to keep a fresh and emotional response to what is being done, if
there is no context out of which the mechanical problem arises. It
is always necessary to go back to this context, the musical piece, in
order to make sense out of any technical result. To practice scales
and arpeggios, as well as any other exercise for its own sake might
not be the best solution to develop ease and joy in performance.
Though necessary, any technical exercises are only means to
achieving a more artistic end. Accuracy and speed should remain
important goals, but never at the expense of emotional meaning and

transmission of the musical content of the work.

B. Finger action

Finger action is one aspect of technique that is regarded from
different angles by the two authors. Lhévinne states that touch is
founded on finger action. Therefore, one of the most stressed
aspects in his students' training is the development of a suitable
finger action that will produce the desired tonal quality. Whiteside
disagrees with the use of fingers as the main action to produce
movement or actually reach for the keys. In her approach such

action, as well as any other directed to achieve a coordinated

 

11Whiteside. WM. 7.

79

movement, should start in the upper arm, the center of the system,
and from there be transmitted to the periphery, the fingers.12

Lhévinne states that ”as a foundation of every touch stands the
one produced by well-developed finger action. . . Fingers must be
raised. Nothing else so develops Clearness of touch, trains the
muscles and forms the background for good technique."13 There
must be hand and finger firmness to achieve accuracy and good tone:
”We must have both firmness and relaxation at one and the same
time, but not in the same place. There must generally be resistance
in the fingers, no matter how loose wrists and arms may be."14

Whiteside opposes the use of fingers as the means to develop an
efficient technique to play with ease and virtuosity. Fingers should
be carried in a position of readiness for the application of power.15
Their function should only be to transmit the action of the upper
arm, rather than initiating any action of stretching sidewise to
reach their position in the keyboard.16 She stresses the use of a
technique which she calls ”other than fingers,” referring to the use
of the torso, upper arm, forearm, and wrist acting as a whole
integrated coordination organized entirely by a rhythmic response of
the body to the beauty of the music.”

 

12Whiteside. lndisnensablesoLElanLElaxlno. 31.
13Josef Lhévinne, "The Art of Modern Planism,’ in Wm,

ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, l926; reprint,
1969), 75.
141519.. 79

1ir’Whiteside. Wotan. 26.
16Abby Whiteside.Masienno_tl19_Qbooln_Etudes_and_QmeLE55m. ed. by Joseph

Prostakoff and Sophia Rosoff (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969), 174-8.

80

The two approaches actually complement each other. It is
extremely important that beginning piano students learn different
ways of using their fingers, arms, and torso. To provide their brain,
muscles, and ear with a diversity of possibilities will enable them
to use the most suitable in any specific situation. There might be a
problem with the exclusive development of finger-action technique,
as well as with the indiscriminate use of the fingers to allow the
upper arm to take action in the production of the sound. At some
point in their training, students should be provided with both
options. As they further develop, their own insightful process would
make use of the best means to produce the desired result, as long as
they have a precise mental image. To stress the training of finger-
action technique at the expense of other parts might become
actually a problem of coordination. It is rather important to work
out other movements as well, the arm-action technique, or a so-
called 'integrated'-action technique, so that students can learn to
handle their entire mechanism and decide how to use it in the

solution of a particular passage.

C. Weight

Weight is another dangerous concept which provokes great
controversy among performers. Probably because of the lack of a
clear definition of the concept, or the assumption that it means
more or less than what the actual word suggests, teachers and
pianists debate the importance and correct use of weight to produce

a solid and beautiful sound.

 

17Whiteside. WM 30.

81

Lhévinne states that

there must always be some weight, even if one plays the
veriest pianissimo, or ppp. Without weight the tone sounds
thin and dry. Just as a voice without resonance has no
carrying power, so touch without any weight has no

quality.18
Whiteside dislikes the word ”weight” because it is an ambiguous

concept that does not give students the right idea of what the
teacher wants from them. She warns against the use of the term
because it defines an inert pressure held against the keybed, which
is completely opposite to the alert attitude the arm needs to have in

order to produce speed and virtuosistic playing,

It is exactly the inert pressure of weight which cannot be
used for speed. Words are important in teaching. Words of
action are needed to suggest the coordination for speed.
Weight does not suggest the muscular activity which moves

the weight of the arm. It does suggest an inert pressure.19
Whiteside recommends, instead, employment of a concept of the

arm carrying through with a continuous movement which better
responds to the ongoing rhythm of the music; a weight that bounces,
an elastic application of power to the key-bed rather than an inert

pressure applied to keep the key down.

If weight were used as the sole motive energy the key would
simply act as a block to its fall. That would involve
unnecessary percussion for the amount of tone produced, and
destroy the feeling for continuity in production which is
essential in developing a delicately proportioned use of
dynamics. . . . When speed is desired the muscles carry the
arm, ready for action. There is no lifting and dropping nor
relaxed weight against the key. The arm becomes a constant
unit of weight poised at the level of the key-bed, and the
weight element of the power used for speed is only the

 

18Lhévinne, "The Art of Modern Pianism," 77.
19Whiteside. Wm. 54.

82

energy created by the momentum of the poised arm as it is
propelled sidewise along the keyboard by the muscles of the

shoulder?°
One should consider that the correct handling of the weight

should be one in which a support for the entire action is felt all the
way through, and when applied to the keyboard it will produce a full
and rounded tone. Both listener and performer should be satisfied
with it. The former will perceive a beautiful sound, and the latter
will feel comfortable playing, with a Clear sense of ”touching
ground,” rather than feeling the insecurity that arises when the
hands seem to fly away from the keyboard. There should be a precise
balance, however, and the inner pressure never be such that it will
hinder the fluency of the passage by pressing the keybed as an
anchor after the sound has been produced. The image of an elastic
spring rather than an inert weight might describe more precisely to
the students the feeling they need to achieve. Teachers should
consider that the use of action verbs, rather than static or passive
concepts, might be of more help to describe to the student the right
coordination. Both Lhévinne and Whiteside, however, are referring to
the same musical result, a rounded, supported tone that is produced

when the mechanism is working at its best.

D. Use of legato
The problem with legato in piano playing is that the actual
mechanism of the instrument does not permit a physical connection

of one tone to the next one, as will occur with a string instrument or

 

20Whiteside. WM 20.

83
the voice. The prolongation of a sound produced by the breathe or the
bowing of the string is not available to the pianist, who has contact
only with the keys but not with the string that produces the sound.
The lever transmits the action to the hammer, which is the one that
in turn gets in contact with the string by striking it and making it
ring. But this contact is instantaneous, and ceases the moment the
hammer reaches the string. The pianist has no further control over
the sound, except for the moment when the key is released, and the
damper then stops the vibrating string, producing silence. A
physical problem has to be solved by psychological means. The
pianist is meant to prolong in the ear and mind the sound of the note
just played in order to produce the next one within the exact
dynamic point that will give the impression of connection between
each tone of the line. This Characteristic of the piano mechanism
has been the cause for a number of discrepancies among performers.
Whether legato in the piano is a matter of dynamics or it actually
depends upon holding a key down until the next one has been played
is another subject of controversy between the two authors.

For Lhévinne there are four fundamental touches, legato, non-
legato, staccato, and sharp staccato. The legato is the most
difficult to produce, and involves a perfect connection of the tones
produced by the fingers. Fingers sometimes even overlap in order to
sound perfectly legato to the ear. The pedal might be used, though it
does not produce the same quality as connecting with the fingers,

”for the purest legato is that made with the fingers alone."21

21Josef Lhévinne, ”The Art of Modern Pianism,“ ln Ward,

ed. Harriet Brower (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, I926; reprint,
1969), 73-4.

 

84

For Whiteside, the legato quality of the piano is a matter of
dynamics rather than holding keys down. Legato is‘a subjective,
qualitative perception in the performer's ears. It does not have
much to do with actually holding the keys--particularly with the
fingers--in order to connect one note to the next. Indeed this habit
of finger connection rather inhibits ease when one is playing at
speed: ”There is nothing that hampers speed more than the habit of
holding the key down after tone is produced. The basis forkall speed
is the shortest possible application of power for tone."22

An additional problem which Whiteside points out is that by
holding the keys down there is an instinctive reaction to press even
harder when passages get more difficult. The pianist‘s legato needs
to be concerned with horizontal progression, carefully modeling of
dynamics so that an effect of legato is produced even when there is
no real connection between one key and the next.23

One should consider that the musician's ear must be trained in
order to distinguish subtleties of touch such as the gradation of
legato or staccato. This has to do with the amount of separation
between tones as well as with the connecting dynamic contour that
provides a sense of continuity. There is no physical need of actually
connecting one finger with the next--though such an action might
probably help to develop a connecting ear so that any bump or
unevenness in dynamics could be actually perceived--but rather a
minute and careful handling of dynamics which permits a quality of

22Whiteside. MW. 67.
23Whiteside. indispensableuLEianLEIaxino. 21.

 

85

legato that could be perceived by the listener. When playing at speed
the legato quality becomes, rather, a psychological grasp of the line,
which could either be perceived as a whole, if the dynamic element
is correctly handled, or as a series of separated tones, even though
the fingers might be physically connecting one key to the next one.
Therefore training should be directed toward ear acuity rather than

to the muscular action of holding the keys down.

E. Touch

Touch in piano performance is another controversial issue. In
fact the term refers to the timbral characteristics of the tone
produced. Pianists refer to it as the different qualities of sound and
the means to produce them. However, sometimes, like some other
terms that do not reflect their exact meaning, this one is used
ambiguously and thus causes confusion and disagreements among
teachers. A very general definition of a beautiful tone quality in the
piano might be the sound which is produced with enough intensity
and small proportion of noise. The matter of how to acquire such a
quality is described by each author in his own terms, which could be
psychological or rather physical explanations. Newman expresses
that what ”produces the illusion of touch or the sense of tone
production. . . is the relative volume or weight of the tone," and
that ”to produce the renowned 'singing tone' of Hofmann and others
mainly means hearing that each tone of a melodic line sounds over
the accompaniment and right into the next tone, especially long-

Iasting tone."24 He mentions some factors that contribute to the

“William S- Newman. WWW

 

86

illusion of touch; degree of legato, use of the pedal, sense of
direction imparted by intelligent phrasing, rhythmic grouping, and
harmonic inflections, lack of external noise, and relative intensity
or volume of the tone.25

For Lhévinne ”touch is a matter of elimination of non-essentials,
so that the greatest artistic ends may be achieved with the simplest
means."26 He considers actions of the fingers from the metacarpal
joints the simplest. He thinks that to a great deal the quality of the
tone depends on individual differences, the characteristics of the
player's hands. In general, "the thicker the cushions of flesh upon
the fingertips, the wider the range of variety of touch"?7 However,
he mentions as a general principle that of striking the ”key bottom
in order to obtain a fine touch."28

Lhévinne also states that ”tone in piano playing is the result of
touch."29 The pianist should devote a great deal of practice to
develop a beautiful touch, one that produces an expressive tone of
melting sweetness and beauty, rather than a sharp, strident one. He
acknowledges the piano as a mechanical instrument, but recognizes
a different quality according to the way in which tone is produced.
In a general way he states that "rounded fingers played on the tips
produce a more or less brilliant tone; fingers played more upon the

ball produce a more velvety quality."30 To obtain delicacy the key

W (New York: Da Capo Press. I984). 118.
251919., 119.

”Lhévinne. Whamm. 12.
27lhid., 14.

23lbid., 15.

29Lhévinne, “The Art of Modern Pianism,” 74.

 

87

is struck with the fingertips rather than the fleshy ball that
produces round singing tones. Arm and forearm should be gently
floating in the air. For a ”floating arm" the elbows extend slightly
from the side of the body; however, the fingers must play all the
way down to the key bottom.31

Lhévinne states that application of power is also important. A
beautiful tone, like that of Rubistein, depends on how the natural
weight of the arm and shoulder are administered upon the keyboard,
without ever hammering into it but rather with a pressure properly
controlled and handled.32 The wrist should remain flexible in order
to be a shock absorber, like a spring that avoids bumping.33
Students should practice daily in order to ensure the production of a
beautiful tone, which they should be able to achieve automatically,
as their entire mechanism responds to their mental concept.

The legato touch for Lhévinne is produced by a floating effect
between tones, which should have a similar quality that prevents the
listener from hearing a different color for each one. The same touch
should then be maintained for at least one phrase in order to provide
the feeling for a beautiful legato. Because in the piano the moment a
key is struck the sound starts to die, it is particularly difficult to
do a legato in a slow tempo. The sound of each tone must ring
enough so that it will not disappear before the next tone; and when

striking the succeeding note one must take into account the amount

 

3°lbld., 74-5.

3‘Lnavlnne. W 26-7.
32lbid., 31.

3319111., 19.

88

of diminution in the intensity so that the new tone will not be
introduced with a 'bump.”34

Lhévinne also refers to various types of staccato; one that
reduces the noise and increases the lightness and character,
performed by raising the wrist; another one, finger staccato,
produced by an action of wiping the keys; and a brilliant staccato
where the whole forearm is involved, and the wrist is held stiff.35

Whiteside refers to touch as one of those dangerously undefined
concepts used to describe piano playing. She states that the pianist
is able to handle two dimensions in music, rhythm and dynamics. In
regard to color--the term often referred to when touch is
described-pianists have no control, since they do not get in touch
with a string as violinists do, or with the actual production of the
sound, as wind players do. The actual quality of the sound in the
piano is provided by the manufacturer of the instrument.36

As she states, the terms commonly used to define the quality of
pianistic sound have to do rather with the dynamics with which the
tone is produced, or the noises of the mechanism which accompany
the production of the sound. The qualifications are subjective,

sweet, harsh, dull. However,

one cannot ”color” a piano tone, but the word is habitually
used to describe a sensitive performance. There is no such
thing as a ”singing" tone with the piano. The piano tone
diminishes in volume from its very inception. What is meant
is a succession of tones which leads the ear fonlvard to a
completed statement because of the subtlety in the use of
dynamics. There is no ”harsh” tone. There is simply a

 

34lbid., 37-9.
35lbid.. 39.

36Whiteside. WM. 169.

89

succession of loud tones which have no subtlety in gradation
of intensity and perhaps, in fact very likely, have a greater
amount of percussive noise than is necessary, because of a
faulty delivery of power-power delivered below the level

where the hammer trips as the key is depressed.37
For Whiteside the importance of staccato and legato lies in their

relation to emotional expression. She states that staccato and
legato should have significance within the long-line rhythm which
deals with the phrases as a whole.38

one might conclude that the controversy between the two
approaches arises because of the use of the terms, not so much
because of the concepts being discussed. Both authors refer to the
necessity of training the student to develop a sense of quality in
sound production. There is no actual discrepancy in the musical
result but only in the explanation a student receives about how to
achieve it. Teachers might use subjective adjectives (harsh,
rounded, crystalline) to help students create a Clear mental image of
the sound they perceive, or they might define the physical
Characteristics of the tone by describing the noises that accompany
its production (stroke against the keybed, knock of the finger
against the key). To describe the quality of a tone is a good way of
training the students' ear to discard those sounds that are
inadequate or that do not fit the dynamic contour they are creating.
By teaching them how to recognize a beautiful tone, full sounds with
different dynamic ranges, good quality and lack of percussive noise,
teachers could actually help them to know what they are after by

37wn11as1de.Masiarlm_the_oheoln_Etudes. 159.
38Whiteside. WM. 22.

 

90

describing with adjectives how the sounds produced are perceived by
someone from outside. Explanations dealing with the physical
mechanism could help the teacher to get the point across, but they
should have significance in regard to the final musical result the

student is trying to achieve.

F. Fingering

Fingering is one factor in the beginning student's training which
is regarded as extremely important by some teachers and completely
neglected by others. Lhévinne and Whiteside have opposing points of
view in regard to this issue. Lhévinne stresses that fingering must
be consistently observed, while Whiteside thinks this is not a major
factor, and that any finger near the place where it is needed could
transmit the action of the upper arm.

Lhévinne says that fingering must be carefully thought out.
Students should decide and keep the best fingering for a passage in
every successive performance. A criterion to decide which is the
best fingering is that of ease. Students should experiment and find
out the most comfortable for their individual hand.39

For Whiteside fingering is not important in the performance of a
piece. As long as the correct delivery of power is used-from the
upper arm to the fingers--there will always be a finger ready to
connect the action through the keyboard, just as it happens with a
gifted untaught eight-year-old Child, or a jazz player who has not
taken piano lessons. With the idea that "only the right way is ever

easy,”o they find their own fingerings, sometimes completely

39Lhevinne. W. 34-5.

 

91

unorthodox, which seem to work perfectly for them. "With control
from center the entire coordination operates to make it easy to have
a finger available at the moment it is needed for transmitting the
power of the arm."41

As a piano instructor, one could notice that in teaching of
beginning piano students, fingering is one of the first things of
which they need to become aware. A fingering can either make or
break a piece, as Newman remarks, and therefore should never be
neglected.42 Students should take responsibility from the very
beginning to think and determine the most suitable fingering for the
piece they are learning, and this should become a habit so Clearly
established that performance could be grounded on a strong
foundation. Newman states that: ”Our fingers are the means of
contact between ourselves and the piano. All that we practice so
hard [to accomplish] is finally put into effect by these fingers."43
Therefore, to define the best fingering with great care from the
earliest stages in the study of a work is of primary importance. The
facility to which Whiteside refers should be achieved anyway, but
the right coordination cannot be left to Chance. This fact is
particularly obvious when performance under stressing conditions
might destroy the spontaneous flow of the subconscious activity

that guides the fingers and arm actions, which is what might

 

4°Whiteside. WW. 7.
“Whiteside. W. 44

42William S Newman. WWW
Wm (New York: Da Capo Press I984) 96
43loid., 97.

92

coordinate the mechanism of a jazz player or a talented child.

The teacher should discuss the advantages or flaws of the
fingering proposed in order to give the student elements to decide
which might be a good solution for the passage. Often the editor's
suggestions are not completely satisfactory, so alternative
fingerings should be found, and once decided upon, the student must
use them consistently. Fingering is anyway a very personal issue,
depending on the size of the hand, or the notions of technical
handling of specific patterns, as Newman states.44 To develop a
discipline of writing out the fingerings to be used--in those places
where ambiguity exists--and following it all the time, should be one
of the first goals in the student's training to become a professional
pianist. Planning is required. Analysis of similar sections (as for
example the exposition and recapitulation of a sonata form),
patterns of scales and arpeggios, sequences, melodic direction,
voice leading in Chordal progressions, provide some criteria to
decide the most suitable fingering for a passage, one based on
rational decisions rather than more chance. As Newman notes,
”experimentation is required to discover the technical superiority of
one fingering over another, and over-all planning is required to make
the fingering consistent,” and this should be done just as the student
"has given enough readings to the general idea but not enough
readings to establish bad habits.”5 Faulty habits in fingering are
among the most difficult to change, and they tend to come back at

the most inopportune moments.

 

44lbid., 99.
45lbid., 99.

93

G. Pedaling

One basic aspect of piano technique, though frequently neglected
or not stressed enough in piano lessons, is that of pedaling.
Teachers often complain about problems in the way students use the
damper pedal. Over-pedaling is a common mistake, particularly with
beginners, as well as the opposite problem, avoidance of the pedal,
which results in a dry and colorless performance. Teachers
sometimes do not give enough emphasis during the lesson to this
particular aspect of the student's performance, however, or they
provide ambiguous criticism ("too much pedall,” or "too dry, not
enough pedall”) which does not really orient students as to precisely
what they need to listen for in order to develop an effective pedal-
technique.

Lhévinne states that pedaling demands a meticulous study. "It
should be used with the same intelligence and definiteness as the
fingers. It should be applied in the fraction of a second and released
at just the right moment."46 He says that there are two types of
pedaling, regular pedaling (when the pedal is depressed as the note
is struck), and syncopated pedaling (when the pedal is depressed
after the note has been struck). There are also different gradations,
full pedal, half and one-quarter pedal, or just a touch, with the
dampers barely removed from the wires. Different effects are
produced as a result of a keen use of the pedal. But the pedal must
be treated with great care, and pedaling in say, a Haydn Sonata, is

not the same as it is in Chopin's Berceuse. Knowledge of the

46Lhévinne. WWW 47.

 

94

periods in history as well as the different stylistic characteristics
are a determining factor in correct pedaling.47

Whiteside states that the student should ”never allow the use of
the damper pedal to become an outlet for rhythmic expression.”8
She warns against using the foot as a channel for feeling the meter
and tapping the pedal, which completely hinders its right
application. She encourages the student to play without pedal until
the expression of spacing and rhythm has become Clearly
established. There is always a danger of overusing this resource.
She states that ”the better the playing, the less the damper pedal is
used. It should never be allowed to blur the etched outline of
musical progression."49 She refers to the use of the soft pedal as a
mute, like a violinist producing soft tone.

One could consider that pedaling is one of the most neglected
aspects in the training of beginning piano students, even though it
should become one of the most subtle and successful resources in
the handling of the instrument. Good pedaling is one of the qualities
that distinguishes a professional performance from an amateurish
one. Students should be asked to pay special attention to the
moment when they release the pedal. The keen coordination of foot
and fingers is most important and should be developed from the
earliest stages in the student's training. It is a matter of
discriminating with the ear what is coming out from the instrument.

As Newman points out, the teacher should constantly ”remind and

 

47lbld.

48Whiteside. ludispouoabloooLEiauLBlauuo. 63.
491519., 93-4.

95

re-remind the student[s] to hear what [they] play."50 The moment a
sound or a harmony is blurred, or the connection between tones in a
long legato line is broken, the car should react immediately to point
out the problem. This is one aspect in which both aural and visual
demonstration are essential. Demonstration is one of the main
means a teacher has to transmit to the student the concept of
correct pedaling. It sometimes also helps to have the student
observe the actual mechanism, looking at the dampers at the moment
they are released and when they fall again upon the strings. The
visual impression will enhance the aural and muscular action of the

foot, and thus its correct handling will become clear.

H. Memorization

Memorizing is one of the skills which requires systematic
development from the very early stages. Once students memorize a
piece and get the notes inside their mind, ear, and coordination, they
can concentrate exclusively upon musical concerns. As Newman
points out, ”the elimination of note reading and page turning allows
the performer[s] to devote just that much more attention to [their]
performance."51

In regard to memorization Lhévinne and Whiteside have different
thoughts; whether memorization is subject to patient development,
as Lhévinne states; or it is a natural process that should depend
mainly on auditory images, as Whiteside suggests. Lhévinne

recommends memorizing only what is useful and necessary, not all

 

soNewman. We. 123.
51ibid, 132.

96

the pianistic repertoire. He recommends memorizing phrase by
phrase rather than measure by measure, paying attention to the
musical units rather than the notes alone: ”The thing to remember is
the thought, not the symbols."52 Memory should be accurate and
reliable, and to develop it is a matter of persistence, time and
training. He suggests doing daily drill in memorizing. As an aid, "a
firm grasp of the elements of harmony” is necessary to understand
the sequence of chords, which are like musical words.53 Not
everybody memorizes easily, but for those who have worked hard in
developing this skill, a piece will come ”back to [them] with a
readiness dependent upon the thoroughness with which [they]
originally learned it.”54

Whiteside remarks that the only reliable memory is the aural
image. One recognizes music by its sound, though muscular habits
will condition a great deal how a student hears. ”Note-wise
procedure (single initiations of power as with a finger technique)
will develop note-wise listening, and that will hamper facility and
security in memorizing."55 Students must hear and play the phrase
as a whole in order to make their memorization process work. She
says reliance upon rhythm will be the best solution to aid memory.
Harmonic analysis might be as much help for memorizing as it is for
actual interpretation. The aural image and basic rhythm are the
most effective factors for developing memory.56

52Lhévinne. WM. 42.
531919.

541919., 43.
55Whiteside. ludiouousobloLoLEiauoflaxiuo. 60.

 

97

Memory has been an extensive subject of thoughts and writings
among teachers and pianists. Several refer to the relationship
between memorization and performance. The best results might be
obtained from a proper combination of the different types of
memory.57 There are mainly four kinds, auditory, analytical,
digital or muscular, and visual memory.58 Which one works the
best for each student depends greatly on individual Characteristics.
People who are more analytical will tend to carefully examine the

form, harmonic movement, motivic development, and other

. -.._n-n‘...‘:r -
A In...- . -.

compositional means which are used to put the piece together, and
this will be the foundation of the other types of memory. Others
might feel more comfortable leaving as much as possible their mind
out of the question, and trusting their kinesthetic sense in order to
learn sequences of movements. There are students who have a good
skill for sight-reading, and probably they will more easily make use
of their visual memory.

The fact is that, particularly at the beginning level, all these
types seem to regard the priority of auditory memory on learning
music. Music is composed of sounds and silence, and even though its
representation on the staff, or its performance through muscular
actions, or its structure from an analytical point of view might be
important, the most immediate and relevant fact is that it affects

the ears. Beginning students should therefore enhance their auditory

 

56lbid.. 92.
57Edwin Hughes, ”Musical Memory in Plano Playing and Piano Study,“ Mama]
mm 1:4 (October 1915): 592-603.

58Newman. mentions. 133. Also Victor Seroff. Commoufiousoiu
W (New York: Funk 8 Wagnalls, 1970), 46.

98

memory, which will be in close relation to their keen discrimination
of every element that contributes to the musical texture.

Muscular memory, as Newman states, ”is the sort that allows us
to play the piece by physical feel and momentum. . . It is habit. It
plays an important part in the automatic quality of continuous
playing from memory, as does hearing. The habit on which touch
memory depends is muscular coordination.”59 Both types are aided
by intellectual memory which results from a conscientious
knowledge of the music and is concerned with ”tonality, counting,
technique, melodic line, or programmatic association.“so As
students acquire a thorough musical background, the muscular,
visual, and analytical memory will become gradually integrated into
their learning process, each one contributing to enrich the overall
experience, and thus the students' memorization skills will become
gradually strengthened.

As a teacher, one should warn students to go back and recheck the
score periodically after they have memorized a piece. Mistakes can
arise when they plays carelessly, or become more preoccupied with
other issues of interpretation, and it is always necessary to refresh
in their mind the impression of the score in order to ensure

accurateness in performance.

 

59Newman. IDLEiauisL'LBLobloms. 134.
6°Ibid.

CHAPTER VI. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

As a way to conclude this study, in this last Chapter the different
issues discussed throughout the paper will be summarized, and the
most significant points of divergence and agreement between the
approaches of Josef Lhévinne and Abby Whiteside will be confronted

from this author's own perspective.

Lhévinne and Whiteside represent two different postures, that of
a concert pianist and that of a pedagogue. Yet as piano teachers they
both have a common goal, to develop in their students the best
discipline in order to ensure successful performance.

Lhévinne had mostly talented students who eventually became
accomplished and renown pianists. He did not mention specifically
how to deal with average pupils. His students were selected
according to their mental and physical Characteristics, such as good
rhythmic sense, excellent ear, and solid musical foundations. On the
other hand, Whiteside was active in teaching students of different
levels of ability, whether highly gifted, normal, and below average.
She relied on the effectiveness of her teaching method, which she
believed should function for anyone who wanted to play the piano and
worked enough to achieve this goal.

Whiteside's approach seems to be more relevant for teachers in a

school of music, who will have to strive to develop a suitable

99

100

pedagogical approach in order to respond to the needs of every
student under their direction. Effectiveness as a teacher normally
is evaluated through the success achieved with a great number of
students, consequently teachers should refine their pedagogical
techniques in order to provide the most feasible solutions for their

students' accomplished performance.

Teachers should be flexible to allow their pupils to improve at
their own pace. Lhévinne states that special care should be taken to
follow a logical and gradual sequence in learning new repertoire, in
order to provide solid foundation for further development. However,
Whiteside encourages students sometimes to extend beyond the
established canons, and learn more difficult pieces than what
actually corresponds to their level, in order to provide motivation
for faster improvement. Even though musical learning is a complex
activity, which may seem to depend on systematic teaching
(gradually shaping complex responses through positive
reinforcement, as supported by behaviorist psychology), evidence
exists (in cognitivist psychology) that some students are able to
circumvent this sequential learning and progress at a different pace,
employing insightful processes which provide a faster and more
integrated development. Some of these pedagogical principles are
mentioned in the second chapter, and reference is made throughout
the paper as to how do they apply to Lhévinne's and Whiteside's

teaching.

 

101

This author considers that, even though teachers in a school of
music usually will follow a carefully sequenced program, this should
not mean that they are unaware of mental and physical
characteristics of their students which might play a role in how
teachers employ their pedagogical methods. Some students respond
better to one approach or the other, and while some might require a
more sequential learning environment, others might benefit more

when allowed to follow a less structured method.

Whiteside and Lhévinne agree with most music teachers that
students should develop their musical judgment in order to refine
their interpretation skills when studying a piece of music. As a
piano instructor, one might be of great help in diagnosing
difficulties and providing strategies for technical and musical
solutions, but students should eventually learn to become more self-
reliant in their own interpretation. Every basic instruction should
lead to this important goal. The ultimate stage in the students'

training should be their self-dependence.

Lhévinne and Whiteside discuss certain general principles in
which methodic practice should be based, such as self-criticism,
careful listening, attentive practice, creation of mental images,
analytical attitude, alertness in muscular response, and emotion
involved in conveying the musical content. The practice of such
principles should lead to the development of a coordinated technique

involving the most efficient use of arms, wrists, and fingers, as

102

well as control of the instrument to produce the desired sound. Even
though both authors have their own preference as to the different
levels of the students with which they might wish to work, they
agree that at any stage methodic practice is the most reliable path
that can lead to successful performance, and beginning piano
students should develop such discipline from the very early levels in
their training. One of the fundamental tasks that confronts the
teacher of beginning piano students is to establish the proper
foundation for this discipline. As a piano instructor, one should
focus the teaching toward general principles that might be applied
to a wide diversity of situations, musical as well as technical. To
provide students with a set of principles which have general
application will be most useful in their further development.
Therefore, the mere teaching of pieces from the repertoire, if
musicianship is disregarded, might leave no lasting foundations on

which students could later build their own growth.

In regard to the actual procedures underlying practice, every
pianist and pedagogue has a personal opinion. Lhévinne and
Whiteside provide varied suggestions based on their own
experiences. However, some general principles could be extracted,
as for example the fact that students should repeat a certain
passage with a Clear purpose in mind, focusing their attention
toward a specific achievable goal, and gradually Chaining and
building more complex responses until they can play the entire piece.
These principles will be in accordance with behaviorist theories

already mentioned (the desired responses are reinforced by positive

 

 

103

 

comments, while the undesired ones are ignored so that they
eventually disappear through the process called 'extinction').
Lhévinne and Whiteside agree that rhythm must organize all the
elements in the performance, providing a sense of progression and
continuity, but they have opposing ideas as to whether slow or fast
practice is more effective in developing accurateness and ease in

piano playing. While Lhévinne supports the usefulness of slow

nth-.m -V'fl. ~
in

practice to ensure accurate and Clean playing, Whiteside encourages

the opposite view-point, arguing that the muscular actions Change
when playing a passage at different speeds. She states that practice
perfects the mechanism used; therefore, in order to develop
virtuosity, fast practice is necessary. In fact, both authors could be
referring to different stages in the study of a piece. While one
procedure might be useful at a certain point--slow practice is
necessary when first learning a work--another might be helpful
later, when the basic rhythmic relationships, accurate notes,
dynamics, articulations, and other nuances have been learned, and
the student is striving to play the piece in tempo and with
confinuuy.

According to this author, to define a unique or infallible
procedure for practice might be unrealistic. Ideas and suggestions
of teachers and pianists are to be taken into consideration, but
students should develop eventually their own means to apply the
basic principles for methodic practice. Because there is not one
single and perfect approach, piano performance usually provides a

wide field for personal experimentation.

104

Lhévinne and Whiteside state that long lasting consequences of
methodic practice will be the establishment of good aural, mental,
and muscular habits in which further development can be based. In
addition, both recommend use of imagery to clear out problems
which have not been solved through analysis, stating that muscular
actions as well as musical concepts could be easily achieved if the
student has the help of a suitable image in mind.

The two authors, however, express different opinions in regard to
practice of the piece as a whole. Whiteside encourages the approach
to technical and musical work as an entire, integrated unity, while
Lhévinne recommends to take special care of the details. A balance
between the two approaches seems to be necessary. Practice should
contemplate both aspects: Careful and systematic attention to the
details is necessary, as well as the integration of these details into
the context of the whole work. This should be achieved through
different stages in the study of a piece. A first sight-reading might
provide a right perspective of the whole work, but the student must
deal immediately with specific issues such as fingering, accurate
observance of notes, rests, articulations, and every nuance written
by the composer. Once the piece is learned, every detail should
become integrated, so that the work as a whole acquires

significance.

The two authors have different opinions in regard to the most

efficient way to solve technical problems. Lhévinne stresses the

~F‘ Lyme-11.59:? w

105

training of individual motion for each finger, even though the weight
of wrist and arm should support this action. Whiteside states that
technique should develop a whole integrated mechanism where the
upper arm is the center of activity while the fingers merely
transmit the movement to the keyboard. Both approaches are
effective, however, having produced successful pianists.

Teachers should find a right balance in the technical development
of their students in which they apply finger-action technique, as
well as integrated- action technique (implying the coordinated
movement of arms, wrists, and fingers), to provide their students
with a variety of possibilities to approach technical problems.
Over-emphasis on any one of the two extremes will actually limit
the muscular responses the student should develop in order to
respond to any technical demand presented in the pianistic

Hterature.

The comparison between the two piano practice approaches might
be quite useful, if the apparently opposite view-points are better
understood as complementing each other, giving a better
understanding of performing and teaching goals. The mentioned
view-points relate to the following, technical exercises, finger
action, weight, legato, touch, fingering, pedaling, and memorization.

The two authors often use different arguments referring to the
same issue. For example, when explaining to a student the nature of
beautiful tone in piano performance, Lhévinne describes, in
psychological terms, the tone for which the student should aim,

employing adjectives and images such as crystalline, velvety, blue,

flrT' V

'-¢.\‘a(.: Ii

106

and other descriptive words. Whiteside is more specific and
employs physical explanations, describing tone quality according to
the dynamic and rhythm with which the sound is produced, and the
amount of noise which accompanies it. Yet the two of them are
aiming for the same good quality in sound production.

Several times it is just a matter of terms rather than concepts
that causes disagreements. Probably both authors agree in the basic
movement, coordination, or musical idea. But it is the way in which
it is expressed that might cause confusion. Use of ”old coined
terms,” as Whiteside calls them (such as ”weight,” or ”relaxation"),
should always be done with extreme care so that the student
actually understands what the teacher is saying. Precise anatomical
and physical descriptions should Clarify the issue, and extensive
demonstration should be used in order to aid aural and visual

learning.

 

 

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